I am sure I am not the only one pondering over this question. When we talk about the internet, no doubt it is bursting with information and opportunities. There is no question over that. From a consumer stand point, I think we will be looking at it in a whole new angle. Is there accountability and realibility purchasing over the internet?

Everyday we are bombarded with sites trying to sell us their ideas or products. One look at your spam mail tells all. Frankly speaking, if we have to go through all the experiences ourselves to separate the hypes from the truth, I bet this lifetime isn’t enough.

If you are one of those people who relish the thought of word of mouth testimony from users, TrustSource.org does provide the platform for product users to review and share their experience. Say for example I am looking for hair loss products, and I am wondering how effective is the popular hair loss solution provillus I can easily find out what other users have to say. From a consumer standpoint, I say that is way better than searching around aimlessly and spend time dissecting the sales pitch from various advertisers.

I guess with blogs and online journals, ordinary peeps are overwhelmed by the sudden power to be the center of the universe in their little blogging world. Many times bloggers are just so consumed with themselves, it ’s like nothing else matters. The world revolves around them and their blogs.

The recent Google shuffle saw many blogs losing their PR. This of course led to much dissatisfaction and lamenting because of lost revenue from paid links or paid posts. I would know because I’m one of the people affected. I do paid posts and my main blog lost 1 or 2 notches (different data centers have different readings).

Will I see less paid posts opportunities?

You bet.

Am I mad about it?

I am not happy about it but I sure as hell not mad. Don’t get me wrong. No, it’s not like I’m such an exceptional being I can transcend beyond human emotion and remain nonchalant about my dwindling paid posts income. I’m not that good. I’m merely being logical about the whole thing. I try not to just stand from my alpha position looking out from my little world and expect everything to revolve around it. I just took a step out of my private zone and look at the whole thing from another perspective.

Like in any everyday business agreement, there has to be someone selling, and somebody willing to buy. There has to be a certain element of mutual benefit to the agreement. Nobody in their right mind will enter into an agreement if they cannot derive any sort of compensation from it. Unless somebody is pointing a gun at you…

In the paid posts arena, advertisers are purchasing your blog space and you are selling yours. I used the word blog space or blogs. Not the blogger. That is an important distinction. Many people had argued PR rankings will not affect the quality of the blogger. I agree 100%.

If a blogger writes good posts, they’ll continue to do so with or without PR ranking. The crux of the matter is, bloggers are not selling themselves to advertisers. They are selling their blogs or blog space. The commodity of the blogger here is their blog. If, the PR rankings of your blog drops, the value of your bargaining power drops. Simple. Nobody is less of a blogger if their blog rank goes down, but then your blog is less of a value if it does.

On a neutral note, benefit of an agreement should be mutual. Not just one sided. You cannot measure merely from your own standpoint. Advertisers have rights too. If, I cannot offer to my buyer/advertiser something of value, of course I won’t get the deal. Nothing is just about me.

What is there to be mad?

I’m finally letting my previous WP Mandigo theme go. The theme has been giving me erratic alignment problems. It would have been easier had it been consistent. The thing is, I never know when the theme goes out of alignment. One minute you see it, the next, you don’t. Sometimes it looks fine on Firefox, it goes haywire on IE.

While I don’t condone constant changing of themes, I have to concur blog templates are like relationship. You’ll save yourself alot of heartbreak knowing when is the right time to let it go. This current theme is much more easier to handle and I’ll still have much tweaking to do.

OK, It might be an exaggeration for you. Not me though. I just made my first conversion from Blogger to Wordpress in this blog a little over 3 months ago. Needless to say, it was a no-smooth sailing relationship. The tweaking was crazy. I’ve no clue at all.

The current Mandigo theme this blog is using is not a bad-looker. But then the codes are pretty confusing. I had always an interest in designing banners. So, I started a new blog to showcase my work. Needless to say, the hunt for another WP continues. It took me the whole day to find one that thrill me to bits. Love it to death.

After installing 3 or more themes, I finally found the love of my life. Daily Digest 3.0 has to be the most beautiful WP theme in my books. OK, it looks like a newspaper and I won’t want it any other way. I love banners, so, the generous banner-width of the theme is a plus for me. Not to mention the satisfaction of having my post looking like something out of the newspaper.

To the Wordpress theme author, Joni, bless you!

E-commerce implementation if successful, requires a broad understanding of technology, law, policy and business processes.

Reading the line above, I bet my last dollar folks who aren’t exactly internet savvy will just turn and make a run for the door. In all fairness, that was the interpretation of an E-commerce book I had dated way back in 1999. It was the time when internet business was at its infancy.

Fast forward today, ecommerce software is readily available to take away the fear for people who wants to sell online. Really, nothing can be easier with those shopping cart software readily available online. The dilemma for the online business person today is no longer the hassle of getting the expertise to set-up an online shop, the dilemma is coming up with what to sell.

Now, there are plenty of sites offering shopping cart or ecommerce software out there. Plenty as in hundreds if you happen to do a search. I will not say which is the best because a comparison between ecommerce software offerings from various sites is an inevitable task for those who are serious. The thing I could recommend though is to set a benchmark and measure all others against this benchmark.

Ashop Commerce is the leading shopping cart software provider. It is one of the best around and if anyone is serious about finding a good ecommerce software, it pays to look around the web and measure the other offerings against the Ashop benchmark.

I’m not talking about this blog. This one has yet got rated by Google and judging by the looks of things, it won’t be anytime soon. Well, you know what they say, when you are at the rock bottom, you can’t go anywhere else but up. Let’s hope this blog here will not defy the nature of gravity and will go up within the next 365 days. I wanted to say this lifetime but then that is not exactly motivating. I’ll just stick to the conservative 365 days.

My other Blogger blog has at the time being, remain unscathed. It’s still sporting a PR4. Up there with the big names like Problogger and Dosh Dosh. Now, I’m not disillusioned. That personal blog can no way compare with the big guns in terms of contents and hits. So it just shows PR is no real indication of true traffic… or importance.

Now, the knee jerk reaction is great. Finger pointing is everywhere.. from paid posts to text links to leaking PR juice. I do have a long list of blogs on my PR4 blogroll. These blogs are mostly blogs whom I know in my 3 year blogging journey. Most of these blogs started off together with me and I know they are no splogs.

In view of that, I see no reason why I should drop them off my blogroll because of unfounded rumors and fear about leaking PR juice. Honestly, just enjoy blogging for what it is.

Wait, what about paid posts? PR is a factor…..

I know, will talk about that later.

My blogging friend over at Blogsreview has something interesting to add.

Update: Oops, maybe I spoke too soon. My Blogger blog is hovering between PR 3 and PR 4. There is a possibility I’m losing one notch.

When we talk about good looks, it is always subjective. Just try watching Miss Universe with your family members and you will know what I am talking about. Everyone seems to have their own definition of the word beautiful. Just the other day I was commenting how pretty a girl was, and immediately I got multitudes of protests from my girlfriends. Now, when I say that girl is pretty, I am measuring her against whom she is. She is a just a face I chanced upon, not a movie star. If she’s a movie star, I would have rated her differently.

Now, is all these going somewhere? What has it got to do with blogs? Get to the point.

What I am trying to say is, when I look at something, I cannot merely base my judgment on face value alone. There will be other consideration taken into account. Firstly, what kind of blog the blogger is running. Cartoons and cutesy pictures might reflect individuality on a personal blog, it won’t work as much if it is a blog about technology. With me? In view of that, I’ll review a blog based on

• design
• content
• level of interaction between the blogger and his/her readers/commentators.

Design

Snoskred.org is not an ugly blog by all accounts, using the 3 column design with dark blue, white and black font. This has to be the safest combination around. If you put it in everyday terms, it would be the lady in white blouse, black knee-length skirt and sensible black heels. There is no fashion felony committed. It is safe…. but then she’s not exactly turning heads either. Being a personal blog, I have to say the template colors are too safe to reflect the individuality of the blogger. Now, Snoskred is a unique name. The blogger said it is supposed to. So, namewise, she’s definitely on the right track. By the way, yes, it is a ‘she.‘ Though I bet it is hard to tell looking at her choice of profile picture. I cannot figure out what the picture is, so, I’m just grateful she stated on her front page she is really a ’she’. It could have been embarassing…

Now, let’s get to my favorite part… the banner. Snoskred.org has one of the biggest banner I’ve seen around. It looks even wider with the white background and not integrating with the lower blue backdrop. The collection of small animal pictures on the top of the wordings are just too small and not uniform. I have nothing against animals. I love them… but then it will help if the pictures are more evenly spaced. Actually, putting pictures with bigger close-up shots of the animals will definitely look better. It is just too small…. and the wordings too big.

Content

Everybody says content is King, Queen and Trump. No matter which, this blog has them all. I have no complains here. If you hold a gun to my head and force me to conjure up something, it’ll be too much contents. OK, I’m not complaining. The postings are interesting and informative. I even learned something about scambaiting. It’s a new word for me.

Snoskred’s postings are insightful and bursting with opinions. This is a plus, no point reading a blogger that merely parrots an issue without offering their personal view. Yes, there are many compelling reads here.

Interaction

It is always good to see a blogger taking time to respond to his/her commentators. Snoskred does reply to the comments on her blog. Good thing. Wait, though I have no idea what Snoskred meant when she says she does edit the comments whenever she sees fit. I’ll hold my thoughts on that because I do not know to what extent she edits her comments. Personally, I’m no fan about comments editing. I know, you get weird and sometimes not so intelligent retorts. But then, I always believe holding oneself to a certain degree of expectation is good, for self betterment. But then holding commentators and readers to the same standard is never a fair nor good practice.

Out of a full 10, Snoskred.org deserves a 7/10. Courtesy of its wide and interesting topics.

“Why on earth would you buy electronics from the internet?”

I had been asked umpteen times whenever I tell my friends I just bought something online. Well, in all honesty, I guess this is a valid question. As such, I do think it deserves an answer.

A prudent shopper considers the main 3 - time, need and price. Let’s face it, time is a luxury to many. I would know. Juggling between work, family and everything in between, there is honestly not enough time for the average shopper to look for what they want.

Nobody qualifies as a prudent shopper when no little price comparing homework is done. You can either drive and checkout every electrical store within your 100km radius, or you can just sit back and let your fingers do the checking over the internet. The best part about buying electronics online, is the ease of price and specs comparing. Personally, I am just glad I do not have to put up with pesky sales people.

For people like me who has no qualms about doing my snooping and shopping online, TechlineStore is a good place to start for electronic and gadgetry hunting. Plenty of choices for gaming consoles and the option of saving a little more by having those games bundled in with your purchase. Great Deals on Xbox 360, PS3, Halo 3, the re-energized Xbox 360. You will know what it is if you have teenagers in the house. Trust me on this. They will probably worship the ground you walked on if you get them these.

The store has cell phones from LG to Motorola, locked or unlocked and PDAs. Even Ipods. In case you are trying to skimp, there are refurbished ones on the site. Great place to check out your buying options. Like I cannot stress enough, I can always feel free to browse around online stores, there is no pressure from those salespeople. That alone is a gem.

This is my personal thought. Eversince I’m writing in cyberspace, I have lost count the number of websites and blogs I had visited. Some no doubt got my attention because the blogger has something to say, and I want to hear it, other times, I’m like every superficial being out there…. judging a blog, by its looks.

My preference is pretty straight forward. I do not like anything on webpages that move too much. Nope, you’re hearing me right. I’ve been to some sites that are so flash intensive, I got to pop a few painkillers after a 5 minutes tour. I do not have anything against flash. But then if the whole page is not keeping still, it’s a burden to my concentration. A liability.

Honestly, if you want your whole page to be flash intensive, just make sure you have nothing important to say.

Firstly, I am not going to stand on moral high ground and debate the good or evil of online gambling. As a reviewer, I think it is important to set the record straight. With the internet, more and more people are seeking recreational means through cyberspace, may it be the usual chat room or online gaming.

There is indeed no shortage of online casino sites in the internet.

Pro360.com is not a casino site. They are the specialized reviewers of online gaming sites. They review almost 3000 gaming sites out there and present a detailed informative analysis of each gambling site. Each site review from Pro360 is divided mainly into casino history, bonuses payouts and the pros and cons. Even the stats and overall ratings are included.

Personally, I do find their comprehensive list of valid certificates from all the gaming site a plus. Now, we know the integrity and validity of these gaming sites are a factor. Nobody wants to be conned by dubious sites that make a run with your personal details.

Tips for beginners are included and this is indeed a detailed site for people who are into online gaming.