My 2¢ Worth

ell I'm heading off to Arkansas the first thing Monday morning. No, this isn't a business trip nor a visit with family. Actually I'm helping some friends who are moving there.

n some ways I wish it were me making the move. Arkansas is one state I really love. And I have been all over this great nation from the East coast to the West. From the extreme North where I live to the extreme South.

ut beyond that, the thing that really gets me is the loss of a couple of good friends. This couple, besides being my friends where truly an asset to the community.

h, I know, they're not really lost to me, nor I to them. But you know how it is, you always say you'll keep in touch, yet the miles and the years seem to slip away somehow.

ake some time today to salute your friends. You know, without friends we really don't have much. All the material possessions in the world can't replace one good friend.

t my friends who enrich my life wether know it or not. God gave me my family, but I thank God that I can choose my friends.

'm not much on making resolutions for the new year, but I think this year I'll make an exception. Starting today, I'm going to make more of an effort to let my friends know how important they are to me.

Feature Article

Ever Meet Yourself Coming Back?
The Advantage Of Setting Goals.

by: Ken Darby The Pebble

A man was driving from his home up to Thunder Bay, Ontario to visit friends. While there, he was involved in a collision with another car, but the other driver left the scene of the accident. He reported it to the police, who looked into it, and told him the next day that the car that hit him was a stolen vehicle. The man was able to drive his pickup truck home, only to find when he got home that, lo and behold, his car was stolen! Sure enough, the car that hit him several hundred miles from home was his own.

I'd just like to see if his insurance agent breaks down laughing or crying.

Now if that isn't like meeting yourself coming back I don't know what is. Ever get those feelings where you find yourself going around in circles, coming back again to the place where you started?

That is the main reason why we set goals for ourselves, major goals, monthly goals, daily goals. It keeps us going in as straight a line as possible.

Consider for a moment that you had an eight inch piece of string, stretched out straight on a table top, and that you wanted to move it with one finger to a different position.

The person who has not chosen any goal in life, conducts their life like the person who tries to move the string by pushing it into the position you want.

The person who knows the value of setting goals and practices that daily is like the person who places their finger on one end and pulls the string into position.

Try it out and you will see how that simple comparison is true.

No goal and you "mush" around in life much like the string does when you try to push it.

Set a goal and you straighten out your path and move to it as straight forward and purposefully as the string does when you pull it into position.

Some say "Yeah, but if I set goals and don't reach them, I'll be disappointed."

My answer to that is "Aaaah! Gee!" There was a wise man who once said that if you shoot for the moon and miss at least you land amongst the stars.

The point is no goal - no progress. Set a goal and miss, at least you are more progressed than you would ever be if you failed to set a goal and strive for it.

It is really quite simple. Make a choice as to what you want out of life and go for it. Life has a way of keeping people in the same mold, the same spot, the same old thing, until you make a decision to head in the direction you want.

Pick a goal and go for it, and that way you avoid —

Ever Meet Yourself Coming Back?

**************

Ken Darby writes articles, books and other material helping people achieve their goals. We pay for your dream home.
For an amazing income opportunity take a look at www.thenewsshop.com/oursalespeople.htmlYou might want to see if an internet business is for you. For a series of short emails that shows you, sign up for the Pebble at www.the-pebble.com

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Second Article

8 Essential SEO techniques

by: Matt Colyer Marhen Traffic exchange

1) Title Tag - The title tag is the most powerful on-site SEO technique you have, so use it creatively! What you place in the title tag should only be one thing, the exact keyword you used for the web page that you are trying to optimize. Every single web page should have it's own title tag.

2) ALT Tags - ALT tags were meant to be for text browsers because the images didn't show in text browsers and the ATL tags would tell the visitor what it's about. You should put your main keyword(s) in the ALT tags, but don't over do it because you could get dropped in the results or even worse banned for life!

3) Link Popularity - Link popularity is the most powerful SEO tool out of all them. Most search engines don't even consider web sites if there is not at least one or two links pointing to the web site. Having another site(s) link to your web site is important when it comes to getting your site a good ranking. Your keywords should be in the links you get and keep the keywords short. When you receive requests for a link exchange, check the site out before linking with them, check for spam (Repeat keywords, hidden text, etc.).

4) Keyword Density - This is also vital and should be used with research. You should use the keyword(s) once in the title tag, once in the heading tag, once in bold text, and get the density between 5% to 20% (Don't over do it!). Also use your keyword(s) both low and high on the web page, keyword(s) should be in the first sentence and in the last one.

5) Page Size - Your web page's speed is important to your visitors and the search engines. Why? Because the robots will be able to spider your web page faster and easier. Try your best to keep your web page over 5k and under 15k in size.

6) Rich Theme - Search engines are looking at themes more and more. Build content (Articles, FAQ, tips, etc.) much as possible and keep the web pages around 200 to 500 words. Create content that's related to your market and link them out to other related content on your site. Try to get 200 web pages or more.

7) Web Site Design - This is also important, if you want to get indexed! Text content should out weigh the HTML content. The pages should validate and be usable in all of today's leading edge browsers. Stay away from flash and Java Script, search engines dislike them both a lot.

8) Insite Cross Linking - This will help you get all of your web pages indexed by the search engines. Your web pages should be no more than three clicks away from the home page. Link to topic related quality content across your site. This will also help build you a better theme through out your web site. On every page you should link back to your home page and your main service(s).

**************

Matt Colyer is the owner of the Marhen.com Network which includes www.linkexchangeit.com and is a part-time SEO. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer. You can read more articles like this at www.marhen.com/articles/index.php

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