Forex

I have looked at all sorts of money-making schemes on the internet, but tend to avoid anything that involves financial risks. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the biggest rewards often involve the largest risks of losing your capital.

Of course, the 'good' gamblers minimise risks by watching Forex charts and reading up on the markets. In some cases, one might even regard the risks as minimal once the markets are fully researched and understood. For me, I am happy with the smaller, safe rewards - if you are tempted to take these types of risks, then you should gather all the tools that you can to help you, and do a lot of research until you understand the markets inside out.

Money Makers

Today, I thought I might just list all the different schemes I use that make me money even if just in small amounts..

• Google Adsense - Contextual adverts, I am not allowed to say how much, but it's definitely worth it for me..
• PayU2Blog - sponsored posts at $5 a time maintains a regular small income which is not to be sniffed at..
• TheAdnetwork - fixed ads that run and run on your website, £5 every month for a batch of three adverts..
• eBay partnership - user-definable eBay auctions displayed on your site - seems a bit 'hit and miss', but limited degrees of success nonetheless..
• Surveys - these won't be part of my long-term strategy after I have reached payout..
• Affiliates - very much hit and miss, and I haven't had a hit for a very long time..

These are my purely web-based activities, I do also run a service converting cassettes to CD's which is often at the leading edge of my earnings - this is a bit more 'hands on' than simply posting ads and completing surveys, so in a bit of a different league to some of these other activities. I will go into a bit more detail about some of these services over the coming days...

Hoodia

The plant extract with the weird name hoodia is actually derived from a plant from the Kalahari Desert called Hoodia Gordonii. It has been used for centuries as a short-term appetite suppressant in these tribal regions.

I would not advocate it as a longer-term remedy to weight problems, as simply repressing appetite may not address the real problem behind a weight problem.

Artificially changing eating habits may not have any long term beneficial effects. The best way to address weight problems is to establish a healthy lifestyle for the longer-term. A healthy exercise regime and a good balanced diet is easier to maintain than a dietary supplement, after all you don't want to be buying the supplement for the rest of your life...

The winter cold creeps in..

We are just starting to get those really crisp cold mornings, indicating that winter is certainly creeping up on us. After one false start with the central heating, I fear it has been switched on now for the duration - I even had to buy a new timer for our boiler as the old one kept forgetting the time...

Now is the time to buy vitamins and ingredients for soups, a time for thinking about warm woolly clothing and extra blankets on the duvet. On the whole I quite like winter, at least in it's early stages - I even like snow, although we get little enough of it. It's the freezing winds and lashing rain that I can't really get to grips with. However, until we can afford a permanent home in the Caribbean, or some other warmer clime, I'm afraid we're stuck with UK weather...

New backup system

I mentioned some time ago about some great free (for home use) software by '2 bright sparks' called 'Syncback' - a really excellent backup/synchronise utility. Originally I used it with a small (160GB) external drive that I bought, but inevitably I have outgrown this and the other 250GB drive that I have.

I tried a cheap NAS (Network attached storage) system, but it proved unreliable, so I now have another external drive, this time a 'dual' caddy with 2 x 400GB hard drives installed. (400GB seem to be better value on eBay, probably because people do not search for them so much!). The new caddy (which has a built in fan) seems a little noisy, so I have devised a cunning new system...

I have two PC's in my home office which are 'semi-networked', one of them has the older 160 GB drive and 250GB drive attached, the other has the newer 800 GB device, a total of 1.2TB... (purely for backup). I have all of these drives plugged into a multi-plug which has a timer set to come on just for four hours every day. I have timed my backups to take place within this time-frame, so that I am not powering up these external devices unnecessarily. I was telling someone last week how many sockets were in use in my home office - it came to a total of 16 sockets to run two PC's and associated devices, and another 6 for the sound system....

Every so often I change the plugs and sockets around a bit, but one day I plan to have a system that will make it easy for me to switch off devices that are not needed all the time in order to save a little electricity.

Getting in Early

I have decided to put my internet earnings to good use this year by seeing how many presents I can get online using PayPal. Using this method could ensure that the financial impact of Christmas will be minimal come December. We have already 'invested' in a games console for the 'family' Christmas gift using online payments, and I am now looking around for a bargain ipod touch for another gift. I do like the idea of a hand held device that includes so much functionality. I am especially intrigued by web browsing facilities, as well as the emerging arena of applications that could make life so much easier including features such as calendar and phone book.
The beauty of using internet earnings for presents is that the money never quite seems 'real', also buying stuff for presents on websites fulfills the 'shopping desire' to a degree and prevents me spending so much on my own 'toys'...
I have to acknowledge, that even as a male, I do experience pleasure from making purchases, there is a danger that this can become in itself a reason to buy. At least if I am buying presents, then I am less likely to make frivolous purchases (If I say that enough times, I may even start to believe it!).

Diet Supplements

I have to say I am a bit wary of supplements because even too much of a 'good' thing can be bad for you. If I were tempted to partake of anything of this nature, I would certainly want to study the latest available diet supplement review to ensure that there were no nasty side-effects.
Healthy living should ideally comprise some rigorous and regular exercise, along with a healthy diet. Supplements may be required for short-term dietary imbalance corrections, but for the longer-term, a balanced diet should provide all that your body requires.

In the groove

The current furrow of internet earnings that I am ploughing has not changed much over the last 12 months or so. It consists of a smattering of tape to CD conversions which are supplemented by earnings from PayU2blog. I have a small recurring revenue from fixed adverts on a website, and every three or four months, there is the Adsense payout.

That more or less sums up where the money comes from. It doesn't pay to keep ploughing the same furrow for too long on the internet because the sands are always shifting. I want to open up new revenue streams, but as ever , the time to put everything into place just isn't there. More and more I am finding commitments in the 'real' world have a big impact on progress in the internet world.

This reiterates what I have always said about internet earnings, ie. you CAN make a small income, but you will have to work harder than you would at your 'day job' to get far less rewards. However, if you hit a rich stream of revenue, you may be in a position to be one of the few exceptions to this rule.

I am still looking for that rich stream....

Giving the right impression

There are a number of ways in which a small business can present itself in a way that can bring parity with some of it's larger competitors. Having a good web presence is a great way to project a 'big' company image even though the truth may be a somewhat more humble reality. Another great way to project a professional image is through company branded products and literature that you produce in-house. The literature comes in two formats:

• Portable Document Format (PDF), easily compiled in Open Office and exported straight into PDF to place on the web and email to your clients.
• Hard Copy literature to hand over face to face and at exhibitions- these should always be well-presented and finished with Velo binding if more than about a dozen pages or so.

Using these simple devices, a small company can project itself as equal with the bigger industry players. The first step is a small investment in some 'big-player' tools - a good logo, a good website (Wordpress or other CMS is ideal for this) and some quality paper, printer and other office accoutrements.

The Wedding

I for one have been won over by the idea of getting married on foreign shores, although we organised everything ourselves (I am not the sort of guy who would employ a 'wedding planner'!), it actually is less hard work than organising a wedding at home in my opinion (plus it was a lot cheaper!).

Of course, this has been an increasing trend over recent decades and has led to a whole new wedding couture including the idea of destination wedding dresses specifically suited to getting married on exotic shores in higher than 'normal' temperatures.

Naturally, the traditional heavy dress with train and veil may not be ideal for tripping along the beach in the Caribbean... equally it is now not uncommon to have the groom dressed in Bermuda shorts (even if the formal top-half is retained as is so often the case).

Earnings Sept 2010

Things are looking up this month, mainly due to some repeat custom for cassette to CD conversions and continued opportunities from payU2blog.
I am also just a few weeks away from reaching payout threshold for Google Adsense again by my estimation. I am also slowly closing in on payout for the two remaining survey services that I am signed up with.
Not all I have earned has gone on eBay, but I confess to having bought a few early Christmas presents... I gave not been very disciplined in frugal living lately, and will have to take some drastic action if I really want to clear off all my debts. There is plenty to be getting on with including house improvements leaving very little time for personal project developments. Nevertheless, I can't help but be happy with this months income. I also have a growing pile of stuff that I need to flog on eBay - it won't be considered 'income', but it will mean more paypal funds, which means more eBay purchases!!

The total for this month is probably as much as I have ever earned in a month at £240, which is around $380. No major purchases this month other than costs associated with CD conversions, so most of this months earnings have been pure profit.

Fashion

Fashion is an elusive idea that by it's very nature changes rapidly, not just in the ways that trends come and go, but in the way which it affects groups of people. This stems from the 1960's and the emergence of young people as a commercially influential group. Through the 80's and 90's, this group became younger as fashions started to encompass goods such as mobile phones and games consoles.

As someone who grew up in the 70's and 80's, it is interesting to see how my generation are confused about appropriate clothing. Our parents wore the uniform of middle age, cardigans, suits and the like, our peers seem happiest wearing hoodies and urban clothing instead. Nevertheless some conform to the archetypal middle-age dressing habits, and some who feel the Peter Pan urge still think that jeans and a T-shirt do not look incongruous on a fifty-year old....

Life Insurance

Even when times are hard financially, it does not do to skimp on insurance. Insurance may be a cost that we are often unwilling to contemplate, yet being under-insured may add to your woes, or in the case of life insurance, the woes of your family. A term life insurance quote is worth considering if you are concerned about costs that will befall your family on your death. Someone told me recently that you could get a plan with a funeral home where you can pay for your funeral now, and even if costs go up many-fold in the intervening period, your funeral can be covered at today's rates. If you don't have a similar plan, then your life insurance needs to take into account not only your family's needs, but the costs of a funeral and 'winding up' your estate.
Nobody likes to contemplate their demise, but 'burying your head in the sand' [no pun intended!] when it comes to insurance might mean some real problems for the family you leave behind.

Male pattern baldness

There comes a time in every mans life when he has to face up to hair-loss, and make a decision as to what he will do about it. I decided to go the frugal route and bought myself a hair trimmer - Every month or so I sit out in the garden and shave off my flowing locks - it saves me a fortune in barbers fees, and keeps my hair from looking unkempt or uneven. I would not really consider having 'something done about it' as I consider male-pattern baldness to be entirely natural for males, hence it is called 'male pattern baldness'! For those who are particularly traumatised by this natural consequence of being male... there are all sorts of 'treatments' one can embark on. The least intrusive of those is hair loss shampoo, at least it doesn't involve the use of a scalpel and the loss of significant amounts of hard-earned cash...
Of course, baldness is not always male-pattern and may come before it's proper time, in which case it may indeed be quite distressing. Recent trends accept baldness far more readily than a few decades ago, nevertheless not everyone is prepared to get the trimmer out...

Addicted to eBay...

I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time on eBay lately, I guess I just can't resist a bargain! Yet if I didn't keep going back to it, I could save myself a fortune!

This is the perpetual trouble with 'bargains' - you have to spend in order to make the savings, I have a whole host of bargain purchases, but my Paypal account has been completely empty for weeks, not only that, but the latest purchase had me transferring funds from my credit card!!

I am breaking all my own rules on frugal living lately and my credit card balance is ballooning as a result.

I must resolve to actually ensure that some funds trickle from my Paypal account into my 'real' bank account rather than the other way around. Generally I am pretty good at ensuring that my internet purchases do not impact on my 'real' money, but lately I have found myself drawn into a bit of a spending spree.

I have some stuff I need to sell, but have not yet got around to - I even have some small bids on things now, even though my Paypal fund is at zero (fortunately I have some pay-days coming up). Even though I am fairly well practised in the art of frugal living, it is still very easy to revert to bad habits. Every so often I remind myself of how hard things have been and I hope that is enough to make me see that if I don't keep things under control, that hardship will have been in vain.

I promise myself that in the few remaining months of the year, I am determined to make an impact on my small but growing debt...

Getting the tasks done

There is little that is more satisfying than having a list of tasks and being able to tick them off one by one. I find that DIY tasks hang over me like a burden on my shoulders, being able to reduce the list of tasks lightens the load considerably.

For the last few weeks I have been working on preparing the walls to have the hall and landing of our home newly plastered. The house is getting on for 100 years old, so there is a considerable amount of preparation to be done. We had considered wall-papering the existing surface, but have decided to take everything back to the plaster and start again... Having just replaced one of the door surrounds upstairs (one of the critical tasks before the plasterer can come in), there are just a couple more preparation tasks to be done.

The great thing about having this done is that he will be in and out in a matter of 1 or maybe 2 days after which the whole house will feel like it has been transformed.

However, when one task is completed, there is always another to do, and the bathroom is the next major project in my sights. I have yet to price up baths, showers and pedestal sinks, but I am quite sure we can't afford to make an headway on this particular project as yet...

Safety Gear

Everything in the modern day, has an element of Health & Safety and carries a risk of varying severity. This risk extends to the hobbies, sports and pastimes that we all get involved in as well as the more obvious risky working environments.

Headgear is about the most important piece of safety gear that you can invest in, whether it be a hard-hat for use on a building site, or equestrian helmets for horse-riding. it is important that that headgear is appropriate and provides the proper degree of protection, it is also essential that it fits correctly. Of all the kit you purchase for the task ahead, don't skimp on the headgear, or you may not live to regret it...

Busy September

Along with the restart of the school year (end of the summer break) and the general busy-ness of life, our family has a multitude of birthdays in September. This week sees birthdays for both of my parents and my wife - September is often an expensive month for me and extra earnings are more than welcome!
The good news is that I have been doing a large batch of cassette tape to CD conversions over the last few weeks, but the bad news is that the last batch has been completed, so the extra earnings from this is about to end. This should spur me on to work on other pending projects in order to keep the revenue flowing, but whether I will have enough time is a very real concern.
I have some DIY work to do around the house, but I really need to find some time to get stuck into Wordpress and get some sites up and running. I have loads of plans including buying about three more domains to supplement my current domain holdings... These plans have been rumbling on for some months, hopefully the coming month will allow me to spend some time developing things that should bring income for the future. Hopefully by the time I come to do my end of September report, I will be in a position to report that I have got somewhere with my wordpress projects - being able to knock out WP sites without too much effort is key to the next stage of my earnings plan.

Making Legal History

The face of the legal profession has changed a lot in the last few decades. Until a few years ago, lawyers were not even allowed to advertise on TV in the UK. Nowadays, adverts for personal injury claims are commonplace.

The legal profession has proved adaptable to the degree where you can now have specialist law companies that not only specialise in injury claims, but work in very specific niches including Texas truck accident lawyers . Such is the size of the accident claim industry, that companies can make a good living from unlikely-sounding niche markets.

Economic Recovery Uncertain

Although some statistics seemed to be indicating an 'easing off' of the economic crisis that has gripped us for so long, recent reports have given rise to concerns over a 'double-dip' recession.

The situation in the UK seems to be steadily improving, but the rate of recovery in the US is now falling behind initial hopes. This does not mean that the US alone will be affected because whenever the US sneezes (financially), the rest of the Western economies are bound to catch a cold.

There are a few key indicators of recovery including house prices (but don't forget house pricing, and miss-sold mortgages was what got us in this mess originally...!), and job statistics - decline in construction jobs and manufacturing jobs indicates a decline that cannot easily be reversed.

Manufacturing jobs are often permanent losses, construction work tends to fluctuate, but the amount of construction taking place is a good indication of how healthy an economy is.

Good at teaching..

A truism struck me today as I was browsing 'Yahoo answers' - I often browse through and distribute my 'wisdom'... ha ha

What struck me was this - an answer might be technically perfect, but the way in which you put the answer over is just as important as knowing your subject. In the same way as a research Professor might know it all, but be useless as a teacher because he cannot adequately convey his meaning to a pupil. Knowledge is imperative, but it does not automatically qualify you to teach the subject to a third party, because teaching is a skill.

I have often thought the same about managership - just because you are good at your job does not mean that you will be a good manager in your department, because management of people is a skill that needs to be developed and honed.

I have a friend who is a policemen, he never wanted to take his sergeant exams because he loved his job. He knew that promotion would mean he would be distanced from the hands-on tasks he enjoyed and turn him into a man-manager. It is only recently, now he is thinking about a final-salary pension, that he has given in to thinking about climbing the ladder of promotion.

Well, that's my thought for today.... hope you enjoyed it.

Feel Good about yourself - Day 7

Finally (seven step to feeling good about yourself should be enough).. one last thing you might consider, is your financial well-being. We have looked at exercise and diet, then pampering and treats along with smatterings of how your confidence can be boosted by the way you look or feel. We have even thought about the merits of tidying up those little jobs around the house that need doing, and how that can positively affect your life.

My last step in this series is going to be about encouraging you to be financially astute, with all the comparison websites around it would be relatively simple to save money on your utilities or broadband charges.

My philosophy is that the quickest way to make money is to save money - take a look around you and see how you might be financially better off, again this is long-term so consider all options...

Feel Good about yourself - Day 6

Whilst you are checking the mirror and rubbing in the olay regenerist, you might want to consider how else you can feel good about yourself. Here are a few more suggestions:

If you have a niggling physical or medical problem, why not get it checked out?

Something needs doing at home, some wallpaper peeling off, a lock that needs fixing - set yourself a list and work through it - it's surprising how these things preying on our mind can drag you down.

However don't forget the basics, keep exercising and eating/drinking well - plenty of fruit and plenty of fluids. Keep rewarding yourself even if only in a small way. Most importantly, don't forget this is for the long-haul - if you fall off the wagon, get right on it again and come back better and stronger..

Earnings August 2010

August has been a good month for blogging and for converting cassettes to CD's, turnover being over £160, outgoings mounting up to about £30 (much of that spent on buying blank CDR's). I have just completed a decent amount of cassettes that I should get paid for soon, and may well have more on the way. I am still working on several projects in the back-ground, I have been delayed a little by the fact that I have discovered how easy it is to set up Wordpress sites on my new hosting service - many of my latest projects (and a few of the older ones) will be done in WP rather than Dreamweaver. The learning curve has started, hopefully I will have something to show for the hard work soon...

Lady Gaga on tour

Lady Gaga hits the road on a world tour that is going to run for months and months, the latest phenomenon to hit the pop world is about to launch her zany self on the world. Each concert is sure to be a spectacle worth seeing if past performance and costumes are anything at all to go by.

Judged by many to be the 'new' Madonna, she is set to set both the US and Europe alight between now and next April. lady gaga tickets are set to be some of the most sought-after commodities on the market....

Feel Good about yourself - Day 5

Long term plans for feeling good about yourself might include a daily treatment with a wrinkle cream or changing where you buy your clothes or have your hair cut. Basically I am saying look after yourself, not only internally but also your appearance.

There is a tendency as we get older to 'let yourself go' a little, but taken too far, it can start to look as if you don't care about yourself. If you look like you don't care about yourself, others are not going to find it easy to care about you either - a sad but true fact...

Looking your best does not have to mean expensive clothes and the like, but it does mean being smart when the occasion calls for it, ironing your clothes even when there does not seem to be much point, and generally keeping up appearances. This may appear to be 'shallow' advice, but the reality is that you will feel smarter and once more exude confidence, people around you will pick up the positive vibes.

Feel Good about yourself - Day 4

To continue the pampering theme, don't forget that feeling good about yourself is not all about denial, and treating yourself is not all about over-indulgence.

You may choose to treat yourself with a spa-day with a mud-bath or colon cleanser. You might treat yourself to a days shopping or trip to the cinema. Pleasing yourself, doing something just for you - all helps to get you feeling good about yourself.

Even just creating some 'me-time' with a good book can be part of your new regime to create a new lifestyle which not only helps to reaffirm you as an individual, but also helps you to feel more comfortable and confident. A more relaxed, confident person is going to exude calm and confidence to those around them - the knock-on effects could have a far more significant effect on your life than you thought possible.

Feel Good about yourself - Day 3

To continue with the feel good about yourself series, todays post is about pampering and giving yourself treats rather than denial to achieve an ideal body shape. The balance between a strict regime of exercise and treats should be carefully managed. Treats that don't involve fatty and sugary foods or drinks are ideal, but even indulging in a sweet treat can be beneficial if done in moderation and if done only when certain physical goals have been met.

It is always helpful to have a goal to aim for, even better if that goal carries a reward. To the purist, it may be that the achievement is reward in itself, but judging by the way most people fail to keep to a plan, some other sort of reward can help to focus the mind.

Feel Good about yourself - Day 2

For the second day in our feel good about yourself series, we are going to concentrate on ways to keep fit and lose weight. To get to your desired weight, you should consider an exercise regime that begins at a gentle level, but progresses towards an increasingly intense schedule.

During this period, you may also consider an aid to weight-loss such as weight loss drinks or snacks - these options may prove easier to supplement your exercise with, than medications that may seriously disturb your metabolism.

The whole aim of a weight-loss program (assuming it is not simply to get into a particular outfit for an event), should be to begin a lifestyle NOW that you can maintain for the rest of your life.

Feel Good about yourself - Day 1

As the end of summer approaches, and the sun threatens to disappear for another winter, we could all do with a reason to feel good about ourselves. I have decided to launch a 'feel good about yourself' series for Munny4Hunny readers.

Starting with day 1 today...

Todays top tip is about getting in shape by starting a new exercise regime - I have to tell you I played Wii sports for the first time yesterday and was really puffing and panting by the end of it!!

Todays tip is two-fold as for those who are not in good enough shape to get into regular exercise, they could start by finding some diet pills that work although I must stress that exercise is a better way forward in the longer term than medication. Think long-term and think sustainable improved lifestyle, not quick-fix...

SEO - off site techniques

The off-site SEO is a bit of a minefield, but bear in mind that you can get position one without any offsite optimisation if your keywords are 'niche' enough...
Getting links is possible from one of four methods that I can think of, and be aware that there is a value in a link whether or not anybody ever sees it or clicks on it. Search Engine 'bots' will see the link regardless of whether it is seen by your potential visitor, the bot will also take note of what is called the 'anchor text' ie. the words that are highlighted, for instance I might use the words SEO genius to link to my blog that deals with website building, search engines et al... having anchor text with specific keywords is considered key to off-site optimisation.
These are the different links you might have:

• Directories: Getting yourself listed in directories is fairly easy, there is even software available to help to automate the process, still painstaking, because most directories allow a certain amount of automation ie. the software populates categories like 'description' 'keywords' 'URL' and 'Title' etc,,, for you - you still have to add them by hand - or pay someone to do it for you... Some directories make a charge, others are free - I prefer the free ones! - it may be a risky process as some sites are blacklisted by search engines and it may have a negative effect if you get yourself listed on one of the 'bad neighborhoods'. An indication of a 'good' site would be whether the site is 'cached' by Google or whether it has any 'PageRank' (the google toolbar will tell you this or a browser SEO plug-in such as the one I use on Google Chrome).
• Paid links: many people get a company to find websites that will insert links for money - blogs often carry 'sponsored posts' or 'reviews' from which they get a small one-off payment. Other will use networks and forums to offer sponsored links directly to site owners and bloggers - invariably, they will request a specific anchor text - in fact they will often have three links in each post which has to be a minimum length (100 words, 200 words etc.). Google do NOT like this, and will punish sites that they find are doing it - the cynical person might argue that is because Google like to be paid for their own 'sponsored links' in search results - I think ultimately the monopolies commission may take a dim view of the way that Google controls search results, and 'punishes' sites that try to 'compete' with paid search engine entries (a company can legitimately pay Google to appear in position 1, but will be 'slapped' for paying someone else to try and achieve the same result..)
• Link exchanges: I can't possibly keep track of how many times I am asked to place a link on a site in exchange for an external link back to my site. It is important to realise that Google recognises a link exchange, and treats them accordingly eg.. If you link to 'joes carpets' and joes carpets links back to you, the link won't be as effective as when joes carpets links to you and you do not link back ie. if you get 'one way' links to your site, your site grows in 'authority'. So most webmasters indulge in what is called three way linking where the link that comes back is from a different site. The danger is that the link you are offered in exchange is possibly valueless, and unless they are in the same niche as you, there is little point anyway. This is the dilema then, your competitors are in the same niche, but they're not going to link to you... Your suppliers may link to you, you may get colleagues or consultants to link to you, but you can spend a lot of time asking for links and will rarely get anyone take you up on it...
• Ghost sites: which brings us nicely onto the last point, if you can't get sites to link to you, make your own... create a site which to all intents and purposes has content that is liked to yours, has all the right keywords and is optimised... then start linking words into your site - ideally picking up on anchor text. don't forget that you are not really trying to drive 'traffic' to this site or even to your own site - it is ONLY the link that is important - as long as you can guarantee that the site is 'crawled' and 'cached' by google, then the bots should automatically attribute authority to wherever those links point - and these are 'one way' links, nothing comes back the other way. Of course you can take this further and make more ghost sites which link into this ghost site, thus bumping up the authority down the line...

That's about the long and short of it, you can use searches to find out what your competitors are doing, there are supposed 'formulas' for keyword density and all that, but I think content should be 'organic' and should flow naturally rather than be made to fit into a formula that may or may not have an impact. At then end of the day, Google is looking for cheats, so don't go looking for short-cuts. Build good sites with good content, everything else should stem from that starting point.

Water filters

The town that I was born and raised in had its own water table which means that the water there didn't taste like the water that came out of taps in the surrounding districts. When I moved, I discovered I no longer enjoyed drinking the water straight from the taps because the taste of Chlorine or Fluorine was so strong. Since then, the only time I have really enjoyed drinking plain water is when we use the refrigerator filter. I think it's crazy to pay all that money for bottled water when it is freely available from the tap, but it's only when it's filtered that it tastes like the water from home...

SEO - on site techniques

On-site search engine optimisation techniques include:

• Content: keyword stuffing up to an optimum point, variation of keywords to cover similar and related terms - at the end of the day, 'content' is supposed to be what it's all about...
• Tags: the traditional stuff such as 'keyword' tags and 'description' and 'title' are used by some search engines, and importantly may show up in results - in SEO terms having a page which has the title tag 'homepage' or even worse 'untitled' is a major crime worthy of public flogging.
• URL's: - using keywords in a URL seems to me to be one of the easiest way to get your point across - apart from your 'index' page, other pages should be richly laden with keywords. Don't call a page 'methods.htm', instead call it 'methods_for_making_money_online.htm' or some other title that includes your target keywords and search terms.
• Pictures: may not be an obvious optimisation tool, but it doesn't do any harm to get yourself into 'google images' and the theory is that this could have an impact on standard searches (but of course no-one actually knows..). Therefore, to be on the safe side, every picture can have it's own title tag - which should have keywords where possible and also, each picture filename should reflect the content eg: the file should not be called 'IMG000345.jpg', when we could call it 'portable_music_device.jpg' or other more descriptive title.

[Note that spaces are a bit of a pain when using browsers, so I tend to use underscore instead to separate words in a phrase.]

Of these four, I tend to concentrate on content and URL's primarily, time spent on onsite optimisation is time well-spent in my estimation, off-page takes a lot of effort for few positive results..

SEO - introduction

There is a lot of whaffle talked about search engine optimisation, but when you look at it, there are only two types of optimisation:

1. ON-SITE optimisation - the stuff you build into your own website to make them search-engine friendly..
2. OFF-SITE optimisation - the links that you get for your site to make the search engine think that your site has 'authority'.

There is nothing more to it than that, the devil is in the detail of course, and how you achieve the above can lead you down some interesting avenues, however because Google keeps stumm, no-one knows whether the more off-the-wall solutions will work either short-term or if they do, there's no guarantee they will work long-term - especially if Google get wind of what you are up to...!

In this series, we are going to look at both types of optimisation, and the regular things that anyone can do that will enhance search engine results for your website. We will be looking at legitimate ways to promote your site in an organic way, I am not one to indulge in certain black-hat techniques that give impressive results in the short-term.

You won't do any harm carrying out the simple steps that we will be looking at, these techniques probably cover about 80% of what you can do to enhance your site, and each step is easy to carry out with no experience or special software whatsoever.

Fresh Linen

There is nothing like the feel of fresh bed linen especially if you have sensitive skin like I have. I cannot sleep on anything that has polyester in the mix, and even have to take bed linen with me if we are staying somewhere.

This means that I have to buy quality bedding such as the products you might find at matouk. It's not that I have particularly good taste in bedding, it is actually a necessity for me to have a good nights sleep. My wife on the other hand suffers from allergies, so we have a combination of hypo-allergenic and 100% cotton bedding so that all our needs can be met - Fortunately Matouk have a very comprehensive range including hypo-allergenic pillows.

Domain Registration bonus

I had my first affiliate sale for 1and1 domain registration this week, quite a surprise because although I had done some work to promote this affiliate, I tend to have low expectations of affiliates as a rule.

Affiliates are tricky because often you know you are not promoting the best possible deal, but with 1and1 internet, they genuinely do offer a good competitive service and decent commission at the same time. I have yet to find out the details of the sale, but am pleased to report this small success with a view to having (hopefully) more in the future.

Affiliate sales are something I have only really dabbled with so far, but nonetheless I am aware that opportunities in this area are real and profitable if pursued properly. There is a recent article written on livewyre.NET, that gives a small insight into the world of affiliate marketing.

New series coming up...

I have enjoyed the two recent series that I wrote for Munny4Hunny, having just completed 'getting organic traffic' and 'making money online', I am considering expounding my thoughts on Search Engine Optimisation, that mythical and mysterious holy grail of the internet entrepreneur.

I recently wrote a detailed email for a friend in which I attempted to address the subject of SEO in the most simple terms possible. My intention is now to turn this into a series which you will see rolled out on Munny4Hunny in the next week or so.

To give a brief introduction, the central theme is that there are SEO techniques that can be done by anyone - you don't need to be a guru to be able to optimise your site, the majority of what a professional SEO expert will tell you, is stuff that you can easily resolve yourself - though they are naturally unlikely to tell you as much...

It is easy to optimise a site for a niche, that's the market I like to operate in - if you have found your niche, then my new series may have some useful tips for you.

Spring Loaded

Whether you are looking for spring plungers, handles, wheels or knobs... Reid supply have been supplying products for more than sixty years locally, nationally and internationally.

Not only do they have a huge stock of every little (or even large) component that you might require, they also have a machine shop that can customise the products to suit your precise needs.

Their product range extends to include safety equipment, clothing and packaging equipment, a true one-stop online shop for all the requirements of your business. All this is backed up by a company that are highly-rated suppliers to the US government.

Getting organic traffic - part 6

Yes Part six!!! who would have thought it?
Well I am pretty sure that this is the last of my traffic-building tactics, and it is one that is fairly obvious since the whole point of these services is that they drive traffic to your site. I am, of course, talking about 'digg it', 'stumble upon' and all those services that are just waiting to promote your stories and posts.
Personally I use these services sparingly, but if I think I have written a particularly topical, poignant or pithy post, I will blatantly plug it by submitting to these types of sites. After all, I would wait an age for someone to randomly do it for me, I am merely speeding up the process...
Timing is of the essence, it's like trying to catch a wave when surfing - you may find yourself uncovering hundreds of visitors, just a few or barely any at all. Nevertheless it takes a few seconds to submit, and at least half the time I find a well-written report on the post I have just written, will bring in a significant amount of traffic even if just briefly.
These services are being constantly updated of course, and you are only 'current' for a very small window, so the impact is often swift and impressive - a day later, any effects will have all but disappeared..
I use them equally for website stuff as well as for blog posts. I have some web pages which I feel provide decent information that I want to get 'out there'. These services work for us in two ways, firstly by providing a platform to submit our own stuff to get initial visitors, secondly (if you provide a 'submit' widget in the page) for visitors to 'vote' for our content and thus promote it once more in the community. For the website pages, I expect to see the votes grow to a decent level over time, whereas for the blog posts, I am just looking for an 'instant' return...
This concludes the latest mini-series on Munny4Hunny, if you have any comments, please leave them and I promise to respond...

Others in this series:
Part One - Introduction 'what NOT to do...'
Part Two - Having the right content
Part Three - You Must get your head around RSS
Part Four - You must engage with social networks
Part Five - Seeking out traffic

Getting organic traffic - part 5

I am mildly surprised that I have managed five posts in this series, I guess there was more to this than I thought at first....and I haven't finished yet!
This post concerns the tactics that I usually think of as the traditional ways to build blog traffic although these tactics are my no means limited to blog promotion.

1. Reciprocal visits: This is a kind of hard foot-slogging way of getting traffic (which is maybe why I have left it 'til the last installment..), but effective nonetheless. Visiting blog that are within the same broad topic as your own blog or website, and leaving relevant comments (and your URL) are effective ways of attracting visits from a like-minded audience. First off - only do this if commenting allows you to leave your URL in the comment or as part of your 'signature'. Secondly, don't ever spam! Leave concise well-thought out comments that might inspire readers to click on the link and find out more. You are probably wasting your time if you comment on older posts, the more recent they are, the more effective your commenting will be. At the very least, the post-writer will visit your blog (I know I always do...) and you may even attract other commenters to visit your blog/site too.
2. Forums: There are forums for every topic under the sun, it should not take too long to uncover a forum that deals with topics close to your own. Join the forum, and like the commenting above, make good suggestions and leave your URL in your signature. You should find that even idle curiosity will force some visitors to come to your site if nothing else...

I have one last installment to add to this series, and this is probably the most effective method that I have discovered for sending decent amounts of traffic.

Others in this series:
Part One - Introduction 'what NOT to do...'
Part Two - Having the right content
Part Three - You Must get your head around RSS
Part Four - You must engage with social networks
Part Six - Using bookmarking sites

Living in the garden

It has certainly NOT been the weather for breaking out the outdoor electric grill and throwing some steaks on to sizzle! We have had the odd decent day, but Summer seems to be passing the UK by as the season progresses towards the Autumn. This is a great shame as I love to 'live' outdoors in the Summertime - not only is it easier to keep outdoors 'clean', it doesn't need decorating and is basically the most low-maintenance part of our house...

Due to the ease of maintenance in the garden, it also just happens that the garden is the nicest 'room' in our house and one of the few that we are not ashamed to invite guests into...
I hope we have a a prolonged period of sunshine at some point as we have done NO outdoor cooking at all this year so far, and we all know how much better food tastes when it has been cooked outdoors...!

Getting organic traffic - part 4

In this day and age, it is a serious mistake to underestimate the power of twitter, facebook and the like for driving traffic to your site, however harnessing all these different resources takes a little thought.
Using RSS feeds between sites such as your blog, twitter and Facebook would be a good way of linking the three together to make sense of the relationship. One way would be to start a 'page' in FB (rather than a personal entry) and use the feeds from twitter and a blog to populate the page with content. This way, you are using twitter and a blog independently, yet using them to create more content on a third platform (FB). Added to this, you could have a widget on your blog which gives a read-out of your last (for example) 6 twitter messages. It is possible to link these all up and have two sites updated from one feed - whatever tactics you decide on, you must come up with a strategy that best suits your needs. Whatever you do, you are missing a trick if you are not using these or similar resources to drive traffic to your site.
Having said that I have not yet finalised my own strategy for promotion for a site that I have been working on for a while (amongst other projects), but rest-assured all future projects will be built with social networking sites in mind- the issue should never be 'shall I use Facebook/twitter/Friends reunited etc...' but HOW shall I use them...

Others in this series:
Part One - Introduction 'what NOT to do...'
Part Two - Having the right content
Part Three - You Must get your head around RSS
Part Five - Seeking out traffic
Part Six - Using bookmarking sites

Mens Clothing

Admittedly as part of the last few years of using frugal tactics to balance the household budget, men's clothing has not figured highly in the household priorities. Especially since I am fairly reluctant to throw out clothes as long as I can find a use for them. It was this thinking process which saw me having a large proportion of my clothes designated as 'gardening' or 'DIY' clothes even though I wasn't even doing any gardening or DIY.
Despite the 'cloud' of frugality hanging over us for so long, it is a blessed relief to actually allow yourself to occasionally indulge in purchases of a personal nature every so often. I am a true believer in the therapeutic properties of shopping even though I am male...

Getting organic traffic - part 3

Moving on from 'on-page' work such as content, all other traffic building ideas as strictly 'off-page' and so will demand some of your time to get browsing around the 'net.
As promised in the previous installment, this post will address RSS feeds. Really Simple Syndication is a way of getting your blog posts or site 'feed' automatically sent to any number of sources across the world wide web. Individuals may sign up so that they get your latest content as it comes online, or services that you are affiliated with may use this feed to publicly display your content - the best example I can think of is 'Zimbio', a service that publishes your content and will even automatically categorise it for you.
RSS can even carry advertising along with regular content and therefore can be used as a monetising tool. I happily admit that I was not a first-adopter when it came to RSS as I didn't understand how it could help me. I now understand it and can see that I seriously under-estimated it's uses. If you are not sure how to get started with RSS, you can access 'feedburner' directly from your Google account (you HAVE a Google account - right??), fill in a form and feedburner will provide you with a URL that contains your RSS feed, use this URL place your feed in to 'Zimbio' or any other place you can find that will take it!
One tactic that I have used is to take a 'twitter' RSS feed and have it displayed on the front page of an associated website. As long as you are regularly updating on twitter, this provides some interactive and current content on a page that otherwise may be fairly static. The same may be done with a feed from a blog or even facebook.
This brings me nicely on to the next topic that will be the theme of the very next installment...

Others in this series:
Part One - Introduction 'what NOT to do...'
Part Two - Having the right content
Part Four - You must engage with social networks
Part Five - Seeking out traffic
Part Six - Using bookmarking sites

Safety gear

Having the right gear for the job is the mantra of any workman or DIY enthusiast. This is learned quickly when one does not have the right tool for the job, if you eventually find the right tool you wish you had found it a lot earlier!
The right tool does the job more effectively, more efficiently and safely!
As it happens, I have just removed my safety gloves because I am sanding some woodwork in the doorway to my office. Safety equipment should always be the first thought when thinking about any new tools or machinery. Over the years I have built up a good stock of gloves, goggles and face-masks for dusty jobs. Nevertheless, these things need replacing and the safety gear that is appropriate for one job may not be appropriate for the next. For instance, there are a range of gloves with different uses depending on the material being handled, similarly face masks are job-specific, a dust-mask is not effective against chemical fumes any more than gardening gloves are suitable for handling corrosive liquids.
Having the right tool for the job applies to safety gear every bit as much as it applies to hand or power tools.

Getting organic traffic - part 2

First off - I have to say that there is no way to keep your traffic unless your content is compelling. There is no point working away at getting visitors to visit your site if there is very little for them to look at.
So my first piece of advice is to say you need to make sure that you have good original content, regularly updated and ideally that it is laid our in a way that is easy to follow and easy on the eye. Whilst you may think that this is not a traffic building hint - it has at least two functions:

• It keeps your visitors coming back - If the valuable traffic that arrives on your site finds your style and your content appealing, there is a good chance that they will bookmark it, sign up for your RSS feed and come back to read again.
• It will help you to get search results - Applying SEO tactics such as regular updates and good use of keywords using niche/topical keywords will bring you organic search results. Using a service such as Google 'Webmaster tools' and 'Analytics' will help you understand the search terms that people are using to arrive at your site.

If at this point, you are wondering what RSS is, then keep reading this series and we will address RSS in the next installment...

Others in this series:
Part One - Introduction 'what NOT to do...'
Part Three - You Must get your head around RSS
Part Four - You must engage with social networks
Part Five - Seeking out traffic
Part Six - Using bookmarking sites

Web shopping

So many of our transactions now take place online, it is a wonder how we ever coped without online purchases. Even when we aren't actually looking to make any purchases, how many of us can resist the emails that drop into our inbox from our favorite retailers like buy.com with all the lastest deals and bargains.
I have weekly emails from a few 'techno' type retailers giving the bargain prices for PC hard-drives, DVDR's or even complete PC systems. The fascinating thing is that prices for these products are always getting keener and keener as new technology is introduced and previous products improved.
The one product that interests me at the moment are the SSD hard-drives for computers. These Solid State Drives are the latest technology and were frankly too expensive to contemplate when first introduced, but like USB drives (same technology) they are becoming both bigger and cheaper. The knock-on effect of this is that the established technology becomes cheaper in order to compete with the newer products.

Getting organic traffic - part 1

A question I often see posted in forums is 'how can I drive traffic to my site'. This is a very valid question, but the answer will vary depending on exactly what you are trying to achieve.
If visitor 'stats' is what you need regardless of 'quality' or a targeted 'audience' then you can do traffic exchanges or even 'buy' traffic via a 'pay to click' service. However, if you are looking for visitors who will read your content or interact with your site on a longer-term basis, then 'organic' is the only way to go, there is no quick fix, but there are short-cuts. I should also add that if you are hosting Google contextual adverts (Adsense) on your site, then any non-organic form of gaining traffic is likely to result in your Adsense account being disabled.

I 'innocently' tried traffic exchanging once until Google warned me that my account was in danger of termination - I quickly stopped the traffic exchange, and although Google wouldn't tell me exactly what I had done to contravene the TOS, stopping the traffic exchange seemed to do the trick. Fortunately I had only done it for a few days so no further action was taken. If you are wondering why this would be the case, some ads on adsense are actually paid per 100 or 1000 displays etc... therefore in theory, using a traffic exchange program or 'buying' traffic would result in payments being triggered for these ads even though the traffic was not completely legitimate (organic) traffic.

That's the introduction done, you will have to follow the series to get all my thoughts on getting traffic to your site. I have to admit right at the start that I have never devoted myself to driving huge amounts of traffic to my sites, but nonetheless, over the years I have built up some ideas on things that can bring traffic, and have even occasionally had the odd success here and there...

Others in this series:
Part Two - Having the right content
Part Three - You Must get your head around RSS
Part Four - You must engage with social networks
Part Five - Seeking out traffic
Part Six - Using bookmarking sites

Pulse Oximeters

I had never heard of an oximeter before today, but some online research has taught me that pulse oximeters are small devices that can measure not only your pulse rate, but the oxygen saturation level of your haemoglobin (which apparently should ideally be over 95%).
Haemoglobin levels are traditionally measured via a tiny blood sample taken by a pin-prick to the ear or finger, the oximeter measures via a non-invasive optical method using LED's and measuring the rate of light absorption. The technology has been in existence since the 1940's although not widely adopted until more recently.
The advantage of the oximeter is that it can constantly monitor over a fixed period whereas a spot sample can only give you a single result unless you want to turn the patients ear or finger into a pin-cushion.

Loving eBay

I tend to treat my online earnings as either money to 'invest' in online projects, hosting, domains etc.. or for acquiring 'toys' from eBay. Occasionally I also sell stuff that works, but I no longer have use for. Recently I sold a couple of 'spare' motherboards of 'historical interest' that were languishing in my loft.
I have probably been through more than 170 transactions online and have found that even when things go wrong, the support from eBay is pretty good even though they may not tell you exactly what they are doing about your problem. I have had a few scenarios that have gone a little awry:
1. Wrong thing delivered, shortly before seller was removed from eBay
In this instance, after having no reply from the seller, I lodged a ticket with eBay/Paypal and they immediately got part of my money back - after a few weeks of silence, the rest of the money appeared - I still had the wrong item and was able to sell it again (this time advertised correctly) - good result
2. Faulty items delivered
Without exception, any time I have had a faulty item delivered (probably on about 4 or 5 occasions) the seller has refunded my payment in full. - great result
3. Non-payment
I had my first experience of this a few weeks ago - no payment was forthcoming for one of the motherboards that I sold - I sent three emails to the buyer (who had annoyingly bid against other potential buyers to 'win' the item) , he did not respond. Eventually, feeling it was too late to try a 'second chance offer', I reported the unpaid item to eBay - Less than a week later, Ebay reported that the item had been paid for - and it had!.... result!

The point I wanted to make is that although things sometimes go wrong, eBay will usually sort things out for you. Today I have been warned by eBay that a seller I have paid, has had their listings withdrawn. I am not panicked (Ok it WAS only £3.20), because I am quite confident that the well-oiled eBay resolution machine will get me my money back if I have a little patience. You hear all sort of stories about eBay, but my experience is that if you stick with the system, the system will look after you.

Get the facts

I have often said that medication that is not prescribed by a health-care professional is a risk. I am not saying that you should not take anything that you see advertised, but I am saying that you need to be sure that you chek a few things out first:
Trustworthy retailer - first of all, you should check that the retailer that you have chosen is reputable, is properly qualified to sell and is registered/licensed to sell products of this nature. Also run a check on the company yourself, look for online reviews and make sure that the contact details are correct - if they are not 'up front' about their street address and phone number, I would say that you should not do business with them.
Trustworthy product - you should also check out reviews for the product such as alli reviews, when doing this, I would advise you to seek out independent reviews. It also pays to find out exactly what the side-effects will be, a reputable retailer will make this information freely available. Any retailer that claims no side effects, probably means that the medication is ineffective at the job it is supposed to do..

July 2010 Earnings

I am declaring the best month of the year and the first significant earnings of this financial term (since April) at nearly £167. As you can tell from the figures, it is an upturn in cassette conversions plus contextual ads on my cassette to CD site, that has driven turnover this month. I am already working on cassette orders for next month, so expect good figures for August too. The Adsense payout is the first since March and accounts for a little over a third of the 'Cass2CD' earnings. I am still working on a project that I hope to launch in about a months time as I have some finishing touches to add and a little research and testing to do.

I have managed to curb 'investments' this month, especially since the NAS system was a bit of a disappointment for the amount of money I spent, but I anticipate some spending on consumables next month to replenish stocks of CD's. I look forward to posting some decent figures for August, which will hopefully exceed this month's.

Wrinkles

Despite the fact that I am undeniably getting older and developing wrinkles, I probably won't be putting prevera wrinkle cream on my shopping list. never mind the fact that I am male, nowadays, men are as much a target for cosmetics as women.
Neither is is because I feel it would be ineffective, after all it is not a particularly expensive product... It is simply because I am not concerned enough about wrinkles for me to take any measures to stop them. I understand that some folks are aghast at seeing wrinkles develop, personally, I embrace my wrinkles - although to be quite frank I am a bit less enamored with some of the other trappings of encroaching old age maturity such as aching bones and tinnitus... wrinkly skin I can live with...

Making money online - the conclusion...

To conclude this latest 'Making Money Online' series, I just have a few observations to add to the different levels of income that I have talked about.

• Don't be limited to just one income stream - most of us start with one thing and then start to add other similar schemes to a 'portfolio' until we have about four or five income streams. the trick is being able to decide which streams are worth pursuing and which ones will not justify the time spent on them. The more eggs in your basket, the more income as long as those eggs are all active earners.
• Make good investments - It's good to start on-line earning without having to spend a cent, but at some time, when you are climbing the income ladder, you will have to make investments. Whether it be purchasing domains for blogs, or purchasing ready made web sites, ensure that your money is wisely invested. If you have played the 'minnow' and 'starter' schemes well you should have some money to invest, but be careful how you use it.
• Be original - Starting the next Facebook may be your dream, but the truth is that Facebook is already here, you will need to use some original thinking if you want to break through, or at least put a new twist on an existing theme. At all times stay true to yourself, if you are not comfortable with an online task, remember it's your choice -you are in control effectively working as a free agent.
• Put in some hard work - if you are not prepared to work, or do not have the time, then you may not be able to rise out of the 'starter' schemes, yet for many the income offered at this level is quite sufficient. Although you won't get far without some graft, few on their death-beds will be saying 'I wish I had spent more time on-line'. Work now, so that in time, you won't need to work so hard...

Also in this series:

The scams - don't get caught with these...

The minnows - easy money, in very small amounts...

The starters - relatively easy and close to being worthwhile

The big fish - don't pack in the day-job, but nice little earners

Summer jobs around the house

As the summer DIY jobs get under way (more paint stripping tonight), thoughts wander out to the garden - often referred to in our home, as the 'nicest room in the house'. Not because it is so beautiful... more because it doesn't need decorating!

Even your garden can be easily spruced up for little additional cost with discount landscape lighting and ornaments, furniture etc... We are planning to buy a garden swing-seat this year (or possibly next), one of those with a canopy so that you can gently swing in the sun without getting burned, drink in hand and BBQ gently sizzling away...

The only draw-back with 'investing' in garden furniture is that in the UK, we can't trust the weather to be consistent enough to justify it...

Making money online - the big fish...

As the final part of the 'make money online' series, I am going to talk about some of the directions you might ultimately pursue to realise the dream of making a living online. In some cases, I know individuals who are close to this dream, and each of them has done it through different means.

• Start your own 'paid to' site - If you have the right attitude towards on-line earnings, starting your own scheme can be a way to build your income to reasonable levels and beyond. When you have already tried 'paid to' for yourself whether it be paid to blog, or paid to sign up etc.. you will realise that the scheme is just a broker with a reasonably whizzy website....
• Mail order business - Find your retail or service niche, whether you convert cassettes to CD's (as I do) sell books, remote fixing of computers or anything else.. play to your strengths, look after your clients, make good use of Paypal and other online resources to build up your business.
• Serious affiliate marketing - The next step in affiliate marketing... when you have dabbled (as I have) you will realise that there are potentially huge amounts to be made from selling other peoples software etc. via your own website. Boost your exposure (and sales) with intelligent PPC campaigns and good SEO techniques, and you could be well on your way.
• Serious article writing - A big step on from paid to blog, there are online opportunities with companies that need original articles written - if you have writing skills, there is good money to be made. There is a demand for anything from short articles and essays right up to full-blown books. If you have time on your hands, you may be able to make this work for you.

You will need to be very dedicated (or extremely lucky) to get to the stage where you can 'give up the day job', but for some, it can be a reality. However, for the majority, you will be able to make far more in an office job than you can on-line. So in order to rise above the crowd, a lot of hard work is generally needed. Working online, is not easy money compared with a full-time job, but the money is certainly there if you want to claim your share of it. The size of your share will reflect the amount of hard work and enterprise that you invest.

Also in this series:

The scams - don't get caught with these...

The minnows - easy money, in very small amounts...

The starters - relatively easy and close to being worthwhile

PreNatal Vitamins

There is no doubt that you need to be in the best condition you can be when expecting a baby, and all sorts of supplements including specific prenatal vitamin may be useful to you. Care should always be taken about the things you take especially when pregnant to ensure that what you are taking is best for you any your baby.

Even an excess of vitamins can be harmful in special circumstances, so always seek the help and advise of a medical professional when embarking on a course of medication, even when the medication is seemingly harmless, and especially when you are taking medication for two...

Making money online - the starters...

As an addition to my recent 'make money online' series, this post is concerned with the schemes that you can build on to give a decent return. Of course, one mans 'decent return' is another mans drop in the ocean, but then one mans drop in the ocean can easily be another ones fortune, so it's all relative.

In cash terms we are talking about the sort of opportunity where you can earn $5 for about 10-15 minutes work. The list of these on-line opportunities looks like this:

• Paid to blog - there are fewer of these about nowadays, but it is possible to earn upwards of $15-$20 for a single blog-post either via a broker such as 'Payu2blog' or picked up on a forum where this type of trade is common.
• Paid To - not including reading emails or clicking on links, this covers schemes where you can be rewarded for signing up to something, completing an on-line registration or similar activity - the rewards can be far better than paid to read etc... but you will lay yourself open to spamming if you use your regular email address for signing up. In a short while you will find you can build funds quite nicely, especially if you sign others up to the same program
• Website monetisation through contextual ads and affiliates - These can be profitable enough to make it to the next level, but you can make reasonable amounts through these schemes without going all-out. Adding these to your existing websites can bring some welcome extra income. Where you rely on this as your main on-line income, the game becomes a little more interesting.

All of these can bring intermediate earnings, but will not sustain you long-term. For more serious earners, the main course - what I am calling 'the big fish' will be your ultimate goal, but until you get there, these 'starters' can keep the regular income flowing that may one day finance your 'next step' whatever that may be...

Also in this series:

The scams - don't get caught with these...

The minnows - easy money, in very small amounts...

The big fish - don't pack in the day-job, but nice little earners

Vitamins

I remember being fed vitamin C day-in, day-out as a child and I heard recently how 'scurvy' (vitamin C deficiency) an ailment long thought to be confined to sailors of long centuries ago, is back in schools around the UK today.

This is no doubt a result of bad diet, and we can look to vitamins to redress the balance, although it would make sense to try and introduce children to a balanced diet - one of the arguments behind 'breakfast clubs' that are currently being introduced.

Of course, vitamins are not only required by growing youngsters, there are adult requirements as well as specific womens vitamins available too. Good diet negates much of the need for many supplements, but some deficiencies remain, and where they are identified, a vitamin supplement can keep you fit and healthy day in, day out.

Making money online - the minnows...

Further to my previous post where I talk about the scourge of the internet (the Pyramid scheme), in this post we are going to be introduced to the shallow end of the 'making money on-line' pool, gradually working our way towards the deep end...

In this post, I am highlighting some of the schemes that are hardly worth the trouble. Many on-line earners start earning money this way, but the majority will either progress onto something else, or drop out thinking that there are no legitimate ways to make decent amounts of money left.

The 'minnows' include much of the 'paid to' programs including paid to read, or paid to click, the very cheapest of on-line activities which often yield less than a dollar for an hours work. I would also be tempted to put surveys into this category, some surveys are worthwhile, but in the majority of cases, they are not worth the trouble and my two remaining survey partners will be dumped as soon as I reach payout...

My other prime objection to 'paid to click adverts' and 'paid to read emails' schemes is that they are literally valueless - there is no value in you reading an email when you have no intention other than to simply get it read and move onto the next one. Similarly generating clicks to get 'hits' on a page is valueless and could even be construed as fraudulent - For one thing, the yield is extremely low which is why they are in the 'minnows' section, but the other problem with them is that they do go some way to insulting the intelligence of the participant - there is no satisfaction in this 'work' in my opinion. Nonetheless, it remains to be said that money (however small) can be made (at least semi-legitimately) in this arena...

Also in this series:

The scams - don't get caught with these...

The starters - relatively easy and close to being worthwhile

The big fish - don't pack in the day-job, but nice little earners

Apidexin

Weight loss or fat-burner? that is the main point of the apidexin sales drive. The promoters are keen to point out that it is intended to burn fat rather than force weight-loss through reducing retained water which is what other products will do.

There are a number of points to make when it comes to using medication for body enhancement and these are:

• A medical professional should be involved in the process, or at least informed of your decision
• You must change your lifestyle for prolonged effects, otherwise you have to take the medication long-term
• You should be aware of any possible side-effects especially from prolonged use.

Once you have made yourself fully aware of the consequences and prepared yourself for life after you stop taking the medication, you will be better placed to make a decision about the correct product to take.