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PirateEvent.com

2006-05-08T02:53:00.000+08:00

Arrre ya kidding? You can't keep a pirate down for long! Capt Awake is back with pics, articles, etc of his piratical escapades at PirateEvent.com so check it out!!!

Skulled.com

2006-05-08T02:47:00.000+08:00

I was wondering for the longest possible time what to do with Skulled.com but I know what what to do with it.... A Website Fit for a Pirate King!

BritishArcticTerritory.com

2006-04-01T03:12:00.000+08:00

Clay Moss and I have been working on the British Arctic Territory Website. It's been pretty exciting.
Also bought BritishArctic.com to make it easier for others to remember (shorter domain).

#7 of about 43,800,000 for west malaysia

2006-01-13T05:09:00.000+08:00

West-Malaysia.com is now #7 of about 43,800,000 for west malaysia on Google.

Exciting stuff.

Your Posts Might Be Worth RM200

2006-01-04T13:01:00.000+08:00

my-malaysia.info/forum and ejrs.com/forum have been organizing a competition “Article of the Month” on its forum respectively that entitles you to win cash money of USD50 or RM200.

It all started when Jeremy, the owner of both forumes and EJRS Networking stumbled upon my blog through PPS when I pinged this entry – “Best Chendol in Malacca”. He told me about the competition and encouraged me to contribute my articles to the forum. I hesitated because who would give out RM200 and how is it possible to win RM200 by just contributing an article?

I submitted an article – “Ayam Percik” to the forum and I didn’t bother about it anymore until one day, Jeremy messaged me on MSN Messenger.

“Dude, your article was voted as article of the month for July. You won RM200. Can you give me your bank account? I will bank in the money to you tomorrow.”
“Serious?”
“Yes.”

The next day, I got my RM200. I couldn’t believe it until I saw the extra RM200 in my bank account statement. Since then, I have contributed a few more articles and I have won the competition for the month of September with "Satay Celup" and November with "Satay and Char Kuey Teow" respectively. I earned a freaking RM600 by just writing a few articles on food.

my-malaysia.info/forum as its name implies, is a forum for anything that happens in Malaysia. You can write about food, cultures, people, places, games or anything that has relationship to Malaysia. As for ejrs.com/forum, it has a more general topic such as computers, movies, entertainment news, loves, technology, gadgets, cars, houses or anything under the sun.

The objective behind these two competitions is to gather as much information / articles about Malaysia and on-goings in Malaysia. When a certain amount of articles is reached, Jeremy will publish the articles on http://ejrs.info and http://malaysiana.biz or one of the other projects, and anyone on the cyberspace will get to read them. Eventually, people will get to know Malaysia better because Malaysians and non-Malaysians write these articles. It is like promoting Malaysia through writings.

However, there is only 1 simple rule. The article must be original. You are not allowed to copy your blog posts and submit it. You may use the same topic but not the same article.

For each and every article you have submitted, it is automatically considered part of the competition for any month. For example, if you have submitted an article in January 2005, the same article can be the winner for January 2006. Therefore, the more articles you submit, the higher your winning chances are.

If you think you can write better than me, which I think there are many people out there, please contribute your article in order to win the cash money. RM200 might be a little for some people out there, but it definitely helps a lot of people, especially students like me.

A message from the organizer, Jeremy :

Thank you Jason for doing the writeup for me.

I want it to be unconstrained by time so even if you wrote 1 year or 2 years ago it will still be eligible for the contest money. I just want to help people who love writing to be able to earn some extra pocket money.

I am sponsoring RM200 x 2 contests a month at http://my-malaysia.info/forum and RM200 x 1 contest a month at http://ejrs.com/forum so send in as many articles as you can write. I have plans to increase the contests to weekly and then daily. It all depends on the volume of articles so do write. The more you write the more chances to win.

Best wishes and much success.

P/S :

my-malaysia.info is a bi-monthly competition while ejrs.com/forum is a monthly contest.

Lets hope I won't regret this. The more participants there are, the lower my chances of winning. -sniff sniff-

ChristmasDays.com

2005-12-23T08:29:00.000+08:00

I have added a lot of Christmas info such as foods eaten by people around the world on chritmas, christmas songs, etc at ChristmasDays.com
I've also scored
ChristmasDaze.com
ChristmasCarolling.com
XmasDaze.com
ChristmasNewYear.com

Ejrs.com # 171 of 11,400,000 listings for "Webhosting"

2005-12-22T23:33:00.000+08:00

This is pretty exciting. EJRS.COM is now # 171 of about 11,400,000 listings for webhosting. Pretty exciting stuff.

All About A Girl...

2005-12-10T11:24:00.000+08:00

This is so funny - I found out that one of the gals LCF brought to the Bloggers meet was someone I had met in 2003 at the botanical gardens.

Back then a friend of mine was in an environmental organization and they were "going green" so they had their World Environment Day. She asked if I could assist her with henna tattoo.

There was this bunch of cute girls there selling beads and friendship bands etc. We took a few pics and chatted a lot. Then that was the end of that.

Back to the Blog Meet...

I chatted up the gal whom LCF had dragged along despite her not being a blogger. I was rather surprised she readily gave me her email and info. And today about 3 hours ago I saw her name on MSN Messenger and said hi. After chatting awhile she said I looked familiar (When a guy says that to a gal it's a cheesy pick up line) and after asking more questions we found out we had met back then..

So we've decided to meet up again one of these days.

MalaysianJazz.com :: Photos - Penang Island Jazz Festival

2005-12-06T07:50:00.000+08:00

My friend and I are working hard at putting all the images online at MalaysianJazz.com and AllDatJazz.com

Hope you enjoy them. The Jazz Festival was a blast.

Webloggers Meet at Ice Ice Baby

2005-11-29T14:00:00.000+08:00

Sunday, November 27.
Webloggers and friends met up for lunch at Ice Ice Baby, a fancy restaurant downtown Penang.

ejrs.com/irfanview gets PR7 Ranking

2005-10-30T02:37:00.000+08:00

http://ejrs.com/irfanview received a PR7 ranking while ejrs.com received a PR6.

Numero UNO

2005-10-20T05:26:00.000+08:00

After dropping to #3 & #4 for 2 months,
EJRS.COM is now back at #1 & #2 of about 5,450,000 on Google when you type 1 GB Webhosting.

Eye-2i.com is at #35 & #36 on the same search, so it's not too bad.

Chris Butler's Visual Challenge

2005-10-19T06:19:00.000+08:00

Chris Butler of Human Progress Landscape asked if I'd like to participate in his visual challenge, a collaboration by several design studios. Every week a person from the group chooses a single word, from which we will then visualize and illustrate. Visit the site.

EJRS scores ranking # 61 of about 69,200,000 for 1 GB on Google

2005-10-18T05:40:00.000+08:00

I wanted to toy around and see if EJRS.COM had ranked at all for the keywords: 1 GB and was surprised to see that EJRS scored a ranking of # 61 of about 69,200,000 on Google.
I wonder what would happen if it hit #1. That'll be pretty amazing.

I owe much of my success with EJRS.com to SEO DOCTOR by Instant Position and also AXANDRA.

If you are a webdesigner wanting to do your website any justice at all, buy them both and fix up your sites fast - you'll be glad you did.

Malaysiana.biz scores # 61 of about 93,700 for malaysiana

2005-10-17T06:50:00.000+08:00

Malaysiana.biz scores # 61 of about 93,700 for malaysiana on Google.

EJRS Scores #6 on Google for Shipping Abbreviations

2005-09-06T23:28:00.000+08:00

EJRS Scores #6 of about 1,920,000 on Google for Shipping Abbreviations

International Clothing Measurements Converter

2005-09-06T18:50:00.000+08:00

Every wondered what your shoe size would be in another country? What shirt size should you get. Internatinal travel can be fun but all the differening sizes and measurements can defer so much that it can get very frustrating.
I've setup the International Clothing Measurements Converter at http://ejrs.com/converters/clothesizes.html to help your life a little easier.
Enjoy.

---

EJRS.COM now ranks # 7 on google of about 4,240,000 for "international clothes sizes"

EJRS.com - Gentoo Linux Partnership

2005-09-05T18:07:00.000+08:00

It is our great pleasure to announce that Gentoo Linux and Ejrs.com have a new partnership and we are working out the final details right now. We will fill you in on the details soon.

Linux is a computer operating system and its kernel. It is one of the most prominent examples of free software and of open-source development: unlike proprietary operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS, all of its underlying source code is available to the public and anyone can freely use, modify, and redistribute it.

Winners: 500mb Webhosting Free!

2005-08-23T03:20:00.000+08:00

And the winners are:
drumroll please!
1) mistyeiz
2) peter tan
3) really bites
4) ks tang
5) lucia lai
6) ong bk
7) kiasi
8) adrian
9) 5xmom
10) n305er

Congratulations to the winners!!
Webhosting valid from today to Jan 30, 2006

Winners please contact me via email to get your hosting. If you don't know my contact info please register at http://ejrs.com/forum or http://my-malaysia.info/forum and PM me there. I hope all of you received my business card.

Next Penang Webloggers Meeting

2005-08-22T15:10:00.000+08:00

My proposal for the next webloggers meeting:
1) I will sponsor RM100 off the final bill for the upcoming Webloggers Meeting.
2) I can get the top floor of the restaraurant Ice Ice Baby, near Baskin Robbins in Pulau Tikus.
3) At the most you'd have to pay is RM15 per person which is what some of us paid for a mere cup of drink anyways. At Ice Ice Baby the price includes really good food by a celebrity chef and a nice drink too.
4) WiFi is available. Maybe we can stream it via webcam!
5) Date possibility: Sunday Nov 13, 20 or 27 at 2 pm.
Let me know what you think of this tentative plan.

Penang Webloggers Meet at Gurney Plaza

2005-08-22T09:55:00.000+08:00

I am a day late in posting about the Penang Webloggers Meet.
It was an enjoyable time meeting with folks who came from Penang, Kedah and Kuala Lumpur.

Initially when I checked out Lucia Lai's blog it did not look like there were going to be many participants, but we had quite a crowd.

Yvylyn/Mistyeiz was first to turn up - she was way too early. I came 30 minutes after her. I was looking for the bloggers and she called out to me.
Peter Tan, Ee Yean and KS Tang were having lunch at the DOME Restaurant and they joined us later.
n305er, Lucia and Ong came short after. Gosh those tables were so tiny. They are ok if you are with 2-3 others, but we had so many people, we had 7 tables arranges in a rather asymmetrical pattern.
Andy came round soon. CMOS came too. This reminds me... I need to get pics from CMOS!
Kiasi, Frostier, Bryan and buddy Ryan (no, they are not the evil twins), KLJS from Kedah blogs on Japanese Anime and such) also graced us with their presence.
Lilian joined us and brought her little kid along. He was well-behaved throughout.

Just as we were getting comfy, it was time to order drinks and when I went in I noticed a lot of better tables so I got everyone to move indoors and dragged probably half of all the tables in Coffee Bean to make a very long table.

N305er was so organized he would have put any secretary to shame. He had bought 2 boxes of pencils, pens, and typed attendance forms!

Ong brought along a survey on Chemical-based Pesticides so we helped him fill out the survey. Pencil in hand, everyone looked like they were in an exam!

Well, I now owe all the 10 early birds webhosting for 6 mths. Will be contacing everyone soon (1-3 days from now).

Penang Webloggers Meet. Aug 21

2005-08-20T03:05:00.000+08:00

A motley crew of webloggers in Penang are going to converge on CoffeeBean in Gurney Plaza on Sunday, Aug 21 at 2pm.
It will be an enjoyable get-together... relaxed and informal.

Maybe we should set up video do some streaming so others can join in on the teleconference. Well... one day!

That'll make it fun.

Penang Bloggers to Meet Again

2005-08-13T12:16:00.000+08:00

Penang Bloggers to meet 21 aug. Sunday at Gurney Plaza, 2.00pm.
I'll be sponsoring :

500mb webhosting FREE for 6 months to the first 10 bloggers who show up.
- 500 mb webhosting
- 500 mb bandwidth a day
- cpanel
- normal features as seen on http://eye-2i.com

ICE :: In Case of Emergency

2005-07-24T01:01:00.000+08:00

ICE :: In Case of Emergency

Following the disaster in London . . .

The Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)"
campaign.

The idea is that you store the word "ICE" in your mobile phone address
book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be
contacted "In Case of Emergency".

In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to
quickly look at your mobile phone and find out who your first contact
should be and be able to contact them.

It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.

Email this to everybody in your address book, it won't take too many
"forwards" before everybody will know about this, and it will become an
international practice.

For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.

It really could help the emergency services in doing their job.

Food For Thought

2005-07-13T00:10:00.000+08:00

A friend who works as a nutritionist in a school told me that many people don't chew their food enough before they swallow. By right a person should chew each mouthful of food 40 times before even thinking of swallowing. Anything short of that is abuse on the body.

Most people tend to rush through a meal thinking they don't have time to spend. The problem is that as with all things in life... you buy now, pay later... Buy into that lie now and you pay dearly will ill health and a weak body. I decided to count how many times I chew my food. You could say I could just about split atoms with my 50-chews-per-mouthful record.

Break It Down
God gave us molars to break the food down to mush, assisted by saliva. NOTE: Enzymes break down the carbohydrates while we chew, not after we swallow.

Once swallowed, food has to go through the whole acid-wash treatment. If a person has not taken the time to chew up the food, the stomach has to do the processing it was never meant to do in the first place, causing the body to just store much of it. The body will then turn it to fat, and not be able to assimilate the much-needed nutrients.

Article from http://ejrs.info/food-for-thought.html

Discuss article on the forum

I would love to see what you have to say on this matter. Have a great day!

The London Bombings

2005-07-07T18:24:00.000+08:00

My business partner woke me up a moment ago saying that London has been bombed in several locations. The bombings took place on 3 buses in and London Underground network. Eyewitnesses watched in horror as people were left dead or injured.

With the 2012 Olympics firmly in their grasp just one day earlier, and the G8 summit in Scotland, it should have been a time of celebration. Sadly the city now mourns for its people who have been killed, and the wounded.

Please check out the BBC and CNN for more details.

EJRS Monthly Contest

2005-07-05T06:20:00.000+08:00

In addition to the bi weekly contests at http://my-malaysia.info/forum we also have a monthly contest. We are offering an RM200/US$50 prize to the winner plus longterm streaming ad revenue. We are proud to announce the winner of the JUNE contest.

Shama Sankaran won with her beautiful article on train experience in India. You can now read her story at http://ejrs.info/shama-sankaran.html

Do join the fun and send in your entries to http://ejrs.com/forum

Winners of A Very Malaysian Contest

2005-07-02T10:23:00.000+08:00

Greetings Folks,

It is with great pleasure that we announce 3 winners for the month of June 2005, instead of the normal 2.

Karen Robertson:
http://my-malaysia.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=14

Orriana Sill:
http://my-malaysia.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=16

Lyn Holden:
http://my-malaysia.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=17

Best wishes to the winners who have each won US$50/RM200.
For all of you who have not yet participated,
please do send in your entries for July 15 and July 31.

We're looking forward to your entries.

And You Thought Writing Essays Was Boring! Think Again!

2005-06-29T17:30:00.000+08:00

Cash In On Your Writing Talent...

We are looking for people who want to keep an online journal / blog on Malaysia. The topics are up to you. We will help you place ads on the blog which will in turn convert to cash.The more useful the articles, the more viewerships you will get and possibility of better return in revenue from ads/sponsors.

What the readers get out of the deal: Readers are looking for insights on Malaysia, such as events, festivals, what to do, what not to do and so on.

What YOU get out of it: You get spillover traffic - people who come from any of the EJRS Network of sites over to read your stuff. You get revenue if your articles gain popularity or notoriety

What we will do for you: We will set up the ads for you. Occassionally we may ask you to join a particular program we feel may do you well. EJRS has over 15 International Partners and we are sure we will be of benefit to you.
We will also link to your blogs from some of our sites and partner sites.What we get out of it:We get advertising revenue on all our network of sites. We get to run contests and other community type projects from time to time. We offer people a chance to cash in on this as we are able to provide means of gaining income via our partnerships.

If you need more info, or would like to start the blog, PM (Personal Message) EJRS.COM now and we'll help you out.

Best wishes and much success.

http://my-malaysia.info/forum

A Very Malaysian Contest

2005-06-29T17:08:00.000+08:00

Calling all writers...
I launched A Very Malaysian Contest last month. There will be 2 winners each month! Cash prize: RM200 to each winner.
Oddly enough the only participants were 2 American women and one Swedish man. Where are the Malaysians?
If I can get a minimum of 250 entries, I will consider having 4 contests a month. So start writing me articles about Malaysia. I am looking for info on towns, cities, states, vacation spots, events, games, historical, people, the arts, cuisine, people, culture, etc.
Only original, unpublished articles will be entertained. Win or not, makes no difference because we have partnered with a company in Brooklyn, New York and acompany in Germany.

Register to participate at http://my-malaysia.info/forum

I Will Be Meeting With Lucia Lai, Saturday

2005-06-29T16:37:00.000+08:00

Lucia Lai and I have made plans to meet up on Saturday for dinner to discuss ad revenue etc. We will be at Prangin Mall but we haven't yet confirmed the restaurant.

Six-Legged Puppy

2005-06-29T06:54:00.000+08:00

Doggone it! And once again Malaysia is back in the limelight. Foreign news is abuzz with the latest scoop: A puppy with 6 legs...
The little rascal has been named Ong Fatt meaning Lucky One.
I guess every dog has it's day.

Welcome To The Club

2005-06-29T00:31:00.000+08:00

Greetings folks, welcome to the club. Let's have this place be light and refreshing but mostly educational. The EJRS sites are catered to families and children as well so it's gotta be a relaxing atmosphere.
Thanks for participating. Your being here helps to give a broader perspective and much more fun. It's time to blog and roll! Let the party begin!

Blogger's Hideout?

2005-06-28T07:06:00.000+08:00

Words are spoken and the wind swept them to my ears. Or you can simply say... I found out on the internet, Somewhere, That someone is planing to create a special cafe or lounge for bloggers to hangout! It's going to be really simply and cozy and bloggers who are lonely can go over to have some coffee and read some magazines. :)

I really think it's a nice concept and great idea. Think of it as a special club house for Penang Bloggers and a special meeting place if bloggers from other states or country comes visit us!

I will be personally chipping in some dough for a few tech magazines subscriptions there.

If you're interested, or want to help out as well.. Just err... don't look for me yet. :) Find him... *Points to Ong*

here i am

2005-06-27T00:51:00.000+08:00

ok here i am. so what are we suppose to blog about? anything under the sun and moon? some guidelines would help.

I've been invited! (let's start blogging!)

2005-06-25T14:52:00.000+08:00

I've been invited to this Shared blog. I've don't have any experience with a shared blog before. But the concept should probably be the same and the content a little different.

But it's always nice to be chosen for something. :) It makes you feel that you're chosen for a purpose, a good reason and that someone actually reconize your ability. Or, it could also means that you're chosen to help benefit the invitor and as a guinea pig, HAhaha!

Anyway, I just hope that with the great hype about blogging, the articles which came out on the star and many newspapers, Bloging in Malaysia will eventually become common and lots of interesting articles/ideas/information will be easy to find.

In fact, I feel that blogging actually helps to build charactor. Just like when you learn how to drive, you learn that sometimes, it's better to give way then to always push around.

I wish all the best for all the Bloggers in the world especially around ASIA. Bloggers can help unite the world into one and perhaps one day eventually, borders will only exists as markers to identify an area's name and everybody will live without wars in the name of country, race or religion.

Webloggers

2005-06-16T05:02:00.000+08:00

Question is, do cool webloggers make a better world?
or are webloggers so blogged down, that the world gets the better of them?

Webloggers Meet In Penang

2005-06-15T13:59:00.000+08:00

International Webloggers Day (InWeDay) - Penang Meet
Date: June 14, 2005, Tuesday
Location: Prangin Mall, Penang, Malaysia.
Time: 6.30 pm

Special thanks to Lucia Lai for organizing the meet. Us webloggers got together at Prangin Mall from 6.30 pm to 9.30 pm. It was an informal get-to-know-whos-who kind of a gathering.

2nd International Webloggers Day

2005-06-11T09:09:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I was looking up info on Weblogging and I saw an article on the 2nd International Webloggers Day. Reading further someone had organized a webloggers meet in Penang, Malaysia which is where I am at. So I immediately wrote to ask if they would still be accepting unwelcomed gatecrashers like me and they said yes. So I will go meet up with the clan on the evening of June 14th. I will tell you more about it here on my blog. Feel free to post your comments here.

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4 Released June 1 - More Info

2005-06-03T22:08:00.000+08:00

Ok. Here is my review on Spybot Search & Destroy Version 1.4 which was released on June 1, 2005 by PepiMK. In a nutshell, it totally rocks. I half expected it to run slower than 1.3 because there of all the upgrades. To my surprise it was actually fun to watch it fly by. Here are some screenshots I've captured:

A total cosmetic makeover on the panels / buttons... new icons by Yellow Icon Studio.

Scanning for critters to nuke...

Critters located, ready for nuking... Fire in the hole!

Defensive measures taken.

More coming soon.

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4 Released June 1

2005-06-03T08:19:00.000+08:00

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4 was finally released Released June 1, 2005. Do get your copy today at http://ejrs.com/spybot or http://ejrs.biz/spybot

Transcript of chat June 01, 2005

2005-06-02T01:15:00.000+08:00

ejrs: i make sure that if i gain then everyone else around me must gain and benefit too
ejrs: otherwise i won't even start a project
gal: sounds good to me
ejrs: in any given project a minimum of 3 parties MUST benefit
ejrs: that's how i do biz
gal: so, what's ur next plan
ejrs: world domination
gal: hahaha
ejrs: world peace
ejrs: end suffering
gal: dexter's laboratory
ejrs: i feel like miss world
gal: hahaha
ejrs: miss universe
ejrs: missmatch
ejrs: missing
gal: gone
ejrs: mississippi
ejrs: missile
ejrs: mission
gal: ok ok
gal: enough
gal: fallen asleep already
gal: hahahaha
ejrs: hahahahha
ejrs: brain overload there

5 ways to use your Business Cards more effectively

2005-05-30T22:51:00.000+08:00

Contrary to popular belief, the best use of business cards is not making origami or collecting dust. But, in this article you will find 5 of the most effective ways to use your business cards on a daily basis!

When Joe Girard, the world's greatest salesman, was selling cars he would frequently go to Detroit Lions football games.

Even though he could afford more expensive seats, he chose to sit in the upper deck and whenever the Lions scored, he would throw business cards off the top deck onto the expensive seats below that offered a discount on a new car that was only good the following day.

Joe Girard's example leads us to our first point:

1. Be Creative

An instructor at a karate class might hand out business cards at his son's t-ball game that say "First Lesson Free with this card". A pet store owner might give out business cards that have an offer for a free goldfish, or 10% off a purchase over $100.
No matter what your type of business, there is a creative way to get your business cards into the hands of buyers.
If you can think of these creative ways before your competition does, you are one step ahead, and you will see the increase in business.

2. Remember the 1 to 1 ratio

The 1 to 1 ratio is the easiest formula you'll ever need to know. If you talk to someone for more than 1 minute, they should have 1 of your business cards in their hand. That is the 1 to 1 ratio.
Basically that means that you need to find a way to talk about what you do, and get your business card in their hand within the first minute of the conversation.
Think of it as an elevator conversation. This prospect will be getting off of your elevator soon, so you have a short time to get that business card into their hand.

3. Make them keepers

Once you have your business card in the hand of your potential prospects, what is going to make them keep it?
Unless you are selling air and water, potential clients probably don't need what you sell, but hopefully they want what you sell.
Since most of us are not in a need based business we have to get our potential clients a reason to remember us and keep our cards.Why does someone want your business card? If you cannot answer that easily, maybe it is time to think about a new business card design.
Does your business card have valuable information on it? By valuable I mean a map, discount, calendar, measurements, charts or anything relevant to your industry?
If it doesn't, you may want to think about adding a value feature to your business card.

4. Leave them where you spend your money

Just last night I went to eat at a Mexican restaurant, and sitting on the counter I saw about 30 cards for a car salesman sitting in a plastic business card holder. I asked the girl at the counter why they were there and she said "He said he was going to leave them for customers."
This is just one example of somewhere you could leave your business cards. Other places include barber or beauty shops, medical offices including dentists, family medicine, chiropractors, and hospitals. These places are good places to leave free business cards.
These places are prime territory!
Remember to ask if they mind, and tell they how much you appreciate it.

5. Ask for an opinion

"Can I ask you a quick question? What do you think of my new business card design?" Then you hand them a business card.
No matter what they say, now they have your business card. When they try to hand it back, tell them you had thousands printed, and they can have that one.Thank them for their time and tell them if they ever need what you sell or promote, your contact information is on the card.
If you were able to implement just one of these 5 ideas each day, you would have more business that you could handle!

Brandon Hopkins is the owner and founder of Business Cards Free, the most informative business card site on the internet. He is available for speaking engagements, article writing and business card advice. He may be contacted through his website at http://www.Business-Cards-Free.com.

Choosing Linking Partners - Chris Boggs

2005-05-29T22:28:00.000+08:00

Hi all...this article is available at Chris' Position search engine marketing articles.

Choosing Linking Partners

Almost everyone that owns a website has seen the offers: “Hi, we recently visited your website and found that your content would be of interest to our visitors…we have placed a link on our page at…please place the following information on your website….” Are these worth the time to even read, let alone research? The answer is a resounding YES. There are three main factors you should consider when deciding whether to place a link on your site to another: relevancy, relevancy, and, you guessed it: relevancy. Is the site relevant to yours? Is your site relevant to theirs? Most importantly: are the other links on the page relevant to both of your sites?

Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN do place importance on inbound and outbound links. If the link leads to another industry-relevant site, it offers what the search engines are seeking for their users: more relevant content. If you provide such links on your site, you are in fact increasing the relevance of your site. Many top search engine results positions are dominated by “Reviews” and “Directories,” because of exactly this reason.

Any effective effort to get you ranked organically within search engines for your keywords will more than likely encompass some sort of linking initiative. Although one-way links from directories such as the Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ—or established industry relevant directories--are the most desirable, reciprocated links between like-industry sites can still carry weight. The following will offer suggestions as to how to go about choosing which sites should link to yours, and more importantly these days: which reciprocal offers to accept.

Directories

“One-way” listings (these do not require a reciprocal link) from directories are very valuable in establishing a strong link reputation. Sites that are listed for their categories within the Yahoo! and DMOZ Directories consistently outrank sites that are not, even in Google! Yes, that’s right, Google places importance on Yahoo! Directory listings. The reason for this is because most directories are human-edited. If a trained reviewer has judged your site to be relevant to a particular directory category, chances are the Google algorithm will give your site more “ranking weight” for keywords in that category.

Other than the “big three” directories, Yahoo!, DMOZ, and Business.com (very valuable especially for B2B organizations), you can find directories that are particular to your industry. The easiest way to find them is to, surprise, do a search. Search for “(your industry) directory” or “(your keyword) directory” at your favorite search engine, and you should find a list of the desirable ones. Some will be free, and some will charge a nominal fee. I have often said that the $299/year cost for inclusion in the Yahoo! Directory is one of the best investments you can make in your website. Many directories only charge $50 or even less per year.

Other Websites

So how do you choose whether a site that solicits you for a reciprocal link is worth it? The answer starts with an “R.” Relevancy is most important. There is much recent discussion about the value of reciprocal links on forums such as the Search Engine Watch Forum and other excellent sources of up-to-date Search Engine Optimization (SEO) information. There is a general consensus is that links from non-relevant sites will not help you, while links from relevant sites will. Some believe that links from non-relevant sites can hurt. My opinion is that only links TO non-relevant sites can hurt. So stick to linking out to a site that has something to do with your product.

When choosing reciprocal linking partners for Instant Position, we like to follow a few basic rules. Step 1: Is the site relevant to your industry? If so, move along to step 2. Step 2: is the page that wants to link to you solely comprised of other industry related links? If so, move to step 3. If there are links, for example, to mortgage companies on a web design directory: stop and don’t waste any more time. Step 3: Are there a legitimate amount of links on the page? Any page with more than about 20 outbound links “waters down” the value of any single link on that page. Consider whether this link will help you or not. This should be enough to get you going, but one more step follows.

Step 4: Does the page have a Google PageRank? Many people will consider this step 1 or 2, and others discount the value of Google’s PageRank. Personally, I like to use it as an indicator of page popularity. No matter how much you may argue the fact, web pages that have links from other pages with PageRank (including those on your own site) build their PageRank. PageRank is indisputably part of the Google Ranking algorithm. You do the math.

“I don’t want to link to a competitor” and Other Thoughts

Some people may feel uncomfortable with linking to a competitor’s website. This is a matter of personal opinion. I feel that it cannot hurt you unless you are really overcharging for your product or service. If that is the case, today’s increasingly savvy searchers will probably find your competitor anyway.

Many SEO’s and “Linking Experts” nowadays are trying to establish three or more-way linking schemes. An example would be you link to site A and site B will link to you in exchange. The jury is still out as of the writing of this article as to the damage this may cause if such a scheme is discovered, but I would caution any SEO’s or other web marketers not to be too public about such efforts. As long as all three sites are topic-related, it should be OK, but don’t bet your house on it.

Without going into too much detail, the following style is recommended for writing your link Titles and Descriptions. The Title should also be the link to your site, in most cases. Use popular keywords associated with your industry or page-specific product, in order to take advantage of anchor text popularity. The description should be short and to the point, also utilizing “buzz words.” Mix up your inbound link Titles and Descriptions, in order to avoid seemingly link-spamming. Lastly…it is highly recommended that you do not use site-wide links.

Linking is very important to search engines because they strive to provide as much relevant content to its users as possible. A well thought-out linking strategy will help your site achieve better rankings for your keywords. Some say that “Content is King.” I agree, but feel that linking is certainly a very powerful Queen at the King’s side.

© Chris Boggs
Chris Boggs is the Search Engine Strategist at InstantPosition.com and Director of Online Marketing with G3group.com

Professionalized.com

2005-05-29T21:43:00.000+08:00

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