Ramblings of a Semi-Gifted Mind

• 31Aug

  Surveys That Pay and Survey-Takers That Get Paid!

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  In these difficult economic times many people are looking for ways to earn extra cash. One way to consider is to sign up for paying surveys and get cash for surveys.

  Most big companies have no real contact with their final customers, the consumers who buy their products and services. They really must know the preferrences of these consumers to make intelligent decisions about improving existing products, introducing new products and designing their next advertising campaigns.

  Traditionally, they get the answers they need by contracting market researchers. These market researchers then send out carefully worded questionnaires to consumers who are part of the target market segment.

  This is a really big deal on the Internet - the cheapest and fastest way to send out surveys and get back results. So how do they get volunteers for the surveys? They pay them, and pay them well for their time. A 5-7 minute surveys pays $10; 12-15 minutes brings in $20-25!

  That is how we are able to sign up and take surveys for money.

  That’s how we can make money by taking surveys that pay!

  Now, the way you get invited to take surveys for money is to get on the lists of a number of survey makers. You want to find the good ones, the 20% that offer legitimate paid online surveys that pay on time and in cash and that respect your privacy.

  You need a good list from someone who cares (not a “free” list; those are full of the 40% of “survey makers” you want to avoid. Look to good paid survey membership sites that keep good lists for their members. They have good lists; if they don’t they go out of business!

  For full details and all the info you will need, just click on any link above…

  By - J.R.Watson

• 31Aug

  Gatwick airport parking online for greater selection

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  Due to the closeness of the airport and short transfer time many travellers and in particular business users prefer to use the on airport car parks at Gatwick. Whilst parking on the airport is still the preferred option of many travellers due to the quicker distance to terminal. Commercial travellers for instance use this option because the cost of parking is usually covered by the company. On airport parking is considered more expensive than a Gatwick off airport car park, companies looking to reduce their running costs are using off airport car parks more and more which looked at over a year can make a condiderable saving. Price comparison sites in particular offer a range of off airport car parks to meet all budgets and requirements.

  Prices vary depending how far the car park is from the terminal and at the time you book how many spaces are left. As the car park fills the price will rise or conversely if an operator feels he will be left with spaces the price will fall. Most car parks are controlled by pre-set computer pricing and this is why the price is always changing as the car fills for given departure dates

  Flypark is able to offer a range of off car parks for all your Airport parking Gatwick needs. Due to price, off airport car parks often fill up before on airport car parks and we recomend that you book as early as possible, to secure a place especially in high season. The other advantage is being dropped outside your terminal and being picked up at a designated point relieving the driver having to find his way round Gatwick.

  Another option which is becoming ever popular is hotel near Gatwick. By choosing this option this allows you to travel down the day before and be transferred to the terminal the next day. Apart from getting your holiday off to a relaxing start it allows the traveller to set their own agenda and have sufficient time if delays occur. The cost of hotel airport parking can range from a budget hotel right up to a four star hotel.

• 31Aug

  Key Phrases and Link Building

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  So you’ve read somewhere that link building is the answer to increasing your sales online.

  Link building is very important, and probably counts for more than 60% towards top rankings. Before you do any managed link building, one of the most important things you can do before departing with your money is a keyword research exercise.

  Important: Your ultimate objective shouldn’t be just to get lots of traffic to your site from high rankings (although this is important), but instead should be to get a high sales conversion. Having a #1 listing in Google means nothing unless you can convert visitors to your website into satisfied customers or have them at least take a next desired action like filling out a form.

  The more targeted and specific your chosen keywords are, the greater the chance that visitors to your site will find what they are looking for. Determine what it is that they need, what problems they have, and what solutions you can offer to help them.

  So how do you determine which keywords are most important and relevant for your website?

  There are some tools that you can use, with out you having to type in all the keywords in Google..By using the following keyword tools,WordTracker (http://www.wordtracker.com) Keyword Discovery and Word Tracker are effective tools and work by analyzing the true search habits of people on the Internet.

  Good free tools that you can use areGoogles Insight Tool (http://www.google.com/insights/search/)

  Find more SEO Tips at http://www.Rankability.co.uk

  Before you do anything else you should first brainstorm and make a list of all possible words and phrases that you think a customer may use to find your products and services.

  Don’t include industry jargon, acronyms, or buzzwords that only experts in your industry or marketers would know. You can also use these tools to estimate beforehand how much traffic you can potentially expect to receive so it is an invaluable tool for general business research. Here are some tips when using these tools.Identifying some of the “longer tail” secondary and tertiary search phrases that you should be able to optimize for fairly easily. Export your results to Excel where you can then easily sort your data into decreasing volume order.

  Now look for your Primary
  Ideally, you have a single keyword phrase that sticks out from the rest that best represents the category of service, product, or information your website provides.In general, this will be your most generic and most competitive phrase, thus it will also be the most difficult to rank well for.

  Now find some more specific keywords that are related to yoru primary keyword.These phrases will be used on your specific product or lower category pages.

  For example, let’s use a website that sells vegetable seeds online:
  Primary Keyword Phrase: “garden seeds”Specific variations: “home garden seeds”  “vegetable garden seeds”

  See how the Primary Keyword Phrase is contained within the more specific phrases? This is the perfect situation. Do not try to go after very broad, generic keywords or single words. Those times are over, trying to compete with others that started SEO years ago and those that have deep pockets. The secret is to go for verticals and less competitive searches.

  Find your Secondary Keyword Phrases?
  These are your Secondary Keyword Phrases that, while also highly relevant to your website or business, are not searched on as frequently as your Primary Keyword Phrase. Using the example above, here are some Secondary Keyword Phrases for “vegetable seeds”: Secondary Keyword Phrases: “vegetable seeds” “organic vegetable seeds” , “garden vegetable seeds”, “vegetable seeds plants”, “vegetable seeds catalog” “new potato vegetable seeds”
  Secondary Keyword Phrases should also be used on your site, just not as frequently as your Primary Keyword Phrase.

  General Keyword Strategy:Now that you have your list of best and most important keyword phrases, here is the general strategy of how to use them on your web pages. The general rule of thumb is that you optimize each page for ideally no more than two different keyword phrases. Each page should include your Primary Keyword Phrase. Your home page should also contain your best Secondary Keyword Phrase. Each product, service, or content page should also contain the best specific variation to your Primary Keyword Phrase. Because your home page is generally the one that gets the highest ranking, and is linked to most from other sites, you need to place special emphasis on the use of your Primary Keyword Phrase there.

• 31Aug

  Discover How to Start Trade Stock To Gain Money Immediately

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  If you are looking ahead to generating some extra money, beside your main job, then stock trading is your best option. So how to start trade stock? Since trading stocks is not actually rocket science, so it is quite easy to begin with. But one must have a proper understanding of the basics in order to ensure exact identification of the stocks that could turn profits by dealing.

  To start, one must read a lot of information about stock trading. You would find a lot of websites that provide the basic orientation to the stock market, especially the terms used in the stock market and how things mainly work. However, almost all the books and websites will have data about the history of trading. Studying history of stocks may not seem to have much relevance, but it would assist you in understanding the present market situation better.

  If you feel you are clear with the basics, its time to practice trading. However, it isn’t wise to trade money while practicing. In that regard, a few websites provide virtual portofolios of the stock market, where there is no money involved, but you can practice trading on the live market. This gives an experience of the real market, and should help you move ahead with bigger things.

  After you practicing in the simulated market and is confident to make some profit, then it is time to start real trading. However, for trading, you would need a brokerage account, which would let you to sell and buy stocks for a small fee. There are lots of professional broker firms that can take care of your trading needs. Although they can be a bit expensive, but they provide extra services like stock tips, help in maintaining your portfolio, and much more. trading happens over the computer using the the internet or over the phone. However, most broker companies provide a personal terminal to all its customers for better trading experience.

  There are a few strategies of trading in the stock market. Of course, none of them can be labled as correct or incorrect, as it depends on trader to trader on what strategy one uses. Therefore, books wouldn’t enlighten much on it. While a few of the traders like to go for the long term gains and would generally invest in stocks for a long time; while some would go for short term profit and would be inclined to make frequent transactions and take advantage on the fluctuations in the daily market. These schemes can only be developed when one gains experience.

  This last tip is probably the most important for new traders: Trading stocks successfully is possible only by adaptive learning. No one can be expected to make profits from his first day itself. It is a true fact that everyone has incurred losses while trading; otherwise the whole stock trading system wouldn’t have been viable. Therefore, one must not be bogged down by losses, as learning from mistakes is the most effective way of learning. And in the world of stock trading, success comes by this method. Nonetheless, by beeing well educated and while following the proper advice, this can be totally avoided.

  There are many other investment options if you think stock trading is not for you.

• 31Aug

  Have Fun Playing Sonic Games

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  People cherish the memories of their childhood, including the video games they played. If you were born before or during the 1980’s, you probably played or heard of Sonic the Hedgehog. If you owned a Sega Genesis or knew someone who did, you’ve probably played Sonic, because it was so popular. All of the newer, better video games still can’t compare to the classic play of a game like Sonic the Hedgehog. It doesn’t matter how high tech these systems get, because people will still remember the simplicity from when they used to play Sonic games. Fortunately, thanks to games being made for new systems, Sonic may never die. A new way to get the retro games you want is with the Nintendo Wii. The only drawback is that you will have to pay for Wii game downloads. On the Wii, Sonic and other Sega games cost about $8.00 each, or 800 Wii Points.

  Whether you’ve got a game system or not, you can find and play Sonic online games for free. These games are the same as the originals, so that you can enjoy them whenever you want. Playing games from years past online is exciting many people. There are many websites that exist simply for the enjoyment of these older games. The simplicity of finding the games you used to love online might surprise you. No matter how old you are, you can enjoy the Sonic of your younger years online anytime you want.

  Whether your favorite was Sonic 1, 2, or 3, or even Sonic Spinball or Sonic and Knuckles, you can find it online to play. With the internet offering so much, it’s only expected that they would bring back the beloved Sonic series online. For those who have consoles with the Sonic games available, this might not be a big deal. That’s because these people are able to play Sonic games on their console, so online play might not be a big deal.

  However, why bother buying the games, unless you’re a die hard fan, when you can play them online, often for free? Many people prefer the controllers that come with consoles. However, you can buy a controller for your computer, and enjoy Sonic anytime you want. Regardless of the importance of a controller, you can play Sonic games online, which offer free entertainment and fun for all people. People often enjoy the nostalgia that comes with playing online games that they played growing up.

• 31Aug

  Storage Shed for around the house…

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  When you have limited space in and around your home, you may find that it is necessary for you to have an alternative source for storing items. You can use a storage shed for the outside equipment that you have to have. This will be a huge help for anyone that wants to have all of his or her equipment well kept and organized.

  A storage shed can be used in just about any area. These sheds are placed in backyards across the globe and are used in many different ways. This is the ideal place for all of your outdoor lawn and garden equipment and tools. If you have a lawn mower or tractor this would be the best place to store them when they are not in use.

  You can also use a storage shed for children’s bikes and toys that they will use throughout the year. You can use this space for the bikes but also the scooters, balls, bats, sleds, skateboards, and many others outside toys and accessories that kids like to play with. This would keep the items stored neatly as well as keeping them together in one place for the child to find easily.

  Storage sheds can be made from many different materials. There are wood, vinyl and even cedar sheds to decide on. You can choose the one that you like best and that fits your needs better. Once you have your shed, keep it well maintained and it will look nice in any yard for many years to come.

• 31Aug

  The Definitive Guide To Hand Waving Flags

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  Introduction

  When you think of the term Paper flags do you think of the crowds of people standing at the roadside while the Queen goes by waving little flags like crazy? Well believe it or not, today paper flags are big business! Can you believe our company makes millions of them every year for all sorts of firms such as theatres, building societies, councils, garages, and estate agents not to mention charities and supporters clubs.

  I gave my last printed flag to a little boy called Anthony (you know who you are!) and you should have seen his face light up. Of course he ran off waving it like crazy!

  Paper flags can be printed on one or both sides and are mounted on a plastic stick so they can be held in the hand for waving in a crowd. These paper flags are colourful, attractive, and economical. They have become very popular, particularly over recent years, just try not to wave one as soon as it is given to you! I bet you won’t be able to help yourself!
  Some of the great benefits of these printed paper flags as promotional items is that they are environmentally friendly, really cost effective to create, and everyone loves waving them. Compared to other much more costly promotional items, gifts or marketing giveaways they are always a great success.The number of re-orders we get is testament to that!

  History of Paper Flags

  Paper did not appear in the western world until the early 1300s so it would have been some time later that the earliest know form of small flags were cut out of paper. These were usually religious in depiction and today, thousands of colourful cut-paper flags which depict various mythological and religious figures are produced in China for annual festivals. Can you remember when you were a child cutting rows of patterns, sometimes figures of girls or boys from folded paper? This is the handed down tradition of Scherenschnitte which is the German for “scissors” cutting, which is often translated as “silhouette” a practise which became popular in Austria in the seventeenth century. From this time a whole tradition of cut paper craft has evolved around the world, such as the shadow puppets of Indonesia and the common tissue-paper flags of Mexico known as Paper Picado.

  Current Usage

  Youngsters particularly enjoy waving flags during festivals, shows or exhibitions. Paper flags however are more commonly used today to advertise and promote sporting events, fund raising projects or special occasions. Promotional printed flags are a wonderful way of catching the eye and can be a profitable way of advertising for any exhibition. Colourful paper flags are attractive, economical to produce and ever popular.

  Most people just can’t resist hand wavers give one to anybody and they are sure to give it a quick wave.

  Whether it’s the World Championship, the Premier League, or a local cup final, supporters with their paper flags, show their true team spirit. That is why paper flags for supporters are the top choice of some of the biggest clubs and soccer leagues in the world.

  Paper flags are cheap to produce and can be purchased at unbelievably low give-away prices. A huge range of samples of printed flags are available as printers of paper flags will generally hold back a few items from each run as examples of the kind of products available. These will all relate to real world, fund raising campaigns, promotions, product launches, and sports teams events.

  There is a huge selection of artwork to choose from for custom made paper flags because the print area is flat and a set size. The only boundaries are an individual’s imagination (and the size of the flag too of course).

  They can be ordered in whatever quantities required as they are usually quick to manufacture and easy to deliver.
  Obviously paper flags are great for other promotional events, such as VIP visits, sales events and advertising. You can get printed flags with your own promotional message or custom printed logo on one or both sides and they can also be used as promotional giveaways. A distinct advantage to using printed flags for different promotional events, is that they are very easy to produce in both large and small quantities at a very low cost. Because they are digitally printed there will be the best possible quality finish to the flags and reordering is a breeze.

  Conclusion

  I am sure very few people will have given any consideration to small hand held flags until there is an occasion when they want to make use of them I mean it’s not generally the first thought you have when you wake up in the morning!. Then what happens? At one time people would have to go to a specialist store that stocked such things. Today, with the Internet all these things are so much easier as you just do a quick Google search.. Such has our world changed. Buyers can even use their own designs. They can choose from a large range of pre designed flags, into which their personal messages can be incorporated.

  Prices for printing a recycled flag can be as low as 12 pence each making them really low cost promotional items, and effective branding tools for any business.

  So do not be restricted by the images of small children waving little flags while royalty go by, and see what exciting and differing paper flag ideas you can come up with for your next promotional campaign.

   

• 30Aug

  Excitement of Writing Books

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  There are a lot of people looking for some type of guidance to help them get a book written and published. It can be a long and confusing journey and it helps to have a mentor or group of experts you can turn to. Good thing we have 4 popular fantasy authors to help you out.

  Here is another good article about writing books, from one of four authors that post weekly about the writing process and getting published.

  This one is from Misty Massey:

  Writing to the Writer

  As a writer, I’ve always ever had one true hope for my work, and that was that it might someday make a reader feel the way my favorite author’s books always made me feel. I wanted my readers to come away from my stories breathing a satisfied sigh of time well spent.

  When I was a child, I used to write letters to authors whose work impressed me, people like E L Konigsberg, Elizabeth Enright (and was broken-hearted to learn she had died some years before my letter arrived), and Marguerite Henry. Most of the time the only response was a form letter of some kind from the publisher, thanking me for my interest.

  When I was 10 or 11, I wrote a letter to my favorite author (at the time), Alexander Key. I’d just finished his fantastic novel Flight to the Lonesome Place, and I had a question about one of the characters. Everyone told me not to expect a personal response, since he was a famous author and I was just a kid who read his book.

  Imagine my excitement when a letter arrived a few weeks later, with “A. Key” in the return address corner. I read his charming, thoughtful, personal response to my question at least one hundred times. My favorite author had taken the time to write to me, a mere reader. How amazing was that?

  These days I’m the one getting correspondence from readers. It’s a good deal easier here in the 21st century, what with email and blog lines. No one has to search very diligently before they find a way to contact me, which is nice for both of us.

  Yesterday, for example, I opened my email and found a delightful note from a young woman who had just finished reading Mad Kestrel, and wanted to tell me how she felt about it. As I read her gushing email, I began to cry, because I realized that I’d done what I wanted to do. I had given at least one person a story that became real, a cast of characters she could care about, and a world she didn’t want to leave behind.

  As writers, we all hope for award nominations and bestseller status and seven figure advances, but honestly, when it all comes down, what we really want is to touch someone else’s soul with our work. That’s what being an artist is all about.

  If you are interested in learning more about writing a fantasy novel then be sure to follow one of the links in this article.

  Article Blog

• 29Aug

  Just How Bad Did Home Building Decline

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  The construction industry took a beating due to the financial crisis. Just how bad did home building decline? It depends where you look but overall, the numbers are very frightening. In a report released recently, new order for homes built in the third quarter of 2008 was down 25% compared to last year. In numbers, that is 2,002 homes for this year compared to 2,660 homes in 2007.

  Because of what is happening in the economy, there was increase in the number of cancellations from 24% last year to 27% this year. While real estate companies tried to curb the trend by offering it to other potential buyers, the market wasn’t biting which is why there were a lot of homes that were never sold. In terms of home building revenues, that roughly translates to $928 million. If you think that is still good, look back at the sales performance last year and you will see that it was lower by 27%. These figures go on and on and they are really depressing.

  So are companies making money? No and the worse part is that construction companies have to layoff hundreds or even thousands of workers in order to stay afloat. If you wanted to build a home, the only way you can do that is if you have extra money flowing around right now because most banks will not able to loan that amount to you right now.

  At this rate, the construction industry will only be able to produce 817,000 new homes this year compared to 1.98 million units in 2006. That is a lot and it is note expected to improve any time soon. But are these numbers surprising? The answer is also no because it is the right reaction especially when the country is in a financial crisis. Analysts believe this will change in the next 2 to 3 years because within this time frame, homes that were unoccupied will now have people living in them and only then will home building be once again on the upward trend.

  What everyone is hoping for right now is a miracle because we are not yet out of the woods when we talk about the current financial crisis. Yes, a $700 billion bailout plan was approved and signed into law but just like Bernanke said, no one expects the recession to end overnight. It is going to take time. Is the home building decline also happening elsewhere? In the case of Canada, the answer is no. In fact, the opposite is happening. If you were to compare the number of houses built for the month ending September this year versus last year, 6,000 more homes were built in 2008 compared to 2007.

  There are many reasons for this such like more people want to settle down so they move away from the rest of their family and most importantly the program they have in place happens to be much better across the border compared to what is available in the US. But back to reality, no one can deny that over here, there is a sharp decline in home building. The only thing anyone can do is hope for the best in the months and years ahead so we can perhaps forget that this ever happened.

• 29Aug

  Get Hold Of Excellent Foreclosure Help

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  The first thing you may feel when you buy a new home is excitement. Then the fear may set in when you realize that you will not only be responsible for paying for any repairs and for the general upkeep on your home, but that you’ll also be responsible for avoiding foreclosure. Foreclosure is a scary thing for a homeowner, but even the best home owners suddenly discover that they are in need of a little help to keep their home.

  Avoiding foreclosure is a lot more difficult than it originally sounds for most people, only because the majority of people who are on the way to losing their homes don’t take the time to learn what they can do to keep their homes. If want to help stop foreclosure, here are a few ways to consider.

  To begin with, under no circumstances should you ignore the problem. It’s easy to say “it will simply disappear” and “nothing is really wrong”, but if you do this you will more than likely lose your home. The situation will not go away unless you take steps to take care of it.

  The minute you know that you are having a problem it is vital that you contact your lender. Mortgage brokers are not trying to get into the real estate market and would much rather have your payment than they would foreclose on your home. The sooner you get in touch with your lender, the easier things will be on you.

  Another process to be sure you don’t end up on a bank foreclosure list is to make sure that you’re making the right financial decisions. Sometimes people will avoid paying their mortgage and will spend their money on things that aren’t necessary. If you want to save your home, you will need to make tough financial decisions.

  Grab a piece of paper and write down all of the monthly bills that you have and take a good look at them. If you are honest with yourself and prepared to change your focus, you’ll see that there are a number of places where you can stop spending money. Eliminate every bill that you can truly do without, including your cable bill and any memberships that you really don’t need.

  It is also a good idea to avoid foreclosure prevention companies. The majority of these companies are scams that are created to help themselves and no one else. It is a better idea to work with your mortgage company than it is to contact a foreclosure prevention company.

  Also, make sure you know what rights you have in regards to your home. There are a number of rights that people who own a home have, especially when it comes to foreclosure. You can get a copy of foreclosure laws from your State Government Housing Office which may be the best way to get informed enough to be able to negotiate with your mortgage lender.

  The best manner to avoiding foreclosure is to pay attention to your mortgage and to catch any problems as soon as they occur. If you jump on the situation you can often make sure that you don’t lose your home.

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