Archive

Archive for July, 2010

Useful Tool for Webmasters and Bloggers

July 9th, 2010 Comments off

Online marketing has many strategies, one of which is keyword research. Blogs can often rank well in search engines due to their frequently updated content. This can bring a lot of visitors to your site. Another way to bring many visitors is to do some keyword research. This type of research will show you what people are searching for, and will maximize the potential the search engines have to bring traffic to your site. If you research what keywords are popular, then you will know what topics to focus on, and maybe you will even change the marketing strategy your blog has. Great tools with the help of which you will be able to research keywords are keyworddiscovery.com and wordtracker.com. Both of them are relatively easy to use so check out both of them in order to decide yourself which one you will want to stick to. I have to warn you that keyword research might take some time, but in the end it is worth it. After all, search engines are an excellent source of traffic for webmasters who optimize their site for them. I does not mean you have to makes drastic changes; however, being aware of the most popular keywords will surely give you an advantage over the competition. Investing some time into keyword research is certainly a good idea for any webmaster who wants to be successful. Using a powerful keyword research toll should save you a lot of time.

Categories: Blog, Tech, Web Tags:

Presidents and the Internet

July 8th, 2010 Comments off

The Internet has been very useful to many people as it is a great source of information and entertainment. There are more and more people on the Internet each day, and this also includes government officials such as presidents. Even presidents surf the Web, and why would they not do it? After all, the Internet can definitely be beneficial to them in many ways. The Internet allows them to have contact with regular citizens, and it is an important part of being a president. Based on some interviews I deducted that there are two main things presidents do on the Web:

� Read the news. Obviously there is an abundance of high quality news sites on the Internet. A president might have even more accurate sources of information, but it does not mean that he never reads news online.
� Read political suggestions and advice given by surfers. While most presidents might not do that, staying in contact with the public is very important.

I think that presidents are not that much different from us as they also take advantage out of modern technology. While they are usually very busy I am sure that sometimes they might take some time to simply visit their favorite website.

Categories: Web Tags:

Why Not Switch To a Custom Domain?

July 8th, 2010 Comments off

When it comes to blogging, there are some decisions to be made related to our domain names. First of all, we have to decide where we want to host our website. For example, if we decide to host our site on Blogspot, then our domain name will look like this: domain.blogspot.com. On the other hand, if we choose a custom domain, then we can completely customize our domain name. We will also not be forced to use �blogspot�, �wordpress�, or any other word in our blog address. Custom domain cost money, but some sites can teach you how to have an extra income to cover the costs of your domains.

Being hosted on a custom domain name is generally considered to be a better solution, but why are there still many successful blogs that are hosted on Blogspot? I believe that they did not switch to a custom domain name, because they did not want to lose their domain age and back links. If that happened, this would mean that from a SEO perspective they would have to start from the beginning. Since accumulating links can take a long time, changing a domain is not an easy decision to make.
Another aspect to consider may be growing registration fees. The registration fees for domain names are generally getting higher, as VeriSign quite often raises the prices. VeriSign raised the prices at least two times since 2006, so some analysts are getting alarmed by this trend. I think that the prices are still relatively low, as the cost of hosting is the major expense for webmasters. This especially applies to those with a lot of traffic and downloadable resources such as videos, audio, and software. VerisSign claims that the .com and .net infrastructures are continually being fortified against more sophisticated cyberattacks, so let us hope that this company will spend the extra money it is receiving on security.

The decision whether to switch to a custom domain will ultimately be up to you, so consider all facts before making a final decision.

Categories: Blog, Tech, Web Tags:

Mobile Ad Networks

July 7th, 2010 Comments off

Mobile ad networks such as Admob have been gaining on popularity recently. For example, Admob was recently acquired by Google. If something is acquired by Google, this has to mean that it is popular and that it has a potential to bring some money. IPad users have a reason to rejoice. Especially for them, Admob released a specific SDK (software development kit) that enables them to download and install the network�s ads within their apps. As you probably know, the abbreviation app stands for application software. When it comes to mobile ad networks, new terminology has been recently created. I have already written a few words about Admob. Now is the time to write something about Mojiva. If you have heard about Mojiva, you probably also heard about Medialets and its recent partnership with Mojiva. Mojiva is known for being able to deliver high quality media ad formats at reasonable prices. Mobile rich media have been growing on popularity recently. When I see how the number of mobile apps on the market grows, I can see how they are becoming more popular and more useful to people. After talking about Admob and Mojiva, it is now time to say a few words about Inmobi. Even though I am mentioning Imobi at the bottom of my list, it does not mean that this brand is less important. On the contrary, Inmobi does great when it comes to mobile ad networks. Even though Inmobi is based off in India, it does not have problems competing with big players on the market that are based in the US. While Google and Apple are busy battling with their competitors, Inmobi took the matter into its own hands and launched a new project that is supposed to encourage application developers to use Inmobi for advertising.

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Videos on Your Blog

July 7th, 2010 Comments off

If you like implementing videos on your blog, you might be interested in the feature I am going to discuss. Some time ago Adsense introduced a feature called video units that allows its users to embed a YouTube video on one�s blog. This allows to make money from ads being displayed along with the videos.

If the videos you embedded on your website are relevant to the topic of your blog, this feature will allow you to make some extra cash, while at the same time not distract your visitors from other content. You can be always sure that the ads displayed will be relevant to the video and they will be non-intrusive. Additionally, you will be able to blend your YouTube videos into your blog by customizing the color and layout, as well as choosing from a few different player sizes.

Of course, whether you will really benefit from videos on your blog depends on your blog’s niche. Some blogs can greatly benefit from YouTube videos like, for example, entertainment blogs. It might not be that easy to find suitable videos for a niche like blogging. However, since there are millions of videos on YouTube, I am sure that every webmaster will be able to find some videos worth embedding on his blog. There are many videos that can either teach something valuable or simply video that are entertaining. Whenever you implement a video on your blog make sure that your website loads quite fast. Many webmasters make a mistake of adding to many elements to their blog that take too long to load.

Categories: Biz, Blog, Finance, Health, Personal, Web Tags:

Living in Spain

July 7th, 2010 Comments off

Moving to Spain if you live in the UK might be a good idea, especially if you are retired, but not only. There are many reasons a person living in the UK or in any other Northern European country might want to move to Spain, Greece, Cyprus, or Malta. Nobody should have problems finding suitable villas in spain or in Greece if he knows where to look for them. The truth is that the weather in many parts of Europe is not as good as it is in Southern Europe. Why would somebody retire in the UK if he can choose to move to any European country he wishes to? It is not that difficult to move to Spain, Greece, or any other South European country. Most of those countries belong to the European Union, which makes the whole process of relocating a lot easier and more convenient than it used to be in the past. UK nationals can work without restrictions in almost any country in South Europe. Then there are prices. The prices of apartments and villas in Southern Europe are a lot more attractive that the prices of apartments and houses in the UK. Southern European countries are considered to be generally cheaper.

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Additional Credit Card Extra Charges

July 7th, 2010 Comments off

Here is the last list of fees you should watch out for:

-You might be subject to a check access fee for using the checks your bank gave to you. Usually, it is a percentage, and unfortunately most people have to pay such fees. Make sure you know how big the fee is.
-If you travel to another country or you want to buy something on the Internet in another currency, you will probably need to pay a currency exchange surcharge. It is better to pay in your own country currency if possible, but if it is not, be prepared to spend around 3% as a fee.
-A merchant surcharge is a fee that some merchants charge for accepting your credit card. I would recommend avoiding dealing with merchants that charge such fees, as credit cards are so popular these days that merchants should not charge additional fees.

As you see, most of the solutions for avoiding these fees is to simply stay informed. If in some cases you simply cannot avoid them, at least know with what kind of fee you are dealing with, and how much it will cost you. I hope that the information I shared will help you manage your personal finances, as it helped me.

Categories: Biz Tags:

More Credit Card Extra Charges

July 6th, 2010 Comments off

Here is a list of some other extra charges and how to deal with them:

-Often you might encounter the over limit fee. If you spend more than your credit card company allows this is going to incur an over the limit fee. The best way to avoid this is to keep an accurate record of your credit card expenses.
-The monthly service or minimum finance fee is another type of fee. Sometimes banks that claim that there are no annual fees associated with credit cards charge monthly fees. Yes, I know, pretty deceptive. The best way to deal with such a situation is to stay informed and read about the subject.
-A cash advance is often very convenient. However, you should be prepared that there might be extra charges related to it, such as 3% charged when you borrow money. Before you decide to take advantage out of the cash advance, make sure you know how much it will cost you.
-Another type of fee is a balance transfer fee. Transferring a balance from one card to another might invoke this fee. Just make sure that the overall benefit of the transfer is worth the fee, as sometimes it is better not to transfer.

Knowing about different types of fees might save you a lot of money.

Categories: Biz Tags:

Debt Relief

July 6th, 2010 Comments off

If only more people knew about Debt Relief they would be able to avoid many problems related to their finances. A person can be completely debt free in as little as 12-36 months if this is what he really wants.

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The Importance of Blogging Rhythm

July 6th, 2010 Comments off

A lot of bloggers struggle to post on a daily basis on their blog. However, you do not need to post on a daily basis to be a successful blogger. What is important is that you should post on a regular basis, and that you should find your blogging rhythm. Here are a few tips which should guide you in the right direction:

-Consider your niche and type of blog. How often are your competitors posting? The ideal posting frequency might be once per week or even a few times per day. The posting frequency might depend on your niche. If you are a news blogs then you might need to post many posts per day.
-Be consistent. Try to establish a consistent posting rhythm, so that your readers will know when to anticipate your next post. You may decide, for example, to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
-Start out slow. Make sure you do not put unnecessary burden on yourself. It might take some time before you will get used to writing posts every day. Once you will be more experienced it will be a lot easier for you to write posts.
-Monitor your readerships response. Do your visitors enjoy your current posting frequency? Look for any signs you might not be posting often enough. On the other hand, maybe you are posting too much and it is hard for most of your readers to keep up?

You will have to make the decision yourself, so take into account all of the aspects.

Categories: Blog, Web Tags: