GreenBucks

I’ve been subscribed to two or maybe three online discount deals. So far, I bought several online discount vouchers and I haven’t used them yet, I just hope these aren’t expired yet!

Mulling on the pros and cons of buying online discount vouchers, I came up with these:

Pros on buying online discount vouchers:

• you save a lot
• you can now afford to go to places (restaurants, salon, spa, resorts, hotels) you otherwise can’t afford if not for these discount vouchers
• you get to experience new things

Cons on buying online discount vouchers:

• yes, you save a lot but you buy vouchers because these are inexpensive and not because you need these
• you think you are saving substantial amount by getting these but have you really paused and asked your self: “Do I really need these?
• you pay for vouchers you don’t really need at the moment

So before you click that “buy now’ button, the bottom line for this new shopping trend is to ask yourself: “Do I really need to buy these online discount vouchers?”

I don’t know how it is with others but I don’t grab these online discount vouchers like there’s no tomorrow or if I do, I’d probably be saying goodbye to my online earning 😀

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To be a victim of phishing is not a pleasant experience for anyone involved with any online transaction.

To be a victim of online identity thefts is definitely not pleasant.

There have been stories of people, bloggers and non bloggers whose online earnings or savings accounts have been violated and their monies victims of theft.

So how should one protect his online accounts?

• When suspicious emails arrive and there are links to open, check first if the links are legit. Put your cursor over the link and see what is being seen in the browser. If these are not matched, then it is suspicious and might be fraud.

• Now, why would you open a mail that asks you to confirm about an item that you ordered when you know you didn’t order anything? That is suspicious too.

• Change your passwords every now and then, every two weeks if need be. Go for passwords not associated to you and use letters and numbers and characters in the password. Do NOT store these passwords in your computer.

• There are identity thieves that use keystroke-logging software to know the usernames and passwords through emails, freeware and yes, instant messaging.

• Be careful when downloading anything from unknown sources for these files may contain malicious software programs that might be accompanied by spyware.

• Do not respond to emails requesting for your personal information.

I remember this episode from Psych, one my favorite (very funny) detective tv series. They were in a speed dating club and had to sit with other people and get to know them by asking questions. Shawn noticed that one woman’s questions were different. She was asking about these things:

• hometown where the guy grew up
• mother’s maiden name
• favorite color

So naturally, Shawn’s interest perked up. They finally got this woman and her husband who was also working in the dating club for identity theft.

These are just some of the things one has to look out for in order to protect online accounts. I am very sure there are a lot more different ways these thieves have that will enable them to do their illegal activities.

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I did not write these things because I assume I know everything. I wrote these things as a reminder that I too, need to beef up what I need to do to protect myself from identity theft.

If financial institutions and government offices have been victimized, we can be too. I hope not me, of course.

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Mark Cuban not only owns the Dallas Maverick but serves as chairman of the TV Channel HD.Net. He blogs too.

The finer points discussed in the NY Times article about blogging are the following:

1. Don’t expect to get rich.
2. Write about what you want to write about, in your own voice.
3. Fit blogging into the holes of your schedule
4. Just post it already
5. Keep a regular rhythm
6. Join the community, such as it is.
7. Plug yourself.

There’s this part in the article that fits exactly what I think sometimes:

In the end, the biggest threat isn’t that you’ll fail to learn to blog. It’s that if you blog regularly for long enough, and begin to get comments and links from other bloggers, you’ll have trouble doing your day job.

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My friend Wenchie asked me two weeks ago about how a certain sponsored post writing goes. This paid posting site has it differently than other sites. Why? Because bloggers can bid the price that they want to be paid for writing posts. They get 65% of the price they would bid with.

Here are the simple steps in going about this sponsored post services:

1. Register your blog.
2. Wait for your bog to be approved.
3. When your blog is approved, check your blog’s status regarding ranking. There are checks that show how much one can charge, say from $10 – $100. There are also those who can charge as high as $500. But of course, there would be buts here which I wouldn’t write anymore.
4. When all these are done, one can start the bidding process. How? Here’s how:
   1. Look for available opportunities from advertisers.
   2. Be sure to read the description of the available opportunity. If it asks for blogs with PR3 and you don’t even have a PR, then don’t try to bid on that opportunity.
   3. Be sure to bid well within the range of prices set by the advertisers. For example, if the minimum bid price is $10 and the maximum bid price is $50, then don’t bid $75, even your bidding capability is up to $800.00. Yes, there are those who can charge as high as that, if there are advertisers willing to pay that.
   4. When bidding, try to bid using the maximum allowed bids. For the bidding price mentioned above, try bidding at half the price, or maybe even lower. Be sure to consider your blog’s ranking when doing the bidding. Blogs with high ranks are probably ok to bid high but to those of us without ranks, (Hello,Google? send some PR around here 🙂 ), that is a risk I wouldn’t want to take. Why? Continue Reading »

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One of the most effective ways for advertisers to promote their products online is through buzz marketing. Buzz marketing is a “word of mouth” marketing strategy aiming to target customers through verbal interaction. For customers who rely on online information, buzz marketing can be done in various forms like profile pages or blog posts or through emails or even instant messaging or even message board threads/forums. In this line, marketing strategists, to be more specific, blog marketing, have developed systems that would be able to connect advertisers with bloggers for buzz marketing. One of these is Snapbomb, where advertisers and bloggers are connected in a fully automated marketplace that provides buzz analytics.

Why bloggers?

Blogs are here to stay. Blogs are platforms where the writers, also called bloggers, write about different topics. It is fast becoming a source of information in the internet. With blogs, Snapbomb advertisers are able to advertise their products to relevant and targeted audience. In doing so, Snapbomb is able to track success through their buzz analytics features in an automated environment. Bloggers can choose to write about paid opportunities for topics that interest them and their blog’s niche because advertisers have created campaigns targeting a specific audience. This is where the Snapbomb’s Buzz Analytics work: by tracking responses to the campaign and giving immediate feedback on the buzz effect that has been created by the post.

Bloggers are paid for writing these advertising campaigns which is also called blog marketing.

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A lot of people are putting up blogs to be able to express their thoughts in writing, promote their products and services or simply to connect with their loved ones and other bloggers as well. Blogging is a little bit time consuming and tedious. Blogging can be expensive too because it is not just electricity, web hosting services, domain name registration and connectivity services that are being paid but time is spent as well too. So these people who blog have to find ways to somehow blog for money.

How is this done? By joining blog advertising, or putting advertising in their blogs. In other words, these bloggers, including me, blog for money. How is this done through Smorty? Bloggers first sign up with this service which connects advertisers to them. When these bloggers get approved, then these bloggers get to choose what to write about. In writing about the products and services of these advertisers, bloggers include key words along with the anchor texts provided for by the advertisers. Then they get paid for their work, or in short, bloggers can now blog for money. Take note though that not because a blogger can advertise on blogs, mean that these bloggers can just write and write. These bloggers have to make it a point to write properly using the correct syntax and spelling. These bloggers should also know how to follow instructions as well. After all, they are being paid for it.

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