Do Christmas Shopping With Coupons This Year

Christmas shopping sucks. The malls are crowded, the best gifts are sold out, and it's usually far too late to buy Christmas gifts online by the time you get around to it. Over the Christmas season it's a good idea to order anything at least 2 weeks in advance, because shipping times get stretched out badly.

Unfortunately, online merchants know that loads of people do their Christmas shopping online, and so they pump their prices up. You can get around this, and end up spending way less than you would in a retail store if you use coupon codes to buy gifts online for your friends and relatives. Online coupons take on a whole new meaning, and you can actually save BIG if you know where you can find good coupons.

Coupon Chief have loads of coupons for all your favorite stores, and you can save a lot of money if you use them. They have coupons for the biggest range of merchants you'll ever see, so you can get a great deal on just about any type of product.

Two of the hot coupon deals right now are coupons for Alibris, a large online bookstore and community with over 40 million new and used books to choose from (Cheaper than Amazon most of the time), and the other is for Dell notebooks and accessories.

The Dell coupons are awesome, because you can save up to $350 when you buy a $999 notebook. If you're planning to buy a Dell notebook for someone this Christmas, don't do anything without a coupon from Coupon Chief!

Technorati Tags: Dell Coupon, Alibris Coupon

Organs in the Fridge & Some Link Love

A few days ago in a semi-rural part of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, a nurse was arrested in a hospital parking lot in possession of a human baby's umbilical cord.

Police raided the suspect's home and found a refrigerator full of human organs. The organs were supposedly destined for use in the preparation of traditional medicines. Read the Full Story on IOL

Now, that story will make almost no sense to anyone who doesn't live in SA. I guess around here this kind of thing only makes the 3rd or 4th page, so without any further ado, here's some link love. Clicky Clicky.

Things By Mike - I don't really know what Things by Mike is really all about, but I read it every day. He runs a rad little webcomic called 'Gummy, The Lovesick Alien', which is funny most of the time, and weird enough to entertain the rest of the time.

As Seen On The Tube - Talia's blog featuring TV products that you actually need. They might not be glamorous or exciting, but one day you'll ask how you ever lived without these things.

The Ominous Comma - One of the most random humor blogs on the net. There's always something funny, as long as The Comma isn't ranting about something.

Want $20? Got a Blog?

PayPerPost is probably the easiest way to get paid to blog. The idea is simple: advertisers post projects that they want bloggers (called posties in the PayPerPost world) to write about and promote. You sign up for these 'opportunities', write the article and get paid instantly into your PayPal account!

Sounds too good to be true? Well, there is a snag, and that's the 1 requirement they have. To join PayPerPost your blog must be at least 90 days old. This is the only requirement that's tricky to meet - the rest are a piece of cake.

The best part? When you join PayPerPost and get your blog approved there will be lots of opportunities open, but you also have the opportunity to blog about PayPerPost, and this pays you $20, instantly.

So what kind of blogger do you have to be to join PayPerPost? Well, any type of blog is accepted, but those that have something to do with products will always find something to get paid to blog about. Since their network is very large, there are always hundreds of opportunities to choose from, and you're bound to find something that fits within your blog's sphere.

So if you have a blog and you want to make money writing on your blog, even if you don't sell anything, go ahead and sign up for PayPerPost - it's the easiest writing money on the internet!

Technorati Tag: get paid to blog

Against Human Rights Abuse

Defining Human Rights is a tricky field in itself. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states the following:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Human Rights are a distinctly liberal idea, and we should bear in mind that some countries might regard a Western conception of Human Rights as a species of cultural imperialism. In those countries in which the United Nations' conception of Human Rights are supposed to be enforced, we should not tolerate the abuse of those rights.

Human rights abuse can be loosely defined as any force or action which restricts a subject's freedom, political authority or choice of religion. There are many other forms of human rights abuse, but these are the most common that are still felt worldwide.

Human rights laws are in place in every country's constitution as a commitment by a sovereign party to respect certain rights of individuals. However, these rights are still abused by nations and individuals all over the world.

One of the most powerful single figures speaking out against human rights abuse is Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese politician and activist. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and in 2003 used this money to establish a health and education trust for the people of her country. She remains under house arrest, despite the pressure of the United Nations and the popular media.

Amnesty International is the world's leading organization working to prevent human rights abuse and help the victims of oppressive regimes. It not only deals with problems on a global scale, but works to help out the individual who has been a victim of abuse.

You can sign up with Amnesty International by visiting their website and finding out the details of your local chapter. This is the best way for you to get involved and speak out against human rights abuse.

Technorati Tag:human rights abuse

Pink Internet Marketing Review

For those of you who do not know what "Pink Internet Marketing" is, I suggest you check out Danielle's blog, pinkhatseo.info. Whether you are a website owner, an amateur blogger or an expert at internet marketing, Pink Internet Marketing has something useful for everyone.

When I first set this blog up and I was looking for advice on how to promote my blog, get a little bit of traffic and write better blog posts, pinkhatseo.info was one of the first blogs I found. It was the first blog I added to my Technorati favorites, and the first RSS feed I ever subscribed to.

Today it is about the only blog that I check religiously for any updates and snippets of information about internet money makers, how to set up your adsense to make good money, as well as her own brand new discipline called 'Blogthropology' (Danielle is an Anthropology graduate herself).

Pinkhatseo.info is the product of a blogger with a keen understanding of what her readership wants and a good eye on what's cracking in the world of internet marketing and the 'Blogosphere'. Her blog posts are informative, or at least entertaining, and she is as devoted to her blog and her audience as any professional blogger could be.

That's not to mention all the pink. Boys, don't let this discourage you: she might say that SEO is for girls, but there's plenty of gender-neutral stuff there if you look past the adorable Build-a-Bear and candy-pink RSS feed button. I know I'm not making it sound like an oil painting, but in my opinion pinkhatseo.info is one of the better looking blogs about internet marketing and blogging out there.

Technorati Tag: Internet Marketing

Ready to Blog Against Abuse?

All you fellow bloggers out there, you only have only four more days left to join the "Blog Against Abuse" cause at BlogCatalog. September 27th is Blog Against Abuse day, and there is a call going out for everybody to devote their blog to protesting against an abuse of some kind.

So What do I do?

All you have to do is pick a type of abuse that you feel strongly about. Write a post on your blog on September 27th about why people should be aware of this type of abuse and fight against it. Then you go to

http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/you-can-be-a-part-of-blogging-history#reply

and scroll down to where some graphic designer guy put up some badges with this logo:

Then put one of the badges (there are a lot to choose from) on your blog and link it back to:
http://blog.blogcatalog.com/category/community-challenge/
And tell as many people as you can. Simple!

Let's make this a good one, and stay tuned for more blogosphere community projects!

Technorati Tag: Community Project

How To Research a Magazine Article

(Part 2 of Writing For Magazines

The most obvious answer to how you research a magazine article is: read. But what to read exactly? For SEO articles your content can easily be a re-hash of somebody else's - as long as it isn't copied and pasted. For magazine articles you need to come up with something interesting to say.

Reviews and Interviews require straightforward investigation. If it's a product, buy it or see if you can get it free for reviwing it. If it's something expensive like a car, at least go and look at one. Jot down any notes you can.


If you are interviewing a person, you will have to go and speak to them. If you read another interview and think that gives you license to write an interview, it will be picked up by magazine editors. Remember: editors read magazines as part of their job, and they will catch anything that isn't original.

Opinion Pieces probably require the most research work of all magazine writing. If you don't know your facts, you don't have an opinion. If you are writing about current events - even celebrity gossip - you need to be totally on top of exactly what has happened. And don't just read the local papers and watch CNN!

Try to get information from as many sources as possible to try and get a few different perspectives. You are, in effect, writing very recent history. As such you need to make sure your information is accurate and quoteable.

That brings me to quotes - the meat and potatoes of a magazine writer. Whatever you are writing about, get a quote. Get as many quotes as you can, so that you can back up more points in your article. If you can't find the person or one of the people involved, ask an innocent bystander or a relative - just don't come back without a quote.

Unlike SEO articles, writing for magazines will require several pages of notes before you even start. Once you have gathered all of your material, you are ready to start.

Come back tomorrow for tomorrow's post, How to Write Selling Magazine Articles.

Related Posts:

• Part 1: Getting Your Articles Published in Magazines
  

Technorati Tag:Writing for Magazines

Swabbin the Decks After Pirate Day

Well, me hearties, what a great Talk Like a Pirate Day it was. Just some numbers:
This post was dugg 997 times (as of right now) and received well over 6,500 unique visitors who left comments, rum and swill all over WriteNonsense - thank you, come again and please remember to keep digging my posts!

If you were wondering how the whole Talk Like a Pirate Day thing came about, check out Getting To Know Talk Like a Pirate Day at HoboTrashcan.com. It's a rousing good yarn. But now, moving on to today's post:

Getting Your Articles Published in Magazines (Trackback URL)
(Part 1 of Writing For Magazines)

Magazines are tricky customers, and it takes a lot of work to convince them to publish something you wrote. They only have so many pages, and they want to put the best articles they can in. However, magazines pay very well. You can expect to get anywhere from between $50 - $500, depending on the magazine and the length of your article.

Here are a few tips that will help you to get your articles published in magazines.

1. Don't Just Write!

Magazines won't print a random article anymore than they will print the ramblings of a lunatic. Call up the magazine, find out what their submission guidelines are. Ask them the following:

• What word counts are accepted (usually 300, 500, 1,000 etc)
• Are there any topics they need articles for? Magazines like to plan ahead and request articles accordingly
• Whom you should address your submission to. Often this is "The Editor", but try to find out a name as well.
• If there are any style requirements, such as how many quotes they prefer etc.
• How much they pay per word! (Magazines should offer you between $0.20 and $1 per word, so don't accept $20 for a whole article)

2. Familiarize Yourself With the Magazine

Get hold of as many copies as you can. See what kind of article gets featured, and ask someone how much of what you see on the page comes from the writer. Magazines might prefer to publish your article if you can provide a picture or a good sound byte. This will make it much easier to write magazine articles in the way they want.

Also: if you have old issues, check that the editor is still the same person! A new editor might like a different style entirely.

3. Write The Same Article 3 Times

This might sound tedious, but write it for all the word counts that the magazine publishes. This way you give them a choice. If you write a 1,000 word article and they like it, but not enough to give it the space, you won't be paid anything. If you include a 300 word shorter version they will usually be happy to publish this, or they might save your article for a later issue if it is not too topical.

4. Submit to the Competition

By this I mean send your articles to all the magazines that compete with the magazine you want to publish in. As long as they are the same style, at least one of them is bound to like your article.

5. Use Your Connections

Magazines love interviews because they really attract readers. What's more, they're hard to get. If you know an interesting person or a celebrity's nephew's friend from school, use that connection to get an interview!

Trade journals also publish interviews, so if your Uncle Bob is a well-respected restorer of antique furniture interview him. Send the article off to a few trade journals about antique furniture and you'll get back a $100 bill just like this one here (except not as blurry).

Related Posts:

• Part 2: How to Research a Magazine Article

Technorati Tag: Write for Magazine

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

I reckon this be havin' nothin to do with scribblin, but today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It be on this day each year since the Year of Our Lord 1995 when Ol' Chumbucket an' Cap'n Slappy proclaimed September 19th to be Talk Like a Pirate Day. The rules be simple: any of ye scurvy landlubbers who blogs like a pirate today in yer post wins the trophy.

The trophy being this bright yellow badge here! Put it on yer post and spread the word. Link it back to my pirate ship (trackback URL) an' I'll ad ye to me list of blogger-pirates who won't have ta walk the plank today!


Technorati Tag: Talk Like a Pirate Day

Web Article Types You Should Be Good At

Freelance writing jobs are usually once-off article projects. A client will have a batch of articles for one website, and would prefer to have one freelancer do all of the articles rather than send them out to many different freelance writers. Because of this, people hiring writers will obviously want the person most qualified to do those types of SEO articles.

Here are a few categories of articles that you should learn to write. I recommend these because they come up often, and are often the most paid.

1. Travel Writing

Travel articles are possibly the most common type of web content you will write. If you can write good travel articles you can charge as much as $200 each for them. If you are just starting, expect between $5-$10 per article. The good news: they're usually short and very easy to do.

2. Technical Writing

Technical writing jobs are all over the place: You can find a lot of them on GetAFreelancer. The good news is that good technical writers and technical editors are as rare as hens' teeth. Learn how to write about something technical - anything - and try to broaden your range of subjects that you can write at a technical level on. Technical writing jobs pay very well once you are experienced.

3. Real Estate Article Writing

Everybody's trying to sell real estate, or they're trying to sell real estate investment guides. Being able to write real estate articles means you'll never be out of a job. Have a look at Deborah Ng's Freelance Writing Jobs board, because there are usually a lot of Craigslist jobs for real estate writers there

4. Medical Writing

Clinics, hospitals and websites that are trying to direct traffic to them are always in need of quality content. Most of the time they need general information about specific diseases, operations, equipment, facilities etc. Here, Wikipedia is your friend. Become a skilled at medical writing jobs and you could be making hundreds of dollars a day.

5. Website and Product Reviews

Believe it or not, writing product & site reviews is very lucrative. I did a bunch of 500 word reviews of sites for $12 a piece a few months back. When the project was over I had made a good few hundred dollars for about 3 days work. Here, humor is your friend. See More on Writing Reviews

Related Posts:

• How To Write 15 Minute SEO Articles


• 5 SEO Article Writing Tips


• How To Write SEO Articles


• Writing Well Paid Articles

Technorati Tag: Internet Copywriting