About Me 0049: March 2011

Tuesday 29 March 2011

foreclosure investing

A few years ago, the Internet experienced a video revolution. As broadband access expanded and more people began uploading content, video became an expected resource for consumers. Businesses could get more mileage out of television commercials and engage users by linking to video reviews of its products.

A year ago, we saw evidence of small and medium-sized business increasing budgets for video content – to be used both on their homepages and in advertisements. In 2009, 19% of businesses polled were using video (up from 5% in 2008) and I’m willing to bet that number will be much higher in the 2010 report that should come out later this month.

Now, as technology has become more affordable and increasingly mobile, we’re able to experience virtually anything online. As such, local search engines are evolving into master content synthesizers to meet the needs of consumers and advertisers alike – offering video and photos, local advertising deals, user reviews, QR codes, maps and directions, etc.

Consumer expectations of local search engines have never been higher. Users want to see photo and video reviews of a company’s products, read what other people have to say, and even take a virtual tour of your store or restaurant before they visit.

The same is true of small- and medium-sized business owners looking to find a competitive advantage. Local search engines are offering more dynamic content than ever before to users and it’s up to search marketers to help business owners feed that content.

It’s interesting to see how video content has changed since the advent of YouTube. Instead of traditional video advertising, we’re seeing new technology that lets users look around your business from their own home. Soon, we’ll be able to find virtual creations of almost any environment online – and those virtual tours are being integrated with current deals and other advertising promotions to drive traffic to your business.

Recently, a company called EveryScape partnered with Bing and YP to offer digital advertisers a new local search solution – virtual tours. For example, YP360 will let a user step inside a restaurant in Baltimore while they’re still on the train. They can choose a place and even set a reservation, all within the same application on their phone.

Google Earth has gone indoors and local search engines are responsible for bringing this detailed and vivid content to users while keeping it simple and accessible. And the business case for offering this new content to users and advertisers alike is clear as local advertising is expected to grow to $16.1 billion this year, up from $13.7 billion in 2010.

Even more, mobile phone advertising spending is expected to be more than a billion dollars in 2011, up 48% from 2010. Local search engines like YP and Yelp! are seeing over 20 million visitors a month, many of them accessing via mobile phones.

This is a great opportunity for local search engines and advertisers to embrace this new technology and get ahead of the pack. Effective local advertising goes beyond building a social networking presence and listing in directories – you have to make sure your content is engaging. In the online world, the savviest local search marketers who use this technology well will have the most successful campaigns.

I recommend that any business owner or local search marketer read up on the latest digital advertising solutions and consider offering your customers virtual tours of your products or store. To set your business apart, you need to stay current with the best that local search has to offer.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Locals Only

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Locals Only

Surface Encounters

MLB creates new seven-day DL for concussions

Major League Baseball and its players union have announced a new set of protocols for dealing with concussions, including the creation of a new seven-day disabled list for players with the injury.

Surface Encounters

Small Business News: Social Media Brand

What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entreprene...

Surface Encounters

Small Business News: Social Media Brand

What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entrepreneurs are coming around to the enormous importance of social.

Surface Encounters

In February of 2007, 83.24 percent of users visiting TechCrunch did so from a Windows machine. One year later, in February 2008, the stranglehold remained firm at 80.44 percent. In February 2009, the number was at 74.04 percent. Last year, it was 61.59 percent. And this year? The number of people visiting our site from Windows machines dipped to 53.84 percent.

The writing is on the wall.

Look at those numbers again for a second. In four years, Windows share among TechCrunch readers has fallen 30 percentage points. That’s incredible.

The knee-jerk reaction in the comment section will likely be something like “it’s because you guys cover Apple so much”. But the fact of the matter is that Macintosh share, after rising for three of those four years, fell last year as well. It’s the mobile devices — specifically the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices — that are eating away at Windows.

In fact, if the trend over the past four years continues at about the same pace, in two years, devices made by Apple (Macs, iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads) will surpass devices that run Windows as the top visitors to TechCrunch. And depending on how popular the iPad 2, iPhone 5, and OS X Lion are, it could easily happen next year.

Here are the broken down numbers:

Feb 2007

Windows: 83.24%

Mac: 13.59%

Linux: 2.51%

Feb 2008

Windows: 80.44%

Mac: 15.15%

Linux: 2.97%

iPhone: 0.77%

iPod: 0.15%

Feb 2009

Windows: 74.04%

Mac: 20.48%

Linux: 3.01%

iPhone: 1.60%

iPod: 0.28%

Android: 0.09%

Feb 2010

Windows: 61.59%

Mac: 28.62%

iPhone: 4.07%

Linux: 3.49%

Android: 0.87%

iPod: 0.53%

Feb 2011

Windows: 53.84%

Mac: 27.64%

iPhone: 6.72%

iPad: 3.44%

Linux: 3.28%

Android: 3.06%

iPod: 0.62%

While even the last batch of stats shows that Windows still has a nice cushion over number two, Mac, if you add the Apple products put together, it’s a different story.

Feb 2007: 13.59% Apple products

Feb 2008: 16.07% Apple products

Feb 2009: 22.36% Apple products

Feb 2010: 33.22% Apple products

Feb 2011: 38.42% Apple products

In the four year span, Apple has added 25 percentage points to their share among TechCrunch readers. That nearly all of the 30 percentage points that Windows lost in that same span (Android’s growth pretty much fills in the rest).

So it currently stands at Microsoft’s 53.84 percent versus Apple’s 38.42 percent. Again, a big year for iPad, iPhone, and Mac could mean a changing of the guard as soon as next year. But unless something drastic changes, you can be sure that Apple will be dominant among TechCrunch readers in two years.

The latest rumors have Windows 8 showing up sometime in mid/late 2012. But the fact of the matter is that Windows 7, much more widely praised than the disaster that was Vista, hasn’t helped Microsoft buck this trend among our readers. Perhaps they’re only hope of gaining back share at this point is Windows Phone. So far, that hasn’t been going too well. Nokia should help that, but will it be enough to offset the Windows losses?

Humorously, Microsoft’s best hope for not falling to Apple may well be Android. If Google’s platform continues to make gains, it could prolong Apple passing Microsoft.

But again, Apple has iPhone 5, iPad 2, and OS X Lion on the immediate horizon — all within the next few months. And then there’s the very real possibility of another iPad in the fall.

The iPad 2 and iPhone 5 are likely to push the Apple share forward immediately. But don’t sleep on OS X Lion either. The early indications are that Apple has indeed made it much more iOS-like. That means millions of iPad/iPhone/iPod touch owners who have traditionally been PC users, are going to feel a lot more comfortable on a Mac than ever before.

And a new PC-to-Mac data migration system built in to Lion will only help that.

OS X Lion is going to feed off of iOS users, and vice versa. And the Mac ecosystem is going to continue to expand. Just as happened in the browser world with Chrome taking over, a transition is happening among TechCrunch readers in the ecosystem space. The numbers don’t lie. And Microsoft better pray that our readers aren’t leading indicators of overall trends in the space — which is exactly what you have been in the past.

I read an interesting article this morning that suggested Apple would change its mind and put Adobe’s Flash technology on its iOS devices within a year. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

In an open letter to users, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave several reasons why he didn’t want Flash on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. They are: Flash isn’t open; the full web; reliability, security and performance; battery life; and touch.

Adobe began shipping Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile last June, but even Laptop magazine admitted that “Steve Jobs was right,” and that “Adobe’s offering seems like it’s too little, too late.” Granted, that report was from six months ago, but it still doesn’t bode well for the technology.

There is no doubt that Adobe is making advances with Flash on mobile devices, but I don’t believe future changes will be enough to get Apple to adopt the technology.

Jobs has been very clear that Apple supports HTML5, an open technology that is controlled by a standards committee, not one company. By building support for that technology into Webkit, Apple is ensuring that mobile Web browsers will be able to access what we’ve come to know as the “full web.”

Webkit is used by Google, Palm, Nokia and RIM, so it has a pretty solid base.

One of the arguments often bantered about when the discussion of the “full Web” comes up is video. There is no doubt that Flash made huge strides over the years in having sites like YouTube encode their videos in Flash. But that’s for the desktop.

As Jobs points out, almost all of this video is also available in H.264 format (a format Flash also supports), so it’s viewable on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video,” wrote Jobs.

You may ask why other companies adopted Flash for their mobile devices when Apple won’t. That’s easy, they are looking for something they have that Apple doesn’t. Considering how hard it is for tablet makers to compete with Apple, any perceived advantage will work.

I’m not an Adobe hater—I know quite a few people that work at Adobe and I think they’ve done some amazing things over the years. Flash for mobile devices isn’t one of them.

Chris Dawson said he gives “Apple a year until they cave [and adopt Flash]. Android tablets will just be too cool and too useful for both entertainment and enterprise applications if they don’t.”

I have been using my iPhone for years and my iPad for one year. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a Web site that wouldn’t load because I didn’t have Flash installed. I can load videos from YouTube and a host of other sites too, no problem.

Apple has sold more than 160 million iOS devices and there are no screaming, angry hordes of users breaking down the doors at 1 Infinite Loop demanding Flash on their devices.

In order for Apple to change its mind and adopt Flash, the technology has to be proven to be indispensable and that it will benefit its users. Apple has proven just the opposite is true.

Editor’s Note: Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple and on his Web site at The Loop.

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Preview of Final Result

Resources

PT Sans Bold – FontSquirrel

Free App Icons for Developers – WebAppers

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document that is 1200 x 1200 pixels, 72 dpi, and RGB Color. Fill the layer with white. (Ctrl+Backspace or Delete)

Step 2

Now create a rectangle for the header and fill it with a white-grey color, then use the colors on the image for the “Gradient Overlay”. Our search and logo will eventually be part of the header.

Step 3

Create a new rectangle above the previous one, with attributes as shown below. The following drop shadow effect creates a look of a 1 pixel stroke which does increase the look of that simple bar. Note: this step creates a horizontal line.

Step 4

Now add the “Gradient Overlay” layer style with the hex codes indicated.

Step 5

Add a white 1 pixel stroke. The following stroke of 1 pixel will divide the grey shadow effect. It’ll eventually work as a divider.

Step 6

Make one more rectangle in the middle-right zone, and fill it with white and add a 1 px stroke as indicated – it will be our search box.

Step 7

One more rectangle should be created and filled with blue. Set the inner shadow as indicated below, this will be our search button. This blue works great in combination with grey, white and light-grey. Blue will be the major contrasting color we use as we work through this template.

Step 8

Add the Gradient Overlay details to the button with the details from image.

Step 9

Add a 1 px stroke to the button with the color indicated. Take a look at the first and the final result of the button so you can see the difference all these details made.

Step 10

Now add this drop shadow effect for the text placed in the search box, using PT Sans Bold. This will be the final step in creating your search button. You may want to try other fonts, but the PT Sans Bold is really good for this small button.

Step 11

Make another fill under the header section, this will be the navigation area. Here we will place the navigation links of our template.

Step 12

Write your navigation links using a dark-grey color, then add a white “drop shadow” effect. The effect used for the navigation links is the same used for the search button.

Step 13

With 1px vertical line, make divisions between each links. The lines should be black and will really increase the beauty of the navigation area.

Step 14

Over the home section, make a fill with the blue and then add a Gradient Overlay style as indicated.

Step 15

Copy the Home link, this time color it white and add a drop shadow effect.

Step 16

Create a big, grey zone under the navigation, it should be about 30% of the layout. This will be the background for the featured area.

Step 17

Now create a big, white rectangle and add some shadow with the details shown. A big stock image, a big headline and some text with another great button will be added.

Step 18

Add a any dummy image you want to that featured area. Be sure it covers more than 80% of the area. The one I chose is from a stock website.

Step 19

Add some text to it, use the PT SANS Bold font and make the font big.

Step 20

The remaining area should be filled with grey, in it we’ll place some text. This is really a secondary area which describes the image, the services, the company itself, or whatever you’d like.

Step 21

Place some blue-colored text which will be the title of the information below. Use the details in the image for Drop Shadow style.

Step 22

Add some dummy text. This could be some important information or whatever you’d like.

Step 23

Create another grey area under the featured zone, where we will add some text and icons later. Add the details as stated on the image. Mostly, the icons will promote the services offered by the company behind the website.

Step 24

Continue by adding a Gradient Overlay style for the last rectangle we have created in the anterior steps.

Step 25

Now we are adding titles and icons, as well as some divisions. The icons can be found in the resource list at the beginning of the tutorial. Be sure to choose your icons and text thoughtfully.

Step 26

At the border of both zones, create a small circle and fill it with dark brown color. Add some inner shadow as stated on the image.

Step 27

Continue by adding a drop shadow layer style. It is another small detail, but it really makes that button zone minimalistic, nice-looking and well designed.

Step 28

To finish, add a Gradient Overlay effect.

Step 29

By using the Custom Shape Tool (U), create an arrow in both circles. Now add the details shown on the screenshot.

Step 30

Continue by adding some Color Overlay for the arrow. It should also be a blue color because otherwise, it will not fit the contrast and the colors used on the whole template.

Step 31

Add a video screenshot in the free space and place a title for it. For this template, I have used a simple screenshot of a YouTube widget.

Step 32

Add the text “Product Highlights” and “Case Studies.” Let the text under the “Product Highlights” be links so you could showcase some friends’ websites or resources you admire/promote.

Step 33

Finish it by creating another form for e-mails, place all kind of other information, and whatever you’d like.

Step 34

Don’t forget to make a relevant/small footer for our template. If you have paid attention, you should know how to create the same effect as below.

All done! If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to drop a comment. I hope you enjoyed this whole tutorial!

What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

THE QUAKE IN JAPAN, A GOOFBALL IN VENEZUELA Japanese earthquake damage is estimated at $310 billion and could be the costliest natural disaster ever. Japanese exports suffer. Kate Rogers of Fox revisits how to protect your business from catastrophe. “Small-business owners can determine if they should be seeking disaster coverage by weighing their investment in the business itself, among other factors. If the business is the sole form of income, the risk is much greater than if it is a hobby or part-time project.” Elsewhere around the world, the war industry gets a boost in Libya. And Hugo Chávez of Venezuela says capitalism may have destroyed life on Mars.

REAL ESTATE FALLS, JOBS RISE Mark Thoma says commodity prices are increasing because of world demand. A small-business owner in Georgia is trying not to pass on the cost of high gas prices. Detroit’s population declines 25 percent. Existing-home sales fall to the lowest on record. Meredith Whitney, an investment adviser, says, “Unless the government comes out with a 50-year mortgage, this market is in trouble longer term.” Gallup’s job-creation index is the highest since September 2008. Durable goods orders fall.

ANNE HATHAWAY AND WARREN BUFFETT The Fed earns $79 billion and predicts that the recovery is taking hold. Nonetheless, one of its officials warns that the United States is approaching insolvency. Meanwhile, Warren E. Buffett predicts growth but some think his company’s stock is buoyed by Anne Hathaway. Household balances sheets continue to improve. Scott Grannis says “the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey came in very strong. It hasn’t been this strong since the economic boom times of the early 1980s. It’s very difficult to ignore the mounting evidence of a strong economic recovery.” Architect billings increased slightly in February.

DEFICIT THRILLS The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is thrilled to see 64 senators calling for comprehensive deficit reduction. But Stan Collender, a budget expert, isn’t thrilled at all: “Does a letter that is so vanilla that it could have been written at any time over the past 40 years really indicate any movement on the current budget debate?” James Pethokoukis of Reuters says he thinks President Obama’s budget is wildly dangerous.

A NEW DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSINESS Timothy F. Geithner says that American small businesses need greater access to capital to spur innovation. The Small Business Administration, facing even more cuts, is for the first time in more than 25 years proposing to change the way it defines small businesses. JPMorgan Chase says it will cease its debit card rewards program because of new legislation that would restrict fees. Missouri gets $27 million in incentives for small-business growth. The Small Business Savings Account Act makes its way through Congress.

TAKING CREDIT The health care legislation celebrates its first anniversary and Ezra Klein defends it by saying, “Is it a perfect piece of legislation? Not even close. Will everything work as expected? Almost certainly not. But for all its flaws, it’s a good law. And it’s worth trying.” Many small businesses are still not taking advantage of the health care tax credit.

TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES A Google project manager pitches cloud computing: “Web-based software is much less costly for buyers than traditional software, and programmers can be so much more innovative, that it’s worthwhile for an entrepreneur to say, O.K., let’s start from scratch.” Paul Mah, an information technology expert, gives us eight reasons to upgrade to Internet Explorer 9. Firefox 4 is released. Microsoft jumps to second in video search and introduces a new PC tool for small business. Netflix suffers an outage. BlackBerry’s tablet is scheduled to arrive in April. AT&T buys T-Mobile but not for the reason you think. And boy. has computer technology come a long way in 10 years.

THE GROWING APPS MARKET Information Week reports that 38 percent of small- and medium-size businesses depend on mobile apps. Amazon introduces an Android app store, and Apple is not pleased. Minda Zetlin of Inc. asks if you should make a tablet app for your business: “The answer is likely a yes if one, your product or service is one where having tablet access could benefit customers; and two, your customers are the type who use tablets.” Just in time: a flood of royal wedding apps.

SPEAKING OF THE BIG WEDDING General Electric releases a much-needed William and Kate refrigerator. Jack Daniels introduces a new product — perhaps to help us forget the royal wedding. Danny Wong gives us three winning ideas to consider. A dating site features a new single man every day. Score plans an e-business learning Web site for small business. Small Business Television is rebranding itself and has introduced a new Web site. Small Business Opportunities magazine is doing the same. A small business introduces its first electric car. Sales of e-books have doubled. The group buying industry is projected to grow to $2.7 billion this year.

TWITTER’S TAX BREAKS Casey Hibbard explains how one company used social media to make $300,000 in a weekend. Robert Scoble discovers the future of work: “Just when we thought we figured out the new ’social enterprise’ market along comes Convofy.” Twitter shows San Francisco’s businesses how to save a bundle on taxes. A one-legged wrestler shows us how to become a national champ.

IT’S GOOD TO BE GREEN A woman in Canada gets a standing ovation for being green. The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce holds its green marketing event on Wednesday. The Clinton Global Initiative holds its university conference this week with a focus on entrepreneurship and a live webcast.

ADVICE FOR SXSW: HAND OUT PILLOWS The Global Entrepreneurship Congress meets in Shanghai this week. April 2 is International Pillow Fight Day. The South By Southwest conference: as seen from a bunch of social media video bloggers — which is yet another reason I won’t attend next year. American Airlines offers a big promo for California business travelers. John Jantsch wants to know the worst business advice you ever received. A third-base coach gives life advice.

SEARCHING FOR HELP WITH SEARCH An American Express survey finds that more than half of small-business owners say they need help with search-engine marketing. A video about why it’s not important to go viral goes viral. Dharmesh Shah shares a few low-cost advertising ideas for start-ups and cautions readers to “think of advertising not as a long-term traffic strategy but as a testing tool to improve your Web site and find out more about your ideal visitor.” An advertising blog discusses how to develop a relationship with the media. Lucy Thornton comes up with a few good marketing themes for April.

A 100-MILLION-MEMBER NETWORK LinkedIn officially reaches 100 million members. Seems like a good time to read the co-founder’s 10 rules for entrepreneurial success.

TRIED TALKING? Whitson Gordon of Lifehacker gives us his top 10 tricks for working while on the go. Example: “Whether it’s that old, dead iPod or the smartphone you’re already carrying with you, you probably have gigs of unused storage lying around waiting to be filled with portable apps, files and other digital travel necessities.” Melanie Brooks of Workawesome.com explains why she uses a leather day planner instead of a smartphone. Greg Schinkel warns against hiding behind our keyboards: “Before you hit ‘reply to all’ and send back a zinger to someone who maligned you, stop and go talk to the person.”

THIS WEEK’S AWARDS

BEST WAY TO GET YOUR CUSTOMERS TO LOVE YOU Ben Yoskovitz talks about the benefits of delighting your customers: “The rewards are immense. Loyal, rabid fans tweet shamelessly about how incredible you are, how valuable your Web application is and how successful your start-up will be.”

BEST WAY TO MARKET WITHOUT A BUDGET Shisha Dublin-Green explains how to market without a marketing budget: “Form an alliance: if you have a hair salon that’s mostly frequented by women with young children and elderly women, you can offer a service whereby you arrange to do their grocery shopping whilst they’re in the salon. You may decide to form an alliance with a local reputable grocer or delivery service to provide this for your customers. This could also be a way to reach out to new customers via your local grocer.”

BEST ADVICE FOR BOOTSTRAPPERS The Smart Bear says that the things money cannot buy are still the most valuable things: “Show proof of your ability to master the things money cannot buy — your ability to learn, change and improve.”

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION: How do you bring in customers without spending a lot? We do free webinars every month.

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group PC, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Surface Encounters

News FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny Pictures

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Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

'CBS Evening News' Sinks To Record Lows, 'World News' Only Show To ...

With the drumbeat of rumors that she is heading for the door, Katie Couric was likely looking for better ratings news than what she got Tuesday. Instead, the ratings for the first quarter of 2011 showed that the "CBS Evening News" drew ...

Surface Encounters

Making Money Easy

As a possible deal with Newser falls apart, the online news pioneer ramps up its cultural coverage. The result: an ailing stock price, but traffic’s on the rise.

Kerry Lauerman remembers the time, a decade ago, when he was Salon’s Washington bureau chief and the website had a budget three times larger than it subsists on today.

Now the Washington bureau is toast. “We’re leaner and meaner and we work a lot smarter,” says Lauerman, who took over in November as editor in chief.

Salon made its name as a politically aggressive, staunchly liberal online operation. But in recent months I’ve noticed a very different kind of story often leading the site. There was “Men: The New Romantics,” and “Literature’s Gender Gap.” There was “My Husband, the Convicted Murderer” and “My Son, The Pink Boy.” Not to mention “Grammys’ Most Memorable Red-Carpet Outfits” and “The Hardest Part About Quitting Drinking? Dating.”

So is there a personality transplant going on?

“The identity of Salon is as a political site,” Lauerman says, “but our entertainment coverage has always done pretty well.” Beyond politics, he says, “we are emphasizing everything else more. We’ve staffed up in entertainment. We listen to our readers.”

And are these stories about movies and marriages and sex designed to attract more advertising?

“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a consideration.”

Given Salon’s precarious financial state, it’s obviously a major consideration. The struggling site quietly put itself up for sale in recent months, and talks with Newser.com, an aggregation site founded by Michael Wolff, collapsed Monday. The New York Times Dealbook blog reported that Salon board members grew concerned that they might be selling for too low a price after AOL paid $315 million to buy The Huffington Post.

The publicly traded company reported a loss of $4.8 million in fiscal 2010, with two investors making up the gap through loans. Salon’s stock is trading for a dime, down from $1.30 in the summer of 2008.

“It’s not an easy space to make money in if you’re trying to do quality content,” says CEO Richard Gingras, who provided the original seed money for Salon’s launch. “We have beefed up the investment in culture and lifestyle… It is about growing the audience.”

The first duty of any website is survival, and most of the news business—from old-line newspapers and magazines to newer operations such as The Daily Beast—is grappling with how to turn a profit online. The overhauling of Salon’s editorial mix comes as its center of gravity has shifted from San Francisco, where it was born 15 years ago, to Midtown Manhattan. Founding editor David Talbot and Joan Walsh, who stepped down last year, ran the place from the Bay Area; Lauerman, 41, is the first editor to be based, with most of the staff, in New York.

Walsh, who had tapped Lauerman as her deputy, was part of the new direction before returning to reporting and a book project. “Our news team is as good as it’s ever been,” she says. “But the political cycle ebbs and flows, and people get more or less interested depending on whether it’s election season and what the crazy story of the week is… We’ve probably gotten deeper into the cultural realm.”

Last week, Novelr profiled Amanda Hocking, whom they dubbed the very rich indie writer. Hocking is a 26-year-old woman who writes “paranormal romance” novels and publishes them herself through Amazon’s Kindle store. She’s been very successful, and has made a lot of money.

Her success has led to all sorts of speculation — as success will do — and comments from folks who think they could do what she does, too. They think she’s an overnight success. She recently posted a response at her website, and I like it. Here’s an excerpt:

This is literally years of work you’re seeing. And hours and hours of work each day. The amount of time and energy I put into marketing is exhausting. I am continuously overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to do that isn’t writing a book. I hardly have time to write anymore, which sucks and terrifies me.

If you read Hocking’s post, you might understand some of my own mindset over the past few years. Imagine that instead of discussing supernatural love stories, she’s writing about an unexpectedly successful personal-finance blog. There are some close parallels. I don’t mean that in a negative, complain-y way. I just mean to stress that yes, you can make it big doing something you love, but it’ll probably take a lot of hard work. (And luck. There’s always a bit of luck involved.)

Speaking of making money: There’s been a small flurry of online info about making more money lately. (You know this is one of my pet topics, right?) For example, Inc. magazine posted an article from Jason Fried about how to get good at making money. Fried’s list is targeted at small-business owners. Trent at The Simple Dollar responded with his own list of five easy steps to make money for average folks. Both articles are interesting.

Moving on: I’ve written before about the value of a neighborhood exchange — an informal system of borrowing and lending goods and services. David at My Two Dollars has a great list of items to share with your neighbors to save money. I realize that not everyone likes to borrow or lend things, but if you live in an area with good social capital, this can be a great way for everyone involved to save space and cash.

Since returning from Africa, I’ve been struggling to get everything done that needs to be done. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. So I was interested in the latest post at Pop Economics, which asks, “How much do you value your time?” Pop says the balance between time and money is tough to find — we want more of both. He’s actually experimenting with a personal assistant, which I like. I’ve been waiting for an average joe to do this and report on how it goes. (As opposed to somebody like Tim Ferriss, who makes it sound like a way to become superhuman.)

bench craft company reviews

New Company Promises to Give You a Pretend Facebook Girlfriend

Your relationship troubles are over with the help of Cloud Girlfriend, a new startup that creates virtual girlfriends for social media like Facebook.

Out This Week – 01/04/2011 News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

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According to the Daily News, Irene Morales' suit says that Charney “forced her to go down on her knees just inside the front door and perform fellatio upon him,” and “[s]he was then, to all intents and purposes, held prisoner in the ...

Monday 28 March 2011

SEO Services Vancouver For A Better Marketing Solution

When you start your own website there are many ways you'll have to sell it off and one the best way is to use Search engine optimization Vancouver if you happen to maintain that area. The SEO or seo services will be the top way of getting good traffic to your site and for that reason making more sales.

Now, you need to know that you won't use SEO service if you're no online business - but then again, if you do not come with an online presence if you are a offline business, then you'll not allow it to be very far.

It's a well known fact that if you are going to really make it in the offline world you must have an online presence. This is something which all people are learning hard way. One thing that you ought to also know is the fact that it is not as easy as just setting up the website and leaving it to complete its things.

This can be done in most sorts of ways, however these companies usually make use of multiple methods to create the perfect marketing technique online. You will be able to hire these phones write articles for you personally, post on forums and blogs, create meta data and meta descriptions, cleanup the code, add alt tags to the images plus much more.

It is crucial that you do this because otherwise the organization you have worked so difficult for could wind up losing the money. When you have an internet site you want to produce, then you'll also use the services of a search engine optimization company, which stands for seo company. What the corporation does is basically take the best areas of your website, check the code, create keywords and write various articles and documents to ensure your site is placed near the the surface of the list for the major search engines.

By doing this the SEO company cannot only increase your traffic, but also ensure that your site is fully optimized for the internet search engine spiders that will be brought to it. These spiders are utilized to analyze your site and put it in certain positions determined on certain keywords.

If you wish to make use of the SEO services Vancouver then all you've got to do is find the top companies. It's through these how the SEO gets done effectively and efficiently. With so many SEO companies to select from you have to be sure that the main one you're going for is reliable. You ought to be in a position to ask for a failure of what you want, and the company should also have the ability to tell you know long they have been operating for. This can narrow down the list to reveal the top ones.

SEO Services Offered by Different Vancouver Web Companies

The Vancouver SEO company services are extremely good for business growth because they provide quality services. If you are planning to produce a website for the internet business, then you've come to right article as I is going to be explaining below how Search engine optimisation Vancouver company services can increase your website ranking and make it popular.

Before that, you need to know what Seo is. It's not that complicated and I'm sure you will get a grasp of it reading my article. The main goal of SEO is to get more traffic to your website and target audience. It is a good decision to choose a Vancouver SEO company that are experts in this sort of work, so that your website could be indexed by search engines.

There isn't any point in you having a website with no website ranking whatsoever as you won't get any business and profits to survive. It is a very tough atmosphere available as there are so many internet business people exactly like you, who desire their share of pie. You must be familiar with the fact that nearly 85% of internet traffic can be got from web sites.

Whenever a user types in a keyword or keywords for which he/she wants to know in different sites, these use crawlers to obtain web-sites using the relevant content and index them according to algorithms. You don't have to worry about the algorithms which these sites use as that isn't important.

To look within the first page of the search result, you will need to hire professionals and experts who can perform the needful to keep your website among the good books during these websites. These professionals can optimize your site content to ensure that your website gets increased traffic.

Once the traffic gets high, it's a sign that you're obtaining a service that will get you more revenues. SEO Vancouver company do the next to make your website appear inside the first page of search engine results.

Use keywords that are popularly utilized on search engines in your website content.
Have a web design for your website which is simple because top sites are allergic to flash and weird designs.
Submit your site to directories.
Submit your website to directory websites.
Postings on blogs and forums with back-links for your websites. This really is regarded as a very effective way to get increased traffic aimed at your website as many internet users use blogs and forums.

SEO Vancouver company also perform site diagnostics that is an important part in online optimization as research and analysis on finding keywords may be the way to begin a SEO campaign. So, be sure you choose the best SEO Vancouver company.

Are you searching for more info regarding SEO Vancouver? Visit http://www.seo4vancouver.com/seo-services.asp today!

What to anticipate Whenever Hiring a Roofers

When it comes time to repair or replace your homes roof, it can be a challenging task to locate someone who is competent for the job. There are lots of roofing contractors out there, however the types who will perform a great job for any sensible cost aren't frequently simple to find. If you are in the marketplace for the service provider, make use of the ideas below with regard to meeting with and employing the right one.

Job interview as well as Discussion

The majority of roofing contractors offer totally free consultations. This is especially important, because it provides them an opportunity to assess exactly what your homes roof requirements, also it provides you with an opportunity to assess them. As with all businesses, believe in intuition concerning the people you let up on your roof. No matter how great the contractor's reputation or recommendation, he should start by presenting you having a company card. If a contractor arrives searching and talking in an unprofessional manner, chances are that the task he's going to perform may also be unprofessional. This is not to say that you ought to expect companies to reach in suits. They is going to be climbing in your roof, therefore the majority of will be dressed in jeans as well as function footwear or even sneakers. If the contractor seems to be more interested in talking on their cell phone while on your homes roof than he is within evaluating your own roof's requirements, that may be an additional sign that he's not really the one for the job. For the lawful protection, make sure that the actual service provider offers sufficient legal responsibility insurance.

Roofing Evaluation

Expect that the service provider is going to be going up in your roofing. In fact, any kind of service provider who not need to increase in your roof to evaluate the problem should be instantly discounted. Those who're seriously interested in their function will possibly create a drawing of your roof's surface as well as mark trouble spots onto it because they undergo their own assessment, or they'll take photos or even video of the surface area while they are up there. This is a very essential action, since it enables you to observe exactly what the troubles are and know how they will be set.

Estimate

The next step will be the created estimation. The contractor will require out his calculator and are available track of an itemized estimate. Some contractors goes out to their vehicle or even van as well as write down the actual suggestion, while others will crunch the amounts for the job prior to you. Once you are because of the suggestion, ensure that you comprehend exactly which items will be used, how long the job will require and when you will find any extra or concealed expenses that may occur throughout the repair of the roofing. The contractor will be able to answer all of these concerns with ease as well as forewarn you of any extra expenses that might be incurred should the roof's ethics end up being broken within.

Once you have obtained several created estimates from roofers, evaluate exactly what every company or contractor would like to provide for the price. Do not always discount the highest bet, simply because occasionally the greatest bet will in reality be the service provider who does the task properly. Also, be skeptical associated with bids that are significantly less than other people. They might be utilizing substandard products or be untruthful about the chance of concealed costs. Most importantly, trust your instincts and opt for the contractor who makes you feel most comfortable regarding handing more than your hard earned money.

Seven Uyghurs Sentenced to Death

2011-03-23

Critics of the sentences say China has politicized the robberies as acts of terrorism.

AFP

A Uyghur man walks past armed Chinese security forces in Urumqi, July 17, 2009.

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have ordered the executions of seven ethnic minority Uyghur men convicted of "violent" crimes, official media said on Wednesday.

The death sentences were handed down by the Supreme People's Court in recent days, according to state media in the regional capital, Urumqi.

The men were accused in connection with three separate attacks late last year in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to the news website Urumqi Online.

According to another website, the Xinjiang-based Tianshan news site, Aimaiti Tuheti, Yiming Dawuti, and unnamed "others" killed a security guard at a pedestrian mall as part of a failed Aug. 7 robbery attempt.

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, it said, Nuermaimaiti Aobulikasimu and 11 others broke into a house, bound and killed the couple living in it, and took their possessions.

It said the group also broke into the homes of two brothers, robbed them, and killed six people in a Nov. 11 attack in Kashgar.

The report gave no information about the victims or the schedule for the executions.

Three of the men were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that is normally commuted to life imprisonment in China's judicial system.

They were convicted of deliberate homicide and armed robbery by the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court in the first instance.

'Strike hard' campaign

A Han Chinese resident of Urumqi surnamed Yang said a reference to "terrorism" in official news reports on the case showed that it was being politicized by the authorities, who have launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in Xinjiang following deadly ethnic violence in July 2009.

"There is an implied political meaning; that they were somehow engaged in separatist activities or ethnic divisions," said Yang.

Exile Uyghur groups said the trials had been conducted behind closed doors, with scant opportunity for public scrutiny.

"The entire process against these men, from the trial through to the judgment, was opaque," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.

"There was also very little reasonable evidence to convict them on a legal basis, because all the evidence came from one side of the case," he said.

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government for continuing to pursue their policies of ethnic division," said Raxit.

"We are also strongly opposed to the death penalty in this case."

Earlier cases

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced four Uyghurs to death for alleged involvement in an Aug. 19 bomb attack in Xinjiang’s western Aksu city.

The World Uyghur Congress pointed to concerns over lack of transparency in those cases too.

The Aksu blast left eight people dead, including two of the bombers, and 15 wounded after a man riding a three-wheeled vehicle threw explosives at a group of uniformed patrolmen. Four Uyghurs were arrested shortly after the attack.

State media characterized the cases as acts of terrorism and unrelated to longstanding ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the region.

Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer has warned that attacks like those in Aksu will continue to occur until Beijing addresses the underlying source of tension in the region.

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and Xinjiang.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Those frustrations erupted in July 2009 in deadly riots that left nearly 200 people dead, by the Chinese government's tally.

At least 26 people, mostly Uyghurs, were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the riots, many of whom have been executed, according to state media.

China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined, although the government does not publish official figures.

Rights groups say Beijing may execute as many as several thousand prisoners annually.

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

New training scheme

China on Wednesday also announced a training scheme which places ethnic minority graduates from Xinjiang in work elsewhere in China.

Governments of the destination cities will spend 450 million yuan (U.S.$ 69 million) for the program, while Xinjiang will spend 400 million yuan (U.S.$ 61 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The program targets some 60,000 jobless college graduates in Xinjiang, around 80 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities, and 60 percent of whom are women.

However, some commentators see the move as an attempt to assimilate non-Han Chinese into mainstream Chinese culture.

"From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the graduate work scheme is really taking the cream of youth from the minorities and using them to 'further cultural development,'" wrote one ethnic minority user on a popular microblogging service.

"In fact, the culture that is being advanced is Han culture, and this group of young people will have been totally brainwashed," the microblog update said.

An Urumqi resident surnamed Li agreed.

"They have run senior high school schemes like this before during the past few years," he said.

"Whether it's high-schoolers or graduate training programs, these are measures that are aimed at thought control and brainwashing, and the 'Partification' of their education," he said.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Wikileaks and also the Uyghurs

through henry upon December 20, This year
Henryk Szadziewski, Supervisor, Uyghur Human Rights Project

If it were actually uncertain, information obtained through the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, has verified Chinese language government worries over it's continued charge of the region this calls Xinjiang, also is referred to as Eastern Turkestan. The actual leaked out wires from U.Utes. diplomats show the degree to which Chinese language government bodies make an effort to convince government authorities globally to adopt it's position on issues impacting Uyghurs. The wires also display the actual United States' issues as well as views concerning the on going repressive measures in the region.

The majority of lighting of Chinese federal government stress are the cables directed to Chinese language frustration, or even the specter of Chinese ire, over the release of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to third nations. The Dec Twenty nine, 08 cable television applies how Chinese language Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi met using the U.Utes. Ambassador to China to tone of voice Beijing's strong competitors associated with release in order to any nation apart from The far east, which when the Ough.Utes. did certainly accede for this request it would "avoid harm to bilateral relations and to co-operation ‘in important areas'". In addition, the February '09 cable television describes how the Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the feasible release of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees because "an unfavorable act toward us" along with a "slap within the face". That the Ough.S. federal government stood firm in not really liberating the detainees in order to The far east demonstrates the degree of the politicized nature from the Chinese judicial program. Genuine issues over terrorism tend to be easy to understand, but in the Ough.S. government's view the detainees might probably face do-it-yourself torture and execution if they came back to China

Chinese government stress in regard to the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees wasn't just put on the Ough.S. government, but also to New Zealand and a handful of European government authorities that were thinking about resettlement. Albania, Indonesia as well as Finland, as well as Eu member states all have the symptoms of paid for the brunt of Chinese government disappointment. Regarding Indonesia, that was at first willing to consider 2 Uyghurs on solely humanitarian grounds, Uyghur Guantánamo cases were less preferable to additional detainees because of the negative effects accepting Uyghurs would have on relations with China. A Might 8, 2009 cable television relates exactly how "German Ambassador Erina Schaefer documented which Indonesia had knowledgeable The far east of the U.Utes. request to accept some Uighur detainees kept from Guantánamo coupled with already been consequently warned by The far east of ‘a heavy burden upon bilateral relations' in the event that Germany had been to simply accept any detainees".

The diplomatic cables additionally discuss the unrest within Urumchi, the local capital, in This summer '09. The This summer Thirteen, '09 cable discussing mass occurrences in China states:

"Ethnic riots like those who work in Xinjiang July 5-7 and in Tibet in 03 of 08 differ markedly within source and character through mass occurrences, XXXXXXXXXXXX emphasized in order to PolOff [Political Officer] on XXXXXXXXXXXX. Each existing serious trouble for the actual Celebration, XXXXXXXXXXXX stated, however the Celebration leadership wouldn't hesitate to open fire on Uighurs or Tibetans if they considered this essential to recover purchase. Mass occurrences pose another type of risk, he explained, since the leadership is actually ‘afraid' to fire upon Han rioters with regard to anxiety about causing massive open public outrage that would change against the Celebration."

This can be a relaxing viewpoint, especially when 1 views evidence offered by 50 percent reviews launched this season through the Uyghur Human Privileges Project (UHRP) and Amnesty Worldwide which fine detail eyewitness company accounts from the utilization of deadly live fire towards Uyghur protestors within This summer '09. In addition, the actual observation that fire would not be used towards Han Chinese language protestors has resonances for that various strategy taken through Chinese security forces in Urumchi to Han Chinese protests within Sept '09. During those protests, then Celebration Secretary, Wang Lequan, tackled protesters, who experienced required that he inform them regarding government reactions to security issues. An identical ask for to satisfy with the Celebration Assistant through Uyghur demonstrators in This summer was not fulfilled.

The actual broader repercussions of the unrest also noticed a short discussion about the effect it would possess on Iran-China relationships, as well as on relationships along with Sydney following Globe Uyghur Congress President, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, spoke at the Nationwide Press Club within Canberra within August '09. Within the second option case, the Chinese government "privately warn[ed] a major Australian financial institution which vendors the nation's Press Club to make use of it's influence to bar a Kadeer speech there".

The United States' concerns concerning the scenario in the Uyghur region also come through in the cables. In a dialogue upon policy path in Tibet, Ough.S. authorities clarify that it'll be not possible for Chinese language leaders to consider the softer collection "if they look like they are doing this below international pressure". The cable dated April 16, 08, 30 days following the outbreak associated with unrest within Tibetan regions, additionally relayed the actual observation "that household balance remains the leadership's top priority most of all, meaning there'll ‘almost surely' be no rest of the present difficult line upon Tibet or in locations such as Xinjiang." The info contained in the cable also storage sheds light about the severe sensitivity that china federal government views territorial integrity, and also the feasible spill more than of unrest through Tibet.

The chance associated with solutions to stress within Tibet as well as Xinjiang as a result of civil culture tend to be discussed in a February Twenty-four, 08 cable television. While suggesting which China's financial achievement will increase its potential to deal with democratic reform, the actual cable additionally talks about exactly how Chinese leaders begin to see the effectiveness of "a limited growth associated with civil society, including enhancements within the guideline of law along with a stronger role for authorized religions, NGOs, charities and other actors in places that contribute to social stability and don't problem Communist Celebration guideline." This can be a significant change in considering, which has observed U.Utes. officials market the idea which Chinese language economic improvement, as well as financial relationships with China brings about a progressively democratic culture; however, more faith appears to be placed in the grassroots motion than one that begins from the top levels of the Chinese federal government. Nonetheless, the actual cable television proves which "[i]n places for example Tibet as well as Xinjiang, the fear associated with separatism results in tighter restrictions about the development of municipal culture." This approach is viewed as counter-productive by the recognized, that suggests that the actual U.S. government "should continue to express...serious issues over Beijing's individual privileges report and appeal to China's developing consciousness that greater regard with regard to human privileges, spiritual independence and the guideline associated with regulation will serve to advertise the very improvement and sociable balance that China looks for in addition to to improve China's international image." This type of technique might take substantial diplomatic abilities considering "China's weird concern the Usa privately promotes routine alter and ‘separatists' within Taiwan, Tibet as well as Xinjiang".

The actual cables provide insight into the actual daily business of diplomacy that's hardly ever afforded to everyone, and it is interesting to note the amount of work carried out nowadays upon Uyghur problems. The importance of the role of the us like a monitor associated with Uyghur individual rights conditions in private discussions is made clear, as well as contrasts with its tactful public stance. Employees of the Uyghur Individual Rights Project is actually well aware of the pressure the Chinese federal government puts on Uyghur activists; still, the facts of Chinese language federal government stress upon its counterparts is illustrative from the degree which Chinese authorities attempt to suppress contrary narratives. With more revelations in the future through Wikileaks, issues over Uyghurs may not grab the head lines, however the cables possess get rid of new gentle on the paperwork of human privileges problems in the Uyghur region.

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Search Engine Optimisation And Article promotion Will Place You On The First Page

Seo and article promotion are a couple of the most powerful strategies that you can use to promote your website and get the revenue and success that you need for your internet business. Those two things have been around for any really very long time already but they still still be really effective. In reality, these have helped many people free themselves from your traditional means of money-generating options of society.

In the following paragraphs, I will be showing the ways how it is possible to properly execute seo and marketing with articles for the betterment of your business enterprise web site. In addition, I will be also discussing the different points that you must consider when you're using these two online marketing strategies to promote your website and acquire customers. Even though article marketing and Search engine optimization have been established for a long time already, you need to know that the trends and choices regarding how they are carried out are continually changing, which is why you have to keep yourself up to date with this stuff through the help of Seo forum sites so that you can quickly adjust and discover ways to make your strategies far better.

In the past submitting articles to various web-sites was once so simple yet the effects that they produce for web sites was really powerful. However, everything has changed a great deal today. Currently submitting exactly the same article to different websites has stopped being advisable because search engines have now changed to some huge extent in the manner they rank pages. They no longer rank contents which can be identical like they used to in the past. This really is among the best examples of changes that exist in internet marketing trends. This change has given birth to wide plethora of methods that internet marketers are using today. Most of internet marketers now produce articles and distribute them in really popular article submission sites and watch for targeted prospects to come to their pages. Perhaps that most reliable Seo strategy that you can use. Aside from being effective, this also provides positive benefits regularly. One problem using this technique is how the caliber of traffic that you will get out of this won't be so good if you do not do proper keyphrase research beforehand and use in-links. You need for attending these two things prior to deciding to submit your articles so that you won't end up losing huge amounts of targeted traffic. This means that you have to practice good levels of diligence if you would like your advertising initiatives to work.

Besides articles, you can also use operating a blog, that is another really powerful type of internet marketing strategy today because it is highly well-liked by the major search engines. On this technique, you can choose to create a single blogging site that specifically targets your chosen market or you can give rise to other blogs that are labeled as experts within your niche.

Learn effective Vancouver search engine marketing techniques in the Vancouver SEO website.

Roofing Companies Vancouver WA

There are several things to take into consideration when looking for a new roofing contractor. Price tag, experience, along with referrals are a few of the things you'll likely be concerned about. Keep reading for even other great ideas.

Finding a Roofing Contractors

Before searching for a roofing contractor, be sure to have a basic idea of the work that you need to do. By no means is it necessary to be an authority. If you have the Roof Document, read it carefully to find the specifics of your active roof. If you do not have a Roof Certificate, reference documents authorized during shutting to locate houses roof Inspection bed sheet. These paperwork should provide you with everything you need to learn about your roof. Prior to contacting the roofing contractor, you ought to have a list of demands and specs to help you determine exactly who is acceptable for your roofer project. Be sure you write down every single potential covering contractor's answers and check them against the other. If you can find any mistakes, be sure to be aware this and also take this into consideration when generating a final choice. There are no surefire ways to go with a roofing contractor, however , if you take take to the details provided, your odds of a successful roofing project tend to be greatly superior.

One of the best ways of finding a roofers is by word of mouth marketing. Try inquiring a friend or relative that has had roofing work done, and had been satisfied with the task. Get the name of the business and their particular contact data. If you have no word of jaws referrals, try out first hunting in the cell phone book an internet-based. A large advert or elegant website is just not necessarily an indication of the top quality of work, but tend to be a very good tool for measuring how long and commitment they have put in their individual profession. In addition, try finding current worksites and search at the covering work that is done or in the process of being finished. Should you be visually satisfied, ask the home manager for your name in the roofing contractor along with their make contact with information.

Preliminary research

When looking for the roofing contractors, it is imperative to 1st do your current background research. Costly in the phone directory or on the web is a suitable spot to find a company, finding pertinent information on most of these businesses will probably be found in other areas. First, check with places like the Bbb, city, express, and local public records, along with local licensing agencies. Request your roofer if they are a part of any roofing contractor associations. These types of precautions will certainly mitigate your own risks. Also ask them what types of roofing that they specialize in. Also ask your current roofing contractor concerning any guarantees they offer on the installed homes. Find out what safety measures they decide to try avoid harm done to other parts of the home through workers. Products such as gutters, siding, and chimneys are close in proximity and therefore susceptible to unintentional damages.

Make sure all of this info is included in your published contract. Check if you need a covering permit and/or authorization from your property owners association in advance. These agencies will let you know that is responsible for getting these allows and authorizations. If it is the obligation of the roofer, also have this included as part of your contract. Whether it is your obligation, get said permits and also permissions collated with the estimated roofer project and still have it plainly posted or readily available.

Certification and Recommendations

Roofing Contractors are not necessary to be certified in all claims. Contact community licensing agencies that rule general design contractors for the list of specifications. Once you have obtained the requirements, make a list of in depth questions to ask your own potential roofer. This simple record should right away help you to get rid of the qualified from the dodgy roofing companies. Qualified installers should be able to quickly answer questions or even tell you that they should do even more research just before giving a new definitive reply.

Even if a new roofing contractor features all needed licensing, you should ask to see pictures of completed roof covering jobs and also speak to pleased clients. Have a list of questions handy to ask recent customers, such as the mother nature of the employment, timeliness, and all round satisfaction. Be sure these are the latest clients and cross reference if possible. When it comes to commercial roofer, make sure that the particular roofing contractor is actually bonded. Checking these referrals is another extra measure of safety to narrow down the list involving potential covering contractors.

Seo Through Article Writing

Article marketing may be an extremely powerful form of Search engine optimization to your company websites. Quality written articles are able to increase your websites SERP and add quality for a company website. Writing informative keyword rich articles is important in gaining new backlinks for a business website. Articles can and should be written on topics which can be unique in your business or industry. The articles can discuss a range of issues and ideas in your industry. Articles that supply your reader using a resource are invariably probably the most popular and many likely forms of articles that can result in backlinks aimed at your web.

Focus your posts on the potential readers or customers. Seo articles should address real questions that are asked by current or past customers. Each article you are writing to suit your needs company includes detailed analysis and Search engine optimization keywords which will help associate your internet site with all the content present in your website. Focus your articles on as much as 3 keywords and do not stray at their store. Consistency is important when writing Seo articles. In case you are covering Vancouver Seo make certain your always reveal information highly relevant to the keyword.

Give every one of your Seo Articles an engaging Title that may encourage people to see and bookmark your posts. Ideally, the articles you are writing can become as links using their company websites which can be much like yours. This may help improve the power of each and every link and will assist in your SERP. Make sure to end each article using a keyword anchored link (see Easy Small enterprise Search engine optimization). This link will improve your rankings in the search engines and also other major search engines like google for that keyword connected to the link. Submit the articles to your free article directory and Voila! In no time, your website could possibly be around the first page of Google.

Appreciate your reading. Can't wait to visit your Search engine optimization articles!

Vancouver Seo Company Aims For Google Places With Absolute Good results

When people type in searching term trying to find a business in their local area, they may find that Google places and Google maps is showing listings of local businesses. It is extremely eminent for them to be optimized and from this first page should they desire to generate business. Vancouver SEO companies need to be educated in this region for their clients.

There appears to be a lots of new Vancouver SEO companies establishing, simply because the necessity is there. Finding a search engine firm which has the client's best interest at heart might be tedious. The number of keywords will they optimize for? Do you know the keywords along with the corresponding search volume? Do they discover how to optimize for Google places? And the like. Seo could be the business of landing at the top and Maxim Edge will get you there.

"My wife and I started our Vancouver Seo agency by accident. We've learned with the school of hard knocks and learning from your errors how to use the web to market any business. We began using the website, then this competition, and of course building quality back-links to push a web site up inside rankings. It is not pushing a control button and watching how are you affected type of business. It will require a lot of effort, a lot of research and many commitment. We work tirelessly for our clients and we are very pleased with a high retention rate." Randy Neale says.

For really info on Michael, a Vancouver SEO company, please visit their site today at seo4vancouver.com

Tuesday 22 March 2011

The Uyghurs from East Turkistan

In the middle of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-western part of China, the province of Xinjiang is a least populated land while it covers close to a sixth from the country's territory. Getting resisted while in centuries the Han Chinese control, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Old Turkistan, fell into under the Chinese Han control in 1949. From then, its population is mostly Uyghurs and Turkish - speaking System.

Islamic mainly, the Uyghurs have a very good religious identity which usually, in particular, enabled them to keep a solid big difference towards the Chinese enemy. Without a doubt, the Uyghur Kingdom of Mongolia knew a great civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.

During their own historical past, the Uyghurs successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before finally moving to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., thus beginning the way to the Islamization of the entire Central Asia.

Under the influence of the beliefs which they adopted, the Uyghurs taken successively, and sometimes in a competing way, a large number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own graphic system.

The coming of Islam was a great change since it was supported by the absorption of the Uyghur areas in the enormous Turkic and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used these days.

If their own writing, their language and their religion mark a real difference with the tradition of Chinese Han, Uyghur People also are different from their characteristic, so aspect of Central Asia's people. A shiny skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features pointing out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek roots of these men and these women.

For a few years, China has included the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only 8 million inhabitants - a little for this kind of big country. So, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six racial minority groups having been recognized in an official way by the People's Republic of China.

This particular law allows these people a few rights in a land where their difference is very often repressed. Therefore, Uyghur families escape the "single child policy" and their language is recognized as the second official language in Xinjiang.

The integration of the Uyghur people and their culture in China, however, appears quite illusory. The presence of natural resources in Xinjiang, and its proximity with nations acknowledged as sensitive, clearly encouraged the government to speed up the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the higher responsibility work opportunities.

In reaction to this true will to assimilate the Uyghurs into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.

Asserting more freedom, but primarily the recognition of their true identity, this movement was seriously repressed by the power authorities in location Xinjiang.

The events of September 11, 2001, were the perfect occasion for the Chinese government to justify true reprisals: they declared the "Uyghur freedom fighters" as dangerous terrorists linked to Al Quaida because of their Muslim origins and their proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan... However, the terrible repression which followed did not calm down the anger. The Uyghur peoples population continues today to proudly keep up their identification and their traditions , though they become a minority on their own territory.

For further information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com

ation|Web optimization|Website seo|Seo optimization|Seo optimisation} Expert consultancy - Getting Ahead Using SEO

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Wednesday 16 March 2011

Secrets to Making Money

I have a 15 year old cousin with autism, whose parents are trying to plan for the future when they're not around to take care of him anymore. My uncle is in his mid 60's, and my aunt is somewhere in her 40's. I'm 24. My cousin will be classified as a disabled adult upon turning 18, and will probably have to be institutionalized at some point.

I received a call from my semi-estranged uncle asking if I'd be willing to administer the cousin's inheritance. I haven't seen these relatives for a few years. Semi-estranged due to family drama (which I'm not directly involved in) over the uncle's treatment of his other child. This mess also means that my uncle's other child is probably out of the running to look after my cousin with autism. I'm willing to consider acting as trustee, but I need a lot more information.

So .... if you have any experience with this sort of thing, I'd love to hear from you. I'm wondering about:

1) What kind of support does the US give to disabled adults? If it matters, cousin lives in TX. I'm still in graduate school, with no idea where I'll settle. Will my cousin be provided with somewhere safe to live, or is he out on the street as soon as my uncle's money runs out? Or does it make sense for the money to run out sooner, so government help kicks in (as seems to be the case for some instances of elder care)?

2) Is there any way for me to wind up on the hook for my cousin's care? I have no intention of agreeing to this if I will wind up legally responsible for supporting my cousin out of my own earnings. I also have no intention of ever being a physical caretaker.

3) My uncle pitched this as my only job being to control the investments and cut checks when necessary. What other duties am I likely to wind up with? What types of decisions will I have to be making, and what degree of involvement with my cousin's day-to-day life will be required?

4) Do professionals exist who do this for a fee, or does it always just fall onto family?

5) What about the other cousin? What are the legal ramifications of leaving an unequal inheritance?

6) What other questions do I need to be asking my uncle? I will have no problem asking awkward questions, or saying no to this request.

Before I sign onto anything, I'll definitely be consulting a lawyer, but that's a way into the future. I have on the order of a year to make this decision.

Anonymous because these really aren't my secrets to spill all over the internet, and it's easy to figure out my identity from my posting history.

I will be following this thread, and can answer questions through one of the admins. If you want to contact me directly, I can be reached at autistic_cousin@hotmail.com.

I have a 15 year old cousin with autism, whose parents are trying to plan for the future when they're not around to take care of him anymore. My uncle is in his mid 60's, and my aunt is somewhere in her 40's. I'm 24. My cousin will be classified as a disabled adult upon turning 18, and will probably have to be institutionalized at some point.

I received a call from my semi-estranged uncle asking if I'd be willing to administer the cousin's inheritance. I haven't seen these relatives for a few years. Semi-estranged due to family drama (which I'm not directly involved in) over the uncle's treatment of his other child. This mess also means that my uncle's other child is probably out of the running to look after my cousin with autism. I'm willing to consider acting as trustee, but I need a lot more information.

So .... if you have any experience with this sort of thing, I'd love to hear from you. I'm wondering about:

1) What kind of support does the US give to disabled adults? If it matters, cousin lives in TX. I'm still in graduate school, with no idea where I'll settle. Will my cousin be provided with somewhere safe to live, or is he out on the street as soon as my uncle's money runs out? Or does it make sense for the money to run out sooner, so government help kicks in (as seems to be the case for some instances of elder care)?

2) Is there any way for me to wind up on the hook for my cousin's care? I have no intention of agreeing to this if I will wind up legally responsible for supporting my cousin out of my own earnings. I also have no intention of ever being a physical caretaker.

3) My uncle pitched this as my only job being to control the investments and cut checks when necessary. What other duties am I likely to wind up with? What types of decisions will I have to be making, and what degree of involvement with my cousin's day-to-day life will be required?

4) Do professionals exist who do this for a fee, or does it always just fall onto family?

5) What about the other cousin? What are the legal ramifications of leaving an unequal inheritance?

6) What other questions do I need to be asking my uncle? I will have no problem asking awkward questions, or saying no to this request.

Before I sign onto anything, I'll definitely be consulting a lawyer, but that's a way into the future. I have on the order of a year to make this decision.

Anonymous because these really aren't my secrets to spill all over the internet, and it's easy to figure out my identity from my posting history.

I will be following this thread, and can answer questions through one of the admins. If you want to contact me directly, I can be reached at autistic_cousin@hotmail.com.

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