Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Spanish Food - How To Make Spicy Gazpacho Soup (by: Linda Plummer)

Home-made soups are so good for you - all that nourishing stock 
and chock-a-block full of vitamins and minerals. 

But ... who on earth could face boiling bones for hours on end 
during the scorching Spanish summer weather, not to mention 
preparing the soup once the stock is made? I don´t think it 
would tickle anybody´s fancy to then have to tuck into a 
piping-hot soup! 

For this reason, the Spanish came up with their wonderful, 
ice-cold soup - gazpacho - beautifully colorful, packed with 
goodness, cheap and simple to prepare, no cooking and ... most 
important of all, an absolute delight to drink. 

Traditional gazpacho originates from romantic Andalucia - that 
large, exotic southerly region of Spain which is home to such 
extensive Arabic influence. 

The chilled, raw soup was originally made by pounding bread and 
garlic with tomatoes, cucumber and peppers but, nowadays, your 
electric blender renders this effortless! Olive oil endows it 
with a smooth, creamy consistency and vinegar adds a refreshing 
tang - just what you need when life gets too hot to handle! 

The spicy soup should be served in true Spanish style with small 
bowls of accompaniments - finely chopped peppers, cucumber, 
onion ... even hard-boiled eggs and croutons, if you feel up to 
it! Guests will then sprinkle what appeals to them on the soup. 

Traditional gazpacho is tomato-based, with most Spanish families 
having developed their own, unique recipes. However, nowadays, 
you will also find gazpacho recipes that have nothing to do 
with tomatoes - white, almond-based gazpachos, fruit-based 
gazpachos, etc. 

Do you suffer from insomnia? Could be that drinking gazpacho is 
the answer, for in Pedro Almodovar´s 1987 film "Mujeres Al Borde 
De Un Ataque De Nervios", various characters help themselves to 
the soup and promptly fall asleep! 

However, don´t fall asleep just yet as you haven´t read over the 
recipe! 

Ingrediants for 4 servings: 

- 4 ripe tomatoes 
- 1 onion 
- ½ red pepper 
- ½ green pepper 
- ½ cucumber 
- 3 cloves garlic 
- 50 g bread 
- 3 dessertspoons vinegar 
- 8 dessertspoons olive oil 
- Water 
- Salt/pepper 
- ¼ chilli pepper (optional) 

Garnishings: 

- 2 hard-boiled eggs 
- ½ finely chopped onion 
- ½ finely chopped red pepper 
- ½ finely chopped green pepper 
- ½ finely chopped cucumber 

Method: 

1. Break up bread and soak in water for 30 minutes. 

2. Skin tomatoes, remove seeds and stalks from peppers. 

3. Peel cucumber, onion and garlic. 

4. Chop onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber. 

5. Place in electric blender. 

6. Squeeze out excess water from bread and add to blender. 

7. Add oil and vinegar. 

8. Blend well. 

9. If necessary, add sufficient water for soup-like consistency. 

10. Pour into a bowl with ice cubes. 

11. Fridge for a couple of hours. 

12. Serve in bowls, with garnishings in separate dishes. 

Gazpacho is best enjoyed sitting in the shade, looking out onto 
an azure sea, blue sky and golden sun and sands! 


About the author:
Linda Plummer is webmistress of the site: 
http://www.top-tour-of-spain.com
which provides a wide range of information regarding Spain and 
the Spanish language. 
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Monday, April 11, 2011

13 Steps to Successful Blogging (by: Ant Onaf)

Blogs can be a very marketable and very profitable tool if used correctly. Profiting from blogs is just a matter of grabbing the attention of an audience and not doing any actual salesmen selling. In this article you will learn the 13 most essential steps to successful blogging.

1) Where to start?

You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting service such as Journal Home or Blogger. Starting with a free blog hosting service allows you to begin blogging instantly without having any advance knowledge of scripts, hosting, or programming. It allows you to focus on your content and not the internal maintenance of the blog. The best benefit of starting with a free service is, in the case your blog doesn't become successful you do not lose any money or are you left holding the bill. The great thing about a blog is that they are organized in chronological order, your latest entry is displayed first. When your blog traffic grows greatly and you are ready to upgrade to your own domain then you can simply make your last blog entry the announcement of your "move". Simply add a last entry stating that your blog has "moved" and type the new blog URL address. Which directs visitors to your new blog site, keeping your following, without a major inconvenience to anyone. Upgrade as you need to...but only when you need to!

2) Niche

A niche is a targeted product, service, or topic. You should first decide on a product, service, or topic which interest you. Choose an area which you can enthusiastically write about on a daily basis. You can use keyword research services like Google Zeitgeist or Yahoo! Buzz Index to find popular searched topics. It does NOT matter if your topic is popular as long as there is a audience for your topic and the topic is precisely focused then your blog should be successful. Anything can be considered a niche as long as it has a target audience no matter how large or how small the audience is. A blog about your cat can be a niche or a blog about the species of the cat family can be a larger niche market, if there are people who are interested in hearing about your cat or the species of the cat family...you can even choose to build your audience for a market which an audience does not exist, but first you must build your blog.

3) Update Daily (nothing less)

This step is a must and not a suggestion. Updating your blog daily not only keeps your blog more interesting to readers, but it also gives your blog fresh content on a day to day making it more appealing to search engines. Not updating your blog on an occasional holiday or one day here and there is understandable to most, but missing days at a time or weeks is unacceptable and will most likely result in your blog being unsuccessful. To keep your blog traffic and retain your visitors interest it is a must to update your blog daily with multiple entries. You should try to update your blog everyday with at least 3 or more daily entries. The best way to accomplish this is to set aside 1-2 hours a day for tending to your blog and adding new entries. It may even be wise to schedule a set time which you dedicate to your blog each day. Give yourself work hours and treat your blog as a job, what happens if you don't come to work for days or weeks...you lose money or worse you get fired! Same applies here...if you don't update your blog for days or weeks you'll lose visitors.

4) Traffic

It's no secret. You must have traffic to profit from blogs. There are numerous ways to build traffic. Paid advertising, free advertising, viral marketing, search engine marketing, RSS/XML feeds, and word-of-mouth. You should always use your blog URL address in the signature of your email, forum discussions, message boards, or any other communication media. You should submit your blog URL address to search engines and blog directories. You should submit your RSS/XML URL feed to blog ping services like Technorati, Ping-O-Matic, and Blogdigger. You should confidently share your blog with family, friends, co-workers, associates, and business professionals when it relates. Many blogs can be considered as a collection of articles, for this purpose you should submit your blog entries (those that are valuable and lengthy articles) to content syndicators like GoArticles.com or ArticleCity.com. Once submitted your articles can be picked up and published by others. The trick is to make sure you include your Blog URL address in the "About the Author" passage. What this does is create link popularity and backlinks for your blog, when someone picks up your article from the syndication then publish the article on their website the "About the Author" passage is included with each publication and the link you included is followed, crawled, and indexed by search engines. Imagine if your article is popular enough or controversial enough to produce 10,000 publications across the web. The search engines is bound to find your site in no time with that many publications and credit you a authority on the topic, in return increasing your rank on search engines. The small effort of writing a well written article is rewarding. You should try to write at least 1 full length article every week for syndication and submit your article to at least 10 article syndicators.

5) Track Your Blog

How do you know if your blog has traffic? Just because no one is leaving comments doesn't mean your blog isn't growing. Many visitors do not leave comments but they are returning visitors. I know it sounds crazy but with blogs people are more interested in what "you" have to say! Many visitors do not comment their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time. Some do not comment at all, but are active daily visitors. 

Tracking your blog does not have to be overly sophisticated usually a simple free page counter like StatCounter.com or Active Meter will do the trick. Install (copy/paste) the code into the html of your blog template and start tracking your visitors. Its better to use a service which gives you advanced traffic analysis, such as keyword tracking information, referral information, and search engine information. Visitors, returning visitors, and unique visitors should be standard for any page counter service you choose. 

6) Listen to Your Audience

When using the proper page counter you should begin to see how others are finding your blog and if through search engines then which keywords are being used to find your blog. If constantly your blog is being found by 1 or more keywords then focus your blog around those keywords to make it even more powerful. When writing entry titles and entries use the keywords as often as possible while keeping the blog legible and interesting.

7) Multiple blogs

Use multiple blogging accounts to attract more people. This means you should have a blog with JournalHome.com, Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, tBlogs.com, etc. The more blog accounts the better. You can copy/paste from 1 blog to all others. Having different blog accounts is like having a publication in different newspapers. This enables you to attract more visitors and this also increases the chance that 1 of your blogs will be in the search engine results for your focused keywords.

8) Short & Concise 

Aside from the lengthy article a week for syndication and publication your blog entries should be short & concise (if you can help it). Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule and you have no choice but to blog lengthy entries, but try to avoid this as much as possible. You do not want your blog entries to become hours of reading. Visitors like to easily find information and skim through your entries. It is good to be detailed and provide useful information, but do not include useless information or run away sentences that veer away from your topic.

9) Digital Art

Try to include non-advertising graphics, pictures, photos, and art in your blog entries. Not too much. Once a week is fine. Graphics can sometimes bring your blog to life. Of course, the content of the blog is the most important aspect and you do not want to overshadow your content with graphics, but displaying graphics can add a bit of spice to the blog. Be choosy about your graphics and make sure they fit your entry topic. You should add content with the graphic, at least a caption. Original graphics, photos, pictures, and art is recommended.

10) Keep it Personal

A blog is most successful when it is kept personal. Try to include personal experiences which relates to the topic of your blog entry. Stay away from the business style of writing. Write with a more personal style and use first-person narratives. Do not write any of your entries as sales letters, instead share product reviews and personal endeavors.

11) Interact With Your Visitors

You now have the traffic you deserve. You should begin interacting with your visitors. Create a regular theme such as: "Monday Money Tip" or "Picture of the Week" which entices your readers to look forward to each week. 

Give your readers advance notice about a product, service, or topic which you are going to review and then talk about later. If the President was scheduled to give a speech then in your blog you should state that you "will discuss the speech and give your opinion after the speech airs. Comments will be appreciated".

Try your best to find exclusive information that not many have. Do not disclose any confidential or secret information which is deemed illegal or can potentially get you into trouble, but try to get the scoop before everyone else does. Such as: If your blog was about Paris Hilton (the socialite) and you had a blog entry about "Paris Hilton Getting Married" then it would be interesting to your readers if you had a actual picture of Paris Hilton engagement ring. Give your best effort to dig and search the internet for exclusive information and you will possibly come up with something useful. Your readers will appreciate this and they show their appreciation through word-of-mouth referrals. Imagine how many readers will tell their friends, family, and others about information they only can find at your blog.

12) Make Money 

Once your blog has gained some real momentum and your blog traffic is increasing then it is time to start thinking about turning your traffic into profit. You should use contextual advertising, like Google Adsense or Chitika. Contextual advertising is usually text links which use the content of your blog to publish targeted ads on your blog. The payout is usually based on a pay-per-click model, meaning for ever click an ad receives you are paid a small percentage of the profits. In addition to contextual advertising it is good to also use graphical advertising such as: BlogAds.com, Amazon.com, MammaMedia, or General Sponsored Advertising.

13) You're a Professional

You're a professional now! What are you still doing with that free blog hosting service? It is time to upgrade to a domain hosted solution. You need to get a web host and choose a domain name for your blog then check its availability. Select the blogging software you wish to use, such as: Squarespace.com, WordPress.org, MovableType.org, etc. When you have your new blog domain setup and ready for traffic then it is time for you to announce your move on all your previous blog accounts. Your last entry to the blog should be a "move" announcement. The title should be "Moved" and the blog entry should state something like "Old Blog has been moved to New Blog please follow and bookmark this link for future reference: http://www.YourNewBlogDomainName.com". This way all returning visitors and new readers should not have any problem finding your new blog domain.

At the level of a professional blogger you may want to team up with 1 or more other bloggers. This will create a more interesting and more powerful blog. The old saying "two heads is better than one", more authors mean more advertising and exposure because each author will have a vested interest in the blog. The idea of a team blog is to make it profitable and rewarding for all authors, while continuing to target the blog topic and keeping the blog interesting for visitors.

Following these blogging techniques should make your blogging experience much more rewarding. There is no guarantee that your blog will become popular or a household name, but the effort should at least put you one step closer. Making money online is not an overnight experience like many may think, but making money online is definitely a foreseeable possibility. As well, growing popularity on the web is not an overnight experience, but through time, dedication, and persistence you will be rewarded with all the royalties of blogging.


About the Author
Ant Onaf is the owner and founder of www.JournalHome.com He is an online internet marketer, content writer, and IT consultant. Ant Onaf has years of IT-related experience and Internet-related experience. His ingenuity, dedication, and passion for technology, internet marketing, & writing have made him a monumental icon in the World Wide Web. His blog can be visited at http://www.journalhome.com/AntOnaf
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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Salmon Fishing (by: Sammy Salmon)

Where to fish for salmon or the Chinook or the king salmon. The pacific salmon range from California to Alaska. These anadromous species can be found in most pacific coastal waters, streams and rivers that have a good flow of water and temperature as well as a suitable habitat for going up to spawn. You will find that they may be as many as three spawns per year, spring ,summer, fall.

The average size of the Chinook can be from 16 to 20 lb. but you will see larger fish up to 55 lb. taken from the remote areas along the pacific coast .From BC Alaska you can catch the largest or the Chinook. Fish up to 65 lb. which are common have been taken from the coastal areas.

The Chinook will return to the river in which they spawned from at the age of 2 to 7 years old. The salmon will travel over 7000 miles at sea to return to its spawning grounds. One of the longest river spawns is the 2000 miles battle up the Yukon River located in the state of Alaska.

With the advancement of man a lot of the smaller streams have been choked of with pollution and silt from local construction. Some of the streams have been filled in for housing and commercial use. There has been a increase of volunteers to clean up the streams and repair the gravel spawning grounds. With some success the salmon have slowly been returning to these devastated areas.

The salmon use solar navigation ,smell, day light and rain fall to help guide them to the spawning grounds. Most need a gravel bed of course gravel to spawn in. The female will dig out a spot and lay her eggs and the male will fertilize the eggs with jets of milt. Both fish die with in days of spawning.

The spawning fish feed many bears ,bird like the eagles and people on the run up to their spawning grounds. The decaying fish supply food for the river or stream organisms which provide food for the fry after the hatch. The fry will spend up to 18 months in the river and stream systems before heading out to sea to repeat the process all over

Before you fish for salmon you will need to check the regulations in the area you are planning to fish in every area will have different regulations. Time to fish size limits and the number of the fish you may keep. State and Provincial Regulations must be followed as the fines can be very large if you get caught fishing with out the proper license or are out of season. Always check with the regulatory body for the area you will be fishing in. Better to have what you need than to lose a boat or vehicle or go to jail.

If fishing in early spring or late summer or in the fall be aware that you may see bears of all sizes after all you are fishing in their favorite spot. Give them a wide berth they are hungry and will protect their territory. Better to play safe than to have a bad encounter you will lose if you come into contact with a bear.

Trolling from a boat will help you avoid the bears. The down rigger is very popular to get the bait down to the level to which the salmon are at. Trolling depth will vary from 10 ft to 150 ft a lead cannon ball from 2 to 10 lb. will be used .Hootches , and anchovies work in most location best to check with the local guides to find out what is working on the given days you are fishing.

No matter what you fish with or which method you use a Chinook salmon will give you a fight you will not soon forget.


About the author:
Sammy Salmon has been having fun fishing for years and wants to share all his knowledge with you so be sure to visit him at http://www.fishing-for-fun.net/
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tips for Saving Money on Car Insurance (by: Ray Shelton)

Car insurance is required by all licensed drivers but many of them don’t know how to find the best rates available. Being complacent and purchasing car insurance without carefully investigating your options or maintaining the same car insurance for the remainder of your life could mean that you are paying too much for your car insurance. Comparison shopping, ensuring that you are receiving all the discounts you qualify for and maintaining a clean driving record are just a few of the money saving tips that can save you a fortune on car insurance.

Comparison shopping for car insurance, even after you are already insured, cannot be underestimated. It is critical that you investigate all of your options before choosing an insurance provider to ensure that you are getting the best possible rate on your car insurance. There are so many factors considered in car insurance policies such as where you live, your driving record, your age and the type of car you drive just to name a few. With all of these factors to consider, it is very possible that you will find that there is a car insurance provider who will offer you a considerably lower rate than other providers.

Even after you have secured insurance for your car, it is wise to periodically check the rates that other providers will offer you. Car insurance as well as your circumstances are perpetually changing and you may find that the provider who is willing to offer you the best car insurance rate varies periodically. Many car insurance providers offer a host of discounts to their clients who qualify for these discounts. These discounts can relate to your driving record, safety features of your car, your age or other factors.

These discounts can result in a tremendous cost savings on your car insurance policy but while many insurance providers offer these discounts, they don’t always advertise them. This means that you may have to do research to determine what type of discounts you may qualify to receive. Carefully, review your car insurance policy to determine which discounts you are already receiving and then contact your car insurance provider to inquire about other discounts that may be available. For example if your driving record is devoid of accidents or tickets, you may qualify for a good driver discount.

Also, if your car has certain safety features such as daytime running lights, you may also qualify for car insurance discounts. Your age can also qualify you for certain car insurance discounts. Some insurance providers also offer discounts to those who insure their house with the same company as they insure their car. Taking advantage of this type of discount can save you money on both your car and home insurance. Being aware of the discounts that are available and ensuring that you are receiving these discounts, can save you a great deal of money on your car insurance.

Finally, maintaining a clean driving record is very important to receiving the best available car insurance rate. While it is true that each car insurance provider is unique in the factors that contribute to lower rates, the one factor that is consistent among all providers of car insurance is that a clean driving record is critical to your rate. Although accidents are sometimes unavoidable, it is imperative that you adhere to all traffic regulations and that you drive safely at all times. This will reduce the number of traffic violations that you incur as well as the number of accidents that you cause. Following these tips will help you to maintain a clean driving record that will keep the cost of your car insurance low.

Many drivers lament paying their monthly car insurance bill because they feel as though the insurance isn’t necessary. Although car insurance is a financial burden that seems superfluous, it does pay off if you are ever in a serious car accident that has significant financial ramifications. For this reason, you should never consider allowing your car insurance to lapse and it is recommended that you search diligently to find the best available rate on your car insurance.


About the author:
Get all the information you need about car insurance at:
http://www.1-in-insurance.com
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Thursday, March 17, 2011

7 Tips for Successful Blogging (by: Michele Schermerhorn)

So, you have a blog! Do you have traffic? Do you know how to build traffic to your weblog? There are seven proven methods for building readership of your blog. They start with defining the purpose, or life, of your blog. Then, after you have a blog worth promoting, driving traffic is crucial to your ongoing success at blogging.

Here are seven tips to help you build and hold an audience for your blog:

Tip #1: Provide quality content.

On the Internet, whether you are talking about websites or blogs, a lot of space is given to content. Everyone directs you to provide quality content. But, what is quality content? The quality of your blog’s content is directly related to how well you have defined your ideal audience.

A successful blog is written with a distinct audience in mind. In this way, you can provide content that is unique to your audience’s issues, needs, or desires. If you create content they like and wish to return to read, you have quality content.

The second issue is to stay true to your audience and tone of your blog. If people are reading your blog, it’s because they like your topic and tone. Try not to stray from your typical topics and style too much. This will give your readers a reason to link back to your blog on an ongoing basis, as will posting on a regular basis.

Tip #2: Blog regularly

If you don't update your blog often enough, blog readers will move on to other blogs. There are too many blogs out there competing for attention. Blog readers will go where they can get enough of what they want.

Successful blogging takes a commitment of your time. When you begin blogging and wish to capture an audience, you should be prepared to blog every day. In this way, you can develop an audience who counts on you to help them begin or end their day.

This means you should also try to post at the same time each day. Your readers will get accustomed to your schedule and check your blog at the appropriate time. The time of day is not as crucial as the consistency in your posting.

Since you now have quality content and a regular posting schedule, it’s time to drive traffic to your blog. Your readers will do a lot to promote your blog just by telling their friends. Don’t count on this alone! You need to do some additional work.

When you post, make sure you set your blog to “ping” blog tracking sites every time you add a new post. Think of this as a means to get their attention. The ping says “Hey, we just added a new post”. An alternative to automatically pinging from your blog is to use pingomatic.com. This is a one-stop place to automatically ping everyone you should notify of your new post and only takes a couple of minutes to accomplish.

Tip #3: Mention your blog wherever you can

Mention your blog’s address in your email signature line, in forums where you post, on your business cards, on address labels and in conversations with anyone you meet. Use a tag line under your blog address to further entice them to visit. Mine reads:

Michele Schermerhorn
http://www.imarketblog.com
A sassy little marketing blog

Beyond just mentioning your blog in writing and conversation, you must actively participate in the blogging community too.

Tip #4: Participate in the blogosphere

Get involved in other people's blogs. Visit blogs that interest you and are in line with the general topic of your blog. Then, leave thoughtful comments. Almost every comment option on someone else’s blog will allow you to post your blog URL and your email address. Help other bloggers out with traffic and they will help you.

If a blogger really likes your site, they will add you to their blogroll. A blogroll is generally found on every blog which understands linking to the rest of the blogosphere helps drive traffic. A blogroll is a listing of other blogs. Think of it as a “recommended reading list”. Don’t be stingy with your blog roll either. Add those blogs that you read and enjoy to your blogroll too.

Tip #5: Think keywords when you post

Think about keywords with your use of titles, links and blog posts. Search engines, like Google and Yahoo, like keywords. The more targeted your keywords, the better the chances of your blog appearing in search results. Search results can drive that extra traffic you want.

To increase the value of the key words in your content, make certain keywords are part of the hot link in your posts. Don’t use “click here” as the hot link. You will be wasting valuable real estate in your post. Instead use the relevant keywords for the hot link, like “a great marketing idea. This gives the keywords added emphasis with the search engines.

One last thought on keywords for driving traffic; if you want a real leg up in the traffic game, in your linking code add rel=”tag”. This helps Technorati, a major blog resource, index your blog for their directory. But don’t stop there! It’s time to submit your blog to blog directories.

Tip #6: Submit your blog to blog directories

In addition to submitting your blog to the major search engines, make certain you submit the blog to exclusively blog directories like blogwise, blogcatalog, or bloghub. Many people find blogs through these online directories.

When you do submit your blog to these directories, remember to add a description that will entice your targeted audience to check your blog out. For instance, when I post my blog in blog directories, under description I put “General musings, rants, advice and strategies from a battle-worn veteran of the Marketing Wars, online and off”. Your description should help the potential reader understand your blogging topic and the flavor of how you write.

In addition to submitting your blog to blog directories, join a few of the free or inexpensive traffic exchange sites like blogexplosion or blogclicker.

Tip #7: Use free and inexpensive blog traffic exchange communities

There are many sites which can be termed “traffic exchange” sites for the blogging community. It won’t cost you anything to sign up. At the very least, join blogexplosion, blogclicker, and blogazoo. Once you sign up, you have two options to help drive traffic to your blog. Use both of them!

The first method is to earn credits (guaranteed visitors to your site) by using the “surf member sites” function. As you surf through those sites, you will be earning credits (visitors to your blog). When you find an interesting post, leave a comment as discussed above. When you find a blogger you like, add them to your blogroll and let them know you did.

The second method to drive traffic is to purchase credits. The cost is very cheap for the traffic you will drive to your blog. The more traffic to your blog, the more customers you’ll have. The more happy customers you have, the more they will tell others. The more they tell others, the more customers you get. Don’t you love this dance!

In summary, blogging may not be for everyone. However, it can be a great method for bringing your unique perspective to the Internet. You will surely find others who think the same way you do. Some bloggers will entertain you, some will inform you, and some will drive you to tear your hair out. Decide what type of blogger you want to be and be the best you can. See you in the blogosphere!

About the Author

Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a “Corporate Freedom Fighter” dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners. She has over 30 years experience in the business world. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to “Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”.
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