A FRIEND TO HELP WITH OSCOMMERCE HOSTING AND SETTING UP MY SITE
A friend of mine named Jake recently helped me start my own online business. I really wasn't sure what I was doing, but after speaking to Jake a little bit about it after class one day, I realized that I really didn't have a clue, and he seemed so knowledgeable about everything, that I just decided that it would be a good idea to hire him on and learn a little bit more about the internet and how it worked. Call me naive, but I really just thought that you used a template, set up a website and the people came. I guess that was naive, because Jake taught me so much more about the internet and how to best run and advertise a business online. He even showed me how oscommerce hosting worked and taught me a little bit about PPC and SEO and how they could positively effect my business. He taught me about keywords and how they would help direct traffic to my site, as well as cre loaded templates, which I am not really sure that I fully understand, but that is why I have Jake.
Today, we will finally have my site complete, and I have to tell you it is better than I could have imagined. It looks very professional, and I know that with Jake's help I am going to have the best online shopping cart and more traffic than I could have ever thought possible. I can't imagine how things would have gone if I hadn't brought Jake into this through our conversation. I knew I needed help, but I guess I didn't realize that I really needed to learn a whole new language.
Many people are taken in by companies that advertise a cheap fee to help build your website, and I was going to be one of them. Jake says that most people don't realize that a website is only as good as what they have on it, what kind of services they are getting, and of course how good their marketing is. He says many people have sites that sit for years, getting minimal traffic because they just don't know what to do, or they don't have the money to pay a pro to get the job done for them. I am just grateful that Jake helped me. Now I know my business will be a success.
Posted by Jen on Friday, March 27, 2009 @ 9:36 AM
MANY LOW INCOME PEOPLE AREN'T ELIGIBLE FOR GOVERNMENT HEALTH PLAN OPTIONS
Many in the government have spoken about health care reform and about making changes to help families get low cost family health plans. I don't think that most people realize that there are actually few medical care options available to the poor. Most people believe that the poor get free health insurance benefits via the government health plan Medicaid. However, few people actually realize that although this plan exists, it is truly primarily for pregnant women and children, and that the parents of these children still remain without health care coverage, and other adults without children who are not disabled and not over 65 are not eligible for Medicare either. These plans were only designed to cover very specific groups of people and don't cover near the 46 million people in this country who are currently not insured.
Now many people say that it is not the government's responsibility to cover these people, and in theory that is fine, however do realize that these people still receive medical care, but on the government's dime. They allow themselves to get sicker before getting treatment and this costs more and then the bills that they rack up in the emergency rooms, can't be paid, because these people don't have anything to pay them with, so the health care system and the federal government wind up eating this debt anyway. That is why it is imperialist to find a way to provide low cost family health plans to these people. As a country, we are really not saving any money at all by denying these people health care coverage, instead it is costing us more to keep them uninsured.
The costs of insurance are up and salaries are not keeping up with the rising costs of insurance, so we need to find a system that can put a cap on some of these health care insurance costs, or find some other way to keep costs down. Administrative costs in our health care system are extremely high, so perhaps that is the first place we can look to make the much needed cutbacks.
Posted by Jen on Monday, March 23, 2009 @ 1:41 PM
How to reduce credit card debt
Usually the settlement of loans through debt consolidation is easy and this has become a common process. It has been seen that most loans are usually of higher amounts and consolidating them is the ideal way to avoid too many debts and also avoid confusion regarding payment options. These days there has also been an increase in the number of credit card debts with the growth of the use of the credit and debit cards and it seems that these debts have crossed the limits of loans. Too much use credit cards result in long bills that often exceeds the amount of debts in loans in many cases.
Methods of reducing credit card debts
There are various kinds of measures available for consolidating credit card debts to become debt free and these include the options like-
1) Consolidation of credit cards- Consolidation of credit cards has been suggested to the consumers since in this reference the interest rates of the loans are much lower. The bills or late payments of the credit cards result in very high interest fines and dues and thus if you feel that you won't be able to repay the same it is best to stop the use of the credit cards. It is best to wait and clear the debts of the credit cards first, before you start using them again. Easy loans for consolidating these charges have been made available that include lower interest rates and the option of a single monthly payment which will take care of these bills.
2) Credit card debt reduction- In this process the credit owner tries and negotiates with the bank or can hire professional help for negotiating with bank. The result is that all the charges to the credit cards are reduced or the credit card owner may also be given relief from high interest rates or they may also be given options of a debt settlement. Here a settlement can be made with the credit card company for reducing the amount on the pending bills by almost 50%. Again this option is not suggested as it can lead to very poor credit scores.
Avoiding all credit card debts
The safest ways to avoid all credit card debts are to avoid using them in the first place. Hence don't keep too many credit cards and use them only in emergencies, like on holidays or when you actually fall short of cash.
Posted by Jen on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 @ 10:38 AM
Graduating College and Getting a Job
I'm at that age now where all of my friends are graduating and I am getting really close. I am a junior in college and a lot of the people I know will be graduating in May of this year or next year in May with me. It is a scary thing to know that you won't have the comfort of being in school anymore and that you will be out on your own in the real world.
Many of the people I know that are graduating in just a few months either have a job or are looking for a job (most of them are still looking). But with the economy the way that it is today you need to do anything that you can to put yourself ahead of the other people applying for the same job. It is scary to think that people I know with great degrees and experience are being turned down for jobs or there just aren't enough jobs for everyone out there looking because so many people are being laid off too and businesses are downsizing.
So the few jobs that are out there, everyone is applying to and you need to be able to one up the other people that are competing with you. There are a few ways that you can do this. One is Microsoft Certification. My uncle just went through the Microsoft Certification Training to get a new job because it looks great on a resume and when other people don't have it you definitely are the better option for the job. Another way (and a usually unpopular one for adults but more popular for college grads) is internships. Often companies have unpaid internships where you get an in at the company and then a few months later or a year later you can end up being employed there when a job space frees up or the companies budget increases. This may not be ideal for the current economy or older people with families, but if you are in a position where this is an option, it would probably be in your best interest to take it.
Overall, I am glad I am still in college and have another year until I graduate. This gives me time to get experience, advice and keep my grades up so that when I do graduate I can stick out in the crowd, in a good way.
Posted by Jen on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 @ 8:22 AM
The Effect that the economy has today
It is no secret that our economy today has gone down the pooper. You turn on the TV or read the newspaper and you hear about homes being foreclosed and families living on the streets and stories of how people are getting by. It is so sad to hear and it is taking a toll on a lot of areas.
For instance, less and less people are able to afford to go to college. While loans made it possible for students who had trouble paying in the past, it is harder and harder now to come by them. It is also harder for students who now have to work or even work another job while attending classes and many of them (more now than ever) are dropping out to work full time to support themselves or help their families. And the students who do finish and receive their degrees are worried constantly about getting jobs and being able to afford things (rent, food, student loans) once they graduate. Many of my friends who are older and graduating now with great degrees are back living at home working random jobs until they find something in their field and that really worries me.
Another area that I recently read about was franchising. People were buying franchise chains like it was their job (so to say) a few years ago. Everyone and their mom had a subway and now people can't even afford to pay their own rent or mortgage. The books being written went from “how to franchise” to “how to save money” or even “how to survive in today's economy”. People can't even afford to buy the self help books anymore.
This economy is affecting everyone. Adults and parents are feeling the pressure of working just as hard and maybe even harder as before but reaping less of the benefits and feeling tired and worried and stressed about money constantly and children are feeling the stress of their parents feeling that way.
So what can we do about it? All we can do I guess is be cautious with our money, and save whenever we get the chance and just know that we are all in this together. Not just one person or one family is suffering, everyone is feeling the brunt of this economical downfall and we just need to stick together and ride it out.
Posted by Jen on Monday, March 16, 2009 @ 9:31 AM
Advertising Anyway Possible
The other day I got a random text message about joining a local gym. I was really confused because I don't know how my number got out to that particular gym or business and I am not from Muncie, Indiana I'm from Chicago so how they got my number for a local business is beyond me. I just kind of ignored it though and I haven't gotten another one since.
But in class the other day we were talking about the mobile marketing association and how they are trying to use more mobile marketing and mobile advertising to reach more customers and expand businesses. We also looked at a website mobile marketing association such as www.advancedtele.com which talks about text messaging and media and advertising which was really interesting.
It is crazy to think about how far we have come with technology and advertising. It seems like businesses will do anything to get our attention and we are taking the bait. Even internet advertising has been taken to a whole new level. Every time I do anything online I am presented with an ad for something else. When I go to look at my bank statement online I see ads for buying homes or real estate and when I go onto face book the ads are endless. I see ads for TV shows and eBay and other businesses and stores, it is crazy how much we are bombarded with different marketing and we are so used to it that it doesn't even faze us.
My grandma still complains about all the commercials on TV and how every other page (sometimes even more) in magazines are ads. I don't think that when she was younger and growing up (and even when my dad was) that there was so much media and advertising. And now that she finally goes online she gets to see all of the ads that way too. She has a really hard time when she signs onto AOL and gets those pop ups, she seriously doesn't know what to do or how to get them off so she just signs off and doesn't go to her mail or look anything up, it is actually really funny to see. She is slowly learning though and it is cute to watch. It is really interesting to see though how much advertising has changed over the past few decades.
Posted by Jen on Tuesday, March 03, 2009 @ 8:46 AM
Car Insurance Commercial
I think my new favorite commercial is this one for cheap Internet car insurance. It is a commercial of a women who is in a store selling car insurance to a man. She asks him questions like if he is a safe driver and he replies yes and she screams discount really excitedly and then she asks him if he's going to buy online through that company and he says yes and she screams discount really excitedly and then says that it's exciting and he replies yes really excitedly and she says that there is no discount for agreeing with her and that it's okay because her excited gets out of hand all of the time too when it comes to instant auto insurance for web buyers.
It is the funniest commercial because it really isn't funny, but it reminds me of this really energetic, really nice and slightly annoying girl named Ellen that I went to high school with. No, she wasn't selling auto insurance in CA online like the women on the commercial, but she did get over excited about everything. She always matched her outfit with a ribbon in her hair and when someone would get a haircut she would always notice and yell “happy haircut” (and we have over 4000 kids in our school, imagine how many times she did that ha).
The commercial is just refreshing and the women in it isn't famous (as far as I know) and she seems like an everyday girl who just gets so excited about her job, which is cute and she has this headband on (like Ellen) that just makes everything so much funnier. Of course, I'm sure the people who made the commercial didn't think of Ellen when they did it and I'm not really sure if anyone else in the whole world (besides the people that know her or knew her in high school) would even think twice about this commercial, but when it comes on the TV I watch the whole thing (and I never ever watch commercials, I hate them, even on super bowl Sunday). So hopefully for this particular auto insurance company, the other three thousand nine hundred and ninety eight people in my school are watching this commercial and are in need or auto insurance because I guarantee that will notice and laugh to themselves.
Posted by Jen on Monday, March 02, 2009 @ 9:03 PM