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Instant Article Wizard Pro - A powerful tool for creating articles fast. December 17, 2008

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The creators of Instant Article Wizard pro have developed a complex algorithm that extracts relevant pieces of research from a large variety of online indexes based on keywords you provide. That research is grouped and organized using this algorithm in a way that puts related research together. This makes writing your articles much, much faster and easier than trying to go out and do the research yourself.

IAW Pro currently supports searching Google, Yahoo, MSN Live, Google Blog Search, Articles, Google’s US Government index, Google Scholar, Google News and Google News Archives. Having multiple sources for gathering research makes it much easier to compile relevant, authoratative information to help you write top quality articles fast.

Instant Article Wizard Pro has a random factor in the algorithm that prevents the same research from being gathered for the same keywords each time they are run. That way an article you write on a set of keywords will be different, based on the research found, than another user who writes an article on the same set of keywords.

Even better, this means that you can create multiple unique articles on the same topic keywords. That gives you the ability to post to as many blogs as you want, submit to article directories as many times as you want and get as much content about a topic as you want. The benefit to you is more content, more pages indexed by the search engines and more backlinks to your sites.

Right now only the English language is supported, but results from Google, MSN Live, Yahoo and the News and News Archives indexes are all localized based on your selected country. The available countries are the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada.

For the best article marketing, you definitely want to pick up a copy of Instant Article Wizard Pro.

Running and Base Cycling Training: Allow Downtime December 17, 2008

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Careful planning and periods of low intensity may keep an athlete from burning out while training for competition.

Athlete Burnout

Excessive training and a schedule that is simply too full can lead to burnout, to put it in simple terms, An athlete who is engaged in training for a major meet or has a daily schedule of cycling training while preparing for competition must, of course, be very focused. In fact, it is essential that this athlete have training goals at the top of his or her priority list.

However, the athlete that has not other interests or who does not allow time for relaxation is flirting with danger. The spectre of mental or physical breakdown is always there when the schedule pushes beyond reasonable limits.

If this period of overtraining continues the chances increase for the athlete to begin to lose his or her motivation for training. Even if the training methods are innovative and enjoyable at first, the repetition can make training seem stale and, in the athletes mind, unnecessary. Several experts and experienced professionals have considered this phenomena in books and videos that deal with training for competition.

Results Suffer

When boredom or dread becomes part of the mindset during an intense training period, the results will not be what they could be. Athletes even get the feeling of being let down, when they begin to blame other people or factors for their training failures or their poor race results. This is an area that needs to be watched very closely, according to the top running and cycling training professionals.

Those with experience in the field watch for such symptoms as continued fatigue, unusual levels of pain in the muscles, inability to sleep as competition approaches and mood changes. Any of these could be an indication of too much training that is leading to burnout. Talking with an athlete during the later stages of training for a major competition may uncover a general feeling of concern that seems to have no basis in injury or training results.

What Can The Athlete Do?

Any program of exercise or training should start slowly and increase in moderate steps. Training schedules should be upgraded gradually so that the athlete does not get burned out. A good base cycling training program will include only necessary repetition. While repeating actions is essential for athletic success, there is usually a point at which results actually suffer, rather than improve, because of repetition. Alternating short periods of intense work with times of low physical and mental stress may even bring back some of the enthusiasm for training in an athlete that is approaching the trouble zone.

Proper Keyword Selection December 17, 2008

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To increase your search engine ranking, you should be very selective in choosing your keywords. It can make the difference between a site earning a few dollars a day and a site that earns hundreds of dollars a day.

Keywords, or keyword phrases for the purpose of this post is a better term to use, are one of the, if not the, most important attributes you can use for making sure that your business is going to be successful on the Internet. Keyword phrases are what people use when they’re searching the web. You must have done searches yourself and every time you did the search engines went looking for exact matches, if possible, so they can give you a selection of sites that meet your needs.

Although plenty of people do a single word search, generally speaking, it’s a little harder to get good rankings for such simple terms, especially in a competitive niche. Even phrases like credit card throw up 176,000,000 results so they are hard to do well for.

That’s where the keyword phrases come in. Credit card application, for example, has only 3,480,000 results. Still a lot, but much lower than credit card. Apply for credit card has just over 1,000,000 results.

And as long as there are good numbers of people searching for the phrase, the longer phrases are very often much easier to get ranked for. For example, there’s a 3 word phrase one of my sites ranks for and I get #1 in MSN and #5 in Google. Those 2 results bring me in steady traffic and steady revenue.

If your site uses such keywords it can be much easier to get near the top of the search engine results - especially if you know the right way to implement a link-building campaign.

When you’re writing articles you should think about a range of keyword phrases you want your sites to be ranked for. Using some of the keyword phrases in the article is a good start, but in your call to action, your resource box, be sure to use the main keyword phrase you want to rank for. Use it as the anchor text to your site. If you’re not sure what that means, here’s an example for this post:

Learn how to make a good keyword selection

In the example above I used keyword selection as the anchor text. Used in that way it tells the search engines that the website/page it links to is related to that phrase. A single link as I have here probably won’t make me appear very high in the search engines for that phrase, but if I undertook an article writing campaign using that phrase this post would rise up the ranks of the search engines. Any time somebody looked for keyword selection my post would be there.

When you are choosing your keywords it’s worth checking the top 10 results in the main search engine to see what your competition is. No point trying to take on sites that already have thousands of links with that anchort text - it would be too hard to climb the search engines with that much competition.

After choosing the main keyword phrase to target you should also pick several variations. Try to create new articles based around the various keyword phrases, remembering each time to use the main keyword phrase that you’re writing about as your anchor text. That way you have a chance to appear in the search results for a number of keyword phrases, thus ensuring more traffic.

Easy Keyword Research

It’s time consuming to do the research on keywords and to find out where the competition is. When you’re using article marketing to generate revenue, good choice of keywords is essential. For ploughing through the numbers and giving you the data you need to outflank the competition, this keywords tool is fast and easy to use.

Tea Blog - Enjoying Reading and Sipping December 17, 2008

Posted by Pat in : nothing in particular , 6comments

For many, tea is a very serious thing. You’d be suprised if you check that you can find one tea blog after another. Drinkers of the hot liquid tout the benefits of green tea, oolong tea, black tea, and white tea… to name a few. Of course there are many different brands and strengths to be considered.

There are those that not only drink the stuff, but collect all the various kinds, even those they do not personally like to drink. I guess that is no different than those that collect baseball cards, dolls, coins, etc… that collect them for their value or general interest. Along with the collecting of and appreciating tea, there are teacup and saucer collectors. All manner of shapes, sizes, and imbued valuable materials like gold, platinum, and silver can be found. Painstaking effort is often the norm in creating hand-crafted works of art designed to be held daintily at a tea party, or displayed on a shelf.

As you might guess, much rare and interesting information can be found on any given tea blog you might happen to read. Occasionally, great links to deals with good prices can be found at these sites. So for those regular teas you might drink, checking these sites can be a worthwhile use of time. Although there has been debate over high temperature drinks being bad for the digesitve system, you may have trouble ripping the cup out of many a dedicated and even addicted tea drinker’s grip on their flowered teacup.

*Disclaimer: the above is not medical advice and should be considered as entertainment only.

15+ Really Sweet iPhone Tips December 17, 2008

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When I spend about half a grand on a cell phone, I’m thinking . . . “i want to get my money’s worth!”

That’s how I feel, anyway — which is why I made it my business to put my new iPhone through the paces from jump street by scouring the web’s most serious iPhone resources for the most useful power tips/ tricks available. The result is this collection of 16 iPhone power tips that will help you get even more enjoyment out of your new favorite toy! Some of these, granted, you’ll need to Google to get the current URL. But, if you want, you can just click the link for the complete article with photos and videos.

1. Unstick a Stuck Slider: if you’re iPhone’s slider ever gets stuck — as in, it simply refuses to do anything when you try to slide it, usually because you want to make the iPhone up to use it — here is a fix from iPhone Atlas (www.iphoneatlas.com): press the Home button once before attempting to move the slider for the first time.

2. Make Skype calls: Up-front disclaimer: We’re not talking about free, voice-over-IP (VOiP) Skype calls here. We’re talking about making SkypeOut calls, which are not free but can drastically reduce the cost of making international calls on your iPhone. Matter of fact, SoonR lets you access Apple Mail files, mailboxes, and contacts. It also lets you grab documents from your Mac for viewing on iPhone, including PowerPoint presentations and all that kinda’ good stuff.

3. Know Where to Go for the 411: Lucky for you, the world has gone iPhone crazy. That means there a lot of excellent sources of info on the latest iPhone developments out there on the web. Bad news: there’s a lot of crap, also. Here’s a short list of our favorite iPhone info sites:

- modmyiPhone.com
- iPhoneFreak.com
- iPhoneAlley.com
- The Unofficial Apple Weblog’s iPhone page
- Gizmodo’s iPhone coverage
- iPhoneAtlas.com

While you’re checking these sites, keep in mind that some sites you might already be visiting on a regular basis have really done a super job of becoming iPhone-friendly, including Digg.com, Amazon.com, FaceBook.com, and Netvibes.com!

4. Play Great Games: You know what Jack says about all work and no play! Not that the web surfing you’re doing on your iPhone is all work-related, yeah right? Games — most of which are free — are starting to pop up for the iPhone, and we’re sure there will be more where those came from. For now, you can just launch the Safari browser when your iPhone and visit these hot game sites:

- MacMost’s collection of iPhone games, including classics like solitaire and minesweeper (free, MacMost iPhone Games).

- mynuMo has 4 iPhone games, including iWhack — a whack-a-mole knockoff where the mole’s replaced by a headshot of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer — and Blackjack (also free, myNuMo iPhone Games).

- iGiki’s games, which include Hangman and Canyon Crawl — aren’t free, but then, they’re only a buck a pop and might be just what you need when you get tired of the freebies (99 cents per game pack for 99 days, iGiki Games).

- PopCap’s Bejeweled, (free, PopCap Bejeweled).

5. Beat a Shortcut to your Fave iPhone Apps: Handy iPhone apps, like Leaflets (free, Get Leaflets) and Applists (free, Get Applists) put most iPhone apps your fingertips, but if you want to build your own list, just collect the apps you tend to use the most into the same bookmarks folder in Safari on your computer. Then, the next time you sync your iPhone, using iTunes, be sure to check “Sync Safari Bookmarks” on the info tab, under Web browser.

6. Rehang the Wallpaper: If you’re up for a bit of iPhone hacking, you can take any image you find anywhere on the web and turn it into a custom wallpaper.

But there is a much easier way: Download a 320×480 pixel image for free from a variety of online sources, saving them all in the same folder on your Mac. In iTunes, with your iPhone docked, select your iPhone, click the Photos tab, select the radio button next to “Sync Photos From…,” then from the drop-down list, select “Choose Folder…”

Next, browse to the folder you just created, then click “Apply” in the lower-right hand corner. Finally, on your iPhone, go to Settings, Wallpaper, Photo Library to hang your new wallpaper!

7. Take Self-Portraits Because the iPhone camera shutter’s button is a “soft” (i.e., onscreen) button, it’s a bit tricky to take self-portraits with it since you have to turn the phone around so you can no longer see the button. Here’s the solution: with the camera feature selected, place your finger on the camera icon and turn the phone around so you’re facing the lens. Then, smile pretty and let go of the shutter button! You’ll hear the telltale “click” — and, you’ve just taken a self-portrait!

8. Reveal Secret Features: When Apple released the first firmware update for the iPhone on August 1, 2007, it did so with little fanfare, and attributed most of the updates to “security fixes.” The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg discovered a few new non-security-related features on his side phone after the update including:

- Greater capacity in the iPhone module’s Favorites list (used to be 20, is now 50).
- Ability to automatically blind carbon copy (BCC) yourself on all e-mails sent, where previously, your only option was to CC yourself, which alerted your recipients what you were up to…
- Compatibility with some car adapters and external speakers, originally created for the iPod. For more iPhone and tech tidbits, visit Walt’s blog.

9. Just Ditch the Camera Altogether: On the other hand, if you know you’ll never use the iPhone’s camera, you can just remove it altogether. (If you work for or with certain government agencies, you’re iPhone may actually be considered “contraband” on their property because they don’t want you taking secret photos of Bigfoot, Elvis, or (believe it or not) alien spaceships!

10. Get the Official Mod Tool: If you’ve already had to send your iPhone back to Apple for warranty repair or replacement, you may have already discovered something different about the replacement iPhone. First off, it comes in a much thinner box. Second, it comes complete with the “official iPhone SIM card removal tool”: a paperclip! Yup, Apple actually supplies a paperclip with all replacement iPhones, along with instructions for using it to open the SIM card slot and insert your card!

11. Buy Spare Parts: If you’re the type who simply can’t resist trying to take your iPhone apart, here’s where to go to find replacement parts when you go too far: iPhone Parts. Sources of mine told me that Apple charges $300 for a replacement screen, but you can get one from iFixIt for only $199.95.

12. Kill that Annoying GSM Buzz: If you hear a buzzing sound, while using an iPhone cassette adapter in your car stereo, such as Monsters iCarPlay — which claims to be iPhone-compatible (but doesn’t appear anywhere on Monster’s website) — Gizmodo offers a low-tech solution: aluminum foil… Yup, just take a little bit of Reynolds Wrap and wrap it around the cable closest to your iPhone. Doing so eliminates the need to switch to “Airplane mode,” which would be a viable solution if it didn’t send your incoming calls to voicemail!

13. Find Wi-Fi Hotspots in Your Neighborhood: JiWire makes it easy to find the nearest hotspot when your iPhone — so you can rescue yourself from the slow-moving hell that is AT&T’s EDGE data service. Surf on over to iphone.jiwire.com on your iPhone and fill in your location. If you’re a cheapskate (like me), check the box for “Search Free Hotspots Only.”

14. More Wi-Fi Performance Enhancements: Apple has a potentially useful collection of WiFi related iPhone tips in a regularly-updated knowledgebase article on its website. Suggestions include fixing problems like paid WiFi connections that drop off suddenly, weak WiFi signals, and WiFi connections that revert to EDGE due to issues with WEP passwords, or problems with Mac address filtering.

15. “Hack” Your iPhone!: Disclaimer: this tip isn’t for everybody. Some of these “hacks” (i.e., self-made modifications to the iPhone’s default behavior) are intended for people who have experience changing the way their computers behave by accessing the underlying code governing such behavior. You’ve been warned.

- For Macs: iFuntastic and Installer.app.
- For Windows: Installer.app or iBrickr.

Once you’ve installed one of the above helper apps, you can try an ever-expanding array of iPhone mods. With iFuntastic, for example, you can add your own custom ringtones, rearrange the Home screen, and change the AT&T logo. Installer.app goes even further, letting you install and play Nintendo games that feature tactile feedback! The good folks at Gizmodo.com make it easy for Mac users to take advantage of this newfound power over their iPhones with a handy tutorial (visit their site and search for install apps iPhone).

Windows users can also use a helper app called iBricker to modify their iPhone, install custom ringtones, and install third-party apps. But, if all you care about is adding custom ringtones, you might want to try Efiko’s iPhoneRingToneMaker ($10).

16. Just Don’t Be a Sucker!: While searching for the latest iPhone apps, you could run across some websites that’ll offer you instant access to hundreds of the latest apps — all for one-time membership fee of $49.95. These sites include, but are not limited to, www.iphonenova.com, www.iphonecyclone.com, and www.iphonedownloadpro.com. Problem here, is that these sites (IMHO) are scams.

I ponied up $50 for membership to iPhoneNova, for example, which claims to be the “World’s First iPhone Download Service.” Guess what it really is? It’s a BitTorrent-like site for downloading illegal content you can view on your iPhone or iPod.

But, your $50 membership only gets you a BitTorrent client called Tomato Torrent and links for you to download two more already-free apps that help you convert existing videos and ripped DVD content to be viewed on your iPod/ iPhone. You also get links to a mere five (5) web-based iPhone games and a huge, poorly-organized list of illegal movie downloads like “The Simpsons” and “Transformers.” Nuff said; as Napoleon Dynamite would say, “…What a Rip-off”!