The Lady Programmer

When someone announces free stuff, it is often easy to convince others to get to try out such stuff. I got into VistaPrint and the most striking phrase that I read immediately was the section of free stuff that is placed at the top of the page. There are various offers of free stuff: free business cards, invitations, t-shirts and even custom websites are some great attractions that are given out for free, so the remaining expenses that will be involved would only be shipping and processing charges.

But there will always be other customers who have different demands – perhaps they prefer to have so many business cards or they might want something that is more than the quality of the free ones. The free offer can be a way to whether VistaPrint’s graphic and custom printing products is indeed a good choice. Premium orders may not free, but there are some special sale that is going on on some products – such as the discount prices that are slashed off from their business cards.

VistaPrint has all that is needed to make professional graphic designs that can be ordered. Take advantage of the site’s free offers and discount prices at this moment.

More Filipinos discover there are ways to make money online. The US and other developed countries had long harnessed the potential of earning online: this is obvious with the various income generating websites that are geared towards these geographical locations. Filipinos are still slowly getting aware of that the internet can be a rich source of income. Almost all of my friends are not aware that there are legit online jobs that really pay good income or even beats it. Many home-based moms even see this as a great alternative to pursuing work in the office.

photo credit: LeoSynapse(SXC)

A lot of my professional friends had not really understood the nature of what I am doing right now. I simply tell them went into freelance jobs in programming, web design and blogging. While I am currently upgrading my technical skills in Information Technology, paid blogging gigs is the main thing that puts food on my table. I simply said to my friends that I work at home. They are often baffled at how I do it and how I collect my payments from these outsourced jobs.

From blogging alone, I’m making a good income – not yet at par with the income of A-list bloggers that I’ve encountered in the blogosphere – but it exceeded the previous salaries that I’ve been receiving from my previous jobs. Blogging is enough for me to put such good income on my table. It is some kind of a regular stream of income that I can fall back when opportunities for web design and programming are not plentiful. If there would be someone who is looking for a good part time job to add to one’s income, then finding ways to earn online is a good thing to have.

I was just looking over Cisco Learning Network at the success stories of some people who decided to pursue a Cisco career. Some started out small, but they had indeed progressed in their careers. They had been proud to say that they had been involved in big successful projects. I got great respect for them as being the movers behind the force that powers the internet today.

To start a Cisco career, a Cisco certification is often needed to prove such technical skill. Learning everything through self-study techniques is possible with so many books and forums, but it is often better and faster if there are good mentors who are qualified in teaching this skill. A community of professionals can also help boost one’s moral as he goes along in learning the Cisco ways. Still, the Cisco Learning Network has all the resources to help a newcomer get his or her own break into the Cisco world!

Cisco is not for everyone because of the intricacies involved in understanding the technical buzzwords of this skill. This is all the more reason why getting a job at this level always equates a good compensation. But for those who really see themselves as the ones who like to make a bigger change in the internet world then this career could be worth fulfilling.

Finding success in one’s Cisco careers takes time, effort and a deep dedication and interest to this kind of job. Information Technology professionals are the ones who benefit well from this move.

I’ve been exploring ways on how to improve my Alexa rank on my blogs. For one, I followed the popular advice to install the Alexa widget and the Alexa toolbar. The ranking improved, from a 2 million to 1.5 million in less than a week. I could not really say whether it was from the installation of the Alexa widget and toolbar, because I installed Entrecard code at the same time.

What is Entrecard?

Entrecard provides an innovative solution in getting traffic to one site. It prompts other bloggers to visit one’s blog and drop his or her personal Entrecard. The Entrecard is basically a 125 x 125 pixel graphic that acts like a personal business card. It is like an invitation to visit one’s site. But it is easy to abuse the system – I had to admit, I tried dropping up to the limit of Entrecards of up to 300 per day – and I find it difficult to read (and even leave a comment) on all of the 300 sites that I’ve visited. For many Entrecard is simply used to put in more traffic in the hopes of getting noticed. Since everyone in the Entrecard community speaks and promotes his or her blog, it can be quite difficult to gain a loyal follower of readers.

photo credit: vivekchugh (SXC)

Entrecard credits is gained mostly through dropping and receiving Entrecards. When enough credits are accumulated, it can be used to buy an advertisement on another site – which means one’s Entrecard graphic is prominently displayed to entice another site’s visitors to visit the blog. Some sites are cheap, and others are expensive.

Get More Quality Comments and Build Loyal Readers

Entrecard has recently launched a partnership with SezWho just last week. I registered with this new service and installed the required JavaScript code and I was on the go! Although I still needed to work out the code (it overlaps some of the text here), I had to arrange the location of the SezWho rating after the post for another time because I do not have a fast connection to easily revise this site. Nevertheless SezWho provides the facility for any reader to rate my posts as well as provide ratings for each individual comment.

photo credit: giselaroyo (SXC)

It looks like Entrecard had successfully motivated their Entrecard members to earn more Entrecard credits by leaving thoughtful comments on the sites that they visit. Two of my recent posts suddenly gained more comments after the installation of SezWho. To discourage the members from leaving two or three worded comments like “great post”, comments that are written by the members are left to the community to rate. Poorly rated comments and comments that seem to look like spam do not get any credit at all. To be fair, after the community gets to have their share of rating comments, Entrecard has devised their secret way to provide the proper credit for comment points!

Responsible Blogging

Entrecard is strongly promoting their vision to see their Entrecard members as the best commentators in the blogosphere. This would truly change the notion that Entrecard is a mere kickoff to oodles of traffic that will simply improve off one’s Alexa ranking and other indicators. I hope Entrecard finally succeeds in making more bloggers do their duty not only by writing posts but also by visiting others. Better traffic and loyal readership is gained by leaving well-thought out comments on other blogs – and not by simply dropping a card out.

Since Sponsored Reviews had made the announcement to their members that 20% of their blogs in their system are overpriced, I took the time to rethink about the pricing that I had set on my blogs. The other blog was priced at $40 per review because of its PR4 rank, while this one costs $20 each. Since I was not getting noticed by advertisers, I might as well pull down the cost of my blogs.

It did not take a long while before I got the first invitation to write a post – surprisingly it was from an advertiser whom I wrote a post not too long ago. Yesterday I even got two more advertisers who invited me to their opportunities. Interestingly, the payments that I’ll receive from those three advertisers are double than what I normally bid.

I’m glad I took my own advice on the pricing and applied it.