I know, it’s a little slow to be posting about my 2008 plans. People usually post them up on the first week of New Year. I’ve been quite busy on the personal front and coupled with the fact I’m the queen of procrastination, today is about right. I’ve not really put down my plans in detail yet, but generally I would say I plan to start another 3 website. Not blogs. Hell, no more blogs.

At the moment I am just running 3 blogs. That is more than enough for me to do an acceptable job. It’s just too easy to start a dozen blogs but then when the issue of quality vs quantity comes up, I’ll put my money on quality anytime. Yadda, yadda there are bloggers out there running 2 dozen blogs, I salute them. The issue is not what others can do, it’s finding the right balance and limitations what I can do best. Afterall, it’s about me. Not others.

So, what’s the difference between blogs and websites? If you want the right definition, look up Wiki. My personal definition which incidentally may not be ‘technically’ correct in a global sense is this. Blogs I need to update constantly. Website is something I take more time to set-up, provide more in-depth information on the related topics and that’s it. No constant updating like blogs.

Will embark on my little project after the Chinese New Year in February, and then I’ll try to update on my progress here from time to time. I reckon though it’s more work in the initial phase, but in the long run I’ll reap the benefit of having more time to update on my blogs.

“Squeeze every drop of lemon juice dry and while at it, keep the peel for the fridge.”

That is what my former boss used to say. Make good use of every resources because you’ve already paid for the lemon.

Businesses pay big money for advertising, telemarketing, road-shows and all to create a name for themselves and more importantly, hope to reach out to potential clients. After everything is said and done, there is always still more to do. The follow-up on your leads. Without this, it’s just half value for all the resources and hardwork spent.

To ensure businesses get every ounce of value from their marketing quest, this is where Sales Lead Management comes to play the crucial role of following up on the leads generated. The Lead Dogs is a lead development company that prided itself with their business philosophy of partnering with their clients for long-term business relationship. You can probably tell by their name ‘The Lead Dogs‘. Dogs are afterall man’s best friend.

My father grew up in an era where credit cards were a rarity. He had always deemed credit cards as evil. To my old man, it’s senseless to pay bank charges to keep a card. Afterall, cash is king.

Me on the other hand grew up amongst the credit card generation and simply cannot live without them. Of course there are pitfalls because it’s just all too easy to spend when you don’t see real money. All you have to do is swipe. Overspending is a norm. But then the fact is, I attribute overspending to bad personal financial judgment. If I’m not prudent with the card, I doubt I will fare any better without them either. Bad financial judgment is bad financial judgment, it boils down to the wisdom and maturity of the individual.

Anyway last week my father was hospitalized and I can tell you in moment like this, you can almost kneel and kiss the card. The truth is, nobody carries a few thousand cash in their wallet. It’s not exactly smart to carry that amount of cash either. Anyway, all I can say is, my father’s hospital admission would have not been possible had it not been the plastic.

Just thought I’ll put in a few good words in defense of dear card.

Question time. Will anyone buy their prescription glasses and frame online?

Only if you save a bomb edging out the middleman and all overhead expenses those nice optical shops had to contend with. Believe it or not, shops do mark up those glass frame 200%. I would know. My uncle used to own an optical shop before he migrated to Australia.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Check out Great Discovry:$ 8 Prescription Glasses From Zenni Optical and compare their prices online. There’s a good selection of fashionable frames from the site and you get your glasses shipped to you at USD4.95 flat, right to your doorstep.

That is the convenience of online shopping. You can always check their site and do your price checking discreetly online. There is no pesky sales person to bother you.

Just got back from IZEARanks. The first thing on my mind is should I bare all for the world to see? Realrank is especially unforgiving when it discloses all your stats and numbers collected from your blog for everyone to see. Your blog is literally strip naked from the number of unique visitors to pageviews.

You see, ladies use tons of concealer to hide those dark eye circles, foundation to make our face flawless and we wear dark colors to hide all the bulges around our body. For what? To give the illusion of perfection. To show the world the good side. Then comes IzeaRanks. Every inch of imperfection and flaw is scrutinized under the harsh fluorescent light. It can never be flattering. But then, it’s the truth. Can’t exactly argue that.

I asked myself why on earth would I want to hide my stats?

I guess the only answer I can come up with is ‘pride.’

Right, I will look at the optimistic side and be frank… the fact is, what pride is there to talk about when I dare not even face up to the truth? If my blog is not doing as well as it should, then hiding behind false pretence is not going to make me improve.

So, I’ve made up my mind. My blog and its stats can stay bare for the world to scrutinize. Let’s call it good old motivation to better my blog.

How long have I been blogging? 2 years? 3 years? I only started monetizing my blogs in July 2007. In the beginning, I started searching every money making site I can find to look for tips. Everyone goes through that phase. Now more than half a year down the line, every money making tip sounds redundant. Correction. It IS redundant. But then the inquisitive nature in me cannot resist even now whenever I see some bloggers ditching out free money making advice over their blogs, I will take a look.
The same thing happened last night and I came across a local blog supposedly teaching new bloggers how to make money. I’ve no high hopes of getting anything new, but I went in and check-it out anyway.

So, what’s the big secret?

The post is a joke. You know, to be impressionable, you either have to be very good, or you have to be very bad. Either way, you’ll make an impression. This blogger definitely made an impression. (I’m not naming the blog) The secret to making money is… *drumroll* Start 10 blogs on free WP hosting.

If you’re blogging long enough, you’ll know how crap the advice is. Correct me if I’m wrong. If you’re doing paidposts on those free WP domains, WP will suspend your account faster than you say ‘paidposts.’ The irony is, this guy (I supposed he’s a guy..) is telling people to just register 10 free WP blogs and start writing for money.

OK, this post is not about the dumb guy who dishes out bad advice. It’s about whether should I be the busy-body and comment on his post? The rule of thumb is of course if you have nothing good to comment, don’t. But then I’m so free , I’m looking for trouble.

Would you comment to say that is BAD advice?

Every year, the bank my father has account with, gave him 2 diaries. This year it’s no exception. The last 2 years my father gave one to me and one to my husband. Giving diaries to the most unorganized person aka me is a little ironic. I always swear I’ll make good use of it but in the end, it ended up empty. All those promises about getting my life organized are just pure BS. It’ll definitely take more than a diary to make me get a grip on my life…

A million thanks to Beth from afrogtokiss.net, I won 1,000 Entrecard points. It’s a great way to start the year and trust me, I am not the luckiest person when it comes to contests or gambling. That is why I don’t go casinos. I don’t have the luck. But this time, I strike it.

And the event went directly onto my virgin diary entry!

Life is getting ‘normalize’ for me once again after the Christmas and New Year holidays. I can tell you the week before New Year was crazy. I’ve been buying and buying non-stop. The big difference this year is I am doing most, if not all, my shopping online.

I always talk about the beauty of internet shopping and this is the time I guess I get to put money where my mouth is. I bought gifts for my family online and a big resounding yes, it’s cheaper. For those who love the crowd crazy holiday atmosphere, then I guess there’s nothing like sweating and roughing it out at the checking counter. I rest my case.

I’ve blogged about my Iphone obsession a million times on this blog and I’m still thinking if I should go all out and just get it over with. Iphone is not available in my country yet but there are people selling Iphone over here at around USD900+. Yeah, you hear me right. It’s more expensive over here.

That is so cheap!

Getting an Iphone over here is too expensive when I see bidding for brand new Iphones over at Bidaroo.com starts at a mere USD40. I’ve never bid for anything online before but the prices at the site are really tempting. What I don’t get is how Bidaroo.com can sell their products 80%-90% below retail price? I know it is a part Charity Auction site and at least 25% of the proceeds will be given back to cancer fighting causes and other charitable organizations, I still don’t understand how they can give out such Best Prices.

Anyone checked out or has experience bidding before on Charity Auctions like Bidaroo.com? Do share and help me get off my Iphone craving once and for all. I honestly don’t mind satisfying my craving and doing some good at the same time. It’s a 2 in 1.

In case anyone is wondering, yeah, I’m still alive and kicking. It’s just that with all those X’mas goodies, I’m just not as agile. I’m still in holiday mood but no, I’ve not given up on this blog just yet.

Thanks people for dropping by and have a good weekend. Enjoy yourself, OK? I did. A little too much though……

Too much of anything is not healthy. Except money.

I just got back from a blogging buddy’s blog and he posted about something that has been on my mind for the past week. I wanted to write about it initially, but I kept putting it off because I thought I’ll deal with it after the New Year. The question I ask myself is, should I continue to keep my blog knowing I’ll never ever again get PR from Google?

Maybe not exactly never ever but then let’s be frank, the chances are slim, OK? This blog is about 6 months’ old and it got slapped by Google with PR0 last month. It was a PR2 then. When I started this blog, I wanted to write about my blogging journey and the obstacles along the way. So I guess this is the place I ought to bring it up. It’s one big obstacle now when I got penalized for doing paidposts.

I’m not going to rant about injustice for what is done is done. It’s the future of this blog I’m looking into. Should I continue to persevere knowing I’ll never get PR no matter how much hardwork and love I put in?

OK, before anyone tell me in the face I’ll make it easy for you. I’ll say what some of you would probably say,

“Aren’t you blogging for yourself? Why would you care for Google’s PR? PR is crap.”

Yep, you’re probably right. But then the scenario is like this.. say you’re doing something you love. You are happy doing it but then other people get paid and get recognition for doing the same thing. You’re not. You get the job satisfaction but not the whole deal. Along the line, you ask yourself why am I just contented with the sense of satisfaction when I can actually have it all?

I do have another new blog which I’m working on. I’m keeping a clean slate and will try to disassociate all my paidpost blogs from it. Call me paranoid, but Google is just as guilty. There are blogs out there getting penalized with PR0 just because the blogger has done paidposts on their other blogs. So, I’m playing safe.

As for this blog, I’ve yet made up my mind. Like I say before, this is a new blog and it is just easier to start from scratch than try salvaging and apologizing to Google. The fact is, getting PR is easier than getting traffic.

What say you?