The Survey Pro

Those interested in doing “paid surveys” online must realize that although some sites are legitimate, others either want money in exchange for registration into their data bank, or simply want to collect as much information about you to sell to telemarketing companies.

Thesurveypro.com is of the latter.   I clicked on the site and entered some basic information, such as my name, address, age and e-mail address.  I then pressed the button to “join” the site, that promised to pay me for participating in online surveys.  Thesurveypro.com then sent me a confirmation e-mail.

I went to my inbox and clicked on the confirmation link and was directed again to the site where they asked me to participate in a brief “20 questions in 2 minutes” survey.  Some of the questions they asked me consisted of the following:

Would you ever consider working from home?  I answered “no.”  In my experience, answering “yes” to such a question is giving the “go-ahead” to receive dozens of calls and e-mails from unscrupulous “work at home” scam companies.

Are you interested in an online degree?  I answered “no.”  Ever since I foolishly answered yes by mistake at another survey company, I get, on the average, four calls a week from “online education” sources using hard sell tactics to try to get me to “better” my education.  At first I was nice, now I simply hang up.

Do you carry more than $10,000 in student debt?  I answered “no” and this is the truth.  But a “yes” answer will signal calls from debt consolidation companies, which are always bad news.  Signing up with such a company ruins your credit as it is actually viewed as filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.

Do you own a home or a condominium?  I lied and said “no.”  Because I know if I said “yes,” I would get a ton of mail asking me to refinance my home.

Do you feel it is important to know your credit score?  I said “no.”  Because I know if I said “yes” I would get mail and phone calls trying to “help” me raise my credit score.

Do you carry more than $10,000 in credit card debt?  I truthfully answered “no.”  This is just another attempt to get you into debt consolidation.

In the last 30 days, have you rented a movie?  Again I truthfully answered “no.”  This is an ad for netflix.  I’m not interested.

Do you consider yourself an expert in computer use?  Another “no.”  But I’m expecting to start receiving mail offering me instructions any day now.

Are you happy with your current body weight?  I truthfully answered “yes.”  I am one of the few Americans who is actually happy with my weight.  Constant aggravation caused by my two kids has kept me in marvelous shape.

Do you belong to a fitness club?  Gee, I signed up for three health clubs during my lifetime and ended up paying over $2,000 in fees.  I think I used the club about five or six times.  I wisely answered “no.”

Do you drink coffee?  I answered “yes,” but I am not interested in receiving free gourmet coffee every month through the mail.

Are you interested in receiving free gourmet coffee?  I answered “no.” 

After answering these questions, I was directed to yet another site where they asked me to “help keep their site free” and check “yes” or “no” if I was interested in getting more information from their sponsors.  As you may have guessed, most of their sponsors related to the 20 questions.  They included various online universities, Overstock.com, Taste of Home (which is a wonderful magazine, but available at the bookstore),  a few other magazine subscriptions and several “diet” sites,

I said “no” to all of these offers.  They then asked me to “consider” another optional offer.  I clicked on the site and saw a flashy car, huge house and the chance to earn THOUSANDS of dollars.  All I had to do was give them my name, address and telephone number.  Fat chance.

I clicked out of that site quickly and went to my inbox.  There I found a link to confirm my membership to thesurveypro.com.  I clicked on the link and quickly found how I can immediately earn $10 for only 30 minutes worth of work.  All I had to do was sign up for 20 other survey sites.

While thesurveypro.com is not technically a scam (they don’t want any money), it is not a legitimate “paid survey” site.  It is merely a tool used to get information for businesses.  The information that you provide to this site is sold to telemarketing companies that sell products such as diet pills, fitness equipment, magazine subscriptions, credit cards, debt consolidation, and - my personal favorite - online education.

Looking for a way to make a few extra bucks online?  Skip Thesurveypro.com.  Unless, of course, you have a desire to have your mailbox flooded with offers and like to talk to telemarketers.

CLICK HERE FOR A LEGITIMATE PAID SURVEY SITE!

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Source: Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Copywriting is a great job that can weather a difficult economy well. This is because businesses always need to advertise their products despite the condition of the economy. A good businessman knows that cutting the advertising budget will only hurt sales in the long run, therefore they continue to employ copywriters in difficult economic times.

Freelance copywriting combines the security of copywriting with the benefits of freelancing. These include the ability to dictate your own work schedule, your paycheck, and you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have an Internet connection. You can also make more money as a freelancer because you don’t have to deal with a parent company or advertising agency. You get to determine how much work you do and you get to keep all of your profit. This gives you greater control over your career and success.

Freelance copywriting operates on a project-per-project system. Meaning that copywriters work for clients on a contracted basis for a single project. The contract lays out what is expected from the copywriter and compensation for the work. Most projects have a timetable in which they have to be completed. The copywriter only has to complete the project inside the given deadline, other than that they can work whenever they want. They aren’t tied to a strict work schedule. But they must also manage their time well because missed deadlines severely hurt freelancing careers. Here are some helpful pointers if you’re considering becoming a freelance copywriter:

Go Online

Freelance copywriters can start finding work with online freelance marketplaces such as www.elance.com. You can create a profile, bid on projects, and post some of your best work as a display to potential clients. You can also have jobs that may interest you automatically emailed to your inbox.

You should construct a website. A website can host some of your work and act as a shop front window to potential clients. Your site needs to be easily read, neat, and professional looking. A sloppy site won’t get you any clients.

Network Yourself

You need to get your name into the market and industry. Otherwise you will have a very difficult time getting clients. Go to seminars and get to know other copywriters. Do some free projects in order to build a client base. You can also partner with other copywriters on larger projects. These things will help build a stable place for your business to grow.

Educate Yourself

No matter how skilled you currently are, you should always work to educate yourself and improve the quality of your copy. Since your writing is the foundation to your business, you should work extra hard to keep yourself competitive. There are plenty of online tutorials that help teach freelancing strategies. There are also different coaching course options by successful copywriters. These allow you to learn from the best copywriters out there and incorporate their success into your business. Check out some books by Dan Kennedy as well, he is a foremost expert in the field and his books can help you greatly.

You should also write everyday. Stephen King once compared working-out at the gym to writing: the more you do it the stronger you become. Therefore you should write everyday, this will help your writing improve immensely.

Hopefully you found this article helpful. Freelance copywriting is a great career with a lot of freedom and benefits. If you think freelance copywriting sounds good, then you should do some more research to see if it is right for you.

Source: marketing

Have you ever been invited to a networking breakfast? Or a networking lunch? These may should sort of strange to the person who has never been to one before, but these types of situations are key to moving yourself to talk with others about what you do, how you do it, and what you provide in the form of services and products.

Many areas have their own type of networking events

These include business meetings to talk about the economy, or business meetings to set new ordinances for the local surroundings ? everywhere you have people; you have the opportunity to ?do? additional networking. The more people you know and talk with the stronger your network of business contacts and customer contact is going to become.

The first step to successful local networking is going to involve doing it

You need to get out there, and be where other business owners are, or at least where large groups of people are going to be found. Next, you need a good opening question. The best question you can ask a person when you are networking is, what do you do? This is not only going to open the door to talking with another person, but also it is going to open the door for that person in turn to ask you what you do ? which is just what you want them to ask you!

Networking should be done in conversation when you are in situations where you don?t know someone all that well. Business cards are often given out, and passed around. If you are heading off to a club meeting, or a networking business affair, you should also have marketing materials with you, such as a brochure or some type of printed matter to show and tell others what you do. As others find your materials handed to them, or presented on a table of information, they have something tangible to take with them, read later, and to think about later.

Collect phone number, emails and information about other businesses. As you collect information about others, you will soon learn that you can use this information after you are back at the office, back at your own business. Create a marketing package for each individual that you have met. Mail out the information with a personal note from you, that it was great talking with you, and you just wanted to share some additional information about your business with them, in case they ever have a need for a product or service that you provide. This is very straight marketing, after the initial networking event, make it work for you!Author, Mike Freije, contributes articles on Business Networking for http://www.freeinfoarticles.com . For more information, visit http://business-networking.tagandlink.com and his Success University on http://mfreije1.successuniversity.com/new

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Source: Business Goals

Here are the most pertinent instructions for selecting right approach for writing extremely good pieces of writing on Internet. You have to put up your articles on sale in case you write for money. You must understand your business better than others who are not required to sell their writings. Our focus here will be on skills needed for writing articles instead of qualities required for selling them.

Starting With The Foremost Rule You should write according to taste of reader not your own. This means that you explore and target your message towards correct readers. In an article on financial market you cant target grandmothers looking for designs of knitting. This means that you write message according to comprehension of target readers. No one will understand even correct stuff until and unless it is presented properly.

Keep this thing in mind that people who browse Internet are impatient and they click off the material promptly, which they dont consider important and pleasing.

The Main Approaches First of all, ask yourself this question “Who are your readers?”

You will be able to make a decision about type of article you need to write by answering this question. The article may be of any kind such as technical, marketing or philosophical. All these types are dissimilar in nature.

The Main Approaches The articles on the Internet can be classified into four wide approaches:

- Writing for Selling: Marketing articles often sell commodities or services to woo readers to a web site. The fast-paced speed of these articles are immediately obvious and, for this reason, the content of marketing remains small in size. Keywords are important for selling because they invite readers performing general word searches.

- Technical writing-This type of writing requires actual facts. The technical aspect is well understood with diagrams. But, in lack of these, one has to keep the description right to avoid misconceptions. The most crucial aspect is the target audience. If you use highly technical words, then a common man would find it difficult to understand. And if the article has more of the style, the people with technical expertise will find it without technical details.

- Trendy writing-The extensive use of blogs in the recent times has made this writing very popular. The main aspects here are to make the content more appealing and entertaining. The things should be straightforward, short and full of quick points. These pieces of writing could lack details and arguments.

- Intellectual Writing: This writing requires detailed description of a particular field and often makes references from popular books. Intellectual writing is aimed at contributing to a field of study. However, it does not necessarily have to be academic in nature. Good examples of intellectual writing are book reviews and editorial columns.

The Internet is the most popular media for sharing information and, if used in an efficient manner, it can work wonders for you as a reader and writer.

Source: business

Source: CollegeRecruiter.com

by Alayna Buckner

Forty percent of American college students, almost 6 million people, are 25 or older. Some people return to school to advance or change their career. Others go back to fulfill a personal goal or learn something new. Here are the stories of four students who went back to school to study everything from law to Spanish.

Advancing Your Career
Lisa Thomas graduated in 2001, got a research job for two years, and then returned for a master’s degree. “I had always intended to return,” she says. The time off helped her clarify her interests. Instead of a public policy degree, as she had planned, Lisa says, “I found my real passion was in international development.” She narrowed her focus, earned her degree, and got a field position in Nigeria shortly after graduating.

Like Lisa, many students return to school to advance their careers. College graduates earn 50% more than high school graduates, and in many fields, graduate degrees are needed to advance. Lisa says, “People return to be more competitive in their fields. In many sectors, including development, having a graduate degree has become ’standard’ for career advancement.”

Changing Your Career
Americans change jobs an average of 10 times, and students often return to school to learn the skills they need to jumpstart new careers.

Hana Veselka works full-time and recently began a part-time law program. After college, she worked 5 jobs in 3 years. Her LSAT was going to become outdated; her job was mediocre; and she wanted more job opportunities. She says, “I didn’t want to have to rely on spotty jobs because there’s lots of times of unemployment.” She accepted an evening law program and says, “I am very glad I did it, it’s already changing how I think about what I can do after this.”

Pursuing Your Interests
Taking individual classes allows people to explore a hobby, pursue an interest, or learn a foreign language. Some students want to set a good precedent for their children, meet new people, or finish something they started years ago. James Golden is a full-time engineer at the U.S. Patent Office who takes a Spanish class once a week. He says, “I missed taking classes. I felt like I hadn’t concentrated on language classes in the past because I didn’t have enough time.” He hopes to live in a Spanish-speaking country in the future and is looking into going to Argentina next year.

A Lifetime of Learning
Most students do not return for just one reason, but a collection of career and personal reasons. Jane Tavenner is a good example of how many people build education into their lives. A mother of three, Jane returned to school three different times, to earn her associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing.

Early on, Jane finished one year of college before getting married and having children. After her youngest entered pre-school, she wanted to go back because she says, “education meant a lot to me.” She found a program that let her take classes while raising her family. She graduated with an associate’s degree and started her nursing career.

After attending a weeklong seminar in holistic medicine, she decided to go back to get her bachelor’s degree, so she could earn a certification for holistic practice. When her doctor’s office closed a few years later, she started teaching a nursing skills class at the local high school and loved it. Two years ago, she was offered the chance to teach a class for college credit to her high school students, but she needed a master’s degree to be able to do so. That led to her third education venture, and she graduated last year with her master’s degree in nursing.

The Right Decision
These four students returned to school for different reasons and at different stages in their lives, but they all agree: it was the right decision. Lisa says she “made the best decision” for her “professional and personal development.” Jane says, “It was absolutely the right decision. I loved school; I loved to learn; and I enjoy having great conversations with people who are learning.” If you are thinking about returning to school, the good news is that education can fulfill both your career and your personal desires.

With the right training, you’ll be off the beach and heading into the deep blue yourself.

Source: CollegeRecruiter.com