…, just not in Florida.

I’m stuck in Florida. At least until my daughter is 18. I cannot imagine her father being alright with us moving away. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, because the job situation here in the schools is horrific. I suppose I thought it was like that everywhere.

It’s not. When I was up in WV visiting family, I took the time to check out postings in various counties. In the county where my dad lives there are already posting for at least 4 high school level special education teachers. In the town where a lot of my family lives and at least four of my relatives teach – they have already posted job openings for 5 high school level English teachers and 4 high school level special education teachers.

It’s enough to make me feel like drawing blood, I tell you. I want to pack it all up and just move to a place that actually has the money and desire to hire teachers. Instead, I am stuck in a district that has cut almost 1000 instructional and support jobs during the past two school years.

I know the courts like to see children living close to both parents, but at what point so they become sympathetic to the fact that the mother is struggling to support the child. Sheesh.

OK, so it’s not doom, really. However, Saturday I got the dreaded letter from the school district informing me that I have been terminated. On the bright side, it’s not due to my job performance. On the dark side, I am still trying to get used to working in a system where seniority is more important that job performance, effectiveness in the classroom, and talent.

My boss is livid. When someone like me is let go to make room for someone else in the district that lost their position and has more seniority, the school gets no say at all in who is placed with them. She told me that the last two people they have been assigned to them have been useless. They are essentially dead weight in the department. Those of us who she has interviewed and hand picked end up picking up the slack. It’s good to know I was appreciated.

I went through the tears and panic over the weekend. Today I have been able to let off some steam with my co-workers. I feel a lot more ready to face the months ahead now. I may very well be placed quickly in another position. Or, there might be an instructional position out there for me. That is what I really want anyway. Still, I wanted to be the one that decided I was leaving for another position. I did not want to be forced out by circumstances and the fact that I am just a name on the list to the people at County.

Pray for me.

I used to do a lot of mystery shopping. I never looked at it as a way to make money, and if anyone tells you that it’s a good source of income they are lying boldly to your face. It is, however, a great way to cover the expense of a nice meal out or to make a little money – enough for a little gas or a treat. Mystery shopping is fun and gives you the opportunity to more highly hone your powers of keen observation and attention to detail.

I’m taking the last half of my Christmas break off school to update my mystery shopping accounts. Most of them list my information from two moves ago. I’ve not mystery shopped in a couple of years, save for the occasional movie theater shop for one of my favorite shopping companies. But, with a summer on my horizon that will likely be spent NOT working fulltime, I am eager to do a few fun shops.

The mystery shopping community is a highly secretive, highly competitive group of people. I am not talking about the mystery shopping companies, but rather those who mystery shop. All you need to do is spend even a little bit of time on any of the mystery shopping forums online to see how hostile some people get if anyone asks a question like which mystery shopping company has an account for Disney or Ruby Tuesdays or Sprint – or any other account. I suppose the major reason for this is that shoppers feel like the more people in their area who know about particular job information, the less work they might get.

I’ve always shared information freely with my friends, both local and distant. I can only hope that one day someone will share as freely with me. After being out of the circuit for two years, I am finding that some of the companies I worked with are not longer in business, that other no longer have jobs in my area, and that some of the jobs I liked doing the best must now have their accounts with alternate companies.

I know a lot of my readers find their way here, because they are part of an elite community of at-home crafters looking to begin their own businesses. Due to that, I like to offer input from time to time about the importance of establishing your online identity.

Domain names are the first step on setting up your website. You have to get your hands on a great domain name that reflects either the name or the nature of your business, before you can go about putting your website files online with your webhost.

The internet grows exponentially each year and as time goes on,. It seems like there are less and less available domain names. If you find that the domain name you want is available, register it now – even if you are not ready to put your site online. That same domain name could be gone by the time you actually feel ready to use it. Snap it up now and it’s yours for as long as you pay the registration fees for it.

GoDaddy.com is the world’s leading domain name registrar. They also offer web hosting, site creation tools, and e-commerce and security solutions. On top of their solid reputation for on-target customer service, they offer very low prices – especially compared to other companies with similarly good reputations. Plus, right now you can use the coupon code BLOGGER799 to get your .COM domain for just $7.99 at GoDaddy.com. And yes, .COM is still the best choice for your domain’s small business – as opposed to .net, etc.

So, if you have a domain name in mind and find out that it is available – buy it today!

With exception of just a very few things, you can find a buyer for nearly anything on eBay. I am constantly amazed. In fact, tonight I ran across an auction for an ice cube. Seriously, the auction appears to simply be for an ice cube, unless there is some sort of underground meaning that is going right over my head. You do have to remember that this once very street-smart girl is getting old.

The bidding is up to $27.94 (shipping is free) and the auction has nearly two days left. The same seller old a box of Lucky Charms for $36 and a wad of crumpled newspaper for $26.09, so I am assuming I really am missing something. Either way, it seems like anything goes on eBay and you can always find a buyer.

My problem is more with finding the time to ready the items and prepare the auctions. I have bins and bins of Gymboree clothes I meant to sell on eBay and finally ended up giving away before my last move. I love I missed out on a LOT of money and I wish now I had just walked the bins into the iSold It store up in Palm Harbor. They do the whole thing for you for a fee. You just drop off the items along with some info about your expectation for the auction content and you are good to go. They will let you know when you have a check ready to claim. If you have items that will turn a tidy profit and no time to deal with getting them online, this is the handiest solution.

We have all noticed that food and other consumer goods are getting more expensive. It is supposedly because shipping charges are up due to rising fuel prices. Many consumers see fuel surcharges added to bill for everything from utilities to travel tickets. That, in addition to the general uptrend in the cost of food, household goods, and most anything else we buy retail.

Independent trucks, though, say they are not being paid any more than they have in the past to transport the goods we are all pay more for. Yesterday in Tampa, around 45 independent truckers staged a protest near Tampa’s port in response to this issue. It was just one of many similar gatherings across the nation. They say that although diesel is up 42 percent from a year ago, their pay has stayed the same.

Who is profiting? The middlemen who hire independent truckers are adding fuel surcharges to their customers’ bills, but those extra fees are staying with the middlemen.

One trucker gave an example: he hauled a load of fabric from Tampa’s port to Lake Wales. His carrier paid him $160, but he used $100 worth of diesel fuel. Diesel can consume up 80 percent or more of an independent trucker’s pay, and then there are still costs for oil changes, tires, and general upkeep.

I think it is deplorable. In what world is it OK for a hauling company to collect a fuel surcharge, make an even bigger profit, and then expect the actual trucker to make a lower net profit? Either the surcharge should be eliminated or passed entirely to the trucker. While there are some freight companies that do pass the surcharged onto the truckers, they are the minority.

My daughter has an original Leap Pad unit by Leap Frog. It’s been in our house for over two years now and still gets plenty of use. I suppose that is because the books grow with her and as she needs more challenging tasks, we buy more challenging books.

I have no idea what go into my daughter, but a couple of days ago she came to me saying the pen would not work. She showed me how it would no longer trigger responses when touching the green Go button and otherwise. I looked at the unit, checked the connection of the tape and then looked closely at the pen. It was frayed, for lack of a better word, at the cord near the pen itself. My daughter informed me she had chewed on it.

Let’s put aside for the moment that she will be five next week and should be well past chewing on her toys. I know that. Let’s skip to yesterday when I went about the task of getting a new pen to fix the Leap Pad unit.

First, I called the Leap Pad Company and made sure a new pen included the full length of cord, because in our case it was the cord that was damaged. I was assured the new pen would indeed be a new pen with a new cord and the whole thing affixes to the Leap Pad near the battery case. Good enough.

I went back to the toll free number; because I remembered how difficult it was to get past the automated operator once you tell the system you are after a new pen or stylus. I kept asking and asking to talk to a live person and the system would acknowledge that I wanted to speak with an operator, but tell me that I should just stick around and order my new pen through the system.

It took me nearly random pushing of tens of buttons to get the operator in the first place, so this offer for a free new pen was burned in my head now. I thought my second call would be a breeze.

I called and started through the automated system to order the replacement pen. There was no problem when I put in my credit card number to pay for shipping. The problem happened when I had top speak my address. My street has a super unusual speaking and the system would not let me spell it out. It just kept registering a garbled name. So, I completed the process, thinking I could just call back with my confirmation number and speak, to a live person to get it corrected.

No dice.

When I called back and gave another operator my confirmation number, which I had written down twice, it pulled up another person’s order. The girl informed me she had no way whatsoever to get into the system for the automated orders to try and find my order and that I should just wait for the pen to arrive. Arrive WHERE? – I asked her. I was going to be charged for a pen that would inevitably be shipped to another person or returned to sender. She suggested I order a second pen thought her (for which she wanted to charge me more than the automated system charged me) and just call later and dispute one of the charges. WHAT!

I asked to speak to her supervisor. She informed me, tersely, that it would do me no good. They cannot find my order for me.

So, at this point I just have the one pen on order, though I have no idea where it will be delivered. I will NEVER use the Leap Frog automated system again. And, I still need to get a new pen for my daughter’s Leap Pad.

I suppose I am back at square one, plus the added aggravation of a charge on my credit card I need to dispute.

The landing page is far from dead. In fact, marketing experts agree that a properly optimized landing page is akin to a 30-second commercial for your website. Your site’s landing page is one of the best ways to accurately track pay-per-click (PPC) advertising returns and the all important business leads.

Marketbright is conducting a Webinar that will showcase:

• Fundamentals of landing page creation and design
• Optimization of Google for landing pages
• Tips and strategies for optimizing landing pages for maximum click-through

Register for the webinar now.

::: ::: :::

 Press Release:

SAN BRUNO, CA–(Marketwire – January 22, 2008) – Marketbright, the only on-demand integrated online marketing and web content management platform, will host a Webinar on Thursday, January 31st, on Landing Pages 101. Landing Pages have quickly become the 30-second commercial spot of digital marketing, and their importance in tracking pay-per-click (PPC) return on investment and capturing critical lead information cannot be understated.

Members of the public are invited to attend the Webinar. Attendees will learn:

– Fundamentals of landing page creation and design

– Optimization of Google for landing pages

– Tips and strategies for optimizing landing pages for maximum click-through

WHO: Kevin Miller – Director, Client & Business Development

WHAT: Landing Pages 101 – Best Practices for Leveraging Landing Pages

WHEN: Thursday, January 31st, 2008, at 11:00am PT, 2:00pm ET

WHERE: To register to attend the Webinar, please visit:
http://www.marketbright.com/pages/partners/mktb/jan-31-2008-webinar/index.html?Campaign_Id=11781&Activity_Id=9701

A replay of the Webinar will also be available after January 31st at
http://www.marketbright.com/pages/partners/mktb/jan-31-2008-webinar/index.html?Campaign_Id=11781&Activity_Id=9701

About Marketbright
Marketbright provides an on demand marketing automation solution which allows companies to implement self-service campaign execution and demand generation, automate lead scoring and nurturing, and to gain visibility into closed-loop campaign-to-cash metrics via real-time dashboards. The integrated marketing platform results in a full 360-degree view of your customers’ interactions, and this information is used to route only valuable, qualified leads into your sales CRM. Marketbright’s customers include Business Objects, Varonis and EVault. Marketbright is headquartered in San Bruno, CA. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.marketbright.com.

Though the concept is not new, the push to enroll affiliates in the Net Audio Ads program is a current internet trend. I did sign up for the program. I will be up front about that. I plan on testing it on one of my medium traffic websites to see how I feel about the ads and the monetary results. I have come across several reputable websites using the ads and I have to admit they are impressively unobtrusive.

If you are looking for a way to monetize your website, blog, or social networking page, think about giving over some time to investigate the use of audio ads. You add a bit of code to each page where you want the ads to appear and a short 5-second audio clip then pays up on page load. Instead of only getting paid if a customer clicks on an ad or performs an action, you get paid for 100% of your traffic.

The rush people are in to get signed up is because there is an affiliate program that is open for all who sign up through February 1. After that, you can still enroll in the program and host the ads. Since I am already signed up, I am by default part of the affiliate program. I’m not pushing for sign ups yet, but if the program turns out to be a big money maker, I will certainly shout it from the rooftops, so to speak.

Before I bought my own domain names for my blogs and signed up for an awesome multi-year web hosting package that would give me 100% of the control over my own blogs, I used to have blogs on a sub domain of someone else’s site. Aside from the disgusting level of censorship this person exercised, she also did her users a disservice by hosting that account on DreamHost. Needless to say, her website was offline more than it was up and running. That is frustrating for a blogger.

Downtime was the least of the worries endured by DreamHost customers in recent months. Lately, customers have had their accounts hacked, files “accidentally” deleted, seen DNS numbers disappear, and had their credit cards billed for excessive amounts multiple times. One customer said his card was hit for $150 four times in a row one night. Another said he was hit four times for $500 each! In the end, reports are saying there is $7.5 million in erroneous credit card charges.

What in the world!?

DreamHost’s team chalked it up to a casual mistake and tried to laugh off that they attempted to bill all of their customers for the entire year of 2008 and sometimes 2009 ahead of time, without notice.

And in the midst of all this, DreamHost does not have phone support. Take it from me: if you are going to pay good money for a web hosting account you need to make sure you can get a hold of customer service and tech support 24/7.

In a direct response Lunarpages has issued a coupon code, which gives you $40 off hosting with Lunarpages. They will buy off to 9 months of a prepaid contract with DH. You can get the package deal here: Lunarpages Offer for DreamHost Customers.

Lunarpages has a basic hosting account with 15,000GB of transfer, 500GB of storage, afree domain name, and 10 add-on domains for $6.95 a month. They also allow their customers to earn affiliate commissions on hosting plans they sell.

Job reviews are never fun and games. They often determine bonuses and salary increases. Sometimes you find out about all of the negative feedback someone has been storing up for the entire year. Sometimes, though, you get great input that helps you improve your performance and become more motivated about your job.

I want to tell you about the most helpful type of job review I ever received. It was called a 360 review, because it involved input from all directions – 360º, as in full circle. I did a self assessment, my peers turned in reports, my direct reports evaluated me as a supervisor and my boss also filled out some forms. I got even got feedback from clients.

It really helped keep things in perspective. Generally, you only receive feedback from your boss or supervisor. You get one person’s view of your performance. And, in my case I had gotten off on the wrong foot with one of the three owner of the company from ay one. So, she and the consultant who was known as her sidekick both gave me reviews just barely on the positive side of scathing. It would have been a real kick in the pants if it hadn’t been for the reviews I received from all of the people who actually worked with me on a regular basis. It turns out that the people who worked FOR me thought I was a thorough, organized and fair boss. My clients loved my response time and dedication for going the extra mile. My peer editors and project managers actually saw me as a mentor and great support system for their own projects.

Because of the 360 Review, I had a full and accurate picture of my performance. Not that I totally discounted everything said in the two negative review documents, but I was able to take them into perspective and see that there was some bias attached to the things that those reviewers had said. I was also able to work up a detailed gap analysis to see areas where I wanted to improve.

It’s been like a wave sweeping over the internet these past several weeks – audio advertising, or Pay Per Play. It’s not necessarily a new concept, but the trend in contextual ads is leading the way and contextual audio ads seem to be a logical next step in the direction of website and product marketing.

There are already purportedly over 66,000 advertisers advertising online with audio ads – 5-second ad snips that play upon a page loading when the simple code is placed on a webpage or blog. The biggest difference between these contextual audio ads and traditional text-based contextual ads is that the audio ads pay out for each and every page load, not just for click-throughs. This is much like the familiar CPM payout that old-fashioned banner ads tend to utilize.

My personal advise is that it won’t hurt anything to go ahead an get signed up now. Then, sit back and take the implementation of ads slowly as the company works through the official launch of the Pay Per Play product in early February. You can take your time and test the ads on a few pages to what sort of return they register for you. The key is to get in early and keep your ear to the tracks to see what the results of the campaign bring to website publishers worldwide. How will Pay Per Play differ from its prior incarnation, Voice2Page (which launched in June 2007)? I’m not sure yet, but it is worth following along to see.

Advertising on the Internet has its own unique set of trends. You have absolutely got to be on top of those trends or you are going to miss out on what it is that is attracting surfers to any given website.

Of course, for the past several years the trend has been solidly in the camp of text-based contextual advertising. That means ads that are primarily text only (not banner graphics) and that appear on a site based completely in the content those sites are already displaying. That way, the ads will reflect the interests of the visitors to that site and convert into clicks based on actual interest.

Make way for the newest incarnation of contextual advertising – audio contextual advertising.

The gist is to run 5-second audio ads upon page load. The ads will aim to be as contextually accurate to the existing content as possible. The difference between these ads and traditional contextual advertising is that the publisher is paid for each time the ads play, not merely when a website visitor clicks on an ad. Publishers earn from every visitor 25% of whatever fees the advertiser has paid.

The program is still in beta testing, so right now they are pushing for accounts that will play the ads and collect data. They are also offering an affiliate program with this early sign up. These ads can be played on any website, even Facebook and MySpace, so the actual potential is limitless. If you have solid traffic, think about what you could earn from every visitor to your site.

I did sign up to see what the program’s full potential might be and will share my findings as I learn more.

I’m not a tax expert. Nonetheless, since I mentor so many women who are starting up small businesses, I get asked all of the time to explain more about the LLC vs S corporation issue. That is one of the first decisions you are going to face when trying to figure out how to incorporate.

You are looking for legal protection when you incorporate, but a small business is probably not going to want to deal with a lot of the fuss and red tape involved in traditional business building. Since choosing how to incorporate means choosing a tax classification, I am going to respectfully defer and recommend that you seek the advice of a tax attorney or tax specialist. It will be well worth any consult fee you may have to pay to get the best input for your unique business situation.

I worked in retail when I was in high school, and then again while I was in college. I enjoyed it and I was really rather good at it.

In high school I worked in the house wares and gifts departments at the JC Penney near Washington, DC. While most of my friends were working fast food or in clothing stores in the mall, I learned all about good steel cooking knives, fine china, Kitchen Aid attachments, and expensive collectable figurines. I had a blast.

In college I went looking for the JC Penney again, because I was already familiar with the way they did business. This time I was hired to work in men’s suits! That rocked. I got paid to flirt, sell suits, and pin up alterations. The manager for the department knew that by hiring tall, pretty girls for her sales floor that she would increase sales. It worked. We were one booming department.

In both cases, I had managers who spent a lot of time training their teams. We were always in meetings, watching videos about product or customer service, and being given new goals. Let’s just say that while I learned equally as much from both managers, I sure enjoyed the meetings and trainings more when I was working in the men’s department. That was primarily because the manager made the subjects interesting and used entertaining training materials. It made all of the difference in the world.

There is a company called MaraStar that has a line of fun animated training videos, called ToonUps®, that get the same messages across that boring training programs do – but with humor and easy to remember clips. They have tons of professional office topics like office etiquette, planning, problem solving, and customer service tips. The difference is that the tone is light and engaging. It’s not any different than trying to teach a lesson to a class of second graders. The more engaging the presentation, the more people will remember.