How Twitter Software Can Boost Your Twitter Profile

I love twitter as most of you know. Jason Taylor has written several excellent articles on twitter and always has good advice to give on how to improve your twitter presence. He is today's guest author. Enjoy the article he has written below:

How Twitter Software Can Boost Your Twitter Profile

If like me you are a huge Twitter fan you will of been searching the net for the very best Twitter software programs to use in your marketing & or personal campaigns that best fits what it is your doing on Twitter.

First of all you need to categorize yourself to what type of Twitter user you are, whether it be personal or for business once you have that cleared up there are different strategies to put into practice to best manage your Twitter accounts. Twitter is without doubt the most powerful & free social medium between users that you can use and the potential to drive new traffic to your websites is very good especially if your followers are responsive to your tweets.

To muscle in on Twitter now though in 2009 you need to be more than just a Twitter member and have more than one active Twitter account if you're going to get seen & heard. It's a simple fact that you can get lost in a sea of tweets from Twitters and never have your messages broadcast at all.

So how do we get round been able to manage multiple accounts and be able to post to them all without it taking up every precious hour of our day? Well there are many tools & applications now online that allow us to manipulate Twitter in various different ways, One of our top favourite Twitter software applications comes from a website called TwitterXtreme.com and its the Swiss army knife of the Twitter world.

Firstly TwitterXtreme.com is actually a PHP web script that you execute on your own apache servers, so no desktop applications of software downloads to worry about & after trying 4 or 5 other similar Twitter posters we found this one to be the most versatile with more key features and benefits than the others.
Anyway back to the application, TwitterXtreme.com allows you to create unlimited new accounts on Twitter but all on autopilot, "Yeppers" fully automated, hell the application will even crack the recaptcha's for Twitter and for Gmail as it auto creates the email address for you too. So now we have an application that can mass create your Twitter accounts for you we need to make those accounts unique, as generic as possible, instead of having to visit every account you just created to edit the bio's, maybe change the background & so on TwitterXtreme.com will do the whole process for you again fully 100% on auto pilot.

TwitterXtreme.com will use it's built in powerful spinning engine to mix up all the newly created accounts bio's, theme backgrounds, text colour, font type and more plus it will also add a random avatar from the built in collection making every new account as unique as the next.

So we now have for an example 100 new accounts on Twitter all with different and unique personal details, these accounts are now primed and ready to be used. However we don't want to have manage all these accounts manually as separate accounts that would put us right back at square one where we are spending all day at Twitter to get our tweets seen.

So we will let TwitterXtreme.com do all the hard work for us, once we have tweaked our settings we are ready to start auto posting to Twitter, we can auto post to any of our accounts or all of them depending on our settings, we can also post our URL's and our RSS feeds as TwitterXtreme.com comes with full URL and RSS feed engines.

The TwitterXtreme.com Twitter software will auto search via keyword, auto add followers, will auto post via scheduling, it will also auto delete followers who are not returning the follow and so much more, this application is one of the hottest and most powerful Twitter software available and can be used by either John Doe or the top Internet marketer as its extremely simple to master yet very aggressive as far as fully automated Twitter posters go.

Don't become another Twitter account lost in the dark, now there is no need to be sitting there waiting for people to come to you when TwitterXtreme can bring new followers to you in their 1000's and do it all within just a couple of days of using the Twitter auto posting software from TwitterXtreme.com

Find out more about TwitterXtreme by visiting their main website, you will be able to read full details about the Twitter Application and get access to purchase the Twitter script. http://www.twitterxtreme.com

About Jason

Web developer for web 2.0 resources & applications www.twitterxtreme.com & www.videoswiper.com

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For ALL of My American Friends

Enjoy your long weekend and have a safe and Happy 4th of July.

Have a nice big B-B-Q and a few "pops" ;)



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3 ways to boost your Affiliate Commisions using Facebook

A very informative article on the power of Facebook by Vinay Rai it show's quick information on Facebook and how to tap into it's huge potential.

Here is today's article, enjoy:

3 ways to boost your Affiliate Commisions using Facebook
With the increasing popularity of social networking sites and ease of their usage new business opportunities and avenues have opened up for Internet marketers. Social networks like Facebook , Myspace and Twitter have given online marketers great opportunity to find targetted customers base for promoting their affiliate products and earn good commissions.

Facebook is very much similar in operation to other social networks like Myspace and Orkut where you connect with your friends and share your thoughts and views and can ask for views on a particular topic. Facebook which started as a network to connect high school friends and adult gaming community has now become a major platform for internet marketing .Here are 3 ways which you can use to promote your affiliate products using Facebook.

1.) Be friends with other people in your niche.
Facebook has a search feature which you can use to find people according to their names, networks or institute. Try searching for people in your niche or based on the kind of product you are marketing and send them friend requests. Most affiliate sites have a large range of products for a particular niche, you need to understand the market and carefully choose the products you want to promote on Facebook. You can also purchase Facebook ads which are similar to Google Pay Per Click ads except for the fact that these ads show up on profiles of people associated with the product or niche.

2.)Start a group focusing on your affiliate product.
There are few resources which are quite useful for promoting your products on Facebook, Groups and fan pages are some of them. These are the pages people generally go to to find information about a particular product or to find some hot deals on internet.When you send notices to your group you can include affiliate link or link to your website. Using facebook you not only get to promote your affiliate product but get to meet new people and build strong business relationships.

3.)Write Notes Regularly.
Facebook notes is similar to writing a new post on a blog.Whenever you write a new note all the friends in your network get notified . You have option of tagging people with your notes , so that friends of the people you tag also get notified about your updates.

So what are you waiting for. Go and get your share of affiliate commission from Facebook .

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John Edwards Well known psychic launches "Infinite Quest"

Whether you think he’s a genius a fraud or somewhere in between, there’s no denying his world wide popularity. The man has been on T.V numerous times.

Check out his website here.

Internet Marketers And Time

This is an interesting little story I came across this morning and wanted to share. It's simple, honest and to the point. Oh before we go any farther:

Happy CANADA Day!!!!

Okay here is the article;

Internet Marketers And Time
Anna Williams

The Story of Suzie is a fable, written for Internet Marketers and anyone else who wishes to succeed with a project, business, or endeavor of any kind.

Every morning she had cold-cuts for breakfast. When when guests came to her home, she served them only croissants and jam, because she had never heard of cooking.

One day her friend Mary called her, in great excitement. Mary told Suzie that she had just discovered a something new and wonderful, and that it was called cooking. Mary hastily explained that she had come across an advertisement on the Internet, which explained what cooking was.

After hearing a few sentences of explanation from Mary, Suzie got very excited herself. Amazing! One could actually put food into pots and pans, heat it up, do different things with it, and then one would not have to live off of croissants and cold-cuts.

But it got better. Mary went on to explain that cooking wasn't only for experts, but that that anyone – even someone like she or Suzy, could learn to cook. And that in fact, they could do it right from the comfort of their own homes.

“Wow!” Suzy said. "How do I learn this?" Then, a little timidly, she asked, "Do I have to go to expensive night school? Because I don't have ....”

“Oh no!” Mary said. “You don't have to go to night school. I found a wonderful website online, and there is a very nice girl there, who will teach you how to cook. All you have to do is buy her eBook for $37.00. You can download it any time (even if it's 2 am!) and start cooking right away!”

Suzy ran to her kitchen computer and logged on. She quickly bought the eBook entitled "Cook at Home."

The next day, Suzy was so excited, she even skipped her cold cuts. She grabbed a glass of milk (she had never heard of coffee yet, because that would have involved cooking) and opened up her eBook. She began to read it avidly.

On page 3 of the eBook, the author recommended a free software program which would help Suzie measure her flour and sugar, in case she needed to double or triple a recipe. So Suzy downloaded the software. (Of course, she had to enter her email address first, but that was okay, because it was free. Besides, they offered to send her a very helpful free newsletter!)

On page 10 of the eBook on cooking, Suzie arrived to her first recipe. It taught her how to make scrambled eggs. Suzy went to the kitchen, and got out a very old frying pan that had belonged to her great-grandmother. “Ah, so that's what this thing is for!” she said. She had butter, but no eggs. So she went to the store.

Suzy got caught in traffic and by the time she came back from the store, it was two hours later and she was very tired. She logged on to check her email. She was pleasantly surprised to see that already had the first issue of her newsletter!

The newsletter explained to her that, while most people tell you to cook with a frying pan, that's really old-fashioned and slow. And that the best way to really cook was to get a special pan called the Super-Sonic-Fryer – which would “fry her eggs in less time than it takes a sun beam to get to the other end of the milky way”! That sounded exciting, so Suzy went to buy that Super Sonic Frying Pan.

The next day before Suzy started on her cooking exercises, she decided to search around Google a bit to see if anyone else had tried the super sonic frying pan. She got a bit distracted through, but that was okay. Because she came across something very exciting. A bread cookbook!

The advertisement explained that there are lots of things to cook, but nothing as powerful and effective as bread. And that, if she really wanted to succeed as a cook, she had to bake bread.

So Suzie of course downloaded that eBook and began to make bread.

Half-way through the recipe she realized she needed to buy yeast, so she went out and bought some.

When she returned, another newsletter had arrived. And this was exciting! It said, “Forget scrambled eggs, forget bread, that stuff is for the birds. What you should really make, is Italian pasta!!” Not only that , but if she signed up now, she would be eligible for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (which could expire at any moment). She could sign up for a free online course, and for only $29 per month, she could learn how to make all kinds of Italian Pasta – everything from tortellini, to ravioli, to spaghetti, and more.

So of course, Suzy forgot about her eggs and her bread, and she hastily purchased this new Italian Cooking eCourse. Her incomplete scrambled eggs project was no longer useful, so she threw it away. She had some bread dough rising, but while she was studying her new Italian Cooking eCourse, she forgot all about it - and it eventually fell flat and had to be thrown away as well.

A week later Suzy was depressed. She had bought all these eBooks and materials on how to Cook at Home, and had been working furiously at it, but she had yet to make a single dish!

All was not lost, however. She saw an ad for a new cookbook, which was said to be quite excellent. According to the testimonials on the sales page, many people stated that they had been trying for years to learn to cook at home, but only had success when they read that cookbook.

So, with a sigh, Suzie bought it. Maybe this one would have the answer she was looking for.

Two months later, Suzie had accumulated an entire bookshelf full of cookbooks. Her refrigerator was full of leftovers of incomplete dishes she had begun to prepare. But she had not yet completed a single dish. Not even a piece of toast!

Suzie sat back in her big chair and let out a long, sad sigh.

“Well, she said. I guess those people who tried to warn me were right. I'll never Cook at Home. Cooking is a scam!”

The above is a true story. But its not about Suzie, and its not about cooking.

Its about Internet Marketers like you and me.

Some people succeed at Internet Marketing, and others don't. Why? Well, there could be many reasons.

But first and foremost – do you finish what you start?

Or do you jump from one idea to the next, in search of the next great recipe?

Do you begin to generate income with a certain method, only to receive a new email which tells you how "that method is really slow and if you really want to make money online, fast, then what you should actually do is .....”

Do you have so many good ideas that you start on all of them, so that none of them can get the amount of attention they truly need, in order to succeed? Well, if you do, don't be surprised at what you will probably wind up with – a bunch of incomplete projects that haven't yet begun to generate substantial income.

You have heard people say “take action,” and that's true. You'll never get any eggs scrambled if you sit around reading cookbooks all day, and you'll never make any money online if all you do is ready eBooks.

But there is a little more to it. Suzie took action but she never followed through. She took on more cooking projects than she had time for, and none were completed.

As an Internet Marketer, you are most likely trying to set up streams of income. It might be a website that generates regular sales or ad revenue. Or it might be another successful campaign. So, in a sense, those projects are never really “done” (unless you drop them).

But there is a phase when you are still establishing and building up that income stream, and there is a phase when that income stream is actually creating regular revenue, which can be maintained without too much difficulty.

If you don't take your projects through from that first phase, into the second phase, you will wind up with a bunch of projects that are still in the “establishment” stages but not generating real income.

It takes control and self-discipline to stick to a project and carry through with it until it's really successful. It can be very easy to be led off in many different directions in search of greener fields.

Its a continuous pull. Call it what you like – diversion, distraction, persuasion, or “the call of the inbox ...” It will always be there, perched on the side of the highway, ready to pull you off the road like a vulture waiting for vulnerable prey to pass.

Be alert to it, and continue to push forward with your current project.

------------------------

Anna Williams article, "The Story of Suzie" was originally posted on Holly Mann's website, Honest Holly.

Anna has written a basic and succinct post following this story, which contains some simple rules you can remember, to keep you on track and progressing. To read this post please visit If You Want a Project to Succeed at Anna's blog.


About The Author
Anna Williams is the webmaster of Building from Nothing. If you would like to stay in touch, you can follow Anna on Twitter.


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How to Increase Ranking and Website Traffic

Everyone needs more internet traffic, we all look for ways to achieve this and it's always nice to not have to pay for it ;)

On that note, here is a very informative article on improving traffic for your blog or website.

How to Increase Ranking and Website Traffic

Day after day marketing on the Internet is getting harder and harder. Search Engine Optimization is a huge business piece on the Internet. It is a cooperative effort between merchants and any website. For many years now, Search Engine Optimization has proved to be a cost-efficient, measurable method of delivering long-term results. Every day, people get interested in Search Engine Optimization and want to make money out of it.

You must be prepared to spend years developing a list, making contacts, testing various advertising methods, establishing a network of Sales representatives and/or distributors, and doing all the others jobs that go intobuilding a company (even longer to build a reputation). If you can make it through the first few years, you'll be well on your way to success.

The world is full of incredible possibilities. The Internet has expanded the ability to communicate with each other and with prospects, customers and suppliers. Selling by mail can be the easiest and least expensive method of selling your services or products.

You can convert your visitors into buyers. The following points are basic to any Website Traffic strategy:

1. First, you must decide WHAT you are going to sell or market; And you must believe in it;

2. Create a site with valuable content, products or services. Having a well designed and relevant web copy is crucial. This will help search engines easily index your web pages and rank them high.

3. Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.

4. Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.

5. Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.

6. Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.

7. Include valuable content and free stuff on your website.

8. Creating fake domains and letting those domains point to your site is a trick thought to be effective for improving page ranking at Google. However Google claims that this is not true and they are able to spot duplicate domains and domain scams.

9. Don't look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.

10. Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.

11. Build a good links and resources page on your website. Linking strategy is not a trick as many get rich quick merchants would have you believe. Treat linking as one important aspect of your Search Engine Optimization strategy. Links for the sake of links have no value whatsoever. Indeed, they can damage your rankings. So forget about link farms and other such nonsense.

12. Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.

13. Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.

14. When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer's experience fast and easy.

15. Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.

16. Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.

17. Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.

18. When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.

19. Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.

20. Improving your website's link popularity is absolutely vital for improving the visibility of your website with regard to Search Engines. Your "link popularity" is simply a count of the number of web pages that are linked to you. You may want to know your link popularity for two reasons. The first is that your link popularity will improve your ranking on all crawler search engines. As discussed earlier, all crawler-based search engines have a component called the spider, which crawls from one webpage to another through links. Hence, more the websites linking to your website, the better are your chances of getting listed through a search engine. The second reason is that you might want to know which websites are linked to you and potentially referring traffic.

This combination of techniques is greater as a whole than the sum of the parts. While you can skip any small technique that is a part of the overall strategy, it will subtract from the edge you'd gain by employing all the tactics Choose the terms that you wish to include as the most productive search terms for your site, terms that you associate with the correct target visitors to your site. Put those in the search engines and find what pages rank near the top for them. These top-ranking sites/pages would be on the top of your list, if you needed to plant links to your site on other pages.

Once you have found the top ranked pages/sites for your chosen search term(s), you should check what sites or pages link to that site. If you get links from any of these sites to your target pages, you may be able to dramatically improve your ranking on Google and other crawler based Search Engines.



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Concentrate of giving the search engines what they really want - great content, well-organized, well-published and linked to other relevant material. Concentrate on that and you will be rewarded.

Copyright © Anne-Marie Ronsen
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CPA or Cost Per Action - Is it worth it?

It actually is not all that hard, there are a few guidelines or rules if you will depending on the CPA network. Maybe your site or blog needs to have a certain amount of articles or have been online a certain amount of time.

Here is a great article on how you can get into a CPA network if you are having trouble

Having Trouble Getting Into a CPA Network?
By Hilal Abdelwali

CPA networks are far more exclusive than regular affiliate marketing sites. If you expected to just fill in the form and receive an email saying you've been approved, it may come as a surprise when the rejection email comes instead. Sometimes, you might not even hear at all. So, there definitely is an art to getting accepted to these up-and-coming advertising networks, and it behooves the newbie to get it right the first time. However, there is so much more to this process, that without some help, newbies can trigger red flags before they've even gotten out of the starting gate.

Incorrect Information Gets You Axed

The information that you insert in the application form will be checked. Make sure that you get it right the first time. Don't put in fake email addresses, hoping to avoid spam, and don't give out a bad telephone number. Like a suitor that calls and finds either no one else on the line, or a recording saying that the number is not in service, don't expect a call back. Once they fail to get a hold of you via phone, you'll simply be rejected without a second thought.

What Else Do They Check?

The list of things they check is very thorough. It can go from domain owner checking to cross-checking of data from one source to another. You really need to be aware of how this is done in order to make sure you don't unwittingly trigger a red flag. Once that red flag is tripped, you're out of luck.

It Pays To Know Someone

Affiliate managers who know you and can vouch for you are a great resource. They can help you get accepted. But, friends also who are credible and reliable Internet marketers also make a great referral. There are also ways to contact people on social networking sites or through AOL messenger so that you can discuss a rejection or an approval process.

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Present A Professional Image

This is very much like a job interview, except that instead of doing it in person, you are going to do it over the phone and online. And, what they want to know is: "Can this person do the job we need and they say they can do?" For that, they are going to want to know specifics about your marketing strategy and how you intend to drive traffic to CPA network affiliate offers. So, be prepared with the right answers and getting approved will be that much easier.

Invitation-Only CPA Networks

As some of the bigger players join the ranks of people offering CPA networks (Google and Microsoft included), you will find that these networks might only take in people on an "invitation-only" basis. While it doesn't mean you can't get into other CPA networks, it does mean you're not likely to get into these without an invitation appearing first in your email. So, the exclusivity can vary from network to network, with some being very, very, picky.

Hilal Abdelwali is the creator of http://www.CPAMoneyMagic.com - which offers one of the best courses in CPA marketing. This course teaches you how to earn money as CPA affiliate, as a CPA advertiser, and as a CPA network owner. For a limited time Hilal offers a FREE report which will help you to earn money today. Download it NOW before it is gone forever. http://www.cpamoneymagic.com/FreeReport.html

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My MSN isn't working

My msn isn't working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, is it the end of the world? Well, yes if you're 11 lol.

All of a sudden MSN messenger stopped working today. Was there an outage?

Is there a server issue?

Everything else works why doesn't msn work?

My MSN isn't working....

I laughed at the question and the statement. MSN as far as I know never stops working unless it has the following problems:

It is a non compatible version, which you can easily upgrade.

You have an internal problem.

You were hacked.

OR...my favorite....someone went into your system and blocked it on purpose.

Depending on what you run, meaning IE or Firefox etc there are a few ways you can actually block MSN from functioning on your computer but you better be pretty savvy to do it. There are instructions to do it but if you do it wrong.....you can and most likely will cause more problems.

So, if it doesn't work I suggest you do the following:

First, check the MSN homepage to make sure it is working and they have no reported issue's.

If there are no issue's, check to see if you need to upgrade.

Finally if that doesn't work use the trouble shooter.

If none of these options work then do a search for fix my msn or something to that effect....better yet, get someone you know who knows computers and have them look.

Might just be that someone (maybe mom or dad) blocked it ;))



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She said she loved my brother

That has got to be the worst thing I have ever heard from anyone. Poor guy, he is in a bad, bad place right now.

I don't mind helping people or giving advice, when and IF I can...this just throws me for a loop.

What do you tell someone after they tell you that she said she loved my brother!!!

OUCH

Michael Jackson autopsy results and 911 recording

An autopsy is scheduled for Michael Jackson today, a process that could take several days until toxicology tests could be completed.

There is a recording of the 911 Call on CNN. You can hear it here


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Michael Jackson, King of Pop dead at 50

No this is not a joke. Michael Jackson was rushed to hospital earlier today after suffering a cardiac arrest and died minutes ago. Roughly 6:30 pm eastern.

Today we lost 2 icons both Michael and Farrah Fawcett.

Rest in Peace.

Thoughts and prayer to friends, family and of course the legion's of fans around the world.

Jenny Sanford is MAD

Can you blame her?

South Carolina's Governor Admits Affair

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, in an emotional news conference Wednesday, admitted he had been having an affair with a woman from Argentina.

WOW...slow nEWS dAY OR wHAT? wHO CARES? aFFAIRS HAPPEN ALL THE TIME...BIG DEAL.


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Alaskan Earthquake

Strong Earthquake Felt In Alaska

No Immediate Reports Of Damage After Quake Strikes Near Anchorage

The U.S. Geological Survey has stated an earthquake measuring 5.7 struck near the town of Willow at roughly 11:30 Monday morning. The epicenter was 58 miles from Anchorage, where the rumbled continued for several moments.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center reported the quake's magnitude at a slightly weaker 5.3 and said no tsunami will be generated.

Celebrating Father’s Day: A Poem You Can Share.

Celebrating Father’s Day: A Poem You Can Share.

Good Father’s Day morning, Friend:

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Celebrating Fatherhood
Written June 20, 2009 by: Rev. Terry D. Butters
Unpublished Copyright 2009

Come with me my friends and celebrate
The great memories folks have saved.
Of the many ways their father,
The road of life for them paved.


He shared with you by example,
The ways that always should be done.
And as we followed in his footsteps;
The victory we often won.

He loved our mother deeply,
And showed it by his sweeping of the rug.
As well, we saw it in October,
When, the plant bulbs he always dug.

We saw his smoothing of our road,
Because at church he didn’t drop us off.
Instead, he sat right in the fifth row,
Even when he had a little cough.

Father has gone on to heaven,
But we thank God we have his name.
He lived his life as best he could,
And we have chose to do the same.

Dad, is your child on a rocky road,
If so, I suggest you get a rake.
Please pull the rocks out of the way;
Then a straight path you’ll help to make.

Until tomorrow:

Revterry t71t76t78@yahoo.com

Insert photo caption or credit here


Author: Terry Butters
Terry Butters is a National Examiner. You can see Terry's articles on Terry's Home Page.

Stallworth Gets 30 Days In Jail

Normally I don't write about things like this but it really goes to show you that if you do the crime, as long as you have money....you might not do the time.

Quick history:

Stallworth is an NFL player who killed a man while driving drunk. He got 30 days. That is disgusting.

Read the story at Just News here.

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Benefits of Blogging - Gaining a Worldwide Audience

This is a great article written by a fellow blogger, Kristi of Kikolani

If you have been reading my blog long then you know I am a huge fan of Kristi's.

I hope you enjoy it and comment on it, she has a great blog and community. Enjoy>

by Kristi on June 9, 2009 in Blogging

This post begins the Benefits of Blogging series, where I will cover the many benefits of blogging, for bloggers and readers.

Before the internet came into being, if you were not a published author, public speaker or anchor for CNN, the average person’s largest audience would be no greater than his or her family and friends. So anytime the average person had something important to say, they would have to hope that the people they were able to influence were receptive to such information.

But now, it doesn’t take much for the average person to share what is on their mind. With blogging and social media, anyone is able to put their thoughts onto the internet and expose them to a worldwide audience.
Benefits of a Worldwide Audience

What are the benefits of writing for a worldwide audience? If you have opinions that do not agree with those you know personally, you are now able to go online and seek others who may be more receptive to your viewpoints. If you have knowledge or advice that you feel would benefit others, you are able to reach beyond your circle of acquaintances. You will have the ability to teach, inspire and help others. Your influence could be spread to anyone who speaks the same language, and with online translation services, it could go even further.
The World at Your Fingertips

Along with the benefits to bloggers, there are also a myriad of benefits for readers. Blogs can bring almost any part of the world right to your monitors, in a personal way. You are able to learn about other cultures, international viewpoints, and so much more from the average person in another country, or even on another continent. There are so many events being covered in world news today, but the perspective gained from those who are living where that news is being generated from can be completely different and much more informative.
Responsibility

With the potential to reach such a large audience comes a bit of social responsibility. If you are giving a strong opinion, consider whether it will motivate others to react in a constructive or destructive way. If you are promoting a product or service, do some research or give it a try, if possible, so others are not spending their hard-earned money in vain. If you are suggesting a change in diet or lifestyle, be sure to note whether or not you are qualified to give such advice, and caution others to check with their health professional first. Certainly you are not responsible for anything a reader may do in response to an article you write, but at the same time, you do not want to deliberately mislead or misinform someone.
New to Blogging?

How much does it cost to get your voice heard on the internet? It is free! Sure, if you are looking to become a power blogger, you would want to buy your own domain, hosting and so forth. But for the most part, you can simply sign up for a free blog (WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, etc.) and start writing.

Of course, if you do seek a worldwide audience, you can’t just assume that if you write it, they will come. If you prefer, you can leave that to chance, but there are also cost free methods of publicizing your blog. Signing up on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and StumbleUpon is easy, and once you do, you are able to search for people with similar interests to share your ideas with. And if you already belong to a forum that relates to your blog’s subject, be sure to share it there in your signature too!
Your Thoughts

What are some other benefits to speaking to a worldwide audience via blogging? What are the responsibilities of having such a large range of influence? And what are the benefits for the readers?

Leave a comment here at Kristi's blog here


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A Tribute To All NATO Soldiers Serving Oversea's

There has been far too much death in this stupid war. Friends of mine from 2RCR I hear are going over again.

Stay safe boys. Here is primarily Canadian soldiers but I am proud of every NATO soldier doing what they do best. Protecting the world from the likes of "So-damn-insane's" wanna be's.

Next time you see a soldier, take the time to say thank you and don't be surprised if they tear up. It will mean more to them than civilian's will ever know.

Tribute to our Canadian Soldiers

Some Funny Happy Father's Day Quotes

Just a reminder, next week is Saturday, well it is if you live in the U.S.A., Canada or the U.K. It is September 6 if you live in New Zealand or Australia


Red Buttons
Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.

Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby
Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then, fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again.

Ernest Hemingway
To be a successful father, there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years.

Bill Cosby
If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.

Phyllis McGinley
The thing to remember about fathers is... they're men. A girl has to keep it in mind: They are dragon-seekers, bent on improbable rescues. Scratch any father, you find someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors, believing change is a threat, like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle...

John Aubrey
Sir Walter, being strangely surprised and put out of his countenance at so great a table, gives his son a damned blow over the face. His son, as rude as he was, would not strike his father, but strikes over the face the gentleman that sat next to him and said, "Box about: twill come to my father anon."

James Baldwin
If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons.

Helen Hayes
When Charles first saw our child Mary, he said all the proper things for a new father. He looked upon the poor little red thing and blurted, "She's more beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge."

Peter De Vries
My father hated radio and he could not wait for television to be invented so that he could hate that too.

Robert Orben
Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards.


Quotes About Father's

George Herbert
One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.

John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery
There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.

Jean de La Fontaine
It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.

Marcelene Cox
Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves.

Margaret Courtney
Be kind to thy father, for when thou were young, who loved thee so fondly as he? He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, and joined in thy innocent glee.

Euripides
To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter.

Anne Sexton
It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.

Anonymous
The greatest gift I ever had came from God, and I call him Dad!

Fanny Fern
To her the name of father was another name for love.

Robert Frost
The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother's always a democrat.

Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eyes
All fathers are invisible in daytime; daytime is ruled by mothers and fathers come out at night. Darkness brings home fathers, with their real, unspeakable power. There is more to fathers than meets the eye.


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Facebook.com/insertyourname here goes live

Facebook.com/garret.belisle is Live!

Okay I admit it, I stayed up and watched the Facebook count down and got my name at exactly 12:02 A.M eastern time.

I know you're all thinking "What a DORK" and you're right lol.

But from a marketing and branding point of view this is deadly important.

It gives you more exposure.

It gives you a better sense of credibility.

It makes you that much more easy to find via the search engines.

If you haven't already done it get over to your Facebook account, remember it is a First come - First Serve basis.

Hope you didn't miss getting your name.

If you want to join me and my other 2,900 + friends just go to my profile here:

Garret's Facebook Page

Cheers

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My top 4 favorite bloggers

My 4 Favorite Bloggers and Webmaster's.

My 4 fav's ...sounds like a cell phone commercial doesn't it ;) I love the following blogger's and webmaster's (and yes there is a difference, albeit a small one) for the following reason's:

1. They are incredibly fun to read and watch. Entertaining and knowledgeable, you can't beat that combo.

2. They update regularly and keep their content fresh and not simply re-hashed.

3. They take the time to answer emails and/or comments. Something, sadly I wasn't doing originally.

4. They know what they are talking about. They don't just talk the talk like so many do. They talk the talk but more importantly the walk the walk.

5th and final point. They ALL genuinely care in helping you succeed with your online goals.

And if you pay very, very close attention to each of them you will build a wealth of knowledge fast, efficiently and you will be armed for success. If you don't succeed and you have these guys guiding you...all I can say is "WAKE UP!

Alright so here we go. Oh by the way. So it doesn't look like I am placing these folks in any particular order I am going to list them alphabetically. Lol. So there Wayne John...you don't get number 1....and don't give me the "number 1" as you read this either ;) P.S. Links to each individuals blog/site will be listed at the end of the post :)

Frank Kern

Personally the man has great products. He is very entertaining and he knows his stuff. Both on and offline. His info is a little pricey but well worth it if you can afford it. If you can't afford to purchase his product at least take a look at his video's for hidden tricks and tips.

Howie Schwartz

Not traditionally a blogger but he stresses the importance of why you should start. The man. Howie Schwartz in my humble opinion is the GOD of internet marketing. He offers so much it is quite sickening. In a damn good way however. You see the "Guru's" give you a great sales page, well written to grab your attention, get you excited and you buy the product and sadly, most of the time you find the information is not nearly as informative as the sales page.

Howie breaks all the rules. He is a very visual person, as am I, so the information he sends is done via video, you can get it in PDF relax ;). One video lesson I received I swear he did it via a cellphone. I don't know for certain, but it just show's he is not all about flash. He is about results. Pure and simple.

I cannot recommend enough how much you need to pay attention to this man. Howie and his team work tirelessly, all 85 of them to bring you the best and hottest info. If you aren't on his subscriber list then get on it NOW!

Kristi

A great blog and an even greater community. She will write a great article or put picture's of her puppies up or some other personal touch. It keeps you going back. She offer's a wide variety of topics. Too many to list, but whatever it is you are looking for the chances are very good you will find it. A word of caution before going to Kristi's blog. It is addictive.

Friendly, fun and loads of useful content. Make sure you subscribe to her feed...you don't want to miss Fetching Friday ;)

Awww darn, now you are wondering what Fetching Friday's is aren't you?

Last and definitely least....oopps I mean last but certainly not least. Wayne John.....seems Hollywood is dyslexic lol.

Seriously Wayne John is another of my personal fav's. It is chalk filled with information and tests that he has run on his site's to help his reader's.

A mention on his character is this: Not many people will say they only made $100 bucks in a month, everyone, well almost everyone always inflates the numbers. Not this cat!

He is always on the up and up. He, like Kristi also has a very friendly community within his blog.

A huge amount of information is to be found. Pay close attention to what you read, if Wane John doesn't recommend it, don't buy it.

Okay, hopefully I have helped you realize that we all need mentors. If you don't have any, you just found 4 of the Best.

Get over there and check out their sites.

Frank Kern

Howie Schwartz

Kristi

Wayne John

Best

Garret

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Ask a Saint

Just a fun joke I wanted to share. Thanks to Funny Buburuza for sharing this ;)

Marriage In Heaven

On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple was involved in a fatal car accident. The a couple found themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St.Peter to process them into Heaven. While waiting, they began to wonder….Could they possibly get married in Heaven?

When St. Peter arrived they asked him if they could get married in heaven. St. Peter said, “I don’t know, this is the first time anyone has asked, let me go find out, and he left.

The couple sat and waited for an answer…. for a couple of months. While they waited, they discussed the pros and cons. If they were allowed to get married in Heaven, should they go ahead with it, what with the eternal aspect of it all? “What if it doesn’t work out? Are we stuck in Heaven together forever?”

Another month passed. St. Peter finally returned, looking somewhat bedraggled. “Yes, “he informed the couple, “You can get married in Heaven.”

“Great!” said the couple. “But we were just wondering; what if things don’t workout? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?”

St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slammed his clipboard on the ground. “What’s wrong?” asked the frightened couple.

“OH, COME ON!!!” St. Peter shouted. “It took me 3 months to find a priest up here! Do you have ANY idea how long it’ll take to find a lawyer?

Facebook Buzz Facebook Update - Important News

If you use Facebook this may interest you. If you use Facebook for Marketing online then this had better excite you.

Facebook has finally caught up to the likes of MySpace. So what is the Buzz all about?

As of Saturday June 13, 2009 at 12:01 a.m. EDT, Facebook's millions of users will finally be able to claim a name to use as part of their profile page's web address - as in http://facebook.com/insert name here.

This is incredibly exciting and important news for marketer's as now we can use this as a great branding tool.

Keep in mind however that Fan pages for businesses, brands and celebrities will be able to adopt such names, too, but they needed to have been on Facebook by May 31, with at least 1,000 fans at that time.

This will be based on a First come - First serve basis. According to Facebook official's, so if your name is Garret Belisle ;) it might be a good idea to stake one out early.

Facebook has implemented a great rule to avoid "squatting" on any popular names, only users who joined Facebook before 3 p.m. Tuesday will be able to sign up for usernames on Saturday. Everyone else has to wait until June 28.

So like I said this is a huge branding opportunity and a great way to get yourself known and not to mention with a link to Facebook it offer's some potential search love.

Make sure you get it done ASAP.

See Facebook for further details.

If I build it will anyone show up?

Not if you use those tools ;)

The age old question. For some reason, every summer season it seems, there is a HUGE spike in blog's and website's being designed and popping up all over the internet. People are naturally hoping to get away from the 9 - 5 grind and lifestyle.

It's actually quite amazing when you look at statistics. The statistics so of March 31, 2009 for internet user's is a staggering 1,596,270,108 according to Internet World Stats and there are over 186,727,854 websites as of the Internet in December 2008 with 31.5 million websites added during 2008.

The numbers seem to be almost unbelievable but they are in fact very real. It is also the main reason people build sites and blogs. Everyone is hoping to get a piece of the internet pie. There are however huge learning curves to overcome.

As I have mentioned before you need a niche, you need articles, you need traffic etc, etc.

All of a sudden people realize that although blogging is great fun, if you are going to make it a business you must treat it like one. I really hate it when I see sites that are purely M.F.A.'s. (Made for ASdsense) they offer no value and they show that the blogger is not serious at all.

Back in the good old days of internet marketing and blogging (2004-2005) you really could build a few blogs and ramp them up with ads and make some decent money. The game my friends has changed.

A very guarded secret I have online is that I have several blogs and websites. Sure they can be challenging at times to maintain, sure it takes time to do everything involved to get traffic and yes they are a thorn in my side at times. But I love the challenge.

I find in forums and message boards quite often that people don't realize the one simple trick to success online is to have a lot of sites and maintain them, the logic being is that if just one blog is making you $50 - $100 a month (which is the average earning for most blogs) then make that blog well rounded and then every month create two more. Take it slow and do all of the steps properly and after roughly 8 or 10 months you now have at least 20 blogs pulling in a very conservative $75 bucks. Not much each but times it by 20 and you are making an extra $1500 bucks per month. Keep in mind this is just an example to illustrate my point. There is no limit and how much you make is entirely up to you!

Always think outside the main stream. Believe me when I tell you that the Big Guru's, the ones trying to sell you something ALL have several blogs and websites. It is all mathematics. The more you diversify and expand the more money you can and will make.

Building a website should always be clean and not jumbled. I could show you some ugly blogs that I used to have when I first started out....Oh Boy...flashy, music, colors galore and I had a "huge" fan base. ME.

With the internet always changing there are always things to learn and watch out for. So the next time you hear about "The Next Internet Craze" wait and research it before you spend your hard earned money. Check out forums, ask people you trust for their opinion's and then decide. The Buy Now sales page is just that a Sales Page. Always remember when someone says they only have "X" amount left that they are selling a digital product, unless it is C.D.'s. They may say they only have so many left but how is that possible? Are they going to wipe it off their hard drive?

If they say they are taking it offline then you might want to consider buying it because when someone is upfront and honest that way, it's more than likely worth much more than the purchase price.

So, when you build a website or blog (and I highly recommend you do) just make sure to build it clean, easy to navigate and above all else content worthy.

If you can afford it get a press release for about 80 bucks and then you have a much better chance of repeat visitors. A well crafted PR release can hit Google News in a matter of hours. I personally know of someone who did this and wasn't ready for the traffic. He received so much that his server went down, so that is also something you need to be aware of, your bandwidth.

We'll cover that another time.

Best

Garret

I love the blogging lifestyle

I really do love the blogging lifestyle for several reason's:

I enjoy the feeling of an extended family, comment's and conversations can last from just two comments to several hundreds.

I enjoy meeting people from all over the globe.

I enjoy helping people. I offer a lot of tips and advice and I never charge for it. Lot's of blogger's don't. Those are the one's to keep up with for two reason's. First, I trust them because they don't push things on me to buy but if they recommend a product that I am interested in, you can bet your bottom dollar I will feel much, much better with a friend's trusted recommendation. Not to mention I also feel good for buying from their affiliate link ;)

I love the freedom. I work from home, when I want. Usually that is anywhere from 7 to 9 hours a day but my blog's are my livelyhood. I don't make $10,000.0 a week in my underwear - I wish I did however but the wife and kid's wouldn't like the underwear part. I like my Spidey P.J.'s ;)

There are so many aspects to cover....

I love continuously learning.

I love the great mentors I have.

I love the help that I receive weekly from Howie Schwartz and his crew. If you don't know who he is you are missing out on massive information.

Tell him Garret sent you ;)

I love the fact that I was once asked for help from a blogger a few years back who now makes more money online than I do. She has a great niche and I wish I had of thought of it first....darn you Leslie....darn you to HECK ;) I won't mention the niche out of respect but I can tell you that she runs her entire business, blog included from her Blackberry. Impressive huh?!

I could go on but well, my fingers hurt. Too much typing.

You can succeed, remember to take it slow and read. Knowledge is Power.

Check here often for tips and tricks or check out these great blogger's:

Kristi.

Wayne John.

And make sure you visit Howie Schwartz asap.

Until tomorrow...or after midnight if I can't sleep again.

Garret

What thing's are required to start a blog?

What thing's are required to start a blog?

Contrary to popular belief starting a blog is not easy. It really isn't.

Many people go to Blogger or Wordpress etc and create a free account, which is smart when just starting out, however they have no real agenda set in place.

So, whenever I am asked what thing's are required to start a blog I have quite a list to answer that question.

First and foremost you must have a theme or an idea set in place. You cannot simply create a blog put in a few posts and leave it alone and hope. Ain't gonna happen.

Once you have a theme or an idea the next thing to do is

Once you have a theme or an idea the next thing to do is write at least five good quality articles on your subject. Don't copy and paste other articles and throw up adsense or cpa's. That will get you de listed faster than you would care to imagine.

New blogs with good content have a better chance of being crawled by search engines because of the fresh and unique content they offer.

If you are serious about starting a blog and have read this far I bet, well actually I hope you noticed that I left out the single most important part of your blog.

Do you know what it is?

If you guessed the title or name of the blog, congratulation's. You must name the blog something that reflects what your site will be about. A no brainer but many people don't do this. I am guilty of this with two blogs I started and scrapped long ago. I named them about credit and put articles up about shopping. Why did I do that....blame the booze ;). I actually did that because at the time credit was so hard to list for I changed the post's not realizing that regardless of post's I had less of a chance to rank because the title, keywords and content didn't match.

Lesson learned.

So, we have a title, a theme and a few well written articles.

Now what you need to do is get involved in forums and other blogs. Leaving questions on forums is a great way to get help and answering questions is a great way to drive traffic. Keep in mind however that you should never join a forum and put up a question and then leave your sig file and never go back. A well moderated forum will remove you and your link very, very quickly...and yes that is another lesson I learned early on. I don't want you to go through the same harsh realities. :)

Now we will look at maintenance. Posting articles to your blog is up to you, I recommend at the very least 3 times a week. I usually post twice a day but I have the time. I blog from home. It is my primary source of income.

If you have a job then try to post at least three times a week.

Do not fill your blog up with ads and flash and colours etc. It is a dead give away that you are not really serious about your blog. Quite frankly you should not put ads of any kind up for at least your first month. Build up some credibility first, you will have follower's or reader's and they won't mind the ads. But if you look like a splog (spam blog) well you may like it but there is no point in having a blog if no one but you reads it.

Moving on.....

I have mentioned this before but another great thing to do is change your look every now and then. My good friend Kristi from Kikolani.com does this regularly. She provides excellent information and fun and because she changes the theme I go back often just to see how it looks and of course I enjoy being involved in her community.

Blogs offer a world wide audience and for a more in depth look at that I will give you a great post at the end of this to help you get much more detailed info.

Okay so quick recap:

We have a name. Check

We have a theme. Check

We have our articles. Check

We have joined forums/groups. Check

SO a few helpful hints. If you don't know what groups to join simply go to Google and type in your theme + forum. You will be amazed at how many show up. Check out a few posts and see if it is for you and if it is then join the group. Always obey the terms and conditions.

If you need help with articles, go to elance.com and put up a request for a ghost writer, affordable and fast. Plus it is fresh and unique content.

If you need traffic join communities like:

Entrecard.

Facebook.

There are countless articles to be found in this blog, just look through the history and you will find a lot of helpful tips.

The final thing that is required is drive.

You must be willing to update your blog, keep it fresh, maintain the look and feel of it and change with the times. Reader's will return as long as it is worthy.

I have a blog about twitter that sadly I have been neglecting and it is losing subscriber's because I started it as a blog for a few friends but it took on a life of it's own.

Always be willing to put in the work and you will find an audience and maybe even make some cash with ads etc.

Final tip and most important tip. If you place adsense or other revenue generating offer's on your blog that is fine but DO NOT ever join a clix exchange program.

DO NOT fall into the trap of I'll click your ads if you click mine. The big G will eventually find out and you lose.

Oh one last item, regardless of what you blog about make sure you get yourself a Google Webmaster's Tool account.

It will:

Track keywords.

Visitors.

Where your traffic comes from.

How certain words perform etc.

Never buy one of these programs, Google Webmaster Tools is free and a Helluva lot more effective.

Good luck.

P.S. If you ever need help shoot me an email, I'll do what I can.

Here's the article I mentioned about a world wide audience, care of Kristi from Kikolani. Shameless plug, look for my responses ;)

When the Water runs Dry

What a Wonderful Poem.

By: Tony L. Jefferson, Jr.

These predicaments we face really break the heart

This problem has gone on longer than we both can bear

After so long a love

The waters run dry

Our emotions are mere actions predetermined by stereotypes

How did we get here?

Feeling like Deborah Cox in the brain

This thing we’ve become I truly detest

Sometimes I feel like running away

Far away or even back in time

When the rivers flowed with vigor and strength

Love’s presence has eroded like mountains over time

The fire is extinguished

Intimacy is like a household chore

Life has caught hold of our status and twisted it into a withered old soul

The words “ I Love You” are hollow and bare

No emotion flows from the words spoken from our mouths

But this love must reignite

We’re destined to be great

We sacrifice too much

We savor too little

I love you for eternity

I can’t live without you

Please help me find passion

That first love type passion

That passionate love making

Help me ignite that fire

That had us dripping from head to toe with sweat from a pleasurable night

Light the fire and let it burn for eternity

I love you can’t you see that?

Let’s work this out

Let’s be one again

Let me love you better

Don’t let the water run dry

Love this poem? You know you do, check out my new friend Tony's blog here.

Why don't I qualify for unemployment insurance in Canada?

With times being what they are a lot of folks are applying for unemployment insurance in record numbers, more so here in Ontario than anywhere else in Canada and a lot of people are finding it very hard to qualify.

So the question gets asked : Why don't i qualify for unemployment insurance in Canada?

Well, from what I understand they have "guidelines" to act upon. Personally I don't believe that. Now to make sure my point is taken properly this is my personal opinion and I have the right to speak it. If E.I. doesn't like it....oh well.

There is a story I heard today on the local radio station about an elderly man who lost his job and had to move in with his son while he applied for Unemployment. He moved in with his son in Thunder Bay and as a result of moving to Thunder Bay he didn't qualify.

That makes "so" much sense doesn't it?

We pay into unemployment with every paycheck we receive and when we need it we have to jump through hoops to get it. Sounds highly unfair to me.

It is so bad that there is actually a caravan coming to Timmins tonight at our community center to collect stories from people. That is amazing that it has resorted to this.

The government should give us the right to choose not to pay it since they choose to not give it to people who need it based on so called guidelines. I am sorry but if you work and you pay into it, then by default when you need it you should receive it instantly. I pay "X" amount of dollars into E.I. so if I need that money back then give it to me. End of story.

Sadly it doesn't work that way. I understand times are tough but when times get tough the government should not be putting people through this, it simply isn't fair and it isn't right.

What do you think?

Like why can't I find a job?

Ahhh youth. The first reason you may not be able to get a job, you answered by asking the question I replied.

Oh yeah, like that makes sense...geez. Came the reply.

I stated quite matter of factly that the whole point you may not be able to get a job is because of your constant use of the word "like". It is in no way professional and it shows your character as being somewhat, how do we put this delicately.....umm....Paris Hilton - ish.

Mind you Paris Hilton in my opinion is a genius and plays the tabloids and the celeb world like puppets...so no offense Paris, just making a point ;)

Granted right now there is less and less work available as the days go by. With more companies closing down and more and more people being laid off it is DAMN hard to find a job for pretty much everyone. Having said that you will greatly lesson your chances if you act like a stupid person.

Using terms like:

"like"

"whatever"

"Oh my God"

"totally"

etc, is cute if you are in the age group of 1- 9 because you are learning to speak. After the age of 10, if you still use these terms (outside of having fun and acting like a "Valley Girl" deliberately) will greatly lesson your chances of work and of people respecting you.

Paris Hilton for example pretty much coined the phrase "that's Hot" and she is well aware of how much it influences people if she uses that phrase to endorse something, Paris is not looking for work so she can act anyway she likes.

So, things to look at when looking for a job.

If your area has been hard hit, as most have then you may need to ride out the storm unfortunately.

There are the usual methods such as the internet, newspapers, commercials, friends and then you hit the pavement.

The trick is not to get discouraged. We are all being affected by this in some way shape or form.

A positive twist is that this could be (for some) a blessing in disguise. You may now have the time to start your own business or become a consultant, similar to running a business but a little less work. Right now consultants in my area are being sought after via word of mouth.

Remember that finding a new job will be difficult for many but it may be your Godsend.

90% of available jobs are also NOT advertised with conventional methods, so hit the pavement at least once a week if not thrice.

Look around you, do some soul searching and breathe. Then jot idea's down. Think outside of the box and get 'er done.

Like, then you could like totally get a job. Totally :)

A good deed goes very wrong

A good deed goes very very badly. I could not have dreamed this one up.

Ah, children. They love their parents and every once in awhile they do something special for their parent's. Well, sometimes the good deed becomes a serious issue. A serious financial issue.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli woman was doing a good deed for her mom. She bought her a new mattress. Nice enough, mom is getting older and a new mattress will help her sleep better, right? Not this time.

Mom's old mattress had her entire life savings in it. A tidy sum of $1 million dollars. OUCH.

They are checking landfills to find it. Good luck, especially after making it public knowledge. Not to mention fighting with the 2,500 tons of garbage arriving at the site every day.

I truly hope they find it.

Can a calculator save me? Yes. Thanks to Gail Vaz-Oxlade

I was going through some finances. You know all the gifts I get from my good friend "BILL" and started to think about what was better for me in the long run.

Is a spreadsheet the way to go?

Can a calculator save me?

Should I hire someone?

Should I simply pay the bill and forget it?

There are many things to do on this situation and so I did something I never thought I would actually do:

What did I do? The same thing that a lot of people should be doing right now with times the way they are.

I am now using:

Jars.

If you don't watch the wonderfully funny, informative and in your face television show :" Til Debt Do Us Part" hosted by the amazingly intelligent and funny Gail Vaz-Oxlade, well...you should start.

The basic idea is to get people to live for one month through a series of challenges both financially and relationship wise.

So what's with the jars?

Simple. Gail takes ALL your credit and debit cards and makes you live on cash. Not only on cash but on a set amount.

So, it seems to work for the couples on the show. As a result we (the wife and I) are going to start this and see where it goes.

Now if you don't know how to calculate what you should be doing I will give you a link along the way to show you how to set it up.

One great thing to do is go a week and write down everything you purchase. I did this and was quite disgusted with myself with the amount of money I personally spent on coffee alone. Us Canadians Love our Timmy's ;)

It amazes me how math and the beauty of compound interest can really add up.

So try these steps with a calculator ;)

1. Write all purchases down for 1 week.

2. Separate what is required and what isn't. Be Honest here. Do you really need the coffee and "pop"?

3. Now take the non essential purchase for the 1 week time frame and times it by 52. There is 52 weeks in the year n'est pas?

4. To really drive my point home. Take that total and calculate that amount of money including the interest you may have gained from a bank.

Amazing isn't it?

I am going all through the house this weekend and rolling up all of the change I found. The reason I am doing this is because on one of the episodes on "Til Debt Do Us Part" a couple found over $137.00 in change.

WOW!

What we have lying around the house could be lot's of extra cash. As the saying goes, count your pennies and the bills take care of themselves.

Here is the link to calculate how to use the Jars.

Good luck.

Question :

Could you truly live this way?

Get Your Finances Organized in 12 Steps

The Budget Planner

Thanks Gail for all you do!

Check out Gail's site here.

dn2

Details to follow.

Want to know then bookmark us, keep checking back or scroll down and join our friendly community!

Garret

This just in ufo sightings in....

This just in U.F.O sightings in

Amazingly there has been a U.F.O sighting. According to the "N.I.F.B.S" there were strange reports of odd light flashes and what appeared to be lights movinbg in a circular motion in the sky at roughly 2 am eastern time.

An unidentified source for the "N.I.F.B.S" stated that


An unidentified source for the "N.I.F.B.S" stated that there has been no solid confirmation of any sightings.

Little men were said to have been seen peering through the craft in what looked like a window or front panel type windshield.

The National Institute For Bull Sh!t spokesperson doesn't exist and neither does this story.

So why write it? Because it proves that people love the unexplained, they love something interesting and they love to be challenged.

Always research what you read, kind of like the House Hippo commercials you see on Television.

I wrote this to make a point. People love weird news and they love gossip.

Sadly, even though I have said I wrote this as a joke and to be fun and interesting there are people who will believe it even though I put in no detailed details.

If there is any real company or organization named NFIBS my apologies. I simply used the letters to make my point.

Have fun and be careful with what you read and what you believe both on and offline.

Remember playing "telephone" as kids? The story starts out one way and never ends at the last person the same way.

Hope you enjoyed this little pun.
;)

When does google trends update and how does it work?

Great questions. That's our topic for the day!

When does Google trends update and how does it work?

Google Trends is so incredible and so useful that it really amazes me that most people aren't using it to it's fullest.

This my friends will cover how Google Trends can and will benefit you. I must warn you up front however that this is going to be a fairly long post. If you don't have time to go through it all then bookmark the page and come back to it later.

If you have the time then grab a pen and paper and your beverage of choice and let's get rolling.

Ahh, the wonderful world of Google Trends.

What is Google Trends?

Google Trends allows you to compare the world's interest on any topic. You can enter several terms and see how they have been searched over time. This is an amazing tool because if you want to do a post on say "dog food" you can go to Google Trends and add the keywords "dog food" and then find out the following:

How important is the keyword

How many times has it been searched

How much competition you have for it

So, you can see just how useful this tool can be whilst trying to get some good keywords. Not to mention it can give you idea's to write about should you find yourself stumped.

Another great thing is that not only does Google show you the aforementioned it also shows you how many times that particular subject did or didn't show up in Google News. That is very helpful as it let's you know instantly if you have a winner or a dud.

Once you have this information you really can do some serious damage to your competition and get a boat load of internet traffic fairly quickly. For blogger's make sure you are signed up with Google Analytics and Google Blog Search. Very important because once you are listed in Google Blog Search you can post a blog and be listed on Google Blog Search in a very short amount of time. I have seen one of my blogs on top of Google Blog Search within twenty minutes.

How accurate is Google Trends?

They are run by the Big G, but it is still in it's infancy, it is a lab product right now, having said that even if it has a few flaws you can't beat the information that you get for a few minutes of work.

Side note: The information provided by Trends is now updated daily, and Hot Trends is updated hourly.

What languages is Google Trends available in?

Currently, it is in English and Chinese. They are working on other languages. Give them some time :)

You can also export any of the data via a CSV file located at the bottom of the page. Please note that since the news reference volume data isn’t scaled, it won’t be included in the file.

Anyone is free to use the service as long as you follow the T.O.S.

For more information on Google Trends and what else it can do for you please visit the Google Trends information page located here.

Are online message forums dangerous?

We talk about using groups and forums as links and as potential sources of traffic. It begs the question:

Are online message forums dangerous?

That is a tricky answer. They can be both safe and dangerous.

The reputable ones are safe of course, but there is always the chance that some "bad" person or people are waiting to cause problems.

The danger's could be many, someone trying to

The danger's could be many, someone trying to access your computer....a standard practice with cookies but that is normal and safe, but if someone is trying to access your computer for evil well, that's a whole new ball game.

To be on the safe side there are a few things you can do when visiting a forum or group. If you are really nervous run your spyware or anti-spam program before and after your are done your online activity and always clear your cache.

You can clear your cache in the tools option on your monitor.

Test a forum out first before you add any personal details.

I always have a specific email address for forums that is separate from my main email account unless I am active in the forum or I trust it from the beginning.

Pick a screen name in the beginning. Don't use your real name unless it is with close members whom you trust. Never give out your credit card information, no forum member will ever ask for things like that. If they do....RUN!

A final resort, I know a few people who do this, only access forums from a computer that is not your own. Use the library for example. Then your personal computer is safe at all times.

I always use forums I have been referred to by folks I trust. I personally think the safest forums are paying ones. Even if it is a buck a month....it is worth much more because the forum owner(s) are charging for the service and they don't want their reputations ruined so you can bet your bottom dollar it will be safe.

So are online message forums dangerous?

There is no yes or no answer, you need to use your personal judgment.

Happy surfing.

Photo credit.

My Internet Traffic is Gone!!

My Internet Traffic is Gone!!

This happens quite frequently and when it does most people don't even really realize it. I thought it would be an idea to give a few reason's why.

The main reason traffic vanishes, in my opinion, based on tracking is that for awhile my blog hosted server's were down. This may not seem like a big problem but it is HUGE. Folks go to my blog through a variety of methods but if the server breaks down we break down ;)

Another reason is

Another reason is that there is a really hot topic brewing on a day that I didn't bother to check Google trends. So, not only does my traffic seem to vanish I miss out on having the story of the day or at the very least being a part of it.

My personal favorite reason my traffic vanishes is when I know about it before hand. I know before hand because I am making changes to one or several of my blogs and am fully aware that I am going to pay a short term penalty for doing it. Sometimes to gain more traffic sources however we do need to make changes and sacrifices. It's all relative and all part of the internet game.

Now there a many, many more reason's for traffic to vanish. One great way and more importantly free way to monitor your traffic and keep improving it is to set yourself up with a Google Analytics account. One of the most under used and powerful tools for marketing out there. It tracks things like:

Traffic Sources

Keyword's used to arrive on your site

The average length on your site

Your bounce rate

And much, much more. It really is an absolute requirement for any website/blog owners.

The most painful reason for a drop in traffic is your site is boring to web surfers. We all think we have the best site/blog out there but what we think doesn't matter, what matter's is what the reader's want.

Before you go any further set up your Google Analytics account and check it at least once a week.

You can get one here.

If you look around the history of this blog, you will find lot's of useful articles on traffic. There are a few "nuggets" hidden for those willing to look.

Photo credits

Value in Forum.

Today I was searching the net and I came across a very interesting thread where someone was saying that there is no value in forum's.

WHAT!!!!

I don't know the person who said this but I could determine so much about him/her from that one statement it isn't funny.

He/she has NO desire to excel in life, let alone anything else.

They do not have a clue as to how to measure importance.

Finally, they must be one of if not the craziest people I have ever heard of (in a bad way)

The reason they are crazy is

Value in forum's, any forum is measured by what you put into it and learn from it.

Don't expect to go and register in an online forum and do nothing and expect it to be a valuable experience.

Don't sign up at a forum and throw your blog in there just to get a backlink, sadly I have even done this one long ago to the point that I have signed up for a few forums and been told my email is already in use.

BANG! I signed up but never got involved, well no wonder it didn't have any value for me. I didn't contribute to it, so why would I get anything out of it.

Too many times people do fly by night registrations just to have one or two questions answered. But you end up missing out on the BIG picture. Yes you can get solid information, you can also begin to network, which leads to friends, mentors and maybe a Joint Venture.

The possibilities are endless.

There is massive value in forum's. Period.

You get so much out of them. Allow yourself to spend at least one to two hours a day in them. The value that you find may just be what you need to become super successful.

Everything has some value, if you look at it in a positive manner.

Forums are no different.

Participate and learn and the value in forum's will be much, much more than you imagined.

A business with a twist.

Here is a nice little way to bring in some extra money, especially from a blog that is niche oriented or even better focuses on your community.

Get yourself set up and go door to door.

Okay this may sound off the wall but think about it for a minute.

Have you ever gone to your online newspaper and seen all of the ads they have running? It doesn't matter if they are links or standard 125 * 125 buttons. The standard monthly fee in my area is $85.00 per month with a 12 month contract. That is awesome for several reason's.

First off, almost no one gets the paper any more, they go online.

So let's say you run a website or blog about the Tennis team's in your area. Okay, just an example but now everyone who plays Tennis on those teams may well be going to your site for schedules or contacts or other general information.

Whilst they are there maybe they are thinking that they need a new Tennis racquet....see where I am going with this.

So you call up (better yet go see personally) manager's of local sports shops that sell Tennis equipment and let them no for X amount of dollars you will put up a banner or a button or link on your site to go to their shop.

Now I know what you are thinking, you can easily put up SportsCheck or some other affiliate program and not bother with the personal side of it. But here's the thing. Affiliate commissions are easy to steal from other affiliates. I am actually running a test on my blog and on a friends blog to see which is more profitable and if it proves (even remotely) that something is amiss (i.e. theft is occurring) I am removing all of my affiliate links and placing local ads up at a set price.

Do the math, if I get 20 businesses to bite which won't be too hard as I know a lot of local business owners, and I charge $85.00 a month times 20 that is $1700.00 each and every month with no chance of affiliate commissions being stolen or lost etc.

Not too bad an income for about 15 hours of work, the time to walk and drive and meet and then set up the logo's etc.

Plus it is guaranteed income. No hit and miss.

If you decide to go this route I must stress however that you get documents drawn up for contracts etc by a lawyer to be 100 percent safe and legal.

I am pretty sure I will be doing this on another blog I have already set up for a local niche in Sudbury.

Any thoughts? Click and comment.

Photo from Flickr.