Mrs. Mecomber’s Scrapbook

Frugal people are some of the most financially secure people. Unfortunately, I started my frugality a little late. :S I wish I had gotten an earlier start. While I am not absolutely determined to retire at age 65, I do wish my husband and I had started saving money much, much earlier. Even if it was just to get that “dream house” or be able to afford a few weeks off together– it would have been lovely. Of course, it’s not too late! But I regret missing all that opportunity to do so. Oh well, it’s like I tell people who ask about my Social Security funds– my four children are my security in my old age.

How about you? I know I have a lot of frugal-minded and investment-minded readers. If you could do things differently, what would it be? Would you ever seek the advice of a financial consultant? My husband worked for several years as an insurance salesman, and got some training in financial consulting. It was not an easy job! It required lots of constant training, and keeping up-to-date with the latest financial tool, and the ups and downs of the stock market. I couldn’t imagine building a serious portfolio without the aid of a consultant or reputable company, like Northern Trust. The Northern Trust website is loaded with information, tips, market information from Reuters, and an assortment of personal and institutional service to build that financial security we desire. Believe me– trusting in the government for Social Security is NOT going to cut it in today’s world! I believe that Social Security will not even be available for my generation. Things like building one’s own private banking accounts for savings, and investments is the only way retirement will be tangible. Check out Northern Trust for more information about how to secure your financial future.

Everyone around the world is groaning for a solution to the outrageous oil prices. I have been paying attention to various viral videos and Internet articles about alternative fuel sources. Here’s a fascinating video I discovered, about a car that runs on air. Can this be?

Unfortunately, all of these innovative vehicles are being crafted in other countries. I applaud Europe for it’s culture of innovation. The automobile industry, the oil industry, and labor unions have such a strangle-hold on the United States that I truly wonder if we’ll ever shake free from it. I just may need a passport to ever get to see these amazing vehicles.

Need some help getting your blog noticed? Check out this great post. It is done by Amy, and is a pretty good list of blog directories and blogrolls that you can join for exposure.

I have had very good success with Blog Catalog. The people at that community are quite active, and the administrators have done an excellent job of moderating the blogs and making the site very user-friendly. I do get traffic from them.

By by far, the best traffic generator is Entrecard. If you haven’t joined and want to see an explosion in traffic, I recommend them. The system works best if you visit other blogs and “drop your card” on their widget. Many will reciprocate. However, if you don’t have a lot of time to visit other Entrecard blogs, then you probably won’t see a great deal of traffic. It’s a very active community. I have found some great blogs and made some wonderful friends through Entrecard. And I have found that there are blogs on everything! From peanut butter (yes, there’s a peanut butter blog!) to knitting to pool toys. Those are the extremes– most blogs are niche or mommy blogs. I’m enjoying my experience with Entrecard.

I read this at the You Can Learn Series blog, a blog I’ve found through Entrecards, and enjoy very much.

If you handle your own email processes then you need to take a few minutes and familiarize yourself with these new rules. The CAN-SPAM Act is not something you want to stay ignorant about.

** Any unsubscribe process can request only the recipient’s email address and any opt-out preference changes associated with their subscribed email address

** Any unsubscribe process that requires a recipient to provide more information, or interact with more than a single web page, is prohibited.

** A password cannot be required to unsubscribe.

** A user must not have to send more than one email message, or interact with more than one internet web page.

** A user must not have to provide any information beyond his/her email address.

I think these are good changes in the Act. I do not like having to go through several pages trying to unsubscribe. But I do wonder if these actions really do decrease spam?

I’ve been a member of IZEA’s PayPerPost for several months now. The experience with the IZEA community has been nothing short of wonderful. Not only have I made dozens upon dozens of new friends, learned more about the art and science of blogging and web design, and honed my writing skills, I’ve been getting paid for writing opportunities (opps, in the IZEA lingo) while enjoying the community!

SocialSpark is the latest release from this extremely innovative company. It’s been their baby for many months, and they were quick to release it and open it to bloggers and advertisers alike. I’d seen many “behind the scene” videos that detailed the development and the woes of deadlines, technical problems, and exhilaration of this new idea. So, my history with SocialSpark goes back a little ways.

I love IZEA. Do I love SocialSpark? Yes! with a few reservations. I joined SocialSpark in early April. The website, while beautiful and loaded with goodies, is slow and confusing to navigate. I’m trying to be fair and not compare it too much to the minimal PayPerPost experience. I very much like the ease of using the PayPerPost website, so I found the SocialSpark design a shock– a lot like culture shock, lol!

Navigating SocialSpark is difficult. A lot of computer newbies have found it somewhat painful to use. Just to get to my inbox of messages or view opps, I have to click a series of links. It would be a great improvement to redesign the site slightly, with fewer clicks, more options, and many more shortcuts. Right now, the cumbersome design and elongated chain of clicks is a large hurdle that dampens the glitzy SocialSpark experience. But don’t take me wrong– SocialSpark is still very navigable. I’ve been spending a few weeks at the site and can now say I’m becoming comfortable with the site.

Also, there’s a definite learning curve to SocialSpark, with its own unique language– queue, opps, sparks, props. It’s not for the faint of heart! However, IZEA has one of the best– nay, THE best– public forums I have ever seen. The IZEA boards have been my lifeline to understanding everything there is to know about IZEA, and more. And I’ve made a good many very dear friends there. The community is the best blogging community I’ve ever had the pleasure of joining. So that makes the annoying problems sting a little less. So overall, I believe SocialSpark is sorely lacking when it comes to intuitive navigation. But SocialSpark is truly still developing, and there are a lot of things still on the table. And that takes us to the very beauty of SocialSpark. Just the fact that I can offer my input and they will listen to it is what makes you say WOW about SocialSpark.

SocialSpark is exactly what the word means– it’s social. It was created to be a conglomerate mega-pool of users, bloggers and advertisers alike, to share ideas, create ideas, listen, and be listened to. You can create a profile (see mine) and make friends- even with advertisers! You can send and receive messages, share and write non-sponsored opps called “sparks” to get the word out (or to use as an impetus for a bad case of writer’s block)! SocialSpark is the big boy in the social networking neighborhood, kind of like a networked Starbucks. You converse, hash out ideas, and enjoy the refreshments with others. I love SocialSpark for this, and especially for bridging the vast desert land that had existed between blogger and advertiser.

SocialSpark is still a tween, in my opinion. It’s not quite full grown, and is still budding. There are some bugs to be worked out and of course there are tweaks needed to make it more friendly (better clickability and better linking). But I think these will all be resolved. And judging by the incredible support by the people at IZEA and the community in general, I think SocialSpark will absolutely shine in the near future. If you are interested in joining, I highly recommend it.

this review is sponsored by SocialSpark

If you have made any phone calls to any business in the past several years, you’ve come across answering services. I am actually amazed at how many small businesses are hiring answering services for their business. Such luxuries used to be reserved for the higher-end corporations, who could afford it. Not any more! The Internet has been a huge boon for the small business and free-lance entrepreneur. I make a lot of telephone calls to contractors, electricians, etc., and invariably I get an answering service. The ones I’ve encountered are excellent quality. In past where I might have gotten a tired and irate secretary, I now get a considerate telephone professional.

If you’ve got a small business– or even a big business!– check out Answering Services from Map Communications. They’ve been in business since 1991. They have a specialized medical answering service available for medical businesses (a REAL plus for any doctor’s office, believe me!). And calls are NEVER put on hold. They offer voicemail and also offer specialty call screening– the screening of calls as you request that they be screened. I see now why such service have become so popular!

Map Communications offers a free 7-day trial and also have a video where you can learn more about their services for the busy business.

I have been hearing of this new email broadcast program developed by IZEA, and am given the opportunity to review it. It’s called Zookoda, and it is nifty online software that allows you to send your latest blog posts via email to subscribers. Use of Zookoda is free, so that a big plus. I decided to check it out, since I am seeing growing interest in my home improvement and travel blogs.

You need to register to use Zookoda. It’s like anything else, you need your name, your email, etc. Very quick and easy to sign up. After the verification email, I logged in to see a slew of possibilities before me.

The thing I wanted to do right away was tinker with an actual email and get a feel for how good it will look. Creating an email was extremely easy. I entered the name of the email title (I just called it “New York Renovator”) and put in my RSS feed. Zookoda took my Feedburner RSS url just fine. Everything was so easy!

Next, I took a look at the templates for email format. These were a little sparse, but they still were very nice. There were four pages of Blogger-type templates. This is wonderful if you use one of these for your Blogger blog! Your email will match your blog template. However, I don’t use Blogger templates, but I did think this template was stylish.

I tried out the Zookoda template, and liked it best of all.

If you are comfortable tinkering with html, Zookoda allows you to tweak the template. Or you can even use your own custom template. I liked the flexibility of this. You can also use some of their basic images, too. I don’t like “plain jane” type templates, so these little customizations won me over.

Next was customizing content. I could pick and choose what blog posts I wanted to send. This customization is extremely helpful if you want to send only your best posts or if you want to send an anthology. Zookoda also gives you the option to send emails on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This is terrific!

Finally, Zookoda offers a way to manage everything. You can create mailing lists, manage the lists, view real-time click, unsubscribe, and other activities, and you can even email blog content in text format for your mobile readers. All this is pretty amazing for a price tag of FREE.

IZEA is a blossoming mover-and-shaker in the blogosphere. Zookoda, combined with their RealRank system, SocialSpark, and Blogger’s Choice Awards, is showing the real prowess of this company as they continue to churn out innovation after innovation. I predict they will soon be the next blogger powerhouse of the Internet.

So if you’ve got readers, check out Zookoda. If you want readers, you’ll definitely want Zookoda- this will draw them like flies to honeycomb. Zookoda is clean, classy, and simply a breeze to use and manage.

I’ve been delving into the SERP world (SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page), and I am overwhelmed! I didn’t know there was so much to learn and so many opportunities out there. I’m realizing that the world of web marketing is attainable, it’s at the fingertips of even the average blogger or webmaster. And here is no end to my marveling at how intense and competitive things like Page Rank, SERPs, directory listings, and traffic marketing can be.

The primary step– and one of the most important– is to get your blog/website into directories, like the Dirmania web directory, and onto other people’s pages. This increases the value of your website; because more people are listing you, the “juice” goes out and makes your website more authoritative. Do any search in a directory or search engine, and notice who makes the top ten? The most popular and/or most-linked to websites! I’m amazed at the energies directed toward getting in the top three. It is highly competitive, but it is achievable.

Take the Dirmania web directory. Listing your website with them is free (yes– free!) and if your listing meets their requirements, they guarantee your listing up and active in their directory within 24 hours. Listing with a directory that has a Page Rank 3 (see here) can give you that “juice” to generate search engine interest in your website. And the listing is free, so what have you got to lose?

No one wants to build a website or a blog and then have no one come to it. But building your website is really only the first step. Quality content, of course, is of utmost importance. And then comes exposing your website to every opportunity you can get. Start with the basics– free directories like Dirmania– and build up authority. Before long, other websites and search engines will start to take notice. If you maintain good content and good membership behavior with directories like Dirmania (no spamming, etc), you can expect to see some success, even with a “home grown” website.

There is no limit to the things you can do on the Internet. Creating, building, and marketing your website– even your own business through a website– is attainable! I love it!

I’m small-time blogger. I make a few bucks here and there, blogging reviews or adding some text links here and there. I’ve heard all the stories about bloggers like John Chow, who boasted recently of his $30,000 income for one month. One month! Incredible. I’d like to earn that. Who wouldn’t?

Running websites and blogs is becoming very high-tech. I’ve been trying to pay attention to my stats and search engine results, but I admit I am a real cheapskate– I use a little free web tracker. It only gives me information and stats for the first 500 visitors. I don’t think I’ll ever go “big time” for this blog, but stranger things have happened, so who knows! However, my home improvement blog and my travel blog are very popular. I am hoping that someday these blogs prove to be very successful. Lord knows, I spend enough time at them all day long!

So, I’m paying more attention to stats and information. Big-time webmasters use something called hosted web analytics. Now THAT’s what I’m talking ’bout! This is stat counter in hyperdrive!

Track and monitor the activities of every individual visitor to your website, web statistics, visitor system information, advertising campaigns, conversion tracking, and graphical statistics with the fastest growing web analytics provider in North America and the U.K. Knowing what your web page statistics are is the key to successful online business.

Iwebtrack is the best web traffic analyzer on the internet. Webmasters know that about 1/3 of Internet users block cookies, so stat counters aren’t always accurate. Iwebtrack uses javascript code to fix this problem. They also have a whole fully-loaded arsenal of other tools.

Thorough and detailed website and traffic monitoring
Analyze between PPC (pay per click) searches and natural results
Export reports to email or other formats
Affiliate program

Here’s a demo screenshot. Whoa!

Someday I hope to be able to get this successful. I do watch my stats and I do pay attention to what brings visitors to my blogs. If you have a blog and you either want to increase traffic and/or make money from it, this is a crucial component of blogging. Blogging is more than plunking down your personal thoughts and opinions; it’s become much more sophisticated, and if you want to rise with the tide, you have to branch out a little. Either that or hire a webmaster and expect to shell out tens of thousands. :-p Better to use cool tools like Iwebtrack.

Surfing to all these money-making blogs these days has me thinking a lot about money! lol! The websites for the buying and selling of stuff has absolutely exploded. I think in the past six months, there has been a doubling of online marketing and trading.

We stay-at-home moms aren’t always looking for a good deal. Sometimes we are trying to MAKE a good deal! I am not too fond of some of those auction-selling sites because the fees are out of this world. I stopped selling stuff online with them after the last postal rate increase, because the seller’s rates skyrocketed.

How about video classifieds? Has anyone tried them? How about video classifieds? That sounds so cool, I think! How about Listasaurus? Has anyone heard of them? I checked them out a few months ago. I haven’t tried them yet because I’m waiting for spring to start clearing out my stuff, but I hear they are becoming quite popular (they have listings for real estate and employment, too). Plus, they have the cutest purple dinosaur, lol.

Listing your ad with a video is free! As a matter of fact, you can get paid to list it! They look really good, and I think I’m going to try them out in the near future. They also give a portion of their ads profits to charity. If you check them out before me, leave a comment. I’ll let you know how it goes with me.

I cannot imagine how some people would list something like a house or a car or a computer, without a video to showcase it! I’d never buy something so big with just a little jpeg photo, no way! I think video classifieds are the way to go.

There are zillions of websites and programs, showing you how to monetize your website, sell your content, and/or hook up with affiliates. People (like me) are learning that you can earn income from the Internet, especially if your content/product is good and if you have the right connections. The Internet is perhaps the greatest marketing pool, ever! It was just a matter of time until someone came along to condense all that scattered information into one place. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA Networks) is gaining steam, as well. Because advertisers desire to market their products on sites with high traffic, website owners are looking for ways to increase their traffic very quickly. I’ve been looking into it myself, and have been baffled by all the choices and networks I have to join.

Offer Vault is a new networking site that has collected a ton of affiliate and CPA offers (they claim up to 10,000 affiliate offers!) for comparison. I’m stunned by the quantity of offers. Sign up is free (requires a valid email address). I see the choice to look through a large collection of affiliates, including ROI Rocket, Clickbank, and Hydra Media. There’s also a forum that looks very new, so I believe the site is developing yet.

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to scour the Net for affiliates and other offers, you might want to check out Offer Vault. As always, be very judicious with your personal information, and read the fine print. NEVER make a deal with anyone until you are sure you agree to all the terms.

*this is a sponsored post*