Meditating on "Postie" ethics.

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There is another side to the Google Spanking story. I stumbled across the exact sort of blogger that I'd consider to be a problem, and his response to being considered the problem.

From the small biz blog.

It's true. I guess my blog just isn't good enough for them.

WordPress told me to get out of Dodge; that they didn't want my scummy blog soiling their servers.

According to them, a blog that promotes online businesses, products and information is against their terms of service, labeling all blogs of this sort "Get Rich Quick" blogs. Exactly how is WordPress doing business? Online, isn't it? Pot, kettle, black.

Take your biz and shove it, WordPress!

Anyone else had any bad experiences to report with WordPress?

Regards,

Tony

My first thought was, "what part of terms and services did you not understand?" I've looked into Wordpress. It's a teense fascist in some ways. Blogger is a lot looser in letting you do your thing. What you want to do should dictate the services you use, especially if you aren't paying for the services. The idea is to perform a service of value in order to get paid, not to get paid for creating nothing of value using stolen bandwidth. (This is why Blogger gets the top bar on my site. Bind not the mouth of the kine that treadeth the grain.)

I use Blogger because I like the interface and because I write controversial things from time to time - and have suffered DNS and hack jobs as a result. I'm not an IT guy, and Google has some of the smartest people in the world making and interface that allows even an idiot to create a professional-looking blog.

And clearly they do. See above. WordPress - and this is just an impression, folks - seems to think of it's users as an unfortunate necessity, and certainly a resource that needs weeding. Well, I can understand both viewpoints.

And frankly, were it my servers, I would have done the same. The "small business blog" above is not just spam. It is "make money fast spam." Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam... and it is embarrassing to me that they are a "featured blog" on Pay Per Post today. That is a problem. If they are featured, people think I'm doing what they do. Worse yet, potential advertisers will look at the featured site - and run like hell!

You see, I approach a paid post as being content, first and foremost. I'm attaching my name to it, after all, and my credibility is simply not for sale. At least, not that cheaply.

But I do have to consider the fact that in choosing to take paid posts, people will assume that I do it in the same way and for the same reasons. Worse yet, I have a feeling that this "postie" gets the juicy offers while I'm down in the five to ten dollar range, after the massive Google Spank.

Well, if this is a typical example of a "Good Postie" - spank us again. But I think a more targeted approach would be a good idea.

This "small business blog" is simply a scam to get paid posts into engines, essentially getting free advertising. And it is blatantly using a free blog service (once wordpress, now Blogger) to do that. It's theft of services, plain and simple - even more so with Blogger, since that's a Google service, and Google owns Adwords and, of course, Google.

Me, I strive to produce content that's worth indexing. Most businesses suck at bragging about themselves - hell, sometimes it's hard to discern what it is they do. They often overlook the better aspects of their products and services, as well as entire demographics that might like what they have to offer. Well, that's the sort of post I do, if I take the post at all.

Just do a site search for "payperpost" and you can review what I've done for yourself.

But there is one thing I refuse to do, and that is pretend that I'm passing on the good word from the goodness of my heart. My readers deserve that very important piece of information, and I'm not going to lie either by commission or omission.

So, even though often advertisers say "No in-post disclosure" - meaning no obvious indication that it is a paid post, I often cheerfully ignore it - although, to be frank, I'm far more likely to just snort and pass on by. You want me to write a positive article on your business, a hundred words, and give no indication that this turd landed in my feed for a princely five bucks? No. I also want something worth writing about, and your offer tells me that you GOT nothin'.

Look, you clearly get what you pay for. And clearly, a slot on sites like "the small business blog" is going to generate what those of us who learned some of the webmaster trade in the Adult industry refer to as "crap traffic."

"Crap traffic" is traffic that may be overwhelming, but has a conversion rate of under half a percent. Or in other words, all they want is something for nothing. And this traffic is helpfully generated by a class of entrepreneurs (to be kind) that also want something for nothing. Free traffic, or money from you in return for a lot of nothing worth having. Some of those entrepreneurs do sites like this, others deluge your inbox with offers to "optimize your site."

Caveat Emptor always applies. And this applies to advertisers, to bloggers, and of course to readers. "What's in it for you, that I believe this?"

A lot of the time, I click through on an offer only to find some useless eye-bleeding monstrosity that sells overpriced crap to stupid people. I don't take those opportunities, because I absolutely do not want my site linked to that site. I don't use "nofollow" on these posts, because if I'm willing to write about it, I DO wish to be associated with it in the Google Index.

For myself, I hope that you think well enough of me that you would not assume I'd waste your time and mine for trivial sums. What's in it for me is a great post on a topic I probably would not have come across any other way. In other words, it's just like Alternet or Media Matters in a very real sense, but with a kicker: You think well enough of yourself or your product to pay me an honorarium for the time it takes to do the background and the post.

That's an important thing to know. And I think it's important for my readers to know as well - especially when you leave what is said up to me. I'm perfectly willing to take your money and tell you that you have a bad site or a crappy idea. That sort of feedback may be less welcome, but it's cheap at the price. And I STILL get a good post that attracts traffic organically.

But I may be in a distinct minority. That saddens me. I confess I'm not a very social being, so checking out "the community" didn't much interest or appeal to me. If I had, I may well have thought twice before joining - but it is an idea of such potential value to me and potentially of general value to the web - that I think I would have ultimately come down on the side of doing it right. The web really cannot exist without a commercial aspect to it, but in order for that to be properly realized, we have to figure out ways of doing it that are not simply newspaper ads that blink.

In fact - and I learned this creating ads for a local newspaper with knife and wax, while mildly high from the developer solution from the optical typesetter - that the best ads were informative ones. Those were the ones that became regular accounts. Those ads were content that readers who were familiar with a business would actually want.

IZEA has taken a good deal of crap for the fallout and disappointment, some of it quite justified, but I think some of it was simply the fact that they overlooked the necessity to have a much stronger imposed code of ethics. For instance - the two or three post a day limit means little if you have seven blogs, all of them mostly spam.

And I think in part that is due to the fact that in order to make more than beer money, with blogs of average rank, you have to really grind them out, do the minimum, crank out a minimal interstitial about your cat and then grind out another, Rinse, repeat.

Now, I personally want to be able to make money blogging. I want it to be what I do for my career. But I don't intend to change what I talk about or the way I talk - because that is essential to my ambitions and the thing that makes a post from me distinct in it's own right.

Advertisers need to be both willing and able to reward those of us who go the extra mile, and to consider us as individuals with individual perspectives. Further, I think a greater recognition for the value of a post over time is required.

I mean, I don't know if some bloggers go back and strip out paid posts. I don't, but I could see some advantages to it, I suppose, in terms of maintaining page rank. And it's not exactly dishonest...

But then, there's that ethics thing, again. I give full measure, pressed down and running over as a policy. As a result, my PPP posts are approved automatically, and payouts are quick. Once I got into a groove, I haven't had a single post rejected. And in some ways I'm a little miffed, because some of the posts I have written for money get higher traffic than my own, "far more important" content.

But, however they get here, they are here, and I get a chance at putting one of my little ethics bugs in their brains.

I can't do that if I cheat to do it. I do not want someone clicking on a google entry from my blog and going "Oh, crap. Scammed again." And I think that is ultimately the attitude that will separate the wheat from the chaff. And I think that IZEA's "SocialSpark" network will be the forum in which the means to do that will be sorted out.

And no, this was not a paid post. If you like it, buy a t-shirt or something. :P

An Ethical Business Model

The good folks at lifelock would like me to remind you about them. I've blogged enthusiastically about their credit monitoring and identity-theft protection before and I'd be happy to do it again - but that's what hyperlinks are for.

I get a lot of traffic looking for that post. And yet identity theft has not stopped, because frankly lots of us find the whole thing too baffling and confusing to deal with.

For the seventh year in a row, identity theft tops the Federal Trade Commission's complaint list, accounting for 36 percent of the 674,354 complaints received between January 1 and December 31, 2006.*

Now, you might think that having a credit card with what seems like a similar service is the same thing, but it's not. It's generally not as comprehensive as Lifelock's - and it's not really a service to you - it's their routine fraud prevention presented as a service. (Ever had to call your card number to confirm that you really did want to buy a left-handed garden rake for Uncle Joey?)

Lifelock has no transactional interest in your doings, other than being paid a flat fee for keeping an eye on things. Their website is a model of openness, and frankly, I think it should be a research assignment in all business and marketing classes. Very little hype, no weasel words, and all limitations in the same type size as the promise. It's a model of an ethical contract.

And THAT is the point to this post. I don't need to tell you to trust them. Everything you need to know is on their site - including the rarely mentioned but vital bit of information - to what extent they can be trusted.

That extent is one million dollars.

Oh frack, it's almost too late to do anything for Mother's day!!!

Ok, you poor negligent bastards, it's too late for anything other than mothers day flowers
from 1-800-Flowers.com. This may not be the tone which they would prefer - but this is Graphictruth. And the Graphictruth is, if it was not for neglegant bastards like you with large wallets and short memories, there would BE no teleflorist's at all. So at least use the one you can remember, and the one that is known for doing a better job than you could do at any hour. I mean, just because your alternative is a quick run to the 7-11, don't settle for a service that won't do any better than that.

1-800-Flowers.com - the first name in genuine gratitude for the absent-minded.

Oh, yeah. I forgot the day too...

Love what you do. Do that. Hire people who love what they do to make you money.

Update: I'm not actually getting paid for this post unless the good people at Pepperjam send me a tip. Apparently I forgot to click the "reserve this post" button. Well, I can hope for tips. Meanwhile, this post says exactly what I had in mind, so I'm stickin' to it.

I was unable to clip the vid at Pepperjam, so I really want to twist your arm to do that. Hint to folks at PepperJam. Never preclude the possibility of viral publicity. This vid should be as accessible as anything on Google or YouTube.

clipped from www.pepperjam.com Unlike most agencies that offer expertise limited to one vertical, Pepperjam offers extensive professional consultation and management services across multiple areas of search-engine marketing (Pay-Per-Click / SEO), affiliate marketing, and online media planning and management.

We have all seen the offenses committed by people who don't believe they need marketing expertise; an offense often committed by a person who would not be fool enough to think that a receptionist existed just to answer the phones. Your marketing strategy, techniques and chosen markets tell people what sort of person you are. From that first introduction, they will or will not consider doing business with you. EVER!

I often shop at a store that sells overstock and the inventory of businesses that, alas, are no longer, and I often see blatant examples of this sort of thing. For instance - tuna in a can, crackers, a knife and a napkin - nice little instant lunch, right?

And so they said - with graphics and packaging that strongly suggested a personal hygene product. Any decent marketing consultant could have saved this product to successfully compete with Star-Kist along with asking the obvious question - who are you to try and compete with Star-Kist with the exact same product?

But this product didn't get that far - at least, not within my demographic. I probably would have noticed.

The fact is that, for all the books and advice written about marketing, it is an intuitive art; one that takes a certain sort of mind to begin with, and then a great deal of time and education making expensive mistakes on other people's dime. The more volatile the market is, the more this is true, except for the exceptions.

Do you know what the exceptions are? I can give you examples of exceptions - like Coke, like Tootsie Roll, like Gold Bond Powder.

Coke, of course, is the poster child for not screwing with an established brand identity, with it's "New Coke," although I happen to think that Pepsi Clear was a runner-up in the "dumb marketing ideas." I call it a near runner up because that's the sort of product that might actually have paid off - with a little better marketing. Clear Pepsi is weird, and it doesn't taste any different than Pepsi. Clear Pepsi with Rum is a clear Cuba Libre - which could have taken the umbrella bars by storm.

New Coke? Well, a good friend of mine, a professional dominatrix and former prostitute had a pithy phrase for this exact thing, which is worthy of it's own acronym.

DFWTM. "Don't [Screw] With The Money."

She was speaking of moving in with a base player, developing a coke habit, or risking your capital. It's funny how people on the edge of being poor have values that are starkly similar to those of very rich people. Neither believe in screwing with their capital assets. In her case, the "assets" were literally the left cheek and the right. She took the ideal extremely personally.

Which is exactly what Coke did, in trying to replace it's formula with "New Coke."

Now, if you are a marketer, these are probably pretty lame, prosaic or even inaccurate examples. You see, I'm a really good example of the sort of person who absolutely SHOULD hire a marketer. I know just enough to be dangerous.

In fact, it's probably true that if I did not love what I actually do more, I could learn to be really good at marketing. It's SO tempting to think that means "I could become good enough to do this myself."

But the fact is, really successful people and really successful companies have gotten that way not because they are "adequte," but because they focus on exellence in their core area of expertiese, and then seek out, track down and if needful, tranqillize and kidnap the flavor of obsessive geek that they need.

See video: Is it not true that the CEO of Pepperjam is the sine qua non of the well-fed, smugly successful geek? Well, that's precisely the sort of marketing geek you want. If he's as geeky as I suspect, he WILL annoy the crap out of you, but if he's as smart as I suspect, he will hire people to interface for him. People, whom I suspect, who understand that having blonde streaks and a smile adds 10% to their bottom line.

That is the sort of expertise you want on your side.

You may have noticed that I have said very little about Pepperjam, the company. Well, that's because I don't have to. At most, I would have needed 100 words plus a link to their video - and that would have been more than they had asked ME for.

But then, I don't take paid posts unless they can become one of MY posts.

The next post in this series will be a general unpaid post about the economics, ethics and reasons for monetizing a website in the first place, based on my experience in print and online journalism.

In order to make all these posts appear in the proper, top-down order, I'm backdating all the posts I make today, so that they appear below the first, explanatory post. I mention this because I do not ordinarly do this, but for today, I'm going to consider today's posting to be a whole which will be linked and promoted as such. In other words, if you are reading as I'm writing, the next post will be below THIS post.

Speaking of the New Media...

One of the marvels of these here "Internet Tubes" is the marvel of telepresence, wherein some good internet angel allows you to talk to your client or boss in real time, face to face, without having to cram your busy entrepreneurial butt into Business Class for three to seven hours while inhaling every new flu bug known to man.

Insert obligitory reference to Isacc Asimov's "The Caves of Steel" here. Few realize that far from being a Disutopian vision, his idea of a society that starkly limits interpersonal contact was his own fondest desire.

Mine too. The fact is, that aside from making it possible to "do bidness" across vast spaces, telepresence will also allow you to "do bidness" across certain sorts of interpersonal divides as well.

But more importantly, it's emblematic of a change in the way "bidness" is done, the sorts of people you will be doing it with, and of course, the time frames in which you will be doing it.

Telepresence is just one example of technical capacity that is making the "old economy" obsolete and the new economy mandatory. Oh, it doesn't hurt that for every telepresent conference, you reduce your carbon footprint significantly. Indeed, that one change alone in getting things done could add to your bottom line while taking huge steps toward a "greener" operation.

The beauty is, while this is a first-class, top tier, status-forward solution, it's still probably going to cost less than the fuel for a single cross-country trip in a company jet.

I suspect that in the future, corporate jets will be reserved for technical people who have to actually - you know - touch things.

Eww.

Comfy Leather Home Theater Seating

I logged into PayPerPost to see what I could write about that fits my demographics, my interests and my curiosity. Well, Boston Tables, purveyors high quality game and pool tables would like you to know that they have a broad selection of Home Theater Seating. It makes sense; in many homes, it would all go into the "rec room," which in many homes is also the only room big enough for a plasma or LCD screen in the "omygod" range.

Now, LOOK at this! That is WORTHY of a 50 inch plasma, don't you think? I mean, I want one. Well, once I have the 50 inch Plasma..

click here to check out my favorite unit.

Of course if you are wanting to go the whole red drapes route with that high-end projection television... well - they can do that too.



I was expecting Home Theater Seating to cost a great deal more than ordinary furniture that might be used to watch an ordinary television, because a "home theater" sounds so much more upscale than "TV Room." I was surprised to find that the prices were in the same ballpark as what I'd paid for a similar dual-recliner leather sofa from a chain store some fifteen years ago. Might even be lower, taking inflation into account. With free shipping* in the continental US, you will find some seriously competitive prices here. Competitive enough that you might want to consider having them throw an entertainment center worthy of your new seating on that big rig.

Now, style is a serious consideration. Boston Tables offers a variety of classic styling designed to fit any decor. The last thing you want is furniture that is going to embarrass you in a decade or so, when trend turns to faux pas. Well - with one possible exception. They have sports themed everything, including Home Theater Seating themed with every possible combination of sport and team.

I consider that a total faux pas - but millions disagree. Personally, I'd go for a pub theme. It's so much classier and then you can add in a bar. And yes, most of what you need to put the whole room together will come on the same truck.

Please notice the handy-dandy laptop storage in the arms and the ottoman that looks like it's designed to hold a gaming console. It's perfect for the basement game room, right out of the box. But with a household wireless network and a lap desk or a rack of tv tables, this could also be the centerpiece of your home office, especially with counter-height tables and adjustable height seating to plonk the main workstations upon. Yes, they have those too.

Well, it IS April, and time to think of tax deductions. Call it your "home teleconferencing center" and write it off! Once you sink into that leather, kick back with your laptop and flip on CNN while checking out your email, I think you might take that idea a great deal more seriously. It's a heck of a setup for running your powerpoint presentation - a CEO grade setup on a middle-manager's budget.

*Limited time offer; restrictions apply. See site for details.

Auto Refinance Advice

Automobile Refinance services are a great way to pare down your overall household expenses. By refinancing, you may be able to skip a few payments, extend the length of the term and lower the monthly car payment. There are options available for all credit scores, so if you could stand to save some money - check out the link. Here's why:

Using a refinance company such as RateGenius will allow you to find the best refinance interest rate from a network of national lenders without pulling your credit file several times. The folks at RateGenius will assist you in matching your financing needs with a lender that offers the best rate, term, and payment to fit your lifestyle.

And that's why you want to use this kind of service. Glad I found out before I went for the first quote...

Green Tech: Web conferencing leverages small business.

Oh, I love it when a paid post comes along that actually serves to prove a point I've been trying to make about society, culture and business. You see, if someone is investing serious money into making easier ways to do, say web conferencing, it nicely validates my larger points about the immense (and progressive) changes the web brings. Nothing validates an idea better than a line of people paying for an implementation.

Over the last two or three decades ... simple tools have expanded the ability for individuals of no particular means to build their own enterprises - everything from dotcoms to fast food chains to publishing empires. The actual cost of doing business has plummeted...

This trend, along with parallel trends in web 2.0 apps and emerging technologies like the possibility of a 3D web overlay, as 2nd Life is essentially beta-testing hold enormous possibilities for business. But that's "business" with a small b. Large corporations may find themselves in dire competition with a multitude of medium to small businesses who have learned that they no longer need corporate infrastructure to achieve what only a DuPont or Ford could a hundred or even 50 years ago.

With that in mind, take a peek at the sponsor's link and as you consider the offer itself, also consider what the availability of the offer implies - and the implications of what you could do yourself given that sort of individual "reach," without adding to your carbon footprint much at all.

Things that make you go Wii™!

Click Here for a Chance to Win a Nintendo® Wii™!

First, the disclaimer; I'm a Charter customer, have been for some years. It's that mainline high-speed connectivity, ya know. Like plugging straight into the metamind. I'm looking forward to the day when I can afford fiberoptic or a T-1 drop...

Anyhoo; it's not so much a conflict of interest as a statement of interest. Because Charter, you see, is running a contest with a parallel auction for Charter Internet Access for Life.

In some ways, that's the interesting part. The bidding started off at ten, and at this writing, was already in excess of $22,000.00. WELL in excess. I'd have to open a spreadsheet to see if I've got enough life left to make a bid worthwhile - considering that I'd have to finance it!

But your mileage may well vary. Indeed, if you have decent credit and are under the age of 35, I'm reasonably sure it does. So take a spin, and make a bid, what the heck. Very likely you will pay less on finance charges than on access. That's 16mbps/sec access, wireless router, the usual firewall, email and server space for your home page.

And remember, you could Win a Nintendo® Wii™! Honestly speaking, that IS what caught my attention, so I figure it may well capture yours.

Standard boilerplate follows:

Click Here for a Chance to Win a Nintendo® Wii™!

That page will allow visitors to register with an e-mail address and other personal information for a chance to win a Nintendo® Wii™. The winner will receive a Nintendo Wii Console, Wii Stand, 5 Sports games ( Boxing, Baseball, Tennis, Golf and bowling), 1 Remote Controller, 1 Nunchuk Controller, 1 Sensor Bar, 1 Wii AC Adapter, 1 Wii AV Cable. You are ready to play, no other equipment needed.

Visitors will also be given the opportunity to bid on receiving Charter High-Speed® Internet for Life. Registration for bidding on the Charter High-Speed® Internet for Life offer will require that the visitor qualify for the offer by zip code – must be in a Charter serviceable area. Only visitors able to receive Charter High-Speed® Internet services at their residence will qualify to bid. Bids start at $10. For complete Auction and Sweepstakes Rules go to: http://connect.charter.com/ForLife/

Slurp!

Three dozen oysters
Originally uploaded by Kent Wang.

Gulf oysters, I am reliably informed are succulent morsels that barely require a squirt of lemon or a shot of tabasco to serve as the centerpiece of a manful exploration of foodie indulgence.

Unfortunately, they can harbor a microorganism that can make you ill, and if you have liver disease, diabetes or a compromised immune system, kill you dead as hell.

So, before proving you are a man by tossing your locks (and you oyster) in laughing disregard for danger - you might want to check to see if you are indeed likely to remain man enough.

There is nothing so sure to undermine your studly rep as to be hauled off puking to intensive care.

Now, the Lousiana seafood r industry they probably would not be urgently wishing you to know about this, had the industry not taken steps to make the incident of oyster-borne discomfort rather rarer than it once was. A lot rarer, in fact. And it seems clear from everything I have looked at - not just my sponsor here - that serious illness is not a worry at all for people who are not at risk.

Note they don't promise that you won't get a bad oyster and puke your guts out. But then, that's always been that little kicker, something we have mostly all mostly known. That small risk and the challenging nature is why it impresses the girls. Dying of it, though - not so well known. Certainly not so impressive. Hell oysters are the risky seafood for those of us who dared not try fugu.

But that risk can minimized greatly by careful preparation immediately after harvest.

There are three major ways of post processing oysters, two of which involve some degree of heat. Obviously if you truly wish to serve them raw, there's really only one way to maximize your odds of not losing a relative; buy IQF (Fresh-frozen) oysters. (But even then, the possibility that you may become ill exists.)

IQF - Freezing oysters to extend shelf life was first applied in 1989; and presently, there are several facilities using this technique with oysters. The process has also become popularized on a worldwide scale with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States leading the pack. IQF processing of oysters is presently being applied by companies in California, Florida, Louisana and Texas. It has the biggest market share of the post-harvest processed raw oyster market. Many prefer the IQF oysters because of quality, taste, and convenience. The IQF “fresh frozen” technology keeps all of the flavor and appeal of non-processed oysters – the major selling point of the process. IQF oysters are typically sold with the top shell removed.

Or - as almost everyone advises - you could just cook them.

Yes, I know, I know - then they would not be raw oysters! I feel your pain, I do. But lest you feel unmanned - did you know that they are delicious when grilled?

They have a whole free cookbook there for you. But if you are still not quite sure... must I point out the obvious, that anything is better when it comes out of a charcoal smoker? And what, dare I ask, is more macho that fire, charcoal, smoke and meat engaging in the magic, mystical and arcane art that is smoking?

Let the gruntign commence.

And if it's good enough to make pork safe, it's good enough to make a safe, gob-smackingly delicious home-smoked oysters. Why, you'd have to smoke a turkey for it to be worthy of a stuffing made from such smoky nuggets of joy!

What a good idea!

And just incidentally, doing your own smoking is the only real way for most of us to get enough of either delicacy to amount to more than a cruel tease.

Vistaprint tempts me with free loot. Successfully.

And they would like to tempt you too. Boy, did they dangle lots of different choices in front of me - but I can only take two offers a day, and prefer to limit myself to one. Unless I'm really, really, really bored and have no other ideas.

Well, this following boilerplate had my ears perking up...

VistaPrint offers a wide array of printing services including: postcards, address labels, magnets, checks, and stamps! You can customize all of their products to your liking!

I a lot of business customizing things and selling them, it's still the primary support for this blog, so I'm always looking for stuff I can customize and resell. If I've ever been to Vistaprint, it hasn't been for a long, long time. (Here's the link I finally clicked, for save the date magnets,)

My art, super smooth vinyl, full color and full bleed - I'm drooling already! And free! But of course, I had to work this into a legitimate post about something. Ok, I didn't HAVE to, but like I said, I'm bored and had no ideas for a post that didn't make me want to shoot myself in the head.

I had a think about what I might actually want to do with one of their offerings, what you might want to have - and what could result in a legitimate follow-up post. After some thought, I settled on 25 free magnets (Coupon code “Blog25FreeMag”) though I was tempted by another offer for their pre-inked stamps. I'm tossing this code in for free, because it fits the post - I'll let you know why later. (Use coupon code “Stamp25” at checkout to receive 25% off your stamp order. )

People keep telling me is that offline publicity is something you really ought to consider doing. I've never done it. Hell, I have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it ONline. So it has to be fun and easy or I will "forget."

I'm a graphic artist, so I look for things that will show off my skills.

And of course, we get a defined, limited number of magnets. It's perfect for our test - and perfect for yours, if you are interested in playing along with me.

I need to have a way of verifying the test over time, so I need to send results somewhere they will be counted. I don't have a perfect solution for this, but I'm getting very low traffic to my cafepress store, so results should show up and persist even using statcounter, which limits me to five hundred results. I'll figure out a way of including a coded link and include it in the graphics.

Server side stats would be better, but I can't do that right now.

Here's what the magnets look like, you can use a template, or upload your own, full bleed art. (specs below.)



Full Bleed Size 3.54" x 2.05"
90mm x 52mm
1062 x 615 pixels

I'm going to post this and keyword it, so that all the follow-ups will show up on the same page.

My next post will be to show you what I upload, and then I'll follow up with a picture of what I get - and then finally, the results, which is the point to the exercise - gettin' me some free publicity and having some fun in the process.

Of course, if it proves that this is a really good way of getting publicity - I doubt Vistaprint will be at all unhappy with me. (Tips are always appreciated!) (So are links!)

Why did I mention the stamps? Well, when you have a pre-inked stamp, you can stamp your blog url on anything. Your mail, for instance. One blogger reported that simply by stamping the return envelopes of her bills, she saw significant increases in traffic.

Others stamp their money - and of course, you can stamp blank business cards. If you go to a craft store, you can find tools and supplies that turn that into a way of making cards that you would swear cost five dollars apiece. It's an ideal solution for mostly broke bloggers who still have a need to blow the socks off people once in a while.

I was a lot torn - but I have a pre-inked stamp already, and I use photo-prints for business cards. I figure your mileage may vary.

A Standing O for LifeLock.

I just had a look at LifeLock, those "This is my real social security number" people. Frankly - and probably like you - I assumed that it was a stunt, and what was said in bold red at the top was completely negated with the small print at the bottom.

Come to think of it, it's damn depressing how complacent we have become in accepting as a given that any service we get from any corporation should be written as "Service*".

Now that I think of it, it's a little embarrassing to realize that it took the promise of $12.00 from a trusted third party to even get me to look, but I plead 40 years of disappointment in my fellow man as my reason.

Fortunately for them, their actual cost will be two dollars, for ten of those promised dollars will pay for my first month of their service.

Why? Well, you don't often read advertising copy like this:

If your Identity is stolen while you are a member of LifeLock, we're going to do whatever it takes to recover your good name. If you need lawyers, we're going to hire the best we can find. If you need investigators, accountants, case managers, whatever, they're yours. If you lose money as a result of the theft, we're going to give it back to you.

We will do whatever it takes to help you recover your good name and we will spend up to $1,000,000 to do it.

We don't think you will see a guarantee like this anywhere else from any other company. If you do, let us know because we'd like to do business with them. There isn't much fine print in our Guarantee. To see the details, click here.

Any half-decent lawyer will tell you the reason why you should never ever EVER write something as direct and unqualified as this. You WILL have to live up to those words in court, and they will bury you in frightening examples of the consequences of unwise and unguarded words costing businesses hundreds and thousands of words.

One of the examples I remember most clearly from my journalism and advertising courses is the case of a car dealer who promised that during his "Jungle Madness" sale, you could drive away in a new car for "just a thousand bananas."

Sure enough, someone showed up with a lawyer and one thousand fresh, golden, LITERAL Chiquitas.

They were very over-ripe bananas by the time his lawyer was sent from court by a laughing judge and a snickering jury, but that just added fruit flies to injury.

Speaking of contractual language, I'm in violation of the terms of the agreement by being clear about this being a paid post within the post and it would be technically possible for them to refuse to pay, or request a re-write. You see, they didn't want me to call attention to the fact they paid me to do this - no doubt because they are as cynical as I am for pretty much the same reasons.

It's tempting to gloss over the fact that it took the smell of money to get me to write this - but I'd prefer to be honest, and use the risk of not being paid to underline what is my real reason for going so far beyond the 200 words requested. This, you see, is no longer about that.

These are the sort of people you should absolutely do business with, even if you don't absolutely need to. And I'm not embarrassed at all to be seen doing business with people like this. Hell, if they write employment contracts and job descriptions like they do websites, they might actually be the sort of people I'd be willing to work for.

That advertising copy above is the reason. They have deliberately created conditions they will have to live up to.

That lack of weasel-wording, the complete absence of equivocation, the blunt promise of "Whatever it takes, up to a million bucks" is damn refreshing.

If you believe in the idea of the free market, as I do, and believe that it absolutely depends on people who are not just willing, but absolutely determined to play fair, then you need to sweeten the pot for them. You have to choose to deal with people who are willing to stand by their word, live up to their obligations and go the extra mile. You also have to start expecting that standard from everyone else, with no excuses.

Putting binding promises into one's advertising copy inspires in me ten thousand times the deep warm fuzzies that can be derived from a kiloton of adhesive imitation chrome fish.

The promise implied by a chrome fish over the door of a place of business is one that cannot be enforced in a temporal court of law, one not even as impressive as membership in the BBB.

Todd Davis - well I don't know what or who else he believes in - but he surely does believe in the sort of fish you could fry in front of the ninth circuit court and it's a big enough fish to feed a multitude.

I can count on the fingers of one thumb the number of times I've had the legitimate opportunity to say something as nice as this about anything regarding the economy or the practices of American business institutions. I've gotten so damn jaded and cynical, so bleak and depressed that frankly it's become difficult to blog.

What started out as a five minute, money-making chore turned out to take a couple hours of utterly blissful wordsmithing and the high point of my day. And that, Mr. 457-55-5462, is worth ten bucks to me. Hell, it's worth twelve.

I would love to be able to write a story like this every week, and have every word be true and as heartfelt as these. I'm rubbing your nose in the fact that AT THE MOST, I was paid $12.00, in response to the obvious rhetorical question.

My skills are for sale, my my good name is not. Even if it WAS, it would take a minimum of five more decimal places plus benefits, a golden parachute and a pension to compromise my virginity in that respect.

One should should set one's price high enough that it discourages temptation. And I'm afraid that many "persons of significance" have lowered the bar to a point where even minimal standards make a decent assessment of self worth seem positively inflationary.

But it's nice to be recognized for a job done well and honestly. One of the few ways I'm sure something I've said has been read and appreciated is the sound of virtual coin clinking into my PayPal account. Money, as Robert Heinlein said, is the sincerest form of applause.

And by that means and in the same spirit I am suggesting to you that you give Lifelock a standing ovation. "Pour le encouragur le autres"

Free Myspace Survey Tool

Do you like Free Blog Tools?

surveys

Free blog toys are always fun, and I have a couple of "myspace" type sites, so free myspace surveys have some interest for me. Not so much for this site, because, despite the implications of creating this poll, on the topic of politics, I pretty much don't give a damn about what you think.

I say that because I'm an aspie blogging about ethics. I know I'm either right or not, and either way, your opinion will not affect my views. Reasoned persuasion, perhaps, but nothing that can be put into a form of any sort will matter much.

However, there are other things that I do (and maybe you do too) where these things are fun, like Myspace. It does require javascript, so it may be a problem with some hosts. With blogger, you just paste it into a sidebar module - and let us hope it formats better there. OTOH, blogger has it's own poll module. But this code with remote tracking could be handy if you were pasting across multiple sites.

It offers both yes/no and multiple choice questions, and you can keep quite a few open at once. It's by no means as powerful as paid solutions... but you don't have to pay, and it doesn't subject your viewers to truly intrusive ads.

	Now that the field of candidates have thinned, are you still interested in the primaries
	Heck Yes!
	Yeah. I'll keep up with it.
	Ehh.
	Kinda losing interest.
	Nope. I lost the pony I was betting on.
<a href="http://www.hangamble.com/">milf</a>

Now, the little tiny link at the bottom is how they pay for the service. I had to bust into the code so you could see what it was - and not futz with my Google page ranking, because that's the sorta thing that could get you downgraded.

But for a personal or hobby page, that's not much of a worry, and completely beside the point for any Myspace-type site. And it IS html, not a compulsory link, so you can edit it right out if you have a mind to. I checked their Terms of Service to see what they said about that. It's brief and I quote in it's entirety; " ".

They may need to fix that.

Shirt illustration courtesy of OriginalGear.net

Thinking about a Colonial Progression?

The current US economy makes a visit to the Colonies very attractive, but of course Homeland Security is doing it's best to give a hearty Eff Youse to those of you who wish to bring pockets bulging with pounds and euros our way. But there's a way around that.

Dialaflight.com offers cheap flights to Toronto, which as geographically unimpaired persons, you will realize is not at all far from The Other Side of the River. And trust me, international arrivals in any US destination - especially east coast - are best avoided. So do as we Colonials do and use the closest neighbor as your international airport of choice. Then simply take the train. Customs is ever so much easier that way.

Once you are on The Other Side, of course, you will be able to travel via the eastern seaboard's extensive commuter rail network, so you won't need to rent a car and try to drive on the wrong side of the road.

Besides, a proper east or west coast tour includes either Toronto and parts east or Vancouver and South. If you are coming from the UK, Victoria is probably a bit of a busman's holiday. But there's much to see and do in Vancouver - and at this time of the year, you can Ski-hop all the way down the Cascades and Rockies from there.

That last would be a vacation to remember for years. If you like the cold and the wet and the snow, that is to say.

Me, I'll be staying inside, cursing the beautiful fresh powder that is blanketing my yard with cartoon fluff that seems to have been dumped on me by God's special effects department. To me, it's cold toes and curses, but to Nevada's tourism industry - it's white gold. Honestly, I've never in my life seen snow like this - perfect dry powder. So if you are a ski-bunny, it's time to do the Tahoe.

LED Rope Lights

There are a lot of uses for rope light, as people are discovering.

“We are also finding that many of our customers are buying Christmas lights for permanent installation in their yards for general landscape lighting,” said Hill. The efficient LED string lights use so little power a homeowner could illuminate 2,000 lights for 8 hours each day for an entire year and only spend about $47 on electricity. “With such low operating costs and bulb longevity there simply isn’t any reason to not use them all year,” Hill concluded.

It's primarily used for decorative and guidance lighting, but with it's low-wattage needs, it's also a very good choice for RV and household emergency lighting. With red and yellow being the cheapest per-foot, it's a great choice for commercial signs, as a lower-cost alternate to neon and even as a potential do-it-yourself project.

At roughly half a watt per foot (DC) at 9 Amps, it's also a great source of portable camping and automotive illumination. I'm sure you can run it off car or RV batteries (with the proper interface) or just plug it into your generator using the standard AC adapter, and it will be a lot less load than incandescent strings. (I've asked them in email for the technical details.)

Strings of the red and white rope lights would probably be EXTREMELY welcome in Iraq, because of the durability and ease in setting up and taking down. Solid state devices are great when sand gets into everything.

Cher to stand in for Celene Dion at Ceaser's Palace

Cher Tickets at Caesars Palace, woot.

Clearly, this is the the work of international Gay Lifestyle Activists.

I feel just a little strange about cheering that Cher has been tapped to replace Celene Dion for this gig, because I'm Canadian. But Celene is one of those things Canadians are OK with feeling ambivalent about. You can't say she's a bad singer. Many adore her, too. And yet for many, she leaves us with the aftertaste of rice pudding after a course of vegan whole-grain gruel.

So wholesome, you could just die.

And even though I'm not gay, I simply adore Cher. I wouldn't call her UNwholesome, but she's got edges you could cut yourself on. She's one of the people who could and should cover Leonard Cohen's stuff - but doesn't, perhaps because it's expected.

I think of her as Mae West's love child with Caruso. Singer, sex goddess and pipes that go all the way down to her little pinkie toes, and if I were inclined to be surrounded by the sort of mad, whooping gala crowd filled with fabulous people and their moms, grannies and extended families - I'd be there.

Celine is a concert. Cher is an event!

Bargain Optics for your whole family

Great Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com

$ 8 Complete Prescription Eyeglasses + Case

www.zennioptical.com offers the best value prescription eyeglasses online

I've worn glasses for most of my life. Not just most of my adult life - I got my first pair sometime around kindergarten. So I laugh when I see that. I remember walking into one of those one hour lens places and being laughed at.

I'd hate to add up the total cost of those lenses over my lifetime. I have a very difficult prescription. Or at least I did, until I had cataract surgery last year. I still need glasses - mutter bifocals - but at least the RX won't change ever year. And insurance pays only ever two years - though my wife tends to mislay her glasses at least once every six months.

And more importantly, not everyone in this household has vision coverage. That has been a real problem.

For the price these folks are offering, I might be able to afford to go all Elton John, with a pair for every occasion.

Ok, what I'd love would be a nice pair of driving glasses, and a single-vision pair that is just for reading and computer work. Oh, and some sunglasses.

Anyway, I'm going to send this out now. Later on I'll append what happens when I input my prescription, but as I said, even now mine is ridiculous. If you have mild to moderate vision needs, It's well worth giving these folks a shot.

Of course, you will need to adjust them yourself, but if you have worn glasses as long as I have... that's nearly reflex.

Fast-teks: On Site and In Home Computer Support

I dunno about you, computer troubleshooting is not my area of competence. I simply can't keep up with the latest issues. Heck, I'm doing good if I keep my virus software up to date.

And that's automated.

Admit it - even if you are a geek yourself, you probably are not that kind of geek. So get a pro; I mean, it's YOUR productivity and data on the line. Don't risk it. Get someone who's insured against screwing up. :> That's where Fast-teks comes in. Think of them as plumbers for them "internet tubes."

Offshore Rx Escrow firm saves you money; perhaps even more.

Cheaper prescriptions from DrugDelivery.ca.

As we all get older, our prescription costs take a larger and larger chunk out of our disposable incomes, such as they are - and no thanks to George Bush's cozy relationship with Big Pharma.

Well, in Canada and much of the rest of the world, the relationship between Government and Big Pharma is altogether different, and that's the main reason why worldwide drug prices are lower than they are in the United States. DrugDelivery.ca, an Online Pharmacy escrow service, is one way to get cheaper offshore drugs without taking a day-trip to Canada. That's rather impractical for most of us, when you think of it. Further, as they operate under the laws of Mariatus, you have a greater assurance of privacy than you would with a US or even Canadian based company.

But, can you trust them?

Here's what they say about themselves:

We want to be seen as the one place to come for all your pharmacy needs. We want to be the one company people think of when they want to order their prescriptions online safely and know they will get what they pay for – no fraud – no worries. In a business where there are so many shady businesses who will be happy to take your money and run or send you fake medicine it is really hard to position ones self as legitimate but we have been in business since 2004 doing just that, and that’s how we want to continue.

There's a great deal more about them on this page, and they have clearly invested a great deal in a great many online assurances.

Now, from my viewpoint as a Libertarian and as an opponent to all things supporting George Bush - this is a twofer.

First, you excercise your right to spend your money where it will do the most good - and without "sharing" that information with one of George's "privacy-enhanced" NSA-audited pharmacy databases.

The second, of course, is that it's taking walking-around money out of the hands of Big Pharma - and so out of the pockets of politicians in this election cycle. That could be a very, very big deal, so if you have no drug coverage, or your insurance company encourages lower-cost sourcing, consider this firm seriously.

Web Hosting Choice

If you do anything that's important to you on the web -such as serious blogging - you really need to consider what sort of host and hosting plan you need.

I personally could get by with a really low-end host. Or so I thought, until some jerk took exception to what I wrote and did a denial of service attack on my host - who kicked me. It turned out that according to them, I was responsible for the security on my little partition of one of their servers. Not only did I lose my site, I lost quite a lot of my work, and it was months before my site was back up to the traffic and ranking it had enjoyed previously. Cheap can be quite expensive.

Web Hosting Choice[ http://www.webhostingchoice.com ] is a service that categorizes all the hosting plans and services they are aware of, so you can pick a host and plan based on your needs. They do a pretty good job of demystifying things, and calling your attention to things you may not have thought of. It will allow you to make a reasonable choice between hosting plans, by comparing feature to feature. If you are considering stepping up to your own host and domain, this is a good place to get started.