How to Use Social Bookmarks for Internet Marketing

There are millions of sites out there and it is impossible to remember all of them. But who says you have to remember them. But who says you have to remember them? You can bookmark it using Del.icio.us and come back later.

Social bookmark is an excellent way to share any blog post or videos that you find interesting. Internet marketers and search engine specialists know this very well and they have spent a considerable amount of time to leverage the system for their business.

There are hundreds of social bookmarking sites available out there and it would probably take more than a few hours just to submit them to 100 of social bookmarking sites. You might not have the time to do it yourself so how do you still get the backlinks for your sites? Simple, just outsource it to specialist who is providing social bookmarketing service. They might have the network of friends who will like your story and help to increase your rating.

A backlink from social bookmark is considered as a do-follow link and this increase your ranking score on search engines. If done correctly, you target audiences will bookmark your website too and your backlinks will increase exponentially.

You can take advantage of social bookmarks by using your targeted keyword for the bookmarks title. This is an excellent way for you to increase your link popularity.

You need to be creative with your title and tag your website with your targeted keywords. So this will lead other to your website when they type in your keywords. This can be the difference of having a number of backlinks from your own bookmarks o massive and instant traffic to your sites. This can help you to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars from paying for PPC campaigns just to get targeted traffic to your sites.

But you will have to make sure your submission is relevant. Don't even think of spamming your own links because that might be counter-productive. You are given about 100 words in the description section but that doesn't mean your should include your keywords more that once on it.

Other members might not be happy with what you're doing and flag your submission. You don't want that to happen because it could be getting your account suspended.

Internet marketers understand the power of social bookmarks and they will not hesitate to outsource the dirty job of building backlinks from these sites. After all, it is impossible to do it by yourself when you have 20 blogs that you update on daily basis.

Social bookmarks can also be a great source for you to find relevant information that you can use to grow your business. Who knows you might stumble upon a site that provides WordPress olugin that you don't even know for your search engine optimization campaign.

Author Bio
Chester Chen discusses about Internet marketing strategies on his blog. Be sure to visit it on daily basis to learn how you can increase your profit without burning your pocket.

Learning Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Where to Start?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the important things you need to do when making money on the Internet. SEO will improve your website and blog performance and rankings in Google so that you can get more targeted traffic and generate more online income.

There are many free guide, ebooks and reports about SEO. Some are good and giving accurate information and other are just promotional e-books offering limited content. It is going to take you a lot of time to find out which one you can rely on.

However, there is one SEO e-book that can't be wrong. It is the SEO Starter Guide released by Google in last month. Google is the one who set the rules on how to rank websites and blogs in their search engine. So, definitely, their SEO Started Guide will provide you the precise information and tips on how to optimize your website to become Google friendly and improve ranking in Google.

SEO starter Guide teaches you to effectively change and optimize your website for improving Google ranking. Whether you are beginners or an experienced web publishers, you can follow the tips on SEO started guide when optimizing your web pages for SEO.

SEO involves on-page optimization and off-page optimization. The SEO Started Guide covered all the aspects of on-page optimization. on-page optimization is necessary and will help increase your Google ranking but not enough for getting your website ranked on first page on Google.

You need to do off-page optimization if you want a top ten ranking. Off-page optimization is about building relevant backlinks for your website. You need as many relevant backlinks as possible. It takes time and works when building links. But once your website reached top in Google, you could be getting a lot of free targeted and making decent amount of cash from the traffic.

There is one SEO expert teaching off-page optimization. His name is Brad Callen, the creator of SEO Elite software tool. In his sale website of SEO Elite, he is offering a free 7 day SEO cource. You may sign up for the course anytime at http://www.seoelite.com. The course teaches you about off-page optimization but also covers on-page optimization at the beginning.

SEO forums also are also helpful to you. If you have questions or need advice, you can ask it in SEO forum like http://forums.seochat.com and http://www.webproworld.com.

Python skin-covered HOON headphones likely to get PETA in an uproar

French accessories company HOON has teamed up with audio company The Perfect Unison for a line of python skin skinned headphones. The cans are made of nine layers of birch wood, lined with goat skin, and finally covered in the skin of a mighty snake for the ultimate, luxurious audiophile experience. The ear pieces are made of hand-varnished carbon fibers, presumably because the beaks of dodo birds were unavailable. These high-tech, beastly beauties will run you €1,160.00 (roughly $1,650) should you choose to make them yours.

Increase Your Affiliate Commission Using Camtasia

Since there are tons of people already involved in affiliate marketing, it is no wonder that the competition of affiliate industry is getting fierce. To survive and make a consistent income from affiliate marketing, you have to try and outdo other affiliates and think of ways to be able to attain this.

These affiliates have learned so many techniques and tips in order to best plan their marketing strategies for their program to work effectively so that more affiliate commission will be earned.

What better way to wow your prospects and customers than to record and publish top notch, full motion and streaming screen-captured videos. Nothing like feeling your hard work getting paid by having your customers jumping up excitedly in great anticipation to buy your product right there and then.

Camtasia videos
This is Camtasia in action. It is a proven fact; giving your customers something they can actually see can boost your online sales instantly.

Anyone can create stunning videos, from multimedia tutorials and step-by-step presentations available online. The process is like having your customers seated next to you and looking at your desktop, as you show them the things they need to see and hear. All this done step by step.

How does Camtasia works actually?
1. It can record your desktop activity in a single click. No need to have to save and compile all your files because it is recorded right there and then.

2. Can easily convert your videos into web pages. Once converted you can have your customers visiting that certain page. Videos are easier to understand and take in unlike reading texts which oftentimes is a trying thing to do.

3. Upload your pages. Publish them through blogs, RSS feed and podcasts. You may want your Camtasis videos to get around and reach out to other people that may be potential customers in the future. Nothing like being visible in many sites and pages to advertise yourself and get your message through.

Other things you can do with your affiliate program using Camtasia

• You can create stunning multimedia presentations that are proven to increase sales because all the senses are engaged. This also has the tendency to reduce skepticism among hard-to-please customers.
• Reduce refunds and other customer issues by demonstrating visually how to use your product and how to do it properly. Complaints will also be minimized because all the facts and the presentation are there for the customers to just see and hear about.
• Promote affiliate products and services using visual presentations. This is an effective way of redirecting your viewers straight to your affiliate website after they are finished with the video. Make the most of the presentation by putting your site location in the end and make them go there directly if they want more information.
• Minimize miscommunication with your customers. Instantly showing them what you want they wanted in the first place is making them understand clearly the essence of your affiliate program. The good thing about multimedia is, nothing much can go wrong. It is there already.

These are just some of the things you can do with Camtasia that can be very helpful in your chosen affiliate program.

Note that the main purpose of using Camtasia is to boost the income that is generated from your affiliate program. Although it can be used for entertainment and enjoyment purposes.

Try to focus on the goal that you have set upon yourself to and achieve that with the use of the things that may be quite a lot of help in increasing your earnings.

DealDotCom.com will Help You Make Money Online in 2 Ways

DealDotCom has officially lauched today. It is a place for people to find Internet marketing products at low prices. And unlike other Internet marketing products malls which display and sell a wide vareity of products, DealDotcom only offers one product per day and the product of the day will be featured at the top of the home page until the next product takes over the place. This is a creative idea of the owners to make their site fun and mistery.

So How to Make Money in DealDotCom?

There are two ways to make money with DealDotCom:

1) Become affiliate of DealDotCom
Their affiliate program works just like other affiliate programs. First you join DealDotCom and they will give you a special affiliate link. You will be using the affiliate link promoting DealDotcom online. If someone clicks you affiliate link to join DealDotcom and later the person purchases an item in DealDotComm, you'll earn a portion of the sales price.

2) Market your products or services through DealDotCom
Do you have a quality product or services related to Internet marketing/online business? If you have one, you can submit it to DealDotCom for review and possible inclusion on DealDotCom. When your product is accepted, DealDotComm will sell your product for you by featuring it on their home page.

Although DealdotCom has just opened it door but the site has successful gained certain level of exposure thanks to a number of Internet marketers and bloggers spreading the word during the pre-launch stage of DealDotCom. so if you can get your product features at the home page now, most probably you'll experience a boost on your sales.

Google Gadget Ads - New Type of AdSense Ads for Publishers

Google yesterday introduced gadget ads to AdSense publishers in their AdSense blog. Google said that these gadget ads are designed to be more interactive and engaging to web visitors.

As Google Gadget ads are too new, you will not see them appear in AdSense publishers blogs and websites yet. But you can see how they look like at Google AdSense Blog and Google Gadget Ads Center. Here are an example of Google Gadget ads:


As you can see the above Nissan gadget ad is so different from the traditional online ads that contain only catchy title and description. The gadget ads intends to provide helpful details (traffic details for an area) to the targeted visitors, making the gadget ad useful and attractive to visitors. so the launch of Gadget ads may be able to help AdSense publishers to improve their AdSense performance.

Setting up Google Gadget ads on your blog or website is pretty easy. All you have to do is opt in to image ads, use one of the image ad formats and you are ready to display Gadget ads. However Google can't guarantee that gadget ads will show on your site even though you have opted in to image ads.

The Beginner Tips for Making Money Online as an Internet Marketer

Where do you start if you want to be an Internet marketer? Tough question, huh? There are lots of ways to begin your way on the bumpy journey. Just make sure you are aware that it will be a bumpy ride.

First things first: do a lot of research. Find out what kind of thing appeals to you most. It could be affiliate programs, Google AdSense or maybe you like the idea of selling other peoples products for a commission etc.

There are a ton of options, and 1000 times more hype. This is why it’s so important to do as much research as you can before starting out. Sure, you can go the long way round, which is how a lot of us start out, but that’s even more of a bumpy ride...hehehe

Ok, so let’s say you’ve decided on where you want to start. You don’t have a product of your own, so you decide to sell other peoples information products, just as an example. Don’t make the mistake that so many people do, by trying to sell something you haven’t personally tested.

Put it this way: Who would YOU prefer to buy from? Someone who knows absolutely nothing about the product they’re selling? Or someone who has had firsthand experience with the product they’re selling? You know it’s person number 2, right?

So test the product first. Learn everything there is to know about it. If people can trust you to give an honest opinion, they’ll be back for more. Great way of getting contacts AND repeat customers.

Never ever use hype when you’re promoting any programs. Believe me, it doesn’t work in reality. People get disappointed if they don’t get what they’ve been promised within the timeframe it’s been promised.

Be honest in your promotional efforts. Tell people what’s worked, and what hasn’t worked for you. If people ask how much you’ve made over how long a period of time, tell them. Let them know that online marketing is NOT the easiest thing on earth.

Let’s face it, if you want to make good money with online marketing, you Have to treat it as a business, not as a hobby, and yes, it does demand a lot of hard work and self-discipline. But taking all these things into consideration, you'll be able to work your butt off and have something to show for it.

Zubka - Get Paid to Refer Jobs to Others

Zubka is a unique job referral site which allows you to make money in two ways:

First, you can earn cash reward by recommending jobs in Zubka job board to your friends, family members and your network of contacts who then get hired.

And second you can invite your contacts (friends,colleagues and etc) to become Zubka referrers and every placement they ever make Zubka will pay you 5 per cent of the referral fee.

Is Zubka Worldwide?
Although anyone in the world can join Zubka Referrer program but it seems that the program is only worked in:

• United State
• United Kingdom
• European countries
• Australia
• New Zealand

as most of job vacancies posted in Zubka job board are looking for residents in the above countries.

Money Making Opportunities via Wire Tap

I have done 14 update and I still continue to find new money making programs. Here in this 15 update, you will get to know two more opportunities.WireTapMag.orgCan you write news articles or stories about youth activism, war and peace, civil and human rights, race, immigration, education, environment, culture, sustainable lifestyle, sex and relationships, media or technology? WireTapMag is inviting people to submit their stories for publication on WireTap. The writers who get their stories published will be paid anyway between $50 to $250 depending on the quality. The ideal story length is between 800 and 1,800 words.CBGlobe.comThere are plenty information products in Clickbank, categories rank from business to sport you can promote and earn affiliate commission. Do you want to promote most of the Clickbank products in just one website? If your answer is yes, CBGlobe is your solution. CBGlobe is a Clickbank store that plugs-in with over 10,000 Clickbank products with your Clickbank affiliate ID embedded in each of the product, thus allowing you to promote 10,000 Clickbank products at the same time in one website. CBGlobe is free to sign up.

Learn How Jeremy Makes $1 Million with Affiliate Programs Using only Pay-Per-click Marketing

I just received an email from Anik Singal, owner of Affiliate Classroom stating that he is going to reveal the entire online business model of a 1 million Affiliate, Jeremy Palmer. Anik will create a series of video to show people how Jeremy make more than one million affiliate commission last year using only pay-per-click marketing strategies (Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing) that anyone can copy and apply to their affilate marketing business.Here is the first video created by Anik:http://www.ppcclassroom.comOnce you sign up for watching the first video, you will receive some more video tutorials when they are released.

10 Powerful Ways to Turn Your Visitors into Buyers

Whether you are making money online by promoting affiliate programs or running an e-commerce website that loaded with products for sales, you want your targeted prospects who visit your site purchase from you. The higher the percentage of your targeted prospects buy from you, the more profit you'll make. Here are 10 benefits and power words that can motivate your targeted prospects to take an action (make a purchase) on your website:1. TIME: Most people makes time their most valuable commodity. When they search on Internet to shop, they are looking for products or services that can help save their time. Power words: FAST, INSTANT, QUICK, i.e., fast shipping, fast ordering or quick results.2. SECURITY: People want to feel safe when buying online. The want to make sure that they are accepting a real offer. Power words: MONEY BACK GUARANTEED, Risk free, i.e., 30 day money back guarantee, zero risk guaranteed, no obligation.3. EXCLUSIVITY: When there is only a limited version of an product or a limited amount of an item, it makes people feel that the product is more valuable. The more valuable your product or service appears to be the more people will appreciate what you have to offer. Power words: RARE, LIMITED, SPECIAL, EXCLUSIVE, i.e., limited for the first 300 buyers, special offer, limited edition.4. SIMPLICITY: People appreciate clarity and ease. Show them how your product or service will reduce their stress. Power words: EASY, SIMPLE, CONVENIENT, STRESS FREE, i.e., stress-free ordering, simple instructions, convenient to use, easy payments, etc.5. PROOF: Online buyers like to know what other people think about your product or service. Power words: TESTIMONIAL, REVIEW, CRITIQUE, COMPARISON, i.e. buyers’ testimonial, consumer review, customer satisfaction.6. SPECIAL OFFERS: People want to find bargains in the form of rebates, one time sales or percentage offers. Power words: SALE, DISCOUNT, REBATE, ONE-TIME, LIMITED TIME, i.e., one week sale, special discount, instant rebate, one time offer, festival discount.7. INCENTIVES: Giving free gifts will delight your potential buyers and making them more likely to do business with you. Power words: GIVEAWAY, BONUS, GIFT, REWARD, i.e., your complimentary subscription, order bonus, special e-book giveaway, a gift for you.8. RECOGNITION: People want to know that you understand their concerns. Power words: YOU, YOURS, i.e. the benefits you want, the solution to your problem.9. STATUS: People want to know how something will affect their life. Power words: ALERT, IMPORTANT, ATTENTION, i.e., important notice, attention please, special alert.10. POPULARITY: People are always looking for new products or services that will improve their lives. Power words: NEW, FRESH, UPDATED, i.e., brand new, fresh off the press, updated report.

Top 5 Things You Need to Know about Online Surveys

Guest Post by Stephen PhillipsOnline paid surveys are becoming very popular among teens, stay-at-home moms, retired persons and everyone who wants to earn some extra par time income. Every day thousands of people register online to various survey sites and hope for a decent part time income. But unfortunately only few of them make enough money online.Why is it so? The only reason of this is, most of them don’t know anything about online surveys, their methodology, legitimacy of survey sites and which site to join. So first of all, let’s talk about some basic points about online surveys.1) What are online surveys exactly?Online survey is a process by which big companies collect feedback and reviews of customers about their products, services and future business plans. As online surveys are easy to conduct, more and more companies are diving in this field. Professional survey sites conduct these surveys and collect data for companies. You get paid for your opinions, time and valuable reviews.2) How much can be earn?Earning depend upon type of survey sites you are working with, time you are dedicating in taking surveys and how long you have been doing this. There are some who earn merely $50 to $30 per month and some are earning more than $3000 per month. This all depends upon your ability to search for genuine sites that really pay for your opinion.3) Type of surveys you can take part in:Basic concept behind online surveys is same everywhere. There may be different payment options i.e. some sites pay cash per survey you complete, while some provides gifts and other rewards. There are also “get paid to try” types of surveys, where you can get paid to try some product or any service.4) What are the eligibility criteria to join survey sites?Ability to provide your honest opinions, that’s all what you need to take surveys. Companies are looking for your truthful feedback. So no specific eligibility criteria are there to take surveys online.5) Where can legitimate survey sites be found?You can find information about genuine survey sites at popular make money online forums, where you can take advice of experts. Another option is to find out review type of sites where unbiased reviews of best survey sites are given. You can also join a good survey network site, and get instant access of huge database of authentic sites that pay decent money for taking surveys.Online surveys are really giving out money for your opinion, but you need to distinguish between scams and authentic sites. This will surely help you to earn a handsome part time income online.

Make Money Online – Not Every Scheme can Fetch Money

People have started to look for additional income to improve their livelihood, and make money online is one among those, as you may not have to move to other places to work. Although, there are so many online scams involved in money making, you definitely can meet people who earn a lot through online. And it is for sure that offline can give you money, but not like the online jobs.When there are so many folks around the world minting money online, you too can certainly do it. You just have to find the technique of the successful people online. You need not reinvent the wheel, it is already well made and you just have to spin it. People need information and solutions.The veterans online making money are advising the people not to wile away the time with email reading, forum posting, ad posting, pay per click programs etc. if you are determined and really ready to work, get ready to provide product, service and information to the people according to their need, solving problems or entertaining or fill their brains, as people are prepared to pay for it.The two main online businesses that fall under this category is affiliate marketing, in which you help the manufacturers to promote their products and services. And the other one is forex or foreign exchange trading. Get some excellent mentors to learn the gimmicks and tactics involved in these two businesses to make money online. Following the experts in their same way can mint you huge sum of money.Self discipline and self determination are the two main personal traits essential for online working pattern. Nobody can make huge money without making any effort towards the path of success. Make money online too demands your quality time to be spent, at the initial stages, and in the later stages money may pour in automatically. You can learn by trail and error method, but it consumes lot of your time, where you can start earning with it.Using forex software may bring you lot of profit, even as a novice trader. And in the affiliate marketing, you will definitely have mentors to help you to proceed in a proper way to earn great money, which the mentors would have crossed during their early stages. They will be proud to help you to make money online.

Why the Blogging Turtle Beats the Blogging Hare Every Time!

Guest Post by Michael-John WolfeI have to admit, I started my blog - Residuals and Royalties with a passion and conviction to become one of the top bloggers in the "make money online" niche. I had a great Wordpress design and I was posting every day. Like the hare in the old children story - I started out fast! I was excited to see my blog gaining traffic and for months I kept posting at an amazing pace. Then when I noticed that I was not making the money I had hoped, in fact I was not making much money at all - I did what most bloggers do. I quit. I stopped posting almost altogether. I may have added a post here and there - but that initial drive was gone. This is the reason why I am not a top blogger and if I plan on becoming one - I better start acting more like the turtle.Being like a turtle requires a slow steady pace of building inbound links to my blog and posting at least 3 times a week. Consistency is the key to success. I just wish someone would have told me that a year ago. The fact is - if you want to be like Shoemoney, Darren Rowse or John Chow - you have to be consistent.I haven't given up my plan of becoming a top blogger and I believe my website has all the makings of a top blog. But as of now, I am going to start living life like the turtle. My goal is to slowly move to the top few pages of Google for the search term - make money online. This term gets 600,000 to 1,000,000 searches per month. I plan on monetizing my blog so that advertisers will want to purchase space. I plan on building a following via twitter, RSS and Aweber. These are the secrets to becoming a top blogger. So if you'd like to watch me grow, check out my blog at the link below.I have spent the last year finding legitimate ways to make money online and I am sure you will find a few gems there for yourself. I currently make about $900 a month online, which is no where near my goal. But hey, it's a start.

Some Little Points Newbie Affiliates Usually Miss

Guest Post by SshahnawazYes, this is a very sad thing to say, but it is true that most of affiliates usually do not make as good money as they can from their work, this is because of lack of understanding some basic problems taking care of which can be beneficial. Before telling you those important things, I want to tell you that affiliates can earn more than what they usually think, so make your thoughts clear about that and soon you will reach at the top, just believe yourself. OK, now I am telling you the points below:1) Newbie Affiliates simply do work, nothing else:If you start working like only you are doing this and nobody else is present to see, you can not make good money. The reason is, you don't see what other people are doing, see them how they made good money and do consider good ideas they give to you, join forums and see what others are doing. Ask your affiliate manager how much the top affiliate is making on the same offer which you are going to promote. If you think the top affiliate is not getting much, try promoting something else.2) Affiliates promote products, not qualities:Learn what your product is all about, find what different thing is in your product and then promote it. Try to promote something in which you take interest, the work will become easy, but do search for such product which gives you money also.3) Keywords mistakes in advertising:Don't act like somebody who is tied with ropes while giving keywords. For example you are going to sell a mobile and its name is my mobile, what will be the keywords for it? Yes, mobile prices, my mobile prices, my brother's mobile prices, my mobile rates, my mobile ...... anything, sorry guys I am not only fed up with this idiot kind of stuff but also I am angry with the policy you are following here. Why do you think that people always include the word mobile in the search? The word can also be my cell phone. Think broad while giving keywords.4) Trying to promote too many products:Its great to have more than one product at a time, but don't try to be too smart that you are not. Not only you have to promote the products to get sales, but also you have to learn the key points for all the products and for all the products you will be writing keywords. Can you manage 10 products at a time? If not, try promoting just two at one time. See how much your ability is and do according to your ability. Sometimes one product gives you more than what you were going to get from ten products at one time.5) Don't know and don't want to know:Sometimes your mind stops working, why don't you try keyword tools available over the internet. Manually writing keywords can be a considerable pain for one big ad campaign that you launch for your products. The thing which you will be doing is only check what are the keywords. You don't have to write them all. The example of such a tool is http://www.google.com/sktool/. It is a Search Based Keyword tool which tells you how much your keywords take from you. You can also try http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com for this, but it only works to suggest keywords without values of keywords.6) Strategy change frequency:You are free when to change your strategy about your ad campaign. Increase and decrease your bids whenever you want, but don't play with this frequency. Sometimes trying to be patient is good and sometimes changing your strategy can be a good turning point, but you have to use your common sense here. The problem is, if you play with this frequency like children, your business will be giving you nothing for most of the times. If you still get something while you play with this frequency, consider the advice of some austrologist, he will tell you that you are the luckiest person in the world and this post is not for the luckiest persons.7) Not understanding stats:Usually the affiliates do see the stats provided by their advertising program, such as Google adwords etc. but they don't give much importance to that and here they are wrong. They have to see what keywords are getting more importance and if they find any difficulty in accessing their stats, they should consider software available over the internet for that and the help which adwords and others provide to know what's going on. If you do so, you will surely be ready to explore more good things in affiliate programs.Author Bio:The author of this post Sshahnawaz is a graduate who chose to work online and has spent more than two years in online business.

Is This Common Mistake Holding You From Making Money?

Guest Post by PV ReymondI always ask my students: “What is your target market?” And many times I receive the answer:“My target market is everybody.”Then, I have to explain to them how that approach will make them fail and the importance of targeting a small niche. For this reason I want to share with you this article, so that you don’t make that same mistake.Your product needs to be special. It has to fit the needs of a specific group. Narrow down your potential market or it will become too much. Consider it: you sell glue. OK, what kind? What is it for? Who needs it? Why?The possibilities are endless. Unless your plan is to establish a huge corporation and you have the funds to put it together, with hundreds of products, you need to find a niche, a spot where you can attract the right customers for your particular item.Narrowing down your potential customers means you can spend more time focusing on them. A smaller focus allows you to do as well as, or better than, those large corporations. Good profits can come from concentrating on a specific group that can use your product for a special project or need.Let’s say that you want to go into the weight loss market, as you know it is a very profitable market but with a huge competition so, it is difficult to compete with large companies because they have huge budgets.But if you narrow it down you have more chances to stand out from your competitors and make good profit. In this case you can target weight loss after pregnancy or weight loss for women between 45 and 60, etc.The same with the Internet Marketing market, let’s say you want to go with traffic where you’ll find lot of competitors. But if you go deeper everything becomes easier, you can go with traffic using social media or go even deeper, traffic using facebook. The more you narrow it down the better. In order to narrow down your niche you have to explore the market place and know what it needs. Now, consider the results of the market survey you had done and the areas where your competitors are already doing well. Use a table or a graph to show where there might be an opening for your product or service.One hard step that needs to be taken is finding the right combination of product, service, quality, and price. Customers need to feel you will give them a better deal and meet their needs. Sadly, there’s no proven effective path to follow to find the right combination. You just have to compare things and see what works best.Your database should be put together with care, as it can help you sort through the market information and show particular segments that could be overlooked. Which age groups tend to buy your product? What other items purchased? You could find additional products your buyers may be interested in.Where should you start? Passion is a good starting point, because if the work is focused on something you love, you try harder. With a product you really like, you’ll be more willing to do the hard work to get it promoted and refine your skills.Look into what you like and see if you can make it profitable. Will people want it? Will they look online for places to get it from? Whatever you decide to sell, there has to be a demand. Lots of places can be checked for this information - Blogs, forums and affiliate networks, social media sites, etc.I would like to hear your feedback about this.Author BioI would like to invite you to claim the free special report: 'The Hidden Truth About Making Money Online' when you visit my site: StartUp Internet Business.

Splashpress Rules 9rules!

9rules, a premium blogging network, which showcases the best content of the Independent web, is now owned and controlled by Splashpress Media.

9rules staff (Mike, Scrivs and Tyme) have announced the transition

Why Splashpress? Because not only do they have the people that have a passion for publishing online content, but they also have the resources to make things happen without being too large as to forget the core of what makes 9rules special, the community. Much of the Splashpress team have been fans of 9rules for years so this will only make the transition easier as they understand the purpose of 9rules and why it is important to continue to push quality content to the forefront of the web.

QOT is also a member of 9rules and we got selected in May 2008 in the round 6. Getting into 9rules was a proud moment for any blog as it was very difficult to get in. I remember how thousands of blogs lined up during the 24 hour submission rounds they opened few times a year.

9rules indeed aggregates the best content in the blogosphere and now lets see how Splashpress will guide 9rules and all its members.

Monopoly City Streets Game to Reset and Restart

If you are addicted to the Monopoly City Streets online game like me, hold on, the game will reset and restart anew with millions of streets ready to be bought again and will deal with the rampant cheating currently on in the game.

Over the last few days, I have been totally hooked to the game and besides some performance and loading issues, there are a lot of issues that needs to be fixed.

1. Cheating - I think this is the major issue that is spoiling the game as top users are creating multiple accounts and selling off properties at higher prices to get rich quickly. Since there is no IP check, or email check in place, anyone can create as many accounts as they like.

2. Response time slow - If you decide to buy a property, your money is debited and the seller has 1 week to respond. Till that time your money is blocked, and the seller might simply reject your offer. That should be significantly reduced to 24-48 hours so that the money is moving fast.

3. No New Streets - Almost all the cities I went to, all streets were already bought. Purple streets signify new streets which players can buy directly from the bank, without waiting for a response. There should be an easier way to find new streets in a city. You cant possibly keep browsing endlessly searching purple streets, which may or may not be there.

4. Negotiate Deals - There should be a system of private messaging or chat where the property buyer and seller can negotiate and get d0ne with the deal in minutes rather than wasting lot of time waiting across world timezones for users to login.

5. Online Status – In any online game, this is really important. All users should have a online status icon, so that you know that the proposed real estate deal can be acted upon immediately.

6. Faster loading – Many times I am stuck on the interface which keeps loading streets available in the area. Till it loads, you cannot do any deals on that screen. I am sure the overwhelming response is slowing their servers.

7. Updated FAQ - They need a really detailed FAQ to elaborate all aspects of the game. There are still many questions which are unanswered for newbies.

8. Register Link Missing - The first time I started, I spent half an hour looking for the sign up link. But it was simply not there. Unless you buy a street, the register link never appears. They really need to add a sign up screen there ASAP.

9 Define Buildings – The role of several buildings in not too clear. It seems the bonus buildings can be destroyed too. Some people can sabotage a street with so many buildings, that it might never get rent ever, and no one is willing to buy at market price.

10 Slow refunds – the money does not come back instantly once the seller rejects the offer. Why is the money held up in the system

and the list can go on and on….

But the fact is that Monopoly City Streets Game is one of the best games I have ever played. Its is too addicting and Hasbro has created a winner exploiting the power of Google Maps and bringing Monopoly to our own streets. Of course there are glitches, but they are listening …. so wait for the reset and restart which will happen in a week, and they promise a 24 hours notice before that. I am sure the game will come out much stronger and better after that.

Fascinate Your Facebook Username: Secured Your Online Saliency

Facebook is introducing Facebook usernames to get it easier for group to undergo and connect with you. Now group module be competent to follow your username as relation of the URL in their application and testament make an easy-to-remember way to mature you. But clutch your facebook username before someone added does.

Facebook has emerged as one of the most favourite mixer networking employment crossways the web and people are actively using it to existing their online strikingness. And these unforbearing and targeted usernames instrument sure wave full in Google see results for boosting your online salience.

Currently your Facebook profile url looks same this
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=123456789
Now you can travel it to
http://www.facebook.com/yourname

Retrieve to get online on 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sat, June 13, and communicate www.facebook.com/username/ when fill can superior their Facebook usernames on a first-come, first-serve foundation for your salience and the Facebook Pages that you handle.

facebook quantify

Think you can only decide a unique username for your salience and for each of your Pages and you won't be competent to happening or transferral. Your username staleness be at minimal fivesome characters in size and only allow alphamerical characters (A-Z, 0-9), or a period or ample knob.

Name how you can determine your worthlessness url on Google Saliency, which they also promoted by unconfined acting cards. Facebook profiles are leaving to get symmetrical large and ameliorate now, so be ripe to snap your username before someone else does.

Update: Indigotin Punctuation has a jocular swan on Proximo of Facebook Usernames and how the feature's rollout leave be tiled by the profession swop pressing and the mainstream weightlifting.

Update: Facebook let? top journalists error the stand and they grabbed both unagitated usernames before others. Some fill will human eligibility issues, if you created new accounts lately, and stylemark owners are interference their usernames.

Join 99999 Lights Out

The ‘99999’ Lights out Campaign appeals to people to voluntarily switch off their lights for 9 minutes at 9 pm on the 9th day of the 9th month (September) of the 9th year (2009) of this millennium.

Promoted by Exnora International, the 99999 Lights Out is not merely for saving power for 9 minutes, but it is essentially to rejoice in the success realized during the period, by cutting down your carbon foot print.

Earlier the same organization has promoted the ‘88888’ campaign which encouraged people to switch off electric lights for ‘8’ minutes at ‘8’ pm on day ‘8’ of the month ‘8’ (August) of the year ‘8’ (2008) of this Millennium.

Join in and support the fight against Global Warming. This reminds me of Earth Hour 2009 held on March 28, when people worldwide “Voted for Earth” to stop global warming by simply switching off their lights for one hour. In fact the power saving was so significant that Delhi celebrates Earth Day every 3 months.

Monopoly City Streets Restarts

Now is the time to buy streets on Monopoly City Streets, as the addictive game has been reset and restarted. A lot of new streets are up for grabs and new rules now ensure fair play.

Some of the key new rules which will make the game more interesting, ensure only active players stay in the game and there is low cheating are

1. Streets can be bought or sold only once per day – so now there can be no sudden inflation of prices and cheating via multiple accounts.

2. “For Sale” signs – now it is easy to find which new streets are available for purchase from the bank without negotiation and for instant buy.

3. Pay Tax – Only the first 5 streets that you own are tax-free. If you own more streets, the more tax you pay at the rate of 3% per street. So if you own 25 streets your tax will be 60%! Now people will choose and retain property which they actually need. So you will find more empty streets for sale now, making the game more interesting to attract new players.

4. Street Protection Gone – Streets will no longer be protected from hazards when they are included in negotiations.

5. Don’t play 2 weeks – Bank Gets ALL your streets – If there is not activity for 2 weeks on your account, your streets are gone. This is the best way to keep the game live and only keep active players into the game.

6 Login daily to get rent - The best way to earn monopoly money is via rent. If you don’t login, your rent for the day is gone. This will really keep people active in the game and the negotiations will also proceed faster. Now people no longer wait for 1 week for the seller to accept or reject the deal due to inactivity – if they login, they see the deal.

Google India Women in Engineering Award

Google wants to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, and announced the 2010 Google India Women in Engineering Award. These awards recognize and reward deserving women students in Computer Science and related majors, and inspire them to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.

The eligibility criteria suggest that the candidates must be enrolled as a full time student in a recognized Indian institution in fields of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related majors. Second to final year students from a bachelor’s program and all students from a master’s or PhD program can apply provided you have a cumulative CGPA of at least 4.0 on a 5.0 scale, 8.0 on a 10.0 scale or equivalent.

The award recipients will receive a cash prize of INR 1 lakh. Remember it is not a scholarship, but one time reward. And the good part is you get a lot of publicity. See the 9 award recipients in 2009 and 16 in 2008.

Applicants need to submit a detailed resume and 2 essays on given topics (from a choice of four). Apply online now. Applications close 31 October 2009. You could win the next Google India Women in Engineering Award.

Most Reliable Hosting Company

at Sunday, September 27, 2009 0 comments

Do you know which is the Most Reliable Hosting Company? I have been following the Netcraft monthly notifications which showcase the most reliable web hosting services and it provides some interesting facts.

This month’s article reveals that DataPipe and Server Intellect had the most reliable hosting company sites in August 2009. Web.com, New York Internet, Virtual Internet and Hosting 4 Less had the most reliable hosting company sites in July 2009. It is surprising but many of the expected top web hosts are not in this list.

How do they measure the hosting reliability? Actually Netcraft measures the response times of fifty leading hosting providers’ sites at 15 minute intervals from separate points around the internet, and averages are calculated over the immediately preceding 24 hour period.

So why are these the best hosting sites? Netcraft explains

From a customer’s point of view, the percentage of failed requests is more pertinent than outages on hosting companies’ own sites, as this gives a pointer to reliability of routing, and this is why we choose to rank our table by fewest failed requests, rather than shortest periods of outage.

I checked their table of Hosting Providers sites ordered by failures over the last 1 day and you will find many new hosting companies to look out for. We are on Knownhost VPS hosting and it has served as a very reliable hosting service for us.

How To Unblock Websites

How to unblock websites? These days, Internet filtering and controlled access is the new trend. More business owners are implementing filters within their companies with the purpose of blocking websites. Their intention is understandable but, on the other side, people love freedom and sometimes they feel mistreated. However, here are some things you can do that will help you bypass filters and unblock websites.

Image by kirl lau under CC

How to Unblock Websites

1. Use web proxies.
Many free online services allow you to access blocked websites through a proxy server. A proxy server is an intermediary between the user and the server where the request was send. Here is a list with the most known resources of web proxies: Proxy.org, HideMyAss.com, Kortaz.com, KProxy.com and Anonymouse.org

2. Use VPN connections.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is like a tunnel over the public network. The advantage of using VPNs over web proxies is that VPNs are more secure because they are using advanced encryption and allow you to access all the applications (mail, chat, browser etc) in complete anonymity and not only the web sites. The most known free VPN is Hotspot Shield.

3. Use Hide IP software.
These are easy to use and even if the main functionality is to hide IP address and unblock websites, there are applications that can provide you more than that – like cleaning online tracks, testing proxies, manually adding proxy etc. Usually if you choose a free software, then this will provide you a minimal number of proxies and no other features than hiding IP address. Not My IP is one of the latest free hide IP address software that has already gained a large market followed by the old UltraSurf which is already very popular. Regarding paid applications that provide more features and have a complex structure, my recommendations are IP Privacy and Hide My IP.

4. Use Toolbars and Firefox add-ons.
Toolbars and Firefox add-ons are in fact software applications that work on specific browsers and with a simple click you can enable or disable online anonymity.

5. Use translation services.
Introduce the link of the blocked website in the translation field (for example in Google Translator) and choose a random language to translate from because translation from English to English is not supported.

6. Use Google cache.
In the Google search field type cache: before the URL of the blocked website. For example type cache:http://www.domain.com

7. Use Internet Archive.
Internet Archive allows you to view blocked websites through the Wayback Machine. This will retrieve all pages of a specific website indifferent if the website is blocked.

8. Use Web2Mail service.
Web2Mail it is a free email service that can sent to your email address specific web pages. You sign up for an account and get set to receive specific websites by email.

9. Change the http of an URL into https
This is the easiest way to access blocked websites. Of course, this might not work every time but you have many other solutions also. This is the fastest one.

10. Use IP address of the website instead of URL.
To use the IP address of a website instead of URL, you must first find its IP. To do this open command prompt and type: “ping domain.com”.

WARNING: Now, that you have so many methods to choose from, it is up to you for the purpose you use them for. Please remember that ONLY YOU are responsible for your activities and we take no responsibility for the same.

Add RSS Cloud to WordPress

A new development called RSS Cloud promises to push your blog updates to supported RSS aggregators and feed readers instantly and give real time updates. With Wordpress.com announcing support of its 7.5 million blogs to this feature, the blogosphere needs to wake up and incorporate this feature.

What happens now? When you publish your WordPress article, the feed is updated, you ping various blog tracking services and RSS aggregators using one click pinging services (which is most commonly Pingomatic in WordPress), or using modified WordPress ping lists. But the whole process gives a lag of few minutes to an hour depending how quickly your article is grabbed by these services (though we often noticed instant updates in Google reader)

RSS Cloud promises a way for people to get push notification that your feed has updated. Which basically means that as soon as your article is published, all supported RSS services will grab the article instantly. NO waiting.

So has the action started? Currently only 1 RSS reader called River2 supports the feature. With Wordpress.com lending support, you can be sure that most RSS aggregating and blog tracking services will have support for RSS cloud in a few weeks. Google Reader had begun a limited implementation of a related protocol called PubSubHubbub last month. Here is the Implementor’s guide to rssCloud.

You can now spot this code in wordpress.com feeds

How can Wordpress self hosted bloggers get RSS Cloud? Joesph Scott has created the RSS Cloud WordPress plugin which will do it automatically for you, till the next version of WP supports the tag.

More exciting news is expected after the rssCloud Meetup 2.0 on Wednedsay September 9, 7-9PM at 110 South Hall on the UC-Berkeley campus.

Update: So I added RSS cloud support to QOT using the plugin above and now find this code attached to our RSS feeds.

Twitter Tools for Bloggers

I present to you my list of 10 most useful free Twitter tools for bloggers that we use daily and find of the most practical use in our blogging routine. I am sure you too would want to grab all these tools for your blog. Check them out.

Best Twitter Tools for Bloggers

1. Twitterfeed – This amazing tool will let you publish updates from any RSS feed to your Twitter account. You can decide how frequently you want Twitterfeed to check your feed updates and how many updated articles to post to Twitter so that you dont overwhelm your twitter followers with tweets. If you follow us on Twitter, you know we direct our blog feed, photoblog feed, new jobs feed, delicious feed all via Twitter feed and keep updating our Twitter account automatically.

2. Tweetdeck - I know there are lots of Twitter desktop clients out there. For one fact, Twitstats says Tweetdeck is the most popular Twitter client in the market. Next it allows you to keep control of multiple Twitter profiles and keep regular track of your tweets, profile mentions, replies and direct messages – all on one screen. For me, it is the best way to keep using Twitter like a pro. Another popular alternative is Twhirl.

3. Twitpic – Simply put, TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. Now most popular Twitter clients have inbuilt support for Twitpic. This a valuable addition to make your tweets interesting. If you want to share videos, its worth taking a look at Twiddeo or Vidly.

4. Tweetmeme Button – this nifty button has emerged as the most popular way to get your articles retweeted. Supporting various blogging platforms and websites, a Tweetmeme button is the best way to get retweeted and make your article go viral across Twitter for extra site traffic. We use the Tweetmeme Wordpress plugin on our blog and you can spot the green retweet button on this page and our feed.

5. Twitter Counter - is a statistics tools which allows you to show off your Twitter followers count on your blog. It will also show you how rapidly your followers are increasing (or decreasing!) over the week or months. See how our Twitter follower counts looks like. You can also add their Twitter Remote widget to your blog sidebar for more interaction. If you really want to look for the most popular twitter users, catch them Twitterholic.

6. Wickett Twitter Widget – As seen on many blogs on WordPress.com, it displays tweets from a Twitter account in the sidebar of your blog. It is by far the easiest, lightest and best way to add Tweets to Wordpress. Here are more tools to integrate Twitter with Wordpress.

7. Twitter Search Widget - Official Twitter widget which provides a cool custom interface to display your own profile search results in your sidebar. An excellent way to show how popular you are on Twitter as hundreds of your profile mentions and replies scroll across your blog every second. There is an official profile widget also if that suits your need better. Here is an official Twitter badge for Blogger.

8. Twibbon – lets you add a logo of your website or a cause you support to your twitter profile avatar. This also enables your supporters to add the same logo to their profiles and show support for your blog or cause and is great to develop a community of supporters and get lots of publicity.

9. Twitterberry – is a popular Twitter client for Blackberry mobile phones. It helps me stay connected with my Twitter account anywhere in the world and on the move. I can access my Twitter followers, get replies and post tweets without my computer. My friends with Iphone and ipod Touch will like Twitterific or Twitterfon. Other mobile phone users can check the official mobile version of Twitter.

10. Twitbin – is a firefox extension that allows you to keep up with all of your Twitter conversations right from your browser sidebar. This really helps you stay connected with your followers while you are busy blogging. Or open Twitter 100 in a tab and keep following latest tweets from 100 followers on one screen.

Yoga and Low Carb Diets

Yoga is an ancient system of movement designed to generate vibrant health and well being. Excellent health and well being are experienced in the results of a yoga practice such as: stress reduction, increased energy and awareness, increased flexibility, focused mind and strong body. In our modern world there are so many types of yoga to choose from that it can be confusing and difficult to start a yoga program. Do you have to practice postures(asanas) in a hot room for an hour and a half in order to enjoy the benefits of this ancient art? And, is it necessary to execute postures under strict guidelines created for East Indian bodies and minds? As a yoga instructor my answer would be no. A successful yoga practice supports the goals of the practitioner without rigidity.

An appropriate yoga program should be adapted around our needs. Those on low-carb diets for weight loss or weight control can benefit tremendously by practicing yoga. A major benefit of yoga is a developed awareness. A consistent yoga practice assists us in recognizing the causes of stress in our lives. Yoga helps us observe the thoughts that cause stress. Once we are able to recognize the stress we are able to calm our carb cravings. When we develop awareness we can make conscious choices around food and feel more in control of our lives. I have taught lunch time yoga classes where students practiced forty-five minutes of yoga instead of reaching for high carb snacks. Students have reported that after class they choose healthier foods and actually eat less. Yoga can be a carb substitute, a healthy alternative.

Breath work is also an important component of yoga. Yoga trains the mind to recognize where and when we hold our breath. The less access we have to the breath the more stress is stored in the body. Yoga teaches us to fill ourselves up with breath instead of high-carb food. Yoga can inform us when we are becoming stressed so we can make the choice to sit and breathe, meditate or do physical yoga postures. With a consistent yoga practice we have less need of carbs that deplete our energy. Focus on the breath dissolves our cravings and reduces stress. We naturally reach for more nourishing foods. If we hold the breath then we become unaware of our cravings and old eating patterns take over. Cultivating awareness while we move in yoga postures is just as important as the movement, especially for those wanting to change eating patterns.

Since low-carb dieters need to be careful not to hit a sugar low during the day yoga is an excellent movement program. Yoga conserves energy while many exercise programs such as aerobics, weight training, bicycling etc. expend energy. Yoga assists the practitioner to tap into reserves of energy in the body. If the low carb dieter feels energy depleted the craving will increase. For anyone with the goal of life style or dietary change it is important that the exercise program be accessible and stress-free. Yoga postures teach us to expand into our own energy without judgment or criticism. A practice of relaxation and meditation (either seated cross-legged or lying on your back) when you have completed your postures is key in a yoga program. The relaxation assists us in integrating the movement and regenerating our energy.

How do we choose a class that is appropriate for us? How do we get started on a yoga practice? Try several styles and notice how you feel after each. An appropriate class is one where at the end of class you feel internally rejuvenated. When you leave class you should feel lightness in your step and a desire to return. Other positive signs are: more access to your breath, a feeling of well being (combination of calm and high energy). Here are eight postures that will get you started. I suggest you do them every three to four days and familiarize yourself with the movements. Again, your yoga postures should express who you are so you won't look like someone else performing the same pose. Simply follow the directions and while you're in the pose try to become as aware of your body and thoughts as you can. Breathe a simple breath based on the rhythm of your inhale and exhale. Take four or five breaths for each movement. Notice where and when you might hold your breath. I would recommend purchasing a yoga mat. You can buy them in most health food and sports stores.

1) Mountain Pose

Stand with feet together or hip distance. Imagine roots growing out of your feet into the earth. Feel your spine lengthening as the crown of your head lifts toward the sky. Inhale and exhale and feel the oppositional movement of feet planted firmly on the ground while the crown reaches upward. Keep your gaze focused at the horizon line. This posture prepares the body for a yoga practice.

2) Forward facing warrior

Stand in mountain pose and lift your arms by your ears, a few breaths and center yourself. Take a step forward on your right foot and bend your knee over your ankle. Focus your gaze at the horizon. Lengthen the torso and drop your shoulders. Repeat on the other side. This pose strengthens the thighs and brings in warrior energy.

3) Forward facing warrior with a forward bend

Repeat the above posture. Slowly straighten the front leg and extend the spine over the front leg. Relax the arms beside the leg. Repeat on the other side. This pose opens the spine and stretches both legs. This movement also soothes the mind.

4) Tree balance

Stand in mountain pose and become centered. Slowly transition your weight onto the left leg. Bring your hands into a prayer position over your chest. And position your left foot on your calf. Balance on your right leg while you breathe and focus your gaze at the horizon. Allow your body to move with the flow of your breath. Balances are never static. This pose develops balance and confidence.

5) Downward facing dog

Come on your hands and knees. Legs hip width apart and arms shoulder distance apart. Tuck your toes and lift your tailbone up toward the ceiling into an upsidedown V position. Fan out your fingers and press them into the floor. Keep moving your tailbone and elongate your spine. Bring your ears between your arms. Return to your hands and knees slowly and rest. This pose cleanses the mind and strengthens the upper body.

6) Bridge

Lay on your back and bend your knees, legs hip width apart. Lift your hips and spine toward the ceiling as you move through the front of the knees. Bring your arms underneath your body on the floor and interlace your fingers. Keep your gaze at the chest. This posture increases energy and increases flexibility in the spine.

7) Seated twist

Sit with both legs extended in front of you. Bend your right leg keeping the left in front with the foot flexed. Place your left hand below the right knee and bring the right hand around the back of the body close to the spine. Lift and rise through the crown of your head on the inhale, on the exhale twist the spine to the right, moving around the axis of the spine. Move from the lower to the upper spine, the head is the last to twist around. Slowly release from the base of the spine and come back to center. Repeat on the other side. Twists flush and balance the nervous system.

8) Reclining bound pose

Now it's time for relaxation. Lie on your back and bring your feet together. Allow your knees to splay apart. You can also extend your legs and come into corpse pose if bound pose is too much for your hips. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Let go of any stress and allow your body to release into the floor. Stay as long as you like

The Fountain of Youth & Your Hormones

Everyone has heard of the mythical "Fountain of Youth", but very few realize that it actually does exist. And even fewer realize that it exists inside every one of us. Yes, it's there right within you, just waiting to be activated !!

Juan Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer sailed around the Florida coast in search of the legendary "Fountain of Youth" .....the secret to being young again forever. That was five hundred years ago, more or less. Since then modern day 'explorers', in the form of researchers, have been continuing the quest for the secrets to attain eternal youth

These researchers have discovered that at the core of the fountain of youth is the body's hormonal or neuro endocrine system, the collective name assigned to the glands and organs that manufacture hormones within our bodies.

Aging is a process that happens to all of us. Usually around thirty to thirty-five years of age, we begin to notice the first telltale signs of aging, the strands of gray hair, the deepening of expression lines (the pre-cursor to wrinkles), the slight sagging of facial features, the gradual loss of skin elasticity as collagen formation declines. As the years roll by, this aging process continues inexorably - stiffer joints, dimmer vision, loss of taste buds, gray hair, less libido!

As we see the same thing happening to our friends and family we accept it as natural and inevitable. We start to accept our declining faculties as being nature's way, and start thinking of oourselves as old.The change in mental perspective further accelerates the process. And, as we look in the mirror, year after year, we gradually begin to look, feel and act progressively older, our mindset reflecting our mirror image.

Today, technology and medical advances have made it possible to live much longer, leading to an aging of the population - there are many more 'seniors' in our society than ever before. In fact, average longevity has gone up all over the world since the beginning of the 20th century. In the U.S longevity has increased by as much as 25 years.

However, regrettably, the factor that has not changed is the number of years one has to live with age-related disability. It is still an average of ten years for most of us. Can we minimize, or eliminate completely this period of decrepitude from our lives? There is no question that each one of us, man and woman, would like to live our sixties, seventies and eighties with looks, health and vitality intact. Nor do we like the idea of losing any of our faculties or senses.

The fountain of youth was seen to be the answer, making it a life or death (literally) quest since time immemorial.....Juan Ponce de Leon et al....and it remains as important today. People stop at nothing in their attempts to combat aging, and to drink from the fountain of youth. So much so, that it has become somewhat of a chimera. There are diets designed to combat and reverse aging, cardio-vascular exercises do the same, the brain is kept young by 'challenging' it, viagra promises peak sexual performance, HRT promises relief from pre and post menopausal problems, cosmetic companies produce moisturizers and creams to build collagen,....one can go on and on!!!

In varying degrees, they all work! But think about HOW they work!

Diets and cardio-vascular exercises work by regulating the body's consumption of energy. Known as metabolism, it is a complex interaction of chemical conversions that take place continually in order to generate energy and keep the body at optimum level. Control of the entire process lies in the hormonal (neuroendocrine) system.

The challenge element perks up secretions of the hormone adrenaline...the body's age-old response to any form of stress or threat is production of higher doses. The skin is kept hydrated by secretions of oil and sweat-producing hormones, and the entire process of sexuality and reproduction is hormone-induced, and starts from the hormonal (neuroendocrine) system.

And so, through course of diets, exercises, creams and supplements you manage to keep your body and mind in peak condition. What happens when you get a bout of the 'flu'? Without the help of the thymus and your immune system your body may just pack it in !!

The hormonal system has a finger in every pie! Does the concept seem rather esoteric? Do you think I am overplaying the role of the endocrine glands?

Consider the facts. Sift through reports on the most current research going on in this field.

Much of the anti-aging experimentation being conducted in various laboratories around the world, is connected with ingestion of hormonal supplements. HGH (human growth hormone) and DHEA, both popular experimental therapies being used at present, are nothing but hormones. And without a doubt they produce benefits, even though it is probably too early to determine if they produce any their attendant side effects.

Then again there is much research connected to the use of release factors or 'releasers', whereby, instead of ingesting supplements, one would ingest releasers, which would activate the glands into releasing hormones. Such experiments are still at an early stage, and not much is known about the attendant side effects, if any.

In fact, this very principle of hormonal flow seems to have been known to the Himalayan people in ancient times, and forms the basis of the Tibetan yoga rejuvenation and anti aging technique.

They seem to have way ahead of us in their knowledge. They knew, 4000 years ago, how to push the button that would cause the body to produce its own natural releasers, rather than rely on artificial synthetic ones. This, then, is the knowledge made public by the Tibetan rejuvenation yoga technique

Using Yoga to Manage ADD

Exercise is a powerful tool for ADD management. Medical professionals recommend that adults get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (such as running or biking) 3-5 times per week to improve their general health. For ADDers, this type of exercise is particularly beneficial, because it may balance production of neurotransmitters and reduce stress levels. Another form of exercise that ADDers are finding valuable is yoga. When practiced regularly, yoga offers numerous health benefits, such as increased strength and flexibility, and decreased blood pressure and cholesterol levels. However, the greater benefits of yoga are arguably the psychological ones. Yoga combines physical activity with self-awareness, which promotes a mind-body connection that many ADDers lack.

When ADDers report challenges with impulsivity and hyperactivity, they often describe feeling like they don't have control over their own bodies. They find themselves speaking before thinking their thoughts through, and often regret their words. They constantly fidget, unaware that their bubbling energy can be disruptive to others in work and social situations. And they feel as if they simply cannot stop the whirlwind of thoughts spinning in their heads.

Yoga can help ADDers learn how to forge a mind-body connection that promotes self-awareness and self-control. Yoga practitioners are taught deep breathing and relaxation techniques that help center the mind in the present moment. Practitioners are also guided into holding different postures, called asanas. Each asana is held for an extended period of time, as the practitioner focuses on holding the best posture that they can, while breathing calmly and deeply. The asanas promote stretching, strengthening, and balancing, as the deep breathing promotes relaxation and mental awareness.

It is important to remember that yoga is not meant to be stressful or taxing on the body. People should be encouraged to concentrate only on themselves and not the others in the class, and to do only what feels comfortable. A practitioner should never feel pressured to perform. If an ADDer finds him/herself at a yoga class that moves too quickly, or focuses heavily on strength training, they will not reap the intended benefits, and may find themselves overwhelmed. The best place to find yoga instruction is at a yoga center, where the instructors practice yoga as a way of life, and teach both the physical and psychological components.

Yoga can help ADDers feel calm, centered, in control, and in touch with their bodies. Practiced regularly, ADDers will find that yoga is a powerful mental and physical refresher that they can retreat to when feeling out of control or overwhelmed.

Toshiba's TG01 outed on Orange UK

Well, well, there it is. The world's first and only Snapdragon phone available for retail, Toshiba's TG01, is up and dancing on Orange's UK site with a "coming soon" badge. Soon meaning the July 9th London press event, presumably, where this 9.9-mm slate running WinMo on a 4.1-inch 800x480 pixel display should get a shove out the retail door. Yes, Windows Mobile 6.1, why do you ask? Orange UK, TG01, Toshiba

Establish Your Brand by Blogging

The most important thing about having a blog is to establish your brand and let your readers get to know you. This applies mostly to blogs that are related to your business. As the author of the blog, you can tell your readers about yourself in the About page. Your readers will also come to know you through your style of writing and what you write about. If you have something meaningful to say, people will listen.

Get Started

If you don’t already have a blog, it’s time to take the plunge and get started. Remember Nike’s popular slogan? Just do it. You can learn along the way as you build up your first blog. There is a lot of freely available information about all aspects of maintaining and marketing a blog.

In the beginning, you can take a look at some of the popular blogs in your niche and take note of what you like about them. Basically you are trying to capture the best elements of those blogs and try to incorporate them in yours.

Blog Regularly

Even if you are not a Pulitzer prize winning author, you can still get better at writing as you practice. Try to blog as regularly as possible. If you stop for long periods between your posts, you may start to lose your readership. You can even write your posts beforehand if you know that you are going to be away on vacation. Then you can set up automatic scheduling to post to the blog.

Build a Community

As your blog readership grows, you will hopefully get more people interacting with you through the comments. Definitely install Akismet to catch most of the comment spam. Try to answer all of the valid comments quickly and you will make your readers feel that you care. Another option to think about is building a forum as part of your blog. Again, due to the problem of spam, forums require moderation and if you don’t have time to do this, you’ll have to find some volunteers or pay for help.

Another way to build a community quickly is by holding a blog contest. You can offer attractive prizes (like lots of cash!) or ask other bloggers to donate prizes in exchange for something you have to offer. You could offer to review their blog in your blog and give them a backlink. You could offer them your own product in exchange. Those are just two quick ideas.

Folks like Darren Rowse (Problogger) and Shoemoney have built their brands largely due to the popularity of their blogs. You have to find your own unique angle to it. For Problogger, it was teaching people about blogging and making money from it. For Shoemoney, a lot of initial interest was generated by showing a huge affiliate check and talking about tremendous success with ringtones.

Don’t delay, start thinking about how you can establish yourself in a crowded marketplace. The sooner you start, the better.

So You Want to be a Problogger?

Do you consider yourself a problogger? Do you have any tips to share in this matter? Daniel at Daily Blog Tips has put up ten points that every problogger should have. This includes:

1. Time
   
2. Expertise on a topic
   
3. Passion for the topic
   
4. Writing skills
   
5. Technical Knowledge
   
6. Blogging Knowledge
   
7. Web Design Skills
   
8. Business/Marketing Knowledge
   
9. Creativity and Innovative Ideas
   
10. Network of contacts
    

To the above list however, I believe time is one of the main issue specially for people (like me) that get into blogging while still having a full time job. It is really a tough job trying to make a fulltime income from blogging part time. Basically, you cannot really quit the job to blog full time if you are not making enough.

But who say’s we are here for an easy life? If we want to be a successful problogger then go work hard and smart. Remember, problogging takes time, time for you and for me to learn, perfect our skills, experience and enjoy.