Internet Marketing, Make Money Online

My take on the Third Tribe by Darren Rowse

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:05:30 +0000

First, this isn't a bashing article, so don't expect lots of rude words, personal attacks, or outright negativity. Instead, I'm going to talk about my thoughts on membership sites like Third Tribe Marketing started by Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Chris Brogan, and Sonia Simone.

What is a make money online or online marketing membership site, well to put into simple terms it's a forum with extra stuff like videos and downloadable ebooks etc, some also create software (online and/or downloadable) to help you follow the steps they suggest to build your website and start getting links and traffic.

Other MMO memberships sites you may have heard about include Courtney Tuttles "Keyword Academy", SBI, Warrior Forum, Darren Rowse's own membership forum, SEO Book and now, The Third Tribe.

I find it amusing the people behind the Third Tribe are the creme de la creme of A-list bloggers and one would assume quite marketing savvy, yet they don't own the domain name thirdtribe.com, instead settling for thirdtribemarketing.com - I wonder how many customers they'll lose from this embarrassing error?

The launch of The Third Tribe was predictable, the four principals announced it on their websites and then a bunch of their fans commented about how wonderful they were and how happy they were that they had the chance to join, happy to spend $27 per month to chat and perhaps get real information about make money online.

Let me give you an example, here are a few excerpts from comments I read;

"Reading their posts in the forum and learning so much about people I have seen around on Twitter..."

"I'm a happy member of The Third Tribe and am enjoying meeting many new people, and look forward to meeting the folks at upcoming conferences as well."

"Should I say the best thing that has happened so far in 2010?"

"I know it will be successful. Your name only is enough to ensure this is a quality product."

With comments like those I don't think this forum is going to help me very much, honestly people who fawn over the A-listers are exactly the sort of people I prefer not to socialize with in public forums, and if there's a membership fee, well that means the only people going to join will be more fans.

Contrast that with free sites and other bloggers who give their secrets away free, gratis, and without ever needing to know your credit card number. Free sites like Grizzly's Make Money Online for Beginners, who has written his own Third Tribe review, or the Netbuilders forum, probably the best webmaster forum online.

So what if Darren Rowse is the most famous blogger, does that help me, does it help me to have access to him in The Third Tribe forum and be able to ask questions? Can he give me better answers than I can get from other bloggers and internet marketers who give their answers freely?

And if I can get the answers to my questions for free, well what would I be willing to pay money for. Is the Third Tribe going to give me business contacts who help me get backlinks, or are they going to buy the products I'm promoting, and if not, after all they're all trying to make a buck online as well, then what is the Third Tribe offering that makes it worth spending the money.

This for me is the central problem with paid memberships sites like the Third Tribe; I just don't know that getting to know Darren Rowse's life history and how he started his business is going to help me with mine, and I don't think watching video interviews with him is going to help.

Really, I've read his archive of blog posts and frankly the majority don't give a lot of great info, unlike Will Spencer at Netbuilders who actually is making tens of thousands of dollars a month, and who is happy to give his 'secrets' away in an open forum, and he links directly to the site he owns so you can see for yourself what he did.

Is being friends with Darren Rowse really worth $27 (soon to be $47) per month? He might be a saint, and the nicest guy in the world, but he's making money because people join his forums and pay him. I doubt he's going to be too forthcoming about sharing how to create your own Third Tribe forum.

What can you learn from the Third Tribe then? You can learn how to create a popular brand (problogger), you can learn about where Darren makes most of his money (affiliate sales on his photography site, speaking engagements, and membership forums/book sales), and you can learn how he leverages his substantial following of fans to keep making money from them.

Heck, I don't think I need to join the Third Tribe to do that, I already know how to use Twitter, facebook, forums etc to network and build a following. I already make money from selling products or advertising space to my followers. My brands are as well known as they need to be, and there is no secret to doing that.

Simply go ahead and create a brand, buy a domain name and put a blog on it, talk about the brand and spend time following all the other experts in your niche so they get to know you, then once you become a C-lister leverage your new found friendships to get links, and guest blog on their sites. You can do this without joining the Third Tribe.

Pretty soon you'll be a B-lister, then you can start writing your own books, getting paid to link to C-Listers, you'll be attending seminars and having your photo taken with A-listers which will boost your brand even more, before you know it they'll be inviting you to join them as a minority partner on projects. You can do this without joining the Third Tribe.

Before you know it you'll feel like an A-lister, but will probably never earn the kind of money they do, simply because you'll never be an A-lister. The field is too small and it's already full, there is no room for more A-listers. You can still do this without joining the Third Tribe.

An alternative approach, is to make money online without having to socialize with lots of A-lister fans, by getting search traffic. People who type something into Google aren't interested in who you are or who you know. They're interested in answering their question, and if your website does that, and gives them a solution as well, gosh, you could be making money without having to join the Third Tribe.

You could read Grizzly's blog for free, he details exactly how to build a website that gets search traffic, and the best part is you could literally be making money tomorrow. Emulating the A-listers who created the Third Tribe might mean waiting months or longer before your business starts to make money.

If you really want to spend some money though, you should check out Janet Smith's Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online, and excellent Adsense ebook that tells you absolutely everything you need to know in a systematic way (step one, step two, step three) on how to create a website that makes money now! Her ebook is just $37, a tad cheaper than $47 per month.

I used to love car repair

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:27:26 +0000

Do you love tinkering with your car? A lot of us don't, but a few of us really do, there's nothing quite like getting under the hood and getting grease and oil on your hands. I've got a friend who is never happy unless he has black grease under his fingernails from repairing his car.

Doing car repair in your own garage or out on the drive, with a set of tools around you and spare parts cluttering up the floor is awesome, frankly it brings out the best in some people because it opens the mind and shows you how things work.

Most importantly though it's a practical expression of ingenuity, and if you know what you're doing it saves money. DIY mechanics often get a bad rap for drinking too much, playing music too loud, burning rubber in the street, but actually that's a minority. Most car repair enthusiasts are decent folk with a hobby.

But repairing a car is more than just enthusiasm and tools, you also need knowledge and how many of us are trained mechanics - probably not many mechanics know everything as well, in fact they need to read up on different models of cars if they haven't worked on them before, so there is no shame in researching specific jobs you have to do.

Take the example of needing to repair brake system or repair fuel system, these are not car repair topics that can be easily guessed at, you need to know what you're doing, if only to be safe once the car is back on the road.

A few years ago I owned a Mazda RX7, it was a series 2 model, you know the long pointy one with the short back end, small bucket seats and barely enough room in the back for a cat far less a person. But I used to tinker with that car all the time. But you can bet I always made sure I had the right information first. Fast cars need to be safe. Scratch that, all cars need to be safe.

Roman Road in Spain

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:27:24 +0000

I was walking this morning and came across this ancient Roman road, but sadly it isn't in a good state of repair, but I thought I'd put the picture up anyway. Enjoy.

Roman Road

We're all experts at something!

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:48:32 +0000

How do you know you're an expert on a topic? That's a question I get asked all the time, primarily because as a former career counsellor I always advise people to choose a job, career, or start a business where they can easily become an expert.

The huge number of expert and how-to websites that have sprung up in the last few years are an example of how even the most basic question is one that some people don't have an answer for, and the first person who gives them the answer becomes their expert.

Take a simple exercise like How to Address an Envelope. I know how to address an envelope, but there are a lot of people in this world who may never have sent a package or letter. I guess a lot of young people who've grown up with email, instant messaging, or voice over IP would make mistakes addressing an envelope.

The biggest market for that kind of information however might come from developing nations where people have simply never needed to send mail, but if a family member is living in a foreign country and sending regular letters home they might need to be show how to address an envelope. Are you an expert at addressing envelopes?

What about advertising online? A significant number of us might think that's really easy, simply find a company like a major newspaper that puts advertisements on their websites and email them to ask about their rates.

But emailing a company like Google, Yahoo, AdBrite or any of the dozens of advertising companies will likely get no response or a very confusing response. How to Advertise Online isn't easy, it's quite complex for most people, yet many Internet savvy people know how. This makes them experts, and means the knowledge they have is valuable. Someone, somewhere, will pay them for that knowledge.

How to websites are just one of the many ways we can show off our expertise or find topics where we are experts. Believe it or not everyone is an expert on something, and websites like How to Do Things prove it. The same principle is how people become scrapbooking experts, they know how to do something that seems easy, but other people pay them to teach how.

If you have an expertise in something, why not write about your expertise and sell your articles, it isn't hard, howto and expert sites are always looking for writers.

Don't get lost when you make money online

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:17:23 +0000

Last week I went for an accidental long walk, 30km long, all because I was trying to find a shortcut from one side of a valley to the other. Afterwards it occurred to me my walk pretty much sums up my life at the moment. I try to take a lot of shortcuts, but end up covering even more mileage than just doing this properly.

Without boring you to tears about my private life, let's just say I'm in a hurry to start my travels again, the really really long walk from Ronda to Roma (Rome, Italy), but I have to wrap up a few things here first before I can.

And I need to convert my websites to fully passive income before I go. At the moment several of my sites still need a lot of maintenance and regular articles to keep them going.

All of this is irrelevant to the walk last week, I was walking the ridge line around a valley, and assumed I could just walk all around, but fences and other obstructions prevented me doing so. The first mistake I made was to try to walk around the fenced property, it went for about 3km, taking me a long way from the ridge and the valley.

So I tried following another route back to the valley but that also lead me astray, at the end of the road was a dead end with security fences that would have seen me arrested if I'd tried crossing them.

Eventually I ended up back at home but not before getting lost and then following a sign I thought seemed like a logical direction to et around a railway line and highway.

In life I do much the same thing, constantly starting on one path until I discover it goes nowhere, then forcing myself to change direction and finding another poor path.

Making money online is exactly the same, if you start in one direction, you'll often find it becomes a dead end and you're forced to start again.

The funny thing is that friends of mine don't have these problems, they just keep doing stuff that doesn't make sense to me, and they make money, and when I try to copy them I get detoured.

I'm probably not alone, I think everyone whose goal is to make money online has these detours, the trick is to recognize the detours for what they are. They are not detours set to help you, instead they are detours put their by your own mind to trap you.

You're probably wondering why someone who professes to make money online would confess to following detours created by my mind, and it's because in life and business we need discipline. Without discipline there can be no real success.

Stay focused on your goal, and if you find yourself following a wrong path take a moment to pause and see where it's taking you before committing to the path. Most of all, remember to keep building your websites and getting backlinks - don't be distracted by other activities, just do what you're supposed to do.

Comparison of AdSense Ebooks

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:07:40 +0000

A quick search in any major search engine for an AdSense ebook will find Joel Comm's AdSense Secrets, Janet Smiths Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online, AdSense Revenue Exposed, The Beginners Guide to AdSense, Making Money with AdSense, The AdSense Report, The AdSense Mint, AdSense Techniques, Google AdSense Secrets Revealed, and probably many more.

If you're a complete beginner who doesn't even know how to blog then some of these books may be what you're looking for, sadly several assume you're an idiot savant who can't even tie your shoelaces, but amongst the AdSense ebooks there are one or two gems that you should read.

First, answer this question, are you a complete beginner who doesn't even know what AdSense is? If the answer to this question is yes then you'll be delighted to know several of the ebooks cover an introduction to AdSense exhaustively.

Those who already know about AdSense and Google's policies for publishers will probably be disappointed with most of the AdSense ebooks available, you're probably more interested in traffic generation and niche keyword research than the basics of copy and pasting AdSense code into your site.

On a personal level I consider myself to be an advanced AdSense user, I know how to create ads, change their colors, I know about the rules on how many ads to place on a page, and I know about the things we can't do such as encourage visitors to click an ad or placing the ads too close to other elements so that visitors assume a connection.

However a lot of AdSense publishers aren't aware of Google's rules for ad placement, but frankly you'll get as much value out of reading Google's policy pages than you will by reading many of these ebooks. You need to read the AdSense policies, AdSense basics, and you should definitely subscribe to the Inside AdSense blog in your feed reader.

Books such as Joel Comm's AdSense Secrets are overly long, and most of the answers he provides can be found by asking a question at Netbuilders or Digital Point with a lot less reading. He makes a few good points about maximising visibility of ads and using colors to blend ads or make them stand out, and I certainly agree with him that banner ads from Google AdSense rarely get clicks.

One of the real advantages of AdSense is that the ads are text based, and each format typically includes at least two text ads, some as many as half a dozen. A graphical ad by contrast only allows one advertiser per ad block, and in my opinion, one that I share with Joel Comm, is that if an advertiser wants to be on my site I expect something back in return. Typically image ads don't get as many clicks which means you're giving the advertiser free brand exposure, but not getting as many clicks in return.

Joel Comm really likes video ads, but I have to say I've rarely seen them on my own sites and when I have seen them they've been brand building exercises, so once again I doubt their money making potential unless your website is highly relevant to the brand being promoted. An auto review site might do very well with GM or Ford video ads, but I doubt the average blogger who rambles about anything and everything in their lives would get any value from them, yet these are precisely the bloggers who are most likely to want the video ad.

Reading Joel's SEO advice I was struck with how basic his advice is, frankly I already knew everything he mentions and I think most people wanting to make a good income from AdSense will probably feel the same way.

As far as getting traffic goes, Joel recommends some methods that I think are dangerous and should only be attempted by people who really know hoe to cover their tracks, such as creating gateways and using automatic submission software. He does offer a disclaimer and advices against cloaking but overall I'd be wary of his SEO advice if I wasn't a confident webmaster.

Black hat SEO methods are those that game Google's search index, effectively you're thumbing your nose at one of the world's largest corporations and saying you're going to do whatever it takes to make money online, but if you're using Google's AdSense program you need to be careful.

You can of course develop a network of websites in a niche, but each site really needs to have its own purpose. As well there is nothing wrong with befriending other webmasters and linking to them or asking for links from them, and it's a widely known secret that many of the biggest AdSense earners own many other sites that link into their money sites, anonymously of course.

Janet Smith on the other hand deliberately ignores all of the basics of setting up AdSense in her Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online and focuses almost all of her 170 pages on keyword research, analyzing search result competition, creating websites that are optimized for earning money with AdSense, and getting traffic including detailed sections on white hat and black hat SEO.

Whilst any AdSense publisher who uses black hat methods will most likely be banned by Google from their AdSense program, knowing about black hat methods makes it possible to avoid them and protect your AdSense account, and it can make for fascinating reading. Nobody will ever admit to using black hat methods but Janet tells you how to spot competition that does, and gives solutions to overcoming a black hat competitor.

One of the main reasons I like Janet's AdSense ebook is that she really takes the time to talk about keyword research and competitor analysis. Without exception all of the other AdSense ebooks ignore this critical part whilst they bore you to tears describing the AdSense program. Enough already, show me how to make money, don't bore me to tears about how wonderful you are.

Get started making money online with AdSense

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:16:25 +0000

I'm a big fan of making money online, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to create free websites using blogger.com, and then put Google AdSense advertising on them. Get enough targeted traffic and it's almost impossible not to make money.

Blogger.com is a great service because it doesn't require paying for domain names or hosting, everything is free, there are some great looking themes available for blogger.com that make their blogs look just as good as wordpress, and since Google added labels blogger.com has become a really useful tool for creating large websites.

Begin by finding your keywords, do yourself a favour and ignore the biggies that everyone goes for like insurance, mortgages, or health related keywords. Chances are you're going to be competing against every other Make Money Online expert and frankly some of them are really good at what they do so they're going to beat you every time until you have experience and a network of sites.

Instead look for smaller niches that very few people are targeting, but look for the niches where advertisers are willing to pay more than a few cents to get their ad on your website. Remember, Google only gives you between 5-30% of what the advertiser pays, so if you target a niche with a cost per click (CPC) of 5c per click, you'd need a lot of clicks to make a decent income.

I'm going to digress for a moment and cover Made for AdSense sites (MFA), don't do them. Yeah you're creating websites and you want to monetise them using AdSense, and there is nothing wrong with that, heck Google loves it when we do this because they make even more money and give the advertisers more sites to compete for, but don't be spammy.

Create a website with real useful information in it. That's important, you don't want high bounce rates, and pick a niche that isn't too hard to research, ideally you want your readers to actually read one or two articles, then if they see an ad they want to click that's great, but don't force them to. Don't produce content that is so crappy that they need to click the ad.

Google are smart, they have engineers with higher IQ's than us who develop algorithms to find bad clicks, or websites that are so bad readers are forced to leave. They don't like these sorts of websites because readers and advertisers don't like these sorts of sites.

To find the best niche to work in, use Google's AdWords Keyword Tool, and just brainstorm things you're interested in, or that wouldn't take you very long to research. If you show the CPC column you'll quickly find keywords that pay really well, but seriously, ignore insurance, mortgages, and health. They are so competitive you'd need to have a huge site to stand a chance of competing against other established websites.

One of the niches I really like that pays OK is pets. If you've ever had a cat or dog you can probably write hundreds of articles and never get bored, and the advertiser CPC can be more then $5, it's also a really easy niche to get links to. A good website will naturally attract a lot of inbound links just because so many people have pets.

Another really good niche that is easy to get inbound links is the mommy blog type niche. Write a website about raising children, baby names, things like that. There are millions of people around the world who write about the same thing but only a very small percentage monetize their sites. Simply go out and network with them and if your articles are funny, or make them think, or even if they're slightly controversial and get a good discussion going, you will get lots of inbound links.

The more inbound links you have the higher you'll rank in the search engines, and of course this naturally means you'll earn more income. It isn't easy to start making money online, but once you make your first dollar a day it really gets easier after that.

After you've picked your niche, or the keywords you're going to chase, go and setup a free blogger account, choose a website URL that has your main keyword in it, then start writing articles. Believe me you could start right now. One hour from now you could have your first website online waiting to get indexed.

I can't tell you how long it's going to take until you start making money online, but I can tell you if you don't start you'll never get there. Once your first site is up you've taken the most important step, starting. Do you know how many people read endless articles like this, or buy endless AdSense ebooks, or join forums and ask all the big name marketers for their secrets, but they never ever build their own website.

The truth is that the majority of people in forums like Digital Point, Sitepoint, or Netbuilders don't make very much money online at all. The majority are there for two or three months, they start endless projects but never stick with anything. Most of the regulars probably don't either. The people who make serious money might only comment now and again but they're the people who have been members for a long time.

You could also read people like Problogger or Shoemoney, but honestly if you don't start to create websites yourself you're never going to get enywhere. It doesn't matter how many times people talk about that fat check Shoemoney has on his website from Google, or how many times Darren Rowse is mentioned in other blogs, or if you follow one guru instead of another, it all means nothing if you don't start your own website.

Reading the gurus isn't going to make you money, getting off your proverbial and starting a website is the only way to start making money from AdSense. So, get your keyword research done. Go ahead, brainstorm things you like or could write about easily.

Seriously do that now, if you need a good helping hand, then buy Janet Smith's Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online right now, it's only $37 and gives a lot more detail than this article I've just written.

Blogger.com is possibly the best platform in the world for creating quick and free websites. It has all of Google's resources behind it, and they're not going to shut it down, it's just too big, and they make so much money from people using Blogger they'd be crazy, so ignore all the BS people harp on about maybe losing your sites.

Notice I said sites. Again if you're serious about making money online you'd also be serious about having a lot of websites, you could have just one really big website but if something goes wrong you'd lose everything and all your income. I never put all my eggs in one basket, right now I control around 150 websites. It's hard to manage them all but I have security. That's what you need as well. Good luck.

Learning Spanish and Making Money Online

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:19:35 +0000

As an Internet Marketer, I now look for opportunities to make money from everything I do, and one of the things I'm doing is learning Spanish. It isn't an easy language to learn for an English speaker, so a schools that teach Spanish are very popular.

Because there are so many schools teaching Spanish, and so many students wanting to learn Spanish, advertisers are prepared to pay a higher cost per click (CPC) to get their ad to the top of the paid search results, or onto the best websites that talk about learning Spanish.

Check out my screenshot from Google's AdWords Keyword Tool;

Learn Spanish Keywords for AdSense

I'm based in Europe so the CPC I see are in Euros or US dollars, and at todays exchange rates that means the top result in Google's Keyword Tool is the same as nearly US$6 per click. If advertisers are prepared to pay that, imagine how you could make money online from being an AdSense publisher.

Typically Google pays AdSense publishers between 10-30% of the CPC, most publishers get around 10% if they have a reasonable website but a lot get more than that. A reasonable website in this instance would be one with good content, perhaps a blog that has short dialogs, or Spanish verb conjugations.

Learning Spanish doesn't have a great number of monthly searches and competition is stiff, but a passionate webmaster who is determined to build a good Learn Spanish website could easily build traffic and make money online from other people wanting to learn Spanish.

How would you go about building a Learn Spanish website and making money from it? Well I don't believe you'd need to worry too much about writing great content, typically the person reading your site isn't going to be interested in your thoughts, they're only interested in lists of vocabulary, verb conjugations, pictures of Spain or other Spanish speaking nations, lists of resources where they can study Spanish.

A website like this could be created easily, then after a month of building content and getting some backlinks including submitting articles, put your AdSense on the site and start to watch your earnings get counted every day. Make sure you read my AdSense ebook comparison.

I know I talk about making money online being easy, and it is, and I know when I talk doing keyword research you probably think that's easy as well, after all it's only a matter of brainstorming ideas and seeing which ones advertisers are prepared to pay well for. The next step is more difficult though, finding out if you can compete for the keyword.

Knowing that advertisers will pay to have their ad displayed on your website, and then getting enough targeted traffic to make it worth your while are two different things. With a global monthly search of 3600 for "learn spanish spain" you could probably make a couple of hundred dollars a month from AdSense if you could get to the first page of the search results.

Of course I'm not going to tell you how to do that in this article, instead I'd recommend reading Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online, a great AdSense ebook

Reliable web hosting is just as important as keyword research

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:49:48 +0000

In the MMO industry webmasters are always demanding reliable and affordable hosting, the better the quality with the lowest price is like the Holy Grail, hardly any of the webhosting companies are perfect. When you make money online it's important to have a host you can rely on, downtime of several days just isn't acceptable.

Like most Internet Marketers I create websites that link to each other, this usually gives each site a natural boost in traffic, and can help with search engine rankings as well. Of course when you own as many sites as most Internet Marketers you need multiple hosting providers as well. A single reseller account with GoDaddy or Hostmonster isn't going to cut it.

Of course this usually means that every couple of months I and probably you, will be looking around for a new host. If you're like me you probably hate doing this; too many web hosting companies are just resellers themselves. Frankly I want to deal with a top level host who own their servers, not some high school kid who borrows their mom's credit card.

When you take the time to get your niche sorted out, you've found some great keywords that pay, you've checked the competition, and you really believe you've found a niche worth targeting, I think you're going to want to spend as much time as possible creating content and getting it indexed. An unreliable webhosting company is going to prevent this from happening.

As far as my websites go, I very rarely use plain HTML sites, most of my websites are build using Wordpress, Joomla, Serendipity, so I need PHP and MySQL databases, and I need a reliable ftp connection for making backups, and I usually like to have a live chat facility so if something goes wrong I can talk to a support representative straight away. This is something I've learned from hard experience.

Most successful Internet Marketers agree that using a CMS is the way to go, they're easier to update, often give more scope for customization, and huge communities develop around the most popular CMSs meaning you can always find a developer or ask for help. Trouble is they consume more resources, so reliable hosting, and most importantly, an optimized server are mandatory.

Sites like Web Hosting Geeks are a useful resource for keeping in touch with what's happening in the hosting industry. I subscribe to their
web hosting news RSS feed to keep in touch with new hosting companies that might be a better option for me. You should too.

I usually don't bother too much with knowing everything about hosting, I don't own any sites in that niche and I'm really not that interested, so my RSS feed reader will usually only include one or two hosting review sites, and Web Hosting Geeks is one of those.

In my next article I'll come back to checking out the competition for niche sites and give more examples of keyword research, in the meantime have you found a reliable host that allows you to start building your niche website business?

Picking niches to make money online

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:07:56 +0000

The bad weather being experienced around North America and Europe right now, with people snowed in, torrential rains in the mediterranean causing flooding are all reasons to have decent insurance cover, and this is an opportunity for people who want to make a little extra money.

How? Well, not by walking from door to door asking for work as people clean up. Nope, instead this is an opportunity to remind people of the benefits of insurance, and while we're at it we can make money online.

As I mentioned in my post "Make Money Online with AdSense", insurance is a very competitive niche and one that you shouldn't take on unless you're really committed for the long haul. Most people who start making money online with websites give up after a few months because they don't actually make money.

Sadly this is because the majority of them target niches that are so competitive they can never expect to get very far. Instead they should choose niches that are less competitive, and where it is easy to get to the front page of Google with a couple months effort. The majority see only the dollars, and don't see the work and effort involved.

Let's revisit insurance; a typical insurance search on Google will yield over 30 million results, hugely competitive, and you'll need a decent sized website to compete on your own, or a really decent number of relevant backlinks to compete with a smaller niche site. But can you make money online with insurance?

So, let's start a case study about hitting the insurance niche. First of all, it's a huge niche with dozens of subniches and to simply start a website about insurance would take forever to populate with articles, but some niches like movie production insurance, or cat insurance might be much easier to write for, a dozen articles and a bunch of backlinks might be all that is needed to start getting good traffic and AdSense income.

The CPC isn't too fantastic for anything but the biggest insurance niches, only $3-$6 per click for many of the keywords, with a lot more hovering around 5c. Of course this means the AdSense publisher gets a lot less, but on the other hand this is still more than a lot of niches that might only have a CPC of 50c.

Is it worth targeting? Well if you're just starting in AdSense then no, you'll have to work too hard to make a go of it, and frankly the results won't start to come in until at least 3-6 months after starting and even then only a trickle. Other niches like webhosting whilst very competitive will probably pay sooner because it is so easy to find people who want hosting. You only need to join Entrecard and they'll visit you.

I'm getting ready for a trip around on my bike

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:21:40 +0000

Part of my New Years resolution is to get fit, so that I can do something I've always dreamed of, walking or cycling long distances and seeing the world. For that I need the right equipment.

The first thing I need is a good watch, after all 6 months walking or cycling is going to be hell on any normal watch, so a rugged timepiece that can handle wet weather and the rigors of sweat and being bashed about is needed, and more importantly I don't want a watch that looks valuable.

Luminox Watches are a good brand used by the US Navy SEALS, and they glow in the dark, they seem like the perfect watch for a rugged trip, and starting at only $138 they're pretty good value, definitely more so than a cheap watch that might need replacing after a few weeks.

Good equipment for long distance walking and cycling isn't much different from the kind of equipment you need for fishing or hunting, and even though I don't do either, I appreciate good quality tools. Setting up a tent in a forest sometimes means having to cut undergrowth, or tie a line for drying clothes.

I've been looking around for tools that I can start buying while I get my body into shape, I hate buying everything at the last minute, and I know I'm going to need a good knife for cutting up meat, maybe an axe for chopping wood, and probably a good sharpening tool to keep the blades sharp.

I quite like when I go hunting around the web and find one shop that carries a decent range of all the stuff I'm likely to need, and I know that Spyderco Knives and Kershaw Knives are excellent brands for what I need.

A simple thing like a camp axe doesn't need to be huge, and I certainly don't need a log splitter, but I will need the ability to chop small branches for cooking. Similarly those multifunction kits with bottle openers, can openers, screwdrivers, a small hammer etc are really useful.

If I bought all the bits I need separately I'd be carrying around a lot of gear so it's worth checking out brands like Spyderco and Kershaw. At least I won't need to worry about the quality of the gear.

The Perfect Christmas Present

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:28:33 +0000

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life"; a saying that is as true today in the 21st century as it was 2000 years ago when Jesus said it. I believe the perfect Christmas present should embody this ideal.

Christmas 2009 is a challenging time for many, and I'd hazard a guess a lot of families won't be getting many gifts this year, and perhaps will have to cut back on their celebrations. Fortunately love and companionship doesn't cost money.

If you know someone who needs to be taught a new skill, I'd like you to consider what the future could hold for your loved one. It's true to say that computers are here to stay, and more and more methods of making money can be done with a computer.

My perfect Christmas present would be a book that gets right to the point and is proven to work, a book that teaches people how to create websites that earn an income, a book that proves you can make money on the Internet.

That book is one that I completely endorse for two reasons. First, I myself am following the system in this book and I'm making money right now from the book. The second reason is that unlike many make money online ebooks that particular book shows you a system that is completely 100% free.

It's written by Janet Smith and is entitled "Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online", and is a thoroughly detailed system of using Google's free keyword tool to identify niches from which you can create a free blog on Google's Blogger.com and make money y using Google's AdSense program, which is free to join.

I know it seems like an unusual perfect Christmas present, but I take to heart the advice of Jesus Christ, and I give gifts that allow my loved ones to work for themselves. I really love my family, so much it hurts, so you understand that when they're suffering it pains me.

But Jesus' words about teaching a man to fish give me hope and inspiration in these difficult times. His love is never ending, and so is mine. This is why Janet's ebook is a book I recommend. Perhaps best of all, the book isn't available on paper so she is doing her little bit to help our planet.

I first came across the Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online about 4 weeks ago, and it's already working for me, and helping me to create websites on topics I love writing about, but now I know how to optimize the websites to make money. Buy Janet's make money online ebook now.

Merry Christmas.

Personalized Gifts for Christmas, or any Occasion

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:54:36 +0000

Photo Blanket

I love this idea, being so far away from friends and family we want to send them some photographs of us, perhaps framed etc. But get a load of these Personalized Gifts ideas, put your favourite photograph, or more than one, on a blanket, pillow, duvet cover, and then send it to loved ones for Christmas.

Imagine the thrill of knowing that everytime someone you care about goes to bed they see your smiling face looking back at them, not from a tiny little photo next to the bed, but from the entire blanket. I can't imagine a more fitting personalized gift for close-knit families and friends.
Continue reading "Personalized Gifts for Christmas, or any Occasion"

Howto Write Christmas Cards

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:35:13 +0000

I love Christmas, I love getting lots of cool presents, I really love the big Christmas dinner. I hate writing christmas cards. Check out the example messages at the bottom of this entry, including some rude ones :grin: Some people (the other half included) think you should send a Christmas card to every single person you know. They also think the message needs to be really clever and individual, something to inspire them and make them think happy thoughts about the sender. Are you looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a loved one? Why not help them make money online with the perfect Christmas present? The old saying that you can give a man fish and bread holds true, instead give the person you love the chance to earn money online and learn how to feed themselves. In this economic climate, and as the world economy moves from the industrial age into the information age you can make money from sharing your knowledge.
Continue reading "Howto Write Christmas Cards"

The Importance of SEO and Personalized Search

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:08:53 +0000

In the last few days the Internet seems to be all abuzz about personalized search from Google being rolled out to everyone, whether the searcher is logged into a Google account or not.

Of course the privacy brigade are screaming this is just wrong, an invasion of our rights, that Google should be forced to make the service opt-in instead of opt-out. Other people are shouting this marks the end of SEO as we know it.

I'd like to share my opinion, SEO isn't dead, it's just beginning. For the longest time SEO has been too easy, yeah you read that right. SEO has been too easy.

All you really needed to know in the past was how to optimize your onpage elements and get more back links than your competition. Now everything is going to change, and what does this mean?

Well it means that other factors are now going to be hugely important, like time to download a page, number of calls to the server, bounce rate, page impressions, support for mobile devices etc.

Does this mean what we do changes? Yes, now we actually need to study our site visitors and give them a good experience. Google at least are able to track all of the things I mentioned above, and they think it's time webmaster starting taking them into consideration.

What's going to happen is that every person who searches the web is going to be given personalized results based on what their previous search history suggests is important to them, so if your website gives them that info they're going to click through.

However, the initial rankings are still going to be made up from solid SEO techniques that we already know and love. The site with the most relevant content, the best converting content, and the most links to it is going to be the winner in this new paradigm Google are introducing.

I guess it begs the question will I change the way I work? Nope, I'm still focused on creating niche sites. Let me tell you why. I don't think it matters how much Google change their search engine, they are still looking for the most relevant sites to list in their SERPs.

That means anyone who follows the techniques of good SEO, and builds networks of niche sites is going to win big time.

In fact everything you need to know about making money online and building niche networks, especially now that Google have changed the rules, you'll find in Janet Smith's "Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online". This book has just been published, and if you follow the system introduced I believe personalized search will be something that will help you make an even better AdSense income.

Free hosting from doteasy

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:15:48 +0000

In response to my last post about cheap hosting I had a comment from Linda asking if I could review some of the companies I use for hosting. Since I'd already mentioned two other hosts in the comments to that post I thought I'd prefer to write about a host that I haven't mentioned before.

I should clarify and say I use a lot of host companies, I own several websites and I don't like to keep all my eggs in one basket, and I hate using reseller plans for my websites. If something goes wrong that's it, your entire network of websites could be offline.

Cheap hosting, or even free hosting, isn't always the worst hosting you can use. Frankly I think too many people assume that only expensive hosting is worth having. Let me be clear, the price you pay has nothing to do with quality of service, it only means the host is charging you more.

A host company that charges $12.95 per month, can be exactly the same as a host company that gives free hosting if you buy a domain. Let me give the example of doteasy (not an affiliate link) who have hosting for $9.95 per month, or free hosting when you buy a domain. Keep reading, that's just their list price, believe me it gets way better than that.

doteasy are a large, well respected company who sell domains and hosting, not much different from other hosts except their list price for a domain is more expensive, but they give free hosting, or rather the hosting is included in the price. Maybe a little confusing to some people but in my opinion not much different to other hosts.

I use doteasy for a couple of sites where I need a hosting account that isn't going to be flaky. Look I said in my comments on the cheap hosting post that I don't care about a few hours downtime, but on some of my sites I do care. For example one of the sites on doteasy I use primarily with readers who I want signing up for my mailing list.

I don't want to miss a single email address if there is a chance that person could become a buying customer. doteasy is one of the few cheap hosts, well let's be honest and say if the domain fee is the same as anywhere else the hosting is actually free, where I know I can count on that mailing list manager to be online.

Now we get to the good part. doteasy have a coupon code you can use to get a domain (com/net/org) for just $4.95 with free cPanel hosting for 12 months. That's my reason for using them. Look, after 12 months if a site isn't working well enough for me to then afford regular hosting then it's never going to work. But that's my job, I'm an Internet Marketer. I build websites to make money online, I'm not doing this waste money.

That is why doteasy is on my list of cheap or free hosts. If you want to get a free doteasy host account with a $4.95 domain, just use the coupon code 0910FWH - that isn't an affiliate code, anyone can use it. Another reason I use doteasy for free web hosting is they don't have any hidden fees or setup fees. $4.95, that's it!

Review of Janet Smith book Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:19:17 +0000

This is a review of Janet Smith's make money online ebook entitled "Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online", is written for beginners, people who know they want to earn an income online, they've probably heard of AdSense, and might even have an AdSense account, but are probably struggling to make a dollar a day.

Janet's book is marketed squarely at people who want to give up their day job, and may have tried to make money online but just haven't succeeded. This book is written people who may know what AdSense is, but don't know how to make money using AdSense. Of course the techniques in her book could just as easily be used to make money from other advertising programs or affiliate programs, but since AdSense is the single biggest ad platform on the planet, and a website that earns money from AdSense is mostly passive income after the content is written and indexed in search engines, it just makes sense to use it.

To make money online Janet says you need a system. I agree with her. Her system simple, but detailed, and doesn't require any money upfront for domain names, hosting, or paying for advertising campaigns. Yes, you read that correctly, after you've read Janet's book the only thing you need is a computer and an Internet connection. You don't need to buy domains, or pay for monthly website hosting.

For me this is the clincher on why I'm reviewing and recommending Janet's Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online. The goal of making money is to cut expenses down to the bare minimum. What is the point of registering hundreds of domain names, or paying every month for website hosting if you don't need to?

If you have a computer and an Internet connection, or you can borrow these, maybe in an Internet cafe or school library, then you have what you need to start Janet's program. In practice you're going to need access to a computer for a minimum of 4 hours per day to do keyword research, write articles, and get them published, although at a pinch you could use a computer without an Internet connection and write articles offline, as long as you can access the Internet for an hour a day.

Her book is called "Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online: How to Realistically make money online from anywhere in the world!". Janet considers herself to be a digital nomad, someone who can work anywhere and still make money. She has hundreds of websites, and together they give her a really good income, she proves it in her book.

So, before I tell you what's in the book, let me digress for a moment and cover the new FTC regulations on disclosure of earnings projections. Unlike many other ebooks I've read, Janet's Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online isn't going to promise you $100 dollars a day or a million dollars in one month. The value of this book is that it describes a system that you can follow using free websites and Google's AdSense program to make money online. How much money you make is dependent on you.

You need to pick keyword niches that pay. If you can do that or if you're willing to learn, then this book is a great introduction to working from anywhere using free websites and Google AdSense. In the future, after you've read this make money online ebook you might decide to invest in domain names and website hosting. But right now you don't need to, and you may never need to.

What are free websites? Well the obvious one is Blogger.com, and yes, you can make money using free blogger sites and Google's free AdSense program, really the two are a marriage made in heaven. Google owns Blogger.com, and they give you the tools to make money online with their AdSense program. All you have to do is write content, and get traffic.

Google owns the world's largest search engine, and they own AdSense, and they own Blogger.com, and they own YouTube, and everything is free to use. Google want you to create websites using their Blogger.com free hosting, they'll pay you to optimize your site for their search engine. Really, if you fail it's because you don't put in enough effort.

Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online contains 13 chapters and all are useful for the beginner. Janet takes a couple of chapters to explain what her make money online ebook is all about, it isn't for experts who are already making money. The book is 100% for people who know it's possible to make money online, but haven't done it yet. If you have a blog, or use Facebook, or just use search engines to find things then you can read this ebook and learn how to make money. So if you want to be a digital nomad, you'll get the knowledge you need to do so from the Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online.

Probably most people will skip straight to chapter 7, "Monetization Methods & Conducting Keyword Research", but for me chapters 4, 5, and 6 were the most interesting, basically they cover doing keyword research, building content that converts, and getting backlinks that help you rank in the major search engines for your chosen keywords.

Let me tell you that everyone I speak to asks the wrong question first. They always ask me how to optimize their AdSense to get clicks. Wrong question. Most people would be lucky to get 100 unique visitors per day to their website, and probably most of them come from Entrecard, StumbleUpon, or other social networking sites. But the reality is those people don't click ads.

The kind of people who click ads are people who are actively looking for something, usually from a search engine, and when they see your page they'll click the ad if it's relevant to their needs. The real question people should ask about making money from AdSense is how do I get search traffic, and a lot of it. 100 visitors per day might only mean 2-3 clicks, maybe a few more but really not very much. You need hundreds or thousands of visitors per day to get good income from AdSense.

Janet explains this better than I can, and in chapters 5 and 6 she really goes into a lot of detail about writing content that attracts the best ads, and then how to get a lot of other websites to link to you so that you rank for the keywords that pay well. Honestly, anyone can do this, but very few do. This is why I recommend you buy Janet Smith's "Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online" now!

Check out the shower in a Spanish home

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:36:03 +0000

Our Shower

The new house we're renting is one of those country fincas so beloved by Spaniards, and has even been decorated old-style, badly in places, but at least sticking to a theme. The shower on the other hand is a very unusual contraption.

I've never seen anything like this anywhere before, the walls are fairly rustic, and I've seen similar in other houses around Ronda so it must be a popular style. The bricks are actually quite rough, and bumping into them while showering can be painful.

First of all they're not uniformly made, they actually look hand-made rather than machine cut so they have lots of sharp protrusions, and the guy who owns the house did the work himself and he isn't a bricklayer by trade so whilst it looks great from a country lifestyle magazine point of view...

Being a DIY job you can imagine all sorts of problems might rear their ugly head, this shower is no exception. The plumbing leaks, the drain blocks very quickly, and there isn't a splash tray so water frequently bounces out onto the bathroom floor.
Continue reading "Check out the shower in a Spanish home"

Fiat 600 Parked in Ronda

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:57:00 +0000

I snapped this going for a walk through Espiritu Santo the other day and couldn't resist converting it to black and white for that old 1960s look. The cobbled street and older style home really make the photo although I wish the dog sitting in the window was more obvious. Enjoy!

Top 10 Paid to Write sites for Article Writers

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:45:17 +0000

In this next part of my series for budding writers who want to earn some spare cash, or even make a career of writing, I'm going to talk about some other programs I've come across that promise to pay writers for their articles, or give a revenue split to writers, either way, if you're a prolific writer and can manage a couple of hundred words in a few minutes, you might be able to make a decent part-time or full-time income.

Today.com is my favorite earner for writers, you only need to be passionate about a topic, and Today.com will pay you for your posts. Simply apply to join their VIP Blogger Program (I was accepted the same day) then start posting quality blog articles. To begin with they pay $1 per post, but only one per day, so with very little effort a writer could be earning $30 per month right from the get-go. If you can also turn your blog into a popular blog they pay extra for unique visitors. Today.com pay you by Paypal or check.

451 Press is a blog network that rewards writers with upto 40% of the revenue earned from publishing your niche blog. They offer to do all site promotion, and finding advertisers, all you have to do is write and make your blog the best it can be.

Constant Content makes it possible for writers to upload an article, blog post, photo, illustration, or video which are then available for buyers to use on their own websites. If you have a bunch of articles doing nothing and you'd like to sell them, give Constant Content a go. It is possible to sell your articles for exclusive use and this site can be lucrative for writers who are able to produce articles quickly when new requests are advertised.

About.com is one of the largest publisher networks on the Internet, and guides (writers) are well paid to create an authority site about their chosen topic, with a good monthly base of several hundred dollars. You need to apply to become a guide and acceptance is not guaranteed.

Helium offers writers the chance to practice their writing by posting articles to the Helium site, great articles that are voted up get more traffic, and a higher percentage of earnings for the writer. Helium isn't a great site for making money, unless you get involved in their marketplace and can sell your writing. Competition in Helium's marketplace can be fierce.

Associated Content (AC) say they will buy articles from writers, and this can be a great site to make some part-time earnings. Articles bought by AC are published on their own network of sites, and successful writers get to know the style of writing that AC is looking for. Associated Content is considered one of the big sites on the web, so a regular income from selling articles can be achieved.

Article Income is a profit share network of sites who use Google AdSense to earn income, and writers will get 50% of all earnings but only for their own articles. If you're looking for a site that will publish your articles in a relevant field then you should definitely join. At the very least you can include your profile on Article Income in your portfolio or resume.

Demand Studios is one of the lesser known but very worthwhile writing gigs available. They list freelance assignments, you complete a task and get paid, it's that simple. Demand Studios are only looking for dedicated writers who are prepared to put in the effort to be accepted.

Bukisa is a useful site for writers who want to build a portfolio page of published writings, and get paid for them. Bukisa share their revenue based on unique visitors but earnings can fluctuate because they use an index for measuring the mulitplier which is updated twice a month. They also accept articles that you've published elsewhere as long as they are your own.

eHow.com, a site that specialises in providing howto articles across almost every subject area and pays writers who get accepted into their Writer Compensation Program. Earnings are based on pageviews of articles you submit, so they encourage writers to promote their articles outside of eHow. US residents only.

New ebook, Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online using Blogger.com

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:05:11 +0000

Yup, you read the title right, make money online using blogger.com, AdSense, and Janet Smith's new ebook "Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online"

I get a bit tired of people dissing Blogger.com, it's a fantastic blog platform, it's easy to use, and it's a great way to make oodles of free websites and make money from them using AdSense. Why pay for expensive domain names and hosting when Google gives us everything we need free?

Since 2006 I've been a full-time Internet Marketer, I started in 2005, and in 2006 I quit my day job. You can too. You can read more about making money online with Blogger.com, or if you're anxious get started, just buy the ebook

Cheap Hosting

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:45:07 +0000

Is cheap hosting worth the price you pay? If you're like me, there's a good chance you have more than one make money online website, and paying for expensive hosting just isn't an option.

I guess all hosting is different, and it's not fair to generalize, after all you might easily buy cheap hosting that isn't very good, or you could get a bargain with excellent service and uptime.

Personally I never pay more than $3-$4 per month for hosting, I just don't think it is worth paying more than that for my make money online websites. All of my websites need to make a profit. If they don't, they're no good to me.

And I think many of the people who read my blog are not rich, like me you have to struggle to make ends meet. Well, not me anymore. I use cheap hosting, and every website I own makes a profit. This is why I think cheap hosting is better than expensive hosting.

A lot of people I know tell me about special deals with unlimited domains and bandwidth for $6 per month, but in my experience these aren't worth having. Let me tell you why.

Let's say you have 5 websites, and they all make money for you. Sooner or later you're going to want to link them all together, but if they're all on just one host account they'll share the same IP address. That's not good news if you're serious about ranking in the search engines.

So, you'll probably need 5 different host accounts, and now you get it, cheap is better. Don't worry about poor service, just do your research and make sure the company you choose is big enough. I always send an email to any host company before I sign up, just to make sure someone will answer me. If they do, and I like their answer, then I use them.

Use StumbleUpon to Build Backlinks

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:39:11 +0000

OK, this post is in my SEO category, and you're probably thinking if I write about StumbleUpon I can't know what I'm talking about, after all every expert will tell you that being stumbled might bring in traffic, but it's worthless traffic that doesn't convert.

Well in most cases you'd be right, but have you ever thought of using StumbleUpon to build backlinks, no, not from being stumbled, but instead from making sure you set your toolbar to show you related websites that you can comment on.

Here's what I do. I know one of my websites is in the make money online niche, so I set my SU profile to show me other make money websites, then I click the Stumble button on my toolbar to show me the next site in the niche.

If I find one that is relevant I make a comment. If it isn't relevant I might pass and click to the next site, or I might leave a comment anyway, but perhaps using the anchor for one of my longer tail keywords.

The people who have the sites get a comment from being stumbled, and with many of them I get a backlink. It's a win/win even though Stumbleupon is usually bad traffic. This is why I don't mind being stumbled myself, I often get some great comments.

Too many people think if all you get from traffic is a comment, that the traffic isn't worth having, but I disagree. Anyone who leaves a good relevant comment increases the amount of content on my page for search engine spiders to index. That's good news for me because it means I might rank higher.

I delete poor quality comments, and I'm sure a lot of other webmasters do as well, but if I can leave a good quality keyword rich comment on another site that I found using SU, then I'm happy, and so is the website owner.

And you can confirm the link is valuable by checking Google webmaster tools. If the link shows up, chances are good you're getting a backlink.

Travel insurance for medical emergencies

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:03:45 +0000

Travelling as much as we do it's critical to have good travel insurance for those times when you least expect something to go wrong and then it does.

It's funny, everytime we go somewhere or do something that seems a bit risky we take all the precautions we can, and of course nothing happens. Conversely when we expect everything to go perfectly something always comes up to throw a spanner in the works.
Continue reading "Travel insurance for medical emergencies"

Grizzly Ugly Blogger Template

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:37:26 +0000

Ugly Blogger themes are all the rage amongst people who want to target search traffic so I've created a version of Grizzly's Ugly Blogger Template for all you budding make money online people.

Basically this theme is a copy of the theme Grizzly uses on his How to Make Money Online for Beginners. It's ugly, no color at all except for the blue links, but it is optimized for SEO and has a bunch of widget spots configured exactly like Grizzly has.

So, you can see from the screenshot this theme is ugly, the only thing worth seeing is the way I've copied Grizzly's description just to make the screenshot a little bit more interesting. In the screenshot I haven't added extra widgets, but they can be added above the blog title, below the description, above the posts, in the sidebar, and in the footer. Pretty cool.

SEO Optimized Blogger Template

Why would you use this theme, well it's quite simple. Grizzly believes that search engines put a premium on sites that are all content, not all good looks, and the content on this template is right up at the top of the HTML.

The first thing the spider sees is the title, then the description, then the first post, then the sidebar, then the footer; it doesn't get more optimized than that.

Grizzly recommends this type of blogger template for niche sites that target specific keywords, it can be a site you make money online from, or a not for profit site, or just a personal blog, doesn't matter, it's designed to be optimized for the Google Spider, and you know what, the font is bigger, and easy for people to read as well.

To install my Grizzly Ugly Blogger Template, download the zipfile, extract the xml file, then in your Blogger Layout screen click 'Edit HTML' and browse to the file, then click upload. It doesn't get easier than that. Download Blogger Template.

If you want to know why to use this theme, you really need to check out Janet Smith Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online book. She's been making serious money from AdSense and affiliate programs by learning everything Grizzly has to teach.

Her 170 page ebook gives you step by step instructions on what you need to do to research searched keywords, then write quality content that earns you money. I bought the book last week and it's already helping me increase my earnings.

Apple Airport Express Review

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:05:38 +0000

Apple Airport Express

For the last couple of weeks my Wi-Fi router hasn't been working very well, in fact it's been very slow and was dropping around 50% of all connections. So I've replaced it with an Apple Airport Express.

I use a lot of Apple gear, my laptop is an Apple, my ipod is an Apple, OK, that isn't much, only two items, but I'm a confirmed Apple user now so when my old router died I decided to give the Apple's Airport Express a whirl.

First of all it's tiny, I think it might actually be smaller than the powerpack for my MacBook Pro, but it looks similar in that they're both small white boxes with rounded corners. The old router must have been three times the size and had three antenna, whilst the new one has none.

How Apple managed to get it working as well as they have puzzles me. If my old router with three antennas and a separate power pack couldn't do the job well, how did Apple manage to get the Airport Express to work.

Configuring the Airport Express is relatively straightforward, though it does require a couple of steps to be completed first. The first step is to attach all the required cables.

My Internet is always on, so I expected to see a green light saying the Airport Express was able to access my ISP. In fact I saw an amber light. Apparently this is normal, and the disk from the package needs to be inserted and the Airport Express Utility program run.

This configures the Apple Airport Express as a network, and gives the network a password. After that you wait for a minute while it authenticates. After that you're connected. It happily works with two laptops, I haven't tried it with more. So far it's proving to be an excellent investment.

Change Post Title URL to Homepage on Blogger.com

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:01:00 +0000

In one of my make money online posts I explained why it can benefit your website to change the blog title link to your homepage URL instead of the post URL. In this Blogger tutorial I'm going to show you how to do this with blogspot blogs.

Once our posts disappear off the front page many will gather dust and never get any traffic or backlinks. An obvious way to make sure your blog still ranks for the keywords in those older posts is to change the post title link to your blog URL so that when the search engine spiders visit your blog they automatically rank your homepage for the keyword, as well as the post.

Blogger make it really easy to change your post title URL, but you need to configure one of the settings first before you can add the blog URL for each post. From your dashboard, click Settings, and then Formatting. Scroll to the bottom of the age and you should see "Show Title field" and below that "Show Link fields". Make sure both have yes in the drop down box, and save.

Now, create a new blog post and you should see a new option under the Title for your post. It's just a text box that says "Link:". This is why I love Blogger so much. Everything is easy and doesn't require a degree in programming.

In that box, type or paste the homepage URL, then when your post is written and published view your blog and you'll notice the post you've just created now links to your homepage. That's pretty cool, and if you write keyword rich titles your homepage URL will now start to rank for those keywords, instead of long forgotten and buried posts. Good luck.

Hawaii Blogger Template Updated

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:45:25 +0000

Hawaii S-C-S

I've made a substantial update to the Hawaii template, and it now includes two variants, the original content-sidebar-sidebar layout, and an additional sidebar-content-sidebar layout. View the demo

The Hawaii template is also being ported to Serendipity, and may get ported to Wordpress, unless someone else beats me to it - anyone up for the challenge?

So getting back to Blogger, the Hawaii template updates include better support for ordered and unordered lists, more accessible font sizes, all links now showing in blue with an orange hover, and built-in resizing to fit within Blogger's edit widgets screen instead of breaking outside the iframe (mostly a problem in Firefox).

The only part of the template that needs to be edited for your own needs is the navigation bar, and to do this simply select the 'Edit HTML' screen and find



<li><a href="#">About Me</a></li>

Change the # sign to the URL of the link you want to use, and the About Me text to something more meaningful for your needs.

As per usual, download Hawaii XML Blogger template using the text file hawaii-3col-xml-blogger.txt or hawaii zipfile if you want to host the images somewhere else.

Blue Hawaii Blogger Template

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:15:11 +0000

Blue Hawaii Template

With the recent update of the original free HTML template that Hawaii is based on I thought I'd add the extra colorsets to my Blogger Template list.

Two versions of this template have been produced, the original content-sidebar-sidebar layout, and the sidebar-content-sidebar layout that a few Bloggers seem to prefer. The images have been uploaded to ImageShack so most Bloggers will only need to download the template files, but if you do need to host the images yourself, the zipfile for Hawaii has been updated to include all four versions of this great template and all the images.

Blue Hawaii Theme

As an interesting aside, the Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii from 1961 which also stars Joan Blackman is one of my all time favorite films. I know it's a bit old now but it's good fun with a great soundtrack.

Speed Up Your Blogspot Blog

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:29:02 +0000

If you're a blogger who uses Google's blogspot to host your blog here's a quick suggestion that might help you get some traffic that stays long enough to make a comment, maybe even become a regular subscriber. Reduce the number of posts on your front page.

Believe me when I tell it is not cool, or trendy, or helping your SEO, or making your site more user friendly to have a 30 or 40 posts on your homepage, all of them filled with images or YouTube videos, and your siderbars filled with so many widgets you can't actually see the content for them.

Take a hint, reduce the number of posts on your page, and seriously think about how many widgets you really need. I understand that some of them might make you some money, by all means keep these, but do you really need to display every award your friends have given you or those stupid widgets like the purring pussy cat that follows your mouse cursor I've seen.

No, you don't! Please listen to this advice, a lot of you have the Entrecard widget on your blog, or you offer make money online ebooks for sale, so I know traffic is important to you, so make it easier for your site visitors to appreciate your blog. You may think your site loads pretty quickly, but remember, most of the stuff on your blog is cached by your browser so of course your page loads quickly for you, but it sure doesn't for your visitors.

I leave a lot of comments scattered around the place. But when I come across a blog that takes too long to load, heck I hit the close tab button so fast... I would stop and make a comment, but not if your site takes a couple of minutes or more to download.

You see, many of you use fancy themes that mean a visitor can't actually read your posts until the page is fully downloaded, usually because the text is the same color as the page border, yeah I know, you're thinking but I have white background behind the text, yeah, you may very well, but that white background doesn't show until the whole page is downloaded and you know what that means, I can't read your post until the white background is there because your text is the same color as the page border.

So, to help you out, here's a really quick tutorial on how to reduce the number of posts on your page.

Blogspot users, enable comments for all

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:10:23 +0000

This is one of those things that really annoys me about some blogspot users, (and for that matter, people who use Typepad), please, please, for heaven's sake allow people who aren't blogspot users to make a comment on your blog.

This is particularly annoying when these people have signed up for Entrecard, they obviously want traffic, I assume they want people to revisit, perhaps even become fans who subscribe to their feed, and they do allow comments, but they're idiots! They only allow fellow blogspot users to make comments. Why? This makes no sense.

Now listen, I have a blogspot account, in fact several to showcase the themes I've done, but this is my main blog, this is where I want you to visit, and if I leave a comment on your blog I don't want you or any other potential visitors going to my blogspot profile page first. I have this blog for a reason, so people can read what I have to say and so I can build my own group of online friends.

Not allowing me to comment on your blogspot blog unless I login into blogger just annoys me and probably thousands of other people who might like to comment on your posts. Remember, if you've written something good enough or interesting enough that I want to comment, this is a good thing. It means more readers for you, and if you monetise your blog as so many of you do, then you should want people like me to comment.

So, please do me and everyone else a favor, enable comments. It's really easy to do, here's how;

Blog Title Should Link to Homepage

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:39:41 +0000

If you're serious about boosting the rankings of your blog for niche keywords, here's a tip that could help, just be aware this isn't totally user friendly and should only be used on keyword niche blogs.

Keyword niche blogs are those that specifically target certain keywords, for example make money online, usually because the owner of the blog wants to monetize the keyword somehow. Methods of monetizing a site include AdSense, affiliate links, etc.

I mentioned this is a tip that isn't completely user friendly, let me explain. Go to almost any blog and click the title link, and in most cases you'll be taken to the blog post page. This is the page that has the full blog post, comments and comment form. This is user friendly because readers expect to click the title to read the post.

For SEO purposes though, the homepage is usually the strongest page on a site, and for monetization, the home page is often the best converting page. So, if the homepage is so strong, doesn't is make sense to link internally to the homepage for all your main keywords?

Make Money Online eBook

Well I think it does, and this is a lesson I've learned from Grizzly, the master of MMO (make money online). Would you like to know how to make money online using free blogger.com blogs and AdSense or affiliate programs?

I recommend an ebook writtten by a friend and fellow Internet Marketer Janet Smith. We both follow the advice of Grizzly Brears, a man who has been making money online for more years than most of the A-List bloggers, and who ranks number one for "beginners make money online" against competition of 19 million. That's impressive!

Checkout Nomad's Guide to Make Money Online, an ebook that gives step by step instructions for creating content rich sites that people will want to link to, and will make you money. Or, if you've already heard of Janet's ebook, go ahead and buy her make money online ebook now.

Getting back to my original point. Considering the homepage is often the strongest page in a site, it makes sense to link to the homepage using your keywords. How do you think people link to my blog when they think their readers can benefit from one of my posts? A lot of the time people link to me using my name.

Sure it's nice that my name is out there, but hardly anyone knows who I am so it doesn't really help me very much. Instead I'd prefer if they link to me using keywords that better describe what my blog is all about. If you decide to link to this post, please use a keyword for the anchor text, maybe something like make money online ;-)

Post titles are usually keyword rich, anyone who is serious about blogging, even if they don't want to make money online is still going to think long and hard about their on-page SEO. I'm thinking of people who blog with humor, or politics, or religion. Maybe they don't make money, but it is important they rank for their niche. Same thing with MMO bloggers.

Changing your post title to link to your homepage strengthens the homepage even more because you're in control of the keywords, whereas a link from another site owner is a bit hit and miss, they could use any anchor text and you have no control over it.

Google actually recommend restricting your website or blog to a specific niche, and they also recommend getting good quality backlinks to your homepage. Why? Remember Google are in the business of search. They want to rank the most relevant pages for their customers. What is the point of a search engine that doesn't give you good results.

So, make sure your niches are specific, and change the link URL in your post titles to your homepage, not the blog post. This way all your posts that normally disappear into the archives will continue to benefit your entire site. In your sidebar you can still have a top posts widget, and you should.

Backing up and transferring your Serendipity or Wordpress blog

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:29:31 +0000

I use Serendipity (www.s9y.org) and Wordpress (www.wordpress.org) extensively for all my sites, both are excellent scripts and whilst they're both blog scripts, they have different strengths.

Most bloggers seem to prefer Wordpress, I think this is because they don't know Serendipity exists, being a more used script Wordpress is more visible, so of course more themes and plugins exist for it. Serendipity on the other hand offers true multilingual blogging right from first install, and uses the smarty template language which makes it a lot easier to customize a site than Wordpress.

I recently had a problem with a host and needed to urgently move my sites, and honestly I'm not an expert on dealing with databases so I like transfer procedures to be simple. So, here's a quick guide to moving a site from one host to another.

Begin by logging into the old host FTP server for your site, and download all the files in your blog folder including;

Wordpress: the wp-content folder
Serendipity: the themes, plugins, and uploads folder

Then upload all files to your new host using FTP. At this point all of your files and uploads have been transferred, but this isn't the end, you also need to transfer your database so that everything works.

In your old host, login into the host control panel and under the database settings go to phpMyAdmin. Click the database name for the site you're transferring, and export the database making sure that you select all tables under the export tab. Then check the box that says 'Save as file', and give the export a filename you'll remember. Finally click go to save the database to your computer.

In the control panel of your new host, create a new database and user in the database settings, and then once you've created the database, login to phpMyAdmin and click import, then click the browse button and upload the file you previously downloaded from your old host.

If all has gone to plan you should now have all files transferred, and your database transferred, and now we go to the last step, making it all work.

You'll need to re-install both Wordpress or Serendipity, but don't worry, you're not going to lose any of your data. Both are intelligent enough to only install what is needed. So, login into the new host site using FTP and delete the following files;

Wordpress: wp-config.php
Serendipity: serendipity_config_local.inc.php

Then in your browser, type in the URL of your blog. For both Wordpres and Serendipity you should see the new install screen. For Wordpress follow the procedures as they are defined, and for Serendipity follow the simple install button. Once you've done this, you should see your blog on your new host just as it was on the old host.

Nalples or Napoli, it's still a great city to visit

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:43:08 +0000

In 1998 I was touring through Italy, seeing the great cities like FLorence, Venica, Pisa, and of course Rome, but my biggest regret was that I only saw the places that any guide book recommends. I didn't get to see much of Southern Italy, and only passed through Naples, or Napoli as Italians call it.

Naples is a fascinating city and I plan to return soon, it's the capital of the Campania region, and home to Europe's most active volcano, Vesuvius. Naples is the home of pizza, and not too far from the city is the Amalfi coast and the ruined Roman city of Pompeii.

Because the area is so popular with both foreign and Italian tourists it is sometimes necessary to book a hotel in napoli long before arriving, Naples isn't one of those cities where you can just turn up and expect to get a room, at least not in a good hotel.

When I travel I don't want to be inconvenienced with a poor choice of hotel, I usually don't have enough time to see everything that I want to see, and in a city like Naples with it's churches, museums, and restaurants, convenience is what counts. The best accommodation or hotel naples italy is going to be in the centre of the city.

Close to the main hotel napoli disrict is the old harbour of Naples, which is historically the cultural centre of the city. For nearly three thousand years the port of Naples has been central to Mediterranean trade, so it is no surprise that castles and fortifications are the main drawcard.

So, when am I going to Naples you might be wondering? Probably after Christmas, winter in Italy isn't so bad, and my main interest is the museums anyway, I've already seen Pompeii. And hiking around Vesuvius is something I think I'd prefer to do in cooler weather.

Juzcar just outside Ronda

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:39:00 +0000

Omar ben Hafsun

Last week I went Juzcar, a small village around 15 minutes drive south of Ronda. The road to Juzcar is windy, narrow, and at times forces you to stop in awkward places while oncoming traffic goes past you. Consequently it isn't on the main tourist track.

This is a shame because Juzcar is in the Genal Valley, one of the Serranía's most beautiful and unspoiled mountainous areas, and is a great place to use as a base for exploring the walking tracks of the Genal.

Way back in the late 10th century, Juzcar became infamous as the bithplace of a resistance hero, Omar Ben Hafsun, who was supposedly of Visigothic ancestry and led a band of men against the caliphate in Córdoba protesting at high taxes and restrictions on their traditional lifestyle.

He led a successful rebellion for many years even carving out a small co-religionist kingdom centered at Bobastro, but his downfall came when he converted from Islam to Christianity. His muslim followers abandoned him, and the Caliphate immediately raised a large army to crush him.

The story is fascinating and worth reading, though most of it happened outside of Juzcar. These days Juzcar is more modern, most of the houses have been built in recent times, which is a shame because nothing from Moorish times remains to be seen.

The village has a great little hotel and restaurant called Bandeleros and is popular with walking and art groups. The hotel also has an art gallery.

Old Spanish Church in Ronda

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:43:00 +0000

This is one of my favourite photos, an old Spanish church in Ronda. A few years ago it used to be one of the tourist offices, and before that was a hermitage. During the Moorish era the location it stands on was probably one of the mosques used by travellers entering the city from Granada.

Loud Exhausts and Performance Tuning

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:11:58 +0000

A few years ago, um ignore that, it might have been more than a few, I was really into car tuning. I think we're talking the early 90s when I was a bit of a boy racer and thought life didn't get better unless the sound of my exhaust could be appreciated by all my neighbors.

Well I've grown up since then, but now and again I still have moments when I remember studying car magazines, parts catalogs, or just talking to friends about the latest ideas for getting an extra millisecond of acceleration. My little group didn't have much money, so we had to get our hands dirty.

Tuned cars that came out of our garages didn't look special but we were proud to take on the guys whose dads had money and didn't give a second thought to buying body kits and new turbos for their sons.

In my home town there was a diesel mechanic who worked on big rigs, but he was into Audis and had did Audi Tuning on the side, he was a friend so we got to use his workshop for working under our cars, a hoist makes a huge difference when you're changing oil or bleeding brake lines.

Across town there was a specialist Honda Civic Tuning workshop, much cleaner, better tools, and the guys really knew their Japanese cars, except they were more expensive and had their own rally race team. The Honda Civic doesn't sound like much of a rally car, but those guys won a lot of local competitions.

Recently I've been getting annoyed with all the young guys and their loud exhausts. They race around the streets here like it was a race track, I swear lives are in danger, not theirs, the rest of us. Then I remember what I was like, man history repeats itself all the time. Except my generation did it better!

Charity Tags in Supermarkets

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:34:10 +0000

Supersol is one of the supermarkets in Ronda, there are actually two of them, but that's not important. Most of the time when I go to the supermarket I see chewing gum, condoms, cards for recharging mobile phones etc hanging from the hooks in front of the checkout register. Today was different.

Today what I saw was a series of tags with monetary denominations on them like 1€, 2€, 5€, and 10€, but not for anything I would need, instead for charity, specifically for www.1kilodeayuda.es. This struck me as unusual, so instead of picking up a chocolate bar I bought a 1€ tag, which means that 1€ that I didn't need has gone to help kids with their educations in developing countries.

That made me feel good, so good in fact I'm writing about it here. I like the idea of little tags at the supermarket, nobody is asking me to donate, there is no pressure, I just pick one up if I want to. And because nobody is asking me, the other people at the checkout don't feel obliged either.

Being socially responsible is something that I think is a personal decision, just like lending money through Kiva. All in all I feel great about donating money to 1 Kilo de Ayuda, and really good about loaning money through Kiva, and I don't feel guilty about only donating 1€ like I might if someone was standing on a street corner asking for donations.

I wonder when the other supermarkets will start offering charity tags at the checkout register?

Peunte Nuevo from Below

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:19:30 +0000

This is what Ronda's Puente Nuevo looks like from down below in the gorge, compared with further down stream where the entire bridge and waterfall can be seen. Most tourists to Ronda look down and see the canyon floor, but never go down themselves. That's where I was standing when I took this photo. The bridge is so tall you can't see the people at the top looking down.

Ronda's New Bridge

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:50:20 +0000

I was out walking around Ronda yesterday and decided to take a short walk half way down the El Tajo gorge, I'm glad I did because for the first time I saw the double waterfall below the new bridge (Puente Nuevo). Also check out my photo of the Puente Nuevo from below.

Speaking improves English, study only helps

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:54:03 +0000

Sometimes as an English teacher I might encounter a student whose grammar skills are excellent, but they lack the confidence to speak English, and consequently think their English is worse than it really is.

In situations like these the student has often had many years of learning English, but almost exclusively paper based with very little practical component. Of course the student thinks that lessons with me should continue in the same way.

My approach doesn't appeal to all students, but I generally advise the student to let me give them a few lessons of unstructured conversation; true it is based on their needs, but it is still unstructured. I explain that I believe their memory will quickly kick in, and within 3-4 one hour lessons they will really see an improvement.

Of course I also supplement the practical lessons by emailing them exercises to complete. This means that the hour they pay for actually equates to 2-3 hours per week of their own time and effort, and I believe this is more effective than spending an hour on grammar lessons, with very little time for conversational practice.

Experience has told me that students need to be motivated, and it's my job to see that they stay motivated. The obvious reason is that a motivated student learns better, however a motivated student also continues as a student, and that affects my pocket.

In my opinion, a motivated student is the student who really notices an improvement in their ability to communicate, and 90% of the time this is because they feel happy to speak, and engage in a conversation.

TEFL students at intermediate level, but can't converse

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:08:55 +0000

As some of you know, I teach English to supplement my income, it's a great job, I get to meet some very interesting people, and it feels great to help people learn my native language. English really is the world language now, so when a student is motivated enough to pay for private lessons you know they have a reason for staying the course.

My most recent student is an interesting case, a young woman whop is not a native Spaniard, in fact she is Asian and has lived in Spain for only couple of years, so even her Spanish is still at beginner/intermediate level.

But she's truly motivated to consolidate her Spanish, and to learn to speak English. One problem with the education systems in so many parts of the world is that students learn English at school, but the education system in their home country doesn't have enough competent speakers, so the focus becomes reading and writing.

My newest student is a case in point, she reads English well, her writing is good, but speaking poses problems for her. Not because she has an inadequate vocabulary, but simply because writing gives her time to think, she can use a dictionary, whereas speaking is more immediate, and she doesn't have the luxury of using a dictionary.

It's a common problem with Spanish and Asian students, probably also other nationalities, and maybe it doesn't just affect English students, but nevertheless it's a problem that needs to be dealt with reasonably quickly if I want her to remain motivated, and increase her confidence.

Sadly, this is a real world example of why private English tuition is so important. Students get the chance to practice speaking English, and in the case of my new student, I'll be taking at least 2-3 weeks to just let her talk, she's shy so in reality I'm going to have to ask her a lot of questions and give her time to formulate her answer, but without this I don't grammar revision would be very helpful.

Interview Skills

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:05:12 +0000

Recently I've been interviewing some people for a part time role as an English teacher in my company, and I'm dismayed that many just can't handle the interview process. In front of a class of students they are quite happy to speak in public, they give good eye contact, their posture is excellent, and performance definitely up to the task.

But sitting in front of a desk being asked questions about their skills, experiences, and hopes for a position with my company eludes them. Job Interview Skills seem to be a real problem for a lot of people.

I try to get them to relax, I joke a bit about common things teachers find frustrating, I ask them a little about their interests outside of work, all of the things an interviewer is supposed to do to break the ice, in fact sometimes I think I should write a book of Jon Interview Answers to help them, but the fact is I want to hear their answers, not what they think I want to hear.

In my line of work I can't afford to employ the wrong person, a teacher's role is a responsible position, and there are legal ramifications if the wrong person is employed. So really getting to know the job applicant is important. Sadly when I interview and teachers don't come across well enough, well they don't get a second interview.

This is why I think preparation coming into an interview is so important, at the very least the applicant should read some Job Interview Tips on how to relax, how to answer honestly without fumbling, how to create an impression that they are the right person for the job.

None of these things require cramming or coaching, they simply require that the teacher asks honest questions of themselves, what do they want out of life, what do they enjoy about their job, what frustrates them about their job, and if they had the chance to change things what would they do. In essence this is what any employer is going to want to know.

People think if they have a different opinion from the employer that they won't get the job, and maybe this is true in some situations, but you know what, I really want to work with people who have the courage of their convictions to argue why they're right, and most importantly, if they have something to offer that might improve my business I want to know about it.

When these rare interviews happen the thought that crosses my mind is "Ah hah, I may have found a future manager or partner", and as an employer that is a golden moment, because people you can trust, and people with potential, seem to be very rare these days.

Ireland votes yes to the Lisbon Treaty

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:07:15 +0000

I'm pro EU, in fact I think the Lisbon Treaty doesn't go far enough, but I'm delighted the Irish have voted yes in their second referendum. In case you hadn't heard, around a year ago the Irish voted no in a referendum, and after pressure from the other nations in the EU, a second was called. Yesterday the results came through, a resound yes to the Lisbon Treaty.

Essentially this is a win for the EU. For years the mechanisms that make the EU have been bloated, bureaucratic, and inefficient. the Lisbon Treaty is an effort to streamline procedures, and prepare Europe for a future where the EU begins to take on a superstate role, more so than it does at the moment.

As part of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU will get a permanent president and a foreign minister. Both of these roles will be handicapped, the president is symbolic, whilst the foreign minister only acts as spokesperson for the Commission and national governments, but they are important nevertheless.

These new roles also serve a valuable purpose in letting EU citizens know that they are part of something bigger, I guess you could call them motivational roles, and I expect it won't be long after final ratification until we start hearing the first calls for the president to be directly elected.

A directly elected president of the EU would of course have to have a lot more power than Lisbon anticipates, so expect a lot political maneuvering in the coming years as pro EU parties battle it out with others to bring about the next treaty. Interesting times ahead?

Frankfurt Motor Show, Aston Martin, and Porsche

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:21:53 +0000

Cars are a small passion of mine, I go to auto shows whenever I'm able to. I enjoy seeing the latest trends in automotive styling and refinement, and of course the place where most of these new vehicles are showcased is the Frankfurt Motor Show.

This year I couldn't get to the show, although in previous years I've been a keen visitor. Luckily, Motorward were there and wrote about a couple of the best tuners and modifiers in the world who showed off a couple of spectacular vehicles, my favorite being the Aston Martin Cyrus by Mansory.

What an incredible looking car, just the sort of thing I'd be buying if my lotto numbers came up. Those sleek lines, hungry front end reminiscent of a wild animal, huge grill that screams performance, and side intakes for the brakes let you know this is a car that doesn't take prisoners. Sitting behind the wheel of Mansory's Cyrus would be like driving a rocket.

The German cars are always popular, especially Porsche, but for me I'm a little tired of the regular shape, so it was kinda nice to see the Porsche Panamera get a makeover as well. Of all the Porsches I think the Panamera is the one that is least understood, maybe because it doesn't have the classic back end, or front headlights of a Porsche.

To me this is what makes it more interesting, in my mind I don't associate Porsche with innovation in shape, only in engineering, despite the success of their 4wd models, but the Panamera is different. The version created by TechART really puts the stock vehicle to shame in my opinion, frankly Porsche should have contracted a company like TechART in the final design stages of the production model.

On the other hand I understand production vehicles need to appeal to the widest range of consumers, and maybe not everyone likes bodykits. Even so, if I had the money, I'd be going direct to a tuner to buy rather than a dealer.

Internet Kiosk in Ronda

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:15:23 +0000

I was walking through Ronda today, and out of the blue I noticed this funny looking box next to the tourist office. Woohoo, Ronda has an Internet Kiosk right next the bullring!

Now for people who live in other parts of Europe or the US this might not be exciting news, but here in Ronda things work a little slower, so this is actually a major development, and proof that the 21st century is coming to our little part of Spain.

The kiosk actually impressed me when I looked at it, it's waterproof, and tourism information for Ronda can be used free of charge, but customers pay for checking their email or visiting sites that aren't specifically to do with tourism in Ronda.

It even has a camera for taking snapshots of users standing in Ronda that they can email to friends. Sadly it doesn't have a microphone that I could see, so accessing Skype and calling home doesn't seem like an option.

The company who make this kiosk provide wi-fi services in other towns, so my hope is that if this works we might get wi-fi coverage in Ronda as well. Being able to check my mail while walking around the main shopping precinct would be great.

Cosmic rays on the increase

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:28:34 +0000

Well well, it seems humanity is in desperate need of sunscreen, and the higher the factor the better. Even if you're in the far north of Siberia it would still be worth buying a bottle to squish on all exposed parts of your body, and maybe even the unexposed parts as well.

Skymania reports today that the Earth is being bombarded with dangerous cosmic rays because the sun is releasing around 20% more radiation than when man first started entering space 50 years ago.

Of course these cosmic rays wouldn't even look twice at sunscreen, they're made of sub-atomic particles traveling at close to the speed of light and can pass through metal or concrete bunkers, and the Earth's atmosphere does a reasonable job of deflecting them, but not so lucky the astronauts in the International Space Station.

In space, without the protection of the atmosphere, the ISS, it's electronics, and the people on board are being hit pretty hard, and the thin shields the ISS has aren't enough to protect their fragile bodies.

this means when they return to Earth they'll need extended monitoring to ensure no lasting effects, in addition to making sure they take all diet supplements prescribed to them while they're in space.

With increases like these being felt in 2009, NASA and other major space organizations are now seriously reconsidering the amount of radiation protection needed on space ships and unmanned vehicles.

Howto sites, a guys kinda site

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:08:28 +0000

A fascination for writing, and a bit of SEO, has led me down some interesting paths recently, notably looking at the power of providing answers to questions that people typically ask their friends, yet when confronted with a search engine the query typed is often a series of grammatically incorrect words.

I don't have any howto articles on this blog, actually maybe I do but they were written so long ago I've forgotten them. The recent trend amongst information sources, is to pose a question as the article header, and then answer the question in the article body, and the latest site I've come across that uses this approach is the Mega How to site.

Now, in case nobody has noticed, I'm a guy, so I like to read guy things, for example how about How to build a catapult?

The author of the article has tried to make the process simple, I think more detail could have been included without sacrificing the goal, but it illustrates my point quite nicely. Now, not having a workshop, I'd be inclined to make a catapult using PVC pipes because I can cut these to size on the patio, and I'd look forward to shooting water filled balloons at the kids in the street.

Being a big kid again with a catapult is just the sort of thing I'd do, on the other hand, priding myself on being quite macho I also like reading about other guy topics like How to make a crossbow. I'd never make one, but imagine suddenly being thrust back in time to an age where wild animals roam and you need to eat, or defend your family. Yeah, that's why I'd want a crossbow.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:15:20 +0000

When teaching English to Asian (and Spanish) people I often run across the issue of them not understanding the difference between countable and uncountable nouns.

Of course for English native speakers, most of the time we aren't even aware of the difference, we simply use the correct rule from many years of speaking the language and absorbing the rules by osmosis. Yet for students of English, the rules for determining whether a noun is countable or uncountable can be tricky.

Now, before anyone thinks I'm going to prove that I know what I'm talking about by spouting obscure examples, I need to say that in English, as with all languages, there are exceptions, and modern spoken English isn't always faithful to the rules of old.

Despite this, some expressions just don't sound right, and most native speakers haven't become so lazy that we can throw the rules away.

So, for the benefit of anyone who really would like to know why I'm writing all of this, I've discovered that practicing countable nouns regularly makes a huge difference to my students spoken English.

The simple rule to be kept in mind by the student is that a countable noun has both a singular and plural form, for example a pen, or many pens, a computer or some computers.

Uncountable nouns are usually only singular, such as news or furniture. Simply, ask yourself if you can have one news or one furniture. The answer is no, you can't, making these nouns uncountable.

The most common problem I face with students, and countable and uncountable nouns, relates to the words many and much. Often I hear students interchanging them, they themselves know something is wrong, but often they fail to realise their choice or much or many is incorrect, instead assuming that the noun in question needs to be altered in some way.

A lot of practice usually solves the issue.

Spanish property bargains and how to find them

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:45:49 +0000

Real estate management isn't something I know much about, but I do know a lot about selling, sales management in particular is my great strength. I hope my regular readers will forgive me, and if any of you are in the market for Spanish property, well, I may be able to help.

I can't mention which real estate agent I've been working with, but the guy who owns the agency really needed some help with managing his sales team and dealing with a smaller prospect base and since my entire career has been involved in sales I got involved.

Property in Spain has taken a real hit recently with over supply in the market, overall something like 2 million extra properties that are struggling to sell and less mortgages in Spain being approved.

The general crisis being felt everywhere is also hitting property sales in Spain, with some estimates that about a third of all real estate agents closing down over the next year.

For investors with a little bit of cash to play with this could be very good news, and some real bargains are cropping up in Spain that will likely recover and hold their value over the next few years despite the over supply.

Here's what's happening, a very large number of local real estate agents have also dabbled in speculative developments which they borrowed heavily against. Suffice to say the agent himself may end up being your vendor.

So, if you're looking for a bargain what should you look for? I'd avoid new developments unless they are basically complete and in amongst other established properties. It seems many of the newer residential barrios may not be completed for quite some time, and who wants to own a property in the middle of a building site?

By the way, did I mention I'm not an expert, please don't take anything I say on authority, I can only relate what I've been hearing from other people, and in these economic circumstances there are a lot of desperate people who trying to protect their position.

One of the interesting things that seems to be happening around these parts is that property prices are static when you look in agency windows or the listings on their websites, but behind closed doors I'm hearing about massive reductions, as much as 60% in some cases.

I'd love to hear about property sales in other parts of Spain or the world, leave your comment below.