Welcome To My World

Life is a beach! ;)

Bizzy, Bizzy, Bizzy!

Well, I'm bummed I didn't win the PowerBall. $340,000,000!!! and only ONE person won!. Unbelievable. I think they said that the person is from here in Oregon. Not positive but that's what I think I heard. Wish it had been me...::sigh::

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I have been soooo busy the last couple of weeks. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I've been studying more about online marketing and "how to's" of graphics, banners, web sites and splash pages and more...

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Then...here's a funny-not-so-funny story: About 14 days ago or so, I took my neighbor downtown. We were both going to get our flu and pneumonia shots. They ask 6 questions beforehand and if you can't say "yes" to just one question, they make those people wait. They were just giving shots to people over 65, at-risk people and healthcare workers.

Well, I couldn't answer yes to any of them even though my Doctor says I need both of those shots. They told me I had to wait though until the 24th and have to drive quite a ways to get them.

Then....about 5 days ago, guess what?! I got the flu. I was pretty much down for 3 days. I'm still not quite 100%, but getting better as the hours fly by. :) Ironic huh? My neighbor says I probably got the bug when we were at the flu clinic, haha. She could be right. I think I got sick because I've been burning the midnight oil (12-16 hour days) working on making a living online. Like I said, LOL, there just aren't enough hours in the day.

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Update on Bear's nose: After doing the regimen of fresh natural ingredients and vitamins and medicine for about 8 weeks, his nose is no better than when I first started. So I put him back on his natural dry food. Hopefully it's a seasonal thing and when it gets colder, his nose will leather up and turn back to black again. Poor thing. He doesn't act like it bothers him at all, so hopefully it doesn't.

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Can you believe Halloween is almost here? And, it's only 64 days until Christmas? When out shopping today I stopped at Grocery Outlet, and boy am I glad I did! They had their Christmas stuff out already and I got tons of stuff. When I checked out, they said I saved $185.00 (rounded up)!! Can you believe it? If I had gone to Walmart to get that stuff it would have cost me $185 more!! So I turned in the bottom of my receipt for a drawing Grocery Outlet has every week or two, if I win, I win the amount I saved! Keep your fingers crossed for me! Now I can start wrapping gifts and putting up Christmas decorations. Think I'll wait at least until the day after Halloween though! HAHA!!.

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Oh, one last thing. For those that live in areas that have daylight savings time, you may or may not know this, but it has been extended until the first Sunday in November. I didn't know that. I was listening to "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and learned that fact.

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I'm back to work~

How to Select the Best Keywords for Seach Engine Optimization

Think of the right keywords as the Open Sesame! of the Internet. Find the exactly right words or phrases, and presto! hoards of traffic will be pulling up to your front door. But if your keywords are too general or too over-used, the possibility of visitors actually making it all the way to your site - or of seeing any real profits from the visitors that do arrive - decreases dramatically.

Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. If they are not chosen with great precision, no matter how aggressive your marketing campaign may be, the right people may never get the chance to find out about it. So your first step in plotting your strategy is to gather and evaluate keywords and phrases.

You probably think you already know EXACTLY the right words for your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven't followed certain specific steps, you are probably WRONG. It's hard to be objective when you are right in the center of your business network, which is the reason that you may not be able to choose the most efficient keywords from the inside. You need to be able to think like your customers. And since you are a business owner and not the consumer, your best bet is to go directly to the source.

Instead of plunging in and scribbling down a list of potential search words and phrases yourself, ask for words from as many potential customers as you can. You will most likely find out that your understanding of your business and your customers' understanding is significantly different.

The consumer is an invaluable resource. You will find the words you accumulate from them are words and phrases you probably never would have considered from deep inside the trenches of your business.

Only after you have gathered as many words and phrases from outside resources should you add your own keyword to the list. Once you have this list in hand, you are ready for the next step: evaluation.

The aim of evaluation is to narrow down your list to a small number of words and phrases that will direct the highest number of quality visitors to your website. By "quality visitors" I mean those consumers who are most likely to make a purchase rather than just cruise around your site and take off for greener pastures. In evaluating the effectiveness of keywords, bear in mind three elements: popularity, specificity, and motivation.

Popularity is the easiest to evaluate because it is an objective quality. The more popular your keyword is, the more likely the chances are that it will be typed into a search engine which will then bring up your URL.

You can now purchase software that will rate the popularity of keywords and phrases by giving words a number rating based on real search engine activity. Software such as WordTracker will even suggest variations of your words and phrases. The higher the number this software assigns to a given keyword, the more traffic you can logically expect to be directed to your site. The only fallacy with this concept is the more popular the keyword is, the greater the search engine position you will need to obtain. If you are down at the bottom of the search results, the consumer will probably never scroll down to find you.

Popularity isn't enough to declare a keyword a good choice. You must move on to the next criteria, which is specificity. The more specific your keyword is, the greater the likelihood that the consumer who is ready to purchase your goods or services will find you.

Let's look at a hypothetical example. Imagine that you have obtained popularity rankings for the keyword "automobile companies." However, you company specializes in bodywork only. The keyword "automobile body shops" would rank lower on the popularity scale than "automobile companies," but it would nevertheless serve you much better. Instead of getting a slew of people interested in everything from buying a car to changing their oil filters, you will get only those consumers with trashed front ends or crumpled fenders being directed to your site. In other words, consumers ready to buy your services are the ones who will immediately find you. Not only that, but the greater the specificity of your keyword is, the less competition you will face.

The third factor is consumer motivation. Once again, this requires putting yourself inside the mind of the customer rather than the seller to figure out what motivation prompts a person looking for a service or product to type in a particular word or phrase. Let's look at another example, such as a consumer who is searching for a job as an IT manager in a new city. If you have to choose between "Seattle job listings" and "Seattle IT recruiters" which do you think will benefit the consumer more? If you were looking for this type of specific job, which keyword would you type in? The second one, of course! Using the second keyword targets people who have decided on their career, have the necessary experience, and are ready to enlist you as their recruiter, rather than someone just out of school who is casually trying to figure out what to do with his or her life in between beer parties. You want to find people who are ready to act or make a purchase, and this requires subtle tinkering of your keywords until your find the most specific and directly targeted phrases to bring the most motivated traffic to you site.

Once you have chosen your keywords, your work is not done. You must continually evaluate performance across a variety of search engines, bearing in mind that times and trends change, as does popular lingo. You cannot rely on your log traffic analysis alone because it will not tell you how many of your visitors actually made a purchase.

Luckily, some new tools have been invented to help you judge the effectiveness of your keywords in individual search engines. There is now software available that analyzes consumer behavior in relation to consumer traffic. This allows you to discern which keywords are bringing you the most valuable customers.

This is an essential concept: numbers alone do not make a good keyword; profits per visitor do. You need to find keywords that direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product, fill out your forms, or download your product. This is the most important factor in evaluating the efficacy of a keyword or phrase, and should be the sword you wield when discarding and replacing ineffective or inefficient keywords with keywords that bring in better profits.

Ongoing analysis of tested keywords is the formula for search engine success. This may sound like a lot of work - and it is! But the amount of informed effort you put into your keyword campaign is what will ultimately generate your business' rewards.

This article may be freely reprinted as long as all links and author information remain.

** http://www.small-biz-web-solution.com offers an affordable web-hosting, web-building and web-marketing solution for any small business/ individual. Free Trial available.

** For a FREE 6 Day e-course on How to Improve your Search Engine Ranking and Tips on how to get much more Traffic please send a blank email to searchengineandtraffictips@getresponse.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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How To Save Money At Christmas

By: Janie Schaeffer

Is there such a thing as an affordable Christmas holiday? A holiday when
you aren’t shopping at the last minute with no real idea of what gifts
you want to buy? Of course! Just imagine a holiday with plenty of food,
fun occasions with family and friends, and gift giving that doesn’t
exceed your time and dollar limits. It will all become reality when you
learn the tradition that lots of families share each year.

So what’s the secret? The tradition (and it’s really no secret) is drawing
names for Christmas gifts in your family or group. Some people call it
Secret Santa. Basically, you put everyone’s name in a hat and each person
draws a name. Instead of giving a gift to every person in the group, you
give just one gift to the person whose name you draw. That’s one gift
instead of many. Uno.

Giving just one gift has great merits. First, it’s easy to be thoughtful
when giving one gift. You can’t say that when your list has 20 or more
people on it! But thinking of one person can be lots of fun. And it doesn’t
put a strain on the wallet. When you choose a different person every year,
you eventually give a gift to almost everyone in your group. Just not all
in the same year. Now that’s special.

To make drawing names real simple for your group, just follow two guidelines:

- First, draw names early in the season. Give everyone plenty of time to think
about their drawn person and decide on a gift before the holiday gets busy.

- Second, define rules and limits for the group to follow.

Plan your gift exchange while you are together with your family or friends on
vacation or during Fall holidays. In your office, organize your secret santa in
October or early November. Draw names early, and you’ll have months to choose
just one gift.

Remember, your goal is to keep the gift giving simple and the get-together fun
and meaningful. As you draw names, set the gift-giving rules. Here are some
examples of rules that groups set for having fun and keeping it easy:

- Most groups set a dollar limit for their gifts. People usually want to give a
gift that’s roughly equal in value to the gift that they will receive.

- Many groups keep the draw a secret, and then guess the giver after the gift is
opened. This makes the event into a party game that everyone looks forward to
each year.

- Some groups decide that the gift must be homemade or pre-owned by the giver.
This is a great idea, especially when children are included, to show how it’s the
thought that counts. It also ensures that the exchange is affordable for everyone.

- Some groups decide that the gift must fit in a Christmas stocking. Then they
fill each other’s stockings. Small candies and chocolates can be added for fun.

- Some groups decide on one particular gift each year, like everyone gives a
picture frame, a hat, or a calendar. Then they change the chosen gift every year.

- Some groups have a “white elephant” exchange, which is to give silly, crazy, or
even bad gifts that no one would ever want! Watch out if you choose this type of
exchange, because it can quickly get out of hand.

- The whole idea is to have fun together, so be creative! Some groups change the
rules every year.

The reality of having a secret santa is that you limit your shopping time and
keep your budget reasonable. The magic of drawing names is that everyone in the
group has fun and feels special. It’s no wonder that families make a tradition of
drawing names.

Plan early, and you’ll sail through those once busy months of November and December
this year. Try it, and you’ll never go back to the old days of endless shopping.

Happy holidays!

About the Author: Janie Schaeffer is the founder of http://www.DrawNames.com, a
free online secret santa service that organizes holiday gift exchanges for families,
coworkers, and friends.

Source: www.isnare.com