Back Links 101 – Make Them Work for You
by: Michelle Dale
Essentially, back links are inbound links to a web page or site. This means that another website contains a hyperlink directed towards your site. In terms of SEO, the more back links you have pointing toward your website the better, particularly if the back links are coming from a site which deals with the same field as your chosen speciality.
As the number one goal of a website is to achieve traffic, i.e. people actually looking at the site, it follows that you must make the website visible. Generally speaking, to make your website visible, people must be able to find it when they search for keywords directly related to your product, niche, service or whatever else your website represents. Individuals tend to be seeking such information via the big search engines, whose operators have rather complicated algorithms to help them decide whether a certain website is applicable to the searcher’s request, or not.
Although they will not divulge exactly how they go about composing these algorithms, the search engine operators do assure us that relevancy, as viewed by others, is most important. If they see that you have a back link or a number of back links from other websites that have some relevancy to yours, this is a plus. In addition, if the site linking to you has a fairly high “page rank”, this helps as well. Page rank is Google’s proprietary method of allocating a number (zero being lowest and moving up to ten) indicating how important a site is within its particular niche of operations.
There are a number of ways to achieve back links for your site.
ARTICLE MARKETING.
As Bill Gates once said, “content is king”. Article marketing is known as one of the most solid Internet marketing methods. By writing highly relevant and informative articles and submitting them to high profile article directories you do several things, not the least important of which is to help establish you or your site as an expert in your niche. Within your article, published in the article directory, is a resource box which contains your details – who you are and what you do, and a link back to your site, the all important Back Link.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING.
There are many hundreds of social bookmarking sites, and their primary motive is basically to provide a way of informing people about the existence of content related to any niche or interest in a very manageable format. You can sign up and initiate a process of notifying social bookmarking sites about fresh content, including back links in many cases. You should note at this stage that some webmasters apply a “no follow” tag which can void the effect of a back link, as the tag instructs the search engine spider not to give you points, or what’s called “link love”.
SOCIAL MEDIA – TWITTER.
Whilst Twitter and other similar sites are becoming increasingly more powerful in marketing terms, you should know that to include links within your “tweets” or in your URL profile box is not a powerful back linking strategy, as these are all allocated the dreaded no follow tag. However, you may find that it is possible to link within a bio box and get some link love this way. Also, if you syndicate, your Twitter feeds are updated via the RSS aggregators, earning you back links.
BLOG COMMENTING.
First of all, you will have to locate blogs or forums that are relevant to your area of expertise. This is fairly simple to accomplish as a straightforward and pertinent search will locate hosts. Once you find these blogs you can sign up and create a profile. Often you will be allowed to create what is called a “signature”, and within that signature you incorporate your links. Note, you should check to see if there are any no follow tags, as these will appear occasionally.
Enter into the spirit of the place by interacting with other members and making entries and posting comments that are relevant, useful and educational. As well as a back link being displayed each time you post a comment, you’ll also create a potentially profitable bond with other members – and this has the potential to lead to all kinds of new possiblities.
Back link building remains one of the most important SEO strategies to adopt.
The Green Free Fifteen – 15 Ways to Save Energy and Water in Your Home
by: Dan Bossenbroek
If you don’t have any money to invest in green, sustainable, eco-friendly products or strategies you are in luck! Here are 15 ways that you can start to trim your utility bills by using less energy and water. Unless you have been living under a rock you have probably heard some of these before, but they are still worth repeating.
1. Turn Off the Lights: This is a favorite of dads everywhere. I can still hear my dad, and now I’m repeating it to my kids: “When you leave a room, turn off the lights.”
2. Turn Down / Up the Thermostat: By adjusting your thermostat down a few degrees in the winter and up a few more in the summer you can make a significant cut in your heating and cooling bills. There can be added benefits to doing this: more snuggling in the winter and less clothing in the summer.
3. Stingy Showers: By taking shorter showers or even skipping one here and there, you can save thousands of gallons of water a year. As an added bonus, your energy bills will go down as well, since it typically costs more to heat the water for your shower than for the water itself.
4. Wear it Once More: Wear your blue jeans and dress shirt more than once before you wash it and save hundreds of gallons of water and cut your energy bills at the same time.
5. Power Down: Don’t just let your computer sit there and let the screen saver run all day. If you are going to be away from your computer for more than a half an hour, go ahead and turn it off.
6. Line Dry Your Clothes: Hanging your clothes out to dry will not only save you energy, but your clothes will smell better (no dryer sheets required), be less wrinkled (saving you on ironing), and will last longer – effectively saving you money four ways.
7. Open the Windows: On those wonderful days where it is in the 80’s in the afternoon, but temperatures drop to the 60’s over night, open all your windows when the temperature drops below 78° (recommended thermostat setting in the summer) at night and let that cool air in. Then in the morning close all your windows to keep the heat of the day out. With the help of a couple of window fans you can easily avoid turning on your air conditioner well into May or even June (depending of course on where you live).
8. Open the Drapes: On those wonderful sunny winter days, open the drapes and let the sunshine in. This energy from the sun will help to warm your house and help to lower your heating bills a little too.
9. Close the Drapes: Yet, on warm summer days that very same sunshine can be an unwelcome guest in your house and a considerable burden on your air conditioner. On those days, closing the drapes can keep the temperature in your house several degrees cooler and keep your air conditioner from running quite as much.
10. Wave it: On of the most efficient method of cooking is with a microwave oven. Microwaves concentrate the cooking energy on the food and avoid heating up an entire oven, stovetop or even kitchen.
11. Keep it Raw: Better yet, eat it raw. Avoid cooking all together and enjoy a green salad, but keep in mind that a green salad need not be limited to some lettuce and spinach, with a few baby carrots and cherry tomatoes thrown in. Consider adding several of the following: onions, radishes, any one of a variety of nuts, broccoli, peas, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers, cheese. Along with your salad you could enjoy a deli sandwich and some fruit. Why heat up your food and your kitchen, especially on those how summer days?
12. Wash in Cold: Many laundry detergents these days do a fine job of cleaning clothes in cold water. By washing your clothes in cold water your clothes will still get clean and your hot water heater will get a break.
13. Close it Off: Many houses built over the past ten to twenty years have a room that is called a living room on the floor plans, but it is there primarily for resale value and is seldom used. Many of these same houses have a guest bedroom as well that may be used a few times a year. By closing off these rooms your heating and cooling bills could be significantly reduced.
14. Up with the Sun: “Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” This may be an old idiom by Franklin, but is also good advice if you want to save some money on your lighting bills. If you don’t stay up so late you can turn off all those lights and save a little money.
15. Be a Water Miser: Only turn the water on when you need it when you are brushing your teeth and shaving and you can save hundreds of gallons of water a year.
Take a few free steps to save some energy and water, along the way you will find a little extra money in your wallet as well.
Web 3.0
By : Shailendra Sial
In my last blogs we discussed the shift in Web and also the Web 3.0 Technology. So as a final point what do we expect from this New Generation Web? It won’t surprise me if Web 2.0 just turns out to be a stage making way to a much more mature and durable Web 3.0 is going to deliver a new generation of business applications Web 3.0 era. Over a couple of weeks I have been reading articles and trying to analyze key characteristics of Web 3.0, using a lot of company examples like Google, Amazon and EBay. But I’m not too sure if all these companies will be leading the Web 3.0 era. Some less mentioned companies like WebEx, WebSideStory, NetSuite, Jamcracker, Rearden Commerce and Salesforce.com have also been casting light on how Web 3.0 might take over the World of Web. I would like to make a point here for people still not very clear about Web 3.0. This new web isn’t just about shopping, entertainment or some kind of search; instead it will bring in a new generation of business applications that will change the definition of all the above mentioned terms. So will the ‘Web 3.0′ be the Semantic Web? Probably yes. It might just take some time to annotate the world’s information and then to capture personal information in the right way, to enable the kinds of applications that we have discussed. For all my interest in the technologies being used, I see two drawbacks to Web 3.0 or the New Generation Web. Semantic Web (Web 3.0) is just Personalized Web The first is that, to me, the semantic web isn’t a web centralized in a specific tool or environment instead web in a whole. If we have a “Facebook and Wikipedia mashup”, it might be successful, and it might be semantic, but it isn’t the web. The whole point of the semantic web technologies is for each of us to interpret our data, wherever we are, regardless of tool, and begin to really drive out the tiny threads of true meaning on a global scale. If we have to leave our places where we’re at and go elsewhere, this seems to create a disconnect, right from the start. The second issue I saw the marketing hype associated with the tool; the uses of the terms: “Web 3.0″, “semantic graph”, and the “first mainstream Semantic Web application”. I can understand the reasoning behind the marketing. After all, this is the candy that lures in the kiddies, and adds billions of valuation to chaotic applications like Facebook. Lack of effective promotion is what the semantic web supporters have been criticized for in the past. At the same time, the marketing, location, and early associations also serves to enclose the application within an increasingly limited community. I can’t think of anything more ‘not’ semantic web than to become part of such an narrow community. Still, these are my perceived drawbacks based on what I read. I won’t know anything ‘real’ until I try the app myself.
Inspiration Through Leadership
By: gregspin
There are many ways to measure our success in life. Some see it as the attainment of wealth and accumulation material things. Others might say raising a happy family is the most important thing to which we humans can aspire. The point is, we’re all different, we all have unique viewpoint and there’s really no right or wrong answer. There is something that the majority of us do have in common, however, and that’s the desire to be looked up to, respected and to give happiness and fulfilment to others. You may be the managing director of a large company, a parent, a teacher; whatever your role in life, your leadership skills gives you the opportunity to earn the respect of your fellow human beings and to attain the success you desire. It is often said that effective leaders have the ability to motivate others. It is probably more accurate, however, to say that a good leader will inspire others to do what’s best for them. This inspiration can be given in a number of ways. Your passion to achieve a particular goal or outcome will, if shown to others, encourage them to follow your lead. Asking questions that provoke thought and encourage the receiver to reflect and answer internally can inspire people to act in a mutually beneficial way. Engaging in meaningful conversation with others will help them to make effective choices. Continued assistance in setting meaningful goals, and ensuring that reason for the goal is clearly understood, is a very useful way to inspire others. Ongoing coaching, or mentoring, is very important, as it helps those you wish to inspire to continue to make new, good choices. Most importantly, your actions should be a source of inspiration to those you wish to motivate and must align with your words. Lead by example! Self belief is a crucial attribute of the effective leader. Clearly, it is going to be very difficult to get others to follow you if they doubt your commitment to a proposed venture. Furthermore, you will have difficulty inspiring yourself, if you don’t have faith in your ability to achieve your goals. Self belief leads to self confidence – and this assurance shines through as a beacon to those you wish to lead. The display of confidence is crucial for several reasons. First of all, it gives a clear physical demonstration of leadership; a focal point for others. Secondly, the knowledge of a “strong hand on the tiller” inspires the self-belief in others. A great example of the power of demonstrated confidence is to be found in the tradition of 18th and 19th century ship’s captains to remain a visible presence on the deck of their ships in the heat of battle. Although this practice was to cost the great Lord Nelson his life, it inspired his men to victory and beyond. Thirdly, confidence creates an aura of invincibility in negotiations and other high pressure situations. Keep your cool, and enjoy the benefits that confident, clear decision making will bring. Whatever the size of your organisation, you must be familiar with its workings at every level. You must be prepared to ask questions, read about and research the various aspects of your business. There must be no part of it that you cannot discuss or give advice on. You must be up-to-date with recent developments and be able to talk knowledgeably on all relevant subjects. It is said that knowledge is power and being an expert on your business will earn you the respect of your peers and those who look to you for leadership. Having unexpected knowledge is an extremely effective way to gain an important edge in negotiations. It also has the highly desirable side-effects of increasing your confidence, setting an example to others and inspiring them increase their knowledge and effectiveness.
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How to Prevent Identity Theft in 8 Ways
According to a survey conducted by the Better Business Bureau, in 2006, there were about 8.9 million reported cases of ID theft which amounts to a staggering $56.6 billion. With the advancement of technology, these identity thieves are also advancing in skills and expertise. Always remember that any of your personal information can be used against you. Your social security number, drivers license, credit card, bank account numbers, telephone number, address, date of birth and full name can be used to commit a crime or a fraud using your identity. In the past, identity thieves steal wallets or search trash bins to obtain all these valuable information. Today, they have come up with more sophisticated ways on stealing personal information through the internet. What can you do to protect yourself?
8 Ways to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft
* Check Your Credit Report. Obtaining a copy of your credit report at least once a year will help you monitor the accuracy of your accounts. Carefully examine if all transactions reflected on your credit report is correct. Check the record of your payments. Check that all your personal details are correct as well. If there is any misinformation on your credit report, contact the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) right away and request that the errors you found be immediately corrected.
* Do not carry all your credit cards and your important IDs in your wallet. If your wallet gets stolen, thieves can easily get a lot of personal information about you. Carrying one credit card should be enough to get through your purchases. In case, you do lose your wallet, do not waste a minute and notify your credit card issuers instantly.
* Never provide your personal information through telephone, e-mail or the internet. Identity thieves often use phone calls to get a persons Social Security Number or credit card numbers. They often reason that the information is needed for verification purposes. However, be aware that legitimate lending companies and banks do not make verifications over the phone. You may also receive e-mails asking you to provide confidential information. Bear in mind that legitimate companies never solicit such private information over unsecured channels.
* Do not throw ATM receipts or shopping receipts in the trash. When you are using the ATM or shopping, always take the receipts with you. You can throw these receipts when you get home. Just make sure you shred them into small pieces before putting them in the trash.
* Keep a close watch on your credit card. When using credit card or debit card to pay for your bills, make sure that your card never gets out of your sight. This is especially true in restaurants. Some waiters use skimmers or small devices that are used to get information from your credit card. If it is not possible to keep your credit card in sight, it is best to pay in cash.
* Be aware about credit card bills or statement of accounts sent by post mail. If you have not received your state of account or bills for the month, call your lenders and inform them that you have not received anything in your mail. This is a common scheme where thieves call the bank and ask for a change of address so that the true owner of the account will not be informed about his charges.
* Do not write confidential information anywhere. For reference, you can list down all your personal information in a separate notebook kept in a secured place in your home.
* Do not provide your Social Security Number (SSN) unless it is extremely necessary. If a company asks you to provide your SSN, you may politely decline and explain your stand against identity theft. A legitimate company must be able to provide their customers a written policy about how they handle confidential information such as SSN. If a company does not have a Privacy Policy, you have every right to refuse. If a company insists, take your business somewhere else.
These are just some of the ways on how you can protect yourself from falling victim of identity theft. Some of these are simple steps that are often forgotten or neglected by many people. However, keep in mind that identity thieves are more cunning and are always on the alert, ready to victimize people who do not take these precautions.
To learn more about protecting your identity, visit www.offeringsecurity.com. There are many other types of identity theft besides your finances or credit. Ask me for more information! ~Michele
Solar Panels and Wind Turbines – Build Your Own And Save On Your Energy Bill
by: Dave Richard
Is it easy to build a solar panel? How much will it cost me to get the material? Is it safe? How much can I save on my energy bill? Where do I get the material? Who will teach me how to do it?
Hi, I am Dave Richard. These are just some of the questions I get every day. It seems like everybody is becoming more and more interested in generating their own energy nowadays…. and with good reasons.
With constant climate change we are facing huge challenges and that may be the reason for you, but we are also in the middle of the most destructive global economic crisis known to mankind. This maybe the reason for many others – they want to save money.
No matter your intentions, you can have the benefit of both if you decide to generate your own free, clean, environmentally friendly energy to power up your whole household.
There are many websites teaching you to build your own solar panels and wind turbines. However, not all of them are good. If you do not know which one to choose you will go round in circles and even lose money. With my experience in the alternative energy arena, I already reviewed many of these websites and I found only a few that have valid techniques (see my website for the latest reviews).
To answer a few of the questions above:
To build your own solar panel is indeed very easy. In fact, my 12 year old daughter learned to do it in less than two days! It is also a fun project for the whole family.
Most of the material or parts can be found at your local hardware store and to build one solar panel can cost you in the region of $90 to $150.
Many of the guides that I recommend promotes safety. In fact, I will not allow my children to help me build any electricity generating appliance if it is not safe!
When following the step by step instructions of the experts, you can initially save up to 50% on your energy bill. With replication, you can even go “off grid” in a few months. Yes, I’m not paying a dime over to my energy provider – thanks to my 4 solar panels!
Isn’t it time for us, the small guys, to also get involved in protecting our resources and leave behind something to our children and their children? It just seems that “big business” talks the talk, but never walks the walk. Isn’t it time for us to determine our own financial stability and to save where we can instead of waiting for “bailouts” from government?
Isn’t it time for us to take charge? Will you take charge?
A Review of Carbonite Backup Service
A Note from Michele’s Liquidfreedom: I have been interested in checking Carbonite out. Carbonite is an online backup service for your computer files. There are numerous sites out there that do this, but I was instantly attracted to Carbonite from what I saw. I saw this review article and decided to share it. I have not had a chance to try it myself so this review doesn’t express my views at this point in time. When I try it myself, I will write a follow-up, but until then I thought this may be helpful.
Submitted By: Jason Kay
This world has certainly gone digital and everyone now has a computer with numerous files that need to be backed up with a service such as Carbonite online backup service. Carbonite backup service is an online backup system that allows you to backup all of the files on your computer so they can be safeguarded against the unthinkable.
So many people think that losing computer files just won’t happen to them. But the facts are that there are people every day, many of whom probably thought they were safe too, who lose their computer files for a variety of reasons. Still don’t think you are at risk? Check out the facts:
• 43 percent of all computers will have ‘accidental’ file deletion occur this year.
• Even new hard drives fail to the tune of about 13 percent per year.
• Only about three percent of all stolen lap tops are ever recovered.
• Each year countless computers are lost to fire, flood, and other natural disasters.
With statistics like these you can plainly see that it simply isn’t worth the risk to not have your files backed up with an online service such as Carbonite.
There are many online backup services available today, but Carbonite seems to always be on the top of the list. Carbonite takes all of your files and encrypts them so that they are useless if stolen and keeps them encrypted until you log on using a secure user name and password to have them unencrypted. This is the same method that banks and financial intuitions use and like banks, Carbonite too encrypts not once, but twice. This ensures that even the slickest of hackers cannot get to your files.
Carbonite is extremely easy to use and install. Once you pay for your service there is a small download to do and Carbonite walks you through the process of the installation. Then you set what you want backed up and Carbonite takes care of the rest.
Carbonite is totally integrated with your computer so you never have to remember to turn it on or to tell it to backup files because it is all an automatic process. Even when your computer is sitting idle, if something changes, Carbonite is right there to backup that change. In other words, when your computer is working, so too is Carbonite.
If anything ever does happen and you need to retrieve your files you can do so with great ease. Simply log on using any computer with an internet connection and your files are right there for you to access with your secure user name and password. You can do this 24/7 and even on holidays.
The best part about Carbonite is they let you test drive the program for free before you buy. You don’t even need a credit card to try it out. Once you do decide to buy the protection that Carbonite offers, you will only be out $54.95 for an entire year, which breaks down to less than five bucks per month. That’s a lot of peace of mind for a very little bit of money.
Easy to use and ultra-affordable; what more could you ask for? Thanks to Carbonite online backup you have no excuse not to have all of your files protected at all times.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Signing Up for Paid Surveys
by: Richard Harley
Paid surveys are a nice and easy way to make extra income without picking up a second job. However, when it comes to determining which survey opportunities to participate in, ask yourself these three questions: Do I have to pay for it? Is this a viable business opportunity and is it long term? And what kind of cash can I realistically make? Each of these three questions will be answered in depth below and this will help you determine if the paid survey model is a good fit for you or not.
Do I have to pay for it? Any legitimate survey or market research company worth a salt will not require any kind of money from you up front. You are providing them real feedback so you should not be charged. Also a survey company should have an affiliate program where again it pays you if you refer your friends and family to partake in the surveys as well. Some companies take the time to compile directories or lists and sell memberships instead. If you look into these, be sure to read some reviews on the individual service first.
Is this a viable business opportunity and is it for me?
Companies wanting to develop new products want to know what the consumer wants and needs in the marketplace. Before they spend any kind of major capital on development of a new product, they pour millions of dollars into market research to avoid having a product that turns out to be a total flop. Surveys take time, companies understand this, and are willing to compensate individuals for their time with a nominal amount of cash incentive. If you plan on looking for a quick buck, look else where. This business model requires some consistent effort in order to see any kind of real results.
What kind of cash can I realistically make?
Before you know how much you can make for each survey, you need to read the fine print. Many times companies will tell you that you earn “credits” or “points” which in turn can be converted to cash or a Visa gift card, which is treated like cash. Some companies will just give you flat out cash and usually pay out 2-4 weeks after you have completed the survey. Most of the time this is has to do with their accounting cycles. Payouts can be anywhere from $2 dollars for a 5 minute survey all the way to $20 for a 30 minutes survey and even as has as $75 and beyond.
Paid surveys can help create additional streams of income that require no start up capital other than some time set aside each day of the week in order to make anything work for them. You should not have to pay for any kind of survey opportunity. You should expect to work on this consistently for the greatest gains possible. Read the fine print because not all companies give cold hard cash.
Passive Income. One Simple Source, Multiple Income Streams.
Author: Ben Frank Jr.
Passive income is the true key to unlimited wealth and financial freedom. It gives anyone the potential to make money without working, which is the only way real freedom can be established. And it is great for building wealth too. Rich people know that earning money from a single source is not the way to amass a fortune, and therefore they use passive income streams to create multiple sources of income. When your income is automated, you can keep building it up without getting lost in a ton of work and obligation. And there are tons of opportunities all around for creating automatic income sources, some of which are easy, fun, and very inexpensive or even free to begin.
After years of interest with various income streams, I have had experience with a number of different types of income. I have owned vending machines and offline businesses, but now I do all of my income generating online. The internet is a perfect way to connect with people worldwide and develop streams of income that work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In fact, you can create a whole assortment of income streams all from one effective money generating source…. your own profit site! It is simple these days for anyone, even without any experience, to create an informational website that generates income around the clock.
We all know something about something. We all have experience, expertise, knowledge, and information to share about something. Why not turn that knowledge into passive income streams? That is what an informational website does, uses your knowledge to earn money. Content rich websites, which is just another way of saying information rich websites, have an easy time generating traffic from the search engines. This coupled with some other website promotion strategies, and your website can be crawling with visitors. Once the visitors come, so does the money.
Monetizing an information website so that the traffic is converted to money is simple and can be done in many ways. Thats what I love most about my websites. One website can simultaneously earn money from many sources, which makes them perfect cash machines. You can monetize simply by adding Google AdSense ads and affiliate products, or you can make use of a number of additional methods like list building, selling your own products, network marking, selling advertising “real estate,” etc. The goal is to turn as many of your visitors into profits, so using a variety of methods works well for most information rich websites.
In the end it all comes down to traffic. The more of it you have, the more profits your website will earn. If you learn some simple search engine optimization techniques you will be able to generate free traffic from major search engines. This is always a good idea and can give you a great traffic base. I like to drive additional traffic to my websites with article marketing, social networking, and link building. Once you learn how to effectively use a variety of internet marketing methods, you will have a lot of fun building big traffic and big passive income profits.
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