Category Archives: Product Reviews

Professional product reviews offering indepth analysis and comparisons.

Learn Photoshop and Lightroom with NAPP

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Where everyone learns Photoshop - National Association of Photoshop ProfessionalsPhotoshop User Magazine is the absolute best resource available to help you take your photography to the next level. Featuring loads of online tutorials, video training on Photoshop and LIghtroom, discussion groups, industry discounts for members, and the award winning Photoshop User magazine, this is the best investment you can make in really learning how to create memorable photographs.

Created by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), membership entitles you to all the benefits mentioned above, in addition to 10 issues of magazine.

Join Now and get this Special Bonus Offer

Join now and use the discount code FRIEND and receive The Best of Photoshop User: The Twelfth Year DVD as a bonus gift. This DVD is loaded with the best of Photoshop User Magazine

Be sure to enter the promo code FRIEND when you join.

 

 

Why You Need to Know Your Credit SCORE

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Thinking of buying car, buying a home or refinancing an existing mortgage, even applying for insurance? Before you do any of these things you need to know your credit score – also know as FICO (for the Fair Issac Company – the initiator of the credit scoring process).

Don’t confuse your credit report with your FICO or credit score. While you credit report is something you should review frequently – most loan decisions are made using your credit score (FICO).

Example FICO Ranges - For Illustration Only

Don’t ever pay someone for your credit report – this is available free from the official government mandated site -  AnnualCreditReport.com. You’re entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus.

If you check your report on a rotating basis among the three agencies, you can get a free report every four months. You should look at all three since there may be discrepancies.

If you find errors in your report (not uncommon) you should take steps to get them corrected. Each of the bureaus has there own process for doing this – review the process on the individual agency’s website.

OK, so it’s great that you can get a free credit report – this used to be something you got charged for – but it’s not the whole story, or all that you need to know. You also really need to know your credit score, and you need check it periodically to see if it has changed.

Like already mentioned – the FICO score is what creditors will base their decisions on – and it can effect the rates you are offered, and whether or not you qualify for whatever it is you are trying to do.

Typically there is a charge of some kind to find out your credit score. Sometimes your banking relationship may make your score available for a fee or include it as part of a package of services you are charged for in some way – they may require that you keep a minimum balance for example.

So you might inquire where you do your banking, or where you keep your 401k, or any other place you might have money on deposit to see if you can find out your score for free.

 

 

Is a Prepaid Debit Card Right for You?

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Prepaid debit cards are growing in popularity and are offered by most of the large financial institutions such as Bank of America, Capital One, and others that specialize in prepaid debit cards such as NetSpend and AccountNow.

Let’s examine the pros and cons of having a prepaid debit card, and see if one is right for you.

But first, what is a prepaid debit card? As the name implies, a prepaid debit card is one in which funds have been deposited with the card issuer for later use by the card holder. they are NOT credit cards. In fact you need no credit history whatsoever to apply for and receive one. Prepaid debit cards can be loaded like like a shopping card, but since they carry the VISA or MasterCard logo. they are accepted at any place that accepts traditional debit cards bearing these logos – which happens to be practically everywhere.

You don’t need a checking account to get one, and in fact for people that don’t have or don’t want a checking account, a prepaid debit card is a viable alternative. It’s also a convenient way to give an employee that perhaps doesn’t qualify for a credit card, access to a debit card to use while on company business. Additionally, it’s becoming popular with some parents who want to give their children, or students away at school access to the convenience of a debit card without having to give them their own credit card, or giving them cash.

Another nice feature of a prepaid debit card is that you can’t spend more than what is loaded on the card. This is a great way to control your spending and avoid credit card debt. Be aware though that some prepaid debit cards are now offering over draft protection which essentially loans you money if you spend more than the card has loaded on it. You probably (no, make that definitely) want to avoid this situation if at all possible since the fees associated with this scenario can be astronomical. Be sure to keep track of your spending with any debit card, prepaid or not, and make sure that you understand the consequences of an overdraft – which is generally large fees and a high interest charge. Treat a prepaid debit card like a bank account – keep track of your balance, and guard the card like you would cash.

You also need to understand the card issuer’s liability if you lose the card or it is stolen. This can vary from institution to institution and it is not usually handled the same as a traditional credit card, in most cases. Be sure to read the fine print of any prepaid debit card offer and understand all the fees that might arise from your having and using a prepaid debit card.

Prepaid debit cards are not for everyone, but for some they are indispensable.

One company that specialises in prepaid debit cards is NetSpend – you can find out more here.

Always exercise due diligence and examine any offer for credit or debit cards carefully. Information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not to be considered financial advice. Always consult with a qualified professional before undertaking any activity involving money or other financial activity.

 

Mobile Affiliate Profits – Your Key to Mobile Marketing Success

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Mobile Marketing is exploding – Is Your Business Ready?

As we mentioned in a previous post, this was the year that smart phone sales exceeded home computer/laptop sales in the US. Actually this has been going on for some time internationally. So it’s quite apparent now that the demographics are rapidly shifting.  So what does this mean to small business owners trying to sell their goods and services? Or to work at home moms (or dads)  trying to earn an online income? In a word – everything.

If you own a business or have anything to do with helping your business get customers and sales, you must not ignore what is going on in the mobile advertising arena. Actually – you ignore what’s going on at your own peril.

Mobile marketing is the wave of the future and will far eclipse what’s been happening in other forms of media. Yes – the market for mobile advertising is that big. Gartner (a research group) forecasts that the ad spend on mobile marketing will double in 2o11 to 3.3 billion dollars.

Imagine mobile marketing as a giant, rapidly approaching, tsunami wave. For those of us involved in insuring the future of our businesses (online or off), we  must learn to ride this wave, or risk the danger of being swallowed by it. This is not melodrama – this is real.

We see the danger – what do we do about it?

We need to understand the following: what is mobile marketing, how do we take advantage of it, how do we learn to master it, and then once mastered, direct its tremendous potential to insure our success.

Thankfully an excellent new educational product has just been released that comes to our aid just when we need it most. It’s called Mobile Affiliate Profits, and this is some of what it does:

  • it teaches us all about mobile marketing
  • the various elements of the mobile marketing process
  • how to create and run a mobile campaign
  • list building – critical for online as well as offline success
  • how to optimize a campaign so that we get the most bang for our advertising dollar
  • how to tweak a campaign that’s not delivering the results you expect so that you get them
  • and more…..

Although this training course is priced very reasonably, to say it over delivers would be to grossly understate its value.

The course consists of ten training modules that use high quality video presentations to walk you through all of the details. It also includes written text supplied in PDF format so that you have the information in written form as well. This course is taught by an experienced mobile marketing expert, who happens to also be a qualified teacher. I was personally overwhelmed by the quality and the amount of pure content contained in this course. The course instruction is professionally delivered and very high quality.

Warning – this is not fluff – to get the most out of this training, you must be prepared to dig in and do the work. If you’re looking for some magic push-button system to make money or make your business mobile ready, while you lay on the couch – this is NOT it. In fact, the course material covering tracking and optimizing campaigns is the best I’ve seen anywhere.

Mobile Affiliate Profits is the real deal – every thing you need to know is covered in detail – step by step, and also at the knowledge level so that you understand what you are doing and why.This deeper understanding will prepare you to take full advantage as mobile marketing evolves.

As the name implies, Mobile Affilliate Profits targets affiliate marketing, but the knowledge you will gain can just as easily be used to help any business take full advantage of the power of mobile marketing.

Mobile Affiliate Profits is an incredible bargain ($47) and comes with a 60 day money back guarantee. Yeah, I know – the price is ridiculously low – its easily worth far more. You really need to take a look – you won’t be disappointed.

Get Mobile Affiliate Profits – see the promotional video – give it a try. If you’re serious about not being passed by when your competition jumps on the mobile marketing wagon (they may already be on the this wagon) – you need to jump in now. This course contains everything you need to know to build a real online business with mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is the future of marketing – you can make a successful business with mobile marketing part of your future.

Take action now. Click below to get all the details.

 

 

 

 

Learn Mobile Marketing Now

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It’s Time to Learn Mobile Marketing – the future of your business depends on it.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve more than likely been exposed to some form of mobile marketing. In fact according to IDC, a research company, the number of smart phones being sold has actually surpassed the number of laptops being sold.

With the number of smart phones proliferating – phones like the iPhone, the various flavors of Android phones, and the Blackberry – more and more business is being conducted with the smart phone. The laptop and home computer is losing its appeal. Outside the US, the ratio is even higher. Almost all Internet activity takes place on the smart phone.

So if you’re a small business owner (or a big business owner for that matter) you need to really start thinking about how you are going to serve your customers that are using their smart phones to conduct business on the Internet. As a matter of fact, if your customers (or potential customers) can’t reach you by smart phone, your competition that is smart phone ready could be eating your lunch.  Just as bad – with no mobile friendly access to your business – smart phone users just won’t bother. This is especially true in the local markets where smart phone users are shopping from their smart phones. Will these smart phone users find your business?

It’s not enough to have a traditional website geared toward traditional web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and the like. If you can’t present a marketing message that smart phone users can interact with, they simply won’t be interacting. It’s that simple. If you don’t believe this, use your smart ph9ne to log onto your mobile “non-friendly” website. You’ll find that the welcome mat is definitely not out for the smart phone user.

Learning the basics of creating a mobile friendly presence is something that the average person can learn. We found a course that teaches the basics. We bought it and will review it in another post. You can take an advanced look at the training here at Mobile Success Blueprint.

This is the one course we’ve found so far that offers legitimate training on how to use mobile marketing to your business advantage. The course also covers how to conduct a successful business as an affiliate or by selling your own products or services. The training also covers the basics of how to build a mobile ready business that can better serve your mobile customers, both now and into the future.

There’s no obligation to review Mobile Success Blueprint – and the information will give you a better understanding of what you’re going to be up against if you don’t adopt a mobile strategy as soon as possible.

ZUMBOX – Digital Postal Mail – Delivery You Can Count On

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For a limited time – Zumbox is currently offering a chance to win 0ne of six $1,000,000 prizes to anyone who signs up for the free Zumbox service. Other prizes too – 40 iPads, 20 Nissan Leafs, and more.

Zumbox is free – but is it any good?

Zumbox is the new, eco friendly way to have your postal mail delivered digitally. Zumbox creates an exact digital copy of the paper mail you get today. It then holds it in a secure area for as long as you like. You can download a PDF file of any correspondence you want, or print a hard copy from your home computer should you ever need to do so.

Your digital postal mail can be accessed from anywhere – using your computer or mobile device. This gives you the freedom to view your mail while on vacation or at work. As an additional feature – Zumbox also functions as an electronic filing cabinet for your mail – so it’s easy to find and retrieve any mail that you might have traditionally kept in a file folder at home.

Zumbox has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and if services like this take off, could create a paradigm shift in the printing and mail delivery industries. The free Zumbox service also allows you to append notes to your mail – sort of like electronic sticky notes.

Zumbox works with publishers to set up this service – if you agree, mail from these publisher that would normally be delivered can be sent to Zumbox instead.

Interested in Zumbox? Sign-up for Zumbox.

With your mail in a Zumbox, you can not only view your mail, you can make notes and set reminders as well. It can really become your filing system for your paper mail and help you organize bill payments and other activities that once involved shuffling your paper mail to manage. As an added bonus, you dramatically reduce the amount of clutter created by paper mail once and for all. Finding your old mail is a snap since you can set up folders to archive your mail – both new and old.

Zumbox uses your street address like an email address. Once you agree to having postal mail sent to digital postal mail box, you can have your delivery of paper mail stopped. Not every mailer supports Zumbox at this time, but the list of supported vendors is growing rapidly.

What about Zumbox security?

Zumbox is a great way to receive and mange your regular mail, but before you sign up for Zumbox, you need to know that your mail is safe and secure. So here’s the story on Zumbox security.

  • First Zumbox verifies that you are who you say you are and live where you say you do. This prevents someone from trying to impersonate you to get your mail.
  • Next, Zumbox uses the same security standards used by banks and credit card companies to secure your delivery.  Zumbox practices are verified and monitored by TRUSTe and VeriSign. Additionally, Zumbox systems are audited and adhere to the PCI, HIPAA and BITS security standards. These are the same standards applied by banks and other companies that handle important documents. So you know your mail is secure.
  • Finally, Zumbox fully verifies the identity of the companies sending you mail. If you get mail via Zumbox, you can rest assured that this mail really is coming from the company that it claims to be.

In summary, Zumbox assures the identity of all parties involved and provides a safe and secure method of communicating the content of your mail.

If you’re interest in Zumbox and you’re 18 or older – this is a good time to give it a try – you might win a million dollars or other prize. Every street address in the USA has been assigned a Zumbox – signup and see if yours has one of the prizes.

 

Get Your Credit Score Free – then Learn How to Improve it.

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Credit Report versus Credit Score

First, your credit score – How important is your credit score? In a word – extremely. Your credit score effects your ability to borrow money, the interest rate you pay, the risk you present when you want to buy insurance, even the ability to get a good job, all can be impacted by your credit score. Your Credit Score is sometines referred to as your FICO score (after Fair Issac and Company who developed the scoring system). So FICO score is usually how people in the financial industry refer to it.

Your credit score is an attempt to measure how good a credit risk you are – your credit report is more like a historical report of your financial activity.

View Your Credit Scores From TransUnion, Equifax And Experian In Seconds!

Your credit report -  Thanks to a federal law, everyone is entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the big three credit rating agencies – Transunion, Experian. and Equifax. Rather than get them all at the same time – a recommendation is that you request one every four months and each time rotate which agency you request it from. This way you have your three free credit reports spaced out over the entire year, which conveniently allows you to keep a closer watch on any changes in your credit information and the possibility of identity theft.

If you’ve never requested your free credit report do so now. You can do this online at www.annualcreditreport.com the official site to request your credit reports.

OK, what about your Credit Score – what is it and how do you get that. If you’re lucky enough to belong to credit union or other financial institution that provides this as a free service then its nice and easy. But for most people, getting your Credit Score might involve a fee. If you request it directly from the credit rating agencies listed above there will be a fee (they may tell you it’s free – but it usually involves signing up for a credit monitoring service – so free? – not so much.

Fortunately there is a company that makes your credit score available for free. Just use the link below and you can find out your credit score at each of the bureaus.

View Your Credit Scores From TransUnion, Equifax And Experian In Seconds!

To improve your credit score – pay your bills on time, reduce your overall debt, don’t cancel cards that you don’t use since it impacts your total available credit (lately card companies have been cancelling accounts that are inactive – so use them occasionally then pay them off ), use credit wisely.

A perfect FICO score is 850, but the average for the USA is around 675. This varies by state, with some states higher and others lower. Your Credit score also my differ among the three agencies for a variety of reasons – this is why it’s worth your effort to get all three scores. The link below makes that easy.

Get Your Credit Score (FICO Score) from all three Credit agencies – Just Click Below.

View Your Credit Scores From TransUnion, Equifax And Experian In Seconds!

Can You Make Money with PPV Marketing?

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It depends. Yes – You can make money with PPV Marketing, and you can lose a lot of money with PPV Marketing. The difference between the two is knowledge. Without the proper knowledge I can guarantee you will lose money, become frustrated, and give up PPV Marketing forever.

This would be a pity and it doesn’t have to be that way – since the kicker is that with the proper knowledge you can earn a real and sustainable income – the kind of income that allows you to become self-employed.

Be warned though, PPV Marketing, even with the proper knowledge, is not a path to easy money. Mastering the knowledge to be successful is what separates you from those that will most certainly lose their shirts trying to do this. Even with the knowledge, you must be dedicated to taking immediate action. There are people that tell you making money on the Internet is easy. These people are either delusional, or lying to you for a some selfish motive – don’t believe them.

So where do you get this knowledge? A good place to start is with the PPV Playbook written by David Ford – who also runs the PPV Playbook Coaching Forum. PPV Playbook is priced at $47 and IMO worth every penny. Its backed by a 60 day money back guarantee – so you really have nothing to lose. If you dream about making money with an online business – this is a great place to start. You really won’t find more for your money anywhere – this is the real deal.

In the PPV Playbook David covers:

  1. What is PPV
  2. Finding offers that can make winning campaigns
  3. Using free tools to analyze offers
  4. Finding low cost traffic
  5. Creating landing pages that work
  6. How to use techniques like dynamic keyword insertion
  7. Understanding the competition
  8. Tracking your campaigns – this is CRITICAL to your success
  9. Showing you offers that are working right now
  10. And much more……

To get a copy of PPV Playbook – Click Here!

RankBuilder 2.0 – Is this the Secret to Search Engine Rankings?

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RankBuilder 2.0 is the just released powerhouse that allows you to improve your search engine ranking for any website. If you want to dominate the search engines with free traffic, building your rankings for the keywords you desire is an absolute must.

RankBuilder 2.0 includes six powerful, mind-blowing modules that will help to skyrocket your site to the top of the search engines.

Module 1 – The Link Wheel Builder is a very powerful way to interlink scores of web properties to boost your back-links.

Module 2 – Profile Link Builder adds links from hundreds of high page rank sites.

Module 3 – Social Bookmark Submitter allows you to instantly link your site from over 30 top bookmarking sites with the ease of pushing a few buttons.

Module 4 – Article Submitter allows you to submit articles to the top 30 directories. Note – this method has lost some of its effectiveness since the latest Google algorithm changes, but it’s still very powerful, and this tool makes it easy to accomplish.

Module 5 – Press Release Submitter creates automatic press releases to the 30 top press release sites.

Module 6 – Video Submitter submits your video to the top 10 video sites automatically.

Combine the power of these six modules, and you can create an avalanche of back-link juice that will help to shoot your web property to the top of the search engine heap.

This amazing set of tools in RankBuilder 2.0 can be yours to try for only $4.95 for seven full days. Try it out on one of your properties and see if you don’t think this tool will help you to succeed, even if you’ve tried and failed before.

If you like your results, you can continue using these powerful tools for only $67 a month.

I like one of Dr. Phill’s sayings which I paraphase here – if what you’re doing isn’t working, you need to do something different. Doing the same as before and expecting different results is insanity.

So if your an internet marketer and you aren’t happy with your results, you owe it to yourself to risk the $4.95 and see what RankBuilder 2.0 can do for you. By the way – the product also comes with a 60 day money back guarantee, so honestly you really have nothing to lose.

Just click HERE to get started now.

 

Has this Cornell PhD Developed an Unbeatable Sports Betting System?

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John Morrison

Has this Cornell graduate with a PhD in statistics developed a sports betting system that boasts a 97% win rate? His supporters claim that he has.

If you’ve ever bet on a sporting event or think you might in the future, you owe it to yourself to learn about this new sports betting system. Click on the link below to see this new informational video that explains the complete story behind the system. This is the system that reportedly allows you to beat the odds and put your sports betting results on the winning track.