Easter 2006
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic. -Anonymous
In this issue:
Greetings from the editor
Humour
Feature Articles
Wise words
Free Stuff
Search the Web from here
Greetings From London
Greetings from London! It is finally real springtime here and the sudden outbreak of sunshine even shamed me into cleaning my car. I don't know if it is anything to do with the season but something seems to have brought the crazies out of the woodwork - more of that in a moment.
February into March was so busy I just couldn't manage to get a proper issue of the newsletter together before the end of March. Decided instead of turning out a rushed job late, to put together an Easter edition. The last few weeks have not been my best time ever. I've been robbed, abused and had an attempt at extortion against me all without leaving the comfort of my own home. I'll fill you in on the details because any of this could happen to you and you could end up questioning your own sanity. There are lessons to be learned here, you might as well learn them by reading instead of doing it the hard way like I did.
First the robber. I decided to design myself a banner to try out in place of text ads and chose a square 125x125 button. This is it:
On March 20th I paid to have the button produced and the next couple of days were spent in paying to place the button on various high traffic websites. Within a couple of weeks I came across my button ad being used to advertise a completely different website. The two ads, mine and the one belonging to the thief, sat there side by side. I assumed there had been a mistake at the website when they posted the two ads but they assured me this other woman had used my button. I had emailed her twice to ask her to let the site owners know about the mistake - it looked silly having the two ads together and it was, in fact, worse for her because the button so obviously did not go with her text or her affiliate webpage. When she didn't reply or get the button removed, I realised the site owners had not messed up the ads, it was a case of deliberate theft. I sent a further email to this person to say that her failure to reply caused me to believe she was deliberately using my button ad and if she did not reply I would take the matter further. This time she sent a rude reply and added a lie to her sins by saying it was her button. What are the chances of two people designing an identical button at the same time - same picture and exactly the same text? Slim to none, I reckon and I have the invoice and download details to prove ownership. The thing that gave her away was her attitude, you know the way kids react when they are caught out doing something bad? So, if you get invited by Kimberley Becker to join her stayin' home and lovin' it or, in fact, any programme, I'd advise against it. Also, if you see the above button being used to link to any website other than www. huntingvenus.com the person using it is a thief and should not be trusted.
The lesson to be learned from this is always to put your website url on any banner ad you design if you want to prevent theft. You can see from my new button ad that I took the lesson to heart.
At around the same time, I received a badly misspelled and poorly constructed email from what appears to be a crazy woman saying one of my articles was stolen from her FAQ page at some obscure little website and she required me to add a link to her site and give her credit as a source for the article or her attorney (who apparently was already retained for this purpose) would get me "shut down". I'd never heard of this woman before or seen her website, it wasn't even the sort of website I would ever have any reason to visit. My articles are all 100% genuinely written by me and based on personal experience. When I looked at this woman's FAQ page, it actually contained less information than my article and bore no similarity to it except for the subject matter (mystery shopping). When I emailed her and asked her to point out any sentence or phrase she believed had been copied, she said she couldn't and would need time to find something. I ended up feeling like I'd stumbled into the Mad Hatter's latest reunion. If I was sufficiently outraged by something to threaten legal action, I'd have a note of the evidence ready and I wouldn't make threats unless I intended to carry them through. So, if you get threatened like this ask to see the evidence it might just be a crazy person trying to get a free one-way link to their miserable website.
Next I received an email from a dissatisfied customer who claimed to have signed up to two programmes through my website, had discovered both of them to be scams and her requests under the money back guarantee had been ignored. Now, I take my work seriously and pride myself on honest dealing and that includes not promoting any scams. I checked my records and could see that this person had signed up to a programme ten days previously. The programme in question is very popular and I have not had any negative feedback on it. I could not see that this person had joined anything else from my website, so I emailed my customer and asked for details of the second programme and exactly what the scam involved and I said that I would help her in any way possible. Did I get a reply? In a word: "No". Now I don't know if she did not believe I wanted to help or just couldn't be bothered to reply or knew the programme was not really a scam. Sometimes I wonder why I go out of my way to try and help people. I think the lesson here is probably something to do with not being able to please all the people all the time. It is hard to take abuse when you know you haven't done anything to deserve it.
I hope the mad and bad people have finished with me for now. At least March was a productive and profitable month. As usual, my "best seller" was SFI. The close second was Survey Scout which was no surprise but the third most popular programme was Express Paid Surveys and that was a bit of a surprise in that it is a fairly new programme in a competitive market but people seem to like it a lot and it is a nice looking website. Next was Shadow Shopper which is a free to join programme.
Talking of freebies, I found a new website (well new to me anyway) to add to my list of good places for looking up html queries at HTML Code Tutorial. It's a nice site, very easy to navigate and they have a forum as well. Another freebie can be obtained from here. It's a great free tool that will help you to exactly match colours and give you the hex code when you are building or making changes to your website. It does a lot of other things as well, but I love it just for the way it lets me pick any colour off any website and gives me the hex code instead of me having to try comparing charts.
I am still happy with AdsVert. These are text ads that look like PPC ads but, they are free, you earn credits by showing other members' ads. This programme is still growing but it's hard to see how a programme offering free viral advertising would not be popular.
In previous issues I have mentioned Submit YOUR Article and thought I'd give it another mention today in case you missed it before. I have been using this service myself for several months and have been 100% satisfied with it and, as Charlie Page would say - that's a beautiful thing indeed.
Enough from me. I hope you will enjoy the rest of this month's Networkers Calendar, there are three feature articles this month, as an act of sheer devilment, I have included my "offending" mystery shopping article. Keep safe and be happy and have a great Easter holiday. I'll be back in a month or so with some more Internet good stuff.
A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.
The lawyer sued...and won!
In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire, and was obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
NOW FOR THE BEST PART...
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.
This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
Easter In England - It's A Family Affair
By Elaine Currie
If you are a visitor to England at Easter, you would be forgiven for thinking that the English people have nothing much in the way of Easter traditions apart from exchanging chocolate eggs. This is because the nature of Easter celebrations is low-key and private; Easter is a time for sober worship and quiet family gatherings without the razzmatazz and hectic atmosphere that accompanies Christmas. Even the exchange of Easter greetings cards tends to be confined to close friends and family.
After the brief bright interlude of Christmas, we sink back into our torpor and endure the dull cold winter months until our first spring bank holiday arrives and gives us a reason to come wide awake. In England we greet Easter with all the relief of dusty travellers arriving at an oasis in a desert. Our desert might be grey and damp instead of sun-baked but we find the green oasis with its promise of spring and rebirth equally as welcome.
Easter is the most important event in the Christian calendar but in the multicultural society of England it is appreciated by both Christians and non-Christians for the two day Bank holiday it brings. Unlike the two days our government allows us in which to celebrate Christmas, the Easter holidays never bring us a disappointing mid-week break, they always provide us with a four day weekend. A cause for celebration indeed!
Easter arrives quietly, no fanfare, no three month long advertising campaign like the one preceding Christmas. We aren't urged to eat too much, drink to much, party too much, or do anything at all too much. We are permitted to relax and enjoy family life. There is no pressure to overspend on gifts for everyone from our nearest and dearest to the neighbour's dog. Compared to the excesses promoted in the name of Christmas, the consumption of chocolate eggs seems a small indulgence.
In England, Easter is the official start of the gardeners' year and also the time when all DIY enthusiasts, as if driven by some primeval urge, embark upon ambitious projects. If you are not interested in gardening or DIY, you have four whole days free to enjoy as you wish.
Easter is really too early for gardeners to be chancing the lives of tender plants but it is hard to resist the lure of the first real sunny days after the long grey winter. Amateur gardeners take bedding plants from the hothouses and thrust them into soil that's far too cold to encourage growth. The experienced gardeners won't gamble on frost free conditions and content themselves with planting the less decorative but frost-proof seed potatoes and onions. Gardening at Easter is an anxious time because the English weather is reliably unpredictable and even the most dedicated gardener is likely to encounter showers heavy enough to dampen his enthusiasm and drive him indoors for a chocolate egg break.
All the DIY jobs that have been in the planning stage since Christmas are lined up for the Easter break. For the week preceding the holiday, the DIY supply stores will be heaving with customers and taking more money than during any other week of the year. Then it will all go eerily quiet while all the customers adopt a kind of siege mentality and remain at home while they try to cram too much work into the long-anticipated four day weekend.
At Easter Morris dancers, who are not in the least fashionable except in spring, suddenly find themselves in demand. These troupes of dancers are almost exclusively male, rarely seen outside of small villages and are normally associated with a particular public house. Many pubs in England will have a darts team or a quiz team but there are only a few that can boast their own troupe of Morris dancers. As with playing darts, the availability of beer is an important part of this hobby. The amazing thing about Morris dancers is not that there are so few of them, it is that they have survived at all: grown men dressed in silly costumes, skipping around waving handkerchiefs and pigs' bladders to the accompaniment of ancient folk tunes have limited appeal to most of modern society as a source of entertainment. However, they have survived and have spread to places as distant as Canada and New Zealand.
If you want to fully enjoy all the old English Easter traditions, the best place to be is in a quiet village far from any of the big cities. The village church will be beautifully decorated with fresh flowers. The village Easter Bunny will hide Easter eggs for the local children to find during the traditional Easter egg hunt. The Morris dancers will leap and prance at the slightest encouragement. The village bakery will offer fragrant hot cross buns warm from the oven and Simnel cakes with home made marzipan. Easter Sunday dinner will be roast lamb with mint sauce and all the traditional trimmings. Chocolate will be guilt-free for a whole weekend.
Apart from the weather, which will almost certainly include showers, the experience of Easter in a quiet English village couldn't be more idyllic. It is only in a friendly village at this time of year that you can witness anything approaching a return to a more innocent time. There are not many places I can think of where an adult can dress up in a rabbit costume and hand out chocolate to children without having to worry about getting arrested, and men dressed all in white can skip and wave handkerchiefs at each other without attracting the wrong sort of attention. The English village is definitely the place to be for Easter. It is also the best place to enjoy May Day celebrations, but that's another story.
By Elaine Currie
You may republish this article only in its
entirety and with this resource box intact
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elaine Currie provides ideas, help and resources
for anyone wanting to work at home
visit: http://www.huntingvenus.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Secrets Revealed! Make People Listen
to You Almost Every Time - "Like Magic!"
Author: Yuki Shoji
Instead of you struggling to get others to hear what you have to
say, how would you like to have those people waiting to listen
to you? Wouldn’t it make your presentation easier? Wouldn’t
you feel more comfortable? I bet you would!
…because so many times, people just aren't interested enough to
find out what you have.
Good news! That problem is over! Starting today, you can apply
the techniques I'll show and begin making the most of your time
and effort. This simple technique not only increases your time
efficiency, but also will build your relationship with people
you speak to, your confidence, and your credibility on every
conversation you are going to make from now on.
The secret I am revealing today is a very practical technique
which can be easily applied over the phone, or in a situation
where you actually meet people.
Let’s take a look at this very simple technique. You make the
contact, give your greeting, and introduce yourself. Next you
will start with something like this.
"I want to show you what I have to offer..." or "I would like
to provide an overview of what we do ..."
and then say these magic words! Prepare for the magic! Ready?
"...but it could take 50 seconds of your time." and ask "When
can you set aside 50 seconds of your time?"
The result? 90% of the time, people say "why don't you show me
'right now'". Why? Because they rather feel it's a waste of
time if it's NOT right now.
And why 50 seconds? Well ... for one reason, he may not be able
to waste a minute. But he may have ”seconds” of his time for
you ... presumably up to 60 seconds or more!
If you say "give me one minute" ... suddenly, that sounds more
real. Psychologically, the minute he sees his watch, time is
conceived important, as well as it's “limited”. And
statistically, people don't watch clock for "seconds" of time.
This may simply because many clocks do not display seconds.
You could say "30 seconds", "40 seconds", or less, but can you
really make presentation in that time frame? You don’t want to
be short of time and have them thinking you lied.
I figured out 50 seconds is the best chance. Another
psychological factor affecting this is that the sound 'fifty'
may be confused with 'fifteen' ... and 'fifteen' is a quarter of
a minute. His mind understands it's actually longer than 30 or
40 seconds, but people are often more accustomed to think in a
way 'half an hour' 'quarter of an hour' and so on, ... that
leads him to feel that he can spare such a short time with no
problem.
And the best part is, you will get more attention from him
because he is committed to give you 50 seconds!
Does it really work like this? Just try. You will start using
it just like I've been using it for years. It was my best kept
secret up until now.
Now you are left with this important question to answer "If I
use these "magic words", do I need to make my presentation in 50
seconds?" The answer to this question completes and
sophisticates your 50 seconds presentation. Once you have
finished this, you will love how it works ... but it will take a
little effort on your part.
It's the power of the magic 50 seconds. Just like creating an
ad, try to put what you need to say in less than a minute. 1)
One sentence in what kind of business it is. 2) Few sentences
on the features of the product/service you offer. 3) Rest of
the time on the benefits. Tell them how he can change his life
with your product/service and try to generate the 'desire'. If
it's joint venture or MLM, don't forget to illustrate how he can
be successful. If put together concisely, the whole
presentation should come up to around 50 to 70 seconds. Your
presentation is now well organized and clearly states every
point. If your customer asks more for more detail, that becomes
'his' request now. When that happens, he is asking for your
time, and you can spend time with him as much as he wants until
he is sold.
This completes my system. I said 'system' and that's the 'key'
to success. So tell me, can you afford to live in this
competitive online marketing field without the right tool and
right strategy?
------------------------------------------------------------
Yuki Shoji is an internet network marketing expert.
Successfully combined the latest internet marketing strategy
and the true secret of network marketing, he is now revealing
every aspect of his secret technique at:
http://www.signofwealth.com/mlmprofits.html
------------------------------------------------------------
Mystery Shopping - An Excellent Way To Make Extra Money
By: Elaine Currie
Mystery shopping (sometimes called secret shopping) is an excellent way to make extra money. It is very easy to do, you need no previous experience, no special knowledge and no expensive equipment. Mystery shopping can be performed by anyone who is able to go shopping. The mystery shopping companies employ men and women of all ages and descriptions as secret shoppers in order to obtain feedback from a wide range of different people on a wide range of services. Some mystery shopping assignments have to be undertaken by people who are accompanied by children in order to report back on specific facilities in places such as theme parks or family restaurants. (If you don't have children of your own in the right age group, don’t worry: you are allowed to borrow them from relatives or friends.) If you enjoy shopping, mystery shopping will be a fun way for you to make extra money.
Mystery shopping consists of getting paid to go into a business (eg a shop or restaurant), without the employees knowing that you are anything other than an ordinary shopper, and reporting back to the mystery shopping company. A focus group is when you get paid to sit down with other people who are also getting paid and discuss new products or services, many focus groups are actually held online, so you don't even have to leave home for carry out the assignment.
The reason mystery shopping companies and survey companies exist is to provide companies with impartial feedback on their employees, products and services. That way they can see where there might be problems and make the necessary changes to improve things.
Mystery shopping companies will pay you to shop, eat at restaurants, have a drink at a bar, visit the cinema, take a trip and take part in focus groups. If you are sent out to do mystery shopping, you might be required to visit a particular shop and just make enquiries about an article to test the staff's customer service level but, if you are instructed to make a purchase, you are allowed to keep the articles and will be reimbursed for the cost. If you are sent to do mystery shopping at a restaurant or bar, you will be given a budget figure to spend on your food and drink and that money will be reimbursed to you by the mystery shopping company on top of your fee for the assignment. You might be asked to sample new products and these items will be sent to you free of charge. As part of your mystery shopping, you might find yourself receiving free samples to test of anything from detergent to chocolate. (This can also happen if you join survey companies.)
Mystery shopping jobs are obviously easier to find if you live in or near a fair sized town where there are a large number of shops, restaurants etc but, if you live in a rural area, you can still earn money taking part in online focus groups which can be found through online paid survey companies.
After you do a mystery shopping assignment you answer some questions on a form provided by the mystery shopping company and file your report with them. These reports are usually set up as a series of questions with a box for you to add any relevant details the company might request. The reports can usually be completed very quickly and it is best to complete your report straight after you finish your mystery shopping so that you don't forget any detail. Some mystery shopping companies require you to report to them by phone immediately after you have completed the mystery shopping assignment but, generally, the companies expect you to submit a written report by post or email.
The way to approach mystery shopping is to remember that basically you are like a reporter. You must never add your feelings or recommendations to a mystery shopping report. Your job is to just answer the questions, report the facts and describe what actually happened during your mystery shopping expedition.
If you accept a mystery shopping assignment but then are unable to complete it, make sure you immediately notify the mystery shopping company so that they can make alternative arrangements to avoid letting down their client.
When you start doing mystery shopping, make sure you accept all suitable assignments including last minute jobs and any less than glamorous assignments you might be offered. The top class assignments will be offered to reliable mystery shoppers so you will need to prove yourself and build up a good reputation by making a good job of the lower quality assignments and getting your report in on time. At the start, you might find yourself being asked to do mystery shopping a the local fast food outlet or department store. Once you build up a reputation as a reliable mystery shopper, you can look forward to assignments where you are paid to visit expensive restaurants and designer shops. You might even be lucky enough to get a free trip and hotel accommodation as a mystery shopper.
Always keep in mind that, although mystery shopping is a fun and easy way for your to make extra money, it is a business and you need to behave in a businesslike manner when carrying out your mystery shopping assignments and reporting the results to the mystery shopping company. Your mystery shopping reports will be helping to shape the future of the businesses you visit and you have the chance to make a positive impact on decisions relating to improvements to services and facilities which will be of benefit to you.
By Elaine Currie
You may republish this article only in its
entirety and with this resource box intact
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elaine Currie provides ideas, help and resources
for anyone wanting to work at home
visit: http://www.huntingvenus.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit MPAM. To learn the meaning of Prosperity With Integrity.
We are building the largest directory based information source and consumer guide on the Internet today and for the future. Providing visitors not only with the information they are searching for but also the ability to ADD to our directory.
MgrCentral.com is dedicated to fulfilling the dream of many people in the world today, the dream of creating a full-time living, running their own home business and earning an income on the Internet. MgrCentral.com provides online training courses to people from all over the world in all walks of life. Additionally we are building the largest directory based information source and consumer guide on the Internet today and for the future.
Established in 2001, you can trust that we are a successful, stable, long term organisation providing you with the information, products, services and training you need to create and maintain your home business.
Why are we different? We are different because we care about making a difference - and we care about you - and your success. We guide you away from the internet scams and schemes and towards running a legitimate home business combining affiliate sales of products and services, product creation and product promotion.
Click here to see the list of available courses.
Want to work from home but don’t know where to start? You are not alone, everything you need from a free website builder to training and support is here for you when you get your own
Plug In Profit Site.
Don't forget to download Dotcomology before you close this page.
Send me your articles
If you would like to see your own article published here, just email it to me here I will consider articles on any subject, not just home business. As long as your article is interesting and contains no inappropriate material (no adult, hate etc), I will be happy to publish it. Please note, though, that I won’t publish anything which is just a disguised advertisement!
"You must be in business for yourself; you'll never get rich working for someone else."
J. P. Getty, America's first billionaire
Free Resources
Roboform. – Fill in your details just once and Roboform will save them and complete all your sign up forms with just a mouse click. This will save you hours of boring typing. I started using Roboform. when I started doing paid surveys and now I would be lost without it.
Mozilla Firefox Browser – The best browser for surfing. It has a total pop-up killer and is great for surfing numerous sites at the same time.
FREE PDF Converter Print to PDF from virtually any application. Optimize PDF output for print or screen. No annoying pop-up ads - no catch! High-quality PDF creation.
Free Credit Report
Equifax, Experian, and Transunion,the three largest credit
reporting agencies, have set up a special site where
consumers can request, view, and print their free report.
Google Alerts A free service from Google which will alert you when there is any activity relating
to your chosen subject. You can use this to keep track of interest in your business, the antics of your favourite movie stars or the progress of your favourite sports team.
How does your website look to a search engine? Find out free. You will get an instant report about how well your site is designed for search engines to catalogue it -- and what to change if your site gets a poor grade.
Message Tag is a free software program you download on your computer. It sits in your system tray at the bottom right
of your monitor screen. It 'tags' your outgoing emails and instantly notifies you when the message recipient opens your email. If you don't receive a "read" notification, you know the message didn't get opened.
Spybot Search And Destroy – Anti-spy software. Search out and destroy the nasty spy bugs. Essential for surfers. Download free from Major Geeks
Ad-Aware – Anti-tracking software. Get rid of the tracking software that slows down your pc. Another must have for surfers. Download free from Major Geeks
Classified Advertising
Adland Pro – Free classified advertising and an interesting newsletter. They offer free site evaluations in the newsletter as well as articles etc. Upgrades on membership are available for extra features and unrestricted numbers of ads. No pressure to upgrade, so try out the free service for as long as you like.
Traffic Exchange Advertising
Traffic Swarm – The top traffic exchange. Free membership available but it is worth the small fee to upgrade to pro.
Top Surfer. More than just a traffic exchange, you can earn credits when you read the newsletter and also get the chance to win prizes of big credit packages.
Hitpulse. A great free manual traffic exchange. Hitpulse has been around for a while and is a reliable and popular programme.
For more information about Traffic Exchanges click here
Downline Building
Profit Rally - my favourite downline builder. You won't get inundated with emails from your uplinehere. If you take pro membership you also get random referrals. A great way to build downlines while advertising your programmes.
Home Income Team - Another great downline builder. This one is growing and great new programmes are constantly being added to the portfolio.
For more information about downline builders click here
Listbuilding
Admailer – The biggest free list building club on the web.
Payment processors
Pay Pal – The most popular internet account. You will need an account at some stage if you work on the internet. Sign up free.
Alert Pay – One of the new processors which is already becoming popular. Sign up free.
e-gold - You are almost certain to need a "gold" account at some stage. Sign up free.
kimbecker@mts.net
To see lots more free stuff click here
posted by Elaine Currie @ 11:17 AM
0 comments
