Entrecard: Rave and Rant

Rave

Graham, the genius behind EC, has indeed created one of the most innovative ways of generating traffic for your blog while socializing. Unlike its giant predecessors -the like of DIGG, StumbleUpon, and De.licio.us -visitors need not bookmark your blog (except for dig where you can just Digg or Bury an article) in order to detect their visits. All they have to do is drop their cards. While doing it, they earn a credit in return which can be used for their ad campaign. More so, visitors are made to actually visit your blog in order to drop the card. Hence, if you have an interesting post to boot, you will likely have an additional subscriber or commentator and regular visitor on your blog.

I still use other traffic generating methods, however I find EC to be one of the most effective. My Google analytics show that traffic coming from it has a lower bounce rate unlike the others I already mentioned above. Also, visitors from this community normally return. With Digg and StumbleUpon, they come in like a swarm of bees, devour your field, go, and never to return after they had their fill. You will notice that you will suddenly have a spike in your traffic today then flat the next. EC, that is if you are a regular dropper, gives you steady quality traffic. In that, kudos Graham!

Rant

Ey, ey wait! Before you leave or start pounding your keyboard for a comment, let me say that I was not paid to blog this okey. I just felt the need to talk a bit of this. Then, the issue of placing ad on other blogs in the EC community…

On the side, I just need to rant a bit about the issue of ads rejection by some of our EC’mates with the remark “Not relevant.” “Design Clash,” “Not accepting ad this time,” or “Too many requests” reasons, IMO, are acceptable. But “Not relevant?” Hello? WTH! I would probably give a qualified reason like that if my blog is about “Religion and Spirituality” and I have an ad request from an adult or semi porn blog. Other than that, an ad request is always relevant. Why? Because we basically post anything we want in our blogs no matter how much we try to stay on a particular niche or topic. An ad request is actually a favor being extended. It is not free, for credits were earned and paid in exchange. An unjustifiable “not relevant “ reason is a sign of arrogance. Forgive the harsh word -but it is.

Now, have your say please.

plan. do. DELETE. plan.

Lest you have forgotten, each one has only 24 hours a day. Yep! But, most people also seem willing to recognize there is some upper limit on what they or their organization can accomplish in a given period of time. How surprising it is then to find ourselves continually adding new tasks and goals without removing any.

New ideas are great. New concept are exciting. And new opportunities are wonderful, and there are times when we ought to go ahead even though we are not sure we can handle them. I once worked for a man who said the way to get ahead was to get yourself in trouble and fight your way out. Har har har. Really?

But for most of us this simply will not work in the long run. Hence, we should always ask ourselves when we are about to add a new task in put schedule or charge on a new involvement is,"what am I going to stop doing when I start this new task or take on this new responsibility?" This of course, is a form of priority setting because it forces us to weigh new opportunities against the continuing importance of present ones.

We are told that our body stays alive by some cells dying and new ones taking their place. Life involvements should be that way. We should establish a check mechanism where we weed out the old activities before we take on new ones. This is nt only applicable true for us yuppies or to any individuals but organizations as well. For an organization that cannot abandon former ways of doing things, i.e., old irrelevant policies, ineffective methods, inefficient programs, unreasonable goals and objectives, will soon find itself involved in doing nothing but keeping itself in business and eaten by its competitors alive in the process.

Let us start looking at our calendar of activities and weigh each. Then start deleting those no longer serve our purpose and start listing new ones, then most likely, you will be able to regain composure.

Each year we should analyze the things that we are doing, and when we come to the one at the bottom of the list say, "delete it!". And the next -and the next -and the next -until we're back to 24 hours a day.

This is your take, let me simplify it: PDDP -plan activities, do them, DELETE unwanted items, and plan again.

ClickBooth : A CPA Ad Alternative

Monetizing blogs is now commonplace. There are literally a hundred ways to do it and there are more than a thousand income streams available to choose from. Depending on your niche market and your approach to blog monetization, there is a good income generator suited for you.

Try ClickBooth

It is a good CPA (Cost per Acquisition or Cost per Action) alternative. It is a user friendly AD platform for both Advetisers and Publishers.

About ClickBooth

It is a division of IntegraClick, Inc., was formed in September 2002, and is currently based in Sarasota, Fl, U.S.A. Through the years the company emerges as a technologically-advanced organization with staff to boot, includes experts in the fields of advertising, publishing, technology and design.

What ClickBooth Offers

Their site said it best, allow me to quote it here:

“It provides partners with a progressive full-service management platform dedicated to optimizing revenue generation for both its Advertisers and Publishers and delivered in one convenient package.Leading the new phase in media buying, Clickbooth has been providing proprietary industry technology for more than five years. Never adhering to the industry “mold” most networks form from, Clickbooth takes an innovative approach to online marketing and consistently surpasses industry standards – taking online marketing to the next level.”

A Yuppie Advise: Gifts with Reasons

It has been said that ‘best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.’ The adage still stands true. In similar fashion, I’d say that the ‘best way to a lady’s heart is through her simple vanities.’ Okey, no offense meant there, ladies. What I meant here are simple gifts given for a reason (or reasons –men tend to gave many reasons why they give) can easily appeal to your liking, especially when the gifts are well thought of and given when least expected.

Here’s a simple advise (and an endorsement) my friends: Should you be giving any gift to your girlfriend or date –be creative. Here are some gift samplers you might want to consider: Lavender Bling Candles, Splendid Forrest Water Fountains, and Pricess’ Wall Clocks. For other great gift ideas and items kindly check here.

4 Practical Ways to Manage your Boss (Part 1 of 3)

Oh! C’mon? Yeah, I hear you. Nevertheless, do know that there is such a thing as managing your bosses, superiors, leaders, supervisors, managers or however you want to call them. These are the people who have been given the authority to manage our jobs and us. Somehow, these people tend to take a great deal of our time, and sometimes crouching even into our own personal affairs. They can be frustrating, exasperating, discouraging, and viewed as tyrants. Unless you own your business, you cannot do away with them. Take this: you can choose which organization or company to work for, but you cannot choose your boss.

Having said that, it means you are left only with two choices. Either you leave your organization and find a better (hopefully) boss or you manage your boss or bosses. Here a few practical tips on how to manage your boss: Know your boss, Do things his way, Represent him fairly, and Trust his judgments and leadership.

1. Knowing your boss

How does he manage? Is he an ISTJ? Is he task or goal oriented? Is he a directive or non-directive leader? Is he a problem solver or a decision maker? What does he require from you? What are his expectations as far as job performances are concerned? How can you meet them? What are his weaknesses? Can you match them with your strengths? What are his strengths? Can you compliment them with yours?

I can actually fill-up this post with similar line of questioning. Nevertheless, the bottom line is, how well do you know your boss? You can really know your boss. It can be done. It takes a little of your time, efforts, and being sensitive on how he deals with you and other issues at work. Remember and learn from those experiences and you will do well. After all, he understands you for he tries to know his boss as well.

Now, let that sink first and have your say please.

A Yuppie Advise: On Debt Consolidation

Do not get into debt. Get out of debt -fast! I am always quick to proffer these two practical advises. However, these are easier said than done.

Getting deep into debt is a slow process. More often, you will only notice that you are in a financial sandbox when the collecting agencies started calling you at home and at the office, or when the demand letters and collection notices start pouring in your mailbox. Then the sleepless nights follow. Then the peptic ulcer and the lack of concentration at work become a daily ordeal. You can plug these financial woes.

Try debt consolidation. This could be a practical solution to your (growing) debt problem. This is an debt repayment alternative where you get another loan in order to pay off all your existing loans and unpaid bills. While it might seem like an odd strategy-taking out debt to pay off debt, however, consolidation can be a great help for your debt repayments. Here's why: Short of bankruptcy, the only way to eliminate debt is to pay it off. But making minimum payments covers little more than the interest that's added to your account every month. Plus, big debt balances can snowball with late charges and cause interest rates to increase. Consolidating that debt into a lower monthly payment can accelerate its pay down and save you money in the end. See the point?

Now, sit down, take an inventory of your debts, and see how you can consolidate all of those. Then, next time –do not get into debt.