All posts by The Artist

Blogging

Thoughts.com – A New Blogging Community

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The other day, I was thinking of setting up a new blog to be hosted by Blogger because I was getting quite sick of WordPress, frankly. A reader saw my post and told me about a blogging community at http://www.thoughts.com/

He told me that I could set up my blog easily PLUS have a ready readership because members of the community are very supportive of each other by reading blogs and leaving relevant comment. Also, members could rate each post we published and the good ones will generate a high rating and in return bring in more traffic.

The only thing that has stopped me from setting up a new blog is the networking that comes with it. Writing is fine but networking, building readership and Page Rank could be rather tedious. So I was thinking that with a Free Blog at a community blog host like Thoughts.com, perhaps I could concentrate better on blogging and and network among members.

Thoughts.com has provided Cloud tags on the homepage so we can easily read the thoughts of other members who are writing on the same topic. This could forge a close bond between members. Moreover, I think that some bloggers would be more motivated to write better and update the blog more regularly knowing that there is a group of people waiting to read each other’s blogs.

Although Thoughts.com is still in beta, members can also enjoy podcasting, sharing of photos and videos all under one website. I am sure you will appreciate how convenient it is to be able to share all these with just one web address.

I think it is going to be fun joining a blogging community where every member shares the joy of writing and sharing!

*** This is a sponsored post ***

Blogging

Getting Ridiculous

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Four months ago, I wrote a post, Are You Kidding Me?, about getting a counter offer for a 200-word review post for $2.60, which I declined.

A few days ago, I came to know that advertisers in this particular marketplace have been getting ridiculous. A fellow blog for pay blogger received a counter offer for $3 for a $10 bid, which means a nett payment of $1.90 to her, after deducting 35% service charge.

While I personally have been more successful with this particular marketplace in the past month, I feel that advertisers here do not know, or do not care that we are paying 35% to the host of the marketplace out of the payment we receive.

If we were getting a nett payment of $3, there would still be takers are long as advertisers are reasonable in their requirement and not asking for a 300 – 400 word post, three links, images and videos.

I am not sure if this lady is going to accept or decline this opportunity but I think it surely will take someone who is really desperate to accept it.

Computing & Internet

PDF Spam

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Only today did I realize that there is spam and there is PDF spam. If not for my friend who cautioned me not to simply open attachments from email, especially PDF files, I would not even know of it.

According to BorderWare, spammers which the intention to phish are getting smarter and this is their latest trick which is supposed to bypass security solutions.

However, according to BorderWare, they have their intercept engine that is supposed to filter out spam, catching up to 98% of spam. I think this is an amazing percentage to achieve.

I think that all corporations should implement BorderWare anti-spam and anti-phishing intercept engine so as to protect the identity of users. There is no need to be afraid that legitimate emails are intercepted instead because BorderWare allows users to build a safe list where only trusted people are entered into an address book.

In any case, it is of utmost importance to have protection using the best solution! Phishing is so rampant we can’t be too careful. A friend told me that the only way we could protect ourselves is if we do not get online. Now I can tell him that there is BorderWare!

Blogging

Funny Disclosure Trend

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There’s this trend now that I noticed from all my blog hopping activities that I find rather funny. We used to DISCLOSE when we are compensated for the post in cash or kind but now that most active blog for pay bloggers have half the blog with sponsored posts, a quarter with link-free original posts and the rest of the posts with a link or two, bloggers now see the need to DISCLOSE when there is a non-compensated free link.

What a joke it has become.

Well, there wasn’t such a need in the first place if we were not getting so many misunderstandings about getting compensated or not. But then I guess now bloggers see the need to be safe than sorry and getting sponsored posts rejected, so they DISCLOSE first, but in the reverse order.

But then you can’t blame bloggers when linking is second nature, paid or not!!

Computing & Internet

Think Big Sites – Website Optimization Firm

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While surfing the internet just now, I chanced upon a website optimization firm called Think Big Sites. I thought the name of the company was rather unique so I decided to check it out.

This company is not only a website optimization firm but also offers web hosting, web designing and also website and blog marketing.

I have always thought that the internet is too large with millions of websites and new sites being set up on a daily basis that it is very competitive to garner the traffic needed to sustain the profitability of a commercial site.

However, I guess that with services like those that are offered by Think Big Sites, a fully optimized website could stay ahead of the pack. Think Big Sites is confident that they could place their clients’ sites on the top ten of major search engines, which means a first page placing of competitive keywords.

I checked out the portfolio of Think Big Sites and am thoroughly impressed with the designs they created for their clients. With websites, not only must they be visually appealing, they also must be search engine optimized and Think Big Sites is confident they are able to provide that and more.

If you have a website struggling for attention, you may want to check out the magic touch of Think Big Sites! I bet you will be impressed with the results.

Finances

Debt Relief and Credit Card Consolidation Help

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I got to know that a friend of mine is heavily in debt. I was surprised as he is a high earner in the top management level of his company and YET he is still in debt. I am of course sorry to hear that he is in serious financial trouble but I cannot help him by lending money to him.

I can however, try to help him to change his ways so that he can manage his finances better. I also found a website for him so that he could read up on debt relief and perhaps request for a consultation. It’s free, after all and he definitely NEEDS it!

I also told him that since most of his debt is from his numerous credit cards, it is best that he get a credit card consolidation. Some people say this is not a good idea but I think that he could get a lower interest rate and improve his credit score and also it is better to take care of one debt than to have to take care of various debts throughout the month.

It is a shame that an adult like him that be such a poor personal financial manager. I think that it is to his best interest to seek help. We don’t want his superiors to know about it or he may lose his job and then get into a worse financial fix than he already is in!

Computing & Internet

I Was Attacked

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Last month or so, I wrote on my blog about discovering a website, structuredsettlement-quotes.com, and something called structured settlements. I have not even heard of structured settlements prior to that, and I thought that this is something that some people I know should be aware of, that they have an option to get some cash on hand if they are so desperate. I mean, it IS better than getting a short term loan from loan sharks where the interest rate snowballs. Don’t you think so?

Anyway, after publishing that post, a stranger came to my blog and checked out my post and archives and the About Me page and left a lengthy comment, which I did not publish, of course.

He then went to his blog and ATTACKED ME. I mean, my blog is mine and I can write whatever I want. I am certainly not an expert in structured settlements like he professes himself to be.

I am not surprised if he has set his Google Alert to alert him of the term “structured settlement” or even the name of this company. I bet he will be coming over here and shoot at me again.

What he failed to recognize is that the article that I wrote was an opinion piece. Never did I claim to be an authority on structured settlements or mislead my readers. But no, he is making himself like a cyber police cracking down on people even mentioning the name of the company or the keyword.

Bah! He THINKS he is a cyber police only. The funny thing was that he mixed up myself with my buddy, Samm. kah kah kah!