The Blog King, Yaro Starak, is a friendly but extremely professional presence in cyberspace, and a good writer to boot. He makes a point of answering every email with specific answers to your questions. Starak operates a network of blogs, as well as his e-commerce site. As you navigate, you receive information about drawing traffic that is useful enough in its own right; he doesn’t push you to buy anything in order to uncover some big secret.
To maintain individual contact with inquirers, he offers to email you a newsletter, a promise he keeps. The one he sent me this morning included reviews of blogging products and a warning not to SPLOG, a word coined to combine “spam” and “blog.”
“Splogs are set up to get traffic to other sites,” Starak writes. “They are automatically generated and the owners have no intention of producing a useful website — they just want to get traffic. Essentially, they are the SPAM of the blogging world.”
He goes on to say that not all blogging systems distinguish between splogging and niche blogging, where an operator might link all of his sites to one another. He sited a niche blogger whose sites disappeared, erasing all income from the display advertising on his sites, because his blogging system forbids what they consider splogging under any circumstances. Starak gives niche bloggers advice about how to avoid such a misfortune.
I believe you’ll enjoy The Blog King and his information-filled advice. His site address is:
http://www.blogtrafficking.com
Monday, April 24, 2006
Saturday, April 22, 2006
True Dog Story
A moment ago, a friend emailed me this story that she swears really happened:
A plane flying from Seattle to San Francisco stopped for a layover in Sacramento. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft, the plane would re-board in one hour.
A passenger noticed that everyone was leaving the plane except for one man, who appeared to be blind because his seeing-eye dog lay quietly under the seats in front of him throughout the entire flight. He could also tell that the blind man had flown this flight before because the pilot approached him and, calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in Sacramento for a while. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?"
The blind man replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."
The pilot put on his sunglasses and led the dog off the plane. When people at the gate saw the pilot wearing sunglasses leading a seeing-eye dog, they scattered, not only cancelling their reservations but changing airlines.
Things aren't always as they appear.
A plane flying from Seattle to San Francisco stopped for a layover in Sacramento. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft, the plane would re-board in one hour.
A passenger noticed that everyone was leaving the plane except for one man, who appeared to be blind because his seeing-eye dog lay quietly under the seats in front of him throughout the entire flight. He could also tell that the blind man had flown this flight before because the pilot approached him and, calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in Sacramento for a while. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?"
The blind man replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."
The pilot put on his sunglasses and led the dog off the plane. When people at the gate saw the pilot wearing sunglasses leading a seeing-eye dog, they scattered, not only cancelling their reservations but changing airlines.
Things aren't always as they appear.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Suze Orman's Will and Trust Kit, a User's Testimony
I did it and had fun doing it. After installing “Suze Orman’s Will and Trust Kit,” I filled its blanks with my information and then printed out four extremely clear, legal documents that reflected my financial situation: my Will, my Irrevocable Trust, my Advanced Directive and Durable Power of Attorney, and my Financial Power of Attorney.
No bank or attorney had addressed with me a tenth of what personal finance expert Suze Orman covers in her kit. Reading and listening to the audio by Orman and her personal trust attorney Janet Dobrovolny, I realized that I’d been singing in the dark, believing that I had an estate plan, when I had nothing that came close.
Besides the local hospital, who would know that I had a long-term care insurance policy? Her electronic guidebooks cover every aspect of a person’s financial life. In what she calls the protection portfolio, you include items in detail about all insurance policies, an inventory of belongings for your homeowner’s policy, and the list is exhaustive and comprehensive. Her custom-designed calculators help you assess everything from credit & dept to what you will need for retirement.
I’ll be hiring an attorney who specializes in estate planning. For our appointment, I’ll be fully armed, having done the kind of work I should have done long ago.
My only beef is that Suze Orman’s financial talk show (on CNBC) is on Saturday night, when it’s difficult to sit down and watch television. Entertaining and dramatically informative, she rescues people who have made, or are about to make, serious financial blunders.
Conducting a search of “Suze Orman”, you will find a wealth of sites devoted personal finance health. Her home site is: http://www.suzeorman.com
No bank or attorney had addressed with me a tenth of what personal finance expert Suze Orman covers in her kit. Reading and listening to the audio by Orman and her personal trust attorney Janet Dobrovolny, I realized that I’d been singing in the dark, believing that I had an estate plan, when I had nothing that came close.
Besides the local hospital, who would know that I had a long-term care insurance policy? Her electronic guidebooks cover every aspect of a person’s financial life. In what she calls the protection portfolio, you include items in detail about all insurance policies, an inventory of belongings for your homeowner’s policy, and the list is exhaustive and comprehensive. Her custom-designed calculators help you assess everything from credit & dept to what you will need for retirement.
I’ll be hiring an attorney who specializes in estate planning. For our appointment, I’ll be fully armed, having done the kind of work I should have done long ago.
My only beef is that Suze Orman’s financial talk show (on CNBC) is on Saturday night, when it’s difficult to sit down and watch television. Entertaining and dramatically informative, she rescues people who have made, or are about to make, serious financial blunders.
Conducting a search of “Suze Orman”, you will find a wealth of sites devoted personal finance health. Her home site is: http://www.suzeorman.com
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Friends of Basic Jokes
Cyber-laughter and Friends of Basic Jokes Online
Friends e-mail jokes. Lately I got a beaut (see below). When I read it, the bird-twitter outside my window suddenly became laughter. My solar plexus region, which had been feeling like a pair of wet socks forgotten on a closet floor, began to warm up, like you do when you lie in the sun after a long, cold swim. Nothing is more comforting to me than a good joke.
An email “thank you” for a good joke is limited to a few “ha ha ha’s” or “I’m keeping that one” or “you made my day.” If I were a genius, I’d invent the audio e-mail. Here, I could have transmitted a laugh, or better yet, one of a set of canned laughs provided by the software, my email document flashing to the beat of the laugh.
The joke:
A young boy had just gotten his driver's permit and inquired of his father, an evangelist, if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut, and we'll talk about the car." Well, the boy thought about that for a moment, decided that he'd settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.
After about six weeks, they went into the study, where his father said, "Son, I've been real proud. You've brought your grades up, and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, and participating a lot more in the Bible study groups. But, I'm still just a little bit disappointed, since you haven't gotten your hair cut."
The young man paused for a moment, and then said, "You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed, in my studies of the Bible, that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair, and there is even a strong argument that Jesus had long hair."
To this his father replied, "Did you also notice that they all walked everywhere they went?"
*
The best thank you for a good joke is another good joke. I found a site that stockpiles hundreds of jokes:
http://www.basicjokes.com
or click link on the right to “Basic Jokes online.” Here’s one I found there:
Jesus and Satan
Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who managed to get the most out of his computer. This had been going on for days and God, was tired of hearing all of the bickering.
God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test that will run two hours and I will judge who does the better job."
So down they sat at the keyboards and typed away. They moused away. They did spreadsheets, they wrote reports, they sent faxes, they sent out e-mail, they sent out e-mail with attachments, they downloaded, they did some genealogy reports, they made cards, they did every known job. But just a few minutes before the two hours were up, a lightening flashed across the sky. The thunder rolled and the rains came down hard. And of course the electricity went off.
Satan was upset. He fumed and fussed and he ranted and raved, all to no avail. The electricity stayed off. But after a bit, the rains stopped and the electricity came back on. Satan screamed, "I lost it all when the power went off. What am I going to do? What happened to Jesus' work?"
Jesus just sat and smiled.
Again Satan asked about the work that Jesus had done. As Jesus turned his computer back on the screen glowed and when he pushed "print it", it was all there. "How did he do it." Satan asked? God smiled and said, "Jesus Saves."
Friends e-mail jokes. Lately I got a beaut (see below). When I read it, the bird-twitter outside my window suddenly became laughter. My solar plexus region, which had been feeling like a pair of wet socks forgotten on a closet floor, began to warm up, like you do when you lie in the sun after a long, cold swim. Nothing is more comforting to me than a good joke.
An email “thank you” for a good joke is limited to a few “ha ha ha’s” or “I’m keeping that one” or “you made my day.” If I were a genius, I’d invent the audio e-mail. Here, I could have transmitted a laugh, or better yet, one of a set of canned laughs provided by the software, my email document flashing to the beat of the laugh.
The joke:
A young boy had just gotten his driver's permit and inquired of his father, an evangelist, if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut, and we'll talk about the car." Well, the boy thought about that for a moment, decided that he'd settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.
After about six weeks, they went into the study, where his father said, "Son, I've been real proud. You've brought your grades up, and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, and participating a lot more in the Bible study groups. But, I'm still just a little bit disappointed, since you haven't gotten your hair cut."
The young man paused for a moment, and then said, "You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed, in my studies of the Bible, that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair, and there is even a strong argument that Jesus had long hair."
To this his father replied, "Did you also notice that they all walked everywhere they went?"
*
The best thank you for a good joke is another good joke. I found a site that stockpiles hundreds of jokes:
http://www.basicjokes.com
or click link on the right to “Basic Jokes online.” Here’s one I found there:
Jesus and Satan
Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who managed to get the most out of his computer. This had been going on for days and God, was tired of hearing all of the bickering.
God said, "Cool it. I am going to set up a test that will run two hours and I will judge who does the better job."
So down they sat at the keyboards and typed away. They moused away. They did spreadsheets, they wrote reports, they sent faxes, they sent out e-mail, they sent out e-mail with attachments, they downloaded, they did some genealogy reports, they made cards, they did every known job. But just a few minutes before the two hours were up, a lightening flashed across the sky. The thunder rolled and the rains came down hard. And of course the electricity went off.
Satan was upset. He fumed and fussed and he ranted and raved, all to no avail. The electricity stayed off. But after a bit, the rains stopped and the electricity came back on. Satan screamed, "I lost it all when the power went off. What am I going to do? What happened to Jesus' work?"
Jesus just sat and smiled.
Again Satan asked about the work that Jesus had done. As Jesus turned his computer back on the screen glowed and when he pushed "print it", it was all there. "How did he do it." Satan asked? God smiled and said, "Jesus Saves."
Friday, April 14, 2006
cyberphobediaires.blogspot.com is now http://cyber-comfort.blogspot.com - Marian Trotter, aka Bonnie Trotter
Why I changed my blog’s name to Cyber-comfort (http://cyber-comfort.blogspot.com):
Cyber-comfort is a feeling of ease in the online world of computer networks; Cyber-phobe Diaries could deter you from taking the journey.
My U-turn was influenced by an Amazon Associates technician. To solve a problem I was having logging into my Associates account (which she did quickly), she viewed my blog, Cyber-phobe Diaries, and pointed out a black eye of an inconsistency.
How likely is it that a real cyberphobe (a person afraid of using computers and the Internet) would surf, let alone find a blog called Cyberphobe Diaries, let alone buy products advertised on the Internet with their credit cards, let alone with Pay Pal? With the Amazon banner, I’m trying to encourage Internet-leery visitors to order late model Apple computers, Canon 20D digital cameras, and other relatively advanced tech equipment.
She suggested a concept more consistent with helping to ease a visitor’s journey through cyber-space, a site where they could read about books like the Internet for Dummies series, user-friendly e-tools, and ecommerce resources helpful to me and to others I know.
On Cyber-comfort, I will try to ease your journey through cyberspace, rather than scare the wits out of you.
Re Amazon and me: my customer account and Amazon Associates account were booked as one. If, after exploring the Amazon Associates program, you decide to participate with a banner on your site, start an Associate’s account that is separate from your customer’s.
When I changed my email address to btrot60@gmail.com, I had to close my customer account and open a new one. Because my Associates account was booked in conjunction with my customer’s account, my Associates account was automatically closed too, but not automatically re-opened. While I talked with the tech, she opened a separate Associates account for me, where I now log on with a new password. From now on, what affects one account will not affect the other.
To reach tech support for your Amazon Associate’s account, call 701-787-9740 (Pacific Time). This department does not have a toll-free number.
Cyber-comfort is a feeling of ease in the online world of computer networks; Cyber-phobe Diaries could deter you from taking the journey.
My U-turn was influenced by an Amazon Associates technician. To solve a problem I was having logging into my Associates account (which she did quickly), she viewed my blog, Cyber-phobe Diaries, and pointed out a black eye of an inconsistency.
How likely is it that a real cyberphobe (a person afraid of using computers and the Internet) would surf, let alone find a blog called Cyberphobe Diaries, let alone buy products advertised on the Internet with their credit cards, let alone with Pay Pal? With the Amazon banner, I’m trying to encourage Internet-leery visitors to order late model Apple computers, Canon 20D digital cameras, and other relatively advanced tech equipment.
She suggested a concept more consistent with helping to ease a visitor’s journey through cyber-space, a site where they could read about books like the Internet for Dummies series, user-friendly e-tools, and ecommerce resources helpful to me and to others I know.
On Cyber-comfort, I will try to ease your journey through cyberspace, rather than scare the wits out of you.
Re Amazon and me: my customer account and Amazon Associates account were booked as one. If, after exploring the Amazon Associates program, you decide to participate with a banner on your site, start an Associate’s account that is separate from your customer’s.
When I changed my email address to btrot60@gmail.com, I had to close my customer account and open a new one. Because my Associates account was booked in conjunction with my customer’s account, my Associates account was automatically closed too, but not automatically re-opened. While I talked with the tech, she opened a separate Associates account for me, where I now log on with a new password. From now on, what affects one account will not affect the other.
To reach tech support for your Amazon Associate’s account, call 701-787-9740 (Pacific Time). This department does not have a toll-free number.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Is It Possible to Conduct a Background Check of an E-commerce Business?
This morning I started looking for and reading Weblogs that have appealing qualities I could use in this blog. The readers get more than the diary entries: business enhancement resources, tips for getting from square one to the finish line, or the type of lessons that they can apply immediately to their lives. As a reader of blogs, I also love jokes and cartoons, and plan to ask my tech trainer how best to upload them.
I read a blog this morning that I liked, a fairly straight-faced rendition of how to draw traffic to your blog, including an audio of a gentle but clear voice. Hoping to begin a correspondence, I subscribed to its free newsletter for new bloggers, and left a message asking permission to review the blog on my site.
Then I discovered the layers, embedded links that led to other blogs and then finally to a fairly straightforward business that catered to students. What student wouldn't benefit by its services?
A thought stopped me in my tracks. Before I recommend any e-commerce business, I need to figure out how I can do a background check. Is there an e-commerce equivalent to the US Chamber of Commerce? A Google search resulted in the USA Chamber of E-Commerce, which is open to international business as well. I subscribed to the newsletter and then emailed a message asking what kinds of systems they had to help members conduct background checks of e-commerce business whose products or services they’d like to buy.
In an article posted today, the Online Review Board recommends Net Detective and Web Detective as two of the top online investigative services, for which I need additional plug-ins. After consulting with my tech trainer, I may decide to purchase one or both of these services.
I read a blog this morning that I liked, a fairly straight-faced rendition of how to draw traffic to your blog, including an audio of a gentle but clear voice. Hoping to begin a correspondence, I subscribed to its free newsletter for new bloggers, and left a message asking permission to review the blog on my site.
Then I discovered the layers, embedded links that led to other blogs and then finally to a fairly straightforward business that catered to students. What student wouldn't benefit by its services?
A thought stopped me in my tracks. Before I recommend any e-commerce business, I need to figure out how I can do a background check. Is there an e-commerce equivalent to the US Chamber of Commerce? A Google search resulted in the USA Chamber of E-Commerce, which is open to international business as well. I subscribed to the newsletter and then emailed a message asking what kinds of systems they had to help members conduct background checks of e-commerce business whose products or services they’d like to buy.
In an article posted today, the Online Review Board recommends Net Detective and Web Detective as two of the top online investigative services, for which I need additional plug-ins. After consulting with my tech trainer, I may decide to purchase one or both of these services.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Getting Blog Traffic
On January 12, 2006, I launched this blog, with some apprehension because I knew nothing about the technology involved or about what it would be like to live in cyberspace. It’s taken until now to feel comfortable with the idea of posting diary entries about my experiences, all positive except for a few dings here and there.
I also feel safe. No one makes vicious comments. When I conduct Google searches on my name or on the name of this site, as I’ve mentioned, the results are professional and benign.
It’s as if I’d found a raft while swimming in the ocean and climbed aboard. Now, I’m warm, dry, and unscathed. But the seas are disturbingly calm. I’ve gotten only two comments, one from my tech trainer, and another that was auto-generated I think by a company whose ad appeared in my Adsense box.
The raft is anchored, and it will stay that way until I drag the anchor up, but I want to do more than just drift. Underneath I find oars and an outboard motor. After using the oars for a while, I graduate to the outboard. A month or so ago, I upgraded from dial-up to satellite Internet, which is wonderful because I am always “logged on”, in the ether, my signals instantaneously picked up and transmitted by a satellite orbiting the equator.
I’d like a navigational map, a chart to indicate the nearest landmass. A ship-to-shore two-way radio would help. Who else is out there? What do they do, and what would I do?
Conduct a Google search of “blog traffic” and you will find a lot of material about how to attract visitors and comments. Successful bloggers teach a popular subject (like how to attract visitors to your blog) or write controversial essays criticizing those in positions of authority. I have to ask, “Now that I’m here, what could I have to offer beyond my postings? Now that you are here reading my site, what would you like to take away that would enhance your life?”
I also feel safe. No one makes vicious comments. When I conduct Google searches on my name or on the name of this site, as I’ve mentioned, the results are professional and benign.
It’s as if I’d found a raft while swimming in the ocean and climbed aboard. Now, I’m warm, dry, and unscathed. But the seas are disturbingly calm. I’ve gotten only two comments, one from my tech trainer, and another that was auto-generated I think by a company whose ad appeared in my Adsense box.
The raft is anchored, and it will stay that way until I drag the anchor up, but I want to do more than just drift. Underneath I find oars and an outboard motor. After using the oars for a while, I graduate to the outboard. A month or so ago, I upgraded from dial-up to satellite Internet, which is wonderful because I am always “logged on”, in the ether, my signals instantaneously picked up and transmitted by a satellite orbiting the equator.
I’d like a navigational map, a chart to indicate the nearest landmass. A ship-to-shore two-way radio would help. Who else is out there? What do they do, and what would I do?
Conduct a Google search of “blog traffic” and you will find a lot of material about how to attract visitors and comments. Successful bloggers teach a popular subject (like how to attract visitors to your blog) or write controversial essays criticizing those in positions of authority. I have to ask, “Now that I’m here, what could I have to offer beyond my postings? Now that you are here reading my site, what would you like to take away that would enhance your life?”
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