Setting Up An Online Store Easily

Practically living on the internet, I have been asked by many people why I do not set up an online store. At least I would be more productive. I have thought about it but I do not know anything about online business or the kind of ecommerce software that I should use. I think I would have to pay a lot of money to set up my store.

However, a friend assured me that it’s not very difficult once I get the hang of it. By using the shopping cart software by Ashop Commerce, I would be running my own ecommerce site in no time.

According to my friend, the shopping cart solutions of Ashop Commerce is one of the most user-friendly to use that is why this company is a leader in ecommerce solutions.

If I am still not convinced, I am able to give it a run because Ashop Commerce offers a hassle-free ten day free trial to test out the software. This is great news. Perhaps it is time to be an online entrepreneur!

All Those Short URLs

I don’t use short URLs myself but writing sponsored posts, I am forced to use them. I can understand the need for a short URL if the original URL is too long or if we want to hide the real URL from our readers so that they would click on our link and we would get referral credit.

However, for companies to use these on their own sponsored posts, I think it’s rather risky. I may be weird to think so but what if the company which offers these short URLs close shop one day in future? Then all the links would be dead, right? Or do they know something I don’t? Can these companies that offer short URLs guarantee that these links will work forever? I don’t think so. So why would an advertiser opt for short URL which may or may not work five or ten years down the line?

If I were an advertiser, I would definitely not use any of these. Direct link is the best and even if I revamp my entire business and website, I would still have the link to my site and it is entirely up to me to ensure that the site is up.

Buy Links Or Not?

The other day, I wondered if I should run contest to build back links and provide some fun in the blogosphere. Now, some people who just jump in and say, “What the heck, let’s play!” while I will always weigh the pros and cons before doing anything so I am still stuck at the “Should I?” stage.

And then I thought that it would be so pathetic if I do not get a response. Do you think that I should just close my eyes and buy in post text links instead?

I did consult my friend who runs a PR5 website and a PR5 blog hosted by himself. Out of pocket cost to me would be slightly more than a thousand Ringgit. However, my friend said that it is not necessary since there is no guarantee that it will bring me the desired results; increased back links and ultimately, improved Google Page Rank.

HHmmm now I am of two three minds. Should I listen to his advice? I know that the longer our site is online, the higher the chance of it getting to a PR5. Am I just being impatient?

O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Austin Texas Personal Injury Attorney

This morning, I was introduced to the site of O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath, Austin Texas Personal Injury Attorney and you know what? I think that no matter which state you are living in or visiting, you should keep at least one contact of a personal injury lawyer.

For O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath, they are able to assist you in claiming your rights in Austin and across Texas should you be injured in an accident. I have worked in a hospital before at the accident ward and I saw how lost the accident victims were. Although educated and with insurance coverage, they were suddenly lost and do not know what to do which is understandable because they were in shock.

Handing the case to a personal injury lawyer to take care of the red tape, accident victims would not have to worry about what to do, when and how. Lawyers at O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath are backed by years of experience in handling such cases and they strive to help victims claim what they fully deserve. I like it that they provide free consultation to anyone who thinks they may have a case. I remember being billed a couple of hundred bucks just for consultation. Unfortunately, my case did not happen in Texas!

Draft Still Can Read?

The other day, an advertiser played punk and refused to pay for my work done. All thirteen of them! I was told to take them down and keep them in my draft folder so I did. Unfortunately, that was already ten days the posts have been live and Google has already spidered and indexed my posts.

So I was very unhappy and told my friend that it is very unfair for the advertiser to just ask us to remove them all when he already has received link juice from our blogs. My friend said that it is possible to remove the post from Google’s index. I don’t know how and I am afraid that I would remove my whole blog from it. DIE! 😀

Anyway, sometime later, I saw that somebody went to Google Search to look for that particular keywords of the advertiser and guess what? No prizes here.

Well, that person managed to find my post and he could read the FULL text of my post including the image! Darn it! I know because I also clicked on the link just to see if it would return an error.

See, bloggers are actually the losers when advertisers decide to play punk! GGGrrrr

Your Virtual Roma Tour Guides

One of the things we need to do before going on vacation is homework. If you are planning a trip to Italy and Rome in particular, Roma Click at http://www.romaclick.com/ is the website you must not overlook. This site is run by a local Roma couple, Paola and Mauro, who will introduce Rome and Italy to you as if they are your very own tour guide. What better way is there to be shown the other side of Italy than by locals born and bred there and know Italy inside out like the back of their hand?

If you are looking for Rome accommodation, Paola and Mauro have plenty to recommend but if you are looking for those five star Rome hotels here, you would be disappointed. Who needs one of those cookie cutter hotel chains anyway, right?

The site is so full of information, I felt I learnt a lot just browsing through and reading the articles. I have the idea that if you are planning a group trip, it would be awesome to book one of the beautiful Rome apartments and it is cheaper too. Since most of our holiday budget is spent on international flight and accommodation, it is wise if we could save a little on accommodation. Roma Click is here to provide us with such information helping us plan our Italian vacation seamlessly.

*** This is a sponsored post ***

Bloomberg Also Uses AdSense

Yesterday, while reading Bloomberg.com, I was their AdSense ads. I have been reading Bloomberg.com for a long time but I just noticed the Ads. Perhaps these ads are placed at the bottom of the page, which I never scroll that low, only till the end of the article. Perhaps I am ad blind already and do not see the ads at all. Perhaps these ads blend in so well that I thought that they are a part of the layout. But yes, I am surprised that they NEED to use AdSense to subsidise their cost of running an online media site.

All along, I have noticed local English media sites using Google AdSense too and I wonder if web savvy people ever click on them. I think only people who have not heard of AdSense will click on them though, because as an internet user for so many years now, I can calculate the number of times I intentionally clicked on an AdSense ad.

I think that media sites and forums are only getting their AdSense revenue from page impressions. I may be wrong though. I hope that I can be privy to such data 😀

Random Thoughts Off My Mind