Babysitting notes from the mom

We are babysitting our 2 year old, hyperactive grandson in LA, CA. (note: pills will be fed to him in grade school over our dead bodies)

Here is a note from Noah's mom (Schmo is little Noah's nickname):

Dangers for Schmo

1. Keep bathroom doors shut & bedroom

2. Keep Schmo’s window closed

3. Keep back gate closed in yard

4. Keep font wooden door closed and locked (he can unlock screen door)

5. Keep all sharp knives on top of fridge (he will get them out of the sink and dishwasher)

6. Make sure dishwasher is on “OFF” when done (not drying or warming) coil ges very hot and I got burned

7. Last night Schmo was banging kitchen window with object almost breaking glass. If he disappears over there that’s probably what he’s doing.

8. Keep laundry room shut and latched.

9. Keep all glass behind locked cabinets

10. Keep refrig locked (watch for chairs being pulled ss kitchen probably getting into freezer)


Enough said!

Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Twitter: /calgreg

Blogging - interview with Toby Cryns

Toby Cryns is an avid blogger. I have known him for, well, since the day he first saw the light of day. Toby is my son after all. He was born at home. That was not an accident. We planned a home birth.

Toby has strong musical talent. He recently finished a three week west coast tour on his own appearing in clubs from San Diego to San Francisco. He is the only one of our seven children who did not migrate to California. Toby lives in Minneapolis.

We are pretty much in sync about website issues especially on useability. Like me, Toby loves the Internet. We saw it for the first time one night when we signed up for Hotmail in 1998. We had an awful connection by phone modem back then (as did everyone else) and I remember watching a single graphic load on the screen. It took at least 15 seconds for that one graphic. But we were amazed by what we were seeing on the old monitor. Toby started putting together websites on Geocities (one of the first free places to make websites) and I followed suit soon after.

Toby now earns a good living building and maintaining websites. He is an expert in both Flash and WordPress.


INTERVIEW WITH TOBY CRYNS, BLOGGER, WEBMASTER, MUSICIAN


Q: How long have you been blogging?

A: I started my first blog back in 2000. There was no blogging software, so I had to create or edit html pages each time I posted. Here is an example of one of my first blogs: http://www.geocities.com/t_cryns/spank/news.html


Q: Tell us about your blogs

A: Lunch of Champions (www.lunchofchampions.com), Confessions of a Former Political Junkie (blog.cryns.com), What it's like to be Cryns #3 (www.cryns.com" target="_blank"), The Mighty Mo! (www.themightymo.com/updates).


Q: Which blog do you enjoy posting on the most? Why?

A: My personal blog, Confessions of a Former Political Junkie, is the most fun, and I post 2-5 times daily. It is where I go to let my political opinions run wild, share funny email forwards, and post links to interviews I do. ;)


Q: Why do you blog?

A: Blogging is a creative outlet for me. It combines my love of writing, politics, and the internet all in one creative place. I hold onto this dream that one day people will be influenced by the writings on my blog.

Q: Does blogging come easy to you?

A: Sometimes. I have about 30 half-written posts in my "Drafts" folder right now. Sometimes I will start an article and get bored writing it half-way through. I see that as a sign that I should move on to another topic. Most of my blog posts are some form of political commentary of which I am well-versed and passionate about.





Q: Do you want to make money on your blogs?

A: I would LOVE to make a living by blogging. Right now I make a modest living building websites. Blogging is strictly a passion at this time in my life. But I would love to get to a point where I could supplement or supplant my website-building income with a blogging income. I love writing.


Q: You prefer WordPress fan?

A: I have installed and tried to use Joomla, Drupal, and Wordpress. Wordpress was, by far, the easiest of those three to get up and blogging. With Wordpress, it is much easier to create and manage pages and blog posts. You can also more easily control how the urls of your posts are displayed. Finally, editing your themes in Wordpress is a breeze. As far as usability, it is right up there with Blogger (and better than Moveable Type), but with the range of features and hacks that you can utilize with the open-source Wordpress code, there is absolutely no reason that I see to use any of the proprietary options (Blogger, Moveable Type, etc.).


Q: What do you like best about WordPress?

A: I have a ball editing and creating new themes and functionality for my blog. Wordpress plugin developers have a culture of openness, and mostly give away all the cool stuff for free. So, you can integrate Flash slideshows, video skins, rotating banners, Google Adsense, SEO Optimization, Flickr feeds, Twitter, and pretty much anything else all for $0.

Q: Who are some of your favorite bloggers?

A: With a few notable exceptions, I don't regularly follow blogs. The ones that I do follow are Green Threat (http://greenthreat.blogspot.com/), Adastra Per Aspera (http://greff.wordpress.com/), Found Magazine (http://www.foundmagazine.com/), and Strobist (http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/).


Q: Your view on the future of blogging?

A: I think about this a lot, and it's really a big question mark right now. I worry that the old model of copyright infringement enforcement might cause people to shy away from the medium. It will be really interesting to see how the old corporate guard deals with all these young bloggers. For example, will my rants today disqualify me from a job later? I worry about that. People should be allowed to opine in public without fear of retribution by our corporate masters.


Q: How have blogs impacted the real world?

A: Blogs have allowed people to express themselves in new ways - this is always a good thing. You have the high school social outcast who finds an audience for his crazy thoughts online, which allows him to grow and form a more complete understanding of the world than was previously possible. On the political front, it seems that bloggers have exerted some degree of influence. It seems that the extreme and ridiculous positions are tolerated less on internet bulletin boards than they are on cable and network news shows. When I am online, I can just sift through and ignore the personal attacks and ridiculous assertions that drive daily news coverage in print and broadcast media.


Q: How have you used online social networking?

A: Twitter, blog, Flickr, Facebook, mySpace, and participate in MeetUp and other online user groups. Facebook, in particular has helped me to strengthen many of my personal relationships with friends locally and out-of-state through Facebook-grounded games such as Scrabble and Chess. I'm not sure that Web 2.0 technologies offer the world in terms of bottom lines for most companies, however, they certainly are fun!


Thank you, Toby Cryns, for your time putting together this interview with me.

Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg

Networking: where do I go wrong?

Is social networking all it's hyped up to be?

I love networking. I've done well with offline networking but online networking has me hoodwinked.

It's not that I don't try. To be sure, I do a lot of email and network messaging. I just can't seem to make anything really click, stick, work well.

Maybe I am expecting too much? However, I see a lot of people hyping the benefits of social networking. Are they fibbing? Are they inexperienced? Are they just trying to sell their products? Remember, I am referring just to social networking here, not blogging.

To be sure, I see the benefit of social networking at Twitter if you already are a guru. What I see the gurus doing on Twitter is mainly setting up their next product launches.

My case: I have a Ryze network I started a few years ago. I am proud to say it now has over 4,500 members.
http://promoteit-network.ryze.com/

Ryze has been good to me and in a sense I have put myself out there by posting often and joining other Ryze networks. And I do make money by constantly posting offers. However, I don't feel I've connected with very many people to the point that they are friends and that are people I would turn to in a jam.

Whenever someone signs up to my network I go to their Ryze page to welcome them. Below is the message I send and a short conversation I had with a nice lady who is a fitness coach. You will see, I made an attempt to network with her but I was repeatedly pushed away. Although this type of response is not usual (in fact most do not respond at all) it does reflect what people are thinking.

I would appreciate any advice on how to improve my networking efforts. Please place your comments to this post. Please tell us how your networking efforts have paid off.


Here is the Ryze exchange (name withheld)
greg cryns writes:

Welcome to Promote It!

I've been marketing on the Internet since 1998. Glad to say I've learned quite a bit but I am still learning every day.

Please check out Send Out Cards. Here you can use their database to send out large numbers of real greeting cards and/or postcards at the push of a button. It is a wonderful way to be in front of your prospect when he or she is ready to buy. That is essential to success. Write me for details after you check out the SOC site.

Send Out Cards - http://www.sendoutcards.com/24782

Please join my newsletter. I keep the content relevant and I don't spam with silly offers. When something really good comes along I will tell you about it. To join the newsletter go to: http://www.wahmsearchengine.com/newsletter.shtml

I invite you to post every day on Promote It! I wish you great success in your business and your internet adventures.

Sincerely,

Greg Cryns

My Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg
Wahm Search Engine - http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
Work At Home Profiles - http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

(name) writes:
I have checked out Send Out Cards before and I am not interested. Thanks =)



greg cryns writes:
Hi (name),

No problem. At least you communicated. Most do not. :)

I do understand a lot about getting traffic to websites so if you have any specific questions about that don't hesitate to ask. I see you are a coach. Do you have a blog? If you do, I am interested in interviewing your on my blog. I want people to learn how to make blogs work for them.

My blog: http://gregcryns.blogspot.com

best,

greg

(name) writes:

Yes, I am a __________ fitness coach and love it since I am passionate about helping people be fit and healthy.

Blogs don't really work for me... I do blog sometimes on my healthsite, but not much..... It is at
http://herwebsite.com

Enjoy your evening.
(name)




greg cryns writes:
Ok. Have a great weekend. I wish you more success in the future.

best,

greg

______________


Where did I go wrong in this message exchange?

Greg Cryns

Money is better than what is coming in 2nd

Would you rather be rich?

Here is a little pop quiz for you. In 1923, who was:

1. President of the largest steel company?
2. President of the largest gas company?
3. President of the New York Stock Exchange?
4. The greatest wheat speculator?
5. President of the Bank of International Settlement?
6. The Great Bear of Wall Street?

These men were considered some of the world’s most successful in their day.

Now, 85 years later, the history book asks us if we know what ultimately became of them.

The answers:

1. The president of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, died a pauper.
2. The president of the largest gas company, Edward Hopson, went insane.
3. The president of the NYSE, Richard Whitney, was released from prison to die at home.
4. The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooger, died abroad, penniless.
5. The president of the Bank of International Settlement, shot himself.
6. The Great Bear of Wall Street, Cosabee Livermore, also committed suicide.

However, that same year in 1923, the PGA Champion and the winner of the most important golf tournament, the US Open, was Gene Sarazen.

What became of him?

He was healthy and played golf until he was 92, died in 1999 at the age of 95 and… he was financially secure at the time of his death.

What is the moral of this little post?

Comment your answer!

Greg Cryns

http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

Michael Phelps - the beginning

Blogging: when is the right time to start?

DO IT NOW!

One of the most glaring problems I see in people who are just starting out is that they are afraid to take that first step. Some think whatever you do must be absolutely perfect before you show it to the public.

Don't do that. You may wind up sitting on the fence forever.

You'll find many reasons to start your own blog, but it is always important to make sure your blog is your business tool, not a site for letting off steam about personal issues—there are already excellent sites for consumer complaints! The goal of your site should be to create a strong link between your company and your customers.

1. Offer reviews of the products or services you offer: Regardless of your business, if you sell a product or service it is critical to have quality reviews posted for all to see. A review from a current or former customer will go a long way to selling the product for others. People know that businesses make promises in order to sell their product; it's their job. An unbiased customer has no ties to the business and needn't mislead the public with a rave review; consumers know that user reviews are going to be honest! Try to incorporate as many honest reviews as possible. You don’t have to write a completely positive review, in fact, a review that points out any negative aspects of a product or service along with the positive will show your readers that the review is real.

2. Promote sales: The best way to promote sales is by linking clients directly to your product. Put in a direct link to the page where they can buy your product. If you’re are an affiliate for another company, like Amazon Associates, you can use their "Build Links" function to create colorful, graphic images of any item they carry. The format is simple. You simply copy their HTML code and paste it into your blog entry. The blog program knows how to read the code and does the rest for you. On your website, you end up with an attractive ad that links directly to their website where you get credit for the sale. Many online retailers use affiliate programs to draw business. You can also become an affiliate for Walmart. Like Amazon, the commission is low, but you have plenty of products to offer.

You can also visit other blogs within your niche and comment on their posts using your website link. Not only is this advertising method free, but it helps draw in traffic through reciprocal links.

3. Use your blog as a business related newsletter: With your online business, you need to reach customers. The best way to do this is by keeping them informed of new products, exciting news, recall notices and other important tidbits that relate to their needs. It is important to remember that you are there for them. If you fail to reach or satisfy a customer, it could lead to a decline in business. For this reason, you must clearly think over all of your posts. Will your post matter to them, or are you heading off on a tangent that will drive them away? Make sure it fits!

You must add new posts, at least 2-3 times a week, to your blog. Failing to keep information fresh will drive readers away. When creating your posts, remember that visitors want to read your information quickly. If you create a blog post that is the size of a small novel, you have guaranteed that readers will give up and move on. Blog posts should be short and sweet, generally 300 words or less works best. People are incredibly busy and must have time to quickly read an article. Short and sweet must always be your motto when posting.

4. Gain customer feedback: Blogs make it incredibly easy for others to leave comments. You may need to sift through Spam from time to time, but overall, a blog is a fantastic arena for debate, questions or even suggestions. By keeping a blog, you are giving your clients and potential clients a forum to ask questions, seek advice, offer comments on your product or service's quality and simply form a close, personal relationship.

One of the best examples of a successful business-related blog falls with The Consumerist (www.consumerist.com). This Web site is pro-consumer and allows readers to send in praise or complaints they have with businesses throughout the United States. Readers are allowed to comment on items they've read or share similar experiences. In the case of a negative dealing, other readers can offer suggestions on getting out of a transaction. The Consumerist also lists incredible sales for a number of companies from time to time allowing readers to tap into bargains they may have missed otherwise. With readers from all over the world, The Consumerist is a great blog to browse to see what consumers are looking for or dislike!

5. Run periodic contests: People love freebies! Free items always attract a huge crowd. Offering a free sample or prize to a limited number of entrants is one way to quickly boost your blog traffic and draw attention to your online business. You can use your blog to run contests. Make the rules clear from the beginning and use a ploy such as only those who post responses to blog entries will be entered. You can even ask entrants to leave a comment on your blog, and then have them mention the contest on their own blogs in order to be eligible. Contents will help you gain traffic, develop new relationships and give away a product that your readers will enjoy.

The prize should draw attention, but it doesn't need to be incredibly expensive. Items that seem to do well include MP3 players, new televisions, free music CDs, t-shirts and more. In fact, if you give away t-shirts, you gain additional promotion because people will be wearing that t-shirt in public. As t-shirts are not as expensive, you will have more prizes to give out. Winners are going to return to your blog time and again because of their positive experience.

Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
http://www.allaboutpasorobles.com

Inside blogging with AV Flox

20 Ways To Make $100 A Day Online

AV Flox is successful writer/blogger. Her blog can be seen at omgomgomfg.com. AV is on the staff at Black HeartMagazine. In addition she is a columnist at UK-based GloomCupboard and contributor for LA Snark

AV described her life description in a nutshell: "I was born in Peru, grew up in the Northern Mariana Islands, studied in Hawaii, bummed around between Europe, Oceania and South America for a few years before finally settling in Southern California, where I live now, with my husband. And my shoes."

In a recent blog entry AV said, "I hate it when I'm talking to one of my non-webbie friends about someone and they ask, with condescension, "wait, is that one of your little friends online?" Like I'm six and talking about an imaginary friend."

Make no mistake. AV talks to you not at you. To me this is an essential ingredient of great blogging. You either command attention with your writing or you do not. You can't fake it.

Many of us who are into blogging have a spouse or SO who makes comments like "Blogging is pointless." Maybe for some. But for others it sings "Gotta be there."

Read AV Flox and it is quickly obvious that she needs to be there.



INTERVIEW WITH AV FLOX

Q: Tell us a bit about your blogging history.

AV: I started writing online when I was 13, over ten years ago. I had my own web page in 1998, but I didn't start blogging in the way we know it now until 2001. I have been blogging since.

Here is an excerpt from an old blog about my blogging history:

I've come a long way since I started sharing my life on the web. I've developed a style of story-telling that actually gives readers something back. It wasn't always like this.

I'm an introvert. If I don't appear shy, it's that I do everything in my power to play the opposite, a neat trick I taught myself in elementary and refined until I was at the top of the game in junior high. Put simply: shy girls just don't have as much fun, not even a fourth as much fun. And I was going to have fun, damn it!

If any of my friends have ever wondered why I'm out non-stop for weeks then cloistered and totally cut off for a few more weeks, now you know: it's a taxing thing to do what doesn't come naturally!

So the Internet.- I was 13 or so. What a perfect place for the socially impaired. No one could judge me for any factor other than the factors I chose to share. No one knew I was a kid. No one even knew I was a girl!

I could be judged solely on how interesting I was, how much I could bring to the table. Could I keep up a conversation in a chat room? Could I write a cool story? Could I give good feedback?

I stuck to bulletin boards mostly. I had a web page at some point, but not much in the way of traffic. I'm not really sure what I had on there. I can't even remember the name of it.

Then I got a blog on Diaryland. Back then they were online diaries. The blog's name was Erato, like the muse of erotic poetry. It's still there, but only for sentimental reasons. The bulk of it is gone now, relocated to some dusty archive.

Why keep it? I taught myself HTML there! I had no idea what I was doing. I just looked at how other sites did it and tried it myself, tried it for hours, sometimes for days, until it was what I wanted. I worked in Notepad because I didn't know anything about programs.

Sometimes in the middle of the night, I'd wake up, shoot upright and reach for
the notebook by my bed to write out the code I thought would work for
something I needed. I dreamed in HTML, I was possessed.

It was totally amateur, a wonderful journey of creation that was mine all
mine.

Q: How did you feel when you started to attract more readers?

AV: It was a trip when people started reading. It was flattering. It was invasive.

But I was hooked on the thrill of exhibitionism. I couldn't pull away.

Defensive, I became cryptic. I started omitting the vital, emotional details of life. I put people at arm's length online as I did in life by portraying myself as a ravenous, capricious man-eater, crudely chronicling my savage conquests. Approach the wild beast at your own risk.

People didn't go away. In fact, more tuned in. I wonder now, what was it? Was
my diary a small time equivalent of a David Lynch film, dark and weird and
emotionally and psychologically abusive?

Q: Then what happened?

AV: I got to LiveJournal in 2004 and launched my self-hosted blog this year. The rate of transference from one platform to another is low, so it always amazes me when I get a comment on my new blog or an e-mail or a Facebook or MySpace message or a DM on Twitter saying, "I used to read you back in Diaryland..." These people saw me through high school and college! It's crazy!

I didn't want to be famous.

My journal was off the public listings and search engines. Whenever I think about growing my audience now, I think about these first years a lot and what they taught me about organic marketing. More than, "look at my blog! Look at my blog! Link bait! Link bait!"

I worked on building relationships with people, commenting on their lives and
responding to their take on my life, negative and positive.

I think this is why so many people continue to follow my antics even though
I've flown their preferred platforms: we have a connection that's more than
blogger-reader.

Q: In your blog you mentioned a drinking problem…..

AV: On January 26, 2006. I decided to write about my decision to stop
drinking. I let myself not just be human and ugly, but sorry, scared and weak.

I was only one month, one week and one day sober. There are few people weaker
in this world than one who has just confessed a complete lack of self-control
in the face of a substance that most people can enjoy in their daily lives
without so much as a second thought.

People reacted violently to that entry.

"No!" They said in comments, in e-mails, in IMs.

"You're our beautiful disaster!"

"You're our wild nymphomaniac starlet!"

I can't blame them. We all love a train wreck. But I had resolved I wouldn't be it.

The decision to put my resolve out into the world changed my life forever and in a way, it finally brought the myth down. There's more learing to do, perhaps some excavating—but isn't there always? We are a work in progress.

The more of myself I let through, the more I understand and the more I grow. Analyzing life events in order to write them coherently has helped me understand much about my life and about myself, but the real growth is not so much in the writing as it is the process of writing itself: the coming out from the shadows, the myth-debunking, the dismantling of the creature, the search to know myself and to show myself.

Q: You are active on the social networks like Twitter. Why?

AV: I don't have children, but a lot of my blog deals with being married and

what it means, especially when one of you spends a dramatic amount of time
online and the other doesn't. I use social networking to connect with people
in the industries I enjoy like web 2.0 and social media marketing.

Because my blog deals a lot more with personal items than industry issues, I
have an easier time following discussions and connecting via social networks
than I would simply on my blog.

That's the magic of social networking sites. They aid you in transcending your
target demographic and in so doing, bring a lot more in terms of ideas and
self-development to the table.

Q: Do men read your blog too?

AV: You wouldn't think so, but the men do read my blog. I value their input
especially on topics dealing with my more personal issues. I'm not joking when
I say blogging has saved me thousands of dollars worth of therapy--it has! And
it's mostly because of guys pointing out thing my estrogen driven brain is
missing.

There is no real way of determining how many men are reading you. I do have
fun looking over what people searched for to find me. Someone on Twitter just
confessed they found my stream looking up "anal" on Twitter search.
Ha!

I have a confession to make. In 2005, I almost stopped blogging. I told everyone
it was because I was working and I couldn't stand going home after a day at work and sitting down at the computer again, but that was a lie. It wasn't that I didn't know where I was going with the blog, either.

The truth is, I didn't know where I was going. And I didn't want to continue watching myself wandering around, lost, verbose and insufferably bored.

As a result, I have a Word doc that's 204 pages long. Even when I wasn't blogging, I was trying to blog: in Word, on loose papers, on receipts, on napkins, in random notebooks, on the title and back pages of books.

It isn't the same. A lot of non-bloggers would nod and think they understood it. Blogging needs an audience because blogging is exhibitionist.

But it's more than exhibitionism. Blogging is a creative outlet, a process of analysis, a return to the tradition of story telling, a return to community.

An entry in a paper journal is me thinking.

A column in a newspaper is me monologuing.

A blog post is me starting a conversation with hundreds of people all around the world.

Q: Blogging is very mysterious to many business folks. What would you suggest for the work at home mom (WAHM), for example?

AV: Niche blogs are easier to market and maintain than personal blogs.

What that means is that a blog with a single topic is much easier for readers to connect with than one about your life and all the interests therein.

Niche blogs help readers build loyalty, they build your credibility as a trusted source in whatever is your chosen topic. They help sales--if you are marketing a product.

It makes sense that you would want an audience with interests that align with
yours.

That doesn't mean that if you sell handmade soap you can't talk about your life, though. Some of the best blogs combine the blogger's personal life with the products they're selling.

I think if you are considering blogging, before you even get that free hosted blog, you should get Darren Rowse's book Problogger: Secrets For Blogging Your Way To A Six-Figure Income. His website, with additional information for professional bloggers, is at problogger.net , but you should really start with the book because it lays it all out for you: what you need to know, what you need to consider, and what you should expect.

My blog is more personal than niche, but I still find Darren's information
vital to my blog's development.

Q: Advice for new bloggers?

AV: Something I've learned about blogging is that it's all about community. Get to know fellow bloggers--link them and they'll link back.

Have someone you love guest blog or interview them and their audience will come and check you out. A lot of visitors won't stick, but some will. It's like taking pictures, for every 80, you'll have one perfect shot.

All you can do is put your best out there and do it regularly. And remember, the more interactive you are, the more chance you have of really reaching the kind of people who want to be reading you.

You can be as creative as you like in how you engage your audience.

For example, I was recently part of a hot blogger calendar contest dreamed up by Jane Porricelli of MomGenerations.com, who'd been inspired by Playboy's Hot Blogger Awards and wanted to reach out to a wider selection of bloggers.

It started as a small idea but she got a mention in Gawker and MediaBistro.
Next thing she knew she'd gone from having a core group of readers to being in
the spotlight! The hot blogger contest ended up getting over 800 nominations.
It was incredible.

_______________________________________

Thank you, AV Flox for telling us
about your personal blogging journey.

Greg Cryns

http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

http://www.wahmsearchengine.com

jury duty report

Here is my story about my jury duty.

I was summoned in the mail to appear for jury duty September 3rd. It tells me to call the night before or look it up on the website to see whether or not I need to actually go to the courthouse.

The night before, the message is: check-in again tomorrow at 11:30 am.

When I called at 11:30, I learned that I must be at the jury room of the San Luis Obispo courthouse by 1 pm.

It was a cast of thousands there in the jury room. Apparently the judge feared too many from the county would be informed about the criminal case because of news reports, but that turned out to be unimportant because of the way things were handled. We checked in, and sat or stood and waited for directions. Then got some information and waited some more. Finally, we were led to a courtroom where the good judge gave us some information and began a very preliminary questioning of people who had "excuses" why they shouldn't be considered for jury duty.

Most of the excuses were "I bought plane tickets for a vacation and can't refund them." Lots of people go on vacations next week, I learned. Next, there were the mothers/fathers of children who must get them to and from school and don't have another soul who could take over this duty. There were a few students who support themselves working 2 part-time jobs without pay for jury duty and they got off as did the full-time self-employed workers who also don't get paid if they don't work. Jury Duty pays next to nothing.

The next round was to eliminate people with knowledge of the crime who might be influenced by what they heard or read or saw. At about 3 pm, the judge decided to take a break and told us to meet back in the jury room at 4:30.

About 10 minutes later, the judge called us all back to the courtroom. A bunch of folks took the judge at his word and went shopping or ? and were no where to be seen in the courthouse. So, he sent us out of the courtroom and told us to come back at 4:30 when the "shoppers" would return.

At 4:30 we dutifully marched into the courtroom and learned that we could go home for the day because he was done, but we'd need to be back at 10:30 on Thursday.

The next day.

Immediately after arriving in the courtroom, 18 people were picked to be voir dired. The initial questioning was very general and done by the judge. We had received a survey that asked a bunch of questions and each person was asked to give their name, town they lived in, who lived with them, # of kids, occupations of all who lived in their home, whether they had been a juror before. The next part asked whether they could follow the law in coming to a decision. The third part, asked a bunch of personal questions looking for particular bias: have you or a close relative been arrested? convicted of a crime? Are you or someone close to you involved in the legal field? police officer? District Attorney? Public Defender? etc. Also asked about any relationships with witnesses, etc.

They got through a few, then called lunch from noon till 1:30.

At the resumption of the questioning, they got through them all, eliminated a few for cause and a few for preference. Each side, we were told, could eliminate 10 potential jurors for any reason. I think total only 4-5 were actually tossed out.

I found the lawyers' questioning to be pathetic. There were people interviewed who expressed particular bias (a police officer, a couple of women who seemed to have a bias against alcoholics - the defendant is an alcoholic--long-time friendship with a witness), yet the attorneys, both the DA and the Defense, did not pursue any questions to expose that bias. They each simply asked the person if they could "put aside any biases you might have to come to a decision." And accepted their "yes" as adequate.

Overall, it was an interesting experience, but not very satisfying. At least half the jurors expressed a bias toward the prosecution, yet were not challenged, and so are sitting in judgment. No wonder there are so many wrongfully convicted.

Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

Interview with The Bloggess

20 Ways To Make $100 A Day Online


The Bloggess Blog (Jenny)
~Like Mother Teresa only better
http://thebloggess.com/

Jenny also writes for Good Mom/Bad Mom
http://blogs.chron.com/goodmombadmom/

Part of my work is to view blogs. It's fun and rewarding. When I found this blog I knew immediately that I wanted to interview its owner after I saw this description in Jenny's own words:

About Jenny: Jenny has a three-year-old named Hailey and a husband named Victor. She's weird and snarky...

Weird and snarky? I can relate to that. My wife and kids agree. Jenny agreed to be
email-interviewed so I sent some offbeat questions, not necessarily snarky. Here
is the interview:

Q: Why "The Bloggess"? What does it mean?

A: I just thought it made sense. Actor, actress. Mister, mistress.
Blogger, Bloggess. Frogger...Froggess? Wait, is there a "Froggess"?
Because there totally should be.


Q: Do you always wear your hair in curlers?

A: I took that picture because I was looking at myself in the mirror and
thinking how fucking depressing it was how much time I spend drying my hair
and I basically get NOTHING out of it so I thought "I should take a
picture to commemorate this hopelessness" and then I thought I'd use it
as my icon so all those years of blow-drying wouldn't be in vain. It
sounds stupid when I say it out loud but in my mind it makes total sense.


Q: You said, " I'm not afraid to embrace my phobias." Tell
us more!

A: Someone once said that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. I
think it was Carrot Top. I think Carrot Top has never seen a giant
squid.


Q: "I have a genius for choosing friends." (wrote Jenny on her
blog) We want to know more!

A: I'm this dorky girl who works on spreadsheets all day, yet I'm always
surrounded by amazing writers, actors, musicians. It shocks me sometimes
that this is my life. Basically if I meet someone I like I tell them
they can never not be my friend. Then I drug them and take incriminating
pictures of them and threaten to send them to the press if they leave.
This is how you make friends.


Q: "I'm not afraid to admit that I'm afraid of giant squid." (wrote
Jenny on her blog)

Is Captain Nemo a relative of yours?

A: I don't know who Captain Nemo is but if he was afraid of squid he's alright
in my book.


Q: Did you like the big recent "Titanic" movie? Did you cry?

A: I, um...wow. I think you need newer questions. But actually I'm
terrified of the water and I totally had a panic attack in the movie and went
out in the car and cried that scary cry when you start hyperventilating.
My husband was freaked the fuck out.


Q: On your blog, do you swear for effect?

A: What the fuck does that mean? Actually, I swear for the same reason that
people use exclamation points.

You don't *have* to use them but if they help to drive home a point I think
you totally should.


Q: Do you want to be big time famous? Is that why you blog?

A: I started blogging for two reasons....the first was to find a community of
people like me because I felt alone in my weirdness and the second was to get
better at writing. I've been working on a book for years and I thought
it would help me to find my voice and figure out what sort of writing appealed
to people. Of course, now I'm too busy blogging to write my book.
Such is life.


Q: Fave music?

A: Ella Fitzgerald, Duffy, Regina Spektor, Cake


Q: You really do know who Guy Kawasaki is, right? How do you know Guy?

(note: Guy Kawasaki is an amazing marketing dude who turned down an offer to
be the CEO of Yahoo.com when it was in early development. Of course, Guy did
not know how big Yahoo would get. You can see a video of Guy here): http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=tIFDsfhuPqU

A: I really do know Guy Kawasaki and he's awesome. I sent him a terribly
offensive letter asking if he was the guy who invented the motorcycle and
lucky for me, he has a fabulous sense of humor and we hit it off immediately.
I've met him a few times and he is always a total sweetheart. He is the
perfect example of "It's nice to be important but it's important to be nice".


Q: Isn't Houston just too damn hot? (Jenny lives in Houston)

A: It's not the heat. It's the humidity. It's like an entire pool just
boiled over and you're walking around in the pool steam. I heard it
keeps you from getting wrinkles though. I keep telling myself that and
ignoring all the people in Houston with wrinkles.


Q: What do you want to be doing in 5 years.

A: I have no damn idea. How sad.

Is Web 2.0 worth the effort?

A friend sent me an email yesterday. He is a professional photographer who has managed to establish a decent web presence through both SEO and social networking.

He knows the value of MerchantCircle.com and Yelp.com. He posts at Twitter and Facebook regularly. He's pointed out a few more places to me that I'd never heard of before.

However, he does not like social networking because "I am just not that social!" he says.

Is social networking more hype than actuality? For all the time you spend Twittering, Facebooking and MySpacing, is it really worth the effort?

Or are the few who are making headway and money and fame using Web 2.0 tactics, are they just exceptions to the rule? There are always exceptions.

I have my doubts. It's not that I don't like shooting off links to places that are interesting and fun. I do. Give me a good Top 10 list about blogging or SEO or viral marketing and I'm with ya all the way. I'll pass it along to my friends, at least the ones who are still listening to me after sending so much stuff through email and Twitter.

Obviously I have not had immense success being social either.

I did advise my friend to try Google Adwords. At least he doesn't have to socialize that way.

And maybe Adwords is more profitable when you add the time-spent factor.

I can't wait for Web 4.0. That will certainly provide Nirvana for me. ;)

Opinions?

Workflow - Social Media Pastor

More from Chris Brogan

Workflow - Social Media Pastor

Posted: 30 Aug 2008 07:22 AM PDT

( cowritten and deeply inspired by Jon Swanson) Emilio rises at six and starts coffee. His RSS reader has many blogs to read, plus links to a “Bible in a Year” website that sends him daily updates. It’s no longer strange to be reading the Bible in his RSS reader. It just feels like another way to connect. Emilio is thinking of setting alerts for his community in general, plus for specific issues facing the people in his congregation.

Emilio has a personal blog for reflections, and a website for the Church, as well. Most recently, he’s added a section for using UStream.tv to show live sermons. Not that every house has a broadband Internet connection, but if this is another way that someone who can’t make it to the church can feel connected to the community, why not give it a try.

Other churches are putting up sermons and special events on YouTube and GodTube. Emilio has found ideas for sermons online regularly, or rather, ways to refresh his own ideas with the wisdom of others.

Some churchgoers in his extended online community are doing things like Twitter their local service. Others have been confronted for bringing technology into the church. In some affluent churches, there are even Second Life outposts, and online campuses. It’s a balance of concerns and considerations: are you still part of a community when represented digitally? Does God hear your prayer in pixel form? Emilio leans towards yes, but he knows that others aren’t as understanding.

Emilio knows that there are more challenges to taking religion into social media. He’s read and studied the book UNCHRISTIAN, by David Kinnamon. In this book, Kinnamon talks about what outsiders think about Christianity: hypocritical, focus on conversion, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, judgmental. Emilio feels there’s a much greater risk of these concerns spreading in the online world, where some context is lost.

Emilio recently upgraded his cell phone, which allows him to receive email from people with questions, receive text messages from people seeking a quick check-in during a rough moment, and it’s allowed him to be able to take pictures and share them online with the larger community. As Emilio visits a lot of hospitals, he sometimes records quick audio messages with someone sick, to be able to store and play this message for a family member later on.

There’s still so much face to face that he does, and much that doesn’t require an Internet connection, but through these options, Emilio has reached out far beyond his local congregation. He feels friendship with people from all around the world, and he understands the larger struggles people are having through his exploration of other blogs and online media.

With so much more to do, Emilio is happy for his first steps, and looks forward to even more respectful contact with others.

—

How does this sit with you?

Visit Chris's website: [chrisbrogan.com]

—

These posts are made for sharing. Feel free to repost all or portions of this (as long as it’s not for profit). If you do post it, please make sure you kindly link back to [chrisbrogan.com] and give me credit. Thanks!

Photo credit, Chicago Eye

Greg Cryns

Work At Home Profiles

http://www.workathomeprofiles.com

"Change" is happening - whether you like it or not

"Change" is happening - whether you like it or not

Despite what the candidates think is change, they are not ready for the real changes coming.

Yes, the old ways still rule, but new ideas and methods are creeping, faster every day as the youngsters start to become adults and take the reigns.

The future holds a new and different world, for sure, for the youngsters. Not necessarily better, depending on what they actually do with the power.

We are handing over the power. We don't want to do it. We don't trust them. They are too young, we think. Their music is strange. They don't like black and white movies. They don't read books so much or at least the ones that are more difficult to read.

MySpace is strange. They don't even use the Internet like we do. These days the youngsters communicate through MySpace and Facebook. They pretty much ignore our old, calcified ways of communication if not action.

They don't even use email much any more.

Texting is HUGE. It may be the most influential innovation so far in the 21st Century. Remember that. They like to text message, A LOT. They are only buying phone plans that have unlimited texting options.

cannot figure that one out except that it makes long messages a thing of the past. I just cannot see the youngsters (all up to 25 years old or so) ever writing a long hand-written letter unless electricity collapses. I think maybe YOU have abandoned that tradition as well? I know I have.

So, read this post below and read between the lines. It is important to know where this world is heading, assuming we get out of the Old School uniforms and embrace the change. We must, you know, just for peace of mind. If we do not, the world will go on without us, of course, as it always has for eons.

Change will happen. Constitutions and empires will crumble. What seems true today loses its veracity in the future.

Here is the email I received from Chris Brogan, a very smart blogger: Note at the bottom of his message how he asks you to pass this info along, just asking for credit. He wants to make his living on the Internet with the power of blogging. I don't see Chris pushing products yet. Maybe he won't have to.

Workflow- Social Media School Teacher

Posted: 29 Aug 2008 05:18 AM PDT

Dharmesh wakes up a little late. After a quick shower, he skips checking email, but goes right to his RSS reader to see updates of where the students worked within the social network. Luckily, Ning (and lots of services) send new activities out via RSS, so they're easy to track.

It looks like Margarite has added more YouTube videos to the video section, and Franklin has written a blog post about the town's historic water cooler. Jeremy has already commented that Franklin forgot to cite a source, saving Dharmesh the effort. He eats a breakfast bar, and hops in his car for the commute to work.

On his iPod, Dharmesh listens to last week's book reports read out by the students. The quality of their work has improved a great deal since switching to the audio requirement. The second report, by Kelly, is a little loud and the audio clips a bit. Dharmesh makes a mental note to show Kelly how to level the audio in Audacity.

At school, the first period media students are all frustrated. They've built a media room in FriendFeed, but haven't figured out what they're going to use to present their collected information. Dharmesh lets their discuss the benefits of a blog versus just adding a group to Ning. He asks if they've tried Scrapblog yet, which makes simple pages in a primarily drag-and-drop interface. They agree to check that out.

Period four is right before lunch. Dharmesh has special permission to mix the two time frames, so he takes his class out on a walk, asking them to snap pictures with their cell phones' cameras. Only one student doesn't have a smartphone, and Dharmesh gives him a Flip camera, instructing him to shoot some video of the student's collecting their photos. Now there'll be a documentary to go along with the photo walk project.

There's only one fast computer in the class room. The others are horribly out of date. But Mister McBrian has done a great job of keeping them updated, and their browsers work well enough to be mostly useful. Because the school has opted to use only web apps instead of buying software for each computer, they were able to use some money to improve memory on the machines. It's not ideal, but classrooms are rarely state of the art for long.

Before the end of the day, Dharmesh has recorded a quick video on the fast computer, giving the next week's assignments audibly. He's already sent the assignments as a forum update to their Ning group, so the class doesn't have to write anything down to remember. It's already in their RSS feed.

On the commute home, Dharmesh listens to more podcast book reports and thinks about what he can do to raise money to get just a few more good computers into the class room. Before these kids get to fourth grade, he figures, they should know that not all computers take two minutes to load a page. Maybe a fundraiser, he think, as he drives home to meet up with his family for dinner.

What do you think? Make sense? Was it surprising that I have this as a 3rd grade classroom? It's not inaccurate. My daughter is entering first grade and she knows how to navigate a browser, iTunes, and various websites.

These posts are made for sharing. Feel free to repost all or portions of this (as long as it's not for profit). If you do post it, please make sure you kindly link back to [chrisbrogan.com] and give me credit. Thanks!

What is your daily marketing routine?

There is a fellow I "met" on Twitter who has gained my utmost respect. His name is Chris Brogan. I don't really know Chris but I do know he has great content on his blog. Here is a sample:

Workflow- Social Media for Marketers

Posted: 28 Aug 2008 03:16 AM PDT

What does a day in the life of a social media marketer look like? I’m not a marketer, so if I get some of your terms wrong, forgive me. I thought maybe we could do a walkthrough of a fictitious social media marketer, Yolanda, for a small hotel group (four hotels) in Boston. I picked hotels just because otherwise I’d have picked a software company. Let’s walk through a workflow, and then reconstruct it in bullets at the end.

Rise and Shine

First thing in the morning, Yolanda sends a quick tweet out to Twitter saying that she’s wondering what’s going on in Boston this week. A few of the locals give her some news she knows, but @loudmouthman mentions that he heard there’s a tech conference there Thursday. She searches around and finds it. Score, an opportunity to find some potential guests for her hotel.

Yolanda checks her RSS reader to see who’s been talking about hotels in Boston, meetups in Boston, conferences, events, tweetups, vacations, etc. She has several targeted searches with RSS feeds cooked for each, so browsing through to get the pulse of the city is easy. Yolanda also has a few hotel blogs and travel blogs in her reader, in case the occasional great idea is something she can run with. She hasn’t started blogging yet, but comments regularly. People know her name.

After getting the lay of the land, Yolanda pours her second cup of coffee and browses Yelp. She’s not frustrated like some business leaders. Instead, Yolanda has a proactive approach. She’s built a process at her four hotels such that on sign-in, guests are invited to get a Yelp account, so that they can learn what people are saying about restaurants and other venues in Boston. There’s also a polite encouragement to rate their stay via Yelp. (It’s a bit gutsy, and the CEO was a bit spooked when she started the practice, but so far - fingers crossed - people are giving her hotels a good rating.)

After Lunch

Mid-day, Yolanda’s helped her VP of marketing with some more traditional business for a few hours. She was happy to hear the VP say that she was willing to try out a YouTube promotion idea, and also to put some sponsor dollars towards a few Boston tech blogs that don’t write about hotels, but that are central to some events where people might find the affinity and choose her hotels over others. The VP kept wondering why the budget for both projects was so low, thinking there was an accident, but hey, social media isn’t about money: it’s about smaller victories.

Yolanda’s listening posts have found someone complaining about a bad stay. She goes onto the blog in question, apologizes for the situation, and offers a free night the next time this blogger is in town. This merits four comments from the blogger’s audience saying that this is good service. Yolanda feels happy. She worries about what listening will be like if this kind of interaction takes on.

On Twitter, Yolanda helps two people talking about the Red Sox to know where they might want to grab a bite after the game. Not at her hotel’s restaurant. None of her four are really known for post-baseball celebrations. She recommends the Boston Beer Works, which is always fun after a game, though a bit noisy.

Before Leaving Work

Yolanda wraps up her website analytics reports and realizes that she’s getting decent traffic from a specific blogger’s post. She thought it was positive, but had no idea it would drive so much awareness of the site. She makes a note to think about hosting a few bloggers’ meetups in their meeting rooms, free of charge, and seeing if that brings in some more guests. Yolanda closes the lid on her laptop and heads off to a Web Inno event in Kendall Square. It’s not her crowd, but she’s got a hunch it doesn’t hurt for her to hang with the geek crowd.

Summary

Yolanda used Twitter, some listening tools (Technorati.com and blogsearch.google.com), mixed with an RSS reader (Google Reader), commented on several blogs, and focused on Yelp as an active part of her marketing mix.

Now it’s your turn: is this realistic? Would you see this adding value? What else might she have done?

Is this post helpful?

Visit Chris's website: [chrisbrogan.com]

Greg Cryns

http://workathomeprofiles.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg

Some people miss the boat on Twitter

Don't kid us. If you are frequenting Twitter and you are older than 20 years old, then it is likely you are interested in marketing something. I think that is a fair assessment.

If you do what I do, you look to find "worthy" people to follow. You want to find people who are movers and shakers in your niche. You hope to learn things from them.

This morning I clicked on the link of one of the people I follow. She is known as "the communicatrix". In her link she was promoting a video she made that expresses why Southwest should pick her as their New Southwest Airlines Blog-O-Spondent.

Here is the link:
http://southwest.spigit.com/Sector/ViewThread?threadid=429

I think this is a great use of video to get viral attention. It is lots of fun to watch and it may even earn the communicatrix a new job. I hope so.

But here is my beef. I was about to send out a "retweet" that would show my 454 followers the link to this video. I don't know, but I believe this would help the communicatrix somehow, some way.

Golldarnit! She is not following me. So, what's the point of helping her? I am not saying that I am the most worhty person to follow, but that's what I thought. Eventually I decided to help the communicatrix anyway by putting the link on this blog. I think a retweet would have been more powerful since I know I won't get 453 crossovers to my blog from Twitter very soon.

Not only that, I could not send a message through Twitter because she chooses not to follow most of her followers.

My point is, don't be so stingy about following people. Some great people follow everyone who follows them. I think these people understand the inherent value.

Perhaps the handle should be changed to "The noncommunicatrix"?

Unless you are fearful of stalkers? If so, then you better just leave the Internet alone?

Please leave your comments. What is your opinion? I think it is bad form not to follow people who follow you. It is just plain snobbish. Should we limit the people we follow?

Greg Cryns

http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg

Google is not God!

Google Is Everything! Or Is It?
Copyright (c) 2008 Bill Platt
the Phantom Writers
http://thePhantomWriters.com



As an article marketer, I say things that I believe will help
other people accomplish their goals. As a widely published
article writer, I am often criticized for the words I write. ;-)

In July of 2008, I wrote an article about meta-search engines
called, "Look Beyond Google: Meta-Search Engines Can Help Online
Marketers" (http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2008/jul/23.html)
In this article, the basic concept I was trying to share was that
Internet Marketers should look beyond the presence of Google, to
find more ways to drive traffic to their websites.

The Google Religion

This article apparently struck a chord of truth with a lot of
people, as its reprint results are much larger than even I
expected.

The article was also reprinted on the Link Referral website by
someone who seems to have appreciated the article:
http://www.linkreferral.com/forumlist.pl?cat_id=10&topic_id=25690

The first response to the post at the Link Referral website read
as follows: "Thanks for the useless post. Google is everything.
If you cannot be found on Google, pray for MSN and Yahoo.
Anything else will give you 1 hit in 100 years. Link exchanging
and buying ads would be so much more effective than buying into
that article."

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not the least bit annoyed that
someone criticized my article. The fact that someone criticized
the article is only a testimony to the fact that my words touched
the nerve of someone who worships the Google religion. I don't
want to offend anyone's religion... That would be wrong...

Of course, this is not the first time I have offended those who
preach the tenets of the Google religion. I also wrote about this
subject in an article about Creating Page Rank, which can be read
at: http://www.keywordtext.com/pudding/28.html This article also
drew criticism by those who mocked my assertion that people can
truly generate substantial traffic from sources other than Google
and that Google PageRank is not as important as many claim.

Answering My Critics

I will admit that if a website is not listed in Google, the task
of trying to make money online is made more difficult.

But if a website is not ranked in Google, and it is does not
possess links to it from anywhere else either, then you might as
well be working at McDonald's for extra money, as opposed to
trying to make money online.

Honestly, Google is only "everything" when you have "nothing
but Google" on the table.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

This is not just an opinion I hold. I can back up what I am
saying with real data, from a real website that does not rely
upon Google for its salvation... The statistics shown here are
from my primary website: http://thephantomwriters.com

Even though I do not rely on Google for traffic, Google delivers
a great deal of traffic to my website. I actually do quite well
in the Google game. I get lots of Google Love for my website, as
described here:
http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/google-love/2008/08/09

Nothing But The Facts

The following data reflects the traffic for The Phantom Writers
for both 2007 and 2008 (through Aug 15th):

Total Unique Visitors
* 2007: 244,000+
* 2008: 169,000+

Total Page Views
* 2007: 1.2+ million
* 2008: 1.0+ million+

Unique Clicks from All Search Engines (59 in 2007; 58 in 2008)
* 2007: 119,309
* 2008: 129,749

Unique Clicks from Google
* 2007: 61,923
* 2008: 75,750

Unique Clicks from Yahoo, Windows Live, Ask, and MSN Search
* 2007: 49,291
* 2008: 50,148

Unique Clicks from Other 54/53 Search Engines
* 2007: 8,095
* 2008: 3,851

Important Data Analysis

In 2007, with 244,000+ total visitors and 61,923 visitors from
Google, I would have had to turn away 182,077 visitors or 74.6%
of my traffic in 2007, if I had relied solely upon Google to
drive traffic to my website.

In 2008, with 169,000+ total visitors and only 75,750 of those
visitors coming from Google, I would have had to turn away 93,250
visitors or 55% of my traffic, if I relied solely upon Google to
deliver visitors to my website.

With 61,923 visitors from Google in 2007 and 93,250 visitors from
Google so far in 2008, it is sure that Google is important.

I wonder how many of my critics are actually seeing 61,923
visitors per year? I suspect that many of those who claim that my
advice is bad would be tickled pink to see my Google traffic to
their websites. And I bet they would be shocked to realize that
non-Google sources account for more traffic for my website than
their Google God does.

Beyond Google

In 2007, my website received 119,309 total visitors from all of
the search engines combined, but only 61,923 of those people came
from Google. That leaves 57,386 people who arrived on my website
from the 58 search engines that are not Google. In the search
category, Google accounted for only 51.9% of my total search
traffic.

The top five search engines accounted for 93.2% of my search
traffic.

Had I ignored the those unknown search engines, as my critics
suggest others should, I would have been forced to turn away a
full 8,095 people or 3% of all of my visitors in 2007. That is a
far cry from "one hit in 100 years".

So far in 2008, Google has accounted for 58% of my total search
traffic and only 45% of my global traffic.

The top five search engines have accounted for 95% of my search
traffic. Those itty-bitty search engines have delivered 3,851
visitors to my website so far this year, accounting for 2.96% of
all of my gross traffic in '08.

Itty-bitty is historically worth at least 3% of my yearly
traffic. If you want to ignore that 3%, then that is your
business. But myself, I am happy to receive traffic from anywhere
that I can gain that traffic.

Beyond The Search Engines

As the owner of a professional article marketing company, who
practices what he preaches, 90% of my advertising budget is spent
on article marketing alone.

This is where the following two pieces of data comes into play:

Unique Non-Search URL's Sending Traffic
* 2007: 9,036
* 2008: 5,811

Unique Visitors from Non-Search URL's
* 2007: 27,397
* 2008: 23,907

The remainder of my website's traffic comes from articles
published in newsletters and on other websites, recommendations
by other websites, bookmarks and name recognition.

In 2007, my website received 27,397 visitors from 9,036
verifiable links to my website from articles that we wrote or
from recommendations people made for my website. Of course, I
am willing to bet that many of the 97,294 visitors who were
untrackable in 2007 were the result of the many articles of mine
that were published in newsletters.

In 2008, my website has so far pulled 23,907 visitors from 5,811
verifiable external URLs. There have so far been another 15,344
visitors that I received from untrackable sources, many of which
were probably from the articles that we have successfully had
published in newsletters.

The article marketing that we do provides a lot of verifiable
traffic to our website, and potentially a lot of our untrackable
traffic was also derived from the article marketing we do.

In the end, we credit article marketing for our great search
engine placement, for hundreds of keywords, and our substantial
search traffic as well.

One Quarter Million Reasons Why Google Is Not God

If I believed the poster who said that "Google is everything",
and I had followed his advice for the last several years, then I
would have had to turn away 275,327 additional visitors to my
website in the past 20 months!

OMG!!! To think that I could have turned away a quarter million
visitors or 67% of all of my websites' traffic, if I had simply
followed the advice of my critics.

Wow! Some of my critics are absolute idiots!

Yes, Google is important. But, is Google really "everything"?
Only if you want to fail...






---------------------------------------------------------------------
As the owner of http://www.thephantomwriters.com, Bill Platt has
been providing article ghost writing and article distribution
services since 2001. In recent weeks, Bill overhauled his website
format, in a way that improved navigation and simplified the
process of finding the highest ranked authors and most popular
articles on his website. You will also find a lot of great
information in Bill's article marketing blog, which can be
seen at: http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/

See you next time!

Greg Cryns
http://www.ziparticles.com
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
http://www.allaboutpasorobles.com

Clickbank has competition - that's good!

"Move Over ClickBank, There's a New Kid in Town: Click2Sell"

By Merle http://www.PayPerClickResearch.com

Are you frustrated with Clickbank? For years now they
have been the "reigning champion" when it comes to
payment processing with a built in affiliate network.
Clickbank makes it easy to sell your digital products
and take advantage of their affiliate army, numbering
over 100,000. It's simple really - you let others sell
your products and they earn commission.

Recently a new competitor has hit the scene, Click2Sell.eu
They're a company based out of Europe who have put together
a service that includes many of the features that others
are lacking.

No matter if you're just a merchant (seller), or you're
a "super affiliate" making a living online, Click2Sell
incorporates some wonderful features and benefits. Let's
take a closer look:

Merchants can sell digital or material products, even
subscription based services. Your products can be sold
in U.S. dollars, EUR or GBP. Payments are received instantly
to your Paypal, Worldpay, Authorize.net, Google Checkout
or Moneybookers account.

Once registered, you can be up and selling right away.
There's no "waiting period" for approval of thank you
or sales pages. You set your own pricing, no maximum
price points, and it's easy to add new products.

Your digital products are uploaded to Click2Sell's server
and protected from unauthorized access. The thank you
pages shown to buyers are encrypted so they never know
the actual download location. All download links expire
within 72 hours of purchase, which eliminates the problem
of them being shared with others.

The built in affiliate program allows you to easily pay
any affiliate commission with a few clicks, using either
Paypal or Moneybookers. You set the commission rate you're
willing to pay, up to 95%. Affiliates can be automatically
accepted or you can choose to manually approve them. This
feature allows you to ban those you don't want promoting
your products.

Merchants are also given a choice to show affiliates the
conversion rates of your products in the marketplace, or
not. And, of course they've built in powerful statistics
and tracking which reports on the number of active affiliates,
and their performance. Also, it tracks product conversion
rates for different keywords, a product's rank and history
of changes in the marketplace and much more.

Hang on to your seat because the benefits and features
offered to affiliates are just as exciting. When searching
for products you wish to promote, you can search through
the marketplace using various criteria such as category,
rank, amount earned per sale, conversion rate, popularity
and more. This is a great way to find just the products
that meet your needs.

The built in advanced tracking reports allow you to see
how many people clicked on your affiliate link, and the
number that actually purchased. See how much you've
earned in "real time". Very nice. Even if they don't
purchase right away, if someone clicks on your affiliate
link and goes back to purchase within six months, you'll
still earn your commission.

Any monies earned in a month are paid out in full
the following month. No money is held back in a reserve
account.

So, how much is all of this going to cost you? Don't
faint, but it's totally free to set up an account, no
matter if you're a merchant or just an affiliate.
Merchants are charged 1.00 to 3.00 USD on each sale.

Do yourself a favor and check out their website for
further information.

http://tinyurl.com/6erd2o


Merle
"The Tricks to Paying for Clicks"
Learn everything you need to know about
pay-per-click search engines at....
http://www.PayPerClickResearch.com

Greg Cryns
http://www.allaboutpasorobles.com
http://www.ziparticles.com
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg