While traversing the web in search of great new websites with potential, I stumbled upon ThoughtBlend.com, a free Web 2.0 idea community. The interface was clean, the database was robust for being only two months old, and the ideas were flowing.
After browsing a few categories I clicked on a couple of ideas that caught my eye and really enjoyed to read the forum-style comments that left a breadcrumb trail of thoughts following each idea. Users in the community were really working together to perfect, or critique other users' ideas.
As for features, I was able to add good ideas and users to my favorites lists to return to them later, and I was able, like any good Web 2.0 website, to rate other users' ideas and comments.
Users also earned points for posting ideas, as well as getting rated on their ideas and comments, so by clicking "brainstormers" I was instantly taken to a scoreboard topped by the users with the most activity.
All in all, ThoughtBlend is a great sandbox to throw your ideas out there and see what the masses think of it. Heck, we all have great ideas sometimes, but often it's hard or impossible to ever implement them. That doesn't mean they should go unnoticed though.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
What If Your Interview Is Tomorrow?
Even if you have less than a day before your job interview, you can outshine the competition with a little preparation. The following four tasks will take you about four hours (plus five minutes) to complete, and you'll walk into the interview confident you'll be successful.
Conduct Basic Interview Research
Find out as much as you can about the interview. Call the person who scheduled your appointment and ask:
Who will you be talking to?
Will you meet the manager you'd work for, or will you just talk to HR?
What are the interviewer's expectations?
What's the dress code? Dress better than suggested. Most times, it's best for men to wear a suit and women to wear a professional business outfit. You'd be amazed how many candidates show up looking like they're going to class, not presenting a professional demeanor.
Get directions to the office. Plan to leave early. Keep a phone number to call if you get stuck on the bus or in traffic. If you arrive late and stressed, the interview will not go well.
If you don't have a detailed job description, ask for one.
That's a five-minute phone call....read more
Conduct Basic Interview Research
Find out as much as you can about the interview. Call the person who scheduled your appointment and ask:
Who will you be talking to?
Will you meet the manager you'd work for, or will you just talk to HR?
What are the interviewer's expectations?
What's the dress code? Dress better than suggested. Most times, it's best for men to wear a suit and women to wear a professional business outfit. You'd be amazed how many candidates show up looking like they're going to class, not presenting a professional demeanor.
Get directions to the office. Plan to leave early. Keep a phone number to call if you get stuck on the bus or in traffic. If you arrive late and stressed, the interview will not go well.
If you don't have a detailed job description, ask for one.
That's a five-minute phone call....read more
Monday, February 4, 2008
How to make money with your hobby
You can make money from your hobby.
Whether you knit, or write, or make photographs, or grow a vegetable garden, or tinker with cars, or build web sites, or collect ancient coins — you can make money from your hobby.
I’m not saying it’s possible to get rich by playing your violin at weddings, or by weaving baskets from pine needles, but earning money from a hobby is a nice way to get paid for doing something you would do anyhow.
First, by way of introduction, here are some ground-rules for making money from hobbies.
Focus on something you love
Pursue something you’re passionate about. Choose a hobby that you enjoy, and find a way to make money from it. Don’t choose a hobby simply because it might make money and then dive into it with that aim in mind. You should be doing this hobby because you love it; any side-income should be secondary.
Keep it fun. Don’t let it become a chore.
Be creative
If you’re interested in making money from a hobby but don’t know where to start, think outside the box. What skills do you have that others don’t? Define the term “hobby” broadly. Find something that you can do that most others cannot, something for which other people might be willing to pay.
Don’t force it
Your hobby will not make you rich. In most cases, it won’t even net you enough to allow you to quit your day job. It’s quite possible, however, to earn enough money to make the hobby self-sustaining, to keep yourself in new tools and equipment.
Don’t underestimate your ability
It’s easy to discount your abilities. When you truly love something, your prolonged experience can give you skills and knowledge that you don’t appreciate.
Market yourself
This can be difficult. In order to actually earn income, you need customers. But just as most people have a tendency to underestimate their abilities, they also tend be uncomfortable with self-promotion. Try websites like www.racooda.com to find others who need things done and are willing to pay.
Hone your skill
Practice, practice, practice. The more time and energy you’re willing to devote to your hobby, the better you will become. The better you become, the more likely that you’ll be able to earn money from it.
read more from this article...
Whether you knit, or write, or make photographs, or grow a vegetable garden, or tinker with cars, or build web sites, or collect ancient coins — you can make money from your hobby.
I’m not saying it’s possible to get rich by playing your violin at weddings, or by weaving baskets from pine needles, but earning money from a hobby is a nice way to get paid for doing something you would do anyhow.
First, by way of introduction, here are some ground-rules for making money from hobbies.
Focus on something you love
Pursue something you’re passionate about. Choose a hobby that you enjoy, and find a way to make money from it. Don’t choose a hobby simply because it might make money and then dive into it with that aim in mind. You should be doing this hobby because you love it; any side-income should be secondary.
Keep it fun. Don’t let it become a chore.
Be creative
If you’re interested in making money from a hobby but don’t know where to start, think outside the box. What skills do you have that others don’t? Define the term “hobby” broadly. Find something that you can do that most others cannot, something for which other people might be willing to pay.
Don’t force it
Your hobby will not make you rich. In most cases, it won’t even net you enough to allow you to quit your day job. It’s quite possible, however, to earn enough money to make the hobby self-sustaining, to keep yourself in new tools and equipment.
Don’t underestimate your ability
It’s easy to discount your abilities. When you truly love something, your prolonged experience can give you skills and knowledge that you don’t appreciate.
Market yourself
This can be difficult. In order to actually earn income, you need customers. But just as most people have a tendency to underestimate their abilities, they also tend be uncomfortable with self-promotion. Try websites like www.racooda.com to find others who need things done and are willing to pay.
Hone your skill
Practice, practice, practice. The more time and energy you’re willing to devote to your hobby, the better you will become. The better you become, the more likely that you’ll be able to earn money from it.
read more from this article...
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The "Rule of Thirds" Job Search
It seems a lot of people are having trouble with using job boards to the fullest. I've been in the staffing business for a while now, primarily IT and Financial, and I've found a lot of resumes that should have been sent to me via a post on a job board. So, I came across this "Rule of Thirds" method and thought I would share this with all the hardworking people who may not be utilizing job boards to their full potential. The Job Bored career blog recommends sticking to a "Rule of Thirds"—sending out three resumes each to jobs you're slightly underqualified for, jobs you're sure you can pull, and random jobs you find in your search. In addition to narrowing your search, you force yourself into a better position to be hired:
"By forcing my clients to wait, I found that they'd done more research on each company/position in the intervening time. They were often better prepared, and sometimes had even taken the time to find other avenues of applying, such as walking in and applying in person."
Another good point made is that job-seekers too often neglect the "random" category, which can sometimes bring the most unexpected (yet welcome) surprises. What's your job finding technique? Share your wisdom in the comments.
Visit Racooda, get things done and use your niche to make some extra cash on the side!
"By forcing my clients to wait, I found that they'd done more research on each company/position in the intervening time. They were often better prepared, and sometimes had even taken the time to find other avenues of applying, such as walking in and applying in person."
Another good point made is that job-seekers too often neglect the "random" category, which can sometimes bring the most unexpected (yet welcome) surprises. What's your job finding technique? Share your wisdom in the comments.
Visit Racooda, get things done and use your niche to make some extra cash on the side!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Starting a website
Starting a website is a great way to earn income on the side. The overhead is relatively low and after initial advertising, usually with some luck traffic could be self-sustaining. However it is a rocky road at the beginning to get users.
Recently I started a website with 2 others. We decided to first create an LLC to protect us as well as afford us scalability if we wanted to create more websites in the future. We chose the name, Racooda, and dedicated it to side jobs which was a tough decision but a great one in retrospect. Getting the idea for the website was very hard, being that most ideas are already taken. Also the domain name was tough because so many jerks out there buy domains and squat on them, looking for the best offer. Racooda ended up being a derivative of the word barracuda, which we all agreed was fun to say.
The website took about 3 months to make in my spare time, and after hack-testing it and making sure we were golden, we opened it up to the public on January 1, 2008. Reaching out to friends and family, we got a good amount of traffic and attention, earning about $8 in the first week from ad clicks. Then things seemed to taper off.
We printed fliers and put them all around, on tables and stands in malls and stores, even a few cars. What I saw was discouraging - traffic actually dropping after the fliers hit the public. We're on the verge of printing another 1000 and I'm hopeful that the smaller size of the new batch will help us carry them easier and will look less spam-like.
Online advertising has been tough too. Every place we've tried to post about Racooda has either banned me or deleted my post, from myspace forums to offtopic.com. They claim it's spam. I even cut down my posts to what sounds as honest as I could - "i just started a website and am looking for feedback" but NO avail - I'm still a spammer apparently.
Other free methods we've tried are myspace bulletins, discussion boards / forums, wikipedia and networking with people we already know. Wikipedia was the quickest to delete my post - about 3 minutes. The fliers might get shrunken down also to business card size I'm expecting, which would make them easier to carry around.
Next month will be paid advertising month, where we will go into a few local newspapers and see what happens with that.
Recently I started a website with 2 others. We decided to first create an LLC to protect us as well as afford us scalability if we wanted to create more websites in the future. We chose the name, Racooda, and dedicated it to side jobs which was a tough decision but a great one in retrospect. Getting the idea for the website was very hard, being that most ideas are already taken. Also the domain name was tough because so many jerks out there buy domains and squat on them, looking for the best offer. Racooda ended up being a derivative of the word barracuda, which we all agreed was fun to say.
The website took about 3 months to make in my spare time, and after hack-testing it and making sure we were golden, we opened it up to the public on January 1, 2008. Reaching out to friends and family, we got a good amount of traffic and attention, earning about $8 in the first week from ad clicks. Then things seemed to taper off.
We printed fliers and put them all around, on tables and stands in malls and stores, even a few cars. What I saw was discouraging - traffic actually dropping after the fliers hit the public. We're on the verge of printing another 1000 and I'm hopeful that the smaller size of the new batch will help us carry them easier and will look less spam-like.
Online advertising has been tough too. Every place we've tried to post about Racooda has either banned me or deleted my post, from myspace forums to offtopic.com. They claim it's spam. I even cut down my posts to what sounds as honest as I could - "i just started a website and am looking for feedback" but NO avail - I'm still a spammer apparently.
Other free methods we've tried are myspace bulletins, discussion boards / forums, wikipedia and networking with people we already know. Wikipedia was the quickest to delete my post - about 3 minutes. The fliers might get shrunken down also to business card size I'm expecting, which would make them easier to carry around.
Next month will be paid advertising month, where we will go into a few local newspapers and see what happens with that.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
16 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Do you work any jobs on the side? Racooda.com will help you find side work in your area for FREE!.
You've got your blog set up and you've started posting pithy, useful information that your niche market would benefit from and enjoy. Days go by, you keep publishing, but no one comments and your traffic stats are barely registering. What do you do?
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on biz tips blog)
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
read more...
You've got your blog set up and you've started posting pithy, useful information that your niche market would benefit from and enjoy. Days go by, you keep publishing, but no one comments and your traffic stats are barely registering. What do you do?
Like any website you own, you must do some blog promotion to start driving traffic to your site. Here are 16 steps, in no particular order of importance, that you can start doing now to get traffic moving to your blog.
1. Set up a Bloglet subscription form on your blog and invite everyone in your network to subscribe: family, friends, colleagues, clients, associates.
2. Set up a feed on MyYahoo.com so your site gets regularly spidered by the Yahoo search engine (see tutorial on biz tips blog)
3. Read and comment on other blogs that are in your target niche. Don't write things like "nice blog" or "great post." Write intelligent, useful comments with a link to your blog.
4. Use Ping-0-matic to ping blog directories. Do this every time you publish.
5. Submit your blog to traditional search engines
6. Submit your blog to blog directories. The most comprehensive list of directories is on this site:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
read more...
Monday, January 14, 2008
How Bloggers Make Money
Need help finding side jobs? Racooda.com might be a good start.
Advertising Programs - Perhaps the most obvious changes in the past few months have been with the addition of a variety of viable advertising options for bloggers looking to make money from their blogs. The most common way bloggers seem to earn money online is via the contextual ad program from Google - Adsense. A more recent addition that many are using successfully are Chitika’s eMiniMalls and WidgetBucks, Text Link Ads.
Azoogle Ads, Intelli Txt, DoubleClick, Tribal Fusion, Adbrite, Clicksor, AdHearUs, Kanoodle, Pheedo, TextAds, Bidvertiser, Fastclick and Value Click (to name just some of the options) and there is a smorgasbord of options. Of course there is more to come with MSN Adcenter and YPN both in beta testing and with a variety of other advertising system currently in development (YPN is only available to US publishers).
Lastly there’s BlogAds - one of the first blog specific ad networks.
RSS Advertising - The past 12 months have seen some advances in RSS Advertising also. I’m yet to hear of any bloggers making big money blogging through it to this point - but as improvements are made to the ad programs exploring this I’m sure we’ll start to see examples of it being profitable.
Affiliate Programs - There are larger affiliate programs like Amazon, Linkshare, Clickbank and Commission Junction but also literally thousands of others from the large to the very small. read more
Advertising Programs - Perhaps the most obvious changes in the past few months have been with the addition of a variety of viable advertising options for bloggers looking to make money from their blogs. The most common way bloggers seem to earn money online is via the contextual ad program from Google - Adsense. A more recent addition that many are using successfully are Chitika’s eMiniMalls and WidgetBucks, Text Link Ads.
Azoogle Ads, Intelli Txt, DoubleClick, Tribal Fusion, Adbrite, Clicksor, AdHearUs, Kanoodle, Pheedo, TextAds, Bidvertiser, Fastclick and Value Click (to name just some of the options) and there is a smorgasbord of options. Of course there is more to come with MSN Adcenter and YPN both in beta testing and with a variety of other advertising system currently in development (YPN is only available to US publishers).
Lastly there’s BlogAds - one of the first blog specific ad networks.
RSS Advertising - The past 12 months have seen some advances in RSS Advertising also. I’m yet to hear of any bloggers making big money blogging through it to this point - but as improvements are made to the ad programs exploring this I’m sure we’ll start to see examples of it being profitable.
Affiliate Programs - There are larger affiliate programs like Amazon, Linkshare, Clickbank and Commission Junction but also literally thousands of others from the large to the very small. read more
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