September 10, 2009

Rental Rates Rising; Here's How to Save Now... A Better
Night's Sleep Could Improve Your Life... Finding Success
Through Transition... The SEO-Savvy Information Marketer...
and More.

Did you rent a car this past long weekend?

If you did, you may have noticed a spike in rental prices as compared to a year ago.

"USA TODAY" reports that the cost of renting a vehicle has jumped by about 36% in the last year alone. The reason given is that rental companies simply have fewer cars and, when the "laws" of supply and demand do their dirty work, costs rise.

For many travelers, rental cars are the cheapest and most readily available form of travel for getting around in far off cities. Taking a taxi can be expensive if you need to travel far from the airport. Public transit can create delays if you're working on a short time frame and other charters mean waiting for someone else's schedule before you get to your destination.

However, it is still possible to save money when traveling and renting a car.

First, book in advance and search for deals. Many car rental companies are in partnerships with automobile clubs and these may entitle you to discounted rates.

Next, consider the amount of travel you'll be doing and book the size of car needed appropriately. If it's just you, rent a compact car that has excellent gas mileage. Smaller cars are often cheaper to rent and, if you get good gas mileage, you'll save even more.

Also, consider a car-sharing program such as Zipcar. With cars available in 49 U.S. cities as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom, joining can save you money on car rentals as you simply pay as you use the cars and aren't obligated to keep them for several days.

While there are many frustrating aspects to traveling for business, renting transportation shouldn't be one of them. With a little planning and by possibly even joining a car-sharing program, you could get where you need to go, and save a few bucks in the process.

After a long day of work, we need to rest our bodies. We need a good amount of sleep for our minds and bodies. Sleep helps us get through the day with energy and helps keep our productivity at a good level. You can't get much done if you're lacking sleep. You might be able to get away with it for a day or two, but any more than that and lack of sleep will catch up with you when you can least afford it.

Lack of energy, irritability, and lack of alertness are just a few of the things you can experience when you go through a prolonged period of insomnia. Think about how these things can affect your daily routine.

Most jobs require you to be on top of things each and every day. You can't get away with slacking at your job for too many days, but when you don't have very much energy, it can be difficult to get through even the most routine of tasks.

Tasks that may be routine can seem daunting to someone who hasn't had much sleep. That's not going to bode well for you with your employer. Not to mention if you happen to run your own business. As a sole proprietor, you are responsible for everything having to do with the running of your business. You have to be on the ball every day, because there is no one there to pick up the slack for you.

Let's also not forget that there are health concerns with prolonged sleeplessness. You probably have to drive to work every day. Well, you need to be alert when you operate a vehicle. It's not uncommon for people to fall asleep at the wheel. Accidents and illnesses can become a lot more common when someone is exhausted and lacking proper sleep.

Lack of sleep can affect so many aspects of your life, from every relationship you have, to your job and your ability to function normally.

Here are a few things to help your insomnia:

1. Make a point not to drink anything caffeinated after noon. From that point on, drink water or have a replacement beverage that is caffeine- and alcohol-free.

2. Stress can feed insomnia. Make note of the things you need to do the next day and get them off your mind before you try to sleep.

3. Avoid taking naps and try to get up earlier, so you will be tired at night when it comes time to hit the sack.

4. Think about your environment as well. Is it dark enough in your bedroom? Are there noises keeping you up that you can get rid of?

5. You can also try some deep breathing activities and meditation to calm your thoughts and help you focus on something other than your daily stresses.

Sleep is essential for each and every one of us. We all need it, and we all benefit from it, so it's important to pay attention to your body when you are lacking something so vital. The better you sleep at night, the better your attitude and energy will be during the day.

In the last few months, jobs have become scarcer than they've been in a long time. However, the job-loss trend is slowing and, these days, people aren't losing their jobs with the same frequency they were before.

If you've recently lost your job, let me start by wishing you well. I hope you are able to find work soon.

Everybody, at some point or another, has been out of work for any number of reasons. This is just a fact of life. It's important, however, that when you're out of work you find productive ways to keep yourself occupied. This keeps you motivated, your mind active and engaged, and gives you something to work at.

Oftentimes, when people are in between jobs and out of work, they have a tendency to lose drive, resulting in losing focus and desire to move on. It's pretty easy to slip into a hole that can be quite difficult to get out of. As the days pass, these people can fall deeper and deeper.

There are, however, a number of things you can do to stay positive and engaged in your transitional period. Some of these may even help you find you full-time work. For instance, it's possible that there is an election going on in your city or town. If there is, it might be worthwhile to see if there are any roles available for you to volunteer for.

Take some time and research the candidates, then choose the one you'd like to support. Not only will this give you something to do, but it will also provide an opportunity to make all kinds of contacts that may be able to help you with your job search.

Job losses, in many ways, offer a chance for new beginnings. In fact, it's quite possible that a job loss can even be a blessing in disguise. The truth is that it may have been just what you needed to motivate you to crack down and get working on the business you've always wanted to start.

Now that you've got that extra bit of time on your hands, you can finally concentrate on hammering out the details for your business idea. Start putting the time in and come up with a viable business plan and a prototype to take to investors. The sooner you can secure some preliminary funding, the better!

The important thing to do when you lose your job is keep motivated and active. Find ways to keep yourself busy, and it's likely good things will come!

** The SEO-Savvy Information Marketer
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

Like a lot of people these days, you're probably a regular Internet surfer. Don't worry. I am not saying this to be derogatory. Quite the opposite, as being a regular Internet surfer can be useful to both you and your info marketing business.

Most people spend their idle Internet hours checking out the things related to their personal likes. Some of these things are sports stats, movie reviews, or political blogs. By just typing a few words into your search engine, you can be directed right to the top rated web sites for the topics you are looking for information on. It's gotten that simple.

But have you ever thought about why this works the way it does?

I did and luckily I found out. I just completed a content writing gig for a local small business assistance company. Much to my surprise, when I submitted the initial galleys, I got them back with the comment:

"...could you please add some SEO words?"

I had to redo a lot of the work I had written and, to be honest, got a bit frustrated doing it. But, after some research, I found out why I was doing it and then I enjoyed redoing the content to make it better for my client. That and I wound up getting a bigger paycheck as a result!

SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization" and is a way of making your online content more easily accessible to the public. When people type in certain words into their search engine and hit ENTER, they are delivered a list of the top web sites related to those words. SEO helps you get to the top of that list and generate more traffic to your web site.

SEO is no easy task and is something that is a relatively new phenomenon for online business. Before, you just created nice descriptive content for your business and posted it online with the hope that people would come and check you out while surfing the web. But SEO actually acts as a directing tool; the good news is that you can tweak your content to help potential customers get to your site.

To get started in SEO for your online info or Web content, do what I did: scope out the competition. Search out web sites that are related to your own info marketing business. Go through each page of the top related web sites with a fine-tooth comb and see what similar phrases or words are being used. Take some notes and see which bits of content come up repeatedly.

As well, use some of the online keyword tools. These are web sites that help you find lists of related SEO words that you can incorporate into your Web content. For example, if your business is "small engines info," go to a keyword site, type those words in, and you get a ranked list of the most popular related words on the Web. There are a lot of these sites out there; "Keyword Spy" and "Spyfu.com" among them. You might have to pay a fee to get connected to these sites, but, believe me, they are well worth it.

Once you have a good list of SEO words, phrases, and related content, adjust your existing content to incorporate some of those new phrases and words into it. Be careful not to plagiarize other people's content. Once you post your new content online, you should begin to see more people coming to your web site and, with this increase in Internet traffic, you should see an increase in clients.

I would also suggest looking into a web site promotion site or other SEO promotion program if you have difficulty getting the results you want even after you have applied SEO to your content. These online facilities will, for a fee, help you redo your content and help get your web site right to the top of any search engine ranking. My client specializes in this sort of thing and told me just how many businesses are out there helping other businesses get to the top of Internet searches.

I know; it sounds pretty wild and complicated. But, believe me, it's not. Like the information you create and provide to your clients, SEO just requires a little elbow grease from you. Like other things in the digital realm, don't be afraid to take advantage of a new tool like SEO to help your business get, well, the top ranking!