Look after your face...

A face says so much, and I for one am not afraid to allow my face to age along with the rest of me...admittedly I have always looked younger than I am, but even my youthful looks won't be able to hide my age for ever.
I have noted the massive market for anti wrinkle face cream, but have serious doubts as to whether these creams and potions will have any lasting effects - not only that, but the old adage tells us that beauty is only skin deep anyway...
My main problem with this type of product is the prices that the manufacturers charge, I wouldn't be concerned if these products were cheap, but one can't help feeling that they price the products so it seems like their 'expense' indicates that they might be effective. The 'reassuringly expensive' campaign adopted by Stella Artois springs to mind...

Spring has sprung!

What a lovely day it has been in the UK today... The Sun is shining and it's a day you want to spend in the garden...
Thoughts turn to barbecues, paddling pools and gardening as the 'to do' list grows accordingly. There are things to be planted, beds to be dug, grass to be trimmed fish pond filters to be changed and a host of other jobs that herald the dawn of garden weather. This is not to say that next week will not be torrential rain, but we have seen the light, days are longer and warmer - there is no stopping us - let's get gardening!

The Latest Thing

I am afraid I could never be accused of being an 'early adopter' and have only recently come to appreciate the joys of a Nintendo DS.... I am aware of 'PlayStation' and even knew there was a PlayStation2, or indeed 'ps2' as they cool kids call them. However, before I have even caught up with the original PlayStation, there is already a ps3 in the shops....
I tend to have two opposing views about this type of technology: On the one hand, when you play them, the gameplay is extraordinarily good, on the other hand - some people do not know when to STOP playing and START engaging with reality. I am all for a certain amount of 'play' being part of the normal routine, but am somewhat less enthusiastic about teenagers seeing 'life' as what they do in between bouts of Street Fighter IV or Call of Duty VI...

End of the Year

OK this might not be the end of the year for most individuals, but in the UK, this is the end of the tax year - the current (2009-2010) tax year runs to 5th April 2010 and I have just registered for 'self-assessment' on line...
I aim to be amongst the first to declare my (online) income as there is not a lot to report, it is all listed out in my spreadsheet, and I like to get things done in a timely manner. My first year of official online earnings has yielded £825 (in the region of about $1200) or so, a modest start, but a welcome addition to income nonetheless. I definitely intend to make some investments this 'year' and the first will be my new hosting plan which I have been considering for some considerable time. I am already thinking of sites that I can host for friends and new sites that I can build. I am half-way through revamping one of my main sites (offline) and am seriously considering social networks for promotion of my services. I am on several mailing lists, many which have recently been telling me that I need to use facebook and twitter to promote sites. I know in my heart of hearts that it is a solid idea, but it has not been until now that I have started to see the real potential of how I can engage with people using these sites.
I am planning to launch twitter and facebook services to co-incide with the re-vamp of my site, if it works out, I may launch another 'project' on Facebook and Twitter too - I feel like I am properly embracing 'online' for the first time even though I have been 'at it' for three years!

Get your quads out!

Whatever sort of ATV you drive, this is an ideal time of year to dust off your vehicle and begin atv riding for 2010. Of course, the hardier sorts will have been quadding and 4WDing through the snow, but round about now, with the daylight extending and the sun beginning to shine, conditions are ideal. As you can see from the picture, 'quad'ing is not limited to the male of the species, some gals enjoy their ATV too!
For those who are not quite so active... now is the ideal time to be sitting out in the garden in the sunshine, reading a magazine about ATV's...

March 2010 Earnings

Back with a bang this month after a very welcome boost from Adsense (accounted for here under 'Cass2CD' which is the source of most of my Adsense earnings). Very steady figures from paid to blog which is basically PayU2Blog, and not much else. Out-goings were low, so most of the earnings are retained and will go towards the new hosting package I keep talking about.
I thought I might be selling a domain this month which would have made a big difference....maybe next month...

The importance of PageRank

PageRank use to be the part of SEO that everyone was gunning for a few years ago, yet since Google starting making major changes to how PR was worked out, it is now questionable whether it has any value at all.
The simple equation was that the more back-links you had, the better your PageRank - a simple indicator of 'off-page' optimisation with some jiggery-pokerty thrown in to come up with a hierarchical structure. However a few years on and I have the following niggling doubts:

• Do I need PR to get a search-engine result? - the answer is a resounding NO - I even have a site that ranks anything from 1 to 3 for a very specific keyword - it has never had any PR...
• Is Google actually taking any notice of PR - the current thinking is that Google has already, or is condsidering... dumping PR altogether - and even though PR is still visible in the Google toolbar, it's actual value is probably questionable at least...
• Why do people think PR is still important? - I can't really answer that, but it seems to me that certain die-hards are still taking notice of soemthing that could already be defunct, and are even still paying to try and get their PR boosted.
• Does this mean that there is no point linking? No, I do believe that organic links from like-minded sites will somehow figure in getting you search position because that just makes sense. Also I cannot see how Google can legitimately penalise someone for a paid link from a relavent site when Google itself runs paid ads in the form of Adsense which could be hosted on the same site....

My conclusions for those interested in SEO - Just keep doing what seems right, try for free links from sites within your niche, get your 'on-page' optimisation sorted and keep uddating your site with good content - I believe that makes sense and therefore eventually SERP should reflect your good hard work.

Do I need a car?

I still have a company car although it is arguable that I don't really need it now - I have a dilema in that I pay a considerable amount of tax for the car, but then I have no other motoring expenses (other than the fuel I use for private use).
I don't have to scout around for a better auto insurance quote every 12 months because the company insures it - I don't have to buy new tyres because the company pays. However I am caught between the tax savings and the actual costs of running a car (and shelling out to buy a car in the first place).
OK the car will be mine, but so will all the bills that go with it... In a way I would like the independence of having my personal wheels, but they won't be anywhere near as nice as the wheels I get from the company.

On the Treadmill

I don't know about you, but I find going to the gym really quite a challenge - a Gym-bunny I am not...! Don't get me wrong, I do a lot of exercise, I generally play football for two hours a week and mostly with lads half my age - my problem is that I love team sports, but am uninspired when it comes to jumping on treadmills or cycling/rowing machines and what have you.
However, I reckon I could get into it if I had some of my own exercise equipment in the house so I could pop in and do a bit when I have half-an-hour or so to spare.
I would be particularly inspired if the exercise could be set up in such a way that I had a challenge to rise to when using a treadmill or some other gym equipment - I can't just go and do 'reps' and see that as a challenge on it's own - I need some real motivation!

Is dNeero back?

Just got a new 'conversation' from dNeero surveys, I had almost given up on surveys since dNeero changed it's focus to 'twitter'. This is the first conversation for a while, and it introduces a new look dNeero with a new home page and graphics. If you are interested in doing dNeero surveys (they are very short and generally multiple choice), click on the widget below...

Keeping Discipline

Working for an online income is like running your own business on a small scale. As such, it pays to introduce businesslike planning and discipline into your online activities. My worst habit is taking my online earnings and spending them on eBay...!
My excuse is that my original aim was merely to make a little extra pocket-money, but now that I can see that my earnings could be used for significant life improving changes, I must learn to be more disciplined. You would not last long in business if you spent all the income on boys-toys and nick-nacks... and as there is every chance that the tax-man will want a chunk of my earnings, I will need to make sure sufficient funds are put by. Equally, it is important that investments for the long-term success of the business are made, and to that end, I have every intention to carry out my threat to get myself a great new hosting package before the end of next month.
The new package will be the launch-pad for any future projects that I may have, along with any of my existing projects that will be continuing into the future. I am hoping that the new hosting package will also give me the impetus to re-vamp some of my existing sites.

Acne Treatment

It seems that there are a range of ways of treating acne, including exposed skin care amongst others. Some have argued that this type of treatment actually uses chemicals that can harm your skin both in the short-term and long-term.
There are on offer, alternative forms of treatment and it pays to examine all the options and take into consideration the following:

• The cost
• The effectiveness
• The possible side-effects

Finding out about other people's experience with different treatments is also a good way to gain knowledge without expense or discomfort.

Blogging tip for multiple posts

If you have a whole list of posts to complete as happens occassionally, I have a tip for you. My method is to write down the title for each post and then the opening paragraph before moving on and doing the same for the next one, and the next one until I have done the same for them all - this same method applies to sponsored or non-sponsored posts equally. I then go and make a cup of coffee or doing something else for a few minutes before coming back and working my way through all the posts, finishing them off.
This is not such a great method for long lengthy, well-thought out posts, but then when did you last see me do one of those??

Face Creams

Men have traditionally been fairly resistant to advertising for cosmetic products as a whole, but the latest batch of adverts are set to try using humor to extract money out of men's wallets. Finally advertisers have realised that men are not fooled by bogus whaffle-science that populate other cosmetic advertising, and that they are not interested in which brand names make the best face creams. They are however moved by funny adverts and are happier to identify with a product that is able to take an amusing tongue-in-cheek stance when it comes to face cream for men. Not so much "because we're worth it" as "because it made me laugh at myself.."

Eczema

eczema is an unpleasant skin condition causing irritation and cracked skin often related to stress and allergies. The severity of the condition can vary between sufferers and the condition can come and go, even clearing up completely for many young sufferers as they grow.
Getting information about eczema is not difficult as it is a very common condition and there is plenty of advice and information available from public services and websites.

What is your goal?

I am not that good at setting goals, and tend to more or less bumble along hopefully gaining more experience and knowledge as I go. Of course, with internet ventures, especially when you are trying to supplement or replace your current income, goals are vital.
My current goals are to establish a better website hosting scheme for which I need to save up some of my earnings and be prepared to invest. It's a no-brainer really as I think I can easily get a far better deal than what I am paying now for far less money and with far more features such as unlimited domains etc... all under the one scheme.
I have other goals, two of which are for developing and expanding/improving current projects, and one which is for developing what I am calling a new 'product'. I also plan to radically change one of my websites by switching to a Wordpress theme once I have sorted out the new hosting.
My plan is to host my current sites under a single hosting plan and to keep all my domains managed by GoDaddy, as I find their prices keen and they seem to be really good at what they do.
I hope to have a web portfolio that makes a lot more sense and is a lot easier to manage by the end of this year. I also hope to be able to raise my earnings, but hopefully that will follow...

Planning for business

Organising a business is a lot more involved that most people think - having a solid business idea is one thing, being able to put it into practice is quite another. You may be an expert in your given field, but that does not mean that your are good at business, at doing your accounts, organising meetings or organising the business card printing. Eevery little bit of help you can get should be considered. Work with the right service providers and build up a good team of reliable people around you, that way you can leave them to do the stuff that they are good at.

Can Diet Medication be Harmful?

There has to be a certain amount of caution about purveyors of diet pills offering medication such as phentermine without prescription on the Internet. Any medication that is actually a prescription drug, needs to be controlled carefully and with due diligence.
It pays to do a certain amount of research into side-effects of any medications before embarking on a course of treatment, and it is even more vital that any course of treatment should be overseen by a medical professional.

Managing a blog

Having been doing this sort of thing for quite a while now, I am pretty much into the swing of blogging, particularly paid postings which I have been doing for some time. Even so, it is worth talking about some of the more obvious aspects of blogging for those that are still learning the ropes.
One of the tricky balancing acts that the paid blogger faces, is being able to carry both personal and sponsored posts on the same blog. Your readers do not want to see a blog consisting entirely of adverts, and your advertisers also require that there is something of interest in your blog apart from adverts.
I find that most people will put up with adverts like they do on television if there is some real content and the content can vary enourmously. Your content can be purely personal (as long as it is moderatley interesting!) or can address a niche geared towards a specific readership. Munny4Hunny tends to straddle this divide (hopefully), this blog has a little of the personal along with a little advice on websites, the internet and free software along with anything else that I think readers might be able to relate to. You can't really call Munny4Hunny a niche blog, but it does strive to address the specific area of paid blogging, other blogs that I run are more geared towards specific niches such as travel, finance and sport. Having a niche can help advertisers to choose your site if it fits with their product, and can also help you thinking up posts if there are enough resources that you can use for inspiration.
Feel free to comment on what you think makes a good blog (or even what make s a bad one..)

What every man wants

What do you buy for the man who has everything? seems like a question with no answer, but there is an answer - My advice is that you get him something consumable that he likes, whether it be chocolate, wine, cigars or his favourite cheese - the simple pleasures of life are always most welcome. If you want to push out the boat, why not a gift basket with a bar of Belgian chocolate, a bottle of red wine from South Eastern Australia, a packet of Black and Mild and a slab of Danish Blue... that would make my day, I assure you...

New Blogger templates

Log into Blogger in Draft to get access to some exciting new customisable blogger templates, bringing blogger blogs out of the dark ages of design.
To be honest, this is a develpment that is long overdue, Wordpress have been ahead of the game in blog design for years, it's about time that Blogger made an attempt to catch up.
A word of caution though, make sure you save your existing template, especially if you have been tinkering with it (as I tend to with my blogs), as I assume defaut settings, such as 'no follow' will be re-set.

You can read more about the new designs and how to access them on the 'blogger in draft' blog, I look forward to seeing some of the effects of this new feature - I am sure I will be trying this out for myself on at least one blog.

Does weight loss medication work?

It pays to find out all about weight loss products before considering embarking on a course of treatment. The primary factors to consider would include the effectiveness of the treatment, the cost (as compared to the effectiveness) and also any possible side-effects associated with the treatment.
Carry out research into the product including getting first-hand testimonies from users, and above all get good advice from a health-care professional to ensure that you are a suitable candidate for your chosen option.
Having a plan which also includes a good exercise regime is vital because any course of medication has to be a short-term fix, to make a real difference in the long-term will require some permanent lifestyle changes.

Looking Good

Having the right clothing for the right occassion is essential in the same way as a tradesman needs the right tool for each job. The funny thing about an event where everyone is wearing a tuxedo is that when everyone looks equally smart, nobody stands out - apart from the man that isn't wearing the appropriate dress of course..
Another no-no in my book, is to have the formal jacket but wear a 'normal' shirt under it - a formal jacket calls for proper wing-collar shirt and 'black-tie' to complete the overall impression.

Employment Screening

When it comes to recruitment, it pays to think seriously about employment screening. There is considerable investment in employing and training new recruits, so you want to be sure that your new employee is a worthwhile investment.
You can only tell a limited amount from an interview, yet the majority of people are employed merely on the strength of a single interview of probably no more than 20 minutes. Employing a specialist company to screen propspective candidates could save a company from making an expensive mistake.

Affiliate Marketing

Typically, when we start off earning money online, PTC, surveys and paid blogging may form the backbone of our earnings, however we quickly learn the limitations of this type of opportunity. Moving up to the next stage is crucial as we saw when I interviewed three internet earners last year.
There are several real money-earning exploits that you can get involved in, and Affiliate Marketing is one of those that can reap real rewards if you can get it right.
One of our sister-sites Livewyre.NET, has just published a two-page article all about Affiliate Marketing, there is no catch, nothing to sell, just great free advice for those who are considering getting involved in affiliates.
Free advice is always good value for money, so if you are thinking about moving your earnings up to the next level, go take a look at this article..

February earnings

Well, looks like a dramatic drop in profit, but a lot of that is to do with the investment that I have made in a couple of areas. I am thinking of selling a 'product', and have bought some accessories for that (naturally I am not in a position to discuss the details..). Secondly, I have invested in some equipment which will help with cassette to CD conversions.
Gross income was £72 which is less than half of last months total, but the good news is that this month is an Adsense payout month for me, so I have already had more income in the first week of March than I did in the entire month of February. I must really push for a new web hosting plan in the next month or so, this will be the optimum time for me to move some projects to a new, more exiting hosting platform which is not only far cheaper, but better 'equipped' than my existing hosting provider.
Blogging income has been steady, it is the cassette to CD conversions that bring money in on a slightly more erratic basis.....

Focus Focus Focus

I have been conversing on a forum today and thinking about the way we approach online earnings. The conclusion I have reached is that we need to be able to focus on a few important avenues (rather than a whole load of different schemes) and then set some realistic goals. It is the goals idea that strikes me as being of fundemental importance.
It is very important not only to have a plan, but to have a means of measuring performance and a goal. I am currently floating three projects, an adsense-related project, a product that I want to promote and I am also interested in investigating writing as a means to generate income, through programs like Helium, Associated Content etc..
This is a lot to take on when there is a full-time job and a family to take into consideration, so it will be important to spend a little time planning goals and realistic timelines for each of these projects.

Methods of saving money

The recession may be over statistically, but the fallout has been considerable in terms of revenue lost and job cuts. Saving money has never been more important especially as having enormous debts is becoming less and less popular...
There are a stack of well-documented methods of saving money such as using comparison sites and looking for special offers, but one method that is often overlooked is online coupons such as nordictrack. This scheme provides discounts in the niche area of fitness products, and there are plenty similar coupon schemes in lots of different niches.
Beauty and fitness remains at the very top of our agenda even in the depths of economic crisis, so the idea of saving whilst you spend a little something on yourself should appeal...

What consitutes a good paid post?

It's all very well seeing paid posts as a means to generating income, but how can we generate income through paid posting, and do a worthwhile job of it too?
Today I am going to share some rules, and some hints (after all I have been doing this for three years now, I should either be getting good at it, or thinking about jacking it in!).

1. Rule number one is to read the requirements carefully, if it says three links, use three links. If you should be using anchor links, then make sure the anchors and the links are exactly as stated.
2. Rule number two is to write well, use good grammar and make sure you use a spell-check, you can get away with lousy posts in some cases because they are only looking for a link, but you will stand a better chance of being offered 'work' if you can demonstrate that you do a good job.
3. In a lot of cases, you don't need to even promote the product or service, they are only looking for an anchor link, you are free to express yourself so keep it real... There are some occasions when you will struggle to come up with an angle, but give it some thought and eventually you will probably come up with something that works and hopefully doesn't look out of place on your blog.
4. Use pictures where you can as long as the advertiser does not mind, in most cases, they will encourage you to use graphics and logos from their own website, as long as you are using your own words.

If you feel a bit of a cheat writing posts like this, then I came to terms with it this way: A paid blogger is like an actor doing a commercial voice-over, you are just giving life to someone else's sentiments, and you should do it in the best way that you can.

Function or Fashion?

I am a great believer in function over fashion as a rule - if it works, then that is more important than how it looks. However, once functionality has been established, we automatically tend to judge things very much on their appearance. Despite saying 'I just need something that gets me from A to B' most people have an idea of what cars they like based on what they look like rather than being concerned about mere functionality.
There is a difference between a sports shoe and a Christian Louboutin design, but you can walk down the road in either... and people will tend to treat you differently based on what you wear, or what you drive. Function fulfils your immediate needs, but fashion dictates what others will take away as a first impression, and you know what they say... 'First impression counts!'

Weight Loss

There is no doubt that there are plenty of good reasons for losing weight. Losing weight will probably mean a longer happier life, but there is an emphasis now on quick weight loss regardless of any longer term effects.
A change of lifestyle in terms of the introduction of regular exercise and a sensible diet is surely the best long term plan for losing weight. Fad diets won't have any effect five years down the line, and it is certainly not a good idea to take weight loss medication for the rest of your life...

Over forty..

Old age does not come alone so they say, and the current trend (if TV adverts are to be believed) is that getting wrinkles is some sort of social crime for which we should be truly ashamed. I am not particularly concerned about wrinkles or any other signs of old age, but for those for whom this is a real issue, the sheer amount of treatments available can make you dizzy. This is where the internet can do the work for you. Instead of waiting for the next advert (they do come along pretty regularly), you can research the products by reading wrinkle cream reviews, or reviews of any other potions or creams available to stem the aging process.
My stock answer is to say 'grow old gracefully' but as someone who is an ardent cream-and-potion user said "that's what I'm trying to do!"

How do I promote my blog?

This is a common question and one which is actually quite tough to answer. My first point is going to be that you need to grow your readership 'organically'. By this I mean don't go for one of those surf-exchange programs - they are pointless if you want to build up long-term readership. We are going to look at ways that will bring genuine readers to read your content.
The second point I am going to make is that before you think about promotion, for goodness sake have a blog that is worth reading otherwise you will be wasting your time dragging people in to read your bad content... Once you are happy that your blog is something that your potential readership will actually read, you are ready to start promoting:
1) SEO - people have written complete books on Search engine optimisation, but with just a few techniques, you can corner the market for your niche. Reading the articles on livewyre.NET on SEO techniques will equip you for basic optimisation which is probably covers 90% of total optimisation. For blogs, I would look to make sure that 'tags' are set within the blog template, and that all my titles are 'search engine friendly'. Look at this title for example 'How do I promote my blog' is a phrase that I anticipate may be typed into google frequently, and I stake my claim to that phrase by using it as a title. Beware of using titles such as 'search engine optimisation' because the competition for that phrase means that you will never get a result.
2) Links - backlinks are important, although I have seen that PageRank is not so important for Search engine results as it used to be...Links make up your PageRank and are helpful if not essential to get visitors. you can get free links from a number if directories, or you can canvass other sites to see if they will add your link in their sidebar or links page, but I get so many of these via email that I rarely even read them.. every so often though, if you are determined you may earn yourself a valuable link. I would not pay for links personally, but you may find that it is worthwhile.
3) Commenting - this is a free way of getting links from relevent web pages. Commenting on blogs within the same niche or on forums is a good way to get your link in front of people who may be interested in your site. Often news websites will also allow you to comment, but do remember not to waste your time on a site that does not allow your post your URL - many sites allow you to add your link and then link it to your name - so when someone reads the comment, they might click on your name and be taken straight to your site or a relevant article on your site. Even if the site is using 'no-follow- links to stop Google bots following links, you can still attract visitors by getting them to click on the link.
All-in-all, promotion can be hard work and building up visitors can take an awful long time - but in the long run, you should see your readership increase, and maybe even some of those readers will begin to read your RSS feed.

It is important (especially if people are reading your RSS), to keep fresh content on your blog, if you don't regularly update with new posts, your readership will drift away. You may define your own timeline by planning to update twice a day, daily or weekly -but whatever timescale you choose, your visitors will expect you to continue at that rate, so try to pick a pace that means you regularly update without making it too slavish a task. Work at your own pace, but once the pace is established, stick with it - and always have a post 'up your sleeve' for when you are running out of ideas. I sometimes post three or four posts and then date them so that they appear every few days so that I have some 'breathing space'. This is easy if you post several items in a mini-series (like this one... covering blog monetisation and promotion...) as you can write a large article and then split it up into smaller post-sized sections.

eBay guides

There are many ways to get your message across on the world-wide-web, and one of those ways which has been less than fully explored are eBay reviews. Sometimes, when you have bought a product on eBay, you are given the opportunity to review it, and there are thousands of valuable reviews in all sorts of interest areas.
I have been asked to review a hard-disk that I bought, but you will find things as diverse as a liporexall review, or reviews of video games, CD's and pretty much anything else you can think of.

Can you earn anything with a Blog?

It's a question that I see often, from both complete novices and also from those who have been blogging for a while but not thought about how to start monetising a blog. I just answered a question like this on a forum and that prompted me to think about monetisation.
I came up with three basic ways of monetising a blog:
1) Paid posts - the main focus of Munny4Hunny.com - the reason I started the blog was that I heard that you could make money with paid blogging and I wanted to find out if this were possible. Suffice to say that it is, although the online world has changed sufficiently for it to be less profitable now. Even after the peak of paid blogging, there is still a reasonable amount to be made, enough to buy yourself the odd treat from eBay...
2) Contextual adverts - Adsense is the king of contextual ads, but it could take a very long time to reach payout. In order to be successful with Adsense, you need several sites all displaying relevant adverts that you visitors are likely to click. To make people click, your ads need to be closely related to your content, ie. the ad content must be attractive to your visitors. To make money, you ideally need to be in a niche with a high CPC (cost per click) rate. If you get the combination right, you may reach payout on a monthly basis, but you will probably need several sites to do this.
3) Affilitates - like contextual adverts, these need to be closely related to the subject of your blog or site. Your ideal affiliate will fulfill the needs of many of your visitors. Most affiliates are selling a product, so ideally, this needs to be a product that your visitors will desire - some will play per click, but most pay commission per sale - and it can take a long time to come to fruition, nevertheless when it does, you tend to get a great return for very little effort.

Once your monetisation is in place, you will need to promote your blog - a subject which bears clarification (although I am sure I have addressed it any times before), but I will save my pearls of wisdom in this department for another post....

Embarrassing bodies

Embarrassing bodies is the title of a TV show currently showing in the UK, and the problems that people are willing to expose in front of cameras are often frankly shocking. A whole gamut of conditions and complaints that you would normally keep very well hidden are exposed for the world to gawp at. They have covered everything from simple hemorrhoids relief to odd-shaped body-parts, odour problems and severe skin conditions. The great thing about this program is that for those watching with similar ailments, they can get good advice in the privacy of their own home by watching the TV. More than that though, they also get the feeling that they are not the only ones who are suffering.

Showing your age

There is a whole industry devoted to NOT showing your age, an industry that produces face creams and treatments in a confusing array. We are left thinking 'Do any of these treaments actually work?' However, the more poignant question is maybe 'Does it matter?'
People seem willing to part with significant amounts of money to prevent the years from taking a visible toll. Certainly there is a medical need for people to get fit and lose weight, it is less certain however that there is an equal need to have less wrinkles...

The speed of weight loss

Whether you are looking to lose weight fast or over a longer term, there is no doubt that there are significant health benefits to controlling wieght and arresting weight gain. In a world that is becoming increasingly obese, it is only too obvious that we need to change our collective attitude to food and more significantly, to exercise.
There is a whole industry devoted to aiding weight loss, but it all boils down to a change of lifestyle ultimately.

Good and Bad Antivirus Software

I have a number of PC's that I use both at work and at home. In general I use two laptops for work and two desktops for home - there are reasons, but I'm not going to start explaining right now...
Anyway, my second work laptop is useful for doing certain tasks a lot better than my 'normal' laptop, so I kind of inherited it when someone left the firm. When I first got it, it had a 2006 copy of Norton Antivirus installed (not being updated, but I left it on anyway). I added some other security software so it would be safe to use and sure enough it worked OK for a while although every month it would try to persuade me to sign up for Norton again...
A few weeks ago I had it at home and Firefox stopped working, I tried IE, and that was still working until the next day when I got it back into work... after all sorts of windows updates and IE/FF re-installs I was getting nowhere. Never mind, Dreamweaver FTP was still working, so I could use it for that, and 'Radmin' was working (links to another PC via the internet). After a few days, FTP was no longer working and I am beginning to feel that this laptop is becoming increasingly useless, then I thought 'hang on - why don't I remove Norton?' so I tried uninstall - it wouldn't work, so I had to use my working laptop to browse for 'norton uninstall tool'. Eventually I found an up-to-date copy and Eureka! the problem was fixed and I was back on the 'net. Let that be a warning to Norton users... if you don't renew, Norton can screw up your PC...

Whilst I was browsing, I came across the new Microsoft Security Essentials - free software from Microsoft - yes FREE! from Microsoft!! for all those with a legit copy of windows XP/VISTA/7...
It is supposed to update itself with virus definitions, so you can just load it up and let it look after your PC without giving it a second thought. You get the usual warnings about possible conflicts with other software, but I have run it alongside Malware Bytes and AVG Free without any obvious issues yet.

So that's the good and bad of antivirus (Security Essentials also covers malware...), Norton is the badddie and Microsoft are the goodies...

Looking for work

Looking for employment is a difficult enough task at the best of times, the current economic climate makes it all the more difficult.
My (off-line) career has been very varied, but I have managed to stay employed in some capacity or other for all but a few weeks of my working life. I have found that temporary work is a good way into permanent employment, and would always seek to take any job whilst planning the next move rather than spend my time job-seeking during working hours.
My argument is that employers want to employ someone who is working (at least in some capacity) in preference to someone who is actually labelled as 'unemployed' especially as they length of that unemployment stretched from weeks into months.

January Earnings

At last!
I have completed my new reporting spreadsheet and I have a good report to share as my first of 2010, and the first in the new format which includes ALL my internet earnings not just blog earnings as previously. Also, to make the spreadsheet even more true to life, these are not potential earnings racked up in this month, they are actual amounts received, sometimes for activity within this month, sometimes for activity from the previous month or more.

I have included receipts and outgoings so that profit can be calculated, and this month has yielded a profit of £156 - note that I am also reporting in £UK instead of USD as previously.
Income was made up of £49 from blogging and £123 from my 'cassette to CD' site, outgoings are all from the cassette to CD activity.

New Camera

My camera packed up over Christmas, it was about four years old so I was not too upset about it, and in fact found a nicer (working) camera of very similar specifications and vintage on an internet auction site for just £5.50. However, imagine my surprise when a week later someone gave me a virtually new Samsung camera that they had no use for... I had done them a favour converting some old videos to DVD's, and they gave me the camera when they heard my old one was broken. I have kept the £5.50 camera and given the Samsung camera to my wife as she has never had a digital camera of her own (even though the Samsung is actually far better than my cheap camera).

Zip it up!

One of my favourite blog subjects is free software, over the years I have highlighted a number of freeware programs on Munny4Hunny.
I live (in a PC sense) by the creed that more or less any type of software you need can be found somewhere for free, and my latest 'find' has been a file zipping program which I have found extremely useful. One of my online activities involves converting analogue sound into digital format which tends to take up a lot of hard drive space especially after a few edits. I use a 500GB drive to store the files which holds a lot of data, but I also like to back everything up and my backup drive is only 250GB... My solution has been to 'zip' all my files and store the zip files as a backup - this has saved me approx 50GB of storage (both on my internal hard drive and my backup). I searched for some zip programs and a lot were limited trial, but 7-zip is totally free, and has lots of options for higher compression and even zipping to the exact size of a DVD for those who plan to back up onto DVD (where the resulting file will need to be fitted onto more than one disk), and as this is my ultimate goal, I can see how valuable this option is.
I would have liked a greater compression rate such as some of the RAR programs offer, but nonetheless, this software seems very easy to use and certainly does what I wanted and more...

St Valentines

St Valentines day approaches, and if you want to avoid your own personal massacre, you might be considering gifts for her or him...
Wine, chocolates, flowers and smellies are the staple supplies so why not use your imagination and come up with something original this year? Trinkets and jewelery needn't cost the earth, and will last a bit longer than chocolates (at least in our house where chocolates have a very short half-life)

Driving down costs

The US economy has officially risen out of recession and has now reported a growing economy for two consecutive quarters. The latest figures suggest a rapid rise, but this has to be seen against a background of more than 12 months of decline. This means that although we have seen the worst of the recession, we are still some way below the level we were about 18 months ago. The need to cut costs is still a reality for most families, and with competition keen, it is a good time to look for a lower life insurance rate, or loan rate or car insurance. Keeping outgoings at a minimum will help to keep your family afloat whilst the economy stabilises again.

Strategies

I am still thinking through my strategies for the coming year. January is a great time to review how you are going to progress with a project, and I really need to sort out where I am going with my online earnings. GoDaddy are great at forcing your hand by offering discounts, but because they do it all the time, you can always let a deadline for an offer expire, safe in the knowledge that there will be a new one along next week...
Currently, GoDaddy have an offer on '.com' domains, my problem is that I am not sure whether I want to go for .com when I am monetising my latest project through eBay - I have set my eBay widgets to UK eBay, so I probably want to concentrate on '.co.uk' domains. Maybe I should think about duplicating the site on a .com and put US eBay widgets on it??
I am thinking about dividing up one of my websites over several domains - this site has three distinct elements to it, so I am considering whether I should move some of the pages over to a new domain. Coupled with this, is my concept of moving all of my hosting onto a new multi-site hosting package which would open up a lot of new possibilities for me including free subdomains (in theory...).
I am spurred on by the GoDaddy offer to think out exactly which domains I need (or at least the closest available ones), and hopefully that will prove to be the incentive for getting things moving for my new hosting package - all of this would be so much simpler if I didn't have a full-time job and lots of other responsibilities to boot...

Life Insurance

Many of us put off thinking about a life insurance policy because it is not a pleasant subject to think about, nonetheless we should think about how our dependents will survive if we should not be around to provide for them. Life insurance should take into the consideration of the impact of such a change in circumstances from a financial point of view.
Sometimes an existing mortgage, loan or pension may have a built-in element of life insurance. To assess the cover needed, you would firstly need to assess how much money would be required. You can offset any other payouts that might be triggered (such as mortgage protection etc..) and the figure you are left with is the level of cover needed.

Fighting Debt

By now, I was really hoping to have cleared all my credit debt from the last few years but I seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut lately and the total is just not going down at all. Of course Christmas doesn't help, but even so, I should have been able to clear the debt by the end of last year anyway.
The graph on the left shows how the majority of my debt has reduced over the last few years (green line) mostly through transferring into interest-free accounts and using any windfall payments to reduce the debt. Annoyingly, I no longer have an interest-free account and all the debt is on my regular credit card (pink line). I think I will have to employ my previous tactic of placing it all on a 0% card again and making sure I pay off my regular card every month. This all goes to show just how disciplined you have to be to pay one of these darn things off. Looking at my graph, there was a point last year when the green and pink lines crossed - this signifies a point where there was just £300 on each card - happy days...
Writing this has just decided me - I will get a credit report done first as I probably have a couple of extra accounts open that should be closed especially as I have opened three new 0% card accounts in the last couple of years. I learned early on that a prospective lender will look at how much potential credit you can draw down off your existing cards before they will consider extending any credit to you, so it is important to ensure that you close all your old defunct accounts. When I have closed all the accounts I don't need, I will look around for another interest-free credit card as that seems a really effective way to pay off debt without accruing any more interest - and then by the end of the year, I am sure I will have paid it off....finally...

Getting to sleep

Missing out on sleep is an occupational hazard for the parents of small children, and first-hand experience tells me that the excitement of Christmas can mean many a sleepless night is had before everything returns to normal. Some people are able to simply take sleep deprivation in their stride and catch up on sleep when they need it, others do not find it so easy to 'cat nap' and often turn to a natural sleep aid before seeking medical help from a medical professional.
The advantage of natural aids is that they are less likely to have any long-term negative effects, and do not pose a potential hazard to little fingers that might find them...

Cholesterol Treatment

Cholesterol is one of those health buzz words at the moment, mainly because it can effect anyone no matter what their size and weight. However, it often becomes an issue as we reach later middle-age/ early old age, and it would be sensible to have a cholesterol test during this time just to check that you do not need any cholesterol treatment or adjust your diet to bring down your cholesterol levels.
High cholesterol can affect your heart, so it makes sense to check out your cholesterol level to see if you need to change your lifestyle accordingly.

Google 'gaming'

Changes are taking place in the world of Google, now they are looking at how they can improve on 'apps' that give local information. I have come across reports about apps that can identify pictures taken from a mobile phone camera. The app can recognise a logo, shopfront or landmark and give search results relating to what it can 'see'.
This is a tremendous leap forward in how Google can continue to help people to find what they need, but it has caused a stir amongst webmaster and journalists that are concerned with writing about SEO. However, my take on it is that really it is up to Google to come up with a way to integrate the information that is already there, so in the long term, webmasters are not required to jump every time Google comes up with a new concept or search hysteresis. It seems to me that webmasters are in danger of forgetting that Google has a clientele (primarily the technology-aware general public) to serve and therefore have a duty to bring your website to the attention of their clients where relevant. The idea of gaming the results to get yourself in a high position regardless of relevance is a short-term tactic. For those in for the long-term, my advice is to keep on doing what you are doing and let Google worry about getting your site into the search results - there is still no replacement for good content although there are naturally small things that you can do to make sure your site is optimised. Optimisation is still based on the basic tenets that it always has been, with noticeably less emphasis on PageRank (off-page optimisation), and more emphasis of the following on-page tactics:
Content, content, content - unless you are planning a landing page only (shame on you...), you should really spent the majority of your time on producing good content. I wouldn't even be overly concerned about keyword density because if you write naturally and informatively, your keyword content should be naturally correct.
Tags - it is so simple to add title, alt, keyword and description you would have to be crazy not to do it despite the fact that it is not considered 'sexy' - you would be far better employed doing tags than designing a flash animation for your visitors. It is still a webmaster crime of epic proportions to have a page title come up as 'home', 'index' or 'untitled' no matter how good your page looks if a visitor ever actually found it.
URL's including keywords - still a winner for search results and will continue to be - any page that does not have a keyword in the URL may be a page wasted.
As long as the oh-so simple rules of on-page optimisation are behind what you are doing, I believe Google is obliged to seek you out and put you in the search results... THAT after all is their job, it is not as many believe, Google's job to 'police' the internet.

Diet Pills

Seems like every week there are new diet pills and slimming aids, the latest I have come across is the adipex diet pill although it is apparently based on an active ingredient that has been around for over 50 years as a slimming aid.
Like all supplements and medications that are not prescribed by a medical professional, caution should be exercised when considering using them. If you are considering this type of medication, make sure you read the research into all the pro's and con's beforehand..

Ebay still rocks...

Despite all those who are less than complimentary about eBay, I have to say that I have had a couple of bargains lately and cannot say enough about what a great service it is. Sure, they charge for all transactions and sometimes you don't get as much as you would like for your old cast-offs, but all-in-all I believe eBay provides a great service to buyers and sellers alike.
This is of course helped by the fact that so many online earnings are paid via paypal, so spending on eBay is a bit like spending monopoly money - For the most part it never goes anywhere near my wallet or bank account.
Sadly my old 3.2 megapixel camera died, and I got another from eBay in really good condition for £5.50!! I also bought a brand new 2GB MP3 player for £6.99, and whilst it is no iPod, it certainly does the job and is a really nice item.
I think as long as you are sensible and thoroughly check out sellers, that eBay can be an invaluable part of anybody's life. I certainly buy more than I sell, but on the occasions that I have sold items, transactions have generally been smooth - I have ended up with a few quid in my pocket and a bit more space in the loft... I like the way that eBay has evolved and improved over time and will continue to use it as long as it is there...

Website linking

PageRank is the rating assigned to your site by Google depending on your 'off-site' optimisation - in simple terms, the more links you have coming into your website, the better your ranking. More importantly, the more relevant the linking site (to your own content) the better.
One of the easiest form of getting incoming links into your site is to do some directory submission. This is the relatively simple task of entering your website details into a directory of websites (within a relevant category).
You can trawl the internet looking for directories of course, but there are some sites and software that can help you to speed up the process by automating some (but not all) the tasks.

Eczema treatment

Modern medicine may have defeated the fearsome illnesses and diseases of the past, nonetheless as a species we are now plagued by allergies of which Eczema and Asthma are the most common. Often these two allergy-driven illnesses can be found together, although it is not uncommon for them subside after a number of years. There are both effective eczema treatment and asthma treatments readily available usually in the form of creams for eczema, and inhalers for asthma.

Slow start to the year

The British weather is prevailing against the spirit of endeavour... we are giving in rather easily to the snow that always brings us to a stand-still this time of year.
I had meant to be in a position to demonstrate my new earnings reporting spread-sheet, and whilst it is drafted, I have yet to finalise how I am going to report different types of costs - I am planning to report income as just a single figure regardless of the source. Talking of which, I have had a few cassette to CD conversions to do this week which will certainly boost earnings for January.
The main sources of my online earnings will be:

• cassette to CD conversions
• paid blogging
• adverts/banners
• affiliates
  
• participation in forums/surveys etc..

This last one will cease when payouts are reached in the various sites, I don't plan to pursue the few cents that can be earned via these methods for the future. I am also hoping to off-load some domains, but they will obviously be one-off events if I can manage to do it...

Car Insurance

The current trend is to find the cheapest car insurance that can be found online using comparison sites and the like, but a word of caution... Are you sure that your cheap insurance will adequately cover you? Services like carinsurancelist.com concentrate on offering great value for money inclusive policies that won't leave you high and dry.
For instance a colleague of mine recently bought insurance online and paid a bit extra because he was getting 'free' breakdown cover. Imagine his dismay when he broke down 200 miles from home to discover that the service only tows your car within a 20 mile radius...!
There is nothing wrong with finding the best deal and the cheapest insurance as long as that insurance covers all eventualities.

Blackheads?

It's not a nice subject I know, but do you have trouble getting rid of blackheads? I can't say it ever presented too much of a problem for me personally although plenty of people do suffer problems with their skin. One of the issues I saw recently highlighted on a TV problem I saw, was the long-term damage that can be done to your skin if skin problems are not treated in the right way.

Skin can end up being severely pock-marked and need laser treatment or other procedures later in life in order to smooth out the skin again. Most people may end up with just a few marks, but the more severe cases can lead to bad scarring.

A new resolve

I don't 'do' New Year resolutions, but I am going to use this coming year to achieve some goals which will serve to point me in a more defined direction and be a bit less hap-hazard. My focus on earnings will change although I am resolved to carry on with some paid blogging, some opportunities will be falling by the wayside.
I find now, that there is little to be made from surveys and when I have been paid out for the ones that I have started out with, I will drop them. I think I am just about done with PPP and anything related to IZEA, they are no longer the creme de la creme that they used to be, they have reverted in my opinion to the lowest common denominator. Fine for those happy to fight for scraps, but the uncertainty of whether a post will be accepted along with a hefty minimum payout indicates the general demise of paid blogging. I am not bitter, I have been along for the ride and have enjoyed every cent...
In contrast, PayU2blog are much better for me, they make few demands, pay out twice a month without fail and have so far sent me over $1000, which is far more that I have earned from any other program. In fact it was just last month that the one thousandth dollar from PU2B hit my PayPal account...
Total earnings for December were less than $40 in total, but I have been concentrating on other things, not least of which is my new earnings spreadsheet.
I will be posting about total online earnings from now on and not just blogging, the spreadsheet includes expenditure as well as earnings, and this time, the money doesn't appear until it actually arrives in my account. So for instance, my actual blogging payments for December were over $65, this is because the majority of online earnings are subject to delayed payments.
I have completed the first draft of my spreadsheet and can start publishing figures from it soon, but I think I need to tweak it a little to make it easier to identify the different sources of income and the different elements of expediture (more for my own purposes than for the readers of this blog). When I have defined these a little better, I will start publishing some figures - it will be nothing ground-breaking or breath-taking, it will just serve to make my online earnings a little more transparent.

At home in the snow...

I love the snow, and as it happens, I am off work until Friday anyway this week, so I am not losing any work time. However being confined to the house tends to make you look around and assess your surroundings, and with sale-time in the shops, it easy to start formulating plans to spend heaps of money to improve your home.
I love modern furniture, but I live in a house that has some charming features that are just short of 100 years old. I think the comtemporary look can be pulled of in an older abode, if you can strike the balance right, however with a limited budget, we will need to be very creative.
Having said that, there is still some plastering and other seni-structural work to be done before any new furnishings can be bought, but rest assured, by the end of 2010 I am quote sure that our home will be a step closer to perfection...

Happy New Year

A new year is about to unfold and I would sincerely like to wish any readers of this blog who happen by, a wonderful and successful new year. I have taken some major online business decisions this year and plan to expand operations in my chosen path in 2010 in order to build a continuing passive income.
I will naturally be reporting outcomes on this blog. My major decision this year is to do less blogging and build more websites, along with the plan to gather all my online earnings into a single report which will also be the basis for reporting my income to the tax authorities. This will replace the monthly 'blogging-only' earnings report that I have always posted on this blog.
I am not one for New Year resolutions, but I am resolved nonetheless to tidy up my online dealings and cut off some of those branches that have not borne fruit.
Happy New Year to you and yours, may the new year bring blessings and joy to you and your families.

One of the Good Guys

My parents have an RV and love to take it all over the country and on the continent too. I have discovered a new service today that I was not previously aware of. The good sam motorhome towing service offers roadside assistance specifically for RV's. These vehicles are becoming more and more popular all over the world and it makes sense that you need a specifically tailored roadside assistance package that offers more than the standard vehicle cover.
I will be checking to see if my parents have thought about this type of service when I see them tomorrow (they drove their RV down to visit us earlier today).

Insurance a necessary evil

Everybody hates having to pay insurance because not only is it an expense, it is an expense that already acknowledges that something is going to go horribly wrong at some point during the year...

New Year is as good a time as any to sit down and get the all important insurance quote for your vehicles, your home and contents and maybe even your traveling (should you be fortunate enough to be planning any travel...).
One of the huge advantages of the online world is that things like insurance are now ultra-competitive which means that most of us are paying less insurance than we were a few years ago.
My golden rules for insurance are:

• Do we really need it? (Home and car are no-brainers, everything should be looked at long and hard)
• Have we got the right level of cover? (there is little worse than paying out fpor an insuranec that doesn't actually help you out when things go wrong..).

Happy shopping

Christmas Eve

Relax!
I never mind working on Christmas Eve, because by then, it's really too late to do anything and we rarely receive any calls from clients other than to pass on seasons greetings...
I fact I took last week off work, and went into work for this week because I knew the pressure would be off.
So take it easy today, and just prepare for a day of food and fun, that's my advice. Make sure that you have whatever you need ready, in my case that meant chopping up a few logs this morning to make sure we have a festive fire running through the week... I also have a well stocked 'cellar' that will ensure there are enough bottles of red wine to see us merrily through the season.
If you are a regular or just happen by this blog today... MERRY CHRISTMAS, spend some quality time with the ones you love over the next few days.

On the Treadmill

As Christmas turns into New Year, how many of us will be taking to the treadmill in a desperate attempt to regain our usual trim shape?
Home gyms are increasingly popular especially since gym membership can be so expensive. I don't find the gym to be a great place to get fit, but I think I could be more enthused if the gym equipment were actually in my own house...
The reason I can't get on with a gym is that although you may be in a room with lots of other people, you don't really have any interaction with them, and have to be self-motivated to get any results - I prefer partaking in team sports where the exercise is just a positive side-effect of the game.

Still looking for PageRank?

I am starting to come round to the conclusion that PR is a bit of a self-fulfilling dream... after all, what is it's value?
Does it get you SERP (search engine results position)? seemingly not as I have several sites with little or no PR that achieve first-page results for specific targeted key-words.
Many of us were slave to PR when we started blogging, and the weeping could be heard from afar when Google slapped us all for trying to 'game' PR with viral schemes. Some desperately hung on, determined to show their contrite hearts to Daddy Google by refusing paid posts and removing 'do follow' from their blogs.
Did it make any difference? Did traffic cease or did our sites disappear from the search results? Maybe there were some short-term effects here and there, maybe Google has learned some lessons and maybe there is not so much money being thrown at paid bloggers, but not an awful lot has really changed.
I am promoting a new site at the moment, and have concentrated almost exclusively on 'on-page' optimisation - the type of SEO that doesn't rely on outside links and therefore is not affected by PR. My conclusions are that you can certainly get ranked on page 1 without PR- and most of the time, I am only held off the top-spot by Wikipedia... So I leave you with this... What is the value of PageRank?
And my answer is that you really only need to think about it if you are competing for a very highly sought after keyword. You may easily get SERP for a cleverly thought out associated phrase with virtually no 'off-page' optimisation at all. Of course, if many of those who sponsored posts took this view, they would stop paying for links except for those sickeningly 'popular' recurring promotions (I leave the themes of these to your imagination), so I hope sponsors will ignore my views and continue to send interesting and varied opportunities.

The goose is getting fat....

We are 'stocking' up already for Christmas, and I have already consumed a couple of packets of mince pies. I am looking forward to a very long break as I take all my remaining annual holidays in the next month - in fact I worked out yesterday that I was due to spend just eight days out of the next thirty one in work...
After all the indulgences of the coming festivities, a good supply of weight loss pills, headache tablets and hangover cures will no doubt be consumed too. Excercise is hard to come by as local sports centres and gyms seem to take extended yuletide breaks too. Nevertheless when five-a-side football resumes in January I will be raring to go, hopefully freshly kitted out with new Christmas socks...

Earnings for November

I almost managed to break the $100 barrier again this month would have been a much-needed boost. PayU2blog remain the best earner and I particularly like the un-demanding way in which they operate. I was disappointed with IZEA this month as I had my first ever offer, after I had jumped through all the many required hoops (including anchor texts, embedded video etc.. etc...) for a $20 opp, it took them ages to tell me they couldn't accept the post as it was adjacent to another paid post. Admittedly it's in the t&c's (terms and conditions) but really... who reads those???
Having been much busier with my other online exploits this month, I have seriously neglected my other blogs and need to catch up with posting (either that or get rid of the domains...)
I have even managed to flog some stuff off on eBay this month (a 'previously enjoyed' CPU and motherboard) and there is plenty more where they came from...

Notebook computers

Every so often I dream about buying a new PC and if I were buying one now, I would definitely consider a notebook computer to add to my current collection of desktops.
Notebooks or netbooks are like cut-down laptops offering the kind of features that you are likely to need on the road combined with long battery-life.
If you have a desktop PC to do your main computer-related tasks, then a netbook would be the ideal tool giving you portability and access to email and internet on the move. Those with very specific needs may find that a notebook actually fills all their computing requirements ie. youngsters or the elderly who may only require a browser and email access to stay in touch with friends and family.

Office Furniture

I recently completed a Health & Safety at Work course, and one of the first things we will need to do is to do workstation assessments with each employee. This assesment will take into account, the available light, the equipment used and the office furniture at each work station.
Posture can be critical where the wrong furniture or equipment is being used. For instance, I learned that an emplyee must not be alowed to work on a standard laptop computer if a significant portion of the day is spent doing computer-related tasks. It so happens that I use a PC most of the day, and normally have two laptops on my desk. I have now bought a separate keyboard and a laptop 'Elevator' which allows me to use the laptop at the correct height. I just need to get myself a new desk and then perhaps I should encourage my colleagues to get the proper equipment after all the course was not just meant to enhance my own working environment...

Hair Supplements

This Christmas, you can add another idea to the growing list of potions and creams for the lady in your life. Not only is there a dazzling array of anti-aging creams, shampoos and smellies, you can now buy your hair supplements separately instead of bundled with a shampoo.

We are all familiar with the adverts for hair products which not only offer cleansing but also vitamins, strengtheneing etc... well, now you can use your favourite shampoo and add the good stuff regardless of whether your chosen product has all the vitamins that your hair needs.

Free Icons for your posts or website

One of the things that can make your website or blog stand apart from the crowd in terms of professional apearance is the images that you use. Visual impact is important for a website almost as important as the content itself.

One of my current favourite free resources is the 'DryIcons' website where you can download free sets of icons for use on your sites. The standard of artwork is very high, and they have a vast catalogue of free icons. All they ask for in return is a name-check and link on the pages that you use the icons on. A sitewide link covers you for all eventualities and is a small price to pay for such a fantastic free resource.

They have icons for all occasions, and they come in sets which allows you to give a uniform appearance to your site by having a common theme throughout the images. I have used quite a few if these images on this blog and certainly plan to use them for future projects.

On Line Learning

I think we all recognise that all the modern innovations and technology introduced in the last couple of decades do not give us more leisure time. In fact innovations have raised expectations to the level where so much more is possible in the working day, that we spend even more time working to meet those expectations.
Speed of communication and transfer of data has increased exponentially over recent years to the level where there is little need to travel to work or even travel to learn.
Bringing together the ability to learn remotely, and the need for learning brought about by the technology itself, are remote learning courses that offer the same standard as the universities.

Despite the inbox full of spam offering bogus online qualifications, there ARE reputable institutions that are harnessing the power of the internet to bring a genuine online degree within reach of those that, for one reason or another, are not able to travel to a college or university. The courses are the same standard as those offered to a physical body of students, the method of communication is different, but the learning itself still requires hard graft!
Having said that, those who engage in this type of learning are usually self-motivated and therefore are likely to 'enjoy' the learning experience. Also being in an environment of your own choice is conducive to the learning experience.
Motivation for learning varies from person to person, there are those who simply enjoy learning to add to their own knowledge, others may be pursuing an online teaching degree or some other work or career-related qualification.
We can conclude that certainly since I was at school, both the methods and the motivations for learning have changed considerably. Traditionally remote learning was popular enough via correspondence courses, and bringing remote learning into the online world has actually made it less remote with the added ability to 'chat' with fellow students and teachers.
Western Governers University has a leading online education program which is both affordable and accredited - the two most important characteristics for online qualifications.
The university was created out of the desire of 19 Western State Governers to pool resources in 1995 and build their own academic institution, and in this respect is totally unique. The institution was set up with distance learning in mind and began accepting students in 1999. The university is a non-profit organisation serving 12,000 students.