I would like to thank and introduce my newest sponsor, 101domain.com, and talk briefly about what they have to offer.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with 101domain.com, they are the industry leader in global domain registration – many corporations use them because they offer domain registration in over 200 countries and access to approximately 950 extensions, all of which can then be managed through their custom domain management system. For domain managers looking to establish, solidify and protect a worldwide brand, company name, or trademark, 101domain.com is the perfect answer. Unlike other registrars in the same market, they don’t charge fees for things like DNS or contact info changes, so you won’t be screwed when you need to change the information on a few hundred international domains all at once.

I’ve had a chance to talk to the people over at 101domain.com over the past few weeks, and I really think they have a good sense of how big the international domain market is becoming and are situating themselves well to continue to dominate that market, especially when it comes to major corporate clients, like GoDaddy, who already uses 101domain.com for their international domains. Also, considering the emphasis that ICANN and others are putting on IDNs this year, and it seems 101domain.com is in a great position. They have already developed a very useful tool for registering IDNs, which allows you to choose a language and extension and use a handy character keyboard instead of a character map or conversion tool to search for and register internationalized domain names.

So if you are interested in the international domain market, head over and check out 101domain.com, I think you’ll find like I did that they are the best option for that space.

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In January I was searching for the perfect camcorder to use for video blogging. I purchased the Insignia HD Camcorder, tried it out and it was horrible. I returned it the next day and exchanged it for the Flip Ultra.

I purchased the Flip Ultra for $129 at Best Buy. This is $30 more than the Insignia HD Camcorder.  It came to the same price overall because I had to purchase a memory card and tripod for the Insignia model. Unlike the Insignia the Flip Ultra has a built in hard drive allowing for up to 60 minutes of video recording. This is perfect for me. I’m only shooting very short family videos and less than 20 minute video blogs.

The ease of use is amazing. The back of the camcorder has four options, record, play, delete and zoom. For someone like myself this is perfect. As you can see in the image, on the side of the camcorder a USB plug opens up for easy plug in to your PC or laptop. Also included is a software which is already installed on the device itself. This is a great feature, because anywhere you go you’ll have the software with you ready to install  and use if you choose. Using their software is not mandatory. In fact, I use Windows Movie Maker that comes with most PC’s.

For those of you asking why not buy a web cam, the answer is simple; I like the option of taking it with me. A perfect example of this would be traveling to an out of town seminar or event where I can take my Flip Ultra with me and take some simple footage.

For my use, I am only able to find a couple negatives. The camcorder runs on two double AA batteries. This may not be a negative for some, but for me, I am not able to recharge my batteries. This is an easy enough fix, purchase rechargeable batteries or if you’d prefer for an extra $30 you can get the newer model, the Flip Mino. The Flip Mino is slightly smaller and has built in rechargeable batteries. Another negative would be the zoom. It is terrible so I don’t bother using it.

If HD (high definition) is important for you they do have the Flip Mino HD which is $209. I can certainly see myself upgrading to this version once the price goes down a little bit.

Video is going to be an important part of Google’s search algorithm. Get your camcorder and start shooting some video

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What WordPress theme are you using and do you like it?

I get this question a lot so I wanted to do a quick response for future reference. This way if I’m asked again, which I know I will be, I can just refer to this link.

This site is based on a theme called Live Wire by WooThemes. Although the theme has been highly modified, it gave me the foundation needed for what I wanted to create. For the most part, adding plug-ins have been fairly simple.

I am very happy with my site, which is not easy for me to say. I am one of the pickiest people I know, my web guy can attest to that. I am continually making small changes but that is to be expected.  It’s all part of the trial and error process of creating a successful, profitable blog.

If I had to give a second choice for a theme company it would be StudioPress, previously known as RevolutionThemes. I have used this company for a couple mini-sites of mine and have been very happy with the outcome.

Do you need hosting? I suggest HostGator. I have my account under their baby plan which is only $9.95 a month. With the baby plan I am able to host an unlimited amount of websites and email accounts. As of today this site alone reaches about 18,000 monthly visitors and has never had any down time, knock on wood.

If you need help with installing one of the WordPress themes, installing plug-ins or making changes, send me an email using the contact form. I will be more than happy to put you in touch with my web guy. He is VERY reasonable on pricing.

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Let me start off by saying thank you to Joel Comm for giving me a copy of his new book Twitter Power before today’s release. For those of you not familiar with Joel he is a New York Times bestselling author for the book The AdSense Code and is also known for the very popular iPhone application iFart.

I had a chance to review this book over the weekend and was blown away with the details. Some of the key points are why and how to use Twitter along with building your list of followers and connecting with them. Not only connecting but the subtle ways to influence them for your personal gain. Lastly the chapter titled “A 30-Day Plan for Dominating Twitter” is a simple road map for success on Twitter. Twitter Power is the perfect A to Z guide on the use of Twitter. I must have read dozens of blogs about Twitter before creating my own uses. I only wish this book came out sooner.

What is Twitter?
It is a free micro blogging social media outlet which allows up to 140 characters to be sent to everyone following you. The simplest comparison would be a text message which allows you to send a short message to a friend.  Twitter allows you to send your messages to a larger audience.

In case you are not familiar with the look of Twitter below is an image of my profile page and a few examples of messages I have sent within the last 24 hours.

Why use Twitter?
I use Twitter for the following reasons:

• Connect with my readers
• Make new friends and business connections
• Drive traffic to my site
• Seek advice and guidance

Today I just wanted to give you some basic information about Twitter. I am going to follow up tomorrow with some more details about my use. In the mean time please make sure you are following me on Twitter and order a copy of Twitter Power.

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The Twitter application I talked about on Saturday was launched today at noon and already seems to be a tremendous success. Sorry for posting late on this, I was at Kyle Graham’s house one of the creators of Viral Tweets to find out more.

After talking to Kyle the main idea behind this tool is to build up Twitter followers. If your asking why the answer is simple, to have an audience to get your messages/products out to.

There are two versions of the application, Free and $49.

I do not recommend getting the free version. The idea behind using this product is to build your list. The paid version has an auto option to follow you on Twitter. That is what you want, you want followers, people to get your message out to. The free version does not have this. All it does is send out a one time message to that person’s Twitter followers. You may gain traffic but then miss the point of capturing them. If all you want is a tool to send out a Twitter message about a specific post then use TwitThis which is a WordPress plugin. With this plugin your readers do not have to fill in anything, they simply click a button which takes them to Twitter.

If you want to seriously build your followers then get the $49 version of Viral Tweets today. If you have any problems installing or figuring out how to utilize this tool just let me know, I’ll walk you through it myself.

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