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The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing: The Controversy

2008-06-24T12:40:00.005+06:00

By marketing merge

Was the '7 Lies of Network Marketing' Too Hard on the 'Old School' MLM Leadership?

The networking marketing industry and some high-income uplines are ticked off at Ann Sieg for her recent books.

Sieg is now famous for her books, The Renegade Network Marketer and The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing.

Many feel she's made a tremendous contribution, but others are down right mad.

Are they upset because they feel their incomes are threatened as people move to the new 'Attraction' model of network marketing, which is completely unfamilar territory for them?

Ann Sieg proposes to ditch the hotel meetings and names lists and to learn how to start attracting their prospects to them to build their MLM.

Less people will go to the old-school upline's trainings on 'how to prospect friends and family' ... and less people are buying their CD's on 'how to develop the belief system' necessary to do so.

Many of the growing leaders in their downlines, who once spent hundreds or thousands of dollars per year on old-school tools, are now seeking Internet Attraction Marketing Training instead.

Ann Sieg of 'The 7 Great Lies'

Should They Be Mad?

Is Their Reaction Warrented?

Did Ann Sieg cross the line somehow?

Was it unfair to criticize old-school MLM tactics?

Is it unethical in some way to highlight the negative side of old-school MLM to promote her Renegade e-book and its solutions with the new model?

We'll talk about this here in a 'discussion series' over the next several weeks.

Let us know how you feel by leaving your comments below.

Click here if you're not familiar with Sieg's report, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing.

Control-based Leadership Vs. Empowering Leadership...

There is a movement underway right now that is being headed up by some of the highest paid uplines around... they want to silence Ann Sieg... they are trying to influence the big networking companies to threaten to take away your associate position if you promote Ann Sieg's materials (and other materials that don't praise them) on your blog or web site...

This is highly unlikely as it violates 1st amendment rights and is reminiscent of Nazi Germany ...

Regardless, the hostility of this 'angry crusade' highlights the painful reality some uplines are experiencing as they watch times change. Their position as the 'guru' is slipping away.

I spent several hours today engaged in an eye-opening email exchange with one of the 'frightened uplines' who is in the $50,000+ per month range (or was). I don't think he works much anymore, but he does do an occasional 'training' where he gets pretty worked up... teaching why we should 'make' people buy our products even if they don't want to because they need it (he really teaches this... I was at his training last summer).

His Beef with Ann Sieg...

His argument is that Ann Sieg focuses too much on the negatives of the 'old school' model when she's sharing how people can Attract Prospects to Them instead.

Now I have known this wealthy upline for quite a long time. I attended his 'trainings' and purchased many of his CDs and tapes over the course of 12 years... teaching the old model of 'chase 'em down' marketing.

What I find interesting about his argument is that he, more than anyone I personally know, used a similar "negative-marketing" stragegy to motivate us to buy his stuff, and to sell our company's products.

Negative marketing isn't uncommon. Most (if not all) industries use it as a part of their strategy.

If you're with a network marketing company, chances are you have seen plenty of negative marketing in your company's DVD's, CDs and at your events.

Negative Vs. Positively Charged Marketing...

As you go down the path of Internet attraction marketing (using the Internet to attract prospects into your business) you'll discover that some marketers use 'negatively charged' messages while others choose to focus their marketing on a 'positive message.'

Famous motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, shared an observation about human behavior that helps us understand why marketers do this.

He talked about the two things that drive human behavior in every decision we make... he called this 'pain vs. pleasure.'

Robbins made a strong case for the Pain Vs. Pleasure Theory...

Robbins said that every action a person takes (from eating a 2nd peice of cake, to smoking, or buying a car) can be explained by whether or not the person perceives the action or decision will cause pain or give pleasure.

People avoid pain and do what is pleasurable.... it's pretty straight-forward, but it's important to hold this in the front of your mind when you're marketing something... even if that includes "how to get your kids to brush their teeth and go to bed without a fuss."

Avoiding Pain is the Stronger Drive...

What's interesting is that avoiding pain is a stronger drive in human behavior than wanting more pleasure.

This explains why many marketers focus on a negative message before offering the solution... because marketers know that people are more 'moved' by their drive to avoid pain than by getting something pleasurable or rewarding.

This is why I explained to my 6-year-old what bacteria can do to her gums... and how they can make a mouth look really ugly if she doesn't brush her teeth.

But is Negative Marketing Harmful?

I don't think I harmed my daughter by getting her to start thinking about what those bacteria will do if she doesn't brush her teeth.

Because hey, if I didn't think about those bacteria I would NEVER floss. Would you floss if you didn't know your teeth might fall out if you don't?

It seems there are times to use negative marketing to motivate... but are there times marketers cross the line? I think 'yes.'

But where is that line?

In business and sales, you will find that marketers approach their strategy in one or both of these 2 ways:

Focusing first on a person's pain so they can then offer a solution, vs.
Focusing on what a person wants right away and then offering the 'best' solution.

Some people feel it is harmful to use negative marketing, and in some cases I agree with them. As with all things, there is a balance and a tact.

How Negative Marketing is Commonly Used...

The Wellness Industry

In the wellness or nutritional industry you'll often see negative marketing used on brochures, DVDs or in seminars to shock people into seeing that the modern health care system can be dangerous.

Here are just some examples of negative-focused marketing used in the Wellness industry:

Health Care is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S
Cancer rates are rising
Over use of vaccination and use of antibiotics are causing permanent illness and death in children
Showing a picture of a person's 'abused' colon to make the case for using a cleansing product
Discussing all the toxins in the air that are harming your cells to then make the case for taking supplements
Hormones in our food is causing pre-mature puberty in kids
Doctors are over-prescribing medications because they get kick backs from the drug companies
Your food is harming you... you must supplement!

You get the idea.

Now here are some examples of a positive message the Wellness industry may use in marketing:

Feel better
Have more energy
Sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed
Live a longer and healthier life
Be lean and fit
Have beautiful glowing skin
Have stronger nails
Have more endurance (sports products)
Feel and look younger

Which List Hits You Harder?

If you look over those two lists you'll see right away WHY marketers often focus on people's pain first... or why they might focus on the negative things people would want to avoid before offering the solution.

The first list above grabs your attention and makes you think 'maybe I better do something.' Then, the solution is presented and you act!

Is this wrong to do?

Is it unethical or harmful to focus on the problems (negative aspects) first before offering a solution?

This will be the subject of our next article.

In the next article we'll be discussing a subject that has created an emotionally charged debate in the network marketing industry.

Ann Sieg and Her 'The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing' E-book

Coming Up Next...

In the next article, we'll discuss how Ann Sieg has used a "negative-focused" marketing approach much like we've seen marketers and companies do in the wellness industry, and other industries.

We'll discuss the ethics of this approach.

Is it harmful?

Where should we draw the line?

We'll also discuss why Ann Sieg has created such a controversy in the MLM industry, particularly from high income earning uplines.

Join in the discussion or let us hear your opinion. Share your comments with us below.

Become a member here at Hub Pages, and then become a fan so you can follow this discussion. You'll be notified when the next article is available.

Renegade University
Free Internet Attraction Marketing Training -- Learn How to Get the Prospects Coming to You

Quick Message After Reading Through all the Commnets Below

Well, this turned out to be quite a discussion!

I was hoping to hear from the disgruntled millionaire old-schooler who inspired me to create this Hub.

This article here was born out of an eye-opening (and jaw dropping) email dialogue that all started when I had emailed my list of contacts a video review on Sieg's Renegade (which is below).

I believe he's on my list, or someone forwarded him my email... because I received a very emotionally charged threat in response to my email and video... something about me losing my position in my company because I promoted Ann Sieg's book.

Now I took this as an absurd idea, and so I asked a question (after defusing my emotional charge) and out of curiosity more than anything I sought to understand where he was coming from.

20 or so email exchanges later I realized I was dealing with something that was not logic-based but that was at such an emotional level there was really no way to have a conversation with him.

But after a lot of threats and personal attacks I finally got 'some' concrete answers about why Ann Sieg's book is such a problem for him... and I encouraged him to write those issues down in here.

He said he would. I don't know if that will actually happen but it would be interesting.

In the next article here I'll take some excerpts from that email exchange I had and try to explain his point of view, as objectively as I can (not easy) to see if anyone here thinks there may be any weight to what he was trying to say.

Why is this topic important?

I feel it's important for people in the networking industry to think about this discussion in order to communicate to your prospects and team what the real issue is when they run into someone successful in the industry who is emotionally upset by Sieg's message.

My Internet Marketing Hub

2008-06-24T12:32:00.002+06:00

By Stylor32

Let's do this!

I have been an internet marketer for six months. Five of those months I was just wasting my time with no idea what to do. Finally, I found some direction and am now pulling big-time profits.

I am on here to exchange ideas with other internet marketers, let's help each other.

What I have learned that you can't treat internet marketing like an overnight sensation. You have to build it like you would any other business. Before you dive in, you need to research, research, research. The beauty of My Online Income System is that it gives you a specific direction. A precise, detailed 60 day plan that greatly reduces the guesswork pertaining to what your next move is.

Despite this being a great program, you must be willing to put the time in. You create your own success with how much time you put into your work. Some people just expect miracles, but you have to make them happen.

So let's get together and make things happen. Email me at seantaylor32@gmail.com with any internet marketing questions or comments.

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Come join my mailing list for free tools and information on a weekly basis. Just weekly, don't worry about me flooding your mailbox.

Internet Marketing Technique & Renegade University

2008-06-24T12:30:00.001+06:00

By The Rat Race Rebel

Learn How To Use Good Internet Marketing Technique at Renegade University and Build Your Business Fast on a Shoestring Budget.

Recently one of my clients asked me if it was really possible for Renegade University to teach her non-tech savvy prospects to realistically compete in the competitive online network marketing industry.

The answer is a resounding YES!

The thing to keep in mind is Renegade University (and especially Renegade Professional) teaches "Internet Marketing" technique. Not Network Marketing!

I can't stress that enough. Yes, Mike Klingler (the creator of Renegade University) is a network marketer but many folks in Renegade University are not. As you'll find out when you start the tutorials in the Renegade Professional section, Mike goes to GREAT lengths to explain that just because HIS MARKETING focuses on network marketers doesn't mean yours has to or even should.

You can use Renegade University's video tutorials on internet marketing technique to promote ANYTHING.

For example... say your company sells Nutritional and Cleaning products. You could easily gear all your content around these things never mentioning MLM at all. You could draw folks to you who like the features of your products, get them to start using them and if your products are as good as mine are once people try them they'll be hooked. These folks will then want more and want it cheaper so that means signing up etc...

Or you could target House Wives who want a little extra money working from home... Or you could target Health Nuts (and I mean that in the nicest way possible being one myself) or Athletes or Baby Boomers who want to stay fit or... or... or...

Best of all pick the thing about your company that attracted you to it. Write your content about that. If it attracted you it will attract others as well.

My point is that even though many of us do focus our internet marketing on attracting network marketers you don't have to. In fact it may be better if you don't depending on your goals.

For example my MLM company sells gourmet candles and other soy products. When I am trying to attract prospects for that network marketing business I write candle and health related articles.

One example of an off the wall way to attract people is to write something seemingly unrelated and then tie it in to what you are doing. Like my Chocolate Fondue Recipes Squidoo lens. This was written for the sole purpose of getting folks to my Chocolate Scented Candles page on Soy-Candle-Business.com and it works amazingly well.

So yes there are only 20-30 good slots on Google for any given keyword on any given day. But there are literally "Billions" of keywords out there and only a few of them contain network marketing in them.

So is it really possible for Renegade University to teach her non-tech savvy prospects to realistically compete in the competitive online network marketing industry?

Yes, because what you’re really learning at Renegade University is good internet marketing technique and with that you can market ANYTHING!

How To Build An E-Mail List That Pays You Forever

2008-06-24T12:27:00.002+06:00

By Sir Lucius

Why The List Is So Important

If you're new to Internet or Affiliate Marketing you may not be aware that the real money is in the e-mail distribution list of people interested in what you're marketing. A list allows you to build rapport with prospects, and gurus who make millions every year understand that once you have a great relationship with your customer you can sell them almost anything for any price. Building a list also gives you a lot of leverage within the Internet marketing world. You are able to follow-up with prospects, pitch new or complementary products, and even partner with other Internet marketers who will split profits with you for e-mailing your list about their product or service. If you don't ask for your website visitors opt-in email address when they visit and follow up with them or send a newsletter to them you are losing a significant volume of sales. Experts have shown that it often takes 7 or more marketing exposures before prospective customers purchase. The best part is you don't even need a large list, just people who are willing to buy. A list of 100 with 50% conversion is much better than a list of 500 with 5% conversion. Are you beginning to understand the importance of the list?

Building a list isn't difficult at all once you understand how to work smarter, not harder. In the next section I will explain the key to building a great list and the tools that enable you to build one fast. Before I continue, let me first say that you should abosultely make sure you are picking the right niche. You don't want to waste time with a niche that doesn't buy, because you'll end up frustrated and quitting a business that can forever change you and your family's lives for the better. I will highlight exactly how you can check your niche to find out if its filled with buyers in a future hub. But for now, let's concentrate on list building.

The Key Is Great Content

People will gladly give you their e-mail address if you provide valuable, useful, or helpful content. All you need to do is set-up an opt-in page with a link to an eBook, audio interview, or video. Then give it away and watch it turn into a list building machine. It really is that simple and easy. You can set-up an opt-in page in minutes, manage your list through Aweber (more on this later) and I'll explain how to create free content in the section below.

Fast Content Creation

You don't have to be an expert in your niche in order to create useful content that you can give away to build a list. One of the best ways to create an eBook, report, or other freebie is to visit a forum in your niche then create an account, introduce yourself, and ask, "What is the single most important question you have on X?" What you're doing is getting your market to tell you what content to create. Another approach is to read the message boards and find what the most common questions or concerns are. You can also post a survey telling them you are creating a product or putting together a report on "X" and you want to know what question or issue they would like addressed.

Another way to find content is to check the sales letter page of your competition or the affiliate program you've joined and look at the list of bulleted benefits the product or service claims. Turn those claims into questions by adding, "how" or "where" and voila, you've just found the major concerns of your market that can be addressed in your freebie.

Now that you have the topics you need to address, how do you get the answers?

The simple way is to head to eLance.com or Guru.com and hire an expert to write a report for you answering these questions. You shouldn't have to spend more than $250 for a simple report, and if you find that amount too high you can try finding an expert on Amazon.com. Authors might be willing to conduct a short audio interview with you answering these questions if you offer to let them plug their book or website and mention that the interview will be distributed virally all over the Internet. You can then elect to have the interview transcribed (again, hire someone on eLance.com or Guru.com) or post the audio up on your website using a service like AudioAcrobat.

Granted you do not want to create an entire product, just answer enough questions and concerns so that the information is useful, but incomplete. In order for the reader to get the complete answer he or she should purchase whatever it is you're promoting. You won't always be able to do this, just remember that if you give away all your secrets about "X" there is no incentive for your reader to buy whatever it is you're promoting.

Finding & Approaching Experts

Should you attempt to approach experts by not hiring them through eLance or Guru.com, then you should keep the followoing things in mind. To find experts try search engines, online bookstores, and forums. Create a list of experts based on the size of their list, overall respect in the industry, and star power. The key to approaching experts is to be respectful and not assume that they will actually want to help you. The two things they ask themselves when you contact them is 1) "why me?" and 2) "What's in it for me?"

The key to answering these concerns is to be genuine in your letter, or phone call to the expert. You want to be sincere in why you chose to ask them for help, and then offer them something (money, publicity, leads, website traffic, etc.) in exchange for lending their time and expertise. Do not use a "cut-and-paste" e-mail, customized it for your expert. Do not be overly assumptive and assume they need you, the truth is YOU NEED THEM. If you can, call the expert, it's much more personal and will help you stand out from the dozens of request they may get each week. If that fails try a WHOIS lookup at www.godaddy.com and find the mailing address for their website and send a handwritten letter. You may have to build rapport first before you can ask the expert for help, so be prepared to send an initial e-mail that is simply complimenting the expert on their work or impact on the industry. If they respond, use that as an opening about you the freebie you're creating to hand out.

Easy Video Creation

The future of the Internet is video. Just listen to the stats on the video to the right. Video is extremely easy to create, especially if you're using a service like TrafficGeyser. You can also create video through CamStudio, which is free, and programs like Microsoft PowerPoint (PC) or Apple Keynote (Mac). I've personally created videos in less than 1 hour using CamStudio and PowerPoint. Should you need background music I recommend MusicBakery.com. For the purpose of creating an opt-in list, you'll almost certaintly want to have it hosted on the opt-in page which is possible with a service like AudioAcrobat. However, TrafficGeyser allows you can create the video with their service and then have any one of the popular video sites such as YouTube or Blip.tv host it for free. It's very simple to paste the embed script from these sites into your opt-in page, and you also have added benefit of TrafficGeyser's distribution to the dozens of other video sites, which will allow your page to rank higer in Google.

By using video as your content, you'll do a much better job of engaging your audience and getting them to opt-in into your list. You should be certain that your video contains valuable content. A great example of how to use video effectively is over at http://www.masscontrolsite.com/blog. Keep in mind that he runs a multi-million dollar business and has the money for the fancy sound effects and music, but you get the basic idea of how much more engaging a video can be compared to an audio interview or eBook. At the end of the day, as long as your content is valuable, your users won't mind if they have to read it rather than watch it. Just know your toughest competitors are probably creating video.

Aweber Overview

Earlier in the Hub I mentioned you should use Aweber as your auto-responder. This service automates and makes list management easy:

Visitors request information from you via email or through your web site, and it is automatically delivered to them within seconds automatically
The name and e-mail address of each subscriber is automatically added to your AWeber database, saving you endless hours of data entry!
Personalized follow up letters are automatically sent to each of your subscribers at regular, predetermined intervals, building trust and rapport between you and your subscribers!
You spend more time with your family, since AWeber is doing so much of your work!
Your efficient AWeber follow up account converts subscribers into customers without intervention from you!
Save time, reduce stress, build customer loyalty, increase conversion ratios, and make more money!

Your free alternative to Aweber would be Feedburner or FeedBlitz; however, as this article points out these are not very good alternatives.

Nuture Your List

Your list is a living, breathing thing. You have to treat it well in order to reap the full benefits. If your list recognizes you as an authority AND a friend, then anything you recommend they will buy because they trust and respect your opinion. Remember that the relationship you have with your list is your most important asset, and every e-mail you send either helps or hurts your reputation. Don't pitch them bad products or services that you feel won't really help them. Would you recommend a crappy car to your best friend?

Likewise, don't spam them with useless information just to stay on their radar. Always provide them with useful content anytime you send something out. This can be as simple as a link to a YouTube video you found or an article you have written, "How To Make Money Online With No List, No Product, and No Website". If you're having trouble finding useful content or need an idea of what is considered useful I would suggest subscribing to the e-mail lists of StomperNet, Frank Kern, Ryan Deiss, Armand Morin, Eben Pagan, Jeff Walker, and other gurus. They are the best at what they do and really understand how to work a list. One thing you'll notice is that they actually just give away free information, no strings attached because they are investing in the list. They may not have anything to pitch for weeks or months, but they understand that in any successful relationship you have to bring something to the table, and not just take.

Dealing With Unsubscriptions & Nasty Subscribers

No matter how well you treat your list, someone will unsubscribe after you send an e-mail out or mark your message as "SPAM" because they were too lazy to hit the unsusbscribe button and deal with the unsubscribe confirmation page. There is nothing you can do about this because it is the nature of the beast. You should be gaining more subscribers then you are losing, if that is not the case then your content is not valuable and probably considered spam by those on your list. Go back and create better content!

Don't be put off by angry e-mails either. If you have 1000 people on a list and 5 people send you an angry letter after you send out an offer, that doesn't mean your list is mad at you. It means 5 people out of 1000 are upset. Let them go, the four or five-figure check you get was worth it. Don't waste your time with people who are being nasty. Get them out of your life and move on. They'll never purchase anything, and in the meantime you're missing out on customers who do buy and enjoy your content and offers.

Conclusion

You now know what it takes to start building an e-mail list. Do you still have questions? Just ask me me in the section below, I'll also be adding a lot more to this Hub so I look forward to any and all feedback.

Jeff Paul's Shortcuts To Internet Millions. Scam?

2008-06-24T12:21:00.003+06:00

By Keny Luger

shameless jeff paul infomercial

Jeff Paul's 3 Clicks To Cash Scam

Having gotten into internet marketing in the last year, watching Jeff Paul's informercial for his Shortcuts to Internet Millions program seemed like a joke to me.

Had I not been exposed to internet marketing, I might have bitten just for the promise of making easy money with so little work.

The truth is there are many people out there (you may be one of them) that do not have a clue how internet marketing works and I'm sure that Jeff Paul makes a tonne of money with his Shortcuts to Internet Millions program.

Ok, by now you realize that I haven't tried Jeff Paul's program...so how do I know that it is a scam?

Because I should know better! Here's why...

Wanna Learn Internet Marketing The Right Way?

The reality of internet marketing is that it can make you huge sums of money but it takes some learning and more than just 3 clicks. It is not an over night get rich system like Jeff Paul promises and takes a lot of work in the beginning. Its a real business, so to speak.

If you would like to learn internet marketing, you can sign up for a FREE 7 day course that will start you on your way to making money on the internet from home.

All you have to do is click on the link below to sign up.

Click For Honest Home Income Today

The Reality of Internet Marketing (and Why There Are No Shortcuts)

Here's why Jeff Paul's Shortcuts To Internet Millions is misleading.

There really are no shortcuts to making millions on the internet. If there was every one would already be using that system.

Sure you can make a reasonable large amount of money in a short time but without knowing the ins and outs of internet marketing then '3 clicks to cash' is highly unlikely.

Jeff makes no mention in his Shortcuts to Internet Millions infomercial of what is required to really succeed on the internet. Maybe its included in the 'package' but that doesn't give Jeff Paul the right to make false advertisement and ridicule the real internet marketers.

For example, there is a testimonial from one guy who went on a 7 day cruise after setting up his 3 clicks to cash 'business'. He came back home after 7 days and found that he had made $437,000!

What's Wrong With That Picture?

It takes more than 3 clicks to set up a real money making system. Some of the thing to consider are (If I list more than 3 that pretty much says it):

Choosing your own unique domain name or website address. This can run you anywhere from $1 - $15. It has to be short and catchy so people remember. Omitting this step means that Jeff probably gives an address for your use which means he owns it and not you.
Setting up webhosting - Your site has to be hosted in order for people to see the pages on your site. Again if Jeff offers this then you do not own your business.
You have to find a market - You have to find something to promote which your site will be based solely on. Researching this alone can be very troublesome to some marketers.
You have to develop content that is unique and persuasive - people just don't pull out their credit cards because they see what they want on a webpage.
You have to find visitors - build it and they will come doesn't work on the internet. You cant just set up a site, leave it for 7 days and expect to make half a million dollars.
You'll either have to be on the first page of Google or spending money to get visitors to your site.

If all of this is included in the package somehow, then Jeff Paul or any other sane marketer isn't going to charge you $39.99 - $60 to get their system.

I pay $30/month for my internet marketing training which is well worth the money as I make far more than that and get a lot of value and know enough to see right through Jeff Pauls Shortcut to Internet Millions scam infomercial.

Recommended Programs That Work

Wealthy Affiliate Internet Marketing University

This internet marketing 'school' is perfect for those that know absolutely nothing about internet marketing and for advanced marketers. It offers a balanced training that is tailored to your level of experience and a forum where you can get help with any subject or problem that you face.

Wealthy Affiliate cannot create your success for you. You are the one who has to create your own success. Wealthy Affiliate just offers the tools and the resources which are top notched and A1 support to help you achieve your success. Success is very common at Wealthy Affiliate - in fact there's a whole forum dedicated to just success stories and many members are making upwards of $10,000 per month.

Click here to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate

Holly Mann's Honest Riches

This is an easy to follow program for person's who want to learn internet marketing. Holly Mann prefers to do things the honest way. No over hyped earnings...no ridiculous promises. Just her honest experiences.

Only 25 yrs old, Holly Mann will show you how she makes $12,000.00 per month. These are realistic earnings for anyone involved in internet marketing. It doesn't happen overnight and you can earn way more than this but at least Holly doesn't go the Jeff Paul route.

What Network Marketing and America Going In The Wrong Direction Have In Common

2008-06-24T12:15:00.003+06:00

By Cheryl C McNeil

According to the latest polls 81% of Americans believe our country is headed in the wrong direction. The high percentage set a record of the polls that started back in the early 1990's with the New York Times/CBS News polls. Some of my thoughts on why so many believe our country is on the wrong track.

Many Americans that were not affected in the early part of the war with Iraq have now lost jobs, businesses and homes. 78% of the respondents to the polls believe our country is worse off than 5 years ago with only 4% believing it is better off than 5 years ago. The 4% in my opinion have misguided notions of where the country is headed. With talk of recession and the possibility of another depression in our great country it is obvious we are not headed in the right direction.

Many people in America have turned to working from home. The truth is that there is a 95% failure rate in that market. The reasons why are as obvious as why the country is headed in the wrong direction; leadership and being given the wrong information.

Drawing a comparison between the track America is on and network marketing may not be as strange as you think. Working from home can be an enjoyable experience when one has the proper tools. When our country is on the right track; people flock to America to live the American dream.

Working from home gives me the opportunity to talk with many people daily. I hear time and again they are looking for an opportunity but can not afford to join a company as they are on the verge of losing all they have. They have become mistrustful of anyone with a solution to their problem, with good cause I might add.

For too long the top 5% of network marketers have had their way. They have owned the industry, become rich off of those that love the concept but have no idea of how to successfully build their business. With this elite few withholding crucial information to your success it is no wonder network marketing has been getting such a bad rap.

Network marketing is a great source of free enterprise. Where else can you own your own business for under $100. If you have ever looked into buying a franchise from McDonalds or another fast food chain you know it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Most of the top 5% in network marketing do not give up their secrets to success. This has never made sense to me as the success of the team could make them and their team millions of dollars. The simple truth is when you and others like you have had enough and decide to leave their team, they have already made plenty of money from you and have ten more to fill the slot you leave vacant, it becomes a revolving door, some go in, others go out, next...

Having a great desire for my success, I was not going to be held back and was determined to find my way. I quit listening to the lies I was being told; buy more leads, get your warm market involved, talk to everyone you meet, it goes on and on.

The truth is those advising you to buy leads are most likely getting a kick back from the lead vendors. Your friends and family probably aren’t speaking to you anymore after you have led them through a dozen or so companies. Walking up to total strangers about a business opportunity is crazy as they will most likely look at you as if you have lost your mind. When you think of it, most jobs require an interview to make sure there is a good fit. We don’t want just any Tom, Dick or Harry on our team, we choose to pick those that fit our value system, those that are like minded.

I am putting together a team of people just like you and me, that are committed to your success as well as their own. No lies here, we choose to make money from home. The difference is we want you to make money also. We do not claim to be experts, nor do we want to charge you thousands of dollars to build your business.

When the movie The Secret came out it reached publicity heights that astounded me. What bothered me about this movie is the same thing that bothers me about being lied to by the network marketing gurus. They left out the fact that you must take action to achieve what you desire. It is not coming to you by sheer desire. Why was that fact left out? Look on the internet, now they are making millions teaching those willing to spend the money that you must take action. Chances are there will be something major left out once again so that next year they can charge to teach you that. Most of what you pay for can be found for free on the internet for those willing to do the research.

Your choices are these; spend up to $15k to goto a week long seminar or do the research yourself. It takes many hours a day finding the facts. There is another choice. You could attend our free weekly webinars which will begin by the first of July. We have done the research so you don’t have to. Come with your questions, we welcome them. We will be doing radio shows on Blog Talk Radio also covering the same subjects. For those wanting to take advantage of our offer leave a comment with your information so we may contact you.

If you are tired of being lied to, take action now to make the changes needed. Like a pot of soup, with the right ingredients you accomplish your goal.

Cheryl C McNeil

How I Got An Internet Marketing Education

2008-06-24T12:12:00.001+06:00

You Can Use Internet Marketing As A Home Business

Above is an image we all have of our home office. From this office we all want to run our internet marketing home business. We read the blogs, ebooks and websites some have the "actual" photos of their earnings. And we think if I could just make a quarter of that money, I would be able to improve my lifestyle. Pay for a full tank of gas without feeling like I will not have money to eat for the next week!

As I have began to really study the internet and home business I find that making money is what we all want and but the real or complete information is never given in the package. And after you purchase the money making teaser package for anywhere between $7 to $27, you then hit the upsell one time offer(OTO) page with more of how to make money with your home business for $17 to $97 for complete access to what you really want.

But after purchasing the teaser package I am now skeptical or unwilling to part with anymore money. Now comes the emails with the limited time offer(LTO) priced at $37 up to $197! Imagine that! If I had a product that I could make $197 on, I would be able to post photos of my earnings also! What I needed was actual techniques and real strategies that would make the internet marketing of my home business profitable. What I needed was an education, a mentor, the actual facts of how to use internet marketing for a home business.

There are many products out there about internet marketing and I have purchased many but none have produced any results like the Rich Jerk's. This product has been on the market for at least a year maybe more. I had seen it but did not like the way it was presented. Here is what I learned:

"NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER"

The information that was in the ebook was an education for me and with it I began to make money with some information products that I was already trying to earn money with. Not from sending emails to unknown people on GotSafeList. But by building a website that brings visitors and building it so that it is monetized to make money. Nine chapters that give REAL techniques or strategies that work and can be duplicated over and over again. I used the Adsense strategy on my websites and make real money from the Adsense click thrus.

By applying some of the strategies within the Rich Jerk's materials, I have increased my income by a $100 each month. There is more profit to be made once I add a few more and then build more profit centered websites.

My advice read the websites that you visit about internet marketing products to see if they have any educational value for your home business.

Increase On Line Traffic - Don't Buy Targeted Website Traffic...Get Targeted Visitors For FREE!

2008-06-24T12:09:00.001+06:00

A Sure Fire Way To Increase Your On Line Traffic

It doesn't matter if you are new to internet marketing or not, everyone wants to learn as many ways as they can to increase on line traffic.

Without traffic, you obviously aren't going to be making any money, and not making any money is not an option. In this article, you will find several ways to increase your on line traffic.

You'll find a few sure fire way to increase traffic to your website in the information below. The strategies I will be discussing below will require some time, so it's important you set aside a certain amount of time to work on these website traffic strategies.

If you only have 1 hour a day to work, don't worry, day by day it will accumulate into 7 hours a week. Don't feel that you don't have the time because success comes when you work for it.

All you have to do is follow the suggestions below and you will increase your on line traffic in no time.

One of the best ways to increase on line traffic is through blogging. Blogging will allow you to the opportunity to write about anything you choose and have others read about your topics. Not only that, adding content to your blog will give the search engine spiders a chance to keep your blog in the rotation.

One way to bring traffic to your blog is by writing articles and then submitting them to article submission directories. When submitting articles to directories, you can place your blog link within your profile and the readers of your articles will see the link to your blog. After you create an article you can submit it for free to to several directories with just 1 click of your mouse at http://www.articlemarketer.com/submit.php

Also consider placing your articles containg links to your blog on high traffic authourity site like http://hubpages.com, http://squidoo.com. And last but not least you can make a few extra bucks by submitting the to http://associatedcontent.com.

Another way to increase you on line traffic through blogging is by visiting other blogs that interest you. After visiting other blogs leave a comment about the subject of the post . While leaving your comment don't forget to leave a link to your blog so other readers can vist your blog.

The third and final way you can you can increase your on line traffic is by using social networks. After you have posted an article on yur blog, created a hub on hubpages, a lens on squidoo, or an article on associated content visit http://socialmarker .com. Socialmarker.com is a free tool that will dramtically reduce the time it takes to socially bookmark your site at social bookmarking sites.

There it is. Just repeat the steps that I have outlined in this article and you will increase your on line traffic in no time. And the best part is it only takes time and not money!

----------

Marcus Clayton is an internet marketer you has learned the secrets that has allowed him to increase his on line traffic over 600,000 visitors to his website and blogs every year....without using any form of pay per click search engine inteernet marketing. To learn more about some of secrets you can visit his

His Blog At http://traffic-tools-tips-and-resources.blogspot.com/

More Website Traffic

2008-06-24T12:07:00.001+06:00

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Secrets To Traffic - A Real Guide

2008-06-24T12:05:00.001+06:00

The evident truth is that it's very difficult to get quality hits and traffic to your site. If you've been promoting sites for a while, you already know this. If you're a new Webmaster, you'll soon determine this fact. You can spend tons of money to buy listings in Google, Yahoo and MSN etc. You can waste lots of time optimizing your pages, and so on. It's so hard because you have to either outspend or outwork your competitors by getting massive links. You're fighting against people who are master marketers, great programmers. You're going up against companies that have immense resources — money to outspend you, programmers to outwit you, relationships to outflank you.

Now, I'm not offering you a magic bullet. There aren't any tricks that actually work to get "thousands of hits overnight". But I will tell you the most important techniques to generate solid traffic. See, I've been promoting sites on-line for close to 10 years. I started the largest on-line ad agency in the Northwest. I've developed sites for Molson, Levi's, Columbia Records, Visa, etc. I've conducted guerrilla campaigns for small and large Web sites alike. I can tell you how the "little guy" — small Web sites with limited budgets — can get much more traffic than larger sites.

That's the great thing about the Internet — with a little smarts, you can outfox your bigger competitors. This site offers my manual, Secrets of Traffic, to help you generate hits to your Web site or affiliate URL. I've boiled down everything I know to the 12 most important, most essential techniques to raise traffic.

You'll learn what you must do tonight to start getting real visitors. How to get listed in search engines. And how to get better search engine listings. What you need to do to get traffic from Yahoo! and how to get other people to work for you to generate traffic to your site.

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Dealing with Cellphones in our Classrooms

2008-05-19T12:47:00.003+05:00

This is an issue all teachers and administrative have to deal with these days. By one side is the students that argue they really need to be in touch with the outside world while they're in class and by the other, the teachers that think they are being violated in their privacy. Nobody is unaware of the bullying among students and of course the mocked teachers what what we have here is a new generation of grow ups and teen who had been born in techie environment. Most of schools are banning the use of cell phone while in its grounds, some other have strict rules for such devices.

The problem is some of our students are tapping teachers activities for very short period of time which creates a (distortioned) image of the classroom teacher. Let's look at the experiment conducted by Kevin Metcalf who happens to be teaching at North Rockland High School in Thiells, N.Y. He tries an experiment with his students. He asks them to whip out their cellphones —whose use is otherwise forbidden in the classroom under school rules— while he puts his head down on his desk for a second and acts as though he’s doing nothing. He then asks them that if they were to take a picture and put it on YouTube, what would people think of his teaching?

He'd got answers like ‘lazy,’ and ‘doesn’t care.’ He tries to explain his students he would be judged by their peers on one second of a 45-minute class. The experiment, he says, brings home to the students how such an action could misrepresent the truth and have serious consequences for someone. And this is not a threatening situation. Imagine how distorted might become an issue inside the classroom if an student just tapes seconds of a disruptive class?

Now, I am not against use of technology because we already are way ahead of the counterculture of the 6O's where the youngsters were thinking the computers were about to replace men. I am part and I am living the cyberculture generation (G-gen) and of course we have to learn and teach how to use technology in classrooms, we've moved beyond projectors and VHS. Now we have very small and reliable devices to register any kind of information. We do have to allow our kids to use their cell phones but we have to teach them no how to operate them because they might the teachers in that particular situation but, show them the consequences of not using it properly. How their very own safety is involved, their families, their loved ones and even their friends.

Once they learn the consequences it will be up to them. We all know (they too) the consequences of violating safety regulation, the secrecy of our personal acts and the power involved in having a device emitting short waves to highest frequencies. Unfortunately, according to Vaishali Honawar and his post Cellphones in Classrooms Land Teachers on Online Video Sites points to two cases in Court: Evens v. L.A. Unified School District; and, Roberts v. Houston Independent School District.

From those two cases we can conclude that only whether students refer to threatening comments, a Judge will pay attention to a teacher's complain. Legislation vary according to each state but the variety of issues with cellphones in schools, the United States, legal experts say, school districts tend to ignore videos that are simply embarrassing to a teacher, but do act when they find that the taping is a threat to the school or teacher or is disruptive to learning. The court holds that a teacher must always expect public dissemination of his or her classroomcommunications and activities.

A have a kid in 5th grade and he's not using a cellphone yet but I am about to give him one for Christmas and he knows how to use the lap top and links perfectly with YouTube. My question is: Will a fellow teacher feel ashamed if my kid shoots a photo and posts it on YouTube, modified or unmodified? It will be hard for the school to show disruption just because of it. We are talking about First Amendment speech here.

For more contributions read: [http://education.ning.com] or [http://dww.ed.gov]

Advocating a better education system for the 21st. century

2008-05-19T12:45:00.001+05:00

This is the subtitle the author has been using in her page Change Agency. Stephanie Sandifer is a professional in education working in the southern Houston. I wasn't reading my subscriptions lately and I haven't realized how much information our mind had lost. We are followers of what Change Agency publishes everyday!

What today caught our attention was the dynamics of this page: interesting post links for teacher's business, introduction of new hand-on experiences, quotes, etc. Et al.

teh i11it3r4t3 o teh 21 c3ntury w0nt b th0s3 wh0 c4nt r34d & wr1t3 but th0s3 wh0 c4nt 134rn un134rn & re134rn

Why should we quote like this? Don't ask me, ask her!

Stephanie has being talking about interesting experiences that we believe every teacher should be paying attention, it's no matter of vanish some technology tools or application but how we teach them and a different approach how we are using the technology in education. Read her IMing experience.

Do you know what is the Ghost Walk concept? Well, let us ask again Stephanie Sandifer.

Don't leave yet. The most interesting topic still coming. Did you ever happen to use Google Doc in the classroom? I'm not. I do have this application in use but for other business than education. Follow the mob and for any reason miss this screencast that explains everything!

The Economist Debates Education -K12Online07

2008-05-19T12:42:00.001+05:00

Education is a resource every country should pay close attention and the next moth two events are coming and are related to the Educational businesses. BizDeansTalk speaks of a The Economist organizing what they called Debate Series, five propositions have now been short-listed to address the most far-reaching and divisive aspects of the education debate: the place of foreign students in higher education; the position of corporate donors; and the role of technology in today's classrooms. The highest ranking propositions will be debated, with the first launching on Oct 15th.

The following are the propositions:

1. This house believes that the continuing introduction of newtechnologies and new media adds little to the quality of mosteducation.
2. This house proposes that governments and universities everywhereshould be competing to attract and educate all suitably-qualifiedstudents regardless of nationality and residence.
3. This house believes that companies donate to education mainly to winpublic goodwill and there is nothing wrong with this.
4. This house believes that the "digital divide" is a secondary problemin the educational needs of developing countries.
5. This house believes that social networking technologies will bringlarge changes to educational methods, in and out of the classroom.

In the other hand, October 8th, the k12 Online Conference 2007 is coming. I wasn't tagged but I would love to spread the word of mouth and list my three reason why I might be in such a conference:

1. Opportunities to meet new educational big tanks.
2. Learn at your own pace, in your own space.
3. Is your school district offering professional development at this level?

There might be more (there are for sure) reasons to attend. Welcome all educators.

How to validate online information?

2008-05-19T12:41:00.000+05:00

It comes as a subject in Wesley Fryer' page. And it has to be with the approach Mr Obama just had to the popular Flickr. How do we know whether Obama is really behind that account? Yes, we know he's many people to help him out but as Fryer says, we can go to his page and verify effectively there is a link to his Flick account. So, no spoof at this point. However, in school how these kids and students can learn to validate this kind of info?

If one or more of your current or past students created a “spoof page” purportedly made by you on any social networking website, how would others be able to verify whether or not it was truly yours? Do you have a personal website where you link to other websites you maintain and have actually made? I know most teachers don’t, but should they? It’s an interesting question to consider.

Until then follow Wesley suggestion: check back with The Quality Information Checklist.

Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsability

2008-05-19T12:38:00.002+05:00

One thing almost all parents lack, is the great oportunity parents have to visit their son's schools and what a better opportunity to go and have meeting and chats with the teachers during the American Educacion Week scheduled to beging on November, 12th.

You should pay attention to this report: Childrens, Family, and Media: A Benchmark where the awarded Michael Cohen Group(Research & Consulting) arrive to interesting conclusions related to the Digital Divide in American Schools. A round of questions were answered during a chat-interview conducted by Janelle Callahan, associate of the EPE Research Center. What would it be you best answer for the following question:

Far too often teachers and school leaders assume that students have access to computers and the internet at home. Typically, homework and projects now require easy access to computers and the internet (even in the primary grades). Without it, low income students are "left behind." Not only do they earn poorer grades, they become "marginalized" early on...because they recognize that they are different. Can you suggest some realistic solutions, given the reality that income still dictates whether or not resources are available in homes and communities. -Annette Clayton, Lead School Social Worker, Newport News Public Schools.
Everyone outside US thinks we here don't have poverty or social issues, that everything seen and taught in the American society should be imitated. Far from the real thing! The Cohen Group points: "this study serves as a benchmark, allowing us to measure change over time for years to come. Identifying change in dynamics such as media ownership, media use, and preferred content provides an invaluable tool for researchers, policy makers,educators, and others.

"The results as they say, confirm mine/ours collective sense that media is increasingly integral to family and personal life. These are the five outstanding research conclusions:

1) A wide range of media and media technologies are owned and utilized by familiesand young children.
2) Families and individuals at every economic level participate in media andtechnology ownership and use.
3) There are differences in the incidence of ownership by income level for somemedia, particularly in more expensive and emerging media technologies that areless commonly found at lower income levels. Other technologies enjoy nearuniversal penetration.
4) Ownership and involvement in media and technology is about both affordabilityand perceived value(s); not everyone necessarily wants all media.
5) The use of media—or the functions that media technologies serve—is similaracross the income spectrum. Once owned, there is little variation in how thesetechnologies are used.

Exposure: Hispanic Students Don't Have the Same Oportunities as White Ones

2008-05-19T12:37:00.001+05:00

The problems comes reflected of what's going on in society. Minorities for example can be heard throughout Radio or TV because big companies own such channels of distribution and then only people with those very same interest can use the waves to transmit messages to the consumers. Univision es a very large hispanic network but is the only one and it doesn't cover more than the 37 millions of hispanics in the US. How an black or Hispanic person can own a radio or channel of TV if they don't have the money to compete with big networks as MSNBC or any of the only six proprietors of the american opinion?

That's what happening in schools. A recent analysis of 93,845 public school enrollment data by the Pew Hispanic Center revealed some interesting findings. The Center examined ethnic make up in public schools between 1993-94 and 2005-06 and discovered that while non Hispanic white students were less isolated from minority students black and Hispanic students became a little more isolated from non Hispanic white students.

I would like to hear for example how many students from hispanic roots and studying in public school are trained in how to run a blog as an academic tool and what willbe the benefits of having a blogroll in one side of such a page. I would also like to get information of what will the impact on academic development if those same students learn how to optimize the observation and analysis of educational videos produced in YouTube but through the Firefox extention called, Better YouTube.

I have to say that in some cases from my very own experiences the parents had deep responsability on this matter. If kids spent more time with parents, if they were able to help them with homework, if they spend quality time with their family; hispanic students will outerperform those insolated ones in a very short time. Let us know your opinions.

Teaching how to read and write in different modes

2008-05-19T12:36:00.000+05:00

Pushing Writing Literacy from W. Richardson says all:

I always ask how many of the teachers in the room are teaching their students to read and write in different modes, in hypertext, with art and photos, in audio and video, using all of them combined. I’m surprised if I get more than a hand or two going up.

Students are in charge of their own learning. Period!

2008-05-19T12:34:00.001+05:00

I just got the report for the first marking period and after checking out percentages of my son I came to the conclusion that being a 10 years old kid, he's in charge of what he wants to learn. I know, many of you might be saying: yeah alright! Of course as David Warlick points out, our kids now are using the internet in a very different way that we were familiar 5-10 years ago:

Today, however, our children seem to be spending more time interacting in their social networks, and, in my opinion, discovering and even inventing new ways to learn through those interactions. But we don’t understand this.

However, the older generation still thinks of resourceful and ruthless process of learning. What about those kids without the computers, do they have to fall behind in knowledge just because the lack of skill and resources when other people don't even know what to do with their computers? We do have to rely on internet and our kids socialnetworking skills but please do not forget about those families without internet access or even those poor kids worldwide.

Books, Magazines, Newspapers and more

2008-05-15T10:59:00.006+05:00

I've illustrated children's books intended for both public release and in-house use by organisations working directly with children, as well as comic books, newspapers, and more personal projects. The results have always been very well received all round.

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2008-05-10T16:55:00.001+05:00

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5 Ways to Attract More Comments

2008-05-10T15:36:00.003+05:00

Posted by Ben Cook:

One of the easiest ways to find out how well your blog is reaching people is to look at the level of comments. Are people interacting on your site? Are they actively participating with you and your content or are they just consuming (reading) and moving on? The comment level on this blog seems to mimic a wave but overall, I’m pretty happy with it. However, if you’re not satisfied with the current number of comments on your blog, here are 5 ways to Attract More Comments.

5. Make them:
Regular readers of this blog will probably eventually get sick of hearing this (if you’re not already) but commenting on other blogs really is one of the most effective and worthwhile activities in blogging. When it comes to attracting more comments on your blog, it once again makes the list. By commenting on other blogs you demonstrate that you’re an active participant in the blogging community. It implies that you see the value in the types of discussions that occur on blogs because, after all, if you didn’t you wouldn’t be commenting. Also, it’s basically an ice breaker. Even in this rather anonymous online world, people are often nervous about interacting with a new person. By commenting on other blogs, you initiate the conversation. Something as simple as “Hi, I just found your site via ____ and I’m really enjoying it.” can often lead to multiple comments on your blog as well as a new reader or subscriber.

4. Reward them:
Someone once said that to get anyone to do anything, you have to show them the benefits. I’m probably butchering some great marketing genius’ advice but the point is, if there’s a benefit to the action, people are a lot more likely to do it. So, applying that idea to blog commenting, it stands to reason that if you openly reward those who comment on your site, you’ll generate more comments! This can take all sorts of forms, but the easiest and most obvious is the Top Commentators plugin. The plugin has been covered at length on several different blogs so I’m not going to get too far into it but basically you reward your most frequent commentators with a link on your site.

Another method of rewarding comments, and something I try to do on this blog as often as possible, is to highlight a comment in your post. Whether you’re answering a question directly, or a comment inspired you to discuss a certain topic, it’s a chance for you to openly thank and reward someone that leaves a comment. The more ways you can display this type of behavior, the more likely people will be to comment on your posts. Why? Because they can clearly see the benefit in doing so.

3. Bait them:
Take a quick look at the list of “Most Commented Posts” for this blog and you’ll see two examples of posts that inherently elicit responses from readers. Any type of controversial post or topic is a fantastic opportunity to generate comments on your blog. Not only does controversy generate more traffic and more links, but it almost always generates more comments. Whether people agree with you, or disagree with you, most will feel the need to weigh in on the issue. Once that happens, just sit back and watch your comment numbers grow. Not only will people begin to support or argue your point, they’ll also begin to engage each other and spawn whole new conversations and topics for debate. Despite what you may think of his blog, John Chow has been a master of this. He’ll throw a post out there and then some idiot like myself will decide to weigh in. Before you know it, you’ve got a handful of people attacking your point, and (hopefully) a handful of people defending you! Bottom line? If you can touch a nerve, you’re guaranteed to get a comment (or 20).

2. Respond to them:
This point seems fairly obvious but you’d be surprised how many bloggers seem to forget about it. If you want to attract more comments on your blog, you absolutely MUST let people know that you’re hearing them. If someone leaves a comment on your blog, respond to it! Thank them for it, answer their question, or just simply continue the discussion. However you go about it, let them know you read and appreciated their comment. Personally I try to respond to as many comments as I can, but I make it a point to interact with someone the first time they comment. The Comment Relish plugin helps with this by automatically generating a response to a new commentator, but I try to take it even further and respond on the blog as well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve commented on a blog and come back to find absolutely now acknowledgment of it. Did the blogger see it? Did they not like my comment? Are they not actively blogging anymore? All those questions usually lead to me not commenting again and I’m not alone in that. If you want more comments on your blog, be sure to respond to the ones you do get.

1. Ask for them:
Once again a fairly obvious point, and yet, still the most effective way I’ve found to attract more comments is to simply ask for them. At the end of a post, ask for your readers’ feedback. Let them know their input is appreciated. If you can also highlight the benefits of commenting that we discussed in point 4, even better. This doesn’t have to be some big long plea for comments, it can be something as simple as “What do you think?” or “If I missed anything, let me know!” Darren Rowse of ProBlogger and Chris Garrett of Chrisg.com are experts at this. At then end of most posts they have some sort of call to action prompting their readers to comment and it’s easy to see the results of their efforts. I think of it kind of like a speech or a presentation. You write your post which presents the idea or the concept or your opinion, and once you’re done you open it up for questions or comments. If you never turn over the floor so to speak, you’re not likely to get nearly as many comments.

So there you have it, 5 Ways to Attract More Comments. As you saw there’s not some secret sauce or special formula to it. In fact, many of these things are common sense, but I’ve found a lot of times it’s the simple things we struggle the most with. For example, I’m sure other bloggers have written on this subject and I’ve probably read one or all of these points before. However, while writing this up I realized I’d done a poor job in a couple of these areas recently and the number of comments reflects that. So even if you’ve heard it all before, I hope you benefit from this little refresher as much as I did in writing it.

If you have any tips or suggestions for other ways to attract more comments, let us know in the comments below. After all, not only do I make use of the Top Commentators plugin, but you never know when I’ll turn your comment into the focus of a whole new post!

Students: A Way to Relief Yourself from Stress

2008-05-10T15:34:00.002+05:00

The internet has opened up more possibilities, and this includes well-thought out essays that can give an edge in accomplishing school demands.CustomEssays offers order essay service that can be customized to the topic that you have in mind. Just pick a topic, and provide all the necessary details and instructions, and their professional writers can simply do the writing essay task.For students, this means no more sleepless nights, less stress, less worries and a more balanced lifestyle.Thus, CustomEssays is able to write topics in various genres. A student can work with a good writer in having a crucible essay that he can call his own.

Writing custom essay

2008-05-10T15:31:00.002+05:00

Does your assignment contain writing Persuasive Essay? But you don’t really know how to do it then visit masterpapers.com. They have experienced and dedicated group of professionals and capable academic writer offering unique writing services to all their clients. Apart from finishing your work according to the schedule at invincible quality they further give you full guarantee that the writing work will be done according to your specifications only. In fact, you can visit them for any type of Essay Help . Master papers also expertise in writing Custom Essay and dissertation proposal. If you require more information, do visit website and contact their 24×7 customer support that are waiting to help you.

Top 6 Dieting Mistakes Women Make

2008-05-10T15:27:00.006+05:00

It seems to me, there’s no woman among friends of mine who have never tried to lose weight by dieting. I myself heard the word “diet” already in my childhood. I remember my mom eating only boiled meat or only drinking kefir during the whole day to become slimmer. She read about such diets somewhere in a newspaper or they were recommended by her friends. But did my mom do this the right way? And do you do it correctly? Here are top 6 mistakes women make while dieting. I hope, you can correct them.

Dieting Mistake 1. Dieting without Doctor’s Consultation

Never start a new diet without an expert’s consultation. Every organism is unique and has its own peculiarities, this is why the diet which made your friend slim is not necessarily going to make you lose a lot of excess weight, too. When choosing a diet, take into consideration the peculiarities of your health and environment: weight, age, profession and so on. The causes of your excess weight may be different as well. Some people gain weight only because of a wrong diet, while some may be ill, which makes them obese.

Dieting Mistake 2. Eating Only Unvaried Food

There’re a lot of myths about how nice it makes one lose weight, if they eat only buckwheat, for example. Any diet containing unvaried food is very dangerous, as it makes your body receive only a certain set of vitamins and minerals, while it still needs other ones, too. Extremely dangerous are those diets excluding animal proteins, that is, meat. If you have decided to become vegetarian, start eating vegetable food very carefully. Make sure, that your body receives enough iron. Dairy products are of vital importance, as they provide your body with calcium. Imagine, what can be said about starvation diet. Remember, that lack of food can do a lot of harm to your body.

Dieting Mistake 3. Trying to Lose Weight Only by Dieting

This is a big mistake to believe, that it’s possible to lose weight, if you only diet. Well, you can probably lose some kilograms, but you will gain them back, as soon as you stop your diet. A thin body can be achieved only by combining dieting with physical exercises, as well as changing your way of life. It’s not so important, what you eat and how much of it you eat. Pay more attention to how much you move. So, you need both a healthy diet and a healthy living.

Dieting Mistake 4. Combining Dieting with Stresses

Avoid stresses. There’re lots of people, who may lose their temper and start eating everything they see exactly in stress situations. If you notice such behavior of yours, it’s a problem for dieting. Don’t start dieting, if you’re not sure you will be able to complete what you’ve started.

Dieting Mistake 5. Losing Too Much Weight Too Quickly

Don’t strive for losing as much kilograms as possible as soon as possible. One could lose flesh during the first month due to the lack of excess water in the body. But loosing more than 3 kilograms in one month can be dangerous for your health. If it happens, your body loses non-fatty tissues as well as fatty ones, which is inadmissible.

Dieting Mistake 6. Combining Various Diets

Don’t try to combine different diets. One weightloss method can contradict another one. And combining such diets may be harmful to your health.

Remember, that after dieting for some period of time and achieving a slim bodyhealthy dieting and exercising. So, take some time for regular physical exercises and take care of what you eat over the period of your entire life. you were striving for it’s possible to gain all your kilograms back, if you stop

Unhealthy Foods Can Be Healthy

2008-05-10T15:27:00.005+05:00

Today many people take care of their health. We try to eat less and avoid eating some foods, which are regarded to as unhealthy. Such ones are junk food, sweets, fried foods and so on. The consumption of some of the food we think is unhealthy should be restricted, such as pork (as it contains a lot of fat) and eggs (as they are rich in “bad” cholesterol). Some should be not consumed at all, such as coke. Some foods we just try to avoid, as we are sure, they can make us fat and unhealthy, but these foods are in reality not so bad and can even do you good. Here are some of them.

Red Meat

100 grams of beef contain 129 kilocalories and 4,5 grams of fat, while the same 100 grams of chicken also have 129 kilocalories and 4,5 grams of fat. At the same time beef contains three times more iron and four times more zinc, which are needed by your body.

Ice-cream

It has occurred, ice-cream is digested slowly, this is why one needs only a little ice-cream to feel satiated for a long time. Choosing from various diets, note, that a scoop of ice cream (75 grams) contains 114 kilocalories and 6 grams of fat, while a usual cheese bun contains 511 kilocalories and 43 grams of fat.

Butter

Some people don’t eat butter at all to prevent some diseases, while it’s so beneficial to our health. In reality you can’t eat a lot of butter, for example, you would need only a little butter for a sandwich, that is, 8 grams of fat, which won’t, of course, cause a cardiovascular disease immediately. Butter is one of the rarest foods containing vitamin В and beta-carotene – antioxidant, which is healthy for your heart and lungs.

Mutton Kebab

Strange as it may seem, a portion of kebab is one of the “safest” fast foods. One portion contains 232 kilocalories and 6 grams of fat, while a standard hamburger has 250 kilocalories and 8 grams of fat.

Most foods we know can be both healthy and in some cases cause illnesses. Moderate consumption of various kinds of foods can be beneficial to your health. Don’t overeat and make sure your body consumes enough necessary vitamins, minerals and other healthy substances with food you eat.

Cereals Prevent Breast Cancer

2008-05-10T15:24:00.000+05:00

Most women trying to be thin and lose weight don’t eat bread. But in reality coarse meal bread and whole grain bread can reduce the risk of breast cancer in young women. This has been found due to a seven-year study of 35000 women. According to the researchers, 350 patients developed malignant breast tumor before menopause. All of them consumed food rich in proteins instead of fibers. As a result, this type of diet was one of the causes of breast cancer. Pr. Janet Cade from University of Leeds claims, that nutrition can have a dramatic impact on cancer development in young women.

The researchers did not find the link between diet and breast cancer for older women, but before menopause particular diets contribute to breast cancer. This means, that those preferring healthy food rich in fibers are less likely to develop breast cancer. To prevent breast cancer eat cereals, muesli, grains, bread, pasta, fruits and vegetables, as they are rich in fibers.

Blue Shade Glasses to Lose Weight

2008-05-10T15:22:00.002+05:00

Hey, don’t go to the kitchen! Stop! Don’t open the fridge, no-nooo! Please, stop it. No, please, not the cake and not the coke. At least not now – it’s 10 p.m. already. Hey, put it back right now! Close it! What about your figure? Don’t open your mouth! Don’t eat it!
Don’t!
No!
NOOOO!

Sometimes you just can’t resist eating a cake, chips or some fried pork before sleep. And you are sure to drink something absolutely unhealthy with it. It happens, because you see the food and it looks very appetizing. You may try lots of dieting plans, weight loss pills, read special books to the topic, but there will be a day, when you finally fail and start to eat what you want and when you want. To rid you of this problem, Japanese scientists have developed Blue Shade Glasses, which make food less attractive. This gadget is a pair of glasses with blue lenses, which “colors” the food blue. Blue is the color which decreases appetite. Food appearing in blue colors looks weird and absolutely not so irresistible.

Compare these two pictures of the same appetizing dish.

This is an example of how food changes due to the blue shade glasses. It differs a lot, right?

It’s a well-known fact, that nutritionists recommend to eat from blue plates to lose weight, but as you can’t take blue dishes with you everywhere, there have been developed weight loss blue shade glasses. I haven’t tried the glasses myself, but I would like to know, how they work in practice. The weight loss shade glasses can be now bought only in Japan for $20. Looking forward to them in other countries.

Probiotics in Yoghurt Drinks Affect Metabolism

2008-05-10T15:20:00.002+05:00

A new study conducted by Nestlé Research Center along with a team from Imperial College London has found, that probiotics, such as drinking yoghurts, which contain live bacteria, may have a serious effect on the metabolism. As probiotics contain potentially beneficial bacteria playing an important role in the metabolism, they have an effect on the biochemistry of the gut microbes. Probiotics contain so-called “friendly” bacteria, which help the digestive system. The study of how exactly it occurs was the goal of the research.

Probiotics Effect Fat Amount

The researchers had used two groups of mice for figuring out, how probiotics effect the metabolism. One group had received probiotic treatment, and the other one had not. Then different metabolites in the liver, urine, blood and faeces of both groups were compared. The researchers observed many biochemical changes in how the mice treated with probiotics metabolized bile acids. These acids are produced by the liver and their primary function is to emulsify fats in the upper gut. As probiotics had an effect on the way in which bile acids are metabolized, then they can influence the amount of fat the body can absorb.

How Probiotics Influence the Metabolism

The study shows, that adding the “friendly” bacteria contained in probiotics change the makeup of the bugs in the gut. It increases the number of these bacteria and works with other bacteria in the gut amplifying their effects. Probiotics interact with other bacteria and indeed influence the local microflora. The changes probiotics bring about have to be studied further to find out the influence on overall health. But what is established is that probiotics can change the dynamics of the whole microbes population in the gut. Further researches will open up the possibility of developing new probiotic therapies and finding customized nutritional solutions to maintain or enhance health at an individual level.

Mediterranean Diet During Pregnancy Wards off Childhood Asthma and Allergy

2008-05-10T15:17:00.002+05:00

A two-stage study has shown, that women, who follow Mediterranean diet in pregnancy, also protect their babies from childhood asthma and allergy. During the first stage of the study, 1997, doctors recruited 507 women who attended an antenatal clinic on Menorca, Spain. These women were quizzed about their dietary habits. Six years later the children of these women were examined for asthma and were tested to see if their organisms responded to six common allergens. The researchers found, that the diet of children did not influence the fact whether they had these problems. The main reason was the dietary intake of the mothers while pregnant.

Study Results

The researchers elaborated the Mediterranean Diet Score System, which measured the consumption of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, nuts, legumes, fish and wholegrain cereals. One third of the quizzed mothers had a low rating on this score, while two-thirds had a high score. At the same time children from the “low score” group were almost twice likelier to develop allergies and about four times as likely as children from the “high score” group, to develop asthmatic symptoms.

What is the Mediterranean Diet

There are two main components in the Mediterranean diet: antioxidants (vitamin compounds that kill free radicals) and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In our case the first ones were found effective against asthma in babies, the second ones protected against inflammation.

In general, the Mediterranean diet consists of the following products:

lots of fruits and vegetables,
fish,
bread
wheat and other cereals,
moderate amounts of red wine.

Mediterranean diet differs from that one typical to the Americans a lot: the second one has the high amount of animal fats, while Mediterranean diet means first of all the consumption of a lot of olive oil, which lowers cholesterol levels in the blood, blood sugar level and blood pressure. This is why Mediterranean diet is associated with longevity.

Need Help? Get Debt Free

2008-05-10T13:38:00.002+05:00

It came the day when I realized that I am mired with a lot of loans to pay. I did not know how to make good financial decisions in the first place. I turned to the internet and sought help. It was then that I discovered these sites, DebtFreeSteps.com and mydebtconsolidationadvice.com. I followed their advices on how to deal with this financial problem. I realized that it was not too late for me to pick up and avail of the debt relief products that are posted on their sites.

Debt consolidation is the prime product of these sites. It puts all the loans and debts that you have to pay regularly into a single bill, which is easier to manage. Lower interest rates are also an added benefit that comes with this service – as compared to paying everything separately. These two portals provide the means to find what you think is the most fitting
debt companies – you can simply find one that is rightly accessible in your location.For as low as $2,000 anyone can start getting free from debt. However, DebtFreeSteps.com caters only to US residents, while mydebtconsolidationadvice.com is available in both US and UK residents. If you are a Christian, go for mydebtconsolidationadvice.com, as it extends a more spiritual and biblical approach on attaining financial freedom. Students who are already sitting on a debt may want to go for DebtFreeSteps.com.

I am optimistic that I will finally be able to get debt free. I think getting debt consolidation is a good financial decision. I finally learned how to manage my finances through their plethora of articles and everything is comes in a single billing. Debt consolidation has solved my financial problem, and now I just have to focus on other things that matter in my life

Settling your debt

2008-05-10T13:36:00.002+05:00

Debt Negotiation involves negotiating with creditors to lower the amount that a consumer owes. Through debt negotiation and debt settlement, client can dramatically reduce their debt levels and become debt free faster than they ever would deem possible. It’s a new approach to debt relief and the fastest way to become debt free while avoiding bankruptcy.
All debt can be settled before or after arbitration and litigation. Debt negotiation is primarily useful in settling collections accounts, credit card debt, deficiency balances from repossessions of cars or automobiles, and medical bills.

Credit Report

2008-05-10T13:33:00.002+05:00

Considered important for us in life especially when someone applies for a loan, insurance- auto, home, or personal, rents an apartment, or applies for a job, is an individual’s credit report, financial information, and financial history. The credit reports usually contain our personal data, credit history, inquiries, public records, and personal statement.

I plan to invest in certificates of deposit. This is similar to savings accounts in that they are insured and thus virtually risk-free. It is different from savings account in that the CD has a specific, fixed term- often three months, six months, or one to five years, and, usually, a fixed interest rate.

Bad credit loans

2008-05-10T13:31:00.002+05:00

You can find two types of people that might be viewed at credit risk to credit card issuers, those that have a bad credit in past and those who have no credit in past. Fortunately for such people, bad credit credit cards could help them generate a positive credit rating and have great credit future. Such type of credit card is actually a great way to prove that the creditors could trust these customers. If you are in need of bad credit loans then check out badcreditoffers.com. You can try out their top 10 credit cards for consumers with a bad credit rating. Not only that, apart from quick and easy approval, you are also eligible to rebuild your positive credit rating with some of the major bureaus. Some of the cards offered on this site are, first premier bank gold MasterCard, cash yes MasterCard and rewards 660 visa card. Visit the website for more info!

How to Apply Eye Shadow

2008-05-10T13:28:00.002+05:00

We often hear the adage that the eyes are the windows to a person’s soul. In a sense it is true, because we can almost always know what kind of person someone is, or what is the underlying meaning of the words he or she speaks, simply by looking at the eyes. The eyes are prominent features of the face and are used a lot in communicating through non-verbal language. A person’s eyes are the features that attract attention whenever other people look at the face, women would do well to play up their eyes to enhance the face. There is nothing more attractive than lovely, tantalizing eyes.

The trick to creating eyes that will merit more than a second glance lies in the proper application of eye makeup, particularly the eye shadow. Here are a few tips and tricks guaranteed to make the eyes look enchanting.

Blend it Well

One of the keys to perfectly made-up eyes is in how the colors of the eye shadow are blended on the lids. The colors of your eye shadow should be flowing smoothly and harmoniously from one shade to the other upon your lids. To do this, you will need to use three colors for your eye shadow: the base color, the main color, and the highlighter. Apply the base color on your eyelids first, and then put on the main color. Afterwards, highlight the crease of your eyes.

Bring out the Color of Your Eyes

The colors of your eye shadow should bring out the color of your eyes, whether to match it or to go in contrast. Experiment with colors and see how well they go with your eyes.

Leave Your Brow Bone Alone

Putting eye shadow on your brow bone is too much; simplicity goes a long, long way. Put color up to your brow bone, but leave the brow bone itself alone.

Highlight Carefully

The purpose for putting highlighting color on the eyes is to set the eyes off and to complete the effect you are trying to achieve with your eye makeup. So it is important to apply your highlighter carefully. Blend your highlighter at the outer edge of the crease to make your eyes look larger. If your highlighter is too close, you will end up with beady-looking eyes.

Use a Primer

Use a primer before applying your eye shadow. Using it makes your eye shadow look smoother and also makes it last longer on your eyes.

Tone down the Shimmer

Shimmer is great for bringing out the eyes, but be careful in laying it out – it can bring out not just the eyes, but also the lines and the wrinkles.

Limit the Smoky Hue

If you are trying your hand at a smoky eye, try to keep your color on the eyelid and don’t let it come close to the crease.

Work the Lips

If you want to have dramatic red lips, keep your eye shadow light and use a concealer to hide unsightly lines on your lids. You would not want to look like a clown with red lips and heavy eye shadow.

Brighten with White

To make your eyes seem brighter, add a few dots of white just on the inside of eyes.

Color, Color, Color

Experiment with various shades of eye shadow. If you have bought something that you find too dark or bold for you, try to mix it with other colors.

French Manicure – Trend of the Past?

2008-05-10T13:27:00.003+05:00

The origins of the classic French manicure are difficult to trace. Some insist that the simple design, a clean pale pink nail with white tip, originated in France in the 1800’s, while others credit Max Factor for creating the look for Paris fashionistas in the 1930’s. American brand Orly definitely trademarked the term here in the States in 1978 with their popular at home kit. Yet, in recent years, the prevalence of statement-making hues like Chanel’s Vamp and Black Satin have attracted all of the attention while the sad French manicure languished in the corner. And though women in middle America may sport the French mani regularly, it’s a rare occurrence to see a chic woman in New York with the design. It makes one think…is the French manicure a trend of the past? Here are four different opinions of polish experts on the topic.

Opinion #1. French Manicures are passé

French Manicures are definitely passé. They used to be done to make believe that the nail plate was longer and used to create an illusion. To me, they are not elegant at all. The most elegant is the short, clean and natural nail plate. Use a shape that is natural to your finger - not overly square or too rounded. The only reason I would ever recommend a French manicure is a form of treatment for people with extremely short nails….a form of make-up so to speak to make them look longer.

Opinion #2. Most French Manicures Look Fake and Tacky

A French manicure can look polished and classic if done well using an ivory or off white tip, dubbed the American Manicure. The problem is that most French manicures I see look fake and tacky because they have a stark white tip and are usually done on thick poorly executed acrylic nails. Besides there is such an incredible color range of polish on the market, why not have a little fun with your nails?

Opinion #3. Black Nails are the New French Manicure

They are so Cathy Lee “Over!” Why? Because the French really had nothing to do with that… Second, one of the top editors of a major fashion mag here in NY told me so…Black nails are the new French manicure.
That said, there is a whole group of women that still LOVE the French and can’t let go, so if you must, make sure you don’t get French on the same day you wear a David Cassidy hair cut and highwaisted Jordache Jeans. A ton of people will agree that a French still looks pretty good…but one bit of advice - STOP wearing it on your feet!
Here’s some good news: wear what you like and what works for you. If you like it and wear it with confidence, who cares…

Opinion #4. French Manicures Have Stood the Test of Time

French manicures are considered the “sexy woman’s red” or perfect for the “classic, sporty soccer mom.” They have stood the test of time and have become a standby for many special occasions for women, although it’s important to note that not every woman can sport the French manicure! If someone is a nail biter or has short chubby fingers, a French manicure will only enhance these flaws. If this is the case, it is then best to go with the color of the season, and this season colors are so rich and pigmented that they are hard to resist.

5 Methods of Making Stretch Marks Less Noticeable

2008-05-10T13:26:00.000+05:00

Every woman can have a particular time in her life, when she is prone to develop stretch marks. Some women just have a genetic predisposition to stretch marks and get them without significant reasons. Other women never develop stretch marks even after 4 pregnancies, but such lucky beauties are rare species. I have already written about the occurrence of sretch marks and some ways of their preventions. In this story I am sharing with you are some other remedies for stretch marks, which, though they are effective against stretch marks, can be made at your home.

Unfortunately it is impossible to totally get rid of stretch marks using only home remedies. What you can do at home to stretch marks is to make them less noticeable. Here are some useful tips for it:

Exercise more, because it tones your muscles and makes your skin more elastic.
Eat food with plenty of protein and rich in vitamin C and vitamin E, because they promote good tissue growth.
Massage your body in the places, where stretch marks occurred. In order to make the massage more effective, use olive oil.
Apply cocoa butter and elastin cream on the stretch marked areas of your body.
You can also try the following recipe against stretch marks.

1/2 cup virgin olive oil.

1/4 cup aloe vera gel.

liquid from 6 capsules of Vitamin E.

liquid from 4 capsules of Vitamin A.

Take these ingredients, mix them together in a blender. After that pour the mixture into a jar and store it in the fridge. Apply the substance on the body areas, where you have stretch marks and, as you are prone to them, apply it also on other zones without stretch marks, but where stretch marks normally appear (abdomen, hips, thighs and breasts). This will help reduce the size and appearance of the existing stretch marks and prevent their further occurrence.

How to Prevent Stretch Marks and Be a Beauty

2008-05-10T13:23:00.000+05:00

Normally our skin is elastic, but if you grow really fast, there appear lines on the body which are called stretch marks. It can happen during puberty, pregnancy or postpartum, when the body changes a lot and quickly. The usual places for them are abdomen, breasts, armsthighs – that are all body parts with larger amounts of fat. Postpartum depressions is also not a rare case. When here appear stretch marks too, postpartum period is becoming nearly beyond endurance. Sometimes stretch marks become almost imperceptible after some postpartum time passes. But sometimes they are so deep that they could even be felt by their haver. and

What is a stretch mark?

Our skin consists of three layers: the epidermis (the outer), the dermis and the subcutaneous stratum (the inmost). No stretch mark can appear if there’s enough support in the dermis. The hormones, responsible for the occuring of stretch marks, prevent the forming of collagen and elasting fibers in the fibroblasts. Collagen and elasting fibers are the main and very important supportive materials when the skin is quickly stretched. As a result of their lack the dermis and the epidermis tear. I these places occur unpleasant stretch marks, spoiling the appearance of our beautiful bodies.

How to prevent stretch marks?

In order to prevent stretch marks, some doctors recommend stomach moisturizing during pregnancy. But it doesn’t mean it could help everyone. For some women stomach moisturizing prevents stretch marks, but some are simply prone to them. About 80% of pregnant women develop stretch marks to some degree. The skin needs to be more flexible to be prepared for pregnancy. Balanced diet, being well-hydrated and moisturizing the pregnant belly help avoid stretch marks. What is also to do with stretch marks is to use creams or undergo laser treatments; dermabrasion is one more remedy. Collagen hydrolysates, Gotu Kola extract and vitamin E can reduce the chance of the occurrence of stretch marks. In case they are too deep they can be removed by more drastic methods provided by the modern medicine. But if it’s not the case, the mentioned ingredients help significantly improve the appearance of the existing stretch marks.

Whether your stretch marks are deep or superficial, don’t hung up on the bad, you are beautiful even with stretch marks!

Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta

2008-05-10T13:20:00.000+05:00

Yahoo Messenger 9.0 Beta released.
Now with a new friend-happy design!

This new version has a whole new look and feel, along with some great new features that make it well worth the upgrade. These are some features that make you want to download it-

A whole new look for your contact list.

Keep it in detail view to see larger Avatar images for your friends, or switch to compact list view (in the Contacts menu). Plus, you can just hover and click to IM, SMS or call a friend.-

Brand new skins and emoticons!

Click the dot near the top of your Messenger window to choose a skin, and check the emoticon menu for the new ones that were inspired by user entries in our Emoticontest earlier this year (more on our winners in a future post).-

New Flickr integration in the photo sharing feature.

Easily share photos from your Flickr.com account, or save photos shared with you directly to Flickr.-

A new in-line media player that makes it easy to view maps, photos and videos from sites like Yahoo! Video and YouTube right in the IM window. No plug-ins needed, no extra downloads — it’s built right in. Just send a video, map or photo link to another friend who’s also on 9.0 to try it out.-

New features for voice calls.

You can have your incoming Phone In or free PC calls forwarded to another number like your mobile, home or office phone, even if you’re signed out of Messenger (Phone Out account required). Plus there’s a new way to get voicemail. When someone leaves you a voicemail in Messenger, an email is sent to you with an MP3 of the voice message attached.

The new Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 also offers localized versions in six new markets: Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan (Urdu), and Vietnam. With these additions, Yahoo! Messenger is available in 25 international markets.

Click Here To DOWNLOAD ( Yahoo )

Payday advance

2008-05-10T13:15:00.001+05:00

For a number of reasons, Payday Advance becomes popular. I also have been put in the unenviable position of unexpectedly needing some cash for an unexpected car repair bill recently and need immediate cash and I just do not have it. Payday loan was my last resort since I do not have to go through the hassle of a credit check, I can readily apply on the phone or on the Internet, the process takes less than 10 minutes, and the loan proceeds are automatically deposited into my bank account within 24 hours. Furthermore, it is affordable, discreet and secure.

If you have reasons to get rid of the stress of being short of cash, Oasis Payday Loans is here to help you too, which offers fast solutions. It’s a quick fix and you can cover the shortage, and get on with your life. Enjoy the fast and convenient online service to obtain pay day loans through Oasis Payday Loans.

Urgent Cash Relief Cash Advance

2008-05-10T13:14:00.000+05:00

I am 23 years old and have a source of income but not enough to pay for my son’s hospitalization. I tried to search the internet to find quick cash assistance. I accidentally have visited Cash Advance site and linked me to Urgent Cash Relief Cash Advance perfect for my financial needs. I have submitted my application online and my payday loans approval is very fast and very efficient and I have received cash the next day.

Payday loan is really quick and easy way to bridge my cash needs between pay days without a credit check. It can really solve to these short-term cash needs effectively. For those who need immediate cash, money for car problems, medical emergencies, past due bills or just a quick grocery run Urgent Cash Relief Cash Advance is the perfect site for you too. The site is also specializes in finding quick, small amount loans to assist us with pressing cash needs

Avoiding Cash Advance

2008-05-10T13:12:00.000+05:00

Upon receipt of your online credit card authorization, to sit and wait for your credit card, a 0% intro APR. Upon receipt of your credit card you are aware that it is not enough for your needs. Fortunately, you can make a pre-payment of funds on your credit card, if you fast cash. It is a simple thing to do, and you can benefit from each ATM, to your credit card.

Use a credit card, especially for the progress made in cash, is very simple. But the loan will not. Read and learn why you should avoid the advances of funds on your credit card every time.

The first reason for which you need in order to avoid the fund advances on your credit card is an advance payment of the cost of money. If you have money at any ATM, you must obliged, two indictments automatically by some of the credit card companies. The first is for the costs of treatment. This could be one percent of the amount or that the minimum amount of your transmitter, which is always higher. The other indictment, the owner of the ATM, the other bank. When you receive your bill, so does the amount of the fees for the cost of the transaction, which may be a fixed amount or a percentage that you have made on her ATM.

Highlights of the Rs 1.599 Trillion 2007-08 Federal Budget.

2008-05-10T13:08:00.000+05:00

Courtesy of The News
news added on 6/10/2007

ISLAMABAD: The federal budget for 2007-08 with an outlay of Rs 1.599 trillion presented in the National Assembly on Saturday contains huge subsidies and relief for the masses and the public sector entities.

The subsidies amount to Rs 133.9 billion, while relief to the people included major increase in salaries of the government employees by 15 per cent, pensions by 15 to 20 per cent and reduction in customs duty on raw material for industries, tariff rationalisation on vehicles, and zero duty on sewing machines, bicycles and cottonseed oil.The Rs 1.599 trillion federal budget includes Rs 1.056 trillion current expenditure and Rs 543 billion development expenditure. The federal budget for 2007-08 is 11.9 per cent higher than the revised estimates of the budget 2006-07.

However, it is up by 21.7 per cent than the size of budget estimates of the current fiscal year.Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan announced the overall size of the budget that stands at Rs 1.874 trillion, which includes budgets of the provincial governments also. Most of the budgetary expenditures have been shown under the general public services, which include debt servicing, pensions and other items. The pension bill of Rs 46.130 billion mostly goes to the military pensions, which are parked in the civilian budget.Defence has got Rs 275 billion in the budget, while the combined federal spending on education and health is Rs 29.398 billion. Total resources are estimated at Rs 1.475 trillion, which include external receipts of Rs 259 billion.

The budget deficit is four per cent of GDP that comes to Rs 398 billion.A tax revenue target of Rs 1.025 trillion has been fixed for the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) against the expected collection of Rs 835 billion during the outgoing fiscal year. The budget announced by Omar Ayub Khan, the State Minister for Finance, is the 8th since the military takeover of October 12, 1999, and third of the Shaukat Aziz government.Rs 113.9 billion has been marked for subsidies and relief to the masses. A huge sum of Rs 82 billion has been marked under the head of subsidies for Wapda, KESC, FFC Jordan, Trading Corporation and other public sector entities.

The budget assumes Rs 75 billion privatisation proceeds for next year, as well as a huge bank borrowing of Rs 130.937 billion to finance the budget deficit.The government has increased pension of government pensioners by 15 to 20 per cent. Increase in pension is being given in two tiers: old pensioners (retired before 1997) will get 20 per cent raise while new pensioners (retired after 1997) will get 15 per cent raise. The government also promoted the employees in BPS-5, BPS-7 and BPS-11 to BPS-7, BPS-9 and BPS-14 respectively. A total of 87,500 federal employees will benefit from this measure.

The budget proposes the withdrawal of customs duty from the machinery used in horticulture, furniture, marble and granite, surgical and medical instrument-business. It also proposes withdrawal of customs duty or reduction by five per cent on raw material used in electrical, capital goods, paper and paperboard, chemicals, plastic and rubber industries.The country is facing acute shortage of electricity and to provide relief to the people and industrial establishments, the minister said, it is proposed to withdraw customs duty on generators for home consumption.

Similarly, reduction in customs duty is proposed on generators for industrial consumption.Likewise, it is also proposed to withdraw customs duty on components used in alternative energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy. The sales tax at import stage on these items has also been waived off. To encourage energy saving lamp, customs duty is proposed to be reduced from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.

Omar Ayub said at present CVT is levied on imported cars, while the domestically manufactured vehicles are exempted. In order to remove this disparity withdrawal of CVT on imported vehicles is proposed. However, to maintain protection level intact, adjustment in customs duty at the rate of five per cent, 10 per cent and 15 per cent for different CCs of cars is proposed.There is a proposal to levy five per cent withholding tax on local vehicles. To facilitate the middle-income groups, customs duty on 800 CC cars is not being charged.

Finally, the capping for old and used cars previously for five years is being reduced to three years so that the domestic industry attains stability. The condition of three years will be applicable to TR, the gift scheme, and the baggage rules.He said that textile is the backbone of the economy, which needs more attention to make it internationally competitive. Sometime ago R&D facility was provided to this sector.

Now the DTRE system is being revamped whereby the import of PSF will be allowed. Through DTRE R&D the facility will also be available to fibre manufacturers at a rate of 3.5 per cent, which will be availed through SBP. The facility of debt/swap to the spinning sector is granted. Similarly, for exporters the existing WHT rate of 0.75 per cent to one per cent is being rationalised and one per cent rate of WHT is being proposed. “The textile exporters will also be the beneficiaries.

We hope that with these initiatives, the textile sector will flourish further,” said the minister.To overcome the issue of growing imports that have adverse impact on the trade deficit, one per cent special surcharge is levied on all imports with the exception of petroleum products, edible oil, fertilisers, medicines and necessary food items (vegetable and pulses).Furthermore, the already exempted items will continue to remain exempted from this levy.

The minister also announced that the scope of zero rating is being widened to include sewing machines, bicycles and cotton seed oil.Cable TV is a basic necessity of daily life, therefore, excise duty on cable TV is proposed to be withdrawn, he maintained.He said that traders belonging to Fata and Pata are facing difficulties in carrying out their businesses due to unresolved disputes lying pending with the courts.

Therefore, in consultation with them, the sales tax already due is proposed to be waived, enabling them to carry out their business.In the country, iron and steel, plastic and paper industries are fast growing but unfortunately majority of them are functioning in un-organised sectors, resultantly the government as well as the organised sector industry are facing continuous losses. In order to establish equilibrium, the sales tax of 15 per cent is proposed to be enhanced to 20 per cent on raw material imported for iron and steel plastic and paper industries. However, the rate of 15 per cent sales tax on final product for these sectors will remain the same. He said that a task force was constituted to bring improvement in the provisions of law relating to holding companies.

In view of the recommendations made by the task force, amendments are proposed to legislation relating to holding companies; 75 per cent shareholding will be required if none of the companies is a listed public company; 55 per cent shareholding will be required if one of the group companies is listed public company; current losses can be surrendered by holding company to a subsidiary or between subsidiaries which fulfil the requirements of shareholding; inter-corporate dividend shall be liable to 10 per cent adjustable withholding tax.“For computation of income of the banking companies a separate schedule will be added to the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.”

This measure is being taken on the recommendations of the SBP and PBA on the analogy of taxation of insurance companies. Inter-corporate dividend is proposed to be subjected to adjustable 10 per cent withholding tax.Omar Ayub said: “The amount of money spent on poverty reduction and employment generation during last five years is Rs 1.441 trillion which is commendable, especially in comparison with all previous governments.”During 2006-07 an amount of Rs 418 billion was transferred to provinces under the amended NFC award, while Rs 497 billion would be transferred during 2007-08, which would be 46 per cent of the total amount.

The transfer from divisible pool would reach 46.25 per cent by the year 2010-11. If subventions are added, transfer of provinces would get 50 per cent of the total amount.The Ministry of Housing and Works will immediately construct 37,000 houses for the low paid employees and give it to them on ownership basis. In phase-I, work on the construction of 5,000 units will immediately start for which land will be provided by CDA at official rate. The government employees will have the facility to get loan for construction of house. Low cost Housing Scheme would also be started in collaboration with provincial and district governments.

Loan from HBFC will be available. under this scheme and an estimated number of 250,000 units would be constructed in the next five years.The government has decided upgradation of basic scales in Railways by one step for the remaining 62,482 staff excluding secretarial staff. Long-standing demand of Railways employees regarding up-gradation of posts has already been accepted along with increase in their allowances.Minimum wage of unskilled worker is being increased from Rs 4,000 per month to Rs 4,600 per month. Old age pension, old and new both, has been increased by 15 per cent.

Minimum pension has been increased from Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,500 per month. Worker’s widow shall now get pension of her deceased husband as per entitlement.This restriction that the workers receiving more than Rs 6,000 per month were not entitled to compensation on account of disability has been removed and now all the workers regardless of their wage level would be entitled to compensation on account of disability caused during the course or as a result of performance of duty. Contract employees have been made entitled to receive companies profit under the Companies Profit (Workers Participation) Act 1968. The limit of profit has been enhanced from Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000. Workers Welfare Fund Ordinance 1971 is being amended to allow industrial workers to get medical, education, housing and death grant from Workers Welfare Fund.

This facility shall apply to those units having an annual income in excess of Rs 500,000. Workers Welfare Fund Ordinance 1971 has been amended to increase the limit of death grant from Rs 200,000 to Rs 300,000.Pulses, Chana, Moong and Mash, which is being sold in market at Rs 38, Rs 56 and Rs 72 per kg would be sold in Utility Stores at Rs 29, Rs 47 and Rs 57 respectively.From today (Sunday) there would be a relief of Rs 10, Rs 5 and Rs 5 per kg on tea, sugar and rice respectively.

At present, the price of cooking oil is increasing rapidly in the international market. On the direction of the prime minister it would be sold at the utility stores at Rs 67 as against the market price of Rs 80 per kg. It has been decided to increase the number of utility stores by additional 5,000 and provide a utility store at every union council in the next 4 months. It will also result in creation of employment opportunities. At these stores, necessities of life like pulses, rice, sugar, ghee and basic medicines would be available and due to their close proximity people will save time and money by not going to the distantly located markets. In Pakistan, for the first time people will get medicines at reduced rates. People would not have to travel for miles but would get the facility at their doorsteps.

Omar Ayub said that CDA has been directed to allocate a sector for three to five Marla plots. In sector I-15 a total of 5,500 plots and 8,500 apartments have been reserved for low-income people who will have the facility of loans from banks. This will solve the problem of low-income people. Moreover, work in 4 sectors of Islamabad has started after 17 years. To provide direct relief to the poorest of the poor, a sum of Rs 7.5 billion has been allocated for Pakistan Baitul Mal which is Rs 2.5 billion more than the allocation of last year. The Pakistan Baitul Mal is at present helping 1,500,000 households through its Food Support Programme.

This year 700,000 more households will benefit thus bringing the number of beneficiaries to a total of 2,200,000. The government will extend a subsidy of 20 per cent to agriculture tube wells payable on electricity charges. This subsidy will be shared by the Centre and the provinces equally.The subsidy to farmers will increase from Rs 400 per bag of DAP to Rs 470 per bag. As a result of this, the price of each bag of DAP will be reduced by Rs 70.President General Pervez Musharraf announced the Rozgar Scheme in last financial year which has been very successful. The small amounts advanced at low rate of mark-up of six per cent enabled the youth to start their own businesses. These small businesses also generated employment.

Under the scheme, 1.8 million youth will be able to stand on their feet, and provide support to their families. In the last financial year 10,321 applications were approved under this scheme and Rs one billion disbursed. The youth set up PCOs, established transport businesses, utility stores, mobile general stores and telecentres. Rs 104.7 billion will be disbursed under this scheme in the next five years. Each graduate will be provided a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month. As of now 8,000 interns are working and this figure will increase to 30,000 next year.

The government will provide micro credit to 3 million people in next three years. As many as 815 medical clinics are being set up at the union council level. In each medical clinic there will be a doctor, lady health worker and dispenser who will provide medical consultancy close to people’s places of residence. In these clinics staff will be recruited from local union councils which will provide 4,917 employment opportunities. Mentioning about the mega projects, he said the design of Bhasha-Diamir dam will be completed in 2008. Rs 500 million have been reserved for this project in the PSDP. Along side this, work on Gomal-Zam Dam, Kurram Tangi Dam and Subak Zai Dam is in full swing.

Work on the raising of Mangla dam started by Wapda is close to completion. As a result, 2.09 million acre feet additional water will be available for storage and 644 MW electricity will be generated. By construction of these dams, 2.6 million acres land will be irrigated. Under-developed areas will be transformed into prosperous pieces of land. The government has allocated a sizeable amount for the Greater Thal Canal, Reni Canal and Khitchi Canal on which the work is in full swing. The government is also starting work on expansion of Karakuram Highway.

The work on expansion of Hasanabdal-Mansehra section will start in the next few months. The N-5 Highway will be linked with the National Trade Corridor. For this purpose, it has been decided to provide the National Highway Authority with an allocation of Rs 29 billion. The National Highway Authority will, during this year, start construction of 1,585 km long highways at a cost of Rs 147 billion. So far an investment of Rs 13.5 billion has been made in the Gwadar deep seaport.

This amount excludes foreign investment. The Coastal Highway, which links Karachi to Gwadar, has already been completed. Gwadar will emerge as an important port for the region because it will provide a transit route to Central Asian States and China. As a result, both Balochistan and Pakistan will benefit.

Dealing With Critical Ethical and Professional Issues

2008-05-10T13:07:00.000+05:00

An honest assessment, and possibly outside resources, can aid in remedying questionable working situations.

by Sheree Clark
December/January 2007

Q: The people I work with and I have opposing principles, and I really don’t have a lot of respect for the way things are done around here. Until now I have closed my eyes, but it’s harder to do these days. What are my options?

While I understand your angst, your use of the term values is a little vague. Are we talking about questionable business practices and ethical lapses, or about some kind of harassment of you personally? Are the people you work with blatantly lacking in morals, or is it merely that the corporate culture is too relaxed for you? There is a pretty long continuum when it comes to what we individually defi ne as values, principles, integrity, etc. The fi rst step is to do an assessment of the rift between you and them and determine whether the possibility of a remedy exists.

Sometimes there just is no “gray” area. Identify a trusted colleague or peer with whom you can explore the topic of values in the workplace. Start the conversation in general terms, perhaps by asking what he or she likes best about the job and employer, and try to get a sense of his or her comfort level with the topic. If it seems appropriate, share your own observations and ask for feedback about your circumstances. Be careful not to let the conversation turn into a “gripe session.” While it is not essential that you have the support of a third party, a reality check can help uncover insights you might overlook.

And while you’re at it, you should ask yourself some thoughtprovoking questions about the situation: When did my feelings of mismatched values or priorities start? Was there a watershed moment that I can identify? How is this situation affecting me personally? Am I losing sleep or feeling generally more stressed out? Is my work suffering? Can I live with it if nothing changes? Has this ever happened to me before? Is it possible that I am stuck in a repeating pattern? Do other people in the organization seem to feel the same way that I do, or is it just me who perceives a problem? What needs to happen for me to feel the situation has been resolved? How far am I willing to go to find the resolution? Do I want to stay here? After evaluating your own role in the situation, identify the nature of the issue that needs to be addressed.

The way that you handle the sort of circumstances that you are facing will vary based on how personal the issue is, as well as the potential for legal issues. Business practice-related issues: The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) has released a series of brochures exploring critical ethical and professional issues encountered by designers. The series, titled Design Business and Ethics, examines key concerns a designer faces in maintaining a successful practice. Authored by industry leaders from across the country, each brochure offers practical ideas for approaching design issues. Many of the tenets described in the AIGA’s publications can also be applied to designers operating in corporate or inhouse design settings. One brochure you should review is :

“Business and Ethical Expectations for Professional Designers” (to download, visit www.aiga.org). Additionally, the AIGA publishes Standards of Professional Practice in which it specifically addresses:

The designer’s responsibility to clients
The designer’s responsibility to other designers
Fees
Publicity
Authorship
The designer’s responsibility to the public
The designer’s responsibility to society and the environment

If your area of concern is specifically dealt with in one of the AIGA’s brochures or codes, you might use the document as a springboard for conversation with the leaders in your organization.

It is entirely possible that your colleagues are unaware that their behavior is not in keeping with our profession’s standards. Be advised, however, you may be perceived as condescending or self-righteous and your efforts not universally embraced. If the attitude you find troubling is prevalent within the organization, it’s possible you’ll be seen as a troublemaker and be treated accordingly. Before you take action, you’ll want to realistically assess your chances of effecting change.
Corporate culture-related issues:

All organizations have personalities and—just as with people—those personalities can evolve over time. The changes may be the result of growth and the addition of new staff, or could have come about because of outside infl uences such as an economic downturn or increased competition. Policy changes can affect morale and result in a climate shift within the organization.

It can be very stressful to be in a company that “isn’t the same place it was,” regardless of reasons for the transformation. Similarly, new hires sometimes discover that they misjudged the personality of the group when they accepted a job, and now fi nd themselves feeling miscast or even outcast. If you work in a larger corporation or fi rm, you might be able to manage the situation by seeking to relocate within the organization. A move to another team or even a change in where you sit can make an uncomfortable situation more tolerable.

If you discover that it’s not only you who feels that a cultural rift exists that needs to be fi xed, you may turn to an outside facilitator. An organizational consultant can facilitate a discussion or develop a series of exercises designed to help the group discover solutions and workable compromises. It may even be possible to work through cultural issues without an outside resource, if there is a particularly skilled communicator on the staff or management team.

Employment law-related issues:
Matters that relate to employment, personnel policy and behavior in the workplace are often more complex and may lead you to seek professional counsel. Such issues include sexual harassment, favoritism, discrimination, hostile work environment, etc. If your situation involves or could potentially involve employment law, the first steps that you take are very important. You should try in good faith to resolve the problem. This usually includes having a meeting with the human resources department and/or the offending party or parties in the workplace. You may also want to take the precautionary step of talking to an attorney who specializes in employment law, especially if you are not optimistic about the outcome. You’ll want to document your conversations or actions, in case you end up in a dispute or litigation.

Recommended resources:
How to Reduce Workplace Conflict and Stress: How Leaders and Their Employees Can Protect Their Sanity and Productivity from Tension and Turf Wars, by Anna Maravelas, $14.99, Career Press, www.amazon.com How Honesty Pays: Restoring Integrity to the Workplace, by Charles E. Watson, $39.95, Praeger Publishers, www.amazon.com Your Rights in the Workplace, by Barbara Kate Repa, $29.99, Nolo Corporate Integrity: Rethinking Organizational Ethics and Leadership, by Marvin T. Brown, $75, Cambridge University Press, www.amazon.com The Balanced Company: A Corporate Integrity Theory, by Muel Kaptein and Johan Wempe, $44.50, Oxford University Press, www.amazon.com A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success, by Robert C. Solomon, $15.95, Oxford University Press, www.amazon.com The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, by Edgar H. Schein, $26.95, Jossey-Bass Publishers, www.amazon.com

About the author:
Sheree Clark is managing partner of Sayles Graphic Design in Des Moines, Iowa; an author and speaker on organizational and business issues; and owner of Art/Smart Consulting, which provides selfpromotion and business strategies to creative professionals

Commercial bond market to open up

2008-05-10T12:56:00.000+05:00

Many financial experts are full of optimism about the growth rate of the commercial bond market that should provide a boom for Vietnamese businesses in the near future.

According to Truong Hung Long, Deputy Director of the Finance and Banking Department under the Finance Ministry, the commercial bond market is on the cusp of huge gains.

The department’s director Pham Phan Dung said that Vietnamese businesses have an opportunity to expand their capital mobilisation both inside and outside the country through bond issuances.

According to the Finance Ministry, a legal framework has been made for businesses to issue bonds to the public. Both the Laws on Business and Securities, and Decree No. 52 holds regulations that create conditions for businesses to issue bonds for capital mobilisation.

Kicking off in 1994, it wasn’t until 2006 that the market showed signs that it may flourish. Decree No. 52 was issued last year to allow businesses to issue bonds separately. Under the decree, not only State-owned businesses but also private, joint stock and foreign-invested companies were permitted to issue bonds.

In 2006, local businesses raked in more than 8 trillion VND through bond issuances. Five trillion of which was scoffed up by the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN), 800 billion VND by the Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) and 260 billion VND by the Song Da Corporation.

Close to 7 trillion VND worth of bonds were issued by local businesses over the first seven months of the year.

However, according to a representative from Citibank at a conference on the developing bond market in August, foreign investors are cautious of bonds issued by local businesses due to low confidence in domestic business transparency.

In order to issue bonds effectively, Dung proposed that Vietnamese businesses improve their business efficiency, competitive edge and make financial reports transparent to earn trust from investors.

Hisatsugu Furukawa, a consultant with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), agreed with Dung that transparency on financial issues is the only way to earn investors’ trust.

In a bid to support bond issuance by local businesses, the Finance Ministry has hooked up with the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Japan-ASEAN Financial Technical Assistance Fund to draft business bond handbooks to supply essential information for local businesses to issue bonds abroad. They are scheduled to be released by the fourth quarter of this year.

Bond Market Collapse Worries Vermont Student-Loan Agency

2008-05-10T12:55:00.001+05:00

Normally, this is a slow time of year for the Winooski-based Vermont Student Assistance Corp., which loans hundreds of millions of dollars annually to parents and students looking to finance higher education.

But the latest crisis on Wall Street has the state’s largest student lender scrambling to secure $190 million to meet the demand for loans it expects to make this fall.

The apparent collapse last month of the auction-rate securities market, which VSAC relies on to finance its lending, poses no threat to students who have already borrowed, said Scott Giles, the agency’s vice president of policy, planning and research. However, it has threatened the short-term financial viability of VSAC, which currently lacks nearly half of the $390 million it needs for the 2008-2009 school year.

“Auction-rate securities were, for a long time, the most efficient way to sell bonds, take the money and give it to students,” Giles said. “It’s not very efficient now, nor will it ever be again.”

Nor, like most things related to the municipal bond market, is it easy to explain. Here’s one way to think about it: The sub-prime mortgage debacle may have finally found its mark in Vermont.

Auction-rate securities, or ARS, are variable-rate, long-term bonds that allow investors the opportunity to cash out at will and collect short-term interest rates, which are reset at auction every seven to 35 days. While a lack of bidders could result in a failed auction, in the past, underwriters — Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch — would submit a “clearing bid” to complete the auction and provide liquidity to bond holders.

The problems in the market peaked in mid-February when major underwriters refused to bid, instead allowing hundreds of bond auctions to fail. That kicked in a penalty, known as the “fail rate,” that increased — in some cases by more than double — the interest costs for bond issuers such as VSAC.

As a result, Giles said, VSAC is paying close to 1 percent more in interest on the nearly $2 billion in auction-rate securities in its portfolio. If the agency doesn’t refinance the bonds, the failure of the ARS market could cost VSAC $20 million. Giles said VSAC “has the ability to cover” the additional costs should it fail to secure re-financing before the end of the year. Likewise, because students continue to pay on existing loans, the agency has the resources to continue operations for the foreseeable future.

“We are prepared to draw upon our reserves to make sure Vermont students have access to student loans,” he said.

Giles’ optimism is in contrast to that of much larger student-loan agencies in Pennsylvania and Michigan, which have announced they will eliminate some student-loan programs or stop lending altogether for the time being. The problem in those states, Giles said, is the growing number of non-guaranteed private loans, which under current market conditions are a risky investment. (Private loans make up a small part of VSAC’s portfolio, about $54 million in 2007, down from $86 million in 2006.)

Just about everyone, including Giles, blames the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market for declining confidence in the auction-rate securities market. The failure of bond-rating agencies and insurance companies to ascribe an appropriate level of risk to securities fashioned from billions of dollars in bad loans has spooked investors from the broader bond market.

Giles believes investors’ fears are “irrational,” especially when it comes to student loans, which are 97 percent guaranteed by the federal government. Moreover, he said, VSAC has the fourth lowest student-loan default rate in the country, making the agency’s loans a more attractive investment than those of less credit-worthy issuers.

“We actually believe the market will settle out,” Giles said. “At some point, people will start moving back into quality assets.”

Until then, VSAC is considering refinancing its bond portfolio with something called a variable-rate demand obligation. A VRDO, as it is known, is similar to an auction-rate security in that it would allow VSAC to borrow long-term while offering investors short-term interest rates.

Thomas Melloni, an attorney with the Burlington firm Burak Anderson & Melloni, said interest rates for a VRDO are set daily and weekly, and the “demand” function allows bondholders to cash out when they like. Unlike auction-rated securities, however, a VRDO requires a letter of credit from a bank or financial institution that agrees to meet the bondholders’ demand.

Vermont Treasurer Jeb Spaulding said officials are also exploring the possibility that the state pension fund “could play some role” in helping refinance some of VSAC’s existing debt. “There’s no way of knowing at this point whether that’s even possible,” Spaulding said. “First of all, that’s a board decision, and it will take a lot of due diligence.”

Indeed, timing could be VSAC’s largest hurdle at this point. Across the country, local governments and quasi-public agencies like hospitals and housing-finance and student-loan corporations that rely on auction-rate securities are desperately seeking ways to refinance more than $350 billion in total debt.

“Everyone is trying to do it at once,” Spaulding said, “and there is only so much capital out there.”

Under normal conditions, VSAC would wait another couple months to secure financing for the loans it will offer in the fall; that way, VSAC wouldn’t be paying interest to investors who are backing the loans before the loans themselves started earning revenue for the agency. Giles said VSAC has begun talking to various financial institutions about lines of credit to support re-financing through VRDOs.

Giles allowed that, should VSAC fail to refinance its bond debt, the federal government might have to step in. VSAC is the “lender of last resort” for the state of Vermont, meaning the feds would loan money directly to the agency should the crisis reach epic proportions.

Giles said that kind of action would lead to “complications that people will want to avoid.” However, he doesn’t believe it will come to that.

“This is a serious situation,” he said, “but one thing we don’t want to do is to create a sense of panic.”

Different Types of Mutual Funds

2008-05-10T12:53:00.000+05:00

Everyone claims to have the best mutual funds out there on the market. In fact, deciding what mutual funds to go with can be a daunting task to a new investor who has decided to take the plunge. However, determining where the best mutual funds really can be found is not very difficult. It just requires a little research.

If you're looking for the best mutual funds, one of the first things you want to look for is annual return. Mutual fund companies will often tout their annual returns as proof that their product is superior. Take it into consideration. Then move on.

Choosing the best mutual funds means examining the expense ratio of any given investment. This is probably the single most important factor you'll want to take into consideration before you make a decision. Net Asset Values, which are calculated and published daily, are also crucial to separating the best mutual funds from the impostors.

Mutual funds can't claim to be the best if they don't offer favourable turnover ratios, something that will be very important to you as an investor if you are looking at having a taxable account. Examining a mutual fund's fund prospectus is also crucial. Remember that companies are required to share this information with you before you invest.

Once you have understood and examined all these different aspects, choosing the best mutual funds out there suddenly won't seem like such guesswork. In fact, choosing the best mutual funds will have gotten a whole lot easier.

Bond investing. Information on investing in bonds.

2008-05-10T12:50:00.000+05:00

Bond investing in today's market does not have to be the safe sane alternative it used to be. Bond investing today does not need to be relegated to the amateurs and safe haven seekers of the world. In fact bond investing can be very tricky and financially rewarding.

One of the best aspects of bond investing, besides profit of course, is the feeling that comes with bond investing. Bond investing is not about profit today, gone tomorrow. No bond investing is about building something for our town, community and world.

Bond investing is about being invested in the community as a whole. If that does not drive your forward, then maybe you should consider another aspect to bond investing. Maybe you should consider bond investing is one of the safer investment choices in today's topsy-turvy make it all or nothing marketplace.

No, for peace of mind and quality investing we must sincerely and honestly take a deep and long look at the world of bond investing. Sometimes it's nice to have money. But some sometimes it's good to feel good about your money and making profit. With bond investing you can surely accomplish this. So next time you are thinking about putting your money somewhere safe and yet still earning a nice profit, look into bond investing and see why it can be so very rewarding.

Bond Pricing. Information on the pricing of bonds.In the fast paced financial world of today, bond pricing may seem undervalued and even staid.

2008-05-10T12:47:00.002+05:00

In the fast paced financial world of today, bond pricing may seem undervalued and even staid. But for millions of successful investors, bond pricing has been one of the more stable and yes, even lucrative forms of profitable financial investment available. What is fair market value and what does it have to do with bond pricing. Well fair market value basically mean that this is the price of unit 'x' and this is what the market, or those that profit on the exchange of 'x' would pay for 'x'. With respect to bond pricing this rationale sometimes goes straight out the door and this could account why there might be a stigma attached to bonds. But there should not be any stigma or ignorance attached to bond pricing.

In fact here is why bond pricing is so undervalued and here is why you can make big profits by considering your approach to bond pricing. Ready, here it is: No one can see the future. Plain and simple. So, if no one can see the future then no one truly knows how that bond will perform. And this is where your come in, by taking a look at attractive bond pricing, and attractive bond pricing means whatever it means to you as an investor, but by taking a look at the most appealing bond pricing available you, through due diligence can often scoop up large amounts of undervalued bonds. Then patiently wait for the bond to nature past the bond pricing and voila! Profit. So the question is this, how do you feel about bond pricing?

Bond rating. We answer the question, what is a bond rating?

2008-05-10T12:43:00.000+05:00

Why even bother with bond rating? I mean the investment is either a dog or a bird. It either hunts or it does not. So why do people even allow themselves to be influenced, or to make their investing choices, due to bond rating. Well first off whether you are going to invest or not has nothing to do with bond rating.

A low bond rating might mean a whole lot of things. A bond rating might indicate a good performer, or an undervalued diamond in the rough. It might mean disaster and it might mean perils before swine. But what ever that bond rating means, it means this and this is what is most important to you; a bond rating indicates the value as perceived by the investing community.

Now, how does bond rating affect you? In times of both economic peril and abundance, we are always looking for the next big thing. Sometimes an undervalued bond rating might just be that next big thing. But it is up to you to determine what bond rating means to you and how you want bond rating to influence your investing decisions. So, the question is really this, how does bond rating affect your decision to invest?

Bond yields. Information on bond yields.Bond Yields are something that sometimes causes the old hand investor to groan. All the patience, all the wait

2008-05-10T12:41:00.000+05:00

Bond Yields are something that sometimes causes the old hand investor to groan. All the patience, all the waiting all the time. I mean, let us face the facts, are there any big kills in the world of bond yields? Well, what if I told you that is not the point of bond yields. And furthermore what if told you bond yields were more like big game hunting than you could imagine? Well bond yields have all the excitement and challenge of everyday heads up-what is hot at the market- investing, in fact there challenge in bond yields and the investing strategy that goes along with them.

You see the thing with bond yields is that you are not gambling on the here and now. No instead you are looking for bond yields to turn a profit at some future date. Bond yields ask you to make a commitment to the investment that average, everyday turn a profit deals miss out on. And the great thing is, bond yields usually require a lower investment and less risk.

There is still big time profit to be had in the world of bond yields, but there is safety, and just lie a hunter waiting in the blind, you must be patient and committed to the investment, otherwise there will be no kill and no profit. So remember that next time you are balking at the long term investment strategy that bond yields offer, remember that it takes all the skills of a patient hunter to make the kill in the world of Big Game bond yields.

Calculate bond interest. Information on calculating bond interest.

2008-05-10T12:29:00.000+05:00

The number one reason to calculate bond interest is to determine at what point our bond has achieved maturity and what that means to you financially. From gauging the yield top speculating on the future, to calculate bond interest is to know the state of your flocks. And knowing the state of your flocks, or to calculate bond interest is the mark of a prudent and wise investor.

If you are just waiting for a whole bunch of profit to show up one day, then you just might be waiting a long time. The way to profit, and especially in the world of bonds is to learn how to calculate bond interest. This is where your solid good money is going to made.

So next time so big shot investor sneers, either in conversation, or across the aisle on the A train, remember that a great way to have the last laugh is to calculate bond interest. This the way to happy, safe, solid investing that you can be satisfied with.

In closing it cannot be said enough, that you as an investor must learn how to calculate bond interest. This is the fast track to successful, satisfied and yes, savvy investing. The ability to calculate bond interest separates the winners from the losers, the rich from the failed. And finally, the one thing you should remember about the ability to calculate bond interest, it that it is a wise practice.

Tag and Social Bookmarking Services

2008-05-10T11:51:00.000+05:00

Tags and social bookmarking services are similar but different. Social bookmarking actually is the term that refers to users recommending which topics are most popular with them. This is done through votes and by tags.

A site or software tool that collects and stores your recommended or “bookmarked” sites is called a Social Bookmarking Manager. Some Social Bookmarking Managers are private, but the ones that will usually serve you better are the public ones, which show the world what you think is important information, and asks others to “vote” for your recommendations as you vote on theirs, and the winners rise to the top.

Tags are mini-categories for blog content, tagged by the blog owner or visitor. Used in combination with social bookmarking, you can search through tag services for the most popular posts within a specific tag category based upon traffic, voting, or other recommendations.

Tags and social bookmarking help Internet users talk to each other, sharing favorite posts and articles. They also help let you, the blogger, get a feel for what topics are popular at the moment. If it is popular enough, you may want to blog about it. By monitoring these “most popular” lists, whether by overall category or tags specific to your interests, you can keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion.

Technorati
IceRocket
Daypop
BlogPulse
Blodex - Top Blogged Stories
Blogsearch.com
Blogs of the Day
180n (Top Sited News Stories)
Gada - Graphic Meta Search Engine
Furl.net - Latest Headline Entries
CodeCubed - Tree Map (based on Del.icio.us)
Newzingo - Google Tag Map
Flickr
BlinkList
Connotea - Scientific Tags
De.lirio.us (Del.icio.us clone)
Digg
Furl
Blogmarks
KB Cafe Tag Search
Shadows - Social Bookmarking Service
Bloghop
Simpy
Oishii - Most Popular Bookmarks
Citeulike - Free Citation Service
Common Times - Reader Controlled News
Wists - Social Shopping
Spurl
Scuttle
LookMarks
Frassle
GiveALink - Donate Bookmarks
Netvous
Memeorandum
Ask Jeeves (now uses tags)
LinkFilter
Hyperlinkomatic
FeedMarker
BackFlip
Yummy.printfu - PDF Social Bookmarking
Diigo
Quimble - Poll on Favorite Social Bookmarking Manager
StumbleUpon
Filangy
Riffs - Social Recommender
RawSugar
Linkagogo
Gibeo.net
Linkroll
OpenBM - (Open Bookmarks)
SearchFox
Bloogz
Findory
Wink
Blog Top Sites
Indiza - Europe and International Social Bookmarking

Most Popular/High Traffic

2008-05-10T11:49:00.000+05:00

There are many lists online that list the “most popular” websites, blogs, topics, news, products, services, and more. By monitoring these sites, you can stay on top of what is attracting the most attention.

Most popular lists are based upon a variety of criteria. For a few, it is just what is most popular to them, the individual or group, as they see it, often with their own criteria. For most “most popular lists”, though, popularity is solely based upon measurable data such as actual purchases or highest visitor traffic.

For high traffic sites or blogs, there is a lot to learn as well as be inspired by. What are they talking about? How are they talking about the subjects? Where are they getting their information and resources? Should you be following their lead? Use high traffic and most popular sites and blogs as resources for possible content and ideas.

If you don’t see a specific “most popular” topic of interest to you, in a search engine type in “most popular” with a keyword for your interest, like WordPress, and the search results will include the most popular WordPress Themes, plugins, tips, techniques, blogs, and other WordPress related most popular items. From here, you can find sites to monitor for the “most popular” topics for your blog.

Top Search Results

2008-05-10T11:47:00.000+05:00

Another method of finding content is to find out what people are searching for. Search engines and other search engine monitoring resources are always keeping an eye on what topics are most popular by counting up the top search keywords and phrases.

There are several different types of reports for tracking top search results. Old style but useful lists include top search keywords and phrases from seardh engines. More modern style top search results show you live, as-it-happens search action, which may or may not reflect the most popular searches but shows you what people are searching for in the moment. Which ever method attracts you, there is a lot of information and inspiration that can be gleaned.

Webcrawler Search Spy - Live Viewing of Search Keywords (Adult and Filtered Views)
MetaSpy - Live Viewing of Search Keywords (Adult and Filtered Views)
LiveMarks - Live Del.icio.us Feed
Digg Spy - Live View of Diggs
LiveMarks - Top Ranking from Del.icio.us
Kanoodle Search Spy - Live Search Preview
Meta Eureka - Voyeur (Manual Refresh)
Joe Ant - Top Search Keywords Live
AOL Hot Searches
Dogpile - Search Spy Live Search Preview (Adult and Filtered Views)
Search Words
Search Hippo
Search King - Top 25 Search Words
Eurekster - Advertising and Keyword Search
Fravia - Web Searchlore (Keyword and Search Tips, Techniques, and Methods
Analogx - Top Search Keywords
MSN Insider - Top Searches
DWoz - Top Keywords and Search Phrases
Yahoo Buzz - Top Searches
Google Zeitgeist Global - Top Search Results Globally
Google Zeitgeist - Top Search Results
Google News Top Searches for 2005
Lycos Top Searches for 2005
Yahoo Top Searches for 2005
Search.com Top Searches for 2005
Ask (aka Ask Jeeves) Top Searches for 2005
AOL Top Searches for 2005
Dogpile.com (via Infospace - metasearch engine searches Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and others for 2005
A9’s Top Search Words with 9 Letters for 2005
Search Engine Watch - Google and Yahoo Make Dogpile’s Top Searches Of 2005 List
Yahoo! Canada 2005 Year in Review Top Searches
London Free Press - Janet Jackson top pick for Google searches
The Manila Bulletin - Top IT Stories for 2005
BBC News - Google Taps Into Search Patterns
Search Engine Watch - 5th Annual Search Engine Awards (from earlier this year)
Year in Review: Year of Heroes and Weasels
CodeCubed - Tree Map (based on Del.icio.us)
Newzingo - Google News Tag Map

Research: Reading What Other People Wrote

2008-05-10T11:45:00.000+05:00

There is so much being written on the web, it can be overwhelming. Yet, one of the most important ways of finding something to write about is to find out what other people are writing about. This goes beyond news or most popular stories. It is the monitoring and reading of what other people are writing about to help inspire you to write.

Inspiration comes in many ways from reading. It begins by reading about what people are writing about in your industry. If they wrote it wonderfully, then you can cite them on your blog with a comment or two to encourage your readers to visit their site and read the article. If you want to talk about what they wrote, you can cite their post and include a blockquote or two from the article, and then say what you want to say. If you like what they wrote, but you think you can write it better, use their article as inspiration to write your own. Reading what other people also write helps you to keep up with what is going on around you, the trends and the news.

You never know where a bit of inspiration will come from, so keep your mind open to all possiblities. The following includes a wide range of resources for finding articles and archived articles. I’ve also included a list of some aggregators, sites that display content from other sites to help you keep track of what is going on through blog feeds. Some of these you can personalize and customize, while others are just lists to read through.

Search Engines, Search Blogs and Search Feeds

2008-05-10T11:44:00.000+05:00

There are times when the most popular, highest traffic, or top stories just don’t give you the material you need for creative composition, or you need more collaborating evidence and research for the topic you are working on. That’s when you turn to searching.

Sometimes just putting in a few words that sum up your industry or a topic that interests you can bring up interesting story angles and perspectives that you haven’t thought of before. Sometimes, just typing in a word and hitting the “Surprise Me” button that some search engines have will take you to new places you never thought to look before. Either way, search engines offer tremendous information, resources, and inspiration if you just start looking.

Everyone has their favorite search engines, but this list also includes a variety of search services that might get you more specialized results on your topic. Among these more specialized searches, you can also search just blogs, feeds, or specific topics.

Tracking Stories

2008-05-10T11:42:00.000+05:00

Sometimes you want to be the first blogger on your block to cover a particular story. Then there are times when everyone else has covered the story but you want to know what has happened to the story now, after the news has turned their headlights away. There are also times when the headline news doesn’t tell the whole story and you want to tell more. This is when it is time to start tracking the story beyond the headline news.

While there are a variety of sites that track stories and news, there are three methods for story tracking services and sites. First, there are sites whose goal is to simply to list blog or site content or press releases from subscribers or whatever resources they monitor. They are glorified information lists. Some showcase odds and ends, while others specialize in a specific industry. These work well for general interest subjects you are researching or investigating.

The second method is known as “website trackers”, software, online services, or utlities that will notify you if there has been a change in a specific website or blog. If a new post is published, you get an alert via your browser, email, or when you visit the website tracking page, showing you which blogs or sites have new content.

The third method is to use search engines and feed services as well as tagging and social bookmarking services to track stories. Search the story subject, title, or keywords to generate potential sources. Check these to see if they allow you to create a feed from your search results so you can track the story. See the lists above for those services.

Whatever reason you want to track stories, I’ve put together a list that includes both groups.

Internet Traffic, Web Trends, and Page Rank

2008-05-10T11:39:00.000+05:00

Whether you blog about the Internet, the web, or blogging, you are still working within the Internet industry by being a blogger. No matter what your blog topic is, it helps to understand your Internet audience, where they are coming from, how they blog, and how they search. If you have advertising on your blog, then it is important to understand what is going on in the blog business in order to help you blog better and make more money. It also helps to keep an eye on the top web hosts and traffic in general so you know what is going on around you in the Internet world.

By watching which blogs or websites are top of the charts for traffic, you can pretty much guage which topics are popular with most Internet users. Here are some resources for lists of the most popular websites and blogs online, as well as tracking web trends and traffic.

So what are some news or resources you monitor frequently to find stories and content for your blog that I have missed? Wanna share?

Treat Your Blog like a Business

2008-05-10T11:30:00.000+05:00

I can see the comments already. “My blog is just that, MY blog. It’s not a business!” or “If you treat a blog like a business you take all the fun out of it!” You may still feel like that at the end of the post, just hear me out before you start typing out that passionate rebuttal. One of the things that makes the internet so amazing is the ability to make money out of nothing. In fact, that’s why the niche is so popular. People know that a lot of money is being made online and they want to get in on it. People that never had the desire or the capital to open up a traditional business can make money all by themselves. Others started out just wanting to talk about their favorite subject and realized they could be making money at the same time. The end result is that you have a growing niche on the ‘net of people trying to make money, especially with blogs. And actually, they are doing pretty well. A lot of people are having modest success without all the hassles of a traditional business.

However (and you knew there was going to be a however), if you are willing to treat your blog like a business, you’ll reap the rewards of your hard work much sooner. It’s almost like growing a plant. Sure you can stick a seed in some dirt and water it now and then and it will grow. But, if you take the time to carefully cultivate the soil, making sure it has all the right levels of nutrients, and put down some fertilizer or MiracleGrow, you’re going to see bigger, better results, much quicker. I’m not saying you can’t make money blogging without going the “business route”, but you’ll be leaving a lot of potential untapped.

That’s all well and good, but what exactly does “Treat your blog like a business.” mean right? In my mind there are three main business practices that any blogger hoping to make money with their site should apply to their site: plan, monitor, and invest.

Plan

One of the biggest mistakes I see bloggers make is the lack of planning that goes into their sites. They set up a blog, start writing, and figure everything else will sort itself out. It’s a fly by the seat of their pants mentality and in my experience, it leads to two things, burnout and failure. Now I’m normally not an advocate of structure and guidelines. I don’t like the restrictiveness of rules and deadlines etc. However, I’ve started up and abandoned blogs to realize that a bit of planning can save a LOT of wasted time and effort. For example, plan out how you’re going to make money from the blog. Obviously you’re not going to be able to predict the future but try to get a general idea of the different methods you’ll use to make money. Are you going to use sell some sort of product? Will you try to sell advertising? Are you going to promote affiliate offers? Are you trying to attract new clients for a service you offer?

Some of the best blogs that I’ve started, I’ve also abandoned simply because I didn’t have a good plan to monetize them and consequently, didn’t make any money. While hobby bloggers might not mind, when you’re blogging to make money, that can be incredibly frustrating. A simple plan of action for your blog can help avoid all that. This doesn’t need to be some intricate business plan, but it should include things like expected revenue streams, any costs you might encounter, and even some dated goals. The goal for this blog is obviously a full time income by next July but each month I set out smaller goals to help bridge the gap between where I am and where I’m trying to go. That way I stay on track and motivated even if the overall goal is fairly daunting.

Monitor

Could you imagine a business not having any idea how much money it spends, how much money it makes, or where its customers come from? I don’t think a company that did that would be in business for long, or at the very least certainly wouldn’t remain profitable. Unfortunately that’s exactly how many bloggers operate. They might have a general idea how much money they are making (usually not much) and they probably have a pretty good idea what if any money they’ve spent, but they probably don’t have any idea where their “customers” come from or who they are. While you might not have any customers in the traditional sense, you hopefully have people that generate money for you. If you’re marketing affiliate products which visitors to your site convert the best? If you just sell advertising, how many people actually click through to the advertisers’ site? Even if you just use the buy me a beer button, what type of visitor most often donates?

There is a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips and yet surprisingly few bloggers ever take advantage of it. You should definitely install Google Analytics, but don’t stop there. Set up goals, track conversions, dig down into the stats to find out which source of traffic generates the best traffic for you. Find out which affiliate offers or advertisements work best for which articles or pages on your site. Bottom line: monitor and track everything!

Invest

This practice probably isn’t going to be the most popular of the bunch. As a result, it’s the one that I think the largest number of bloggers are missing, and as such could be your greatest advantage. As I mentioned earlier, a large part of the allure of making money from a blog is the incredibly small barrier to entry. I mean you don’t even have to spend money to register a domain or pay for hosting if you don’t want to. You can begin to make money without spending a single cent. In the end though, your quest to save money, and make as much as possible up front could in fact be holding you back.

Countless people have written about the benefits of having your own domain name. It shouldn’t be difficult to see the benefits of having your own hosting that can hold up to a story hitting the front page of Digg. And yet, countless bloggers aren’t willing to spend the money. A custom logo for your site can be cheaper than going out to dinner and yet I still see sites using the image that came with the theme they’ve used. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you need to shell out thousands of dollars before you start up your blog, but the more you’re willing to spend now, the quicker you’ll see results, and the better your position will be when you do see results.

That conveniently brings me to my next point. Once your site does begin to have some success, you’re presented with yet another opportunity to separate yourself from the crowd. Rather than taking the money you’ve earned out of your blog, reinvest it! If you haven’t gotten your own hosting, do it with your previous month’s earnings. If you are using a theme that hundreds of other bloggers are using, spend a month’s income to have a custom design developed. If you’ve already done all that, reinvest the money into advertising for your site or even product development! Just because you started your blog for free doesn’t mean you have to run it without any funding. I have seen countless bloggers make $100 one month and still stick with their free account on WordPress or Blogger the next. Like I said, you don’t have to spend money to make money on the internet. But, if you’re willing to take that step, you’ll continue to build on your success, month by month, rather than starting from scratch over and over again.

I realize the thought of treating your blog like a business may be a foreign concept but I think the benefits are substantial. I know some of you will think that will take all the fun out of blogging, but in my mind, making more money would be a lot of fun as well.

What do you think?

Do you treat your blog as a business or do you think that defeats the whole purpose? Did I overstate the benefits or maybe miss another benefit? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Ultimate guide to blog marketing

2008-05-10T11:27:00.000+05:00

While most blogs include ping services that automatically market your real estate blog to social networks and search engines, if you want to super-charge your traffic, you need to be pro-active and market your real estate blog with press releases, blog directories, blog rings, carnivals, social media sites, article syndication services and blog commenting. So, here is my ultimate guide to marketing your real estate blog.

Publish press releases

GOAL: Increase news media interest and interview requests.

A press release is news story, written in third person that demonstrates to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product. Press releases are an extraordinary way to kick start syndication of your blog content, acquire new readers and attract journalistic interest. Have a special event, milestone or new service to announce? Write a press release and use a web service to syndicate it.

The following are a number of press release service you can use, however I highly recommend spending the extra bucks and using PRWeb’s SEOed press release service.

24-7pressrelease

Free-press-release.com

I-newswire.com

Press-base.com

Pressmethod.com

PRWeb

PRLeap

Prlog

Sanepr.com

Sbwire.com

Example: RSS Pieces syndicated our launch press release back in September and it not only spiked our traffic but it also helped promote our brand around the web.

Submit your real estate blog to blog directories

GOAL: Build brand awareness in the blogosphere and directory traffic

Blog directories are a great way of getting your blog name out there. By joining a few select directories, you can improve your web visibility and traffic. Below are some popular blog directories and links to lists of more directories.

Google Blog Search

TopBlogSites

List of Blog Directories

Article Publishing Directories

Join blog rings and groups

GOAL: Network with readers and other industry bloggers while increasing new visitors

For those of you that haven’t joined a blog ring like MyBlogLog, get off your fanny and do it. It is a great way to more personally connect with your readers and other blogger that you read regularly. You can leave personal messages for your favorite bloggers and join communities of like-minded bloggers. There are tons of real estate related communities to join at MyBlogLog. Below are ist of the more popular web rings. Look into a few of them, join the ones you feel compatible with and start networking. You can increase traffic to your own blog and network with other real estate bloggers so you can exchange guest blogging spots on each others sites.

MyBlogLog

Blog Circles

Weblogs Inc.,

9rules

Darren Rowse

Maxira

Weblog Empire

SBNation

Corante

About Weblogs

NinerNiner

Blogo

Creative Weblogging

Mink Media

Ist network

Trudy W Schuett

Revenews

Seeking Alpha

Writers Write

Social Media Group

Compete in the Carnival of Real Estate

GOAL: Build your authority and credibility within the industry and among other industry bloggers

The Carnival of Real Estate just gets bigger and bigger each week. A Blog Carnival is a weekly summary of the best blogging posts on a given subject that appeared in someone’s blog during the previous week. A different blog hosts the carnival each week, so it brings bloggers writing on a given subject together. Blog Carnivals are often referred to as another form of viral marketing because it provides participants another way to increase traffic and gain links to their blog. Simply submit your best post from the week to the Carnival of Real Estate and see what happens.

Submit posts to social media sites

GOAL: Increase traffic and new visitors from social media sites while improving your brand credibility

Check out this article that shows you how much traffic you drive by simply submitting your better posts to Reddit. Submitting your best posts to social sites like ActiveRain, Digg, Reddit, NewsVine and Real estate Voices can boost traffic substantially and help to promote your brand and build authority across the net. It is one of the best ways to attract new visitors and syndicate your content.

Submit posts to article syndication sites

GOAL: Increase traffic and internet visibility through generalized syndication

Got a great post that begs to be spread across the Net? There are a bunch of syndication sites specifically for articles. Use them sparingly as you don’t want to devalue your site’s authority by over submitting articles. But when you have that one in a million precious gem of a post, submit it to article directories. Below is a list of popular article submission sites.

Top article directories

ezinearticles.com

webpronews.com

ideamarketers.com

certificate.net

goarticles.com

netterweb.com

articlecentral.com

articlefinders.com

web-source.net

biz-whiz.com

xongoo.com

websitefuel.com

zinos.com

addme.com

amazines.com

warriorforum.com

Comment on related local or real estate blogs

GOAL: Network with local and industry bloggers while building backlinks

Commenting on other industry or local blogs is a free means of developing a name for yourself and driving traffic from a popular blog(s) back to your blog. Real estate is a local business, so find other local blogs to comment on. You can easily find local blogs on Google Blog Search by typing in your farm area as the search term. Select some popular local blogs and just start commenting. You can also find industry blogs to increase your authority and network with other real estate bloggers.

Conclusion

If you are serious about driving traffic to your blog, you will start to incorporate some of these traffic driving techniques. Blog marketing isn’t difficult, but it does take a little time. Investing a mere 20 minutes a day to marketing your posts can help you to drive traffic and generate leads.

MARKETING TO GOOGLE with directories

2008-05-10T11:11:00.000+05:00

Google represents more than 50% of all web searches in the United States. For real estate agents that means, you need to get your site searchable on Google. So, how do you go about doing that?

How Google Rates Websites

Google, unlike most search engines puts the most value on the number and the quality of other sites that link to you (backlinks). So, the key to getting noticed by Google is building your relevant inbound linkage data.

Relevant inbound links means links from other websites that are related in some way to the content of your site. So if you have a site about real estate you don’t want links from sites about kitchen utensils- that’s why link farms should be avoided.

The best way to get your site indexed is through having a search engine follow a link from another site back to you.

Building links with directory listings:

Search engines are operated by scripts and code. Conversely, directories are human compiled lists of sites organized by categories. Since directories are entirely human edited they take a ton of time and effort to maintain. Directories rarely provide much direct traffic, however, the value of a directory listing is in how search engines will evaluate the links. Occasionally you will find a directory that does provide good traffic but that is the exception more than it is the rule.

When submitting to directories spend the extra time to ensure you are in the correct category and are following the directory guidelines. Also be sure to vary the text you submit to directories so it doesn’t look like a robot is doing a bulk submission to multiple directories. That is one sure fire way to not get a listing in a directory!

Reciprocal Link Required Directories

Some directories require reciprocal links to be listed in them. I do not recommend swapping links with most of these types of directories. Link popularity is a currency so you want to be careful with linking to a directory that could devalue your site in the eyes of a search engine.

What free directories to target:

DMoz

The Open Directory Project (DMOZ) is free, but sometimes it can take a while to get listed. DMOZ editors work free of charge and are under no obligation to list your website. Ensure you take the time to submit your site to the right category and follow their directory guidelines. Regional sites should be submitted to their respective regional category. The Open Directory Project is syndicated by many other sites and inclusion into it often provides your site with dozens of inbound links.

http://dmoz.org/add.html

Best Web Directories

(there is a $46 fee associated with this one but they list you on over 200 free directories by hand with varying descriptive text so your links build naturally. I use this service myself and recommend it) You can use their list of directories and submit your site to them yourself, but honestly- who has the time?

http://www.best-web-directories.com/directory-submission-tips.htm

Zeal Directory

Free (noncomercial resources only) Zeal is the free noncommercial backdoor directory which helps to power the LookSmart suite of sites.

http://www.zeal.com

Mavica Net

Free submission. Multilingual directory spanning over 20 languages.

http://www.mavicanet.com/

WoW Search Engine and Directory Service

Comprehensive search engine and directory service featuring one of the webs most complete topic structures and free submission.

http://www.wowdirectory.com

About Webguide

The About Webguide offers tip and tutorials from hundreds of category specific guides.

http://www.about.com

WWW Virtual Library

The WWW Virtual Library was founded by Tim Berners-Lee as a link directory by a loose confederation of topical experts. High quality directories can submit to be part of the WWW Virtual Library.

http://www.vlib.org

Librarians' Index to the Internet

Free submission. Each submitted site is reviewed by 2 or more librarians to weed out garbage. Submissions must have significant non commercial content to be indexed.

http://www.lii.org/

Resource Discovery Network

(Free Inclusion) A variety of top quality resources ran by differnet organizations. Similar to the WWW Virtual Library, but more focused.

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/

Bubl Link Directory

Web directory categorized by the dewey decimal system.

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/

StartSpot Network

(free inclusion) Directory of about a dozen various niche specific "start spot" topical directories.

http://www.startspot.com/network/

Illumirate

(free inclusion, also offers PPC services) Directory with many independant editors. Illumirate was formerly known as Hotrate.

http://www.illumirate.com/

How To Inflate Your BlogRush Credit Count

2008-05-10T11:08:00.000+05:00

Whenever any new program or system is released, exploits and manipulations are sure to follow. Unfortunately the blogosphere’s latest darling, BlogRush is no exception. Here are two quick and easy ways to artificially inflate the number of credits you earn in the new system. This post is a “how to” not a “should you” post. I’ll leave the ethical debate up to you and your conscience.

(Note: Before signing up for BlogRush through my or any other affiliate link, please read the Don't Rush to sign-up to Blog Rush post to avoid shooting yourself in the foot.)

Refer Yourself
has a 10 tier affiliate program that rewards credits for the activities of your referrals or what’s known as your downline. Usually a 10 tiered program involves 10 different people all profiting from the actions of one referral at the bottom. However, if you become two of those ten people, you instantly double the number of credits you earn. For example, say you have two different websites that you’d like to enroll in BlogRush (BR). Of course BR allows you to add more blogs to your account but why do that when you can get paid twice for doing something once? If you sign up once using your less trafficked site, and then refer yourself and sign up a second time with your more popular site, you’ll earn twice the credits from your popular site’s activity. Also, by referring yourself, and then promoting the service, you can earn twice the number of credits from referring new members. Basically, for every action that should reward you with 1 credit, you’ll be earning 2 instead.

Fake Impressions
There is one main flaw inherent in any impression based system. That is of course the issue of fake impressions. Fake impressions appear to be legitimate impressions offering the same chance that the viewer will click through to one of the sites listed in the Blog Rush widget, but in fact, they’re not. Extra impressions can be generated in countless ways, the easiest being setting a web browser to automatically refresh a page displaying the widget at a certain interval. Lets say for instance you decided to refresh the page 4 times a minute for an hour and poof, you’ve earned 240 credits. Since this probably isn’t the most discrete method, many people will likely search for other methods. Whether it’s writing scripts to send bot traffic, placing the widget on pop-up or pop-under pages, or simply buying traffic from one of those “1 million visitors to your site in 24 hours for only $29.95″ it’s fairly simple to generate a whole boat load of fake impressions.

Of course BlogRush is not ignorant of this weakness, in fact they addressed it on their announcement yesterday.

“How Will BlogRush Stop People From Abusing The Network?”

We are putting many things in place (in addition to what we already have.) We are also in the process of activating a full “Review” process for all member blogs; using some automation and HUMAN REVIEW. Please know that BlogRush will do everything necessary to stop all fraud and abuse of our system. We have no choice but to protect the integrity of our network.

Does that sound like a “oh, we’ll handle it, just trust us” type answer to anyone else? I mean who’s to say how much traffic my site gets? How would they know whether those impressions are legit or not? Especially if coded it to hit one of the titles in the widget at random? I mean hell there are already plenty of bots that promise to generate adsense clicks, what makes BlogRush think their detection systems are going to be better than Google’s?

So, there you have it, two fairly quick and easy ways to earn extra credits to promote your site or sites on Blog Rush. Enjoy!

Using Social Bookmarks to Promote Your Blog

2008-05-10T11:06:00.000+05:00

Got Chiclets? Learn how to use social bookmarks and social news sites to promote your real estate blog. Need a quick and easy way to promote your posts? Use Chiclets! Chiclets are those tiny social network bookmark icons on blogs that allow you and your users to easily submit your post to social news and network sites like Digg, Reddit, Furl and NewsVine. Want to see what they look like? Go to the bottom of this post and click the “i” icon. When that slides open you will see all our little social bookmarking chicklets. As you roll over each one it will indicate which social network it represents. If you click one, you can easily submit our article to that social site. Yep, it’s that easy. You may have to do a one time registration on each social mediasite, but it is well worth it since you will want to frequently submit your own best posts.

Shout out of the day goes to Jeff Harmon’s article on How to Get Dugg.

To find out what a social news site like Digg is, visit About Digg.

The benefits of including social bookmarks on your real estate blog

By now, you must know how I love to quote and link to Rand of SEOmoz, check out this article that shows you how much traffic you drive by simply submitting your better posts to Reddit. For example RSS Pieces generates a full 22% of our traffic from social sites, excluding ActiveRain. My social sites of choice are Digg, Reddit, NewsVine and Real estate Voices.

Where to find social bookmark Chiclets: Chiclet Resource

Increases user interaction on your real estate blog.

People like to feel involved. If they like your blog they will want to let other know how much they “dig” you. You’ll be surprised how fast your submissions will get dug or voted on if you include social bookmarks.

Increases your post’s ability to rank highly on social networks and get “dugg” more often.

The higher you rank (i.e. the more digs or votes your post receives) the more exposure it will get on the social network. Adding Chiclets/bookmarks makes digging your real estate blog easier and substantially increases your number of diggs/votes.

Increases traffic driven from social news/network sites.

The more diggs/votes you get the higher you rank, the higher you rank, the more exposure you get on the social network, the more exposure you get, the more likely someone will be to click on the article and visit your site to read it. Basically, social networks drive tons of new visitors to your blog.

Social network submission rules

Now, what are the rules for submitting to social sites? Yes, there are rules.

Submit only your best posts.

According to Copyblogger, whom we love, you can’t Digg every article. You need to selectively choose your best posts, usually only 1 in 20 is Digg worthy. Don’t overwhelm social sites with your posts, you want to submit posts that are your cream of the crop. Clearly, you don’t want to submit your listing or local color posts to these sites, rather you want to submit more generalized tutorial or market research posts.

Bait your posts by asking both you readers and friends/family to “digg” or vote on your post.

There is nothing wrong with calling your readers to action and specifically asking them to vote on your posts with social networks with some text and link/Chiclet at the bottom of each post. You can also send out an email to friends, family, co-workers, etc. asking them to vote on your post. Even the best of writers bait their posts. It’s not just common, it is accepted. That being said, don’t be a Sybill and create 10 different identities in various social networks to vote on your own posts. Some networks are wise to this method and will ban you and it is just bad netiquette.

Use the right tools to track your diggs

See who is digging your posts with this cool tool: Digg Spy

Balance transfBalance transfer credit cards

2008-05-10T11:00:00.000+05:00

What is the best transfer of credit card balances? It is a question of relevancy frequently asked questions about me, the visitors to my site. But it is also one of the toughest credit card, in order to answer questions. The answer is simple, “it is.” If there is only so simple. Find the best balance transfer depends on a number of factors. Here we pencherons to some situations where it is very likely to be a better balance option data transmission.

Location I: You want your current interest rates and new shopping.

In this situation, a credit card with a 0% interest on the purchase and transfer of the balance is clearly the best choice. Tenders for these credit cards are very common, and most offer a 0% interest rate for 1 year. This balance approach to reducing your actual interest expense, while interest expense on the new purchases.

A drawback of most credit cards is that most means 3% of the costs of transferring the balance to a maximum of 75 $. But even with the balance transfer, the transfer of a $ 3500 balance of a card with a 14% interest rates will give you more than $ 400 in the interests, not the money for new acquisitions. In most cases, this is the best balance transfer credit card.

Credit card offers

2008-05-10T10:57:00.001+05:00

Just recently I am receiving several credit card offers through mail and sometimes through phone. I am now numbed with those mails and I don’t even bother to open it. I shredded and then threw to the garbage.

I have now three credit cards and I am having difficulties paying my monthly due. Why are they still offering when they know that I can’t pay anymore. I have decided that I am going to do a balance transfer so that I will be paying only one credit card. And I will do that in the following days.

It’s time to be wise financially. I have to act the way it should be.

Graduate Management Admission Council - GMAC

2008-05-10T10:38:00.000+05:00

GMAC - Graduate Management Admission Council is responsible for all matters of GMAT. GMAC began to operate in 1953, as an association of nine top business schools. Its goal was to develop a standardized test to help business schools select suitable candidates for MBA classes. It itrodeced GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test). More than 200,000 people take GMAT round the year. More than 1500 business schools make their evaluation criteria based on GMAT.

GMAC is a Non Profit Organization

The members of GMAC are from leading business schools representatives worldwide. The aims of GMAC are

To create access of every one to graduate business schools worldwide.
Help people around the world realize success and fullfillment through the MBA and other mangement and professional degrees.
Topromote the value of graduate management studiess

Web Address of GMAC : www.gmac.com

In Pakistan every business school has its own test format. Some of them accept GMAT score as well. For example LUMS evaluate application for MBA admission in their MBA programs on the basis of LMAT and GMAT. LMAT - LUMS Management Admission Test is not exactly the GMAT is. IBA (Karachi) and BZU (Multan), leading business schools have their test formats. BZU has a defined officially anounced test pattern.

Graduate Management Admission Test - GMAT

2008-05-10T10:03:00.001+05:00

The letters GMAT stand for Graduate Management Admission Test, which is standardized exam given at various locations in the United States and Canada and around the world. Throughout North America and many international locations, the GMAT is administered only via computer. In those international locations where an extensive network of computers has not yet been established, the GMAT is offered either at temporary computer-based testing centers on a limited schedule or as a paper-based test (given once or twice a year) at local testing centers.
The most popular standardized test is GMAT, Thousands of graduate management programs around the world use the Graduate Management Admission Test for the evaluation of prospect student for admission in MBA or BBA.

The GMAT exam is power tool for admissions professionals.

Thousands of graduate management programs around the world use the Graduate Management Admission Test in their admissions process. You may be considering whether your program should adopt the GMAT exam, as well.

Interest in graduate management education has never been higher, and the job of selecting a class to fill the limited capacity of most MBA programs has never been more challenging. The applicants come from different countries, cultures, academic backgrounds, and levels of work experience. Using the GMAT exam gives admissions professionals one element of the application that is a consistent measure. The GMAT exam is given under standard conditions around the world, with the highest level of security, to ensure that scores are comparable across applicants.

WHAT IS THE CAT?
The computer-based version of the GMAT is called a Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). The CAT differs from the old paper-based GMAT in that a computer program chooses problems based on a candidate’s responses to previous questions. Thus, the CAT is “adaptive” or “interactive”. Whereas candidates taking the old paper-based test where presented with a range of questions (including easy, moderately difficult, and difficult items), the CAT selects questions according to each candidate’s ability. During a CAT, the computer controls the order in which test items appear, basing is selection on the candidate’s responses to earlier items.
At the risk of oversimplifying, the testing procedure can be described as follows. The computer has access to a large number of test items classified according to question type (sentence correction, reading comprehension, critical thinking, problem solving, and data sufficiency- the question types that you will study below) and arranged in order of difficulty. At the outset, the computer presents you with one or two “seed” questions, items of average level of difficulty. If you answer those successfully, the program selects for the next question an item of greater difficulty; if you do not answer the “seed” questions correctly, the program lowers the level of difficulty. This process is repeated, with the program continuing to adjust the level of difficulty of questions, until you have with the program continuing to adjust the level of difficulty of questions, until you have provided all the answers that the computer needs to calculate your score.
The GMAT exam is accessible to students around the world.

The GMAT exam is conducted throughout the year in more than 150 countries around the world. Combination of permanent and mobile test centers creates access for virtually every prospective applicant. Online registration in most locations makes the process of registering for the test fast and easy.

Register for GMAT

With computer adaptive testing, registering for the GMAT is quite simple and easy. The cost to take the exam —or "appointment fee" is currently $250. The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) takes most major credit cards, personal checks, and money orders.

The most convenient way to register is online at www.mba.com. You may also register by phone (1-800-717-GMAT) or by mail (Pearson VUE, Attention: GMAT Program, P.O. Box 581907, Minneapolis, MN, 55458).

To retake the exam, simply follow the same procedures. However, you are only allowed to take the GMAT every 31 days.

Scope and Target of GMAT

2008-05-10T09:56:00.000+05:00

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a worldwide accepted standardized assessment—delivered in English—that helps business schools assess the qualifications of applicants for advanced study in business and management. Business Schools use the test as one predictor of academic performance in an MBA program or in other graduate management programs.

If you want to have admission to an MBA program, chances are you’ll need to take the GMAT. About two-thirds of the 1,300+ graduate business schools around the world require GMAT scores for admission. Schools that do not require GMAT scores nevertheless welcome GMAT scores to help access an applicant’s qualifications.

NOTE: Schools that do not require GMAT scores generally have relatively lenient admission standards and/or are located outside of the United States.

How Business Schools use GMAT Score

The GMAT seeks to measure three broad areas of ability by way of its different test sections:

Analytical Writing Assessment (two 30-minute essay sections)
Quantitative Ability (one 75-minute multiple choice section)
Verbal Ability (one 75-minute multiple choice section)

A separate score is awarded for each of the three abilities listed above. A combined Quantitative/Verbal score is also awarded. The GMAT is not a pass/fail test.

Each graduate business school develops and implements its own policy concerning the use of GMAT scores in making admissions decisions. Many schools screen applicants by combining GMAT scores and undergraduate GPA (each school determining for itself their relative weight), then ranking all applicants in their initial pool accordingly.

In addition — especially after the initial screening of applicants — admissions officials consider subjective factors such as work and other relevant experience, recommendation letters, application essays (personal statements), and reports of personal interviewers. In making difficult decisions between two or more similarly qualified candidates, admissions officials rely less on GMAT scores and GPA and far more on these other, more subjective factors.

What the GMAT Measures

The GMAT exam measures basic verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills that you have developed over a long period of time in your education and work. It does NOT measure:

your knowledge of business,
your job skills,
specific content in your undergraduate or first university course work,
your abilities in any other specific subject area, or
subjective qualities—such as motivation, creativity, and interpersonal skills.

How Does the Computer-Adaptive Test Format Work?

2008-05-10T09:50:00.002+05:00

The computer-adaptive format takes some getting used to---in fact, it’s pretty weird at first. Here’s how it works. You will see only one question at a time. Instead of having a predetermined mixture of basic, medium, and hard questions, the computer will select questions for you based on how well you are doing.
The first question will be of medium difficulty. If you get it right, the second question will be selected from a large pool of questions that are a little harder; if you get the first question wrong, the second will be a little more basic.
If you keep getting questions right, the test will get harder and harder; if you slip and make some mistakes, the test will adjust and start giving you easier problems, but if you answer them correctly, it will go back to the hard ones. Ideally, the test gives you enough questions to ensure that scores are not based on luck. If you get one hard question right, you might just have been lucky, but if you get ten hard questions right, then luck has little to do with it. So the test is self-adjusting and self-correcting.

Because of this format, the computer-adaptive GMAT is structurally very different from a paper-based test. After the first problem, every problem that you see is based on how you answered the prior problem. That means you cannot return to a question once you’ve answered it, because that would throw off the sequence. Once you answer a question, it’s part of your score, for better or worse. That means you can’t skip around within a section and do questions in the order that you like.

Another major consequence of the GMAT format is that hard problems count more than easy ones. It has to do this way, because the very purpose of this adaptive format is to find out at what level you reliably get about half the questions right; that’s your scoring level.

Imagine two students—one who does ten basic questions, half of which she gets right and half of which she gets wrong, and one who does ten very difficult questions, half of which she gets right and half of which she gets wrong. The same number of questions have been answered correctly in each case, but this does not reflect and equal ability on the part of the two students. In fact, the student who answered five out of ten very difficult questions incorrectly could still get a very high score on the GMAT. But in order to get to these hard questions, she first had to get medium difficulty questions right. What this means for you is that no matter how much more comfortable you might be sticking to the basic questions, you definitely want to get to the hard questions if you can, because that means your score will be higher.

Seven Annoying Things about the Computer-Adaptive Test

•You cannot skip around on this test; you must answer the questions one at a time in the order the computer gives them to you.
• If you realize later that you answered a question incorrectly, you can’t go back and change your answer.
• If the person next to you is noisy or distracting, the proctor cannot move you or the person, since your test is on the computer.
• You can’t cross off an answer choice and never look at it again, so you have to be disciplined about not reconsidering choices you’ve already eliminated.
• You have to scroll through Reading Comprehension passages, which means you won’t be able to see the whole thing on the screen at once.
• You can’t write on your computer screen the way you can on the paper test (though some have tried), so you have to use scratch paper they give you, which will be inconveniently located away from the computer screen.
• Lastly, many people find that computer screen tire them and cause eyestrain—especially after four hours.
The following chapters of this book provide an overview of the different sections you’ll encounter on the GMAT exam. But before you move on to them, take note of the GMAT Registration Checklist opposite. This checklist will serve as a useful resource for you when it’s time to sign up for the test.