Free Online Word Count Tool
I found this great online tool that gives you your word count in seconds. All you do is paste your text into the box and hit submit.
It saves me a lot of time blogging because I like to type into the posting box instead of using my word processing program, so all I have to do is have the URL open for the word count tool, and presto! I am done.
An even easier way to make sure my word count is right would be for Wordpress (can you hear me, Wordpress?) to add that function in the visual editor. Call me lazy or call me smart, either way, I like things simple and handy, which this word count tool is.
Small Orange Web Hosting
I have noticed over the last few months that the prices and the services offered by web hosting companies is better than it has ever been. This is capitalism at its very best, proving that supply and demand creates great deals for the consumer, and that the company that works the hardest, offers the best deals and service, are going to come out on top of the competition.
One of those companies is A Small Orange Web Hosting
From simple to advanced websites your web hosting needs will definitely be met by Small Orange. (Love that name and logo, proving something else, branding is crucial, it helps people remember you.)
Small Orange makes it their business to fit your current needs and grow with you. They have plans starting at an unbelievable $2.50 per month! (are you listening, Blogspot bloggers!) and feature up to 500GB of non-oversold bandwidth.
Whew! What an Ordeal!
If you checked out my blog late Friday night then you know that it disappeared! I was looking for a more playful theme–how do you like my new one, by the way?–and lost the whole kit and kaboodle. I made myself stay calm, however.
I knew that freaking out would not help anything.
I tried for several hours to figure out what the deal was on my own, but when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to I went to Digital Point Forums asking desperately for help.
I am so grateful to the folks at Digital Point. Several people came to my aid. Somer is the name of the person who helped me, and he is wonderful, a techie genius!
It’s all good now. In fact, if it hadn’t been for losing my blog I wouldn’t have this new version of Wordpress.
Now back to business!
I’m Downloading eToro
Since I am on the subject of money the last few days I might as well go ahead and bite the bullet by downloading eToro’s free Forex trading platform and start playing the stock market. I am not kidding. I have been thinking for a long, long time that since I am so good with finances and budgeting, which comes from years of being poor!, lol, I would very likely be a good financial trader.
Now eToro has made the whole serious business of trading easy and fun. I am going to start out small, of course I am, I have no money!, and take advantage of three new features eToro has added to their trading platform; two new trading arenas, the Trade Box, for the seasoned trader. It lets traders open multiple trades, manage stop loss and take profit orders after opening the position, and trade two additional currency pairs – NZD/USD and GBP/JPY.
The second new arena is the Forex Trend arena. This arena allows you to choose the falling or rising trend of one out of three major currencies (USD, EUR, GBP) with more dynamic options of the counter currencies.
The third new feature is updates to the community feature, which is of course where I will start out since I have never even traded baseball cards!
I will let you know how it goes.
Have You Thought of Selling Your Blog?
I was fooling around this week and found a tool that tells you how much your blog is worth. I don’t know what they use as their yardstick but it said my blog was worth $35, 000! Now I don’t believe that for a minute, it would be too good to be true. However, as hard as I have worked on this blog over the last few years it SHOULD be worth that much!
But anyway, while I was wasting time with this ego stroking I ran across an article at the Blog Herald by one of my all time favorite bloggers, the brilliant Lorelle VanFossen. This is the link to the article and it tells you everything you need to know about how to sell your blog or website and even where to sell it.
Investment Research
Seems everybody is getting into the act! I am talking about investing in stocks. Time was when that sort of business was reserved for the well off. No more, and that’s a very good thing.
If you are an investor or considering becoming one, be sure to check out TheBuyList.com.They do three key things that have not been done before by any stock research, blog, or commentary website:
• Shows which mutual funds or hedge funds bought or sold a given stock and relevant buy/sell percentages
• Provides analytics to questions such as “Which other stocks were bought by the same fund when the fund bought my stock?” or “What’s the buy/sell percentage of a given stock among all funds that bought or sold that stock?”
• Provides quick comparison of one’s portfolio vis-à-vis mutual fund transactions on the stocks within that portfolio.
More people are spending time researching stocks than ever before. With The Buy List, instead of spending endless hours researching stocks all you have to do is look at what the top funds are buying and selling.
[tags]stock research,stock tips,investing,mutual funds,hedge funds,TheBuyList.com[/tags]
Sell Your Content With Oronjo
I found this really nifty tool called Oronjo today that I wanted to share with you. You place the blue whale above or below your content, website or blog, doesn’t matter, and you can sell that particular piece of writing instantly. The price for the article or post is on the whale. The buyer simply clicks on the icon and it takes them to the page where they buy the content from you.
I am going to add it to my blog in the next few days. If you like the idea too, here is the link.
Advertisers and Social Spark
Now that I have invited you bloggers, writers and the general public to check out SocialSpark.com and explained how it works from your end I would like to talk about the other side of the coin–advertisers.
While many of my fellow bloggers would like to see big name advertisers like Nike and Maybelline sign up with Social Spark, I, who always seems to think from a different marketing direction, would love to see more small business owners join up to tout their products or services.
That is one of the great things about Izea, PPP AND Social Spark. There is room for everybody. I even know bloggers who are also advertisers. This is a great way to build traffic and branding. So think about it.
I guess my point of view comes from the ten years I ran my advertising company, Advertising & Stuff, and the fact that the brunt of my customers and the main ones I sought out, where small business owners. I am always for the underdog and love seeing the privately owned mom and pop businesses stay in business.
Whatever my reasons, I would be all for small businesses being a part of Social Spark. I guess next I need to send out some emails, huh?
Publish Your Book for Free
Another great site I found while cruising Writer’s Net was Create Space. You can publish your book for free with no set up fee and no minimum order. Create Space is an Amazon company too, so it is very legitimate.
I am thinking seriously about biting the bullet and published The Sun Shines on Maddy Weaver, my middle-grade novel, myself. I tried to find a publisher for about two years, but I got tired of sending out queries, getting excited when an agent said they wanted to see it and then turned down, told how good it was but they weren’t taking new material, etc, etc, that I quite messing with trying to get published at all.
But I have a lot of marketing experience and a lot of information collected about marketing a book, so I think I could at least make a bit of money, though the main consideration is seeing the book in print in my lifetime.
Win Your Dad the Biggest HDTV!
From now until June 8th Charter Communications, who service the city I and my father live in, is holding a contest where some lucky dad is going to win the biggest HDTV made, along with the best Charter HD service and The Charter Bundle™ FREE for life.
My father really would love this gift. I can just see him watching his favorite sport, the one he is addicted to, which is golf, on a Saturday evening with a cold beer in his hand. Oh, daddy, oh, daddy, listen to me, how would you like a new HDTV for free?
To add your dad to the race for this wonderful gift, just enter your father’s e-mail address and other personal information. After registration submit a brief essay answering the question: “Why does your dad deserves the nation’s biggest HDTV?”
For complete Sweepstakes Rules go to the rules page on Charter’s website.
Other prizes for runner-ups include:
• Charter’s Biggest Bundle, FREE for a year
• FREE Charter HD service for a year
Don’t hesitate, let your Dad have the chance to enjoyFather’s Day in HD!
Visit this page to register and submit your essay explaining why YOUR dad deserves the biggest HDTV in the nation.
Surely a writer or blogger will win, after all, essays are our business aren’t they! 
