*It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.

~Johann Schiller

Friday, as I watched the tributes for Tim Russert, I reflected not on his ability to know the news or his ability to interpret the news. Instead I reflected on his relationships with his father, Big Russ and his son, Luke. It is and was amazing - something to be treasured by all of us. How I wished I had that with my father but it was not to be. My father passed at an age much younger even than Tim - 42 years old.

*My father died many years ago, and yet when something special happens to me, I talk to him secretly not really knowing whether he hears, but it makes me feel better to half believe it.
~Fathers Day Quote by: Josefowitz

I was just a youngster at the time, so did not grow up really knowing him, learning from him and enjoying him. Yes, my brother and I did have good times with dad during those early years - especially around ice cream - but that is not the same as aging with him would have been. To this day it hurts to know he is gone.

*4 years: My Daddy can do anything!
7 years: My Dad knows a lot…a whole lot.
8 years: My father does not know quite everything.
12 years: Oh well, naturally Father does not know that either.
14 years: Oh, Father? He is hopelessly old-fashioned.
21 years: Oh, that man-he is out of date!
25 years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.
30 years: I must find out what Dad thinks about it.
35 years: Before we decide, we will get Dad’s idea first.
50 years: What would Dad have thought about that?
60 years: My Dad knew literally everything!
65 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.
~Fathers Day Quote by: Unknown

Treasure the time you have with all your loved ones, for you never know when that call will come to take them home! And mom is gone now these several months, but at 92 she lived a long life and we had a great deal of fun with her. I miss her smile!

*One night a father overheard his son pray:

Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.
~Fathers Day Quote by: Unknown

There was a time, not long ago, when blogs were thought of as just online ramblings and looked at only by devotees. Bloggers began to enter the mainstream with up-to-the-minute news and political tidbits that mainstream media couldn’t match. As a controversial marketing tool this may be the beginning of new advertising strategies, or it may fizzle out in a matter of months. Somehow, I don’t see that happening.

Advertisers now know there is a great market coming into play with blogs. Blogging’s phenomenal growth, and ease of use, is what has made the difference. And getting ‘noticed’ by other blog masters is a great way for a company to get a leg up in the blogosphere.

Companies looking for ways to utilize the blogging trend know that a great way to ride the blogging wave is a blog on their corporate website. These blogs can be created to appeal to the demographic the company needs to court. The content may have quite a lot to do with the activities of the corporation, or it may have very little to do with the company itself. Often, a corporate blog will focus on the kinds of content likely to attract the desired surfers, even if that content is not directly related to the product or service that the company provides.

Corporate blogging is a kind of validation for the blogging movement. It shows how this exciting new medium has really entered the mainstream. Yes, there are those who consider the kind of viral marketing that corporate blogs practice to be unethical or distasteful. While blogs can be very positive they do provide a fast way to to easily ‘hoodwink’ customers and make a quick buck with mis-information.

‘Private’ blogs are a great way to communicate with special clients or provide customized service for them. They can be excellent to use in a crisis management situation. Due to their ease of setup and use, companies may have multiple blogs for very specific purposes.

In any case, watching the evolution of corporate blogs and whether they survive and proliferate or fail and disappear promises to provide interesting insights into today’s consumers. Today’s customers demand as much information as possible before making their purchases and a blog is one way to provide quick and easy information.

A blog is - A Marketing Tool Not Your Business!

You may have heard or read about this technique before, but you never realized how it works. Or this may be the first time you have been acquainted with this surefire process. Let’s talk about the basics and the mechanics of the blog and ping strategy.

It All Starts With A Blog.

Web logs, or blogs as people have fondly referred to them in recent years, were originally designed for social purposes. People used them as online diaries where they could post their thoughts, the events of their days, their secret desires and the like. But blogs possessed some very special qualities that internet marketers found hard to dismiss.

* Blogs figure prominently in search engine results. The first few pages of some queries would yield many blogs occupying premium spots.
* Blogs are basically free web publishing tools. A little tweaking and they became a website of its own.
* Blogs are easy to update. Just press EDIT or PUBLISH and you’d have new content in a flash. No need to change the source code. The system will easily take care of that.
* Blogs have their own communities. Bloggers often link with one another. This is a level of connectivity that is pretty hard to come by in other mediums.

Hence, online businessmen started using blogs for marketing purposes.

The strategy goes like this:

1. Create a blog dedicated to the subject your main website is catering to.  Start by creating an account,say with www.blogger.com. This service is owned by Google, the most widely used search engine in the World Wide Web.
2. Post regularly, and include a link to your website in majority of your messages. Also include your links with popular keywords as anchor texts.
3. Include a link to your own website on the navigation bar.
4. Just to emphasize, you should post REGULARLY. This means at least every other day. No sweat, though, Short posts of 200 words in length would be enough.

It’s About RSS As Well

Blogs produce RSS feeds. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, a technology that would allow you to broadcast any changes on your blog to subscribed systems. This is actually the heart of the blog-ping combo. You have to learn how to syndicate your RSS feeds.

If you’re using blogger, it’s easy. Take your blog’s URL. For example, it is:

www.thisisyourblog.blogspot.com

Now, all you have to do is to add the extension atom.xml. So, it should appear like this:

www.thisisyourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml

This is the URL of your RSS feeds.

Now you need an RSS aggregator somewhere which to pick up your RSS feeds. Preferably, it is a website that can be easily crawled by search engine spiders. The perfect spot for this is my.yahoo.com. Simply create a Yahoo account. Click on ‘personalize this page’. Under ‘content’, you will find two menu items. One will be ‘add modules’. The second will be ‘add rss feed’. when the ADD RSS button comes up, just paste in the URL of your RSS feed(s).

Every time your blog is updated, RSS feeds should be generated and displayed in www.my.yahoo.com. Please remember your specific RSS feed may be different depending on the platform you are using (mine is www.webgroupmarketing.com/feed). A quick check with your webmaster should give you the information you need.

Now let’s ‘ping’.

Once your www.my.yahoo.com is set up, every time you post a new entry on your blog, you’ll need to go to www.pingomatic.com. Fill up the appropriate fields, then submit. This will inform a lot of blog directories that your blog has new entries. And this should drive the search engine spiders on a feeding frenzy. It’ll be a reminder for them to check out your blog come the next relevant query.

How powerful is the blog-ping combo?

Your new website can get indexed in Yahoo within days. And with Yahoo picking up your website, and with www.blogger.com being owned by Google, it shouldn’t be long until the world’s most widely used search engine indexes your new website as well.

And if the blog-ping combo could do this for new websites, just think of the possibilities it could provide for older ones. Fantastic, isn’t it?

There are also plugin’s and scripts to automate this blog and ping process if you;re running a blog on your own domain.

Yes, a blog!

An online journal originally meant to serve like a diary. Only, this diary is published on the internet and every person in the world, from North America to Tibet, can access what you publish on its pages.

The challenge is: can you earn by using your blog, and JUST your blog?

If you answered you can’t, well, you may want to rethink your position!

The fact is, you can earn by using your blog, and JUST your blog. And you are not limited to a single earning opportunity when it comes to blogs or blogging. There is a great deal of potential to be found in those little web logs which are actually simplified and highly efficient content management systems possessing an interconnectivity that will generate direct traffic and some features that promise prominence in search engine results.

Here are some potential earning opportunities, for your consideration, to fully monetize your web log.

1. Audio books are a great area to promote. Whether for business or pleasure many people purchase audio books to use while driving or work or just relaxing.

2. Sign up with ClickBank, a well established affiliate network that boasts thousands of products you can choose from. Simply survey the selection of products appropriate for the subject of your blog, and acquire your affiliate link. Whenever you’re recommending something in your blog entries, mention the products you have chosen and hyperlink the same with your affiliate links. This will lead your readers to the affiliate programs’ sales pages. If they decide to buy, you’d earn a commission per sale from your referal. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

3. Now, you’re not limited to ClickBank alone. There are other affiliate programs out there, such as Commision Junction. There are millions and millions of affiliate programs on the World Wide Web, and some of them have commission rates as  high as 80%. Affiliate programs are amazing ways to earn some serious cash through your blog.

4. Want to promote books? Amazon.com likewise has an affiliate program that you can choose to enroll with. Simply select the books most appropriate for the subject of your blog, and garner the corresponding affiliate links. Or you can copy and paste a code from Amazon and implement it on your blog. This will display contextually relevant products on your blog which your readers will be able to see. Books are sure sellers. And though Amazon does offer a relatively low commission rate, you’re sure to sell a lot of books through your blog.  Everyone loves books! And Amazon is the internet’s most reliable digital bookstore!

5. Enroll your blog with Google AdSense or other Pay Per Click (PPC) programs. This will allow the PPC programs to display contextually relevant ads to your blog. Every time a reader of yours clicks on an ad, you receive a certain amount of money. Imagine how much you can earn if your blog is generating thousands of visitors per day!

6. Once you are established a bit, you can sell advertising space on your blog. Whether they’re banners or simple text links, you can command a hefty price for your blog real estate. Thinking of your blog as ‘real estate’ gives you a different perspective on the Internet, and like physical real estate, your blog real estate is valuable. You need to increase your readership, which can be measured by the volume of traffic you receive per day. A daily traffic of 10,000 visitors will surely take you places!

When we were very young my father passed - he was much too young, being in his very early 40’s. And we were much too young to really know him.

“A suburban mother’s role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after.”  ~Peter De Vries

As a result of his passing, mom took on the task of raising my younger brother and I. This was no easy task, as it meant going to work full time to provide for all our families needs, as well as the actual raising of two teenage boys. But she did what she had to do.

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.”  ~Rajneesh

Life wasn’t always easy for us but with other family members around we managed to smile and laugh a great deal as we went on. And being Italian, though money was always scarce, the home cooked meals were always something to crow about. It was a good life, despite the fact our dad was not there.

“Mothers are special; they give birth to you and watch you grow up and succeed. But, it is up to you to make your mom proud.” by Hannah

I miss your smile most of all and I hope the day comes when brother and I truly make you proud to have been Our Mother! As proud as we are to have been your sons and of our Italian heritage.

You may be treated like the maid,
you may be treated like the gardner,
you may be treated like the daycare,
you may be treated like the chauffer,
you may be treated like many things.
But one thing is for sure,
You will always be loved.
For a fathers work may be from sun up till sundown,
but a mothers work is never down.
And all that I have, am, and hope to be, I owe to you,
So this is for all the times I forgot to say THANK YOU!!

- Alison Thompson

Happy Mother’s Day All!

Bob

An off-subject post.

Several months ago I purchased a new, relatively state of the art, computer. Unfortunately, it came with Windows Vista Home Premium installed. But I use(d) it none the less. And it’s actually been working pretty good.

As with other Windows systems I’ve had, I had set the system to automatically check for and install updates. Never, ever had problems with this. So I did the same with this Vista installation.

Again, it was working fine, until this week, when the system downloaded and installed Vista SP 1! Not thinking I followed the instructions to restart the computer. And that was last I saw of my computer! The computer would no longer boot up, except to a message which gave me several options: Boot in safe mood, restart normally, etc., none of which worked!

And of course the old; use the install disc that came with your system to ‘repair’! Which ain’t worked neither!!

So here I sit with an expensive door stop!!

Again - Thank You Mr. Gates and Microsoft! And Lenovo!

Written on my old computer - luckily I didn’t toss it!

Addendum: Saturday May 10, 2008

Forgot to mention - the computer is a Lenovo 3000 K series and as of this date, Lenovo has not answered my snail mail. Live and learn that ‘Customer Service’ are  words in many companies lexicon’s these days!

Blogs / “weblogs” or blogging are the newest gift of Internet technology to people all over the world. These are updated posts, crop up entries or personalized life snippets, of mundane or bizarre in nature. For most, a “blog” is a personal, unedited, and authentic journal meant to be shared in an online community. Blog site is a place where bloggers can publish anything; his thoughts, feelings, photos, special events, experiences, comments on issues and so on. It is more of an online diary with videos, links, documents, newsletters and opinions on just about any topics you are interested.

Blogs are designed to welcome the insights and opinions of all, as well as your own expressions and therefore, should not be written to sound intimidating and too formal. This kind of blog is a sure way to put off the readers. That is not to say one should be afraid to embrace controversy. In the basics of blogging, conversational tone would be more appropriate to reach the desired audience.

Blogging is all about individuals reaching out to other individuals. Having a blog has its own set of advantages:

*Freedom of Expression. If you want people to hear you out and give their own opinion, this is one of the easiest ways to create a line of communication;

*Networking is at its best. Having a blog is a good platform for exchanging genuine ideas from consumers to you as marketer of a certain product. Sound opinion and point of view is better than just showing the price quote;

*Excellent advertising platform. Blogging is a new way to advertise products, a refreshing change from the traditional advertising outlets and it’s cost-effective.

*Gauging public opinion on products and services. The key is nice and catchy titles with new ideas presented in your content. This is an assurance of quick and repeated responses from your readers. Blogs is an excellent spot for the exchange of ideas between the seller and the consumer. Good for measuring public opinion regarding services and products, even political and business matters alike.

*Useful tool for internal communication. This will help your company to build a knowledge-based community of employees. Also good for harnessing employee relations and identifying human resource issues in advance.

*Other benefits like search engine optimization (SEO) will help your blogs to be seen often by as many people as you wish. This is very good exposure for your products and services.

Many blog hosting services are available on the Internet. But the basic question is which of these services will best serve your needs and/or the needs of your business and clients? Many business folks are not knowledgeable regarding recent technological innovations which would help them maximize their marketing efforts. For them, it may be best to study services offered by blog hosts. An ineffective business blogging program may damage marketing opportunities instead of enriching them.

A company may decide to do the following depending on its capacity and needs: 1) Host their own blog service, 2) Pay someone else to host the service, or 3) Setup a “blog aggregator page” and ask the employees/departments to select their blog hosting services individually. There are paid and free services available for individuals.

Business blogs may need to have the latest blogging features; if not, this could prevent them from maximizing their marketing, public relations and SEO potentials. Personal blogs may not need the latest and greatest bells and whistles, though today expectations are high for those visiting personal blogs as well.

Some of the basic elements a business blog should have:

*COMMENTS. Welcoming comments provide opportunity for dialogue. In business blogs, they are a good customer feedback mechanism. This helps develop better customer relations based from loyalty and trust. Blogging is an innovative way to converse with your customers.

*TRACKBACK. This helps in maximizing company and product exposure. Through this service, consumers can get back to you for more posts and updates without the difficulty of locating you. If your blog is popular in a specific online community chances are links going back to your blog site are everywhere online, other blog sites or websites.

*CATEGORIES AND TAGS. These both help in classifying blog searches for ease of navigation and on site search. Categories act as libraries because they classify posts by subject matter such as business, distance learning, e-commerce, online auctions, etc. Tags help in the classification, especially in the blog search engines. Possible customers and new clients locate blogs about certain topics of interest by just clicking the tags.

*RSS FEED. Really Simple Syndication is the feed from your blog that is sent out over the internet, and collected through the various newsreaders and aggregators.

If your company is to establish a business blogging program, considerable options should be made available by the hosting companies shortlisted for the services. Free blog hosting services are popular but they may be more appropriate for individual online journals. Paid blog hosting services offer unlimited packages which can be scaled for your company’s needs. You may want to check out some blogs that use a particlar host first. Read and examine their layout and design. Another important thing to consider is the quality of technical support the host has. Contact the webmaster(s) of particular blogs to see how satisfied they are.

After, choosing the blog host, a team should be ready to plan the design and structure of the blog: Some things for your team to consider:

*create a style that meets the needs of the audience
*establish an open, credible tone
*schedule weekly updating of blog - ideally, a few times a week
*include weblinks of other website and blogs
*blog post should be in the “first person”
*focus on the business blog objective
*maintain an honest, engaging conversational quality.

Remember, whatever the look, style and content, your blog is a reflection of you, and your company.

The first ‘blogs’ were weblogs refering to a “server’s log file.” They were created when web logging hit the virtual market. Since its inception in the mid-1990s, web logging gradually saturated the virtual community making the Internet a viable source of greater information.

However, with web logging, you still need a web site and domain name. With blogging, you only need an account with blog providers. And in many cases, these blogs are free of charge.

With the onset of blogging on the Internet, personal journaling became a common ground for people. Generally, blogs were created for personal use, as a journal. People recording their daily adventures, sentiments or whatever ideas they want to express online. And many still create and use blogs in this fashion.

Nevertheless, with the advent of online businesses, blogs gradually migrated into the limelight by providing businesses a chance to boost their productivity online. This is where the business blog has come into it’s own.

Business blogs are basically created to advertise the services or products of a certain company or online/offline business in order to increase online sales. Blogs are also used as internal communication tools for businesses.

Business blogs are also one way of promoting your company (branding) so readers will know your company exists online of offline. With blogs, entrepreneurs are able to establish a name in the virtual market through articles providing information your visitors want or need.

Blogs can increase your revenues by syndicating it to your business’ web site, which can be done through RSS technology.

So, if you are looking to create a blog, whether for business or for pleasure, here are some tips to help you through the process and make your blog one of the more interesting sites online.

Here’s how.

1. Alwasy consider your audience:

Even if your blog is generally personal, Still, it would be better to consider the minds of your readers. You have to think of something that would interest them.

The reasons people write blogs are not all confined to personal motives. Most of them would love to be heard or read and would love to be known, in some way or another, even for just a minute. Hence, it is very important to come with a write up that everybody can understand. Everyone may not be able to relate to a specific post but they need to have an understanding of the post.

2. A picture can be worth a thousand words:

To make your blogging worth the browsing effort of your readers, it would be extremely nice if you can place pictures or videos on there. It does not necessarily mean you have to place a picture of yourself. There are some who say putting your personal picture up can instill trust in your readers and some who say it doesn’t.

Any photographs or videos will do as long as they do not pose a danger or insult to anyone who will be reading your blog. And as long as they relate to your post.

3. Make your blog constructive and beneficial:

While you are free to post anything you want, it would be better to post information beneficial to your readers.

We human beings have an insatiable desire for information in todays Internet world after all, so provide some of that information rather than sheer quirky entertainment. At least in a business blog. Although a business blog can be entertaining as well as informative.

4. Avoid making your blog too complicated or convoluted:

In order to have an interesting blog. Try not to use highly technical and highfalutin words, unless your audience is specifically technical. After all, it’s not a science discourse or a debate - though some blogs are used for debates, Stick to simple facts and short posts. Speak to your readers one-at-a-time!

Bear in mind, most people who use the Internet are usually scanning for words or phrases that are ‘key’ for them, rather than scrutinizing each site word for word. Therefore, your titles and sub-headers can be very important to capturing your readers attention.

Also remember there are many folks who still don’t have the latest and greatest in computer technology so try not to make your blog a mash of flash and bang.

5. Make your blog as interactive as you can:

As much as possible and if your capacity will allow it, make your blog interactive. One way of doing this is by placing video or audio clips in your blog.

Have a place or area for comments or feedback. In this way, you acquire the impressions or reactions of others.

This helps you gain insite into what your visitors are looking for. Make your visitors feel at home on your blog site.

Indeed, blogs are not created only for the fun of it. They serve a purpose in the world of the Internet. That purpose can be to get your business in front of the people who can most utilize what you offer, as well as providing a source of entertainment.

Blogging - the contemporary term for creative and commercial writing.

Ready To Unleash The Power Of Blogs in Your Business?

It’s been simmering below the surface for years and now this power shift has finally boiled over into simultaneous national recognition

Like Goliath being slain with a lowly slingshot, the mainstream media (in the form of Dan Rather) came to the undeniable realization that they were no longer in control of information.

Within 30-minutes of that now infamous TV special on “60-Minutes II” broadcast bloggers were digging into the facts and questioning the validity of what had just been presented by the 42-year broadcast veteran. In less than one week, CBS admitted it could “no longer vouch” for the memos. And just weeks after the election, Rather announced his retirement and the blogosphere won another victory.

No matter what your political affiliation is, this incident is one very public example of the power of blogging. Blogging is quickly accelerating into a steeping, sloping growth curve of popularity and application. ABC News selected Bloggers as “People of the Year”, and Merriam-Webster declared “blog” its “word of the year.”

Putting the power of blogs to work for your business can have more an impact than you can imagine… and it’s easier than you might think.

It puts the power of information and the impact of influence in the hands of the “average Joe”. It makes instant publishing a reality regardless of your technical skill level.

And it’s a business growth tool that the savvy small business owner can no longer afford to ignore.

The world’s oldest, most effective form of communication
and marketing on steroids!

So why is blogging gaining popularity so quickly? What’s the
attraction? And why is it so darn powerful?

The answer is quite simple when you consider history and human nature.

Blogging is an unstoppable technological force that exponentially multiplies the world’s oldest, most favorite, and most trusted form of information sharing — word of mouth.

Think about it. Who do you trust the most to give you advice,
recommendations, and information about opportunities, purchases, or choices?

If you’re like the vast majority of people, it’s the opinion of someone you know and trust. Someone who you feel is just like you. That type of trust comes from personal communication, social interaction, and the joining together of like-minded individuals.

Blogs and the blogging community deliver all that — and more.

Now is the time to master business blogging and put it to use for you! Do it before other proactive business owners step into your ideal niche and muscle you out of this primetime opportunity.

You can learn more about blogs and business blogging in particular at: http://tinyurl.com/2mnmg8

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.