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[April 30, 2008]

Saving money on a flight into Italy’s most sprawling city

Filed under: Hall Of Travel — @ 12:51 am

It usually seems quite easy to find cheap plane tickets into London, Paris, and Amsterdam, but for some reason airfare to Rome can be very pricey. This is largely due to the fact that Rome is actually not a common transfer point for travelers going from one region to the other. The three cities mentioned above are each home to huge airlines that fly all over the world, but Rome is home to Alitalia and they are relatively small compared to the others.

One tip that often helps out if you are coming from North America is to book a ticket into London or Paris and then find a separate ticket on a discount airline into Rome. Often the cost of these two individual flights together is much less than the price for a flight directly into Rome.

The other frustrating thing is there are no other large cities near Rome, so you can’t really fly into a cheap airport and then take the train the rest of the way. Vienna isn’t terribly far from Rome, but it’s a smaller airport and flights there are usually even more expensive than into Rome itself. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet on Rome airfare and try to save money in other places on your trip.

[April 29, 2008]

This Is A Money Making Article

Filed under: Publishing Tips + More — @ 2:20 pm

Is this a money making article? Watch it make money. It is an article about writing an article that makes money. Once I have written it, I will then give away the article. Maybe it seems like one of the more unusual ways to make money, but it is right in line with the way the internet works.

Creating A Money Making Article

1. First you have to write a title that catches attention and has the right keywords in it. This has the keyword phrase “money making article,” and apparently caught your attention. Make the title relevant to the article content, of course, or the reader will feel tricked, and may stop reading.

2. Have a short description that pulls the reader in. You might use the first couple sentences of the article for this. Tell the readers what they will find in the article, and leave them curious. You read this far, so that seems to be working.

3. Have useful information or good stories. It is even better if you have both.

4. Put the keywords in the body of the article, and in sub-headings, so search engines can find your article. Note that I used “money making article” in the sub-heading above, and I just used it again.

5. Create an “authors resource box” that makes the reader want to visit your site. Talk very little about yourself and more about why the reader should go to your web site. I’ll be watching to see how well mine works in this case. Be sure the link to your website works.

6. Make money from visitors to your site. You could be selling your own products, or getting a commission for selling other people’s products, or just be getting paid for the advertising there.

7. Submit your article to the best article directories on the web. This is where you “give away” your articles. Directory visitors read them there, and other web site owners take them and use them. Generally, they can’t change a word in your article, and they have to make that link to your site (in the author’s resource box) active. This is how you get traffic to your website.

8. Let the readers learn something, but let them know there is more. This gets them to your site, to learn more. For example, I outlined the basic process above, but I’m leaving out the list of the best article directories to submit to. Of course, in the resource box I will mention that it is on my website. This is how you create a money making article.

Steve Gillman has studied unusual ways to make money for thirty years. To learn more, and to get a list of the best article directories, visit his website, Unusual Ways To Make Money: http://www.UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com

How To Turn Ebay Bidders Into Long-Term Customers.

Filed under: Clearance Sales, Auctions — @ 12:25 pm

Once someone’s bought something from you on eBay, you suddenly have all sorts of details on them. In marketing terms, this information is gold dust. If someone’s bought from you once before, then the chances are that at some point in the future they’ll want to buy a similar item, and you can take advantage of this to market to them directly.

The simplest form of direct marketing is the email newsletter - and it’s one that is still oddly underused on eBay. Simply ask people who buy from you if they’d like to be added to your mailing list, and then send them a monthly update on your new items. You should also include some information you think might be useful to them, to give the email more value.

For example, here’s a newsletter you might write if you were selling DVDs.

“Here are the dates for this month’s new DVD releases:

[list of release dates]. If you want to pre-order anything on this list, just click here [your website/email] and let us know.

Meanwhile, we’ve got some great deals for you this month! [links to your best ebay auctions]

You are receiving this email because you signed up for my newsletter when you bought an item from me on eBay. To unsubscribe, hit reply and type ‘remove’.”

Isn’t that simple? As long as you can remember to do it once a month, people will come to like your information, and perhaps take a look at some of the things you’re offering.

It’s all about building up a customer relationship, and making the customer feel like you are providing them with some information they wouldn’t otherwise have. Make your email a useful service to them, whether they buy anything from it or not.

Remember that it’s not a newsletter without the news, and send out the best things you can think of: you might even try writing an article or two. Think of it as a free gift for your customers: the gift of useful information. Apart from anything else, it’s quite fun to have your own newsletter.

If you sell items that a seller is likely to need more than one of, like auto parts for example, then you can even try highly targeted emails like this.

“I’m sending you this email because you bought a [item name] from me a while ago - I hope you were happy with it. This is just to let you know that if you ever need another [item], I’m currently doing special offers on them. [link]”.

You would probably want to automate this, though, as it could quickly get tedious to do it manually.

Of course, that brings us on to our next subject: eBay stores. eBay stores offer you an easier way to sell your items than having to list them every time on eBay, and they have built-in facilities for targeted direct marketing. You can read all about it in the next email.

Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

ER (Season 2) DVD Review

Filed under: Movie World — @ 11:56 am

One of the more popular “reality” dramas on prime time TV, ER follows the lives of several of emergency room doctors and staff personal working a bustling Chicago ER. The makes a concerted effort to reveal the true details of the inner-workings of an emergency room. From the high point of saving lives to the boring minutae of paperwork, the highs and lows of hospital ER work are examined. The initial years see several characters appearing regularly. Among them are doctors Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), Douglas Ross (George Clooney), and Susan Lewis (Sherri Stringfield); Lead Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) and resident intern John Carter (Noah Wyle)…

The ER (Season 2) DVD features a number of dramatic episodes including the season premiere “Welcome Back, Carter!” in which Carter arrives late for his new position in the ER while Mark gets comfortable in his new position among the senior staff. Meanwhile, the ER tries to patch up the victims of a rival gang war, and new medical school students arrive in the ER for their rotations… Other notable episodes from Season 2 include “Hell and High Water” in which Doug happens upon a young boy trapped in a drain pipe rapidly filling with water, and “A Shift in the Night” in which Mark is forced to carry the load of the ER by himself when Doug is out with whiplash and Susan is out on business…

Below is a list of episodes included on the ER (Season 2) DVD:

Episode 27 (Welcome Back, Carter!) Air Date: 09-21-1995
Episode 28 (Summer Run) Air Date: 09-28-1995
Episode 29 (Do One, Teach One, Kill One) Air Date: 10-05-1995
Episode 30 (What Life?) Air Date: 10-12-1995
Episode 31 (And Baby Makes Two) Air Date: 10-19-1995
Episode 32 (Days Like This) Air Date: 11-02-1995
Episode 33 (Hell and High Water) Air Date: 11-09-1995
Episode 34 (The Secret Sharer) Air Date: 11-16-1995
Episode 35 (Home) Air Date: 12-07-1995
Episode 36 (A Miracle Happens Here) Air Date: 12-14-1995
Episode 37 (Dead of Winter) Air Date: 01-04-1996
Episode 38 (True Lies) Air Date: 01-25-1996
Episode 39 (It’s Not Easy Being Greene) Air Date: 02-01-1996
Episode 40 (The Right Thing) Air Date: 02-08-1996
Episode 41 (Baby Shower) Air Date: 02-15-1996
Episode 42 (The Healers) Air Date: 02-22-1996
Episode 43 (The Match Game) Air Date: 03-28-1996
Episode 44 (A Shift in the Night) Air Date: 04-04-1996
Episode 45 (Fire in the Belly) Air Date: 04-25-1996
Episode 46 (Fevers of Unknown Origin) Air Date: 05-02-1996
Episode 47 (Take These Broken Wings) Air Date: 05-09-1996
Episode 48 (John Carter, M.D.) Air Date: 05-16-1996

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the ER (Season 2) DVD.

Thinking for a Change - AchieveMax(r) Top Ten Book Review

Filed under: Great Books — @ 8:55 am

John C. Maxwell is back again in Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work to add to his more than 30 previous titles with his encouraging tone and down-to-earth writing style. As usual he offers a very simple premise: “To do well in life, we must first think well.” This certainly is not a new premise. In fact, it’s been around for years, and we’ve heard it paraphrased by dozens of authors of note. However, as usual, Maxwell simplifies, clarifies, and guides his readers on the journey of mastering “good thinking” to achieve their personal and professional potential. Through his extensive research over the years he has found that “successful people think differently than unsuccessful people.”

The author details the impact and practical value of 11 kinds of thinking:

  • Big-Picture Thinking
  • Focused Thinking
  • Creative Thinking
  • Realistic Thinking
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Possibility Thinking
  • Reflective Thinking
  • Popular Thinking
  • Shared Thinking
  • Unselfish Thinking
  • and

  • Bottom-Line Thinking

Maxwell suggests that his readers scrutinize each chapter dedicated to the various types of thinking. He then provides you the opportunity to evaluate yourself at the end of each chapter by answering the thinking question. He finally provides action steps to implement the kind of successful thinking described in each chapter.

Useful tips characterize the author’s surprisingly concrete lessons. The step-by-step format is bolstered by relevant inspirational quotes, personal insights and high-profile anecdotal evidence about the likes of Priscilla Presley, George Lucas and George Washington Carver. Maxwell presents countless examples, but what makes them so relevant is that they’re all based on real companies and individuals.

Ending each chapter, emphasizing the discipline needed to think your way to the top, are exercises designed to evaluate and increase your personal progress in each area.

Thinking for a Change is written for the general business market for which the author offers useful thinking methods to incorporate into your days, weeks, months and years to improve your effectiveness.

More than 100 business book reviews written by Harry K. Jones are available at http://www.AchieveMax.com/books/.

Reprint Information

Your organization may reprint this article for your newsletter, online publication, or mailing list. We ask that you print the:

  • article in its entirety;
  • byline of the writer;
  • information about the writer, which is available at the end of each article; and
  • contact information, including our toll-free phone number in the U.S. (800-886-2MAX) and link to our website - www.AchieveMax.com.

We would appreciate a tear sheet or electronic copy of the articles you reprint.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a firm specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has made presentations ranging from leadership to employee retention and time management to stress management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. He can be reached at 800-886-2MAX or by visiting http://www.AchieveMax.com.

[April 28, 2008]

Soft Goods Upholstered Furniture

Filed under: Online Home Improvement — @ 10:15 am

For any hotel or resort owner, furnishing and decorating rooms
is a very important task. Owners want to be assured they are
receiving the best quality furniture at the best price. It is
also important that they purchase all the necessary furnishings
to guarantee a pleasant stay for their guests.

Soft goods upholstered furniture come in many different styles.
Depending on the atmosphere of the individual hotel or resort,
the type of furniture chosen can greatly vary. Owners can choose
from traditional upholstered furniture in traditional floral
fabric patterns. A more modern or tropical type resort may go
for rattan style furniture with contemporary fabrics.

To properly furnish a resort or hotel room, there are several
essential pieces. There are of course the beds, but it is
important to also furnish rooms with an upholstered sleeper sofa
to accommodate extra guests. Rooms also need to be furnished
with coordinating upholstered chairs and tables. These can all
be ordered together, and in bulk, to ensure receiving a matching
set from the same dye block.

Another great piece to include in a resort or hotel room is an
upholstered lounge chair. These take up more space, so they are
ideal for large condos or larger rooms, such as the lobby or
lounge.

Purchasing quality commercial upholstered furniture is a
excellent way to assure guests enjoy their stay at any resort or
hotel.

Exclusive Telemarketing Mortgage Leads

Filed under: Internet Real Estate Resources — @ 9:53 am

Telemarketing Mortgage Leads are faster and more personalized than Internet Mortgage Leads. How do Telemarketing Mortgage Leads work? Let’s take an example. Barry wants a mortgage loan. Barry, the borrower, fills the Form of Request for Mortgage Loan on a Lead Provider’s website. Tina, a telemarketing representative working for the Lead Provider Company, contacts Barry over the phone, verifies all the important aspects in Barry’s Lead (i.e. property type, loan type, and state in which the property is located) and confirms whether Barry is really interested in the loan.

Immediately after this, she puts Barry on hold and phones Larry, a loan officer attached to a lender, and provides him with Barry’s name, type of loan sought, and phone number. Larry, the loan officer, uses this phone number to preview the data associated with Barry, by using a standard web browser in his computer. Usually, lender firms have toll-free numbers to call.

If Larry is really interested, he phones Tina. She takes Barry off-hold and introduces him to Larry, the Loan officer. As soon as this is over, she disconnects, leaving Barry and Larry to continue with the sales process.

Exclusive Telemarketing Mortgage Leads involve a telephonic network of the Borrower, Lead Provider and the Lender. An increasing number of call centers, which began a few years back with Business Process Outsourcing and Information Technology Enabled Services, are proving their effective presence in Mortgage Industry as well, by functioning as Mortgage Lead Providing Intermediaries.

In Telemarketing Leads, the Lead Provider thus plays a very central role between the Borrower and the Lender, by handling the most important introductory phase for just a few minutes on the phone.

Exclusive Mortgage Leads provides detailed information about exclusive mortgage leads, exclusive internet mortgage leads, exclusive telemarketing mortgage leads, exclusive real time mortgage leads and more. Exclusive Mortgage Leads is the sister site of Life Insurance Leads.

[April 27, 2008]

French is Back: The New Cuisine is Trendy and French

Filed under: Food — @ 1:47 pm

French food is back with a vengeance. French cuisine has evolved into a less pretentious version of its older self. The new French cuisine, or Nouvelle Cuisine, is more accessible and comes in many varieties, including bistro food, brasserie style and the ultimate in luxury food, haute cuisine.

French cuisine is fresh and creative, and a lot more simple than it was in the past. French cuisine is often experimental, but the of the food continues to skyrocket. Basically, the French have gone back to their regional roots and brought a modern version of traditional French cooking. Unlike the sophisticated plates of the past, French food now fits into the public’s desire for “real food”. But real food is not just about traditional mum’s-cooking type of dishes. People want traditional foods and flavors with a distinct contemporary feel. People want the old packaged and presented in a new way. The new French cuisine is exactly this.

Frog’s legs are still being served in abundance, but the new French cuisine is also influenced by what is going on outside of France. French food is now transformed by influences from the South American, Asian, Italian and American cuisines. Chefs creating the new French cuisine are incorporating ideas picked up from their travels around the world. These days chefs are knowledgeable of the characteristics of cuisines around the world and can use elements of various cultures in creating their own new cuisine.

The result? The new French cuisine is creative and classical. The new French cuisine is both traditional and contemporary.

Dylan Miles, journalist, and website builder, lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.foodgarden.info on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

Removing Your Car Tint

Filed under: Cars Vintage + New — @ 12:22 pm

Your car may have had its tint for so long that you have already gotten tired of it. Or, maybe, your car’s tint is already peeling off the edges that you would rather have everything taken off rather than let it stay that way. Try to bring your car to a professional and have them remove the tint of your car. More often than not, they would ask you to pay a whole lot of money than you expected to.

In fact, the prices could range from around $50 up to a whooping $100. Mainly, they claim that removing the car tint would be a difficult task at hand, keeping in mind that they would also be making sure that your car windows do not get any scratches. However, by just knowing what type of materials to use as well as how to do it, you might as well be on your way to saving a lot of money to spend on other non-trivial matter.

The process is easy. You need a single-edged razor, a clean rag, and an all-purpose spray cleaner. You may also try to use other solvents that could work well on removing any kind of adhesive but is gentle on your car window and paint. When you have all these handy, start the process by grabbing a corner of the film of the window tint using a razor. Remember that the car tint is not something painted on the glass of your window. It is a specially designed thin film applied to your window.

When you have successfully taken hold of a corner of the film, pull the film off. When the film is already out, spray the cleaner on the glass. Then, put back the film on the window and let it stay there for around 15 minutes to 20 minutes. After that, remove the film again. Spray on more cleaner on the glass and use the razor to scrape off any film residue as well as any adhesives. When you have done so, wipe the glass clean using your rag.

On the other hand, if you think that this is not your kind of work and you just feel like you might be damaging your window, you can check with a local maintenance shop which offers such a service of removing window tints. However, just keep in mind that you would have to shed out quite an amount of money for a simple task as removing tint film.

Car Parts Rush

Dodge parts and Pontiac parts

——

Joe Ratzkin is an avid fan of anything automotive. This 34-year old bachelor wanted to be a mechanic when he was a kid but changed his mind and became a freelance writer and researcher instead. He is currently based in Chicago, Illinois.

[April 26, 2008]

When The Clock Strikes Twelve!

Filed under: Online Sales Resources — @ 4:07 pm

I just finished reading another sales copy ending with the Deadline Marketing!

And it’s the sixth I see today saying “If you order by midnight, blah blah blah….”

I’m sure you’ve seen it. And I’m sure you’re getting (if not very) a little bored.

The deadline trick has proven itself to be overwhelmingly successful. It’s a deadly-effective “countdown trigger” that pushes reluctant people to ACT at the scene.

BUT right now the Internet is getting OVERCROWDED with sales letters that try to lure you in with the deadlines.

And now what happens is when prospects get to witness this technique too often, they learn to catch up. They learn NOT to buy it!

So be “extra careful”. It’s been OVERUSED!! Imagine how your prospects will feel when they come across your website and see that your sales copy is not different from others. Imagine yourself in their shoes!

What’s WORSE is not keeping the deadlines…

A lot of marketers specifically use the deadlines to explode their sales faster. And their sales letters are forever like that….with the NEVER-ending deadlines. So prospects can’t help but lose faith in the deadlines.

You could easily risk losing your credibility from your prospects, if they check up on your site again and still find the same “midnight deadline” technique.

This is critical. If you use the deadline, make sure you keep it. When you say the promotion is ending as soon as the clock “strikes at twelve”, prove that you really MEAN it!

Once your prospects see that the discount really ends like you said it would, they’ll regret not having bought from you earlier.

Now that they know you always keep your words, they’ll keep in mind not to let the next opportunity slip away. Next time they won’t wait for another second to buy from you!

What I have for you here is a groundbreaking idea for your deadline marketing…

Instead of saying,

“If you don’t delay and order now, you’ll get 50% off. The original price is $100, but order now and you pay only $50. Order before midnight and you’ll get this special price. Remember if you order after midnight, expect to pay $100!”

SAY,

“Take an unfair advantage of our online marketing test. For 7 days only, our company decides to slash 50% off the original price in order to see whether pricing affects sales. In our doing so, you are the one who gains! During our marketing test, don’t pay us $100. Keep $50 to yourself now!”

See the difference? Feel the impact?

If you decide to use the deadline marketing, don’t forget to make it right and make the most out of it.

Apart from writing a HARD-TO-SAY-NO deadline, here is the “one-of-a-kind” tool to accelerate your prospects’ buying decision….

Go get yourself a dynamic countdown javascript and put it on your site…

http://www.dynamicdrive.com

It’s FREE! And it works like miracle. Believe it or not? People tend to feel the rush to act when they see the clock ticking!

P.S. Be different. You can still offer the deadlines, but make sure you take a different approach!

About The Author

The author, Jaruda Boonsuwan, is offering one-of-its-kind, deadly-effective copywriting e-course — at NO charge.

Beat your competitors now at http://www.groundbreakcopywriting.com

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