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Three Important Principles You Must Understand To Burn Fat Faster

2010-07-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

By now, most people realize that building up lean muscle mass to your body does wonders for your metabolism and fat loss, in addition to furnishing a number of different advantages that help you live out your life as well as possible.

Regrettably, most people I see performing weight training or resistance training at the gymnasium are spending too much time exercising and not working intensively enough. They won't be burning a lot of fat this way.

The key I've found is that training for lean muscle and power requires the right application of 3 very important components that are frequently ignored by people trying it. These three elements are:

Intensity (Depth)

Quantity (Volume or Amount) & Frequency

Progression (Development)

The depth is how intensive it is for you to perform, given your current condition. The volume and frequency are how much and how often you usually do the exercise. The development is linked to how much the capacity improves from workout to workout.

Typically, weight training is carried on for too long and carried out too many times per week. It is regrettably handled much the same way as so-called fat burning aerobic exercise. Nevertheless they're vastly different types of exercise. In fact, they're full opposites.

Aerobic exercise typically is characterised by low to moderate intensity, high volume and frequency, and little progression. Anaerobic exercise, or weight training, should be performed at a high intensity, lower volume and frequency, and with progression, to be as effective as possible.

No quantity of weight training carried out at a low or moderate intensity will result in significant muscle or strength building benefit past the first few weeks. In summary, it is just the combination of sufficient intensity, coupled with attempting to increase either the number of repetitions of a weight training exercise or the amount of weight used every session, that will keep your body growing into the ultimate fat burning machine!

You also have be aware of additional details when forming an effective and efficient program to maximise your workout results and lessen your time spent in the gym. Why? Because even more necessary than the workout itself is the rest time that follows. You're not going to get more powerful or more muscular should you not rest.

You see, when you strength train right, you're creating very small injuries to your muscles. You then have to allow the body rebuild itself, after which it will overcompensate and build upon the already existing amount of muscle mass you already have. Should you exercise again before that rebuilding process is completed, you'll experience lackluster, if any, muscle building or fat burning results.

So ensure that you get suitable recovery time between workout sessions, which typically means a minimum of one to three full days of relaxation between suitably performed resistance workouts.

Now, upon being informed of the concept that you need to add muscle to your body to guarantee the utmost fat burning environment, a lot of people, women and girls in particular, begin thinking, "Hey I don't need to get bulkier, I want to lose some pounds!" That thinking is such a disgrace; as a result of that it's very unlikely to occur, and countless females are not obtaining these fat burning advantages due to thinking like that.

You see, most males and almost all women and girls simply lack the essential genetic traits required to produce such muscle gains that would cause them to look hulking or overly-developed to most people. These traits include levels of testosterone, muscle fiber composition, and others.

Those competitive muscle men we have seen on TV and in the magazines are the genetic cream of the crop for muscle development and they're typically on heavy doses of steroids, growth hormones, and other bodybuilding drugs. Don't be fooled by these photographs, or those that scare you into thinking this way. Furthermore, lean muscle is more compact than fat, since it takes up less space in your body, so you'll truly be getting smaller when exchanging the fat in your body with lean muscle.

Please understand that you just are putting yourself in the perfect situation to do well with your fat loss and health goals when you perform correctly conducted intense resistance training, irrespective of who you are.

However, be sure to understand and use the three vital principles I mentioned above. In case you don't, you'll ultimately be unhappy with your results, both in your ability to burn fat and to attain the lean, robust, and healthy body you deserve.

The world's best methodology for fast and permanent fat loss is the "Fat Burning Furnace" system. That enables people trying to burn fat while putting an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring cardio exercises, and the need for tremendous willpower.

Click to learn the 3 Vital Principles for how to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Faster.

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The Greatest Way to Fire Up Your Metabolism, Burn Fat Quickly and Create Lasting Health

2010-07-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

Ask ten people what kind of exercise they should be doing to burn fat and rev up their metabolism they'll usually all tell you the same thing. They'll let you know that it is advisable to do thirty-forty minutes of moderately-paced aerobic exercise on a treadmill, elliptical machine, stair climber, etc., for three to five occasions per week.

They'll probably also let you know that more is healthier... 4 times per week would be better than 3, and 5 times per week would be even better.

People will inform you this as a result of what's been and continues to be the conventional recommendation for fat burning by many fitness gurus. Get in a certain targeted heart rate and keep at that heart rate for a half-hour or so, a number of times per week. I am right here to let you know there is a more effective way.

Sure, you'll burn some calories when you're running to nowhere on a treadmill, however you won't make an entire physique transformation with this kind of exercise alone.

In fact, this kind of exercise can in fact be counterproductive to burning fat. Listed below are just a few reasons:

Lengthy duration, reduced intensity aerobics calls upon your stored body fat for energy during the sessions. While this may likely sound good, this will really cause your body to create extra body fat in reserve after the exercise is over to be ready for your subsequent workout.

What's worse, this kind of exercise when performed continuously as usually advised, trains your cardiovascular system to be efficient. Again, while this sounds good, your heart and lungs can actually scale back their capability for work as they are getting more capable at doing easy work (your lengthy duration, low intensity aerobic exercises), which reduces their potential to handle stress.

This can result in a bunch of different issues including a higher hazard of heart attack. You are only working inside your present aerobic capability because you're never pressing it to exceed what it's capable of. And something that is easy will not yield results even near to what's challenging for your body to achieve.

Instead, you should be challenging the body to extend its capability, so that it's stronger and in a position to cope with stress more easily. How is this carried out?

The fastest and most effective approach to fire up your metabolism, burn fat faster, and develop lifelong health and fitness is to add lean muscle to your physique through resistance training -- period. You must have life changing results in the most rapid doable time. Get stronger and develop some muscle. If you add lean muscle to your body you'll be literally turning your body right into a fat burning machine!

Let's assume that you simply have been consuming the quantity of calories that allow you to maintain your current body weight, however you started to add lean muscle to your body by proper resistance training... you'll need to use some of those calories you're consuming to feed the brand new muscle, making a calorie deficit in your body.

As well as, once you stimulate your body with proper resistance training such as I teach my students, the repair and growth process will summon your saved body fat for energy. This calorie deficit combined with the repair and growth process will permit you to burn fat all day long, each and every day. You'll even get these fat burning effects while you're sitting round doing nothing at all.

Also, properly carried out resistance training really increases your coronary heart and lung's capability for work. By placing intense demands on your body, it is forced into being prepared for whatever you throw at it. This makes you extra resistant to cardiovascular difficulties that plague most people... even those that do aerobics frequently.

And the marvel is that I've discovered that you just don't have to spend much time in the gym to get the fat loss effects and strength and muscle gains that will create those results. You can really get it completed with 2 or 3 weekly workouts that take between 20 and 30 minutes, and even less time at an advanced level.

And it's easy to make this kind of exercise part of your life due to its efficiency. It'll assist maintaining you lean and fit for the rest of it. Muscle is the stuff that fat burning furnaces are made of! That's a promise!

The world's most effective technique for quick and permanent fat loss is the "Fat Burning Furnace" system. That helps people trying to burn fat while putting an finish to restrictive fad diets, lengthy boring cardio workouts, and the necessity for super-human human willpower.

Click to learn 7 secrets of Permanent Fat Loss, Health and Fitness.

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Pocket Rocket Pocket Bikes Fun

2010-07-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

Pocket bikes, often known as pocket rockets, are mini-motorcycles. They are smaller than regular bikes -- only 3-4 feet in length, and a couple of feet tall. A pocketbike may be either gasoline engine or battery electric powered. These miniature bikes -- pocket bikes, aka mini motor-bikes, are designed for adolescent children of all ages.

Mini-motos are NOT for driving on sidewalks, or even for street use. Off-road and empty parking lots are usually where they can be ridden. Call your DMV and your local county and/or city to look into licensing and where you or your children can drive them.

"Pocket Rocket" is a trademark claimed by Razor however that is the same thing as a pocket bike or mini-motorcycle.

Pocketbikes are surprisingly inexpensive to purchase and operate, so the considerations of significance are the places they may be ridden, getting them there, and safety.

Learn To Ride A Motorcycle Safely and Quickly will quickly get you moving in the proper direction and show you all that you need to understand to start using a motorcycle. Whether you need to learn to ride at this time or are just curious to know more, this guide is a must-read.

Click to find out more about pocket rocket pocket bikes fun.

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Why "Acne no More" is the Highest Selling Holistic Acne Cure e-Book in On-Line History

2010-07-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

Why Is "Acne no More" the Highest Selling Holistic Acne Cure e-Book in On-Line History, with Thousands of Satisfied (and Now Acne-Free) Users in 131 Countries World Wide?

"Acne no More" is the number one best acne cure book in the history of the Internet for a good reason: Thousands of men, boys, women, and girls of every age have completely cured their acne condition and gained lasting healthy skin naturally, without medicine, over-the-counter creams or internet "magic potions", simply by the use of the clinically proved, scientifically-correct step-by-step method discovered within this wonderful zits freedom guidebook.

Mike Walden, a certified nutritionist, health consultant and writer has not just dashed off yet another "pimples cure regimen" to push into an already over-saturated market. Mike's "Acne no More" can be more accurately described as an "Acne Bible". It is rather one of the most complete and precise programs to zits freedom you are going to ever read. What makes it so much different than other clear skin publications on the market?

To start with, it is not only a "acne clearing" or "skin care" program. It is a holistic acne treatment program. This will look like wordplay or just semantics to start with, but once you will have read just the first chapters, there will probably be certainly in your mind that pursuing "pimples relief" is not only the mistaken goal, it can be the explanation that you have been unsuccessful to stop the problem and maintain a "pimples-free inner environment". "Acne no More" shows you exactly why you must fix the internal problem that is inflicting your zits, no longer simply covering the symptoms or just getting some clearing, and then goes on to show you exactly the right way to do it.

Secondly, what makes "Acne no More" different is the amount of attention that is paid to every element required to achieve permanent freedom from zits signs and from hormonal and toxic overload disorders. "Acne no More" not only completely discusses the myths, lies and fallacies surrounding a tremendously confusing matter, it's simply probably the most detailed e-book discussing acne, blackheads, and hormonal health and internal balance ever written.

The "Acne no More" e-book is a quite in depth (223 pages of solid material) which focuses on one hundred percent natural acne treatment. That means there are not suggestions for harsh prescribed drugs with bad side-effects. In the "Acne no More" core method section ("The 5 pillars"), nothing is held back. In this section, Mike gives a detailed overview of each step, after which he dives into the specifics in a perfect chronological order. There are also exceptional charts and checklists which make it very easy to understand where you're at in the system and to practice it.

Since the "Acne no More" program is not just a snappy "fairy story" treatment but a complete holistic answer aimed at eliminating the root cause of zits and digestive issues (regardless of their severity) and making sure you're going to permanently be acne-free, it does take work and patience to accomplish. "The dictionary is the one place where success comes before work", says Mike, as he emphasizes the "no quick-fix" philosophy forming the basis of the entire book.

If there is any downside to the "Acne no More" e-book, it's that it contains so much knowledge that a few readers might find it a little bit intimidating. People who find themselves searching for a simplistic form of acne program may well be a little intimidated at first. The nice thing, on the other hand, is that even a majority of these readers can feel assured that it is going to be definitely worth the attempt. This is because this will literally be the last e-book they ever have to buy on the subject.

Who will benefit most from "Acne no More"?

In the broadest sense, everyone and anyone who needs to cure their acne and regain their natural internal balance will get value from "Acne no More". This book is honestly for everyone. Even people without acne. It is an overall well-being rejuvenation program better than 99% of the nutrition and alternative well being books out there on the market.

In relation to graphic design, "Acne no More" is a clean and professionally laid-out PDF eBook. It's well organized and perfect for printing out and studying in comfort at home.

This valuable and distinctive publication has revolutionized many lives and the tons of inspiring testimonials and successes that will be found at the "Acne no More" website online testimonials pages are proof.

The Bottom line

Anybody on the lookout for an instant strategy to cure pimples, anybody looking to be told fairy-stories, and any person looking for a "magic lotion", pimples tablets, over the counter, "zits freedom in 5 days" hyped up programs should not waste his or her time with "Acne no More".

On the other hand, someone in search of the reality about zits and his natural inner balance and who's ready and willing to do some work and make some lifestyle adjustments vital to achieve acne freedom, will find "Acne no More" to be one of the best investments they ever made in their lives.

Click here to discover more about Mike Walden's "Acne no More" Acne Cure.

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Seeing Is Believing If You Want To Burn Fat - Or Is It?

2010-07-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

As with a quite a lot of the stuff we do our lives, we depend heavily on our eyesight as a major factor in determining whether we believe something or not. And this is, sorry to say, the situation in attempting to burn fat also. What's the old cliché? A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

When we eyeball that photo of that hunk or hot babe on the cover of the latest fat loss or fitness book, something takes place. We get jazzed. We may even get really jazzed!

Sorry to say, this is something that many in the fitness business are counting on. They know this and exploit it to their huge advantage. The process is straightforward: Put a hot body girl or a super-looking in-shape guy on a product or package cover and it will sell like hot cakes. The vendors don't even have to tell you that you'll look like that girl or guy -- they already know your subconscious will believe it will happen. When you're desperate to burn fat, this is a simple game for the fitness industry to play.

And, of course, a few weeks later if the plan or product doesn't work, you will probably begin to lose hope and start to understand that it's going to be hard to sustain the unrealistic and overly harsh rules. You've got a life, right? Sure, you would like to lose fat, but you have a job or career, perhaps a family, and other interests in life. Now, a fat burning workout is great, but I know you don't need to devote every waking hour for the remainder of your life in the gym!

This all happened to me many times as a young man. I wasn't pleased with my body, wanted to burn fat, and was searching for the most efficient way to get trim, tough, and healthy, but while not devoting so much time in the gym, or having to follow extreme diet plans for months or years.

After more than a decade of experimenting on myself, friends, relatives, and strangers, I assembled some of the techniques that I discovered to work best at burning fat and taking the least amount of time, for myself and others that I worked with. Now, what led me to do this was an incredible amount of frustration I know thousands of others are experiencing right now.

Why? To answer that, I want you to be aware of the psychological factors of what we are confronting in the world of health and fitness.

What do you call doing the same thing over and again and looking for a different result? The answer is: Insanity. In some ways, the fitness industry is making you insane in your quest to burn fat and get a lean, strong, and healthy body. Their promises are too good to be true and often they can't really provide them. They are over-promising and under-delivering in many cases.

It's a big mental game that the fitness industry is playing with us, and it dates back to our childhood. When we were youngsters, we were all taught in school that we could do anything we wanted to do when we grew up. Your parents may have even told you that you can get anything you need if you just believe in it firmly enough. I know mine did.

While this can supply immense inspiration in life's pursuits, it can also be used against you by others, and without you knowing. You are largely a product of your genetic makeup. Just as David Spade could never play in the NFL, a female? like Rosie O'Donnell could never really model for Victoria's Secret.

The truth is that those people can lose fat and get in the best shape they've ever been in, but their genes are responsible for much of what they end up looking like when in that best shape. But this isn't what the fitness gurus will usually tell you -- they need you thinking that anyone can look like a genetic freak of nature if you just keep following their plans.

Please know that I am not telling you that you are doomed by your genes. Anyone can make terrific improvements in their physiques with proper exercise and nutrition habits. It's when we start comparing ourselves to the guys or gals in the infomercials that we get into problems, and get lost in that continuing circle of sensationalism and hype all too prevalent in fitness and fat burning these days.

As I mentioned before, you've got other things to do. You're a busy person. We all are. We live in a hectic world, the information age, where we have so many tasks to complete and so little time to complete them. I don't know about you, but I find myself attempting to cram everything I do into those few hours between getting up and going to bed. It's not easy.

Then come along the fitness gurus telling you that to lose fat and get into great shape you've got to work out every day or close to it. You need to do aerobics to burn fat, many times a week. You've got to weight train several other days a week, so that you are literally working out 5-6 days a week. If you want it, you've got to do it, they say.

I'm telling you that nothing could be further from the truth! Many of these programs also will tell you that you've got to stick to some crazy diet to burn fat. This might include cutting all or most of your carbs, gulping loads of supplements or magical weight loss drinks. Then, when the programs don't work, they'll tell you that we're all different and that you've got to discover what works right for you. Wait a minute -- weren't they just telling you that their plan promises the physique in the infomercial?

What they are doing is keeping you in that fitness insanity that I talked about earlier. They keep you doing the same thing (trying the next hot product or diet and workout regimen) and promising the same super fat burning results. If the plan doesn't work, they push the next great thing. And too many people go on to that next magic product or promise and the fitness industry uses this to their benefit!

Unfortunately the fitness industry, in many ways, has become a cycle of hype and sensationalism. Sure, there are some conscientious trainers and pros out there, but even some of them are being controlled by the fitness center owners, magazine publishers, and supplement companies. That's where the money is! Even if they are attempting to help you, they can become unintentional victims to the system.

They advertise their programs, products, and diets by showing the cream of the crop in the genetic gene pool. If it worked for that guy or gal with the awesome figure or build, it will work for you, right? I fell for it, too, many times, until I did some serious research and experimentation as I mentioned before.

Finally, I awakened and determined for myself the secrets and techniques that few people are aware of. Strategies that will never dominate the fitness industry's general recommendations because they are unpopular with the people that control the industry.

Why? Because these techniques of mine won't sell loads of silly exercise gimmicks, gizmos, or magical potions. Fat Burning Furnace students are educated in the proper application of brief, progressive, and intense weight training, eating a diet comprised of nutrient rich foods, drinking gallons of water, and getting lots of quality sleep and relaxation.

But your subconscious mind is powerful, and you have to be careful. Even today, I can get sucked in to a compelling late night TV ad, even though I know better. So we've got to stay on guard.

If people would pay more attention to proven principles like those in the Fat Burning Furnace program, and devote less time to the latest "fab ab cruncher" being sold, we'd all be healthier, leaner, stronger, and happier for it. And we'd also be burning a heck of a lot more fat in the process.

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The world's most effective system for fast, permanent fat loss is the "Fat Burning Furnace" method which aids those looking to put an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring aerobic workouts, and the need for super-human willpower, for good.

Click to discover 7 secrets to Avoid Fat Loss and Weight Loss Methods Confusion

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Caught in a Circle of Fat Loss and Health Confusion?

2010-07-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

As a member of a popular fitness center for a few years, I noticed countless others discouraged with their fat burning exercise programs and dietary eating practices, and with their working out so hard and long with virtually no results to show for it.

Several of my own friends and relatives would talk about this new program or product they had just shelled out cash for that was going to be the key to their fat loss or fitness goals. They were so thrilled about it and couldn't wait to get started.

Then, several weeks later, the same optimistic folks who were once so excited about their new plan to burn fat and get a new body became thoroughly depressed. It was difficult to see.

I'd ask them how their fat burning strategy was functioning and they'd tell me that it appeared fairly good at first, but they didn't get the results they felt were promised them. They quickly became tired of following the daily regime and discovered that following the harsh eating rules exasperating at times. So they switched onto the next plan.

Even worse, they became so annoyed with following these fitness gurus' plans, that they fell even deeper into detrimental eating routines once they ceased using the plan. Stuffing became their only form of satisfaction. That's the wrong route away from maximum fat burning.

What's worse is that these people were following the normally recommended exercise and fad diets that were so popular. They were attempting what everyone else was trying in order to take off fat fast.

After speaking with a lot of these people and asking them about their exercise routines, I noticed one common premise that kept popping up in our conversations... they were focused on the short term... their emphasis was wrong. They weren't thinking of lifelong health and fitness, but instead they were talking about burning fat and getting in shape for a wedding or "swimsuit season".

And, basically, they were also doing their exercise in a less than optimal manner. And then I also noticed this with many others at the gym I worked out in. They just appeared to lack the fire or intensity in their calorie burning regimes which I knew could turn their routines from nothing to something literally overnight.

But you know, you can almost not blame them, and you definitely shouldn't blame yourself if you've fallen into the cycle of trendy exercise and diet programs. We all want to accomplish what we know in our hearts we're capable of so badly, and that's why we're such easy prey to this "get fit quick" mindset.

Most people are approaching health and fitness in the exact opposite way that they should, and they're not going to burn fat because of it. If you continually think of using nutrition and exercise as ways to drop a couple of pounds, or to get in shape for summer or a wedding, you're going to be frustrated with your results.

If you think of nutrition, exercise, and rest as unrelated things, you're going to be dissatisfied with your fat burning and fitness results. If you think you must spend hours a week in the gym or follow some strange weird eating strategy, you're going to be frustrated with your results.

What all of these old approaches do is put you into the fat burning and fitness cycle of confusion that so many are trapped in today. If instead, you choose to forget what you thought you knew, and re-start with the proper strategy, with the approach that concentrates on making changes in your daily life long term, you'll immediately improve your results by an order of magnitude.

When your methodology includes combining correct exercise that takes very little of your time, nutrition the way nature intended you to eat that is straightforward to grasp and follow, and the rest and healing that is most important to lasting vigor and energy, you'll experience an awakening of both mind and body. Plus you'll lose more fat, as well.

If you choose the path followed most often by those seeking to improve upon them selves, you'll most likely end up like most of them. Befuddled, aggravated, dejected, burnt out, injured, sick, or worse. Did I mention very discontented with their fat burning results in addition?

Instead, you can decide to adopt a lifestyle that includes brief, progressive, and intense resistance training, eating a diet filled with nutrient rich foods, drinking lots of water, and getting plenty of quality sleep and rest. But understand that when you do, you'll be joining the select few who understand that one of the true keys to life long fitness and fat burning is not found on a fad diet or on the shelf of your local health foodstore.

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The world's most efficient system for fast, permanent fat loss is the "Fat Burning Furnace" system that helps people looking to put an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring aerobic routines, and the need for super-human self-discipline, for good.

Click to discover 7 secrets of Permanent Fat Loss, Health and Fitness.

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The Total Chaos That Prevails in Fat Loss and Fitness Schemes Today

2010-07-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Many worried about their weight are confused more than ever about how to burn fat. They are bewildered about what might be the best method to proceed in achieving the shape they wish for. They are confused about what works and what doesn't, and the reasons why. There are countless individuals slaving away in gyms and fitness centers around the world this very moment.

They are working determinedly, practically every day, on the stair-climber, treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, etc., to burn the calories and fat. They also could be lifting weights several times a week for hours to develop some strength and bulk up. They might even join a few aerobics or spinning classes too.

They are probably also trying one of the latest diet strategies promising miracle fat burning and for losing weight. They could also be spending a lot of money on the latest and greatest dietary supplements that they are hoping could be that miracle pill that will help them to lose weight. They are also vigilantly watching the bathroom scale as their main judge of their progress in losing fat.

If their weight goes up a pound or two, they may behave rashly and possibly even revise their complete workout or diet program!

After all, this is the kind of stuff that a lot of the well-known fitness and diet gurus typically recommend to take off fat. But with so many various strategies and plans being touted as the be all and end all, what occurs is that we tend to go overboard.

And when that happens, we lose sight of what really matters in achieving and maintaining lifelong fat burning, health and fitness. We lose sight of the principles than many people don't even know about, that most people have forgotten, and that only a limited few utilize to attain lifelong health and fitness. These are the same principles that many people have used to drop 20 pounds, 40 pounds, 60 pounds and more of surplus body fat, keep it off, and revitalize their lives!

With any exercise or nutrition program, you'll probably lose some fat initially, but far too often the loss doesn't continue or doesn't come as fast as the person would like because they have a temporary outlook. They're only focused on the short term and one specific aim. So they end up switching to some other program, and the cycle continues until they've become consumed by this cycle of confusion.

This is one of the biggest, if not the main reason for the lack of fitness progress and fat loss progress that is being experienced by most of the exercisers and dieters in the world. They are jumping from one exercise routine or fad diet to another, while losing sight of what's really important, and what really works.

Simply put, they are working out way too much, not nearly intensely enough, and trying to adhere to impractical diet recommendations.

Instead, if they focused on a long-term strategy, that is, a lifestyle, and stopped worrying about "losing 10 pounds by summer", they would find it far easier to do the proper things most of the time.

And those right things include brief, progressive, and intense resistance training, eating a diet full of nutrient rich foods, drinking lots of water, and getting lots of quality sleep and rest.

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The students of the Fat Burning Furnace method understand this and are reaping the life-long health and fitness rewards because of it. Wouldn't you like to, also?

Click to discover 7 secrets of Permanent Fat Loss, Health and Fitness.

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Technorati Tags for SERP -- Useless?

2009-06-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I published another post: Technorati Tags - Useless or Just a Waste of Time?

Basically, I was rethinking the usefulness of putting Technorati Tags (TTags) on blog posts. Long story short, I have come to the conclusion that tagging blog posts with Technorati Tags (TTags) is BOTH a waste of time and useless.

First, both WordPress and Google's Blogger (blogspot) support tags (aka labels). So TTags is superfluous in that sense.

Secondly, using WordPress or Blogger tags or labels is better for YOUR SEO, SERP, whatever. The SERP benefit of TTags to us is minimal, if any. Consider that when you make a TTag and post and ping Technorati, your post will not show in their default index listings unless you have run similar exercises for them as you do for Google to get sufficient popularity. Then, even if you pass that test, your listing for that tag will get pushed down into oblivion in a few hours to days, as new posts by others using that same tag are indexed.

Finally, the TTags link to Technorati, not you. THEY get the Google "link love". BTW, Technorati supposedly indexes you regardless, tags or not, if you ping them. But who knows?

OTH, when you make WordPress tags or Blogger labels, the blog software creates another page on YOUR blog for that label/tag. You are getting internal links with the extra pages created for each tag. And Google gives you more love, the more pages you have, everything else being equal.

When someone clicks on a TTag, they are sent off to the Technorati site, where all your competitors are linked. When they click on a label or tag, they are sent to another page on YOUR blog. Another chance for YOU, not your competitors, to get a click to AdSense or an affiliate.

Now, MAYBE there is some benefit for you to use TT, but I don't know what it is. About the time that I wrote that previous post, I wrote to Technorati asking them of what benefit is it to bloggers to use Technorati Tags. Granted it benefits Technorati, as each tag links back to Technorati. Imagine my surprise that I never received a response back. ;)

And here is how I wasted a TREMENDOUS amount of time with Technorati Tags. I fell for the hype. So I actually spent quite some time writing a program to generate Technorati Tags and then went and laboriously added TTags to EVERY fricking post on every one of my blogs. Sheesh! Now, I am in the process of removing them and replacing them with tags and labels that do ME some good.

Disagree? Comments are open.

Court's Keyword Academy Login

2009-06-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Some have had trouble logging in to their account to view the videos on Courtney Tuttle's Keyword Academy Keyword Crash Course. This is a page (hopefully) linked to from a comment I left there. The reason for this post is that several complaints on that site area forum relate to login and getting access to the videos. I had the same problem. But I discovered the problem. There are two log-in areas. The most evident one is the WRONG one. The correct one can be a little difficult to find.

First -- Yes I know this blog sucks. It has a pagerank of PR1, and gets ZILCH traffic. It was set up long before I heard of Court and Court's Internet Marketing School and The Keyword Academy. And, since it ostensibly covers a huge area, not a niche, there is not much I can do with it. I'm just keeping it for the occasional AdSense click. Since Internet Business, e-Commerce, whatever, is such a hugely competitive area, I am unlikely to attempt a more focused blog in this area. That being said, with a few keywords, here is the login procedure:

Log-in procedure for Court's Keyword Academy:

Go to:
http://thekeywordacademy.com/

Click on "The Keyword Crash Course" on the blue menu bar.

That gets you to:
http://thekeywordacademy.com/crash-course/

You will see a "Login" link at the very top right.
THAT IS NOT THE LOGIN LINK YOU WANT.
It will take you to a WordPress login page.
Your attempts to login on that page will FAIL.

The page you want to go to is:
http://thekeywordacademy.com/coaching/

In the right sidebar, just below the calendar,
is where you log in.

After that, you will still be on the "coaching"
page, but you will be logged in.

Then, you can click on the video links in the
sidebar to view them.

The Internet e-Commerce Biz Buzz Website Has Been Updated

2009-04-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

The Internet e-Commerce Biz Buzz website has been updated.

Discover the truths it's vitally necessary for you to know about article marketing, SEO, email promotion, link exchanges, and more, if you are to have a chance for success in internet marketing your home business.

You will find a cleaner design and easier navigation.

You will find featured e-commerce articles linked to from the sidebar.

The latest article provides to you free the user document for the
"BEMM™ PHP eMailer Bulk e-Mail Mailing PHP Scripts"

You will find more Internet Business Marketing articles in expanded articles directories:
Contributed e-Commerce articles , General articles .

Also see the Internet Business Glossary for some new explanations of e-commerce business terms.

The MLM Reality Website Has Been Updated

2009-04-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

The MLM Reality website has been updated.

Discover the truths it's vitally necessary for you to know about compensation plans and promotion if you are to have a chance for success in network marketing.

You will find a cleaner design and easier navigation.

You will find featured MLM articles linked to from the sidebar.

The latest important article is about "MLM Network Marketing leads".

You will find more Network Marketing (MLM) articles in expanded articles directories:
Contributed MLM articles , General articles , and the MLM Reality Blog .

Faster, Easier Bulk e-Mail Mailings Using BEMM™ PHP Scripts

2009-03-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

Make faster, easier bulk e-mail mailings using BEMM™ PHP scripts.

Yes, the BEMM Bulk E-Mail Mailing PHP scripts make bulk e-mailing simpler and faster.

If you have small to medium lists, doing it yourself with these scripts can be easier, faster, and with less hassle and expense than having a commercial service do it for you. And it also eliminates the hassles and problems with using your desktop resident ("client-side") software such as Outlook blah-blah, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc. This provides you YOUR software, on your server, which YOU control. And you control your mailings and address lists in easy-to-manage text files.

I originally developed the BEMM Bulk E-Mail Mailing PHP scripts for my own use, to easily and conveniently do my own e-mail mailings. They're a great tool; I use them all the time. Get them and see how productive they can be. You'll be all the happier for it!

How BEMM came about is that I have several e-mail lists, each with a few hundred to a thousand or so names each. My hosting account limits me to 99 e-mails at a time, using the standard mailing method through an e-mail manager program on my computer. That limitation meant that, for a typical mailing, I would have to break a list into several parts ("sub-lists"). Furthermore, I e-mail to the lists only occasionally. This means that usually there are one or more e-mail addresses that turn out to have discontinued domain names. That would bring the submission procedure to a screeching halt, and none of the e-mails would be sent. I would have to correct the sub-list and then START OVER with that sub-list. That could happen SEVERAL TIMES per sub-list, before the e-mails finally get sent.

For more complete information, see
PHP Mailto Forms for faster, easier PHP HTML e-Mail Mailings
or
BEMM™ PHP eMailer Bulk e-Mail Mailing PHP Scripts User Document

e-Commerce Business (Internet Business Biz Buzz) Website Updated

2009-03-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

The e-Commerce Business (Internet Business Biz Buzz) website has been updated. Articles have been updated and reorganized. Navigation has been made easier with a new, cleaner sidebar. All articles are easily accessible. An expanded search facility (Google Search) has been added so you can search for and find on the site the pages having words or phrases you are interested in.

Take a look at the Internet Business Glossary, for example.

Technorati Tags - Useless, or Just a Waste of Time?

2008-11-15T23:36:00.000-08:00

Technorati Tags - Useless, or Just a Waste of Time?

It pains me to write this post. Some time ago, I spent a number of hours writing a program to easily, rapidly, simply, and conveniently generate Technorati tags for this and other of my blogs, and to offer it for sale to my readers and others.

But, I have come to the conclusion that bothering to include Technorati tags, contrary to what I previously was led to believe, is worthless, useless, and simply a waste of time.

I am not going to go into a lot of detail, or spend any time polishing this post. It is not worth it to me. It is just a warning to you. If you are not getting the results you may have been led to expect by including Technorati tags in your posts, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. It is that Technorati sucks.

Including Technorati tags gives THEM backlinks, but frequently doesn't give YOU backlinks. All too often, even though you ping them, your posts will not show up if you search a tag you have made, even searching it from your own blog.

Even if somehow, your posts do make it into their database, it will not show when someone does a default search. Your post will essentially disappear because of others' blog posts with the same tag word. Then, there is the question of your blog's "authority". That is an attempt by Technorati to be the "Google of blogging." Their algorithm sucks. It is similar to Google's in that it is based on high school clique popularity contests. (see Google Search Engine Rankings - Just a High School Popularity Contest.)

Then there is that rigamorole of "claiming" your blog. That is totally cumbersome, to both add and delete blogs. And it begs the question of why do you need Technorati permission for YOUR blogs. Just more useless, time-consuming "Web 2.0" craaap.

Furthermore, Technorati is totally unresponsive to queries regarding problems, and I suspect that if you question them with challenging questions, they just blacklist you, and they use your blog "claim" information for that. Beware!

I could go on, but I have spent too much time on this already. Just ask yourself, if you use Technorati tags, have they REALLY done you any good? Comments are open.

Update 2009-06-18: See Technorati Tags for SERP -- Useless?

Disabling Comments in Munius Article Directory PHP Script

2008-09-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

I am questioning the value of the James Brausch Munius article directory submission PHP scripts. I am doing that because I have not gotten many good article submissions to my Munius article directories. Probably 95% are porno spam.

Update 2009-06-18: No longer using or supporting Munius, and no longer offering products to "fix" it.

Frankly, I don't know if the Munius article directories are doing me much good or not, but I am keeping them for the time being. In the meantime, to keep the article data directory under control, I have a script program I use (which is also available for sale for your use). (deleted.) With my PHP scripts, I, and you, can permanently delete all those spam articles after rejecting them during article moderation.

My script also removes rejected and unconfirmed comments. Probably 99% of them are porno spam. What I am getting are totally useless -- and time and resource consuming.
1) 99% of them are spam
2) An e-mail box has to be monitored.
3) Some extra clicks of my (link deleted) Munius Packing PHP script program are needed to get rid of them permanently -- get rid of the clutter -- from from the article data directory.
So, I have concluded: Why have comments at all in the Munius article directories?

I have rid myself of the problem by modifying the Munius scripts to completely remove the ability to add comments, and thus to eliminate the need to moderate them.

Three scripts require simple modifications:
a.php
index.php
misc.php

Details -- the actual PHP code modifications -- are shown on my e-Commerce Business website in the article entitled "Munius Article Directory Spam Comments Disabling"

Pulling the Plug on Relusi - Looks Like Brausch Did

2008-06-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

James D. Brausch had (has?) a PHP script product called Relusi which sets up a resource directory on your site. It was (is?) for the purpose of building reciprocal links. Links out and links back (backlinks).

I no longer recommend Relusi, for reasons detailed below. Bottom line, if you want to participate in a likely much better link exchange method, I suggest you look up "Easy Google Ranking".

Anyway, I wasted a lot of time setting up Relusi on several of my sites. I wasted a lot of time modifying the "look and feel" - the skin. I wasted a lot of time learning about the script so I could make a couple of minor user aids. I wasted a lot of time making an add-on to clean up the article files.

Then, I and some others discovered that somehow - cause unknown - massive corruption would occur, eliminating many links. So I disabled new submissions to my Relusi directories.

One philosophical problem with Relusi is that there is no enforcement of reciprocity. Someone puts a link in your directory. They are are supposed to link back to you. That is a pain in the "a" for the person putting a link on your site, so most don't do it. So they get back links but you don't. Now, Relusi does request a URL you can check to see if they really did backlink, but that is a pain in the "a" for you to verify. Relusi does not offer any automated verification, other than testing for a valid e-mail address at time of submission. And there is no ongoing verification of even your links out to the requesters' sites. I addressed that in a previous post.

Another philosophical problem is: Are reciprocal links all that valuable in the first place? I don't know. Some gurus say yes, others no. One way links, but enforced by a third party service, look to be a more sound method of getting back links.

Brausch himself obviously does not think much of Relusi

Back when Brausch had Relusi on his main blog, his Relusi directory was a mess, full of spam links. One would think that he would have at least maintained it to be a "shining example" of the product. Now, the Relusi directory on that now inactive blog redirects to another of his new blogs (home page). And I can't find Relusi on that new blog or a couple more of his blogs. 'Nuff said?

Relusi and Other Resource Directories Full of Broken Links?

2008-06-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

It is reputed that Google will penalize you if you have too many broken links on your sites. As with all things Google, who outside of Google really knows? But, it can't hurt to play it safe and clean up your sites, including resource directories.

I have found that a huge source of dead links on my sites is the Brausch Relusi Resource Directories (a link exchange program). This post is directed mainly at those using Relusi, but everyone can benefit from finding and deleting all kinds of dead links.

For the complete article, visit my site
Relusi and Other Resource Directories Full of Broken Links?

Some snippets follow, but for the complete article, in context, go the link above.

Because of too many problems with Relusi, some time ago I disabled new linking. See why and how at:
Brausch Relusi Resource Directory New Link Request Disabling

However, I have kept existing links in the Relusi subdirectories, FWIW. Since they are static, over time many links have gone obsolete, cluttering up the directories.

So I decided that it was finally time to clean up the broken links.

There are many link validators out there. If you search on Google, you will find 1,830,000 results for "link validation" (without the quotes). I figured I may as well use an authority, the W3 Consortium W3C Link Checker version 4.3 (c) 1999-2006 W3C to find them...

Bye Bye Brausch?

2008-06-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Looks like James Brausch is going to "retire".

He's been flipping a bunch of domains for $500, based on his remaining cachet. Obviously beefing up his expat fund (expatriation fund).

If you don't know what an expat is, see:
PT Philosophy and Five Flags Theory

Actually, can't blame him for seeing the necessity of that. He has posted several times recently about the Texas FLDS being raided by the Texas so-called Child Protective Services. Religious wacko that he is, he is right about the U.S. A lot of us non-lefty-loony "unbelievers" see the same problems. Of course, nothing much better anywhere else now. A race to the bottom by all governments.

I guess Brausch figures Costa Rica will maybe last a little longer.

Gary Scott likes Ecuador. He also is a successful internet entrepreneur. Check him out if you are looking for a "guru fix" who actually offers courses and information of value.

Keyword Targeting on Niche Sites for AdSense Income

2008-05-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

What about niche sites to generate AdSense income? How much can you make?

Niche sites are small sites -- 5 to 10+ pages -- targeting just one keyword (key phrase).

The idea is that with a niche site, you can more easily get on the first SERP page -- even the #1 position -- for the keyword you are targeting.

It's better to be on the first page of SERP results for a moderately competitive key phrase rather than on the 10th page for a highly competitive keyword.

You want to look for a balance of potential searches for your keyword and the number of competitors.

For some "back of the envelope" calculations of your income possibilities with AdSense on a niche site, considering number of visitors, CTR, etc., see Keyword Sniping Income Projections.

Profitable Prices - Glyphius Pricing Digits Scoring

2008-03-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

Profitable Prices - Glyphius Pricing Digits Scoring.

Pricing digits are the digits used in setting prices for various products.

The question is: Which are the best digits to use? It depends.

For example, which, in general, should give a better response: $19.95 or $20.00?

Well, according to Brausch's Glyphius (version 2.0b2), yes $19.95 is better than $20.00. But, $25.00 is better than $24.95. And $24.50 is better than either.

I've gone and tablulated a large list of prices and their Glyphius (version 2.0b2) scores.

For a big list and comments, go to
Profitable Prices - Glyphius Pricing Digits Scoring.

RaSof - My Last Word About It...

2008-03-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

RaSof - My Last Word About It...

Unless I see some reason to make me change my mind, why bother writing more? For me RaSof (Ranking Software) didn't work. Scoring others' pages with RaSof gives scores having no relation to SERP (search engine results page) location/ranking.

As I said about a year ago on my site at $1000 a month for Brausch's Ranking Factors (RaSof)?.
My conclusion from those results is that if you have no links, even an EXCELLENT RaSof score will do you no good. OTH, if you do have links, a good RaSof score is NOT necessary.

Look for my RaSof commentary and details on my e-Commerce Internet Business website.

My previous blog posts regarding RaSof are archived at:
http://e-commerce-biz.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
http://e-commerce-biz.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
http://e-commerce-biz.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html

Now, Fred Black weighs in with his excellent and detailed post "Search Engine Optimization - A Reader Asks My Opinion of Rasof" on his site at http://www.pqinternet.com/126.htm

Aside from his discussion of RaSof, it looks like Fred is working on a program or system to actually DO what RaSof promised. Since Fred has been consistently at or near position #1 in Google for the highly competitive keyword (keyphrase) he has targeted -- internet business -- I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

"Why Work?" Report Updated

2008-03-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

"Why Work?" Report Updated

I've just made some minor updates to my "Jobs Suck. Why Work?" report.

They comprise reformatting and navigational changes for easier reading, and updating and adding a couple of links about alternatives to the job.

For those of you that have not heard of this report, it is derived from an article written quite a few years ago by someone probably from a now long-defunct MLM company. (I have no idea who the original author was, otherwise I would have credited him/her.)

I've heavily edited this report from that article. The original article discussed superbly the PROBLEM, but the solution offered in it was to join that now defunct MLM company which, in my opinion, had one of the worst compensation (pay) plans I've ever seen. It seemed to me a blatant attempt at a "quick hit." Whether they succeeded and took the money and ran, or failed and quit, I don't know.

Regardless of that, the discussion of the problem and the reasons to participate in MLM were superbly stated. My revision has been to update a few of the numbers, to do some general editing, to delete the references to their particular MLM plan, and to make the report "generic."

The report emphasizes MLM, but MLM is not the only -- nor, IMNSHO, the best -- alternative to the the J.O.B. (job). What is important is that you find SOMETHING as an alternative to the job.

I have added a few links to alternatives to MLM (aka Network Marketing), such as an internet business and stock market trading. (I myself am concentrating more and more on stock market options trading.)

More at this URL: The Why Work Report.

Brausch No Longer Selling Glyphius Directly

2008-01-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

If you reached this post by clicking on a link to find out more about James Brausch's Glyphius copy scoring (copywriting) software, sorry. It is no longer available from Brausch directly. He states that effective 2008-01-04, he will no longer be selling it directly, but only through resellers. You will have to search on the web to find a reseller. The price will be somewhere north of $100, as that is the wholesale price to the resellers.

Brausch Relusi Resource Directory New Link Request Disabling

2007-12-04T00:22:00.000-08:00

Update 2009-06-18: I no longer use, recommend, support, or act as an affiliate for Brausch's Relusi (or Munius). More trouble than they are worth. I am leaving this page up for reference only. Not even updating links. This is dead to me.

Because of a tremendous number of spam link requests and because of continuing corruption of the "status" data files, due to those spam link requests, I have disabled further submissions to my Relusi Resource Directories (Relusi Link Directory Software).

If I thought those directories were really doing much for traffic to my pages and/or AdSense clicks and/or my product sales, I would look into rewriting or adding to the Relusi PHP script code. That would involve adding input validation routines, for example.

(Fred Black's web scripting course teaches you how to do that fairly easily. But for Relusi, even with his course's help, that is more than I am interested in doing.)

DISABLING RELUSI

If you are interested in disabling future Relusi submissions, but you want to keep the links you have already gathered, here is what I have done.

FIRST, I created a new "throwaway" e-mail address to put into "misc.php" (approximately line 6).

SECOND, since I have even received spam Category Addition requests, I deleted on the server all the category submission related php files. I deleted:
addcatsubmit.php
addcatthankyou.php
approvecat.php
approvecatsubmit.php
approvecatthankyou.php

I edited "addcat.php".
That editing was for two purposes.
1) To to notify people what is happening re that page, and give them some links to other places on my site.
2) To eliminate 404 errors and Google broken link problems.

THIRD, I disabled new link requests by deleting on the server:
submit.php
thankyou.php

I edited "submitsite.php".
That editing was for two purposes.
1) To to notify people what is happening re that page, and give them some links to other places on my site.
2) To eliminate 404 errors and Google broken link problems.

CLEANING UP THE CATEGORIES

There is a possibility that your link categories may be corrupted .
Download the "category.txt" and "newcat.txt" files from the data directory.

See if there is anything in the "newcat.txt" file that you want to add to the "category.txt" file and add it. Then clean out the "newcat.txt" file, just leaving one blank character, and upload that back.

Edit the "category.txt" file, putting the categories in the order you want them to appear, one category per line. Make sure all trailing spaces on each line are eliminated. After the last category, go to the next line, but make it empty. Upload the file back.

NOW, IF YOU HAVE DISCOVERED THAT PREVIOUSLY APPROVED LINKS NO LONGER SHOW, THAT IS A DEFINITE INDICATION THAT YOUR "STATUS" DATA FILES ARE CORRUPTED.

If you want to repair your data directory, this is a bit complicated. You will have to download from your data directory the status files "emailconfirm.txt" and "moderate.txt", edit them, then upload them back. (FTP.) You will have to eliminate on the server the link files you don't want, for whatever reason (usually spam links).

I'm going to give you the simplest way to do it. But it will be the most time consuming.

Look in your data directory on the server and note what is the highest numbered link file.

Edit the "emailconfirm.txt" file so that it is comprised of all "Y", one "Y" per link file.
Add a "N" at the end.

So, short example, if the last link file was number 5, the emailconfirm.txt file would be:
YYYYYN

Upload that to the data directory.

Edit the "moderate.txt" file so that it is comprised of all "A", one "A" per link file.
Add a "N" at the end.

So, short example, if the last link file was number 5, the emailconfirm.txt file would be:
AAAAAN

Upload that to the data directory.

Now, you will have to log in to Relusi in moderate mode and go through the "reject" procedure for the links you don't want.

Note that you cannot just delete link files on the server. If there are any gaps in the numbering, no link past a gap will be displayed.

Now, if you want to permanently delete the rejected links, you can use my packer script, Relusi Link Exchange Data File Packing PHP Script. My script deletes the rejected files, renumbers the rest as necessary, and adjusts the status files. Because at the time I developed that software I was unaware that Relusi was susceptible to data directory corruption, it is strongly advised that you save a copy of your entire data directory to your local hard drive and that you REPAIR THE STATUS FILES FIRST, and moderate, before using my program. If you run it without repairing the status files, many otherwise good link files could be PERMANENTLY deleted without any possibility of recovery. (Unless you can get your host to recover them from THEIR backup files.)

TEXT EDITING

Note: All editing should be done with a TEXT editor such as Notepad or something better like Crimson Editor. (BTW, I don't make a dime on recommending Crimson Editor. It is free, but donate a few bucks to the author; it's worth it.)

MORE ON DISABLING

A major point regarding editing "addcat.php" and "submitsite.php" is that you MUST disable the "Submit" buttons. You can do that by editing or changing the PHP script, or at least commenting out the "Submit" buttons in the code.

For examples, see (deleted).

Brausch Relusi Resource Directory: Hackable, Corruptible.

2007-11-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

I will be gradually, as I get to it, removing affiliate links on my sites for the James D. Brausch Relusi Link Exchange Directory PHP script software.

Not that taking space to promote that P.O.S. did me any good, anyway.

FWIW, I am still offering my Relusi data file packer PHP script, for those who may still want to "fight the good fight" trying to keep their Relusi Link Directory straightened out.
Update 2009-06-18: No longer offering that. Relusi -- fuggedaboudit!

WHY?!! Why do I no longer recommend the Relusi PHP scripts?

I have discovered that the Relusi PHP script and data directory construction allows hacking or corruption of the data (the link files). That is a huge pain in the ass to fix.

If I still thought that having "Resource Directories" on web sites was worthwhile, maybe I would try to figure it out and fix it if I could. I would offer a fix, as I have previously, including offering the Data File Packer script. But I do not think it worthwhile to bother.

If Brausch doesn't think it worthwhile to fix his product, why should I? It would be a much more major endeavor for me to fix it, and then if he did fix it and sell an upgrade, that would mean I would have wasted even more time on it for nothing.

Maybe an even more important reason is that it seems to me that Google does not really value you and I having link directories on our sites. Anymore. If ever.

Look at it this way: Did you ever happen across a link directory and say to yourself, "Oh, goody, a link directory -- with all kinds of completely unrelated links -- I wonder what I will find here -- I'll just browse at random instead of going to Google or Ask.com to look for something I'm specifically interested in..." Well, I sure don't say that to myself.

Here's a basic question which I should have asked myself a year ago when I got all enthused about link directories in general, and Relusi in particular: "Why would Google think they are a good thing for Google to consider in providing the best search results to a browser's search query?" I don't think Google thinks they are.

Anyway, here is the major problem with Relusi in particular:

Previously accepted links mysteriously become "not reviewed." Even more dangerously, the "confirmed" status of many links becomes "not confirmed". This is due to corruption of the emailconfirm.txt and moderate.txt data status files. Running my packer script then removes what were previously accepted links, because the status files now say they are no good (unconfirmed),

For awhile, I thought maybe that corruption was due to new link requests not in proper format (the Brausch script has no format checking of what goes in each submission form entry box). Or maybe it was because someone who previously submitted a link resubmitted with the same a-mail address or URL and something in the code got confused because of that.

Now, since I no longer value the directories, I thought, "Just in case these directories really are of some value, I'll just fix up the directories. I'll keep them for now, but I'll disable future submissions (and changes) so I don't have to waste more time cleaning them up over and over." As a test, I edited the submission form script file for one of my directories to disable submissions/changes. I then cleaned up the data status files, moderated new submissions, ran my packer script to delete rejected links, and then verified manually that the files were all OK.

Everything was OK as of last night when I finished. This morning, the status files were once again corrupted, along with one new (spam) link request. That new spam link request was not formatted correctly. It got into the data directory, and the data status files in the data directory again got corrupted, even though I had disabled new/revised submissions. I can only conclude that the James D. Brausch Relusi PHP software is wide open to hacking.

My next step is to remove all Relusi files not directly used in displaying existing data (link files). If I get any comments to this post, I'll let you know what the results of that is. If the data status files again get corrupted, that will be a definite indication that the data files are hackable - being hacked - that it's not just the bad formatting of link requests that is the problem. (But I still am not going to try and fix it.)

Dumping Relusi and Munius - What Do You Think?

2007-11-14T01:07:00.000-08:00

My previous post: Relusi - Serious Problem - Brausch Resource (Link) Directory - I have come across a serious problem with the James D. Brausch Relusi Link Exchange Software.

That post outline a problem with Relusi. Someone else reported to me a similar problem with Munius.

I had not looked at my Relusi directories for my sites for a couple of days. After fixing the data file corruption reported, I had 200 links approved and confirmed for one of them. For another site I had 83 links approved and confirmed. Looking at them today, they are corrupted again. The corruption starts at link 69 on one and link 68 on another.

Just took a look at yet another directory: That had a different number of links to start with, and it is also corrupted starting with yet another starting link number.

Anyway -- I have had Relusi and Munius installed for 8 or 9 months. As far as I can tell, THEY HAVE NOT DONE ME ANY GOOD AT ALL in building traffic to my sites.

Are there ANY success stories out there for those using either of those products?

I am thinking of dumping them as being more trouble than they are worth. What do YOU think? Comments are open.

Update 2009-06-18: I have long ago dumped both Relusi and Munius -- P.O.S.

Relusi - Serious Problem - Brausch Resource (Link) Directory

2007-11-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

I have come across a serious problem with the James D. Brausch Relusi Link Exchange Software.

This software, aka the Relusi Resource Directory software, is comprised of a set of PHP scripts that you upload to your web site server. Underneath that is a "data" directory which holds the links as individual files, and two additional files - status summary files. One of these status files holds the moderated status (not reviewed, accepted, rejected) for each individual link file. The other file holds the confirmed status (confirmed, not confirmed) for each individual link file. (Confirmed status means that the link requester has provided a legitimate e-mail address, to which the software sends a message requiring the requester to respond to it so that the link will show in the directory when it is confirmed.)

The problem is either that the data directory is easily or inadvertently subject to hacking, or there are serious errors in the PHP script coding that leads to corruption of the moderated status and confirmed status files in the data directory.

I have no idea what, specifically, the problem(s) is/are. I have a couple of suspicions:

One is that there is perhaps a problem in the code for the feature that supposedly allows a submitter to delete and/or update his listing. Perhaps that screws up other listings and/or the status files.

The other is that spam submittals (submittals not in the proper format in each of the submittal form text boxes) may screw something up.

In any event, I have noticed several times that the status of link submittals I have previously accepted have mysteriously reverted to "not reviewed" status. And this is not just one or two submittals, but dozens. To fix it, I have had to download the summary files, edit them back to accepted and confirmed, then upload them again. This is faster than going through each submittal individually. I have had to do this several times.

Now, if instead, you just go through each link request to accept they still may not be confirmed status if the confirmation file was also corrupted.

Because of these problems, I started keeping a record of the last good post number, and its subject, so when I went into moderation, I could see what is happening.

This post is already too long, so, bottom line, just one example:

I have a Relusi directory that has 228 links confirmed and accepted, a couple of days ago. Today, 133 of those links had been reverted to "not reviewed". It turns out that the confirmed script was also, unbeknownst to me, corrupted. That directory now has only 97 confirmed and accepted links.

That really pisses me off. First, I have lost a lot of links, and second, my script to get rid of spam links now deletes good links, because of the corrupted data directory status files.

For some time, I thought Brausch had some good stuff. In actuality, none of his stuff that I have tried, with the possible exception of Artemis Pro has turned out to be worth a crap.

Update 2009-06-18. No longer using any of Brausch's crap, including Artemis.

Another Google Slap -- Page Rank Hits

2007-10-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of buzz lately about the latest "Google Slap" -- the downgrading of "Page Rank" (PageRank) for thousands of sites.

I don't pretend to know what it is all about; it's all too complicated for me, but for more information, see the link below to John Furst's site.

My take on all this is that I want to thank Google for helping me to reinforce my decision to de-emphasize this web biz cr**p in favor of re-emphasing my stock market endeavors.

I thought stock trading was hard, but I have made orders of magnitude more money in stocks than in this e-biz.

I got into e-biz as I thought it would be both interesting and good $ for part-time endeavor. (I only wanted to do it part-time.) It has instead turned into a time-consuming monster with a negligible "hourly $ rate" return.

And, I thought playing stocks was complicated. This is vastly moreso.

Thanks again, Google, for your manipulation and lack of transparency. Thanks for smashing my AdSense revenue about a year ago. Thanks for screwing with me (and others) again, now that my AdSense and other revenue has once again approached what it was then. Thanks again for encouraging me to spend less time and effort on e-commerce, and more on my stock trading and stock trading software.

Here is the link to John's blog, which discusses this in more detail and provides more links.

MLM Being Replaced by Affiliate Programs?

2007-10-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

MLM has always sounded good in theory. But the great majority of compensation plan implementations are designed to appeal to hype and hope hucksters and starry-eyed MLM-of-the-Month wannabees. All those wanabees think they are going to get rich by getting others to sell for them. And those others also think they are going to get rich by getting others in turn to sell for them. And so on down the line, with the result that hardly anyone sells anything.

It is not profitable for the average person to try to sell anything in most MLMs. The compensation plans are structured so that recovery of promotional and recruiting costs by average distributors is nearly impossible. He gets too little a share of the commission pie. So, the distributor in a typical MLM Payplan is dependent on a large downline to put him into profit since direct customers/distributors themselves are not profitable.

The reason for this is that too much of the sales dollar goes upline to the founders and their "heavy-hitter" buddies. Too little of the commission pie goes to the people nearest the sale -- the person actually responsible for the sale and his sponsor.

Affiliate selling has come on strong because usually only ONE level of commission is paid. That way, the person actually responsible for the sale gets an affiliate commission of 30%, 40%, or more, even up to 80% or so, depending on the product. The affiliate gets more than the typical MLM 5% or 10%, since most of the commission money does not go upline, as in a MLM plan.

Some affiliate programs may have up to three levels. But even with these plans, the commission structure is usually simple. There isn't the typical MLM legerdemain that sounds so wonderful to the naive.

My hard-hitting report, "How to Evaluate a Network Marketing (MLM) Opportunity" is a must read if you insist on getting into or remaining in MLM. It is vital that you know what to look for in order to avoid wasting hundreds, thousands of dollars and time trying to promote losing programs. Buy it; it's worth orders of magnitude more than its minimal cost.

What's Your Google Page Rank?

2007-09-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

You can find out easily what the Google Page Rank (PR) is by going to the bottom of my site main page (link below). PR10 is the highest possible, attained by very few, if any. More common are lower than PR5. Pages that don't have any PR at all used to be listed as PR0, but now as N/A.

Pages with a rank of N/A may still be indexed by Google, but you are very unlikely to find them in the top ten PAGES of search results, much less in the top ten overall search results, for whatever your search term is. (Of course, if your search term/phrase is very specific to your page only, it will turn up, but that won't do you much good as others would be not be likely to search on that specific term/phrase.)

Here is the link: e-Commerce Business (Internet Business Biz Buzz) Web Site

Sign up for Notification of New Posts to this Blog

2007-08-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to adding a sign-up function so you can get on my e-mail list to get notices of new posts to this blog.

That is thanks to Fred Black's "Web Scripting Home Study Course" that enabled me to implement it in much less time than trying to figure it out on my own. His course shows you how to implement PHP scripting and javascript to create e-mail list sign-up forms and other web forms.

Look for the "Updates" related link at the top of the right column on this page. Go ahead, give it a try, and click the link. That will take you to a web page on my site that will allow you to sign up. It will acknowledge your submittal on that page, and will also send you a "thank-you" e-mail. You then can click a link there to get right back to this blog.

For my article with a little more about my e-mail sign-up scripts, see "Web Scripting for Profit" on my website.

Update 2009-06-18: While I still recommend Fred's course in general, I am no longer using the Sign-Up function I developed using what I learned from him. It is simply a matter that I got too many invalid (spam) requests.

Attention James D. Brausch Regarding Munius and Relusi

2007-07-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

James: How come your Munius Article Directories and Relusi Resource Directories (Link Exchange Directories) on your own sites are not - as one of my correspondents recently asked - "a shining advert for what these tools are capable of"?

Why are so many junk articles and links shown to viewers?

Why aren't Munius and Relusi installed and active on ALL of your sites?

And, on those sites where they are installed, why are so many NOT the latest versions?

Are your product sales pitches questionable? Are you just fat and happy so you just don't care? Does Google accept all the crap just as well as the occasional good stuff posted and boost page rank anyway? Or what?

But, since I am a loser with only a Blogger Blog - without "trackback" capability - I guess the only way you (James) will see my questions is if some intern happens across it and notifies you.

Oh, wait, I forgot. Recalling my intern days, interns (at least most) are not allowed to contact you with questions or comments. Just shut up and do your assignments. Feedback? Fuggedaboudit. So I guess you are unlikely to see this since I am not giving you another link with a "trackback".

Oh, well, if you do happen to see this and you do want to clean up your Munius Article Directories and Relusi Resource Directories, I have two products that can help you.

They delete - forever - rejected articles, links, comments, so they don't clutter up your moderation screens and take up server space.

Now, to my REAL target audience of this post - those of you NOT Brausch - if you are using Munius and/or Relusi, you can easily, simply, conveniently, and in just a few minutes whenever you run them, clean up your directories.

Update 2009-06-18: I no longer use, recommend, or act as an affiliate for Munius and Relusi. I also no longer offer the programs I developed to work with those P.O.S.

I Just Dumped 37 Rejected Articles from My Articles Directory...

2007-07-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

I just dumped - permanently - 37 rejected articles from one of my Munius Articles Directory moderation screens - and my site hosting server. With just one click. How I did it is detailed below. But first...

Having article directories on your sites where people can contribute articles seems to be a win-win. You get content on your site. And the contributors get links back to their sites.

Many of the articles have some good ideas and are worth keeping in your directories. But there are a whole lot of jerk-offs who figure that your directories are a good place to get links without providing any content.

Now, with James D. Brausch's Munius Article Directory PHP script files, you can reject those articles. Rejected articles don't show to viewers, but they are still on your host server, and more importantly, they clutter up your moderation screen. I wanted to dump them PERMANENTLY so I would not have to wade through them each time I went to my moderation screens. So I developed an add-on PHP script to use with Munius to dump those articles PERMANENTLY.

That's what I used to dump those 37 articles.

And, while I was at it, I included a provision to dump junk comments, spam comments, and unconfirmed e-mail address comments. I don't even bother to count how many of those I dumped.

Update 2009-06-18: I no longer use Munius and am no longer offering this product.

Relusi Link Exchange Data File Packing - New Version

2007-06-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

The Relusi Link Exchange Data File Packing Script has been updated to version 2.0. (Update 2009-06-18: I no longer use Relusi, and have discontinued this product.)

In addition to permanently deleting rejected links, the php script now also allows the permanent deletion of link exchange requests by those submitting a bogus e-mail address, or who do not reply to the confirmation request e-mail. While I want to have a lot of links in my resource directories, I don't want junk links. In addition to the obvious junk link requests marked "rejected", I consider unconfirmed requests as junk also.

Permanently deleting the rejected link requests and the unconfirmed link requests makes your moderation task much simpler. With all the bogus links still showing, it takes much more time. After using the Relusi Link Exchange Data File Packing Script, you see only good links and the latest unmoderated requests on your moderation page.

"Articles Unique" Promotional Article Generating Software Released

2007-06-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

The "Articles Unique" software program recently in Beta Test has now been released.

"Articles Unique" enables you to simply generate UNIQUE articles to promote your website. You do some prep work, then the program generates unique articles for manually submitting to others' sites by just pasting into their submittal forms.

"Articles Unique" is easy to use, yet has some unique and user-friendly (I think) touches, and is more "transparent" in case you like to know what's going on "under the hood", as I do. It offers more flexibility as to the source documents, so that if you are short variations in one section, you can make it up in another.

If you are an Artemis user, it will also generate a set of files that you can use with the James D. Brausch Artemis program.

Full details are at Articles Unique Article Generating Software.

"ARTICLES UNIQUE" (tm) BETA TESTERS WANTED

2007-06-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for ten beta testers for a new article generating program. "Articles Unique" is my initial entry into the "Unique Content Generator", "Article Converter", "Article Rewriter", "Article Multiplier", "Article Spinner", whatever called, arena.

"Articles Unique" is for manual submission of your promotional articles, generating a unique article (or articles) for your OWN site, and unique (non-duplicated) versions for submission manually to others' site. Some programs do e-mailing. Mine doesn't, yet.

It is simple, yet has some unique and user-friendly (I think) touches, and is more "transparent" in case you like to know what's going on "under the hood", as I do. It offers more flexibility as to the source documents, so that if you are short variations in one section, you can make it up in another.

If you are an Artemis user, it will also generate a set of files that you can use with the James D. Brausch Artemis program.

Look through the user document Articles Unique pdf User Document.

Let me know if you want to do it. Artemis or other generator users preferred -- let me know what you have used and, if so, a brief sentence or two about your experience with it.

"First come, first served".

Respond ASAP, as the testing is to be done -- and the results in -- by Wednesday, 2007 June 13, 11:59 PM.

The Beta test is now closed.

Thanks much,
David Bean

The Beta test is closed and the product is now released and available
For information about the finished product, see Articles Unique Article Generator.

Is James D. Brausch Really Serious about Munius and Relusi?

2007-06-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

I have both programs (php scripts) - Munius and Relusi from James D. Brausch. I have spent a lot of time learning their operation, installing and tweaking them as to performance. (See my Internet Business site as well as other posts on this blog.) But -- HAVE I BEEN WASTING MY TIME?

The reason I ask this is: I recently developed a program, now in Beta test, for generating unique articles that can be manually submitted to various sites. For some additional sites to test that program on, as well as on my own, I compiled what I could find available on Brausch's sites to submit to.

You can see the results of that on my e-Commerce-biz site article "Article Submission and Link Exchange Submission Links..."

If you examine the table I made (the Brausch Sites section), you will see that about half of the articles submission (Munius) pages are not available or are not functioning. You will see that link submission pages are not available for most of his product sites; in fact, you will see that there are not many link generation (Relusi) installations at all.

Furthermore, you will see that most of the installations that have been done are of older versions. (An annoyance because article titles/headlines are chopped at 50 characters, and various other lengths maximums are also too short). And, Brausch evidently doesn't consider them important enough to increase his workload to five hours a week or to assign an intern to delete all the scores, maybe hundreds, of Cialis and Viagra posts once a week or so.

I developed a script to actually delete, not just have marked rejected, all the links you have rejected in Relusi. I have been considering doing the same for Munius articles and comments. Would that be a waste of time? Let me know. Comments on this blog are ON.

I'm Discontinuing my Subscription to James D. Brausch's Ranking Factors Software (RaSof)

2007-05-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

This is an update to $1000 a Month for James D. Brausch's Ranking Factors Software (RaSof)?

I previously ran some tests which you can read about on an article on my web site e-COMMERCE BIZ (Internet Business) and which continues at $1000 a Month for James D. Brausch's Ranking Factors Software (RaSof)?

The data is on web pages RaSof Ranking Factors Scoring vs. Google Rankings Data - Part 1 and Part 2.

Sorry, I just don't see any correlation between high RaSof scores and Google Page Rank. So, It I'm making a mistake in discontinuing my subscription, so be it. As far as I'm concerned, I have paid for several months too many, because of the "fear of loss" that I discussed in my web page article I mentioned above.

Links for Manual Submission to Article Publishers

2007-05-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

As you know, Google gives "brownie points" (Google love) for incoming links to your web sites. That is, they give you a better "page rank" -- you get higher in the list of search results for keywords and keyphrases that website browsers are looking for.

There are programs for automated submission of articles, like the Artemis article submission software from James D. Brausch. That is done by submitting the articles to an e-mail list.

But there are many sites that you may want to submit to that require manual submission. For that you need a list of URLs.

I have begun to compile a list of sites to submit articles manually to. Along with that, I am also including a list of sites to submit link exchange requests to.

A few of these sites are listed at my e-Commerce website. That list will be expanded on, from time-to-time, so check back every now and then. BTW, if you have any additional sources, you are invited to post a comment here. I will let you know at a later date about some article rewriting software I am developing that will reduce the "duplicate content penalty."

CAPTCHA GOTCHA

2007-05-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

"Captcha" stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart", a term trademarked by Carnegie Mellon University.

The purpose of captchas is to prevent automated log-ins and thus enhance security and reduce spam.

There is a fine line between obfuscating the graphic sufficiently so that it cannot be read by a bot, but not so much as to make it difficult for a human to decipher and enter the code.

A few good captcha examples are:
e-gold login
e-gold calls it a "Turing Number".
OmniPay login
Google Add URL

One that sucks is:
Yahoo Registration
You frequently cannot distinguish upper and lower case in the graphic, and when you fail to read it right, you have to re-enter ALL the sign-up information ALL OVER AGAIN. You can spend an hour until you get it right.

For both a good and a bad example, see the Wikipedia article.

If you want to see some that totally suck, send an e-mail to bob@corp.earthlink.net and try to respond to his autoresponder message which includes a captcha. Frequently, his captchas are completely unreadable, which means you have to send your message again, and try again. I think the purpose of his captcha setup is merely to give the APPEARANCE of accepting non-spam e-mail from the great unwashed (you and me). In actuality, I suspect that he does not want to hear from ANYONE that he has not had his secretary enter into his white list.

Why I believe that is the case is simple - McNamara is an a-hole. He is one reason, among several others, that I discourage people from using Earthlink services. I am now using Verizon DSL and 1and1 hosting and am very happy with both.

Brausch Leaves Glyphius Users in the Lurch

2007-04-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

I have the James D. Brausch copywriting evaluation software, Glyphius. The 2006 version. Brausch now has a 2007 version out. The 2006 version was a download version from his website. I tried to access the 2006 version "owner's page" today to review the "General Use Training Video". THE PAGE IS GONE!

Prior to this year, Brausch's products were mostly downloadables, available for purchase through ClickBank. Through that process, you would get link information to an owner's page. The customer usage documentation for products was on videos on owner's pages. And that was it. He had some funky Camtasia desktop video generated file format that was viewable only on Microsucks Internet Explorer as far as I know. (Maybe also on Firefox? But not on Mozilla.) I was unable to download and save any of his videos for Glyphius and other products I purchased. I tried to download/save the videos, because exactly what I feared would happen, has happened. That they would go away.

Now (2007), it seems that Brausch is switching to physical products. CDs, DVDs, actual printed and snail-mailed/UPS delivered items. For Glyphius 2007, I assume both the program and his funky videos are on the disk that his producer sends out.

That wouldn't be a problem if he kept his old version pages up. But, I guess his reasoning is -- screw you if you don't buy the newer upgraded version.

MuVar 2007 is right now being released on DVD. Will the owner's page for the 2006 (and earlier 2007) version be taken down? I think likely.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY INFO ON HOW TO DOWNLOAD AND SAVE THE ONLINE CAMTASIA USER VIDEOS THAT BRAUSCH HAS ON HIS OWNER'S PAGES, LEAVE A COMMENT. COMMENTS ARE NOT CLOSED ON THIS BLOG.

Brausch Artemis Pro Customer Service - Part 2

2007-04-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I mentioned a reader's complaint about Brausch's customer service. It turns out, I think, that there are two problems. One is Brausch's customer service. The second is that there was customer "cockpit problems" (not being attentive to detail).

Since Brausch customer service is so poor, I tend to give the benefit of doubt to a complaining customer. In this case it appears to me that in the instance mentioned, there were several Artemis article version formatting problems uncorrected by the reader. This led to the failure of the Artemis program to accept and submit the article.

This does not excuse, however, the Brausch machine poor customer service. One problem is that can be impossible to get hold of customer service. A second problem is that Brausch instructs his customer service people to "fire" people as customers if they exceed some sort of arbitrary help quota. A third problem is that there are no on-line TEXT instructions and/or FAQs for various products. Brausch has stated that his videos are sufficient and that people don't read FAQs. I disagree that videos are sufficient. As to FAQs, I think people do try them, but they usually are written and organized so poorly that the customer gives up and resorts to trying to e-mail or call.

But, as Brausch would say, so what if I disagree, I am one of the 98% "losers". Brausch prides himself that his videos take much less time to prepare than written documentation. Good for him, bad for his users. The videos are not downloadable as far as I can tell. And even if they were, users still have to plow through talk, talk, talk for a much longer time than perusing a written document to find the possible nugget searched for.

So, I am doing Brausch's job. But that does provide content for this blog and my site.
For text tips on formatting Artemis posts:
Brausch Artemis Pro Customer Service (part 1)
e-Commerce Biz (Internet Business) Web Site
Having Problems with Artemis Pro.

How's Your Experience with Munius and Relusi? Comments Wanted.

2007-04-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

I have installed Munius and Relusi on all my sites. I have gotten some articles and links, but not a whole lot. I'm wondering about something.

I have a custom installation for them in that I use "articles-b" instead of "art" for the Munius directories, and I use "links-b" instead of "lnk" for the Relusi directories.

Do you think that makes a difference in how many articles and links submitted? My http://www.e-commerce-biz.com/ is my newest site and has the fewest articles and links. So, for comparison, I just last night installed Munius and Relusi again, under the "standard" directory names, and as "standard" layout and graphics installations. So I have both "standard" and custom versions of both on that same site.

For comparisons, you can look at
http://www.e-commerce-biz.com/articles-b/
http://www.e-commerce-biz.com/art/
http://www.e-commerce-biz.com/links-b/
http://www.e-commerce-biz.com/lnk/

In about a month, I'll see if any differences worth noting between the similar directories on the same site.

BTW, in installing Relusi, I noticed again a couple of minor glitches that I had noticed before I started the website and this blog. They aren't serious, but are minor annoyances that you should at least be aware of and fix.
See "Relusi Header and Footer PHP Script Notes"

AGAIN, COMMENTS?

Update 2009-06-18: I no longer use, recommend, or act as an affiliate for either of these products.

$1000 a Month for James D. Brausch's Ranking Factors Software (RaSof)?

2007-04-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

$1000 a month? No way for me or most others. Of course, because of that reluctance, Brausch would dismiss us as being part of the 98% "loser" category.

To spend $1000 a month, I think one should REASONABLY expect a $1500 to $2000 MINIMUM bump in income within a couple of months at least.

Based on my results so far with RaSof, I would not go for $1000 a month for it. In fact, despite my "fear of loss", I am considering discontinuing it within another couple of months. I'm considering hanging on to test a bit more, but my results after already several months are not encouraging.

For more, go to RaSof Ranking Factors.

Adding Drop-Down Menu Select to Brausch Relusi Link Exchange Moderation PHP Script

2007-03-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

The James D. Brausch Relusi Link Exchange Software is a pretty slick way to get some link exchanges. It is generally assumed that both inbound and outbound links help in getting better search engine page ranking for your e-commerce website. Relusi is designed to do just that.

Update 2009-06-18: I no longer am an affiliate for this product and no longer recommend it.

But Relusi has some rough edges. One of them is the lack of a drop-down menu for the link moderator/administrator to select or change the category a link should be in. It has to be done by typing some category into a text box.

So, I've made some changes to the script to allow category selection by clicking a selection in a drop-down menu. I've done similarly for the Munius Article Moderation PHP script.

For complete details, including the actual script (PHP code) changes that you can implement in your scripts, see:
Adding Drop-Down Menu Select to Brausch's Relusi Link Exchange Moderation Script
Tweaking Brausch' Munius Article Moderation Script

Brausch Artemis Pro Customer Service

2007-03-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

A visitor to my site e-Commerce Biz (Internet Business) wrote to me about a problem he had with Artemis Pro that he got as part of a package from Brausch.

Both my laptop and my desk top tell me “File A not found” when I try and submit an article. Then another window pops up and reads “Please fix the problems associated with the article(s).”

I don’t now what this is talking about. When I purchased his products I got them in an all-in-one package. Did not get any kind a receipt. So customer support will not let me in.

I too have had problems with Brausch customer support. Further, the only documentation for products are videos, which leave a great deal to be desired in many instances as to clarity and completeness. There are no online FAQ pages, much less FAQ pages updated in response to customer inquiries.

FWIW, I sent the following response to my reader, just to make sure he was doing things right. We shall see if it works for him. If I hear back, look for a comment to this post.

Hello .....
My commiserations to you:

The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you have the three versions of the article and the resource file in the same directory as artemis.exe,

articlenamewhatever-1a.txt
articlenamewhatever-1b.txt
articlenamewhatever-1c.txt
articlenamewhatever-resource.txt

The file naming convention is STRICT:
An article name followed by a dash then a number (the SAME number for the three versions), then the letter a, b, c for each version, then ".txt". The resource file has to be named the same basic article name followed by a "-resource.txt".

I have no help to offer regarding submitting to your external publication list, as I have't been able to get that to work, myself.

FWIW, other files as part of Artemis are, and in the same directory are:
fce32.dll
see32.dll
mi.hef
si.hef
common.txt
log.txt (probably optional)
page.txt
postit.txt (probably optional)
...
Regards...

I'm Deleting Some James Brausch Related... Why?

2007-03-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Simply because the posts here regarding his site posts have done me no good, and will do you no good. They were just taking up space. They were about a cruise, the DVD Player, and one of two about Information Products on DVD. If you are really interested, they are on his blog from near the end of February to present.

My posts were in response to posts on his blog which did a lot for HIS Google rankings, since I and many others linked to him, but since he linked back to, maybe three or four others max, NOT including me, it didn't do me a bit of good.

And I don't expect to ever get a mention on his blog. He has had the opportunity to review much of my stuff here in the past, and hasn't done so. Unlike other peoples' comments about him and/or his products, many of mine contain some criticism as well as kudos; I am not a toady. That seems to be a problem. ;>)

So, while some of his products seem to have value, and I PROMOTE THEM as an affiliate, I see no purpose in continuing to promote his site without mutuality.

Information Products on DVD vs. Download

2007-03-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

James Brausch has decided to switch to furnishing many of his products as DVDs that he has a service duplicate and mail out for him.

He cites what are to him some advantages:

1) One of the main ones, it seems to me, in MY words, is that it makes it more difficult for the customer to apply for and get a refund. He cites a high return rate for downloaded products.

Hey, maybe the products are good, but maybe not THAT GOOD, for the price, in customers' evaluations.

2) Higher perceived value by customers, as opposed to downloaded products.

Maybe "last month/last year", but not today. Yes, that's MNSHO. Maybe that is my problem: I don't see what the advantage of having to plow through a 20 minute to an hour DVD or on-line video, even, to find out what five minutes of reading of a well-prepared .pdf doc could do instead. With a DVD/video in addition, illustrating SELECTED points that ARE more efficaciously illustrated by video.

In other words, use the appropriate medium for the message.

Tweaking Brausch' Munius Article Moderation Script

2007-02-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

The James D. Brausch Munius Article Directory Software PHP scripts are a pretty slick article gathering mechanism to get content from others for your e-commerce or other website. But there are few rough edges, necessitating a few tweaks I've found desirable.

Update 2009-06-18: I no longer am an affiliate for this product, and no longer recommend it.

One if them was derived as follows: When a contributor submits an article, he is supposed to select an appropriate category from the drop-down "Article Category" select menu on the submission form. But generally, they just leave it as whatever your default is -- usually just "General".

Then, when you go to moderate, and you want to accept the article, and want to put it into a more appropriate category, you have to manually type something in. I don't know about you, but my memory is not so good, so I don't necessarily remember exactly all the category items and their spellings. (If you type in a category incorrectly, it won't show in any category to users -- only to you in moderation mode.) Anyway, I figured I needed a drop-down select menu in the moderating (article reviewing) page.

Browsing around the Munius scripts, I found the menu for contributors in "submitarticle.php". (Lines 21-37 of the original Brausch script I have.)

Copying that into "reviewarticle.php" and making a few modifications to that gets and displays what the contributor originally selected, then allows you/me (moderator) to select either that or a new category. (The code linked to below replaces lines 42-45 of the original Brausch script in "reviewarticle.php".)

See http://www.e-commerce-biz.com/code/munius-select-menu.txt for the code.

Brausch Closes Comments on His Blog

2007-02-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

James D. Brausch has closed comments (disabled comments) on his blog.

Too much "spam" he says. Cutting into his bottom line to handle comments. He could have implemented the squiggly letters 'challenge and response' that many sites use (including this one). That prevents automated posts or comments and provides a small but surmountable barrier for real people to deal with to see if they really themselves think their post or comment is that important.

But this is just a symptom of Brausch's attitude. He has some good stuff, I think. At least it sounds good. But while I have implemented much, no change in my bottom line. At least so far, after several months. But he is not interested in anyone's opinions or suggestions or questions, (at least those that are challenging) so cutting off comments is a logical step for him.

His attitude towards comments is an extension of his attitude towards customer service. Which is that since there is never a problem with his products or documentation, if you have a question, you are obviously an idiot; so go away.

RaSof Ranking Factors Evaluation Anomalies - Continued

2007-01-31T21:38:00.000-08:00

On my e-Commerce webpage, I mentioned a James D. Brausch RaSof/Ranking Factors scoring anomaly I discovered. Keywords in HTML comments (within comment tags) count towards the score just as do keywords in text. I have no idea as to whether keywords or not in the comments tags really affect Google ranking or not. That is, if you put a bunch of keywords in comment tags, that will usually improve your RaSof score, but does Google then give you a higher page rank?

I have no idea, and since Brausch is not open to my comments and questions, the only way we will know is if you (someone happening across this blog) risks getting fired as a customer by asking him and getting an answer.

Here is an example: On my Prestige Wristwatches website, on the main page, there is a list of manufacturers at the bottom of the page. I scored that on the keyword "wristwatch". Over a few weeks, using what I could glean from the Ranking Factors Course and the RaSof video, I succeeded in getting my "score" from 215 up to 1760. A VERY nice improvement. But since no inbound links to speak of, that page is still in the area of the Google deep. Anyway, I added a few manufacturer links to that list. That list does not contain many, if any mentions of the keyword "wristwatch", just the manufacturers' names. That reduced the RaSof score back down to 1639. A little while ago, as an experiment, I included the keywords "wristwatch" and "wristwatches" in HTML comments above and below the list. Voilà, the score went back up to 1742.

Discovering Words that are Guaranteed to Sell with Glyphius.

2007-01-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

Many e-commerce marketers have asked for a list of words that can be used in ad copy to increase profitability. Of course you can discover your own magical profit words with the Glyphius software, but I thought I would list a few that I have discovered.

First of all, I want to cover something even more powerful than a word that was discovered in the Glyphius research. It is the lowly period. Putting that dot at the end of each line of your ad copy has an amazing 76% positive correlation with profitability. It is the highest scoring token found in the Glyphius database. That high correlation also
indicates that not using it is THE most often mistake made by those creating poor copy. Use it. Period.

Other punctuation that have a high correlation with profitability include the ampersand (&) and the percentage sign (%). The exclamation point (!) is good, but not nearly as good as the period, ampersand and percentage signs. Use it more sparingly.

Here are some other words that I have found with nice high positive correlations with profitability:

all, am, are, area, buy, check, compare, direct, discount, find, from, full, guarantee, guaranteed, has, in, less, local, me, more, online, of, on, one, or, order, over, price, prices, save, stop, top, up.

Try using them more often in all of your sales copy.

In contrast, here a few words you absolutely should not use:

aside, confidence, decide, download, downside, evidence, exclusive, excuse, focus, free, idea, music, now, useful, video.

Hope this helps. Discover more how Glyphius can help.
Update 2009-06-17: I am no longer an affiliate for this product.

About e-Commerce Internet Business

2007-01-10T12:58:00.000-08:00

Internet business techniques, tips, software and home study courses. e-commerce topics including traffic, copywriting, page ranking, ranking factors, inbound link and outbound link generation, SEO, SERP, information product creation, etc.

Privacy Policy for e-Commerce Internet Business

2007-01-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

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This Privacy Policy updated June 2009

Contact e-Commerce Internet Business

2007-01-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

To send me an e-mail message, click on the link below.

contact-gblop@bean-d.com

As an anti-spam measure, when your e-mailing program starts after clicking the link, replace all instances of "p" in the "To:" address with "g". Continue with a meaningful subject and message.

Thanks for your interest; I'll be in touch soon.
David Bean

*** IMPORTANT ***

About Your E-Mail "Subject" Line

As part of your "Subject" line, include the words "Bean's e-Commerce Internet Business Site" along with whatever else you want to include. That will assure both my prompt attention and eliminate the possibility of your message ending up in the TRASH.
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