How Not To Gain New Customers

I am writing this as I am still angry over what happened in the middle of last night: I was woken up at 2.30 am by a refuse truck emptying my neighbours' bin.

I don't blame my neighbours, it's not their fault they gave their business to a stupid refuse company. The refuse company in question operate in the West of Ireland region. I was thinking of switching from another refuse company over to them because they offer competitive prices, but now I'm not so sure I want to do that.

Last Saturday morning I thought they were very early at 5.00 am (I pity the poor sods who forget to take their bins out the night before), but 2.30 am is just not right for people like me who like to be in bed by 11.00 pm or at least 12.00  (if the movie's really good and I don't fall asleep in the middle of it; no, I'm not ashamed to show my age).


As I was in the middle of writing this, I phoned the office of the refuse company in question and I talked to a very nice woman who sounded really surprised to hear that any of the company's drivers would be out at that time; she said she would talk to her empployer about it on Monday, so hopefully if I am ever disturbed again in the middle of the night it won't be by them!

Colgate Promotion Helps Against HSE Dental Care Cuts

The HSE decided to cut dental care costs that are not emergencies last April, so people like most of the Irish population who find it difficult (if not impossible) to spend €85 for a check up and cleaning (the price my dentist charges for about 20 minutes' work; I know, I know, there are overhead costs and dental equipment has to be paid off, but €85?...).

Yesterday I made an appointment with my local dentist and I knew that my medical card would not cover the cost of my visit so I was prepared to fork out some dough but it's only when I was standing outside the dental clinic this morning that I spotted this Colgate promotion:

During September, if you purchase in the same transaction:

• a Colgate mouthwash (500 ml),
• 2 Colgate 360 toothbrushes and
• a Colgate Total 100 ml toothpaste,

Colgate will refund the cost of your dental check up or scale and polish up to a maximum of €65.

So even though I had to advance €101 this morning (Colgate products for €16 in addition to my €85 bill), I will get €65 back, meaning that I have spent €36 instead of the normal €85 with the Colgate products as a bonus.

Okay, so given the choice I would rather spend €5 at Lidl for the same products instead of the overpriced Colgate stuff, but it's not like I'm not going to use them and I don't have to stay loyal to Colgate, as I have been using cheap toothpaste and toothbrushes (the Lidl ones are actually good!) for years and still don't have any cavities (and I'm not making this up, after 5 years without visiting a dentist and half of the time not bothering to brush at night, although I do it every morning, I was told this morning that my teeth were in very good condition).

For more details on this promotion, go to colgateohm.ie and remember that this is only valid until 30th September 2010 so if you want to avail of it, don't waste any time!

Wicked Way to Save Money on Your Little Angels and Demons' Christmas Gifts...

...For years to come!

Buy them a Nintendo DS (or one of those handheld Playstation thingies) now for their birthday and let them know that from now on, all they are getting for all their birthdays and Christmases for the next 10 years is 1 (ONE, not 2 or 3 or more) game for their console.

The money outlay may be big now (I paid €179.99 for my six year old's Nintendo DSi package including protective case, cleaning kit, extra stencils and 1 game as well as the console) but then you shouldn't have to spend more than €39.99 at the most for a new game each time.

If this seems like a lot of money, especially if you have a few of those things (I'm talking about those wanting machines that are kids), just wait until they reach a certain age (so you don't have to buy more than one in one year, except for twins, triplets...don't get me started!), or maybe have an agreement with friends and family so that they each contribute some of the money for a console instead of each one of them buying a separate present (chances are they won't mind, it's always so hard to come up with an original gift that will please these kids anyway).

When my eldest daughter really wanted her Nintendo DS and it was not even her birthday (it was her sister's 5th birthday and I always get the other one a little something so they don't get jealous), I said that if she really wanted one she could buy it with her own money (she has her own account at the credit union and she's loaded, compared to my own bank account) and that I would give her some of the money. Now all she wants is Nintendo DS games (well except for that communion bicycle).

My youngest turned 6 this month and my parents and sister gave me some money, to which I added the difference to buy that Nintendo DSi she now spends a lot of time on, so I could still afford those school books and uniforms. She didn't mind getting one gift instead of 3 because she had wanted a Nintendo DS ever since her sister got hers last year.

Now not only the Christmas and birthday gifts for the foreseeable future won't break the bank, but I will also not have to go through the Smyths Toys and Argos catalogues wondering what the hell could I be buying them from now on!

Blackberry picking

 

Ok, these are not really blackberries, but on my hunt for ripe blackberries this morning I came across a few of these bushes. They look like blueberries but I can’t be 100% sure and since I did not want to mix poisonous berries with my blackberries I thought it safer to leave these undisturbed.

I looked for pictures of blueberry bushes online but even though the fruit look like them, the leaves look a bit different, mine seem to be narrower than the ones I found online; I learned that there are several species of blueberries though, so this could just be a variety that did not come up in my search (or so I wish, because my tummy could find a good use for these!)

Please can anyone help me identify this plant?

Getting Distracted

Some people call it procrastinating, I just call it being distracted, disorganized, whatever, this is my big excuse for not writing any new articles or blog posts for a while.

The fact that I haven't earned any commissions since I have started my affiliate marketing campain last March has not motivated me into writing articles for a while. I am wondering if I should just give up on that one but at the same time I know I have not given that project everything I have, so I might come back to it later on.

I have started something new so if this one works out, you should hear about it soon. I don't want to say too much about it now, in case it just flops miserably, but it is something that was on my mind for a long time so I have to get it out of my system.

Save Money by Switching Mobile Phone Networks

I regularly check the website of my mobile phone network provider to check whether they have any good special offers, particularly on upgrades but lately there have not been any.

Since my mobile phone has been working great since I have had it, the only way I am willing to upgrade it is if I get more free credit than the cost of my phone but for a good while now there has not been any offers of more than €30 free credit for the most basic mobile phones starting at €29.99, not really worth the hassle of changing.

There are, however, great offers at the moment for anyone willing to switch mobile phone networks:

• Switching to O2 gives you €130 free credit, 
• Vodafone gets you €120,
• Meteor €150.

You get the free call credit monthly €10 at a time provided you top up by at least €20 every 30 days until all your free credit has been given to you, which for some, may mean that they will end up with a big amount of credit but if you are not a big mobile phone credit spender, you could end up not having to buy any credits for a full year after that.

Also keep in mind that some network providers may charge you for the cost of unlocking your current phone if you decide to keep the same handset when switching and if you are a pre-pay customer you must make sure that you have spent all your current call credit before switching over to a new network unless you don't mind losing it.

I have €0.38 left to spend before I switch; now who shall I call?

Affiliate Marketing Update 5: What Is Taking So Long?

Some article directories take a very long time to approve articles. So far, I have had good experiences with Ezine Articles and GoArticles but Isnare and Article Dashboard are taking their time in reviewing articles.

I wrote 2 more articles that I have submitted to Ezine Articles so now I have 12 articles on this article directory that have attracted so far about 480 pageviews since I have submitted them. I have just received my article stats report for April and I have saved it as it is in giving me new keywords for my next articles.

Go Articles have brought me about 250 pageviews since submission.

earlier this week I have submitted to Idea Marketers the same articles as I had previously submitted to Go Articles and even though I have done no promotion on these articles, I did get about 100 pageviews.

After 15 days, Article Dashboard has at last approved my articles but my article stats do not show the number of pageviews so I have no idea how this article directory will help my blog (and especially my affiliate link!) get visitors.

I wonder what is taking Isnare so long in approving (or rejecting!) my articles. I have submitted them about 3 weeks ago (the earliest on April 13th, the latest on April 16th), and still no news from this directory! I came across an Internet marketing forum in which members were complaining about how long Isnare is taking in reviewing their articles, so at least I know I am not alone.

I know I said I would follow the exact affiliate marketing method I am using but I have decided to deviate just a tiny bit: I have started posting keyword rich short articles (each accompanied with a banner between the post title and the article body as well as a hyperlink with my affiliate link in the article) in order to improve the quality of my content. This should make it more search-engine friendly as well as giving me material for longer articles to post on article directories.

Now for my Clickbank commissions: well surprise, surprise, I have so far made $0! At least you know I am not lying to you. My blog has had about 80 visits which is not all that much for over a month's work but I am hoping that this will increase after I start posting more regularly, which will not happen for over a week because I have some family members visiting from tomorrow (I am hoping for the volcano ashes that are hovering over Ireland to go away before tomorrow afternoon, thankfully some of my relations are travelling by Ferry) as my daughter is doing her 1st Holy Communion at the week-end.

Hopefully the next time I post I will have earned some commissions, and if not, at least I will have a better idea of what works and what doesn't in affiliate marketing.