WanderingSalsero

Alternative to AdSense... Bidvertiser.com

I've not used it yet but I plan on trying it pretty soon.  This alternative to Google Adsense did come well recommended to me though. It's called www.bidvertiser.com.

If you pay any attention at all to what's going on in the internet marketing world you'll know that a lot of online marketers get treated like shit by Google.  I'm one of them.  For some reason that I have no idea of, Google deactivated my Google AdSense account.  And apparently it's a common problem.

Google is so fucking BIG that they don't even feel like they need to explain to probably thousands of people why their AdSense accounts have been shut down....but, I digress.

It is possible (and a lot of people are silently doing it) to set up blogs that are automatically populated with content.  And you can monitize those blogs with pretty much any form of monitization you want.  AdSense is a logical choice but since so many people can't get AdSense accounts, there's been several legitimate and more even-handed alternitives come onto the scene.

www.Bidvertiser.com  is one of them.  If you have a blog and you're not monitizing it, you're probably leaving some money on the table.

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Got a few last minutes slots left in a class?

Have you ever had just a few slots left in a class you'd like to fill or just a few tickets to a particular event that you'd like to sell?

Well, what if there was a way for you to contact people in your local area who have at least a 50/50 chance of being interested in what you've got to offer?

I think this site is a good way to try to do it.  It's called www.twithawk.com.  Basically here's what you do.

1. Sign up...for free
2. Sign in with your ID and PW (which you select yourself...or you can use your Twitter ID/PW I think too.
3. Type in the keywords you want it to search the Twitter API for and also the geographic parameters (i.e. Bellaire, Denver, within 5 miles of Galleria, etc.)
4. Hit 'go'....or whatever it is. 

After doing that, their software searches the Twitter-sphere for any tweets that met your search criteria.  When it finds them, it sends them to you immediately.  Then you can tweet those people back with your own 'tweet'.  After that, if the people are interested, they'll react back to you.  If not then......it cost you less than 20 cents to find out..

How much easier could it be than that?

I think this is a pretty cool sounding tool.  They give you 10 twits to start with for free.  After that you just buy as many credits as you want.  It's certainly cheap enough to experiment with and I think we're going to be seeing even more applications like this.  It only makes sense...especailly as more and more people get 'smart phones'.

Sign up to try it here.

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Worried about getting screwed by your freelancer?

Have you ever thought about employing a freelancer but you're worried about losing money due to communications problems, lack of technical competance or just a bad attitude?

Well, I feel your pain.  I had the same worry before I used a freelancer the first time.  I don't worry about it now that I've learned how this kind of service works.

The good news is that pretty much all the freelancer sites have rating systems in place.  You can actually see the kind of jobs any particular freelancer has done for other people and you can see the ratings they received on their work. 

So......don't worry about getting screwed. 

As I see it, you're chances are no worse than with somebody you'd hire 'back home'.  And actually, because the majority of the people who do this kind of work (i.e. freelancing) greatly appreciate the opportunity to work for you.

Did you know you can actually hire a webmaster, full time, for as little as $800 a month?

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Interesting info on Korean internet quality

According to the "2010 Annual Broadband Study" by Oxford University, Korea has the highest level of broadband leadership among the 72 countries surveyed. This is the second year Korea has claimed first place. The researchers calculated the broadband leadership scores of each country based on their Broadband Quality Score (BQS) and broadband penetration at the household level. The evaluations of the global broadband statistics service company Point Topic and the broadband connection analysis website Speedtest.net were also considered in the researcher’s scores. Korea topped on the list with a total score of 157 points, with nearly 100% of households in Korea having access to broadband, and a BQS of 81. Hong Kong and Japan were ranked second and third for broadband leadership. Average download throughput in Korea was 33.5 Mbps, an increase of 55% from 2009, and the average upload throughput was 17 Mbps, an increase of 430%. Moreover, the study said fourteen countries, including Japan, Sweden, Bulgaria, Finland and Korea, are prepared for the "internet applications of tomorrow," including high definition internet TV and high speed digital devices. Seoul was the highest ranked of 239 cities worldwide, with a BQS of 97 out of 100 points. Sponsored by Cisco Systems, the Saïd Business School at Oxford University and Spain's University of Oviedo have been evaluating global broadband quality since 2008. Ranking Country Leadership 2010 1 Korea 157 2 Hong Kong 118 3 Japan 116 4 Iceland 115 5 Switzerland 111 5 Luxembourg 111 5 Singapore 111 6 Malta 108 7 Netherlands 107 8 United Arab Emirates 106 8 Qatar 106 9 Sweden 104 10 Denmark 103 By Jessica Seoyoung Choi Korea.net Staff Writer

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SassySalsero.com is for sale

First $150 offer gets the domain name "SassySalsera.com".

It would be great for a fashion line, a women's dance team, a website, or perhaps a cosmetic line or product.  Or maybe even a femaile radio talk show host.

Why you should be dripping on your customers

Are you keeping in touch with your business prospects with regular, content rich emails?

If you're not, I can guarantee it's costing you money.  Experience has shown consclusively that most people need to hear from you several times before they become a customer/client/student or whatever.  That's why having an autoresponder is so valuable.

All big and successful companies use autoresponders.  They do it because they have to.  They have so much correspondence going out, on a daily basis, that there's no way they could afford the personnel to do all of it manually.  So they simply create pre-packaged sequences of emails that are automatically sent out according to whatever schedule is deemed best.

But, because small business owners don't have lots of personnel or big marketing budgets, they need autoresponders even more.  By diligent use of an autoresponder, the typcial small business can actually get a lot more done.  They can keep up with past customers, let them know about new events and sales, build their brand awareness, maintain involvement with their local community. 

An autoresponder is just another form of busiess automation.  They're not expensive and they're easy to learn to use.  But the latest buzz is that there are lately several new entries into the autoresponder business which are totally free.

Do you use autoresponders in your business?

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Building a studio/instructor 'brand' locally

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Ok, let's just say you've got a studio.  What would happen if you..........

• Start a blog something about hottest places to go for salsa dancing in your town.  
• Pick one or more places where you like to go
• Start to write about what a great time you're having there
• After you've got several posts, articles, etc. on your blog talking about you'r 'favorite' places, make a point to go to all the 'other' places too.  And be sure and get some good pictures too.
• Combine all these articles, posts, entries into one master ebook about "Hottest Salsa Clubs in __________ ---Everything You Need To Know To Instantly Be "IN" In The _________ Salsa Scene"d.
• Sell it on Amazon Kindle under the 'Travel' category. 

Once you get your book published, do a press release to your local media organizations and BAM!  You're on TV, local radio and being interviewed by your local newspaper as a 'local dance studio celebrity'.

How many of your 'real' salseros, salseras, bachateros, bachateras out there have ever thought about writing an ebook?

Why not?

Think it's hard?

It's not.

Think about it....

What would it do for your 'brand' if you could legitimately say you were an 'author' and had an ebook selling on Amazon Kindle.

You're welcome.

I came out of the closet today.....at work.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Yeah, I came out of the closet today.  I told the people where I work that I do not want to renew my contract for a full year.  It actually was easy to do and not-easy to do at the same time.

On the one hand I don't think it's going to make much difference where I am after December 15th when my contract here expires.  I say that because I really do believe the Rapture (yeah.....the thing in the Bible) is going to happen very, very soon.  Probably before the end of the year. 

There's not a day or night that goes by that I don't look up at the sky and wonder, "Is that what the last sky I'll ever see looks like?"  Personally, I think I'd rather 'go' at night.  I think it would be nice to see the lights of Earth from that high up.

If you're at all curious why I believe this kind of thing I'd highly recommend you take a few minutes to just browse through Frank Dimora's excellent website www.dimoraministry.com.  To me, looking at the history of mankind, knowing what the Bible says and looking at today's events makes it very obvious what's going to happen.  In many ways, we are sooooo fucked up.

Funny.....and raunchy

Image via Wikipedia

Here's a guy with a very funny, and raunchy, sense of humor. This extracted snippet is just a small part of the content over on his blog on www.soulcast.com which I just discovered today.  The rest of it is decidedly X-rated.  But it's still funny

Sunday morning sex Upon hearing that her elderly grandfather had just passed away, Katie went straight to her grandparents’ house to visit her 95-year-old grandmother and comfort her. When she asked how her grandfather had died, her grandmother replied, "He had a heart attack while we were making love on Sunday morning." Horrified, Katie told her grandmother that 2 people nearly 100 years old having sex would surely be asking for trouble. "Oh no, my dear," replied granny. "Many years ago, realizing our advanced age, we figured out the best time to do it was when the church bells would start toring. It was just the right rhythm. Nice and slow and even. Nothing too strenuous, simply in on the Ding and out on the Dong." She paused to wipe away a tear, and continued, "He’d still be alive if the ice cream truck hadn’t come along."

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