Monday, August 24, 2009

Money Save

When you were a kid, it was as easy as dropping spare change in the piggy bank. Now that you’re older, saving money is way harder that spending it.

>Eat at home and bring your own launch, when you’re leaving a house 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch or dinner, just eat your meal at home. It saves you from spending an extra hundred or two at the food court, cafeteria or whatever it is that you’re heading. Eventually, you’ll have a happy bank account and a more financially secure future.

>When in doubt, don’t! The next time you feel the urge to buy that really cute dress or that super cheap accessory, think twice before pulling out your wallet. If the small part of your feels unsure about the item, drop it and walk away.

>Water please! Most restaurant goers don’t realize that most of the profit is raked from drinks. Beside; water is healthier that those sugary beverages.

>Upsize me, Most people grew up with the tinge mentality, where you buy thins in sachets and small packs because it’s cheap. The next time when you go grocery shopping, buy your favorite items in the biggest size, especially if you’re using it for long term.

>Make a shopping list, whether you‘re going to the grocery, mall or bazaar, list down the things you really need to buy and go through it twice. Then give your self this strict mental rule: If it’s not on the list, I ain’t buying it! It save you from giving in to tempting sales and bargains on a whim.

>Don’t be a sucker for freebies, freebies are great, but sometimes it lures us into buying things we don’t need. Purchase something because you need it, not because you want the freebie.

>Avoid convenience stores; their price tags are significantly higher than groceries and markets. Next time, if the grocery store is nearby, just get your items there. However, if you’re just buying one or two items and you don’t have time to walk a few more blocks, then the convenience store will do.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Clean your wallet

Warm weather allows you and your family to complete certain chores and participate in seasonal activities. Throughout your neighborhood, you may see people planting gardens, washing cars, and children playing in backyards. Below are some debt settlement money-saving tips that may help cool your wallet as the temperature heats up.

Save Money On Your Air Conditioner

You may want to prepare your air conditioning unit for hot and humid days. For example, keep all objects away from the air conditioning unit. Make it a habit to routinely remove grass and leaves from vents. These items will block airflow. For more tips, visit the Department of Energy's web site at www.energy.gov.

Consider Inexpensive Ways To Have Family Fun

Some families plan vacations during the spring and summer seasons and these excursions can be costly. Just because an elaborate vacation is not in your budget does not mean that you can't have fun. Discover the many activities that you can enjoy in your local community. Most libraries offer summer reading programs for children and adults. You can also rent movies at the library for free. Call your local zoos, museums, and amusement parks to see if they offer discounted rates on certain days or during specific times of the day.

Spring Clean Your Vehicle

Extreme temperatures may be difficult for your car to handle. Routine maintenance on your vehicle may help its performance and improve gas mileage. For example, have an oil change performed regularly and keep your tires properly inflated. Visit the Car Council's educational web site at www.carcare.org for more auto maintenance tips. Also, keep in mind that gas prices tend to skyrocket during the warmer months. Web sites such as www.gaspricewatch.com and www.gasbuddy.com track gas prices in your area and are updated by local volunteers. You can also save on gasoline by carpooling. Visit www.erideshare.com to search for local commuters that are going the same way you are or you may post your own listing.

Sell Items That You No Longer Use

During the spring season, some people shed all of their unwanted and unused items. Ebay is the largest online auction site and a good source to sell items that you no longer use. Visit their web site for more details on how to begin selling. You can also try your local Craigslist site to place an online classified ad for free to people in your area. Also consider placing ads in your local newspaper, host a garage sale, or check with the recreation department in your local community to see if there are any neighborhood flea market days. You may be able to reserve a table.

Save Money On Home Improvements

Many people perform home improvements in the spring and summer months. Although you may have to hire a professional for some complicated projects, you may be able to tackle some tasks yourself. A wealth of informational resources exist to teach you how to do home improvement jobs such as cleaning your gutters, painting, and installing a ceiling fan. Visit your local bookstore or library to find a comprehensive guide on do-it-yourself home improvements.

The Internet and television are also great sources. DIY Network brings you such cable shows as "DIY to the Rescue" and "DIY Be Your Own Contractor." You can also visit their information-packed web site located at www.diynet.com. This site features a wide array of do-it-yourself projects, with topics that range from home improvements to decorating.

Home Depot also offers free Do-It-Herself Workshops, Weekly Clinics, and Kids Workshops. Visit www.homedepotclinics.com to register at a Home Depot near you.


Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Making Money with Blogs

In the last article, we talked about how getting top of the range links from authoritative sites in your field can boost your search engine rankings. This time, we are going to explore further into linking methods, and the way to identify and get "high quality" links. We're also going to chat temporarily about Google's Page Rank.

First, let's inspect a regular link. It's a chunk of text ( or image, but we are going for text ) that links to your blog, and some of the factors that matter are

1 ) The address which it links to

2 ) The text of the link

3) The Page Rank of the page on which the link resides

Let's research this information one at a time. First, you'd naturally want the link to link to your blog, but to which page of your blog? To an individual post or to your blogs home page? Since your blog is a consistently updated website, it is always wise to accumulate all the links to point to your principal page instead if individual posts because they have a tendency to be very time-sensitive.

The text of the link also is affecting your rankings for a certain keyword. Shall we imagine your blog is about technological gadgets and another site has a link that announces "Barbie dolls" and links to your blog. Does not make much sense, right? If a lot of links that link to your site contain the terms "technological" or "gadget", it will significantly increase your rankings for those keywords. Thus , it's crucial to put some thoughts when requesting links from other webmasters as you want them to link to your blog with appropriate keywords.

Now, about Google's Page Rank. It's fundamentally a scale set by Google to determine the popularity of web sites. You can read more about it on http://www.google.com/technology/. What's interesting is that the higher the Page Rank of a certain site, the more frequent Google's androids shall visit the internet site to index it. of a page will also help it to rank higher in Google's search engine results. In brief having a high Page Rank will bring you various benefits SEO-wise.

Your blog will commence with no Page Rank (which is dissimilar to Page Rank 0) because Google has not yet indexed your blog. Once Google's robots find your blog thru links on other sites, your blog will show a Page Rank of zero and depending on the Page Rank of the referring page, your blogs Page Rank will also rise eventually.

Getting fine quality links to your blog will help direct targeted visitors who have an interest in your niche to your blog, enable search engines to find and index your blog and eventually rank higher in search engine results.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Find a Pefect Lodger

In this article I show you how to make your spare room instantly more attractive than the vast majority of those available on the market. Follow these simple (but often overlooked) steps, and you should have an army of potential lodgers eager to move in.

  1. Write a killer advert. Potential lodgers will be reading a lot of them, so keep your advert short, clear and informative.
  2. Set a realistic rent. If you charge a little less than the market rate you will widen your market considerably, set it too low however, and people will perceive the property as being down-market.
  3. Include most bills in the rent. A fixed cost is attractive to anyone on a budget.
  4. A potential lodger will simply drive past if your property does not appear clean and well maintained from the outside. Make sure the parking facilities match those stated in the advert.
  5. Ensure your property is spotless. No dust, clutter or odour. If you have pets, mention them in your advert and make sure that they are well behaved. The first hint of a pest problem is guaranteed to sent any potential lodger running for the hills.
  6. Give a good personal impression. You are under scrutiny just as much as the room. Being well organised says this is a hassle-free place to live. Draw up a short document anticipating everything a potential lodger is likely to need to know in making a decision. Include such things as:
    1. the room - dimensions, inventory and photo
    2. estimated cost of bills per month
    3. house rules such as out of bounds rooms
    4. special considerations such as parking permits
    5. do not include sensitive information such as alarm codes.
  7. Make sure the room is ready for immediate occupation. A lodger will want to see exactly what they will get. Do this even if you are not ready for someone to move in just yet.
  8. Make sure that the property is safe. Have up to date regulatory documentation. In the UK, you will need a CORGI gas safety certificate, and it’s a good idea also to have a full electrical safety check of your appliances (“portable appliance test”). Other things to consider are your home insurance, fire safety, and smoke/CO2 detectors.
  9. Take an interest in them. Where do they work, what do they do? What do they like to do with their spare time? This will help you determine if you are likely to get on and if your lifestyles are going to conflict with one another.
  10. Follow up. You are likely to already have an email address or telephone number, but if not, it does no harm to ask for them as the lodger is leaving. If they like the place they will most likely give it to you. Follow up with a call a few days later, and find out what they thought. Any negative comments can be worked on for the next lodger.

If you follow these simple steps, you will have differentiated yourself and your property from 90% of those on offer in the marketplace, and have your pick of who to offer the room to.


Thursday, August 6, 2009

Get More Visitors to Your Blog Or Website

You've picked the domain, decided on the design and started posting great content that showcases your expertise. The hard work is over, right?

Not exactly-after all, you need people to actually read that useful content that you're diligently cranking out. So how do you get those eyeballs to your site? There are literally hundreds of ways to drive traffic to your blog or website, but here I will highlight just a few of the ways to drive traffic and generate interest in what it is you have to offer.

Write articles: Most of the article directories online are free to submit your articles to. They usually allow you to add a resource box at the end, which can include a blurb about you and your business and a link back to your site. Some of the directories I like to use include EZine Articles, Go Articles, Idea Marketers and Articles Base.

Comment on other blogs: When you comment on other high-traffic blogs in your niche you not only get a link back to your own site, you're also boosting your site's visibility in front of the blog owner and the others leaving comments.

Social media: Provide links to your latest posts on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and invite your friends and followers to leave their thoughts on the particular topic in the comments. You don't want to do this for every post as it might be viewed as spamming--but it's perfectly acceptable to occasionally encourage others to click through and read a post you feel particularly proud of. Also, be sure to include your site's URL in all of your profiles.

Hold a contest: A great way to generate interest in your site is to hold a contest where the entries are comments left on your post. For example, you could give away someone else's product in exchange for writing a post about it and then publicize the contest through your social networks.

Email signature: Most of us send numerous emails in any given day-capitalize on this by adding a link to your site in your signature line.

Basic SEO: You don't need to be super-knowledgeable about search engine optimization to benefit from it. If you use the Wordpress blog platform, install the All in One SEO Pack plugin. This post gives some simple and easy to understand tips on SEO in general.

Post in forums: Many online forums and message boards will allow you to use a short signature line at the end of your posts. You can include a link to your site here.

Blog directories: A simple Google search will reveal that there are many blog directories online where you can list your site for free. These sites are important because they provide a way to get links to your site--which boosts your ranking in the search engines.

Guest post: Reach out to fellow bloggers in your niche and offer to guest post for them. Make sure you find out specifically what kind of topics they are looking for and that your audiences both compliment each other. Offer them a spot guest posting on your blog as well.

Link to other blogs: It's a good idea to give "link love" to other bloggers by mentioning them in post once in awhile and providing a link to their site. Think of it as good blogging "karma."

Post valuable content regularly: I've saved what is probably the most important strategy for last. Many times, this is what makes the difference between blogs that succeed and those that fail. The above tips are effective for sure, but in the long run this is what will keep people coming back for more as well as draw new readers in.