Is Credit Card APR All That Counts?

Not all credit cards are born equal. Different cards have different offers, features, and charges, and choosing a card is not as simple as going for the one with the lowest advertised rate. Various types of card are suitable for different types of use, and choosing the right card for you depends on how you plan to use it as well as how low the rate is, or how attractive the introductory offer.

If you intend to use the card mainly as a convenient way of spending and usually clear your balance every month, then the headline interest rate doesn't really matter to you, as you shouldn't be paying any interest at all. Instead, make sure the card you're planning to apply for has a long 'grace period' on interest charges, giving you chance to pay your statement before any interest is applied. Interest free periods should be at least 30 days and are more usually in the 50-60 day range.

This kind of card user can also benefit from a cashback or rewards scheme if the card is regularly used for purchases, and so long as you avoid carrying a balance over you can actually turn a profit from your credit card account.

If, however, you use the card as a kind of short term borrowing, regularly paying off larger purchases over a few months, then a low interest rate is attractive. A cashback feature might seem attractive if you're making larger purchases, but it's rare that a card's cashback rate will be anything like high enough to compensate for a higher interest rate.

If you want to finance a single large purchase and repay it over a year or so, then look for a card with an introductory 0% deal on purchases that lasts long enough to clear your balance before interest kicks in. Introductory deals of up to 12 months are now common.

Many people use a credit card's balance transfer feature to fund longer term borrowing. If this applies to you, then you have a choice between a 0% introductory deal or a long-term low rate. If you can see yourself paying off your transfer in the near future, then a 0% deal with a long introductory period is probably the best way to go. If, however, you'll be repaying your balance over a longer period, then a low balance transfer rate that is fixed for the life of the balance can be a good deal. Many such cards feature a rate much lower than other forms of unsecured finance such as personal loans, and you don't have to worry about finding a new 0% card when the introductory deal ends.

Most people use their card in a mixture of ways, and this is where choosing a card is more complicated. A low balance transfer rate might mean having to pay a high rate on purchases, or a card with a low standard rate might charge higher rates for cash withdrawals. Fortunately, there's a new kind of card that is becoming more widely available, which charges a simple flat rate for all use, whether balance transfers, purchases, or even cash withdrawals.

These cards often feature an attractively low rate, as there are no fancy introductory offers or reward schemes to pay for, and so they can make a very good option for the average card user.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer on financial issues for 1Stop Finance UK where you can compare credit cards and apply for credit cards online.

Lardo di Colonnata : A Tuscan Delicacy

Pork is a staple food of the mountain regions of northern Italy, where it's often said that a well butchered pig should leave 'nothing but the oink' behind. As a pig is typically around 30% fat, thrifty locals had to come up with a way to use and preserve this valuable source of protein, and the result is Lardo.

Lardo di Colonnata, to give it its full name, is a delicacy produced from pork fat in and around the Tuscan mountain town of Colonnata. Happily for fans of cured meat, it's not only a frugal way of preserving pork fat over winter - it's delicious too!

It's made in large vats known as conche, fashioned from marble quarried at the nearby 'white mountain' of Cararra, which are first liberally rubbed with garlic. Next, layers of pork fat, salt, and a special mix of herbs and spices are added until the vats are full. The conche are then sealed with a wooden lid and left in cool mountain caves for 6 months or longer to mature in the clean air.

After the maturation time is over, the conche are opened to reveal a silky-smooth, meltingly tender 'meat' which can be eaten in much the same way as Parma Ham or other prosciutto.

While Lardo is often used to keep roasted meats moist by placing a thin layer over the skin, it is also delicious simply sliced thinly and eaten with bread, olives, and a good extra virgin olive oil as part of an antipasto course. It is not at all tough or greasy, and is well worth trying even if the idea of eating pure fat leaves you a little apprehensive!

Despite the long years of making Lardo in the traditional way, most of the examples that you may find in your local deli or store will have been made in a much more industrial setting, mainly as a result of modern hygiene laws taking precedence over customs and heritage. Gone are the marble conche and the mountain air, replaced by stainless steel and air conditioning.

However, visitors to the area around Colonnata may still be lucky and get hold of Lardo made in the old way that has been proven over the centuries - just don't tell the authorities if you do!



Andrea is a writer for the Recipedia food and drink glossary where you can read about more Italian delicacies such as Bresaola and Balsamic Vinegar.

Get in Control of Your Credit Card Debt

Few people would deny that using credit cards can make day to day life more simple, reducing the need to carry cash and making it easy to shop online and by telephone.

However, spending with plastic can sometimes be a little too easy, as it doesn't always feel like you're actually parting with any cash. This means the temptation is to spend without thinking about the consequences too carefully, until you hear the ominous thud of a huge credit card bill hitting the doormat.

If you've been caught out like this, the size of your card debt may seem overwhelming, but don't panic - there are a few simple steps you can take to start getting your debt back under control.

Try and make a little more than the minimum payments:

The minimum payments required by credit card companies have steadily fallen over the years. Where once it was typical to have to repay a minimum of 5% of your balance every month, it's now common to only have to pay 2.5% or 3%. With repayments this small in proportion to your debt, a large chunk of each payment gets swallowed up in interest charges. Depending on the APR rate of your card, up to 75% of each payment could be 'lost' in this way, meaning that it takes a very long time for your balance to reduce to any great extent.

By trying to repay more than the minimum, even if only by a little, you can speed this process up, and in the long term you'll end up paying much less in interest charges.

Prioritize your card debts:

If you have more than one card with different rates of interest, it makes sense concentrate on the one with the highest interest charges. This means not just the one with the highest interest rate, but the one which actually charges you most each month, which could have a lower rate but a higher balance.

Check your statements to see which card is costing you most in interest each month, and try to focus on repaying this card first by putting any spare cash you have into extra payments while keeping to the minimums on your other cards.

Change your card:

The credit card market is very competitive, and rates have fallen over the last few years. You may be stuck with an old card charging an old rate that is much higher than newer cards. If you can get a new card with a lower rate and transfer your account balance on to it, you could save a lot in interest charges, helping you to bring down your debt. If you can get a card with an introductory rate on balance transfers then all the better - you'll get a few months of interest free credit which you can use to really drive down your balance as 100% of each repayment will be helping to clear your debt.

Debt consolidation:

If getting a cheaper card isn't an option or isn't something you feel happy about, then maybe a consolidation loan would be worth considering. If you take out a loan and use the money to pay off all your card debts, you could benefit from a lower rate as loans are normally quite a bit cheaper than credit cards.

The downside to these loans is that the repayment period might be quite long, and so even though your monthly repayments will hopefully be lower, you'll stay in debt for longer and so end up paying more in interest. Done carefully, however, consolidation can be a sound move if there's little chance of clearing your debt in any other way.

Watch your spending!

All the above strategies for getting your debt under control will only work if you stop getting deeper into debt - and this means stopping spending on your cards. Ideally, you'd cut them up so that you can't use them again, but this might not be realistic as you may need to keep them as a credit option in an emergency. In any case, cutting your spending to an absolute minimum will keeping your repayments as high as possible is the only sure strategy to clearing your debt in the long term.



The author has been writing on financial topics for several years and is currently a contributor to Card Sense UK where visitors can compare UK credit cards.

Credit Card Balance Transfer Fees

The idea of a balance transfer deal was introduced to the UK in the year 2000 by innovative online bank Egg plc, who offered customers a bait of 0% interest for six months on balances they transferred from another credit card.

The feature was an instant hit, and more and more card issuers began to offer similar deals as competition for customers grew more intense. Before long, it seemed that every card available had 0% deals of ever-increasing lengths.

It didn't take long for savvy cardholders to spot a pretty major flaw in the credit industry's thinking though. With so many cards offering 0% deals, what's to stop people from becoming serial balance transferers, moving their debt to a new card as the 0% period expires? And so the game of credit card surfing began.

People began to systematically switch their balances to card after card, and if they were organised enough to make sure their balance was moved off a card before the interest charges kicked in, then they could avoid paying interest on their debt for as long as there were new cards available to apply for. In effect, the credit card industry was collectively extending millions of pounds of interest free credit over an indefinite period - not a situation they either intended or appreciated.

People could take advantages of balance transfers in other ways, too. Some cards allowed a transfer to a bank account rather than another credit card. It was therefore possible to transfer the entire credit limit of a new card to a high interest savings account, leave it there for the length of the 0% deal period, and then clear the card balance and pocket the interest earnings.

All this added up to a major headache for credit card issuers - the tables had been turned, and their customers were now costing millions of pounds every month to support. This had to change, and so it fell to Egg plc to again introduce a new card feature : the balance transfer fee.

In May 2005, Egg announced that all balance transfers would now attract a 'handling fee' of 2% of the amount transferred. The charge would be capped at �50. Other card issuers quickly followed suit, and now most balance transfer deals have such a charge.

So what does this mean for credit card users?

Firstly, before applying for a new balance transfer card, check in the small print whether or not a fee will be imposed. This should be made clear in all advertisements and on the application form, but the credit card industry has a history of subtly hiding unattractive features while accentuating the eye-catching ones, so pay careful attention.

If there is a fee, make sure that there's an upper limit mentioned. While the maximum �50 fee may still, depending on the size of your balance, make it worthwhile to take advantage of the offer, cards with no maximum charge are much less attractive.

To sum up, the balance transfer game isn't as straightforward as it once was. There are still ways to save money by taking the maximum advantage of the offers available, but cardholders need to be more wary than before.



Michael Strauss is an expert writer on consumer credit issues, and is a contributing author for Card Sense UK, where you can read more about balance transfer credit cards and cards without transfer fees.

Can I view my bill at my bank's web site?

In a recent survey respondents said that they would choose a bank based on the ability to pay bills online over the geographic location of the bank. This is a significant shift in consumer behavior in that financial institutions in the past were chosen based on their location or proximity to home. To the business who is a biller this provides a significant opportunity to cut the costs of billing using a billing distribution network.

A billing distribution network gives a biller the opportunity to send a bill to a financial institution. As a biller you may be familiar with bill pay at the bank's web site, but not realize that you can also present a bill to one of your customers at the bank's web site. How can you the biller take advantage of this distribution network?

There are three major companies who offer distribution of bills to a financial institution. These companies will take a data file from you, the biller, and upload it to their network. After a bill is uploaded, those customers who are signed up with the bank's bill pay and presentment service are sent an e.Mail notification stating that the bill is ready to view and pay.

Customers who use their bank's bill pay service may have an automatic payment scheduled which means payment will be sent either when the bill is received or when the bill is due. This is an excellent benefit for customers who never want to be late with their payments and excellent for the biller's receivables.

Distribution of a biller's bill to all corners of the web also has a secondary or "off label" benefit and that is marketing. Millions of people search for e.bills offered using a "pick list" which means they go through several different companies looking for the e.bill from their company. During this search process they will view many different company names including yours.

Another "off label" benefit is the loyalty of customers who use electronic billing services. Surveys have shown that customers who use electronic billing or online billing are significantly more likely to stay with the biller's product or service over a competitor's product or service. The bottom line benefit of this customer is difficult to measure; however, the value of keeping a customer versus replacing that customer with a new one has been proven and validated as a more profitable and less costly.

Finally the savings from postage, print, and paper can not be overstated. When a customer enrolls to receive their bills online they either are told their paper bill will be canceled or given the choice to cancel their paper bill. A biller can save, based on national averages, $.75 per bill when a paper bill is moved to an online bill. This is a significant sum of money for any biller sending 5000 bills or more.

The presentment of a bill online will continue to grow in popularity. At a point in history many people believed that the ATM would not replace the personal touch of the teller, those same people would be the stiffest opponents if ATM machines were removed. Online billing is following the same course as the ATM and as a biller you have the opportunity to ride the wave.



Jeffery Downs is an experienced billing solutions specialist and an expert in B2C and B2B invoicing and EIPP strategies and solutions. He helps companies slash the cost of invoicing by using industry best practices. Learn more at www.bestpracticesystems.com.

Spinal Cord Injury ? The Afterlife

Am I talking about death here? No, I�m talking about life after a spinal cord injury. Why did I phrase the title of this article as I did? Because for many people who suffer a spinal cord injury, their first thoughts after being informed of paralysis, or wheelchairs, or a severed spinal cord, causing the patient to never be able to walk again, is indeed death. �Why did I even live?�



I know that was one of my earliest thoughts after I was able to understand what was going on. Once I regained consciousness from my three days of coma, by awakening to a breathing tube being pulled from my throat, I was advised that I had an accident.



Maybe a few hours later, it�s hard to recall exactly, I began to comprehend the great distress in the doctor�s face and voice as he communicated to me about how my spine was broken in three places and the bone fragments had severed my spinal cord, and as a result I would never be able to walk again. Maybe it was at that time that I first wished myself dead.



Now its twenty-two years later. I�ve had twenty-two years of using a wheelchair for mobility. I�ve had twenty-two years of �Afterlife.� My spinal cord is still severed. I still have paralysis from chest-level down (T-4 to be exact). I have multiple wheelchairs; a basketball wheelchair, a tennis wheelchair, an everyday wheelchair. Over the years I�ve probably had close to 10 different wheelchairs. All of the chairs, all of the catheters, all of the baclofen, all of the leg bags and tubes, all of the paralysis paraphernalia thanks to one moment in time of loosing control of my car, hitting a guardrail, tree, and house, snapping my spine in three places and injuring my spinal cord.



Wouldn�t it have been better if I just didn�t have this kind of after life and experienced the bog finale afterlife instead? Well, I can�t answer that for sure because I have not been able to compare the two side by side. But I can tell you that you can have a life and a rather rewarding and fulfilling life, if you so choose, even after a spinal cord injury.



� Michael E. Hylton, TheWheeledWorld.org, June, 2006

Getting a Credit Card with a Bad Credit Rating

Paying with plastic has become a common part of everyday life, with more people now using credit or debit cards than cash for day to day purchases. The rapid rise of online shopping means that it's almost essential to have some way of paying by card, but people with poor credit ratings have always struggled to get approved for credit cards. It's not impossible though, and there are ways for people with even the most impaired credit histories to enjoy the convenience of plastic.

People with mild credit problems or low incomes will probably not be approved for the most heavily advertised credit cards with the most attractive offers, but many companies operate a policy known as Risk Based Pricing. This basically means that their cards will offer a different interest rate depending on the credit score of the applicant. If your credit rating isn't good enough to be accepted for the card you apply for, you may be offered a different card with similar features but a higher interest rate.

Risk based pricing is a great way for people with some adverse credit history to get a card, but people with more severe problems will need to look elsewhere. Several companies offer a card specifically aimed at people with poor or no credit hostory, and market them as a 'first' or 'starter' card. The idea is to offer a card with a low credit limit and a comparatively high interest rate, as a way of allowing people to being to develop some positive history on their files.

While these cards are poor value in comparison to more mainstream offers, the acceptance rate is very high and by opening an account and keeping up with your repayments, your credit rating will slowly be improved to the point where you may be able to apply for a cheaper card further down the line.

People with more severe credit problems such as bad debt or a previous bankruptcy may find that even these starter cards are out of their reach, which leaves only one real option : prepaid cards. These cards, also known as secured cards, are not in fact credit cards at all as they need to be 'loaded' with funds before you can use them to spend.

After you've credited money to your account, the card can be used like any other Mastercard or Visa, with the important difference that you can only spend money that you have in your account - you can't build up a debt. This means that there is very little risk for the card issuer, and so acceptance is virtually guaranteed. The flipside is that the issuer doesn't earn money by charging interest on your balance, and so they instead impose a variety of different charges on the cardholder ranging from a small percentage of everything you spend using the card to a monthly or yearly administration fee. You may also be charged a considerable sum for even applying for the card, so shop around and check the small print carefully before signing up.

To sum up, no one would deny that a bad credit rating makes it harder to get a credit card or other plastic payment solution, but with a little searching, there are cards of some kind available for nearly everyone.



Nicholas Hunt is a freelance writer currently contributing to the 1Stop Finance personal finance comparison site, where you can read more about credit cards for bad credit and compare credit card deals.

About Basic Bank Accounts

Despite easier than ever access to personal finance services, there are still 3 million adults in the UK today who are completely outside the banking system, and don't have access to a bank account.

Many of these people are unable to get a standard account because they have a poor credit score, either because of past financial difficulties or simply a lack of positive financial history. While high street banks are always keen to deal with people with good credit ratings, they can be cautious about making credit facilities such as overdrafts available to people with sub-prime ratings.

A new kind of bank account was needed if the industry's government prompted goal of increasing financial inclusion was to be met, and Basic Bank Accounts were born.

Basic bank accounts, also known as starter accounts or introductory accounts, are a very simple type of account which offer little in the way of credit or ways for accountholders to get into debt. There is usually no overdraft facility, no cheque book, and no debit card. The accounts simply provide a way for money to be paid in either over the counter or by electronic transfer, and withdrawn by cash machine.

This lack of features means that there is little risk or cost involved for the banks, and so their approval rates are much higher. In fact, about the only people who will have their applications rejected are undischarged bankrupts, or those with a history of fraud or very serious bad debt.

So how can getting a basic bank account benefit you? Firstly, most accounts will let you set up direct debits to pay your bills, and this will save you money as many companies will give you a discount if you pay in this way.

Also, the government is moving towards paying all benefits and pensions direct into bank accounts rather than in the old way over the Post Office counter, and basic bank accounts will let you receive money in this way.

Finally, this kind of account can be a 'stepping stone' into other financial services, helping you to build up a better credit rating, and in the future to take advantage of other services available such as overdrafts and debit or credit cards.

Since they were introduced, basic accounts have been very successful, and there have now been around 5 million accounts opened. Both the government and the banking industry say they are committed to increasing this figure even more over the next few years, until ideally every adult has some form of bank account, and so we can expect to hear a lot more about basic accounts in the near future.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer at 1Stop Finance, and a more detailed version of this article can be found at Basic Bank Accounts Explained.

For And Against Debt Management

Millions of people are finding that their debts are becoming a serious problem, as the effects of years of easily available credit start to bite. There are also many companies who promise to solve all your debt worries, slashing your repayments and clearing your debt completely within a few years. Is this too good to be true?

First, we need to find out exactly what debt management is.

When you sign up with a debt management company, they will take over the servicing of your debts in return for a fee. Instead of having to keep up with all your repayments to many creditors, you can now make a single payment to the management company who will divide it between the companies you owe money to. This in itself can be a great weight off your mind, as the stress of keeping track of your repayments is removed, but a debt management program can offer more than this.

Your manager will contact your creditors and explain that your debts are unsupportable, and try to agree a new repayment schedule that you can better afford. They will also attempt to get the interest payments on your debt frozen, so that more of your money goes towards clearing your debt rather than just keeping on top of it.

In some cases, they may also be able to get previous interest charges cancelled, reducing the total amount you owe, but this will depend on how flexible your creditor is prepared to be. If the alternative to agreeing a more affordable repayment is bankruptcy, when the creditor will get no repayments at all, then most will be happy to negotiate.

So far, so good. Your debts will be reduced, your worries will be eased, and you can look forward to a debt free future. Of course, it isn't that simple, and you need to bear in mind the drawbacks of debt management before embarking on it.

Firstly, entering a program will effectively involve tearing up the credit agreements you've signed with your creditors. Even though you'll be agreeing new terms and sticking to them, this will leave a serious black mark on your credt rating. However, this might not greatly concern you - people with serious debt problems tend to have impaired credit scores already, as payments have usually been missed or debts defaulted on.

More seriously, although some charities will offer debt management at no cost, private companies will charge a fee which can in some cases be a considerable one. Beware of companies promising to solve your problems instantly - they may be trying to take advantage of people when they're vulnerable. Shop around to see what fees you'll be charged before signing up.

To sum up, debt management can offer a solution to heavy debt problems, cutting your repayments and relieving stress, but it has implications for your future credit worthiness, and care needs to be taken in choosing a company or organisation to sign up with.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer for 1Stop Finance, where you can read more about debt management and other ways of coping with debt.

About Dormant Bank Accounts

Banking experts estimate that up to �5bn may be sitting unclaimed in UK bank accounts that have gone 'dormant'. What does this mean, and could you be entitled to a share in this huge amount of idle money?

A bank account goes dormant when, in the words of the British Bankers' Association, a bank and a customer 'lose touch with each other'. What this usually means in practice is that a customer has either passed away or moved house, and the bank haven't been told and are unable to locate the account holder some time later.

If there are no transactions on an account over a period of around 12 months, the bank will write to the account holder at the last known address to ask them if they wish to keep the account open. If no reply is received, then the bank will change the status of the account to 'dormant'. This means that from now on, no statements, chequebooks or other correspondance will be sent out to the customer.

The money in the account will still earn interest at whatever the normal rate of that account is, and the bank will still keep track of the account balance and keep a record of the last known address of the holder.

There are two main reasons for an account being made dormant. The first and most obvious one is to save the banks the administration costs of sending out statements and the like when there is no activity on the account from month to month (other than that initiated by the bank itself, such as interest payments).

The more important reason however is to guard against identity fraud. If a bank continues to send statements to an address when the account holder is no longer there to receive them, it is all too easy for these documents to end up in the hands of fraudsters, who could use the sensitive information they contain to begin a campaign of ID theft.

Most dormant accounts will have very small balances, but some will inevitably contain a substantial sum, often those belonging to someone who has passed away. If you think you may be entitled to money held in a dormant account, you can make a claim by filling in a form available from the bank in question.

You will need to give your reasons for making a claim, such as that the account belonged to a close relative whose estate was passed to you. You will also need to prove your own identity, and your connection to the original account holder if applicable.

If the bank don't agree that you're entitled to take over the account, you have the right to pursue an appeal, where your claim is re-examined. If the appeal fails, you can take your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose decision is final and binding.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer for Onestop Finance, where you can find more information on bank accounts and unclaimed money.

Personal Loans : Is Early Repayment a Good Use for Spare Cash?

Reducing your overall debt level as much as possible is always a good idea, and is usually recommended as part of a budgeting plan. If you have some spare funds available, you might be tempted to clear your personal loan, as nearly all loan plans allow for full repayment before the term is over. However, there are a few things to bear in mind before deciding whether paying off your loan is the best use of your spare cash.

Firstly, loan providers make their profits by charging interest, and if you clear your loan early then you won't be paying the lender as much interest as you would if your loan went to its full term. Obviously, this means they will make less profit out of you, and so many lenders will write an early repayment penalty into the loan agreement to make sure that the arrangement is still profitable for them if you repay early.

This repayment penalty, also known as a redemption charge or a settlement fee, will often calculated as a percentage of the outstanding balance at the time you clear your loan, and depending on how early on in the repayment schedule you are, this could work out at quite a substantial amount. Check your credit agreement small print to see how much you could be charged, and see if this makes the prospect of early repayment quite as attractive.

If the fee is substantial, you could be better off by putting your spare funds to another more cost-effective use.

Most credit cards and other kinds of debt will charge a higher rate of interest than a personal loan, and so concentrating on reducing these first may be a better use for your money. By clearing your higher-interest debts first, your spare cash will be having the most beneficial effect.

Even if you don't have another debt to clear, you may find that there's a better way to use surplus cash than paying off a loan that features a high settlement fee. Investing in a high interest savings account or bond over the remaining term of your loan may earn you more in interest than the cost of a redemption charge, but when calculating this be sure to take account any taxes you'll have to pay on your investment return.

Finally, don't underestimate the importance of having a little money in reserve. If clearing your loan would leave you with very little spare cash, then an unexpected expense could push you back into the red. If this would mean you had to take out a new loan, then a new deal may work out to be more expensive than keeping your current loan to its original term.

To sum it up, paying off your loan is a commendable aim and to be recommended, but before you do so make sure that any settlement fee doesn't make early repayment uneconomical, that you couldn't better use the money to reduce more expensive debts, and that by clearing your personal loan you won't be leaving yourself too short of money and in danger of going back into the red.



Nick is a contributing author for 1Stop Finance UK, where you can compare personal loans and credit cards.

SEO - Building a Successful Website – The Basics

Content



Content on site is a must. The more pages of relevant content your site provides, the more pages the search engines will index. Index pages equal search engine saturation. The more pages of relevant content you provide on your site, the more of an authority you become to the spiders and bots.



Linking



This is another important way of getting your site seen. By trading links with other relevant sites, you reinforce your sites content, thus making your site "important". The more relevant the links you trade with, the more important your site becomes. If you are a gaming site trading links with a pharmaceutical site, you are not going to appear very relevant to the search engines.



As it sounds trading links is a link swap.. you post my link on your site, I'll post yours on my site. However, there are places you may "purchase" a listing without reciprocation.



Remember, the more friends a person had in high school, the more popular they were. Link exchanges are a similar concept. The more links you have (remember, stay relevant) coming into and going out of your site, the more �popular� your site becomes.



What's your Niche?



Narrow down your topic. �Computers� gives a Google search result (as of this moment) of 1,720,000,000... the chance of being found in that ocean of results is about a good as finding a penny in the Atlantic ocean. Narrow down your topic, get more specific. A search for laptop computers receives a Google result of 106,000,000 - that's better, but still an ocean. Get the picture?



Build your keywords around your niche. If you are aiming your site at light weight laptop computers, build your keywords around that... "Computers" as a keyword isn't going to be very helpful. Get specific.



Articles



Writing articles and listing them on free reprint article sites allows for other web publishers to print your article, with your author byline in-tact. Author byline would include a link(s) to your site(s). This gives "links back" to your site.



Become an Authority in your field. :)



There are also paid article submission sites. The more you pay, the higher in their site your article is placed.



Remember, basically what you are doing is offering your knowledge and free article for a link or advertising for your site.



Blog



A web log (later shorted to just blog) started as an online journal for personal websites, but have begun to infiltrate the online business world. They give a business a quick, easy way to update several times a week, daily, or even several times a day. Search engines like blogs because they are typically updated often. Therefore, they send their spiders to those sites that are most frequently updated.



There are blog directories to which your blog could be listed � free.



Keywords, Site Description, Title



Make sure each page has a relevant page title, relevant keywords and a good over-all description.



Search Engine Smarts



Search engines look for site relevancy. Each page must relate to the site topic/theme. Each individual page must have a specific topic. Where possible, name the page specifically for that topic. If your page is about Light weight Sony laptops, name it accordingly. Ex: http://www.yoursite.com/light-wieght-sony-laptops Note: Hyphens signify to spiders and bots separate words.



Make use of h1, h2, h3 tags header tags within your content pages. Why? This tells the search engine bots and spiders that this is keyword, a relevant topic.



Use title tags in any links and alt tags in all image tags.



Use CSS to style a page - this reduces clutter within the page code making it cleaner for the spiders and bots to navigate the pertinent information. Too much clutter and the spiders and bots are likely to hit the road.



Frames are NOT search engine friendly. They are difficult for spiders and bots to index, because of the way they are put together. If you want to optimize your site, ditch the frames.



Flash - it's flashy, visually fun, appealing to some... but it's a killer in the search engines. Spiders and Bots cannot read flash. If they cannot read your page, how do the index it? Again� when it comes to optimizing your site, if search engines spiders and bots can't read the file, why bother? Just because it looks good? Sure, ok� but if the search engines can�t or won�t spider your page, and you aren�t in the index, no one knows your site is out there, who is going to see it? You have a great looking site sitting there doing nothing.



Splash page - this is the page you come to that has a cool flash file, cute image, etc and says "Enter" (or similar). Re-read the Flash information and ditch the splash page.



WWW or not?



If you type �www.microsoft.com� and �microsoft.com� into your browser window, you get the same page right? We see it's the same page, we know, as site builders they ARE the same page. But search engine bots and spiders DON'T know that. They view with and without www as two different sites.



Why does this matter? If your site is out there on the web with both links, you stand the chance of penalization from certain search engines - they view it as duplicate content. Duplicate content don't typically get indexed, at least, not very high in the rankings.



The work around on this is a redirect, or an .htaccess mod rewrite. Tell your server to point to one page, either with the www, or without it. Ex, point to www.mysite.com and when someone types in mysite.com (less the www) it will automatically add the www to the link.



Is it absolutely necessary to do this? Maybe, maybe not, maybe one day the search engines will be programmed to view with and without www as the same. Until then, do you want to take a chance the search engines dump all your pages because they can't figure out which is the original?



Advertising



How many times have you moved past the first couple of pages when doing a search? Chances are, not very often. Yet, as a site/business owner, it may take forever and a day to get your site to the top 20 in a search engine for any given keyword. Are you ready to get your name out there NOW? Consider advertising on the major search engines. Google has Google Adwords, Yahoo has Yahoo! Search Marketing. Both will get you listing within the first couple pages, depending on your willing bid amount.



Newsletters



Now, you have visitors coming to your site. Is your site sticky enough to keep them coming back?



How many times have you been to a site you liked, wanted to browse more� so you bookmark it, never to return again. Life is busy, we forget. And you lost a visitor and potential customer.



Offer a free newsletter subscription. Entice visitors to join by offering free tips, valuable information, free products, etc. Once a week, or every other week, send out a newsletter to encourage and pull those subscribers to your site. They may turn from a newsletter subscriber to a customer.



Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Instructions for Making Crock Pot Handmade Soap

These instructions outline my steps for making crock pot soap and assume you are familiar with the soapmaking process.



Start with a good recipe. I prefer recipes that have a higher amount of liquid oil to solids. One of my favorite recipes is very simple: 60% Olive Oil, 20% Palm Kernel Oil, 20% Palm Oil. Run it through a lye calculator to determine the amount of lye and [distilled] water needed. I don't discount my water when making hot process.



I use a 6 1/2 quart crock pot. A 4 pound batch of soaps fits perfectly. It fills the crock pot about half full - giving room in the case of it bubbling up, but not too little an amount that it could burn.



First, measure water and set aside.



Then measure the lye into a separate container. Slowly pour the lye into the pitcher of cold water. Stir until dissolved. Set aside in a safe place.



Once I have my lye mixture set aside, I measure my solid oils. These can be put into the crock pot to be melted. But, it takes longer this way, so I generally put them into the microwave for a couple minutes until melted and then pour into the crockpot.



At this point, my crock pot is on low.



I recommend using a good rubber spatula to scrape the bowl - no sense leaving any good oils behind.



Next, I measure my olive oil - and/or any other liquid oils I happen to be using - and pour this into the crockpot.



Get out your handy-dandy stickblender and using low speed, slowly pour the lye mixture into the melted oils. Gently move the stickblender around, up, down, around, ensuring a nice even blend. If you don't have a stickblender, a stainless steel wire whisk works great too - just requires a little more arm power.



Once it has reached 'trace', I put the lid on the crockpot and turn the heat setting up to high. However, the first few times I made crock pot soap, I left it on low until I was confident in how it worked (both the soap AND my crockpot).



Now, I ready my mold, measure out any fragrance oils or essential oils and any additives I plan to use.



After about 15 or 20 minutes, I take the lid off and, using a potato masher, mash the soap around. It has a look of a vaseline texture; glossy, slick. It will have a waxy feel if you rub a piece of it between gloved fingers.



Add your additives, colorants, herbs, etc and mix well using the potato masher. Once that is blended fairly well, add your fragrance and mix again.



It is done! At this point, it's really soap. It only needs to be put into your mold. I do this in large spoonfuls, pounding my mold on the counter every few scoops to ensure it packs into the mold tightly. Once I have it all in the mold, I put a baggie on my hand and flatten the top - making sure to "squish" it into the corners really well.



Now is a good time to wash all the dishes. And you don't even need to add any soap! You should see some lovely lather from the soap you've just made.



I let this sit over-night. The next morning, I unmold and slice into bars to air out for a week or so. Once each bar has had time to harden, I bevel each one and it's ready for use, or sale.



My favorite crock pot soap recipe:



Rosemary Mint Handmade Soap

4 pounds

- 38 ounces olive oil (59.38%)

- 14.4 ounces palm kernel oil (22.5%)

- 11.6 ounces palm oil (18.13%)

- 8.7 ounces sodium hydroxide (5% discount)

- 17.5 ounces distilled water

- 3 ounces rosemary mint blend essential oils

- 2 teabags of Organic Peppermint tea



Disclaimer: Sodium Hydroxide is highly caustic and should be handled carefully and knowledgeably. It is the soapmakers responsibility to research safety procedures for soapmaking.

---



Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Prepare for New Baby with These Tried and True Items

Clothing



Plenty of t-shirts and sleepers. If you only want to do laundry every few days, figure around 4 tshirts, and 2 sleepers per day. This may be a bit more than necessary on most days, but there will always be the occasional day, or days, when baby is spitting up more than normal, or has messy blow-outs. You'll appreciate the extra tees.



Diapers and Wipes



Disposables or Cloth. In todays internet world, you will find diapers and wipes in variety of styles, patterns and personalities. The options are even wider for cloth than they are for disposables, can you imagine? There are some really ingenious designs that make diapering a baby's tush almost seem exciting! And the following within the cloth diaper community feels the same way. However, beware, you may end up needing to one day admit "My name is ___. And I'm a cloth diaper addict."



Can't talk yourself into cloth? No worries, the disposable diapers have come along way and while they aren't soft natural cotton and wool, they do keep your baby dry and don't leak.



How much of each? Only keep a couple jumbo packs of disposables on hand at a time. Babies grow so fast you aren't always able to guage how soon they'll be into the next size. Planning on using cloth? A dozen or two dozen would probably be a good start. What I've seen is cloth diapers are an addictive thing and you may end up with wonderful cloth diapers coming out your ears! Wipes? I always buy by the package and sometimes by the box. Making your own? A yard of flannel or fleece would probably yeild a good start.



Blankets



Receiving blanket. Those itty bitty blankets you wrap a newborn in, but after the first month aren't good for much baby wrapping. But if you, like most women, end up with a few dozen of them, they make great lap pads, burp pads, and for mom, use them to wrap your hair when you get out of the shower - they are light-weight so they don't fall over when you are tending to baby, or use them as a nursing pad when you are bra-less. They work just fine. They may also be used when baby is going bare - to catch any accidents.



On the other hand, a couple of really nice, kid-sized blankets are must have!



Sling or Carrier



The online mothering community has been inundated with every type of baby sling and carrier you could imagine, and then some! Padded to unpadded slings, pouches, wraps and carriers. These, like cloth diapers, may lead to addiction, tread with caution! But a good carrier is a must have. You even see mothers in the public eye touting their babes in slings nowadays. It's no longer alternative, having paved a path into mainstream.



Structured carriers are great too. Do some research and where possible, give one a test run. Some communities offer baby wearing classes and have slings you can test. Some online shops will even send you a used sling to try, reserving cost on your credit card - then applied back when you return the carrier.



Sleeping Area



Co-sleeping has become more commonplace practice, but it isn't always for everyone. Not to mention, some moms, even the attachment parenting mom would like a place to lay baby. Some ideas include a bassinet or cradle, a travel crib, a moses basket, or many others. This is something you may need to experiment with to find the best fit for you and the baby. Different stages of babyhood may require some changes.



Pad an out of the walk-way area of the floor with a couple receiving blankets and make a little nest for baby to lay. No extra expense.



Required Baby Items:

Car Seat



Unless you live in a walking/biking community, chances are you'll need a carseat. For safety's sake, do your research on this one. An infant seat is nice when you can take it in and out of the car easily while baby sleeps, but any secure, up-to-date infant approved carseat is great, necessary! Also, take note that not all carseats fit all cars.



Optional:

Stroller



Most mothers who "wear" their babies say you don't need a stroller. Strollers don't have to recieve use directly from the baby to be useful. It comes in handy to carry coats and jackets, drinks, purse or diaper bag, extra diapers, change of clothes, not to mention any purchased items on your outing. As an added benefit, it leaves mom pretty hands free - you get really good at pushing a stroller with one hand! If you opt for a stroller, choose one that has drink carriers.



Bouncy Seat



A bouncy seat comes in handy so often, that while I'd classify it as "optional", for myself, it was necessary. I loved our bouncy seat as much as baby enjoyed it. I carried it everywhere with me, to the bathroom for instance. It was a great baby holder while I took care of bathroom duties, did the dishes and cooked dinner. Baby and I would sing, talk and play while I got chores done.



Diaper Bag



Any bag with a couple pockets works well. The younger the baby, the bigger the bag needed. As baby grows and has less accidents (i.e. spit up, bottom blow-outs), you'll get more efficient at packing just what you may need. Don't go overboard on a diaper bag with all the frills. A nice canvas bag, decorated by you and siblings, works just as well. Toss in a couple gallon-sized baggies for messes, a couple of receiving blankets for padding and you're good to go!



Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Summertime Craft Ideas

Here are a few, easy to personalize, craft ideas for summertime fun or to celebrate May Day, Mother's Day or a holiday weekend. All craft supplies are easily attainable from craft supply stores or online suppliers. While making these crafts is a fun family activity, some are available in pre-assembled kits, or already made. Use your favorite search engine for more information on various ideas � keyword suggestions are offered below craft each idea.



1. Terra cotta clay pot bird bath. Invert terra cotta clay pots, from larger on bottom and smallest on top. Add a clay saucer (the part the pot sits in to catch the drained water). A waterproof saucer is necessary. Set the clay saucer on top of the inverted stack of pots. Paint or mosaic the pots if you feel especially creative. For more bird fun, add a mister. Birds love to play in the water. Note: Make two similar stands and use one for a bird feeder.



Keywords: clay pot bird bath; clay pot bird feeder; terra cotta bird bath.



2. Plant and grow an herb garden. Include herbs such as basil, thyme, sage, chives and any other favorites. You'll have fresh herbs to add to your recipes all summer long. Herbs are easy to grow, making this an easy garden for kids to help. Take it one step further and create a "kitchen garden", including lettuce spinach, tomato, cucumber or other salad favorites.



Keywords: growing herbs; kitchen garden; easy herb gardening; gardening plans; container gardening.



3. Build a toad abode. Use a terra cotta pot and a rock. Invert a clay pot and prop edge on a rock. If you have a chipped pot, that would work great too and wouldn�t require propping. Paint and decorate to your liking.



Keywords: clay toad abode; toad house; frog house.



4. A handmade stepping stone. Personalize with stones, marbles, or other memorable items. Make the project a tradition. Mark the stone with the year and include items to remember the year; a key (house or car), a toy, etc. A footprint each year could signify the walk of life and would be fun for young children to mark their growth from summer to summer.



Keywords: stepping stone craft; handmade stepping stones; stepping stone kits.



5. Personalized necklaces. Letter beads (for names or initials), a few spacer beads, a charm or two added to a simple chain makes a lovely, personal necklace for any mom or grandmother. For fun, make matching necklaces one for mom, grandmother, and daughters.



Keywords: personalized mother's necklace.



6. Bookmarks make a great craft for rainy days. Get creative � use paper, dried flowers, ribbons, needlepoint thread. Use beads and charms attached to chain or yarn to create a �book thong�.



Keywords: handmade bookmarks; handmade book thong.



7. A decorated throw pillow. A pre-made throw pillow with light colored fabric, decorated with fabric paint. Fabric glue will easily adhere buttons and other small mementos. Start from scratch and decorate your fabric before making a pillow � tie-dye, iron-on colored pictures made with fabric crayons or reverse dying using a darker fabric and bleach provide many creative ways to decorate any pillow or piece of fabric. Another variation would be decorating pillow cases.



Keywords: handmade throw pillow; throw pillow craft; decorative pillow craft; fabric crayons; iron-on transfers.



8. A tie-dye party is fun for family or a gathering of extended family and friends. Supplies are readily available online coming in easy kits.



Keywords: tie dye supplies; reverse dying.



When doing a search, try searching images also. Often time pictures of an already made item will spark some creative thoughts.



There are so many fun activities to be done outdoors during nice weather. For more ideas, or to submit your own, visit http://www.mommamuse.com/2006/04/21/summertime-craft-ideas/ .



Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Vitamin K and B-3 Beneficial to Skin

Vitamin K and Vitamin B-3, also known as niacin, have long been known to have non-skin related health benefits, but recent studies have shown that both vitamins have dermatological applications.



�Vitamins continue to be reorganized as having an important role to play in the health of the body,� says Dr David Smith, chief researcher at Skin White Research Labs. 'New studies have shown that Vitamin K and niacin are beneficial to the skin, particularly for the problems involving pigmentation and dry skin.�



Vitamin K plays an important role in blood clotting, and studies have shown it to maintain strong bones in the elderly. However, dermatologists have recently found Vitamin K to be successful on the treatment of dark circles under the eyesand bruising on the face.



A recent study included two groups, one that applied an under-eye cream containing sunscreen and another that applied an under-eye cream containing a combination of Vitamin K and retinol. An examination of the under-eye colour at the beginning of the study and at the end found a significant lightening in the group using the vitamin K and retinol combination.



Vitamin K has also recently been studied for its effects on reducing bruising following certain dermatological procedures. Those patients who applied the Vitamin K after the procedure noticed a significant reduction in the severity of bruising.



One derivative of niacin, nicotinamide, has been shown to improve the ability of the epidermis to retain moisture. In a recent study, topical nicotinamide was applied to the skin for six-days. Following the study, all patients reported softer, smoother skin, less dryness and flakiness, and a reduction in lines.



�The benefits to the skin after application of nicotinamide can be useful for patients with atopic dermatitis, who often experience dry, irritated skin when the disease flares,� suggests Dr Smith. �This could be another promising treatment for ageing skin, which often becomes dry and flaky as we age.�



Niacinamide, another derivative, has also been shown to be an effective skin lightening agent, especially for skin condition where hyperpigmentation may occur on the face or other visible part of the body. Patients with hyperpigmentation were analyzed by computer and most patients experienced decreased hyperpigmentation and increased skin lightness.



Topical niacinamide has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it a potential treatment for acne, rosacea and any blistering-type disease. Recent studies also noted that niacin and its derivatives have chemopreventative effects. When applied to mouse skin, topical nicotinamide produced a 70 per cent decrease in ultra-violet-induced skin cancer.



Article contributed by Debra Tan who is a senior product development consultant at Skin White Research Labs. Equipped with a team of experienced cosmeceutical researchers, SkinWhite Research Labs is a company that specializes in the formulation of skin whitening products that help to rectify dark skin and pigmentation problems. Please visit their official website for more skin lightening information and tips.

County Court Judgements Explained

Having a County Court Judgement or CCJ issued against you will have a severe impact on your credit rating, as it signifies that you have had serious problems paying back a loan or other form of credit, to the extent where your creditor has had to take court action against you to try and recover the debt.

If you get into arrears and fail to come to a repayment agreement, your creditor may decide that pursuing a CCJ is the only option. The first you'll hear about it is when you receive a 'Claim Form' through the post, sent to you by the county court. This form will set out the details of the claim, including who the creditor is and how much they say you owe them.

If you were unaware of the debt, for instance if you'd moved house and lost contact with the creditor, then repaying the full debt now will stop proceedings going any further. If however you can't clear the debt, then you should fill out an 'Admissions Form' which will also have been sent to you.

This form asks for information about your income and expenses, which the court will take into account when hearing your case. The Admissions Form should be returned within 16 days of the postmark it holds, although if you intend to dispute or defend the claim then you can apply to have the hearing delayed an extra 14 days in order to prepare your defence.

Once you've filled in these forms and returned them to the court, there will be a simple hearing carried out in private. You don't have to attend the hearing so long as you've completely filled in the necessary forms, or unless you wish to dispute aspects of the claim.

At the hearing, the court will objectively review the claim and the information you've provided, and come to a decision about the amount of money (if any) you owe, and how it should be repaid. It's important to note that no one is being found 'guilty' or 'innocent' here, the court is simply trying to fairly resolve a civil financial dispute.

If the decision upholds the claim against you, then the court order or CCJ is issued. Even at this stage you can stop the damage to your credit record, as you'll have one month from the date of the court hearing to repay the debt in full to stop the CCJ being put on record.

After a month, the CCJ will be entered on to the Register of County Court Judgements, and from there it will make its way onto your credit files held by the various credit reference agencies.

The presence of one or more CCJs on your credit file will effectively close off most kinds of finance to you, as most lenders will be very reluctant to advance credit to people in these circumstances. Once, however, you've cleared the debt, then the judgement will be marked as 'satisfied', and while this will not remove it from your record it is a lot less harmful to your credit worthiness than an uncleared CCJ.

If you have a CCJ on your record, you might be tempted by companies promising to remove it and clean up your rating. Unfortunately, this is only feasible in a few cases. Sometimes, the CCJ is entered on to your record by mistake even though you cleared the debt within the one month time limit. If this has happened then you have the right to have it removed from your records.

The only other ways to have a CCJ removed is to show that there was something wrong with the way in which the judgement was awarded. If, for example, you didn't receive the initial Claim Form, and you were unaware of the proceedings, then you didn't have the chance to defend yourself and so the judgement is invalid.

In these circumstances, you can apply to the court to 'set aside' the judgement and it will be removed from your file, with the whole process starting again with a new claim and hearing. Any attempt to gain a 'set aside' without a reasonable argument could be seen as wasting the court's time, with all the legal penalties that would entail.

If you receive a Claim Form through the post, it's important not to panic. Although a CCJ against your name is harmful to your credit rating, it isn't a criminal matter and won't lead to further action such as repossession of your home or bankruptcy. The CCJ procedure is there so that the court can help to resolve your debt in a way that is fair to both you and your creditor.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer at 1Stop Finance, where you can read more about CCJs and other aspects of bad credit finance.

Payday Loans : For and Against

While payday loans have long been popular in the USA, they are a relatively new service for UK customers, and many people aren't sure exactly what they are. With all the controversy over whether they're a worthwhile service or simply a form of legalised sharking, it's a good idea for any UK resident thinking of applying to know exactly what they're getting into.

Most of us struggle for money towards the end of the month to some extent, and have to tighten our belts a little by cutting down on socialising or other forms of non-essential spending. This is a perfectly normal (if annoying!) fact of financial life for most of us who are employed and get paid once a month. Sometimes however, running out of money can be more serious than this if there are essential expenses to be paid such as an unexpected bill or repair cost.

Many people use the overdraft facility of their bank accounts to give them a bit of leeway when funds are short, but in today's world many people are permanently overdrawn and near their limits, so this may not be an option.

An alternative way of tiding you over until your next salary is to use a credit card, both for purchases and cash withdrawals. There are several problems with this, including the fact that credit cards are an expensive form of borrowing, and it's tempting to build up a large balance which can have a disastrous effect on your long term financial health.

If neither of the previous two options are right for you, then a payday loan may be worth considering. Briefly, these loans are available to nearly everyone with a bank account and a debit card, and who is in regular employment. When you take one out, the lender will transfer the amount you ask for directly into your bank account, usually within 24 hours of your application being approved. During your application you will have supplied your debit card details, and the loan company will use these to automatically repay your loan on your next pay day, along with their fees.

And therein lies one of the main problems with payday loans - the fees.

This kind of credit is notorious for being expensive, and eye-watering APRs of 1000% or even much higher are the norm. These APR figures are perhaps a little misleading, as the APR system is designed for credit with a longer repayment period than payday loans where the term is measured in days rather than years. Nonetheless, these loans are pretty expensive, with a fee of 25% of your loan amount generally the going rate.

The second major problem is that repaying your loan and fee is likely to leave you skint again at the end of next month, and it's easy to get into an expensive vicious circle of taking out a loan every month - which is when those high APR rates will really bite.

So, is there any point to a payday loan? Yes, but only really for a genuine emergency where there isn't an alternative. If you're using these loans to finance your day to day life, then it would be better to examine your finances and see where you can economise, or to restructure your debt using a consolidation loan or similar to free up some extra cash every month.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer to the 1Stop Finance money news and advice site, where you can read a longer version of this article on payday loans in the cash advance section.

Building bigger and stronger rugby players - the Sydney University experiment

It is widely acknowledged that the average body weight of rugby players has increased considerably over recent years. Less recognised is the extent to which modern defensive alignments and strategies have transformed rugby matches into contests of attrition where bigger and stronger teams tend to wear down their smaller and physically weaker opponents over the course of a game. Perhaps the most notable change has been the increased importance of physical dominance in the backline.



Responding to this, Sydney University's rugby club has been able to demonstrate that with the right combination of coach and infrastructure, it is possible to fast track the physical development of players outside a professional playing environment. In fact within a couple of seasons these players are able to achieve a body mass comparable to that of seasoned professionals together with a solid foundation of basic strength.



In late May, Sydney University announced its team for the first round of the Tooheys New Cup, the premier competition in Sydney club rugby. All of the fifteen players are past or current students who had been developed through the Club's Colts and lower grade teams. None of them are paid to play for the Club, although the eleven who are still students receive modest scholarship assistance. Only three of the players are on professional contracts.



It is instructive to compare their body weight and age profiles with those of squads from four major rugby countries, those of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. The average weight of the international teams varies from 101.2 to 102.9 kilograms while their average age is from 25.5 to 27.2 years. Comparative figures for the Sydney University team are 100.5 kilograms and 22.5 years.



It can be seen that the part-time, unpaid Sydney University players, though three to five years younger, weigh only a couple of kilograms less than the world's best players. This is quite extraordinary as normally a much greater weight disparity would be expected.



For the past three years Sydney University Football Club has been operating an Elite Development Squad (EDS) program for its top grade and colts players. Utilising one of the best equipped gymnasiums in Australian rugby, players train for eleven months of the year and undertake four weights sessions per week off-season and a lesser number while playing.



The program's strength and conditioning components have been devised and administered by Martin Harland, a sports scientist who has previously worked with professional rugby league, Australian football and basketball teams. His programs for rugby players place a high degree of emphasis on basic strength development and rugby-specific fitness. A distinguishing feature of his approach is a concentration on heavy lower body work through exercises such as squats, deadlifts and cleans. In addition, both backs and forwards make intensive use of the MyoQuip ScrumTruk, a rugby-specific apparatus that targets the large mass leg extensor muscles, specifically the gluteal and quadriceps groups. Hypertrophy or increased muscle mass is a natural and not unintended by-product of such training.



Another distinctive feature of Martin Harland's rugby training regimen is his requirement that backs undertake the same rigorous basic strength routines as forwards. Many strength and conditioning coaches reserve the heavy "grunt" work for forwards, or even restrict it to the tight five.



Exposing backs to very serious weight training has produced a quite extraordinary outcome at Sydney University, as evidenced by comparing the body weights of their forwards and backs with those of the Wallabies and the four Australian Super 14 franchises, the ACT Brumbies, NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds and Western Force.



Not surprisingly, the University's young forwards are outweighed by each of the five professional squads, 105.3kilograms compared to 109.1 to 111.1 kilograms. However, in the backs the situation is reversed with the University players averaging 95.1 kilograms as opposed to 90.9 to 92.9 kilograms. Thus the Sydney University backs outweigh Australia's national and provincial squads by between 2.2 and 4.2 kg per man.



If we look at the difference in body weight between backs and forwards it can be seen that for Sydney University it averages 10.2 kilograms, against 16.2 to 19.4 kilograms for Australia's professional squads, a very substantial difference.



The Sydney University experiment seems to be providing clear evidence that the body weight of rugby backs can be dramatically increased through serious weight training, but the question arises as to whether this has benefits in terms of playing performance.



One answer is that the other strength-oriented football code, American football, has traditionally used training methods similar to those of Martin Harland. All players, whether linemen or running backs, are required to do heavy gym work. No one would seriously suggest that their quick players have inferior dynamic abilities to rugby players.



Another justification for building heavier backs with superior leg drive lies in the already mentioned importance of physical dominance in the rugby backline. With the modern emphasis on structure and coordination in defensive alignments, bigger and stronger backs are better able to continually repel opposition attacks and also over the course of a game are likely to create physical and mental fatigue in their counterparts.



Having achieved a strong foundation of basic strength and greater body mass, Martin Harland is then able to focus on speed and explosiveness in his players. It is clear that the Sydney University approach yields results on the playing field. 2005 was the Club's most successful year, winning the Sydney Club Championship, the First Grade Premiership and four lower grade Premierships.



Even more importantly, players who graduate from such a program are much better equipped to withstand the rigours of modern rugby.



Bruce Ross is CEO of MyoQuip, manufacturers of variable-resistance strength machines including the HipneeFlex and HipneeThrust, and the rugby-specific ScrumTruk and JumpTruk. MyoQuip exports worldwide from Australia.

MyoQuip - variable-resistance strength equipment

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Submitted with Article Distributor.

Advantages of a Multilingual Website

You are a business owner and your have your website in English. It does pretty well and your online business goes pretty smoothly. You are satisfied with results, but you really want to grow your company and expand it internationally. Yet, your website is still in English. Why? Why not to change it? This article tries to explain advantages that multilingual websites have over conventional single language.



First of all, English is not a predominant language in the Internet any more. As the Internet grows, the more people from developing countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil gain steady access to the web. They browse websites, look up for information, and, of course, make purchases, lots of purchases! They prefer to browse websites in their own language such as Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Hindi and so on. Variety of languages is huge. If you can deliver your website in all of those languages. This means you will be able to sell much more to those new customers. There are plenty of ways to receive online payments to US bank accounts from foreign countries, and, therefore, merchants� opportunities for sales are big. Great buying audience is a first advantage of having a website in several major languages.



Second of all, if your website is translated to many languages, it receives not just many new orders, but it enjoys a bigger flow of traffic. Your website will receive more visitors per day, per week, per month. This is also great. If you know how to put this traffic to work, then you will probably use AdSense ads more efficiently and will receive more CTR and will increase overall dollar amount per day. More traffic means more clicks. Similarly, more clicks means more AdSense revenue. This is a second advantage of a multilingual website.



Third of all, Multilanguage website brings credibility to a company. Since professional language services are not cheap, having a website professionally translated to many languages brings respect to its owners. I am not talking about a cheap free machine translation of a website. I am talking about a professional human approach to translation when each sentence is conveyed to the foreign language correctly, when each image or button is translated well. All errors may hurt reputation of a company. Poorly done, machine translation may erode a company�s reputation completely. But thorough human approach to translation of a website may help to avoid such pitfalls and problems. Thus, credibility that can be established by a website that is translated to many major languages. Multilingual website brings credibility and respect to its owners. This is the third advantage of having a website translated to foreign languages.



Contemporary Internet shifts toward globalization. This word has strongly gotten to our vocabulary. There are new people coming to the web each day. Internet grows and matures. New laws are being implemented and old ones get challenged. English is no longer a number one language on the web and it will never be. English is even challenged here domestically in the United States of America where it gets a lot of competition from Spanish, Chinese and Russian. The future language will become a mix of languages and having your website translated to most of them will secure your small business in the long run and will ensures its steady source of income. Website translation is not an expense, it is an investment, probably the most cost-efficient you will ever make.



If you feel convinced about your website translation and would like to find out more about this, please visit our website for more information. www.translation-services-usa.com Translation Services USA is your reliable language partner for all your language needs.



Article written by Alex Buran of : www.translation-services-usa.com

What is the most effective way to build links for your site?

I have seen in many forums that nowadays website owners are little confused regarding link building for their site. They are not very sure what link building strategies they should adopt. Not to mention Google and yahoo heavily rely on quality back links. Content optimization is always a factor but these two search engines are heavily relying on volume of links and of course quality of links. A link back from a page where there are hundreds of links would not help you much. At the time of link building most people forget about the importance of link building. A theme based link back is more powerful than 20 non relevant link backs. Some times people reject link exchange request due to lack of pr of the link page. But you should know that relevancy is more important than page rank of a link page. If you get an offer for link exchange then first check if the site is any way related to your business? If yes then check its link page for (a) Number of outgoing links on that page (b) Does that link page has all kind of sites? (c) Does that page is accessible from home page ? These 3 are must.



We often get questions that our site is new, no one wants to exchange link with us. Yes it's a big problem for any webmaster. But think if you propose a link from some of your other websites to the webmaster then he'll certainly exchange link with you. But what if you don't have any other site, then how you can do one way link building? Many seo companies, including us provide this kind of service at very reasonable rate, you can hire those companies. Let's get back to the topic. There are thousands of sites for any category of sites you have. If you start gathering a list of relevant sites through search engine you'll get bogus data/ search results after you cross page 20 or more. So it's not a solution to gather sites from search engines. You should follow your competitor�s link backs and then approach relevant ones for link request. How you'll find link backs list of your competitors? it's very simple just use linkdomain:www.yourcompetitorurl.com in yahoo search to find link backs of that site. Then sort relevant ones for your site and then email those sites such a way that they should feel interested to your proposal. You should know here that one way links are many times more effective than reciprocal link building. So if you have other relevant site then you can use that site to propose a link exchange to your relevant sites. If you don't have any other site to propose link back then you can always use directory submission, Blog submission join forums to get some links to your domain.



Hard problem what anybody face at the time of link exchange if you don't have page rank on your proposed link page. 80% link requests get trashed because of "no pr" or "low pr'. After directory submission, Blog submission waits for next Google PR update. You'll surely get pr 3-4 if you have 100-150 link backs. Now when you have good Pr then start link building for your site. If you are going to propose a well established site be sure you linked back the site first. Otherwise they may reject your proposal. The process I'm discussing here is actually 3 way - for your site A you are proposing a link back to site B from your site C. So this is 3 way link building. This kind of link building is hard to get detected by search engines because they can't find a clue. But remember you should host your site C on a different server with different ip. For this different server and ip factor search engines can't detect the link.



But here is a big question - is it completely valueless if we do reciprocal link building? NO it's not. Reciprocal link building has value but not as one way. Search engines now understand that both sites have mutually agreed to show each others link to gain link popularity. But in case of one way it can't trace a link back. That's why it gives more value to those one way links. Why one way links are important? Think of a situation: can you ask Google.com or yahoo.com to place your link on their home page? No, if you even do they'll not place your link. But many web sites place a link of Google/ yahoo/ msn on their page. That creates the one way link for those domains. They are doing nothing to get a link back. When a site continues to get more and more one way links then search engines also start to think that the domain must be important so other sites are linking back. I would suggest you do mixture of everything. 1) Do one way link building 2) submit your site to free and paid directories 3) Make your own Blog and submit it to Blog directories 4) Use article submission.



Check out

one way link building deal from www.webpromotioner.com

Are Your Keywords Effective?

What is the importance of keywords in the search optimization process? Optimized pages help your site to be listed correctly in the web search engines. Effective optimization of your pages includes optimized keywords and keyword phrases.



Search Optimization Process includes optimizing the pages of the site you want to rank high in search engine�s results. Optimizing the pages includes optimizing the keywords and the keywords phrases.

What is the importance of keywords in the optimization process?



Keywords are essential since it will be used throughout the Search Engine Optimization process. The right choice of keywords will make it easier for your site to be listed on search engines. However, with the wrong choice of keywords, your site will be lost in cyberspace. If it is nowhere to be found in search engines, how will browsers find your website? So it is necessary that you choose the right keywords.



Finding the Right Keywords



Now, that you know how important keywords are in the search engine optimization process, the next thing to understand is finding the right keywords. In optimizing your pages, you must make sure that you are making the right choice of keywords. There are several tips to remember in the selection of keywords.



Tips in the Selection of Keywords:



The following are tips to be considered in the choice of keywords for your optimized pages.

* Put on the shoes of your target audience. Try to understand what your audience may be thinking of. If you are one of them, what words will you key in on search engines when you are looking for the particular page you are optimizing? In choosing appropriate keywords, consider your audience not your own decision. It is a fact that not all of them will have the same choice of keywords like yours. In coming up with keywords, try to think as many words or phrases as possible. You can even ask for other people�s ideas of keywords. This will help you come up with effective and related keywords.

* The selection of appropriate keywords and keyword phrases should be done on all the pages you wish to optimize. Each of the pages must undergo thorough search for keywords. This is to ensure the effectiveness of your chosen keywords and keyword phrases.

* Look for specific keyword phrases rather than keywords alone. This is to put distinction on your pages over the million pages on the internet with the similar content. Using specific keyword phrases will help the search engines identify your particular and specific product or service included on the page you have optimized. Your pages will have better chances of having high rank position in search results when it uses specific keyword phrases

* Check what your competitor website or pages used as keyword and keyword phrases. It will help you identify which words you should aim for, as well � especially if the competitor has a good ranking.



Keyword and keyword phrases selection is a skill that must be mastered in order to ensure higher ranking in search engine results. It does a huge contribution in the overall search engine optimization process. These tips presented here are some of the many ways to find effective keywords and keyword phrases.



This article is written by nPresence. For more freshly written website content and for all your web marketing needs, please visit www.npresence.net.

SEO Secret - Write and Promote

Webmasters will certainly do anything and everything to get higher position on the search engines, increase rank faster and get impressive traffic. By anything, I mean even paying a large amount for links and advertising. Don�t they know that there is a simple, cost-free and effective way to achieve all these? This is a traditional strategy that has been proven effective for years.



The process is not complicated; in fact, it is so easy that others disregard its worth. Writing and submitting articles is a strategy known by many but utilized by few. Articles add relevant content to the site. Submitting them to article directories is a great way to get inbound or incoming links. By articles, your site will actually survive the ever competitive internet market.



But don�t get too excited. It is not as simple as writing anything that comes across your mind. There are some tips to master in writing and submitting your articles. These are to be followed to ensure maximum benefit of the article strategy.



Tips in Writing and Submitting Articles

* Articles must be based on your target market.

As you start to write articles, consider your target market � their age group, location and race. In doing so, you need to do some research. Think of articles that will appear interesting for your particular target market.

* Write interesting, in-demand and curiosity-provoking articles.

The articles should stir your reader�s emotion, invite them to read more and drive them to hunger for more of those relevant contents mentioned in your article. To do this, you must write articles that are visually attractive, in-demand and with relevant content. You can visit online article directories to get an idea of what topics are interesting enough.

* The title should draw more readers.

The title is the first thing that your target market sees, so pour out all the interesting factors into it. It�s the title that pulls your targets into reading the entire article and later on, visiting your site. Remember that a boring title draws no one.

* Keep the reader�s interest high.

The entire article must be as interesting as possible. This is to ensure that readers will continue reading all the content. Keep the paragraphs short to avoid boredom from taking control.

* Sub headings have their own advantage.

Sub headings will help in the organization of the ideas contained in the articles. It also helps readers get the meaning of each paragraph and the entire article.

* Always include a link.

To maximize the use of articles as your web marketing strategy, always include a link back to your site. It is usually on the last part of the article. After your readers have read an interesting article, it�s good to tell them about you and your company. The link will be the gateway for them to visit your site and eventually be converted as customers.

* Proofread the articles before submission.

Who would be interested to read over a wrong grammar composition? Or a group of sentences connected but with no actual relevance to each other? It is important to proofread your work before actual submission; otherwise, no one would dare read your work.

* Submit and promote your articles.

What good are articles when no one reads them and what�s the use of using the article strategy if you are not going to submit them? The key to better traffic and higher rank on the search engines through articles is to keep on submitting them to numerous article directories on the web. Remember: submit, submit, submit!



Articles really do magic � if you consider instant traffic a magic! So what are you waiting for, start writing and submitting articles now and tomorrow, you are on the top of the search engines.



This article is written by nPresence. For more freshly written website content and for all your web marketing needs, please visit www.npresence.net.

A guide of Outlook Express backup

Most small companies and home users don�t need to buy an expensive solution for data backup. They can simply copy important files to a CD or DVD, and if an information loss occurs, they can get it back easily.

If it is simply to copy documents, photos and other files, not the same is for emails, attachments, address book, stationery and other related information from your Outlook Express email client.

This article will explain how everybody can create a manual Outlook Express backup copy (because Outlook Express don�t offer a built in backup function) This email program is usually installed with the Windows operating system and is probably among the most commonly used email programs today.



1. Backup email messages

In Outlook Express, emails are stored in files with DBX extension. The easiest way to find these files is to open Outlook Express and from menu select Tools | Options | Maintenance and click the Store Folder button. Here you can find the path to the folder containing your emails.

This procedure works for all kind of email: SMTP / POP3, IMAP, MAPI, or even the Hotmail Account (some messages might be stored only at the Hotmail server).

To save all your emails and attachments you should copy all the DBX files from the folder.



2. Account settings:

Details about your mail and news accounts are stored in the registry. To find them, start RegEdit and select the �HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager� key from the left panel. To save this data, from menu select: Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "accounts.reg".



3. Mail Rules

The Outlook Express mail rules are stored in the registry, in the �HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities� key. To save this data, from menu select: Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "rules.reg".



4. Address Book

The backup of address book is easy to do. It is stored in files with WBA extension. To find the location where address book is stored, you should open Outlook Express and from menu select File | Export | Address Book and select the comma separated text file as your output format. Click Export, select the folder where the backup will be saved and set the name for the backup file. After that click Next and choose the fields you want to include in your backup. Click Finish and your backup will be ready.



5. Stationery

The Outlook Express stationery location is stored in a registry key. To find it, you should open RegEdit, find �HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Stationery� key and look at �Stationery Folder� value. There you will find the path to stationery folder. To save the stationery, you should copy all files from that folder.



If you think that manual backup is too hard, you can use a backup software tool, which can make the job much easier. Outlook Express Backup Expert is one product that can be used to easily create Outlook Express backups. It can save your emails, attachments, address book, signatures, blocked list, mail rules, stationery, accounts and settings. The biggest advantage to use automatic email backup software is the schedule function, which will create backups at specified time intervals, without user action. The downside of using a automatic email backup utility is that it costs money, usually about 20-30 USD as one time payment, while the manual backups are of course, free.

The conclusion is that email backup is a critical operation for every user.



A free evaluation copy of Outlook Express Backup Expert can be found at: http://www.bodrag.com/outlook-express-backup.html



Dragos is the webmaster of the BODRAG website: www.bodrag.com/outlook-express-backup.html

How To Start Making Money With Affiliate Programs

An Affiliate directs potential buyers or targeted visitors to his/her merchant's website and earn commission when a visitor makes a purchase on the merchant's website. Here's how you can start you affiliate business:



Step 1

Open a free Paypal a/c. You need a PayPal a/c to receive affiliate commission.



Step2

Join an affiliate program. You can find an affiliate program to join from the below websites:



ClixGalore.com

An affiliate program network consists more than 3,000 merchants. Products you can

promote including retails goods, travel, software and much more.



Clickbank.com

The largest ebook store. There are about 10,000 affiliate programs for you to select in Clickbank.



Internet Marketing Center

If you are looking for high quality money making course for reselling to earn commission, IMC's affiliate program is your solution.



You'll get your affiliate links after joing one or more affiliate programs.



Step 3

3) Start an ad compaign to promote your affiliate programs. Advertising on Google is one of the top choices in promoting affiliate programs. To advertise on Google, you need to open a Google AdWords a/c at https://adwords.google.com/select/ to promote your affiliate program. Google will charge $5 to your credit card to activate your a/c. You can begin to create an ad campaign once your a/c activated. To advertise you'll need to write a text ad and bid on related keywords for top-ranking positions on Google search result page. Here's an example on how the bidding process works. Let say you are promoting weight loss products. You may bid on keywords like weight loss, reduce weight and many more. When someone enter the term 'weight loss' your ad will appear on the top right corner of Google search result page and you will charge on the amount you bid when the visitor click your ad. The higher you set your bid the higher your ad position on Google. If your bid is too low you ad may not appear on the first page of Google (may be not in second page too). And don't forget to set a daily limit or budget for the ad campaign.



Alan Liew is the webmaster of online4income.com which provides information, tips and ideas of how to make money online.