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1. SpiderWeb Will Rock the Web
Whoa Baby! This blog is getting whiskers. Anyone that has followed my path will know that I now have been heavy into educating myself about Internet marketing. Thus, the reason for no posts.

But I have been busy and on assignment. One of the keepers is a beta program known as The SpideWeb Marketing System. If you have seen it in passing, but did not consider it...time to time warp for a reconsider. I think this is going to be the next big monetizing scheme for the web.


Many have tried to create a self-sustained or auto-pilot system. This puppy started out with 12 streams of income, but now has 22. I have a gut feeling it's going to be a winner.

It still is in beta, so do get in now to position yourself. Leave a comment if you want to join my team. It's no cost, but I also don't need any slackers. Yes, I will drag you along, but you have to do exactly as I say and follow a plan of action.

Check out my blog on the subject, too, at "The SpiderWeb System Information and Reviews".

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2. How to Produce 365 Videos in One Year
(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

If you have been involved in the blogosphere for long, you know that many bloggers are gravitating towards video aka Video blogs, Vlogs, Vidcasts, or a Video Podcast.

This is a heads up on Mark Wielgus at 45n5.com. Mark is on top of online trends, and I am here to tell you that he researches, tests, and reports on things you will come to appreciate on a daily basis. All the information in this post was gleaned from 45n5. My belief is that Mark combines some marketing savvy with geekdom knowhow. He even writes simple, but useful utility programs and then gives them away for free on the blog. Here is a recent link to one he dubs "Keyword Scrubber".

45n5.com has turned into one of the few blogs I simply must check out on a daily basis. Now Mark is committed to deciphering Affiliate Marketing as a top priority. Another project he is combining with this effort is his personal mission to produce and post a video every day in 2008.

I think with 365 videos in the planning, his little experiment is one to watch for trends, plus the techniques, tips and tricks he is bound to uncover along the way. So, if you want to make 365 videos in one year, watch this guy in 2008 and I think you will learn something.

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3. Prioritize Your Blogging for 2008
(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Social Media Optimization)

Welcome to the New Year! I have been spending the last week planning for 2008, which has included changes to my blogging style. If you follow my blogs, you know that I have decided to concentrate on Digital Nomads and The Rugged Notebooks Blog as my main focus for blogging, and with less frequent posting to this blog and The Sovereign Journey.

This is not for a lack or loss of interest, but merely a necessity of time management. Regardless, my blog niche revolves around the central theme of mobility and using technology to be independent. So, you can always check back here and/or catch my more frequent updates at the Rugged Notebooks or Digital Nomads sites. My plan this year is to move to private domains.

One thing I have been doing is writing more focused posts...themed, if you will, or a series of posts on a subject of interest. Recently, this has had a major slant towards telecom, and in particular new gadgets like MagicJack and VoIP telephoney solutions like Google GrandCentral.

I am finding that being more focused on a particular subject area makes it easier and more interesting to research, test, review, and write. I think my readers appreciate it a well and it is helping in the SERPS.

If you are still blogging, drop me a line and let me know how you are getting on. There seems to have been a drop in the number of friends I met online in 2007 that have continued to blog, or scaled back like I have. -Digital Nomad

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4. Twelve Step Program for Email Addicts
(Archived in: Online Usability Reviews)

I saw this over at the BigString 2.0 website and thought it was good advice. BigString is an interesting concept in itself, which I will let you discover for yourself. These 12 items have been edited somewhat, so not to get dinged for duplicate content. There were some typos in the original text anyway. Enjoy.

1. Do not send email when you are angry. Wait until you calm down before you send that email. Feelings and thoughts can be difficult to interpret and easily misconstrued.

2. Never send a sarcastic email that could be taken out of context. Sarcasm and email do not mix. You can easily offend someone in an email without intent to do so.

3. Do not send email gossip. You never know where the email will end up. Just make a commitment to yourself not to participate in any gossip.

4. Never end significant relationships via email. Email is the equivalent of an electronic paper trail. Not good for any sour ending, whether business or personal.

5. If you don't want your boss or coworkers to see it, better not send that email from work.

6. Never put anything in writing that may come back to haunt you. A good overall policy. Not just for email.

7. Never, ever, hit ‘Reply to All’ when you just want to send an email to one individual.

8. Don’t email pictures of yourself to others. Especially, online acquaintances and complete strangers.

9. Don’t make promises or commitments via email that you cannot or will not keep.

10. When you send attachments, be sure that you have selected the correct files and documents.

11. Good advice from New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, “Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an email.�

12. Try BigString recallable email. If you do happen to make errors...the recallable, erasable, and non-forwardable features will help to correct such mistakes.

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5. How to Build 10-Minute Affiliate Website Mashups
(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

If you are searching for ways to be innovative with your online marketing, then here is another plug for many of the ideas featured at 45n5.com authored by Mark Wielgus. No, this is not a paid post.

This is the good stuff, it's an addendum to the post on "30 Websites in 30 Days", and Mark calls this his YouTube-Ebay-Amazon Affiliate Website Mashup Thingy.



I have had a few email exchanges with Mark, and these are a few of his cautionary thoughts by way of how he has explained the ideas behind how it should work. Most people will not succeed with this mashup concept, or any other website scripting without the underlying concept and knowledge (or experience from learning) of how to build such a niche site.

Cranking out "out of the box" and rubber stamp solutions is what everybody else is doing. Doing the same thing that everyone else is doing online will bring the same results...which happens to be not making any money online. This also happens to mirror Einstein's theory of insanity, and he was no dummy. It's also making many people wealthy for some pretty worthless online information products.

So, if you use the script out of the box, most of your money will be made from luck or successful keyword research (aka) what words and topics you use to build these niche minisites in mass production.

Now is the time to learn. Take the time to consider doing it right. - Digital Nomad

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6. A SOHO Reprise of Honest Riches System
(Archived in: Online Income Reviews)

A 25 Year Old Entrepreneur Making a Living Online from Home

You probably have read about or heard of The Rich Jerk and Chis X of Day Job Killer. If not you better stop and do a Google search right now. About 2 years ago, Holly Mann, a young mother started to successfully market directly against high profile Internet marketing gurus like these guys.

Living in a foreign country with no job and few resources, Holly decided she could research, design, and deliver a kinder and gentler approach to online marketing. Evidently she found her niche selling "How-To" information, because she has become successful in a short period of time (well, a couple of years).

"Honest Riches 2" is a 95 page proven guide. Holly shows all the techniques she has used to make money online through affiliate programs starting with no website and no start-up money, then on to free websites that can easily be setup with little or no experience, including free advertising that most people don't know or think about.

Yes, it seems possible to make money online and work from home just about anywhere (Holly lives in Thailand), but don't quit your day job just yet. You need a system and you need the right tools and knowledge to be successful. Changing your career is a life altering decision.

Before taking the leap, do plenty of due diligence and adequate research for information and resources about starting an online business and becoming an online entrepreneur. This e-book is geared for beginners, but is a valuable resource for all online marketers. No "get-rich-quick" schemes here....like any real business endeavor, it involves some effort and some work. But you will learn strategies and techniques to start making money right away.

To read more about Holly Mann techniques and other online marketers, visit Thank You Holly Mann.

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7. John Chow Calls It Quits on Agloco
(Archive in: Weblogs and Business)

After many attempts at beating a dead horse, everyone involved in the Agloco fiasco can now uncross their fingers. It ain't gonna happen. Even John Chow has finally admitted defeat along with almost 30,000 signed up in his Agloco network.

Here is a partial screenshot of his last post on the subject, and here is a link to the post about the Agloco demise at TechCruch. Like John says...it shows that all those MBAs don't always muster up success, even the second time around. For posterity, watch the video on the Agloco viewbar attributes, and think about all the gurus that were on board for this.

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8. How to Build 30 Websites in 30 Days
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

It may sound implausible, but it is not impossible. Follow this Digital Nomad and you know that just feeding the blogs is not going to cut it anymore. Blogging should be part of your online marketing network, but not a diversion.

I have been searching heavy for the folks that are making it online and not the wannabes. One such source is 45n5.com authored by Mark Wielgus. This guy tells it straight. You have to hunt an peck to find the good stuff, and you will have to piece it together, but I think a good start is on this website.

Mark will show you how to find a niche, create a website in 10 minutes, and then shove it in the pipeline with some SEO tricks. Theoretically, there is no reason why you could not do this everyday for a month and then have 30 minisites up and running for affiliate programs in thirty days. That's if you want to have a website between you and the merchant.



I am finding that you maybe don't even need a website to market affiliate programs, but you do have to commit to spending some money for Google Adword campaigns. Better have a pad and pen ready.

There is always something to learn. Take the time to learn something new each day. - Digital Nomad

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9. Thinking Blog Celebrates First Year with A Free Laptop Giveaway
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Anything that goes viral online can be fun to watch, but sometimes it's even more exciting if you are part of the effort with some skin in the game. The Thinking Blog will make you think about many different things, and it will also make you think about viral marketing with the chance to start the new year right with a new laptop computer as part of an online promotion.

You should know Ilker Yoldas as a website developer and graphic designer. Ilker is also a professional blogger. A great combination for promoting ideas and new products online.

The Thinking Blog celebrates its first anniversary with an online giveaway to help get a new product line of rugged computers noticed online and hopefully taking it viral. Few things work as good as "FREE", except maybe these two words combined: "FREE COMPUTER".

The giveaway rules from Ilker state, "To enter our giveaway, all you have to do is write about it in your blog. Ensure you have two links on your blog post, one link with rugged related keywords to RuffPC.com (e.g. "rugged computer", "water resistant laptop", "spill proof notebook", and the likes) and another link to this giveaway post."

With a worldwide entourage of blog buddies and faithful readers, some bloggers become the experts of online marketing by disclosing this online information by showing you what to do. "TTB" is in this category with over 1600 subscribed RSS readers and several thousand new and returning visitors to the blog each day.

To win the free laptop giveaway at The Thinking Blog you have to participate by writing a review in your own blog post. This promotion is being sponsored by Ruff PC, and the computer giveaway is worthy of your participation.

The computer is a brand new, rugged, water resistant laptop called the RuffBook Tech. This road-worthy laptop has a magnesium alloy case, and is built to survive the harshest conditions.

Stop reading about it in this post, and go read the complete entry rules at The Thinking Blog. Now go get your chance at owning a new rugged laptop before the end of 2007. Also, congratulate llker by leaving a comment or two on the blog.

Happy Anniversary! -Digital Nomad

Related Links:

www.thethinkingblog.com or email: ilker@thethinkingblog.com
Contact: Alan Shad, President: www.ruffpc.com
Telephone or email: sales@ruffpc.com

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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10. Stop Feeding Your Blogs with Endless Content
(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Social Media Optimization)

I wanted to make a quick update in reference to writing and submitting Pillar Articles to article directories vs. the chore of "Feeding Blogs" with endless content. This test is progressing nicely. I have submitted 5 pillar articles since about the middle of last month.

I know this is working, as I have been posting less to all the blogs I author in varying degrees as a test. This has not affected the blog traffic much at all. Traffic is actually improving, according to StatCounter and Alexa for two of the blogs that I author. One averaging over 10 page views per visitor at the time of this writing.

It may also be that I am now writing better, more focused content, since I do not feel pressured to try and post something every day for the sake of trying to post so frequently.

The five recent pillar articles have been downloaded for publication over 100 times in less than 30 days, and this is just for GoArticles. I periodically will submit similar articles to several of the more popular article directories.

OK. You can "stop feeding your blogs" now, and you also can stop making endless comments on popular blogs, trying to get made a "Fav" on Technorati, and otherwise making the meter go up on metrics that have much ado about nothing when it comes to quality traffic.

I think submitting to article directories will also create better traffic with better long-term and permanent links.

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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11. A Cheap Way to Secure Any Domain Dot Com
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Here is possibly a way to secure a domain name when you are in a hurry, and at the worst an extra free email account. You can use your own domain to create a personalized email address for you, a business, or anything else through an AOL service called My eAddress. You have up to 100 invites for others to get their own email address on your domain. The free service is called AOL My eAddress.

Just a few comments and cautions from the TOS. You have to give out quite a bit of personal information, like a valid cell phone number in the US or Canada. Additionally, if you use the "Bring your Own Domain" option, you can use any hosting company you like while using free email service from AOL. However, if you choose the "Popular Custom Domain" option, you will be stuck with AOL as the administrator for the domain, so you will not be able to host a website at that domain.

This could be a catch 22 for your future plans, so please read the "Terms of Service" carefully at AOL My eAddress.

Source: www.nofullstop.com

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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12. Planting Seeds with Pillar Articles
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Bouncing around the blogosphere, you may find that many of the well known bloggers are coming to the same conclusions that I already have. Get back to basics, don't worry about PR, Technorati, or Alexa ranking...and concentrate on traffic.

For some people this still means spending horrific amounts of time networking and hitting the social network scene. I am more convinced that writing pillar articles for submission to article directories is a much better approach.

This involves spending more time on research and organizing your thoughts far enough into the future to determine how you can approach a particular subject. You need to write for yourself, but you also need to write about things other people will have an interest in reading.

In many ways this is much better than the prospect of having to write posts just for the sake of writing a post. I know at many times people get a writing block, or just get bored, or even fed up with the notion that they have to "feed the blog" (I think I just coined a useful phrase).

Some of the additional rewards of pillar articles, is that your writing will be more involved and engaging, you will be building authority in one or more areas of personal interest or a niche, and you will be expanding your own knowledge base as you research and process information.

Additionally, you will have a greater chance of having your articles republished elsewhere on blogs and mentioned in references in such a manner that they are permanently linked back to your blogs and websites. Go plant some seeds for future traffic building, and resist the urge to "Feed the Blog".

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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13. Google Page Rank Drops Like A Rock for SEO Stars and Network Gamers
(Archive in Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

The Death of Page Rank! Everyone is complaining about their PR, or Google Page Rank dropping. I say, "Get over it and move on". As I wrote in a recent post about traffic strategy, it is becoming more obvious all the time that all these ranking metrics really prove is nothing...unless you want to post and brag about how you make the meters move.

Just like Technorati, or Alexa ranking, PR has little or nothing to do with traffic and successful marketing. Anything ill-gotten is just that, "ill-gotten". So, if you have spent months or years gaming the system, don't be surprised to see what your true worth might be in the Blogosphere and the Arpanet.

Take a deep breath, get back to work...and try to learn how to add value to your online projects and for your readers and visitors. Like the book says "Do What You Love, and The Money Will Follow."

I think that all this nonsense is amazing to the true online marketers that know how to push the buttons to make things really work. It once again boils down to Niche, Traffic, Monetization, with the actual "Product" bringing up the rear.

Maybe backwards of how the analog world works, but after all it is a "Market of One" when it come to the Internet and online marketing. Build a better mouse trap and you will be found.

Besides, you really can't toss rocks at Google for trying to plug holes in the dam by making the PR rank more honest. More fun for gamers, too, who just have a burning desire for shortcuts and beating the system.

Now we can all look forward to posts on new theories, new techniques, new ebooks, new widgets, new podcasts, new videos, new ezines, new seminars, new gurus, and new yearly conventions. Page Rank is alive and well, it just no longer is what it had become.

Apologies in advance for all the cliches. - Digital Nomad

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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14. What Do Your Phone Numbers Spell?
(Archived in: Social Media Marketing Related Miscellany)

It's the middle of the weekend, so no heavy thought riddled posts today. Just some fun and games to let your mind roam a little. Maybe this should become a habitual weekend exercise to post about. Find something that is lighthearted, but still interesting and write a quick post about it.

I have had this bookmarked for some time, and today finally tried out PhoneSpell.org. Oddly enough, my telephone number does not spell anything. What are the chances of that. I tried both 7-Digit and 10-Digit combinations. This is no joke. Mouseover and click to see larger in a new window.

Oh well, give PhoneSpell a link up and see what you come up with for your numbers. It may give you an idea for a new blog or domain name, jog your memory for a new marketing approach, or just make you laugh. Maybe we can resurrect the notion of the "enum" network.

Sometimes we just need some levity. While you are there, check out the Voice Nation link at the bottom, and help PhoneSpell pay some bills.

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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15. Article Directory Submissions vs. Frequent Blog Posting to Drive Traffic
(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Weblogs and Business)

Are you lost in the blogosphere? Tired of posting and timestamps? I have been doing some experimenting with the different blogs that I write, including analysis and research about blogs versus websites. This has involved researching the current methods to create traffic, which everyone and their brother has rehashed in posts and how-to SEO ebooks and seminars.

You know, like leaving comments on blogs, posting frequently, writing interesting posts, viral contests, linkbating, joining social networks, etc. These all do work. The caveat is that if you are using some of the monetization schemes that everyone writes about, you first have to have a presence with regard to a Techorati rank, and Alexa rank, or both to get in the game.

The long and the short is that both of these ranking systems have little to do with making money in my mind. I personally have no interest in PPP, PPC, PPA, or any of the advertising schemes that require tons of time and effort. It is a double edge razor blade in my opinion, because you have to spend an unbelievable amount of time socializing and creating backlinks. It also is why bloggers burn out fast.

Technorati is notoriously bad for not sending traffic. And get this...everyone that measures traffic knows that bloggers don't click on ads or text links. So what is the point of pandering to other bloggers in the blogosphere to get their traffic. Even Darren Rowse has recently admitted that Adsense income was no longer worth cluttering his Problogger blog up with ads.

I can almost guarantee that if you spend much of your time in forums and social networks to gain popularity, you will have little to show for it except some nice ranks and bragging rights. All this indicates that it's time to get back to the idea of selling a niche product or service (a real product that fills a need) using a static website and driving traffic to that website. That is what online marketing is about. By best accounts, only a few dozen bloggers make a full time living out of 100 million blogs. Not a very good business model if you ask me.

A good Technorati and Alexa rank may be giving you the illusion that you are successful. The same is true for frequent posting. I have deliberately cut back on posting to see what would happen. You guessed it...Technorati and Alexa ranks drop like a rock, and very quickly. The effort to maintain your rankings is an endless nightmare of posts to blogs, and posting comments to social networks and forums. It is like being a shark, stop swimming and you die.

I am beginning to think a better approach is to use your blogging as part of a network traffic strategy to create desirable traffic. I also am going back to writing "pillar articles" for article directory submission. These end up as permanent links and keep on giving for years to come.

There are only four things that matter in online marketing, and they are in this order of importance:

1. Niche
2. Traffic
3. Monetization
4. Product

Notice that the product is the least important thing. Unless, you just write for kicks or the truly original purpose of blogging...to keep a journal, my money is on investing time online that will produce recurring revenue and better return on your investment of both time and money.

What are your thoughts or experience?

Ideas on How Not to Make Money for The Online Entrepreneur

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16. Consider Buying A Rugged Laptop
Author: John Smith

If You Work in Difficult Conditions, Then A Rugged Laptop
May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

Rugged laptops are not cheap, you may know that already since you are interested in them. And they also don't come with the same configuration as the other commercial laptops you may be used to. What you get instead with a rugged laptop, is the possibility and flexibility to work in a lot of tough locations on difficult weather. That is the real value of a rugged laptop, value that earns all the money you may have paid for it.

If you work in a place where you find one of the below listed conditions, then you should really consider buying a rugged laptop:

Liquid All Over (including on your rugged laptop)

Rugged laptops have sealed keyboards that won't let the water or any other liquid to seep inside. Also, the ports that you will find on a ruggedized laptop are usually protected by efficient covers that keep the liquid away from connectors so you won't experience any unpleasant situations in wet environments.

Strong and Persistent Vibrations

Rugged laptops were designed with this issue in mind, they have strong components, a hard drive that resists to strong vibrations, things that commercial laptops don't do. Put a normal laptop in a vibrating environment and you may have the surprise of loosing data. Not with a rugged laptop.

They are also tested for...

Drops, Drops, Drops

During a work day you may drop your rugged laptop more than once. You should know that all the components inside it are strong and tested to withstand a strong impact: CPU, hard drive, optical devices, etc. The rugged laptop case is also strong not easy to break.

Electromagnetic Fields

Commercial notebooks won't perform well near an electromagnetic area such as radio transmissions, power generators, etc. A rugged laptop was actually designed to work in such environments, environments where commercial notebooks may actually stop working.

About the author:
John Smith is the editor of MagicLaptop.com. Read the complete guide on "How To Buy A Rugged Laptop"
www.MagicLaptop.com

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17. Understanding SOHO Shoutouts
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Do you have a list of bloggers you like and want to recognize? This is what my Saturday Shoutouts project is all about.

This is where I give people a mini review as a mention in a weekly post, and then Stumble, Netscape, use other bookmarks, and write a few comments to their blog posts.

This week will be fairly brief with four bloggers instead of the targeted five blogs I attempt to call out each Saturday afternoon. Charlene is recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month by doing a pink overhaul at her Casual Keystrokes blog. Scott is happy to be an S.O.B. at Finding Your Marbles (great name for a blog). Then David points out the marketing value of YouTube in a post on Social Media Optimization, and there is Ilker at The Thinking Blog, who is always thinking for us.

Leave a comment and let me know what you are up to with your blogging efforts.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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18. Review of SOHO Phone Guide
(Archived in: Ecommerce SOHO Online Usability)

Doing a recent search on "SOHO", the obvious acronym for Small Office/Home Office (assuming that you are not from New York City), I came across this website for the SOHO Phone Guide.

It is a good example of "soft selling" and using what looks like a free consumer information guide to steer readers to a commercial enterprise. In this case, a shameless plug for Onebox. In my early marketing days before the days of the Internet, this may have also been referred to as an advertorial. A thinly disguised attempt at making an advertisement look like editorial content.

In this case the marketing message may be useful for those that are lazy, or perhaps less adept a putting some of the free online telephony solutions together for use in there small business adventures.

I was a Onebox early adopter when it first came online, and prior to it becoming a paid service. All-in-all, still a good option for those willing to pay a monthly fee for unified messaging and a one number follow-me type telephone service.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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19. Saturday Shoutout Roundup
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Once again time to acknowledge new friends and blogs worthy of note and interest. As is the new twist, you should get 3-4 extra links from being mentioned in my Saturday Shoutouts. Not sure why, but Shoutwire was being obstinate last week. That bookmark has been replaced with a bonus link. You also get a few comment or two on your blog and another Stumble for being picked.

This week we have Patrick from Top Secret Blogger and advice about staying on topic, John the Cow man is proud of his new look at John Cow Dot Com, and thoughtful design with Dawud at DawudMiracle. Round it out with what's up about music and cats at Wtfzup, plus Wendy at the new eMoms at Home (and Dads with Dawud again).

As might be expected, I too need the favors of social media networking, and those beloved comments on my personal blogs at the links that follow. -Digitalnomad

The SOHO Quest
Digital Nomads
The Sovereign Journey
The Rugged Notebooks Blog

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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20. TokBox Alternatives to Video Messaging
(Archived in: Online Usability Technology in Plain English)

Here are a few other online Video Messaging systems I should have mentioned in my last post about TokBox. Everyone that uses the tried and true Skype will know that they have video capability. Other contenders are OoVoo.com, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and many others I don't care to mention or promote.

Festoon,Inc. had a plug-in for video chat that supposedly worked with both Skype and Google Talk, but the free download is no longer available (website www.festooninc.com domain expired 8-30-07) .

The best of the lot is said to be SightSpeed. Below are two promotional screenshots from the Skype and SightSpeed websites to give you an idea if what to expect.


Sorry to say that I am behind on my testing, and hope to report my personal findings in the near future. No doubt that as telephones and computers continue to converge there will be more "Talk-and-See" options, just like predicted in the Dick Tracy comics and Flash Gordon movies from the 1930s.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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21. TOK While You Chat and Alternative Talk Online with TokBox
(Archived in: Online Usability Technology in Plain English)

This was noted on Jimmy Huen's Blog some time ago last month, and I must admit I was intrigued. Also a little bit embarrassed as I did not have a video camera to test it out. I finally ran out and bought a camera (still in the box).

I do fancy free or near free telephony and communication solutions, and probably will end up building my own private network one way or another. The idea of video chat will certainly figure into those plans. I want to be able to at least have this capability with a rugged laptop and some wireless solutions when on the road.

I still have not had a chance to test TOKBOX, but wanted to at least post about it, and then I can come back and do an update. Michael Arrington at TechCrunch also has said some nice things about it.

"While there are plenty of video chat products out there on the market, including Skype, most of them require at least some software download to the computer. Something about the simplicity of TokBox, which is entirely a web application, suggests it might get very popular very fast."

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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22. Saturday Shoutouts On A Cool September Day
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Here are some Saturday Shoutouts featuring new blog buddies that are always there when you need them. These blogging bright spots help to boost the morale of those around them. There are many, so this will be the first of several posts.

I also want to thank you with these extra links. For this post we have Liz from Successful Blog Dot Com and her well known SOB promotion, Agent Sully at Life Learning Today, Loren with his always interesting Search Engine Jounal, Sujan and Single Grain Dot Com, plus Charlene with some essential info at her Essential Keystrokes Blog.

As an added bonus I also have cast some Reddit votes, Shoutwire (or something else special) for individual posts I have read on your sites. I hope this gets you some extra juice to your blogs.

Should you be inclined to return the favor, I have listed embedded links to all of my personal blog endeavors below to make it easy. Thanks for being there.

The SOHO Quest
Digital Nomads
The Sovereign Journey
The Rugged Notebooks Blog

Leaving a comment or two on my blogs is also always appreciated. -Digitalnomad

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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23. Everything in the Known Universe about Technorati-Illuminati
(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

Well not quite everything. I had not updated this blog since sometime in August until today. In the process of checking my stats on Technorati I came across this anomaly.

As you can see from these screenshots taken today, I have two Technorayi scores. One says that this blog is in the Top 10K with a rank of 7,680, and the other screenshot shows this blog ranked at nearly twice that number with a rank 14,659. This descrepency occurs by clicking on different links within the Technorati UI.

I actually discovered something was wrong when I was checking the stats for JaKelDaily.com. I usually make the top comments there each month, and keep tabs on Jason. I new something was awry, because Technorati shows Jason's blog with an authority of "1" (-1-) and a rank of 3,915,745. Statistic that keep getting worse instead of better.

Many people get bent out of shape over Technorati stats and the ranking system, and for some good reasons. This is why I have in the past called Technorati the Illuminati of the Blogosphere.

Very mysterious, very secret...and probably part of a worldwide blog conspiracy. Just joking! This has to be part of an update glitch. Let me know your thoughts, and if you have had similar experiences.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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24. Just What Are Archives and How Important Are They to Your Blog?
(Archived in: Related Miscellany Weblogs and Business)

"Archives", or archiving for most blog platforms is something that for the most part happens automatically in the background with no action or "command" necessary for it to take effect. This is similar to auto-save. New bloggers can simply read about it when starting a new blog, set up their archive preferences...and then forget it.

First let's look at the concept of a "blog archive". As you might expect, it simply means a system to file or store blog posts for future reference. Since blogs were first written and intended to be more or less online personal journals, blog posts naturally were first archived in a reverse chronological order.

This makes some sense, as anyone reading your blog for the first time would probably want to read the current or most recent post. This submission would then be auto-archived by first the day, then the week, and then the month, and eventually the year.

Most blogging platforms display the archives in a sidebar, with some ability for you to control how the archives are listed, and how these lists are displayed to readers.

Anyone that has been blogging for any length of time, probably refers to their archives on a regular basis without thinking much about it. This comes in handy when you are linking to a past post as an update, for reference to create deep linking for SEO purposes, or as a continuation of a series for a particular subject of your blogging niche.

The beauty of blog archives is that you really don't have to think about them once you set up your preferences, but they are always there. This is not much different than the concept of doing automatic backups of your important computer files for permanent media storage.

It is easy to just think of a blog archive as a record of your blog posts for long-term or permanent storage for future reference. For a fairly complete glossary of current blogging terms visit The Giant Blogging Terms Glossary. "Archives" is listed there under the subhead of "Blog Components and Functions".

This post is part of a Link and Blog Dot Com project to list 40 common blog terms as defined by bloggers in their own words. That list is still being posted and updated at this link for L&B Glossary.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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25. Saturday Afternoon Shoutouts Mid August 2007
(Archived in: Shoutouts Social Media Marketing)

Here are some Saturday Shoutouts for a few people that have been helping out behind the scenes. Some are new acquaintances, but all are working most notably behind the scenes in some networking efforts, or new business venture.

You know who you are and what you do, and for that I say thanks with these linkbacks. So here we go...there is Salmon from Webtechlog, Ray at Freshblogger, Thomas with his Photography from Norway, Mark with the Zimbie Project, Noor from My Journey to Recovery, Derek the VoIP Professor, and Wayne and his Tip of the Iceberg.

As a bonus and a tip from Saman, I also have Stumbled your sites. Hope it give you some Juice.

Making Money Ideas for The Online Entrepreneur

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American Jobs: Going, Going...

Jane Birnbaum
2005
Reprinted from: AFLCIO.org

Corporations are escalating efforts to ship out jobs that pay well and build the middle class—and now they are aiming their axes at workers in the nation’s fast-growing white-collar sector.

The U.S. recession that began in March 2001 officially ended in November 2001, say the National Bureau of Economic Research and other analysts.

So why are so many workers still out of jobs?

“We’ve declared victory over the recession, and we’re still laying off a couple hundred thousand workers a month,” says Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.). “If it weren’t so painful for so many people who are out of work, it would be hilarious. But it isn’t.”

The U.S. economy has 3.2 million fewer jobs today than it did when President George W. Bush took office, including 2.5 million fewer manufacturing jobs. Bush appears headed for the dubious distinction of being the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a decline in total employment during his term in office.

In the past three years, nearly one in five U.S. workers was laid off from the job, according to The Disposable Worker: Living in a Job-Loss Economy, a Rutgers University¡V University of Connecticut report released in late July. Among workers laid off from full-time work, roughly one-fourth were earning less than $40,000 annually, the report finds.

In July, a total of 15 million U.S. workers were either unemployed, underemployed or too discouraged to job hunt, according to the Labor Department.

In contrast, within a year after the official end of the last recession in March 1991, the nation had embarked on six straight months of solid job growth.

This time, say economists, there are crucial differences: Companies are sending well-paying manufacturing and service jobs to countries with few, if any, protections for workers and the environment. And these jobs are probably not coming back.

“The movement of jobs and production overseas is handcuffing the recovery,” according to Mark Xandi, chief economist at Economy.com, as quoted in the New York Times.

“With NAFTA, the World Trade Organization and other trade deals of the last decade, American corporations are now tapping into a global supply of workers who can be trained to do everything from design to production, maintenance to marketing,” says Jeff Faux, economist and founding president of the Economic Policy Institute. “And while these workers become more productive, their pay doesn’t rise, because in many of these countries, to be a labor organizer means you risk winding up in a ditch with a bullet in your head.”

American jobs sent out of the country aren’t likely to return anytime soon. “As long as employers can take advantage of much lower labor costs in other countries, there’s no compelling reason to bring back many of these well-paying jobs,” says Ron Hira, an engineer and assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology. “Policymakers seem to be at a loss as to what to do about this problem.”

Meanwhile, the Bush administration directs multimillion-dollar tax cuts to the wealthy while supporting trade laws that encourage offshore outsourcing. And even as Bush opposes unemployment insurance extensions for some 1 million Americans who have exhausted their benefits, his administration refuses to embrace job-creating programs that would repair the nation’s infrastructure and help balance devastated state budgets.

“The Bush administration doesn’t seem to care about jobs,” says Center for Economic and Policy Research co-founder Dean Baker. “To retain and create jobs, there have to be policy changes, and I don’t think this administration is willing to make them.”

Manufacturing: America’s Foundation Is Crumbling

“American taxpayers...do not want their tax dollars subsidizing the export of their jobs.” —USWA President Leo Gerard

Manufacturing jobs traditionally have provided high wages and good benefits that allow workers to care for their families. But 2.5 million manufacturing jobs have disappeared since President Bush took office in early 2001.

Multinational corporations are transferring jobs to countries where workers earn low wages and have few or no protections. And small U.S. businesses are laying off workers or shutting their doors because they can’t meet foreign competitors’ prices.

African American workers have been hit particularly hard. Because of manufacturing job losses, the unemployment rate among African Americans is rising twice as fast as it is for whites and faster than in any downturn since the mid-1970s. “The number of jobs and the types of jobs that have been lost has severely diminished the standing of many blacks in the middle class,” says William Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and AFSCME secretary-treasurer.

Manufacturing job loss starts the downward spiral

The loss of good manufacturing jobs has ripped apart communities and permanently lowered living standards for families throughout the United States, including in Rockford, Ill., 70 miles from Chicago. The northern Illinois city is historically second only to Cleveland as a center for machine tooling, the making of tools used in machine manufacturing.

Machine tooling, which traditionally employs the most highly skilled manufacturing workers including members of the Machinists and UAW, is the bedrock of America’s manufacturing industry.

But the bedrock is crumbling. The Rockford area lost more than 20 percent of its manufacturing jobs—about 10,000—between May 2000 and 2003, according to MBG Information Services President and Economist Charles McMillion’s analysis of Department of Labor data.
General manufacturing jobs have been among those lost in Rockford, including jobs held by Steelworkers Local 745 members at the Goodyear tire plant. USWA members at Goodyear now number 750, down from 1,650 in 1999, before the corporation shipped the jobs to Asia and South America.

But most manufacturing jobs lost in Rockford have been in machine tooling. At Greenlee/Textron, which makes drill bits and tools for electrical contractors, about 180 Machinists now represented by IAM Local 1553 are employed today, down from about 900 in the late 1980s. The 112-year-old crown jewel of Rockford machine tooling—Ingersoll International—declared bankruptcy this spring and laid off 300 employees in Rockford and 70 in Michigan, leaving only skeleton crews of managers and a few contract workers.

“The lesson of Rockford,” says Faux, “is it disproves the free traders’ argument that America could afford to lose manufacturing jobs in areas like textiles and steel because we would ultimately triumph in global competition by making the things hardest to make. In fact, those things are machine tools—and we’re losing them.”

A loss of manufacturing jobs reverberates throughout the community—and ultimately the nation. When manufacturing factories aren’t being built, maintained or expanded, jobs disappear in areas such as construction.

“Our union has about 30 percent unemployment,” says Mark Bramble, business agent for Electrical Workers Local 364 in Rockford. “Guys burn through their unemployment, lose all their benefits, get divorced and then go where the grass looks greener or settle for working as a greeter at Wal-Mart.”

A question of national security

There’s a sense of betrayal in Rockford these days. “Free trade was sold to America with the line that it helps us export more goods,” says Eric Anderberg, who manages his family’s 37-year-old machine tool company, Dial Machines Inc. “But what’s happened is the exportation of our jobs and means of production so multinational corporations can exploit foreign labor and sell their goods back to us.”

Today Dial employs 40 workers, down from 75 in the late 1990s. It recently lost work to a lower-bidding Czech Republic manufacturer that nabbed a contract making parts for a supplier of General Electric Wind Energy Corp.

Anderberg and other Rockford employers worry that a Chinese government-owned machine tooling company, which already has bought two divisions of Ingersoll International, may now be poised to buy another—one containing intellectual property, including high-level research and design and military technology. “I cannot understand how our government can justify not only the debasement of our manufacturing industries but also our national security in a time of war,” he says.

The Rockford community and U.S. national security would get a boost from Buy America provisions House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) added to legislation authorizing the 2004 Pentagon budget.

Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.), who represents the Rockford area and helped write the bill, says, “The Pentagon wouldn’t care if everything it buys is made in China.” Joined by armsmakers such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the White House says the Buy America provisions are “burdensome, counterproductive and have the potential to degrade U.S. military capabilities.” But the administration does not mention jobs.

“American steelworkers are also American taxpayers, and they do not want their tax dollars subsidizing the export of their jobs,” says USWA President Leo Gerard.

White-Collar Jobs: America’s Growing Export

Ask anyone which sector of the U.S. economy comes to mind as the most likely to be shipped overseas, and chances are he or she will say manufacturing.

But though the United States lost 2.5 million manufacturing jobs since the Bush presidency beginning in 2001, U.S. corporations now are racing to outsource white-collar jobs—including work in computer sciences, engineering, entertainment, financial and medical services—to countries where workers earn far less.

Terry Antisdel was a Chicago-area engineering associate for Lucent Technologies Inc. and its predecessor AT&T for 35 years until his entire 42-member International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 81 was laid off in July. He figures his job will end up in India or China. “The words management used were a 'less-expensive offshore site,’ ” recalls Antisdel, who estimates Lucent will send a total of about 5,000 U.S. jobs offshore this year. “I feel let down,” he says. “Companies used to provide jobs for people, but now they’re just there to give money to executives, board members and shareholders.”

In late July, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), a Communications Workers of America affiliated group that helps high-tech workers win a voice at work, released a tape of a conference call in which IBM’s top human relations executives discussed transferring 3 million U.S. service jobs to countries such as China and India by 2015.

Testifying in June before a House Committee on Small Business investigating the globalization of white-collar jobs, AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees President Paul Almeida said, “If these cost-saving jobs shifts are taken to their logical extreme, even American corporations should be wondering where their future consumers will be located and how they will buy the goods and services.”

A Forrester Research study predicts U.S. employers will move about 3.3 million white-collar service jobs and $136 billion in wages overseas in the next 15 years, up from $4 billion in 2000.

White-collar jobs going and gone

The jobs already are leaving. By the end of this year, General Electric will have sent a total of 20,000 aircraft and medical research and design jobs to India and China, according to Business Week. And the Accenture consulting firm, which incorporated in Bermuda after splitting from Enron accountant Arthur Andersen, plans to send 5,000 accounting and software jobs to the Philippines in 2004, the magazine says.

According to WashTech, Microsoft plans to eliminate at least 800 full-time call-center jobs near Dallas and shift the work to India and Canada in the next fiscal year. It would be the largest one-time firing of full-time Microsoft employees in the company’s history. WashTech says a Microsoft senior vice president recently urged company managers to “pick something to move offshore today,” though Microsoft publicly has repeated it will not lay off U.S. workers and send the jobs offshore.

While the Bush administration remains silent about offshore outsourcing, states such as New Jersey are considering corrective measures. New Jersey legislators acted after the state outsourced the electronic administration of welfare and food stamp benefits to a company that then sent the jobs to India. When New Jersey citizens called to ask about benefits, they were connected with Indian workers who gave Americanized names.

A bill authored by state Assembly member Linda Greenstein (D) would have required such offshore subcontractors to disclose to New Jersey residents their employers’ true names and locations. But even this common- sense measure had no chance in the face
of massive opposition launched by Indian and American corporate interests, such as Verizon.

“We got a copy of an e-mail Verizon sent managers in New Jersey, thanking them for sending 1,800 e-mails opposing the bill,” says Don Rice, CWA’s New Jersey legislative coordinator. Activists and legislators hope to bring the bill to a vote before the legislative session ends this year.

U.S. security at stake

Offshore outsourcing of white-collar work also raises security concerns. U.S. firms are sending mapping and other such work to India, Pakistan, China, the Philippines and other countries with lower labor costs, says John Palatiello, administrator of the Council on Federal Procurement of Ar