eDragon Marketing

Canon Powershot SX110IS 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)

2009-10-29T18:30:00.000-04:00

Well, as you know, a dragon is frequently a lustful beast. We really love acquiring "things" and this one I just did a lens on at Squidoo. A Canon camera is a good quality item, but this one is one for a dragon to lust after! 9 megapixels, 10x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom, and it uses AA batteries rather than some strange battery pack you have to recharge and recharge!

I do have to admit, though, that making lenses is about as much work for me at the present as doing a regular webpage. Even though Squidoo offers all manner of help, it is a lot of work for me. I really prefer wysiwyg editors where I can see what I'm going to have as I'm working on it. LOL Yepper, dragons do have a bit of a lazy streak! Well, maybe it's just an instant gratification thing?!!

My little Frito Feet lens has been ranked and it moved way up from 800,000something on the rankings to about #4742 in Animals and Nature. Not bad once I got the hang of putting some of the info here and some there.

So, my next lens will be about the Cricut cutting machine. I'm also planning to write for NaNoWriMo next month, so posts may be a bit sparse (but before 3 years have passed!).

Fly Beyond!

Chris

Oh, the pain of creating pages...

2009-10-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

...Jackie Lee of Squidoo Christmas Cash Blueprint fame makes it all look so easy to build Squidoo lenses, but it still takes me freaking FOREVER to get them done. I've done ONE (count 'em -- one) and it took me three days to figure out what I wanted to do there. Now, I have another that I'm working on and it's going to take a few days, too. At this rate, Christmas will be past before I even get more than a few of these up. LOL

Still, I'm happy with my little Frito Feet page. So far, I'm the only one that has seen it, but that may change soon. It took me a long while to get these blogs indexed any on Google and then, being off the regular writing for three years has really messed things up. Need more articles out there with my blog addresses on them rather than the webpages. Can't always bet on those webpages!

Today, I was doing some other important stuff--shopping for glasses online. Wow, you can get some decent looking glasses (single vision) at places like http://www.zennioptical.com/ and http://www.eyebuydirect.com/ and they're CHEAP!! All dragons love cheap! Helps to save money to live on later. Regards, Chris

Goodness, I've been away a long time...

2009-10-21T19:12:00.000-04:00

...over three years! I can hardly believe it! But, I'm back with new tips on learning to live like a dragon. I've been staying with my Mother since almost a year before we lost my Dad. Then, we almost lost Mother, but it turned out she had a potassium deficiency and she's doing really well for an 83 year-old.

So, there is something new I've learned lately. Check out this page. This is the latest thing I've learned about getting an income on the web going. Not exactly like this one, but close. I wanted to start with something that I knew well and could easily write a decent little blurb on. So, the next project is to find a single product I can write up and create a lens on and promote. Keep an eye on this blog and I'll let you know how I do. Later, Chris

The Dragon's Debut

2006-05-01T21:53:00.000-04:00

Not just another giveaway, read to the bottom and see why!

My friends Gary & Jeanette Gross just released the
internet's most massive giveaway ever:

http://nicheresellers.com/jv/go/1084

Simply sign up and get the scoop.

-tons of traffic
-tons of ebooks
-tons of scripts
-tons of reseller rights
-tons of everything you've ever wanted

Where did all these goodies come from?

I teamed up with Gary & Jeanette Gross who have
called in some favors from a whole bunch of top online
marketers and convinced them all to give you TONS of
f.ree traffic to your website, and TONS of online tools
at no cost to you.

It is our way of saying "thank you"!

These tools are worth thousands and thousands of dollars
and have already made the owners thousands and thousands
of dollars.

I just can't hide the excitement. This is probably the
most exciting news I've ever shared with you.

Go get it now!
http://nicheresellers.com/jv/go/1084

Warmly,
Christi

P.S. - Remember, this only runs for 10 days.
After that, it's gone for ever.
Don't miss it for anything.

P.P.S. Look for the item offered by Michael Conquest.
I wrote it! We've teamed up to get this
"AdSense Site Package" information out to everyone
that is interested. I'm pretty proud of it.

Dragons Love Secrets, Here's a Good One

2006-04-25T13:28:00.000-04:00

Profit Funnel Secrets is a new ebook out by Wes Blaylock. He's got something like a fire sale going on, as the price increases by 5¢ every 20 minutes. Right now, it's under $6, but you ought to hurry before it gets much more expensive. Also, if you hurry, you can get in on resell rights on this for a very low price!

You've seen the diagrams by the "gurus" about the funnel system, well, Wes explains it in this short (24 page) report and then explains how to go about getting your own funnel working. Sounds like a good way to work, to me, and I'll get it up and running and report on it soon.

Fly Beyond,
Chris

Now, how Dragonish is this?

2006-04-08T00:18:00.001-04:00

It has been said the money's in the list, but if you can't get traffic, how do you build a list? An age old question (for the internet, it IS an age old question). So, if anyone has something to tell me about this method of getting traffic, I'd sure love to hear it.

Still looking to get "The Rich Jerk" and some of the other books like that? Go to my Cheap Rich Books site and learn how to get them cheaper than from their own sites. (Unfortunately, that site is no longer around.)

Yes, this post is blatant advertising for some of my programs. Sometimes, you just have to be a little bold and just SAY it out so people can see what you actually want them to do. Click here and then do this. Simple, straightforward, and easy.

Fly Beyond!
Chris

It's Almost Over--but the Dragon enjoyed it!

2006-04-07T00:26:00.000-04:00

The Easter JV Giveaway is almost over. Only a few more days! I hope you signed up and got some of the goodies. If you haven't, better get over there quickly. Here's the link again: http://www.easterjvgiveaway.com/success/go/4549 . Ends April 9th. Just three days from now.

I've already put up another website using a template I found in there. Check out Cheap Rich Books. Great place to get some of the "Rich Jerk"-type books for less! It's a rebate site. You buy the books through my clickbank link, fill out the rebate form and in 45 days, I'll send you a rebate of part of your purchase price. Almost 33% of it, in fact. There's "The Lazy Pig," "Beating Adwords," "The Ultimate Wealth Package," and "The Rich Jerk," but make sure you don't use the rebate page to get that. There's another way to get it for less and you don't have to wait for a rebate. See the page at Cheap Rich Books and it will tell you how. (And, yes, if you click on the links in this post, you can get the rebate! It just has to go through my Clickbank link so I get a record of the sale.)

Well, almost all of eDragon has been put up on new pages. Just need to write some articles and put up a page to link to them, and it will be done. Uh...except for adding more articles and updating it, etc. lol

So, that means three of my treasures (domains) are live. There is a person in a forum I'm in that thinks I'm doing too much too fast to really do well with any of them. Well, to that, I say, if I don't get them going (take action), they may never get up and I can tweak and improve them as I go. That's what most of "da boyz" suggest--taking action on what you want to accomplish. That's the way to getting the abundant life a dragon desires and needs. I have two more domains in the hopper and researching another two. Good thing I'm not working outside the home just now. I have time to work on the sites, but, alas, I think I'm going to have to go back to the working thing for a time to give all these things time to perk. Most of the guys that tell you they made oodles of money in a day or two neglect to tell you that they have a list and JV partners with lists that accomplished that. It does take time and effort to get to that level of activity, but if you keep plugging away, you'll get there.

I'll be trying an autoresponder company for Feline-Friend. The site won't be "live" for a bit, it's one of the ones I'm researching for products for, but I think I'll put up a page offering to let folks sign up for information about how that's progressing. I'll let you know how that goes in a future post! Meanwhile...

Fly Beyond!
Chris

Enough to make a Dragon ROAR!!

2006-04-04T11:36:00.000-04:00

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Microsoft Loses Patent Lawsuit

- by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One of the top news stories this week that got virtually no
popular press involves the judgment against Microsoft by a
small company with a big software patent.

University of California and Eolas Technologies, Inc. hold a
patent which Microsoft, according to several judges,
violated with its popular Internet Explorer Web browser.

Without going into painful technical detail, the patent
involves the "ActiveX" technology enabling Web browsers to
display both web pages and content such as streaming audio,
Flash, QuickTime video and other "rich" or "dynamic"
content.

Despite heated input by the Internet community to invalidate
Eolas' patent because of its broad nature, Microsoft lost
every appeal and effort to get the patent nullified.

Bottom line: Microsoft faced two choices. First, they could
pay the patent owner and keep things moving along, business
as usual (much the way Blackberry did recently when a judge
found them guilty of patent infringement).

Second choice: Microsoft could avoid future licensing fees
by changing their IE browser and removing the offending
code.

Which do you think they chose? Ding-ding-ding!

You guessed it, Microsoft chose to avoid paying millions
more by simply removing the offending code.

Unfortunately, that decision means a bit of trouble for a
few million web designers who use Flash, streaming movies,
and more.

Ultimately, the change to IE may force visitors to sites
with rich content to click on an object to enable it before
they can interact with it.

Not a huge deal. However, time will tell what ultimately
happens and the actual impact on sites running rich content.

But before everyone starts screaming that "The sky is
falling" and "our websites are broken," let me ask you a
question.

Do you really think that companies like Macromedia (makers
of Flash) and sites like Google Video will let a few changes
in Internet Explorer put them out of business?

I don't think so!

If anything, this change will force companies to step up to
the plate and discover ways to serve dynamic content that
does not depend on ActiveX.

Sure, it will mean some pain for both content creators and
users in the short term, but in the end I honestly believe
that, through innovation, we will all end up with a better
solution than what currently exists.

In other news today...

** Hollywood Goes Online **

Six major movie studios recently announced their intentions
to start selling new-release movies via Internet download
from the site MovieLink.com.

But before you jump for joy at watching "Brokeback Mountain"
on your pc, understand a couple of facts.

You can't burn the movie to DVD, and the downloadable films
carry a price tag of around $15-30, a price comparable or
more than a physical DVD you can purchase at Wal-Mart.

As a rabid DVD consumer and enthusiastic computer user (with
six in my home office alone), I can tell you right up front,
there is no way in @#$%* I'll pay 20 bucks for a movie I
can't "veg" out with in front of the TV.

Are they insane?

Until it gets to the point where you can download a new-
release movie, burn it to DVD or put it on your iPod,
downloadable flicks will remain, at best, a novelty.

--
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
money-making mini-sites...

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
Your OWN Moneymaking 'Mini' Websites... Without Being a
Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!"

Click Here => Money-Making Mini Sites
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Doesn't that put a burn in your oven? Jim Edwards keeps up on the latest and best computer and video news and, as a "dragon" in human form, he's top notch for information. (And why would anyone want to pay $15-20 for a movie on your computer when it's cheaper (in the long run) to go to the theater, then wait 4-6 months and buy it at WalMart so you can watch it over and over and over...? Goofy of them)

****************************

Just a reminder, there are only 5 days until the end of the Easter JV Giveaway! Hope you've taken advantage of the great gifts (17 PAGES of goodies), but if not, there's still time! Get the goodies and take your ebiz to another level! Or, you could START one with all the great stuff there. I spent the night and part of the next day downloading all the wonderful ebooks, programs, information products to resell (many with MASTER resell rights!), courses and booklets to sell and resell! Boggles the mind, but if you organize them as you download them, you'd be surprised how well it will go.

Yeah, you may have to "unsubscribe " from several newsletters, but you know, this is how I first got in touch with Jim Edwards--through one of these gift-aways! I'm certainly glad I did, or I wouldn't know about that article, nor be able to bring it to you! You never know who you might find to help you take your business to another level in this group. I've made a couple of really great contacts and got some great graphics which I'll be using on some of my sites. What would you pay for header graphics that are superb?? Anyway, I'm certainly glad I received the email from one of my newsletter guys and got the goodies! eDragon will benefit from the info, as will Dog Potentials (couple of little ebooks to give-away or sell--thinking, thinking);my new online cat supply store will benefit from the graphics and templates(did I mention templates in there, too?)--keep an eye out for Feline Friend (don't forget the dash); and my two Build Up Your Biz sites will have something to put on them.

Wow, that stuff should keep my out of trouble for a day or three, eh?

Anyway, thought you'd find Jim's article of interest!

Fly Beyond!
Chris

The Dragon LOVES a Giveaway!

2006-04-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

My friend Brad Smtih just released the Easter JV Giveaway :

http://www.easterjvgiveaway.com/success/go/4549

Simply sign up and get the scoop.

-tons of ebooks
-tons of scripts
-tons of reseller rights
-tons of everything you've ever wanted

Where did all these goodies come from?

I teamed up with Brad Smith from Easter JV Giveaway who has
called in some favors from a whole bunch of top online
marketers and convinced them all to give you TONS of
f.ree traffic to your website, and TONS of online tools
at no cost to you.

It is our way of saying "thank you"!

These tools are worth thousands and thousands of dollars
and have already made the owners thousands and thousands
of dollars.

I just can't hide the excitement. This is probably the
most exciting news I've ever shared with you.

Go get it now!
http://www.easterjvgiveaway.com/success/go/4549

Warmly,

Christi

P.S. - Remember, this only runs for 8 days.
After that, it's gone for ever.
Don't miss it for anything.

A Dragon that is a Phoenix?

2006-03-23T04:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I've moved eDragon from Yahoo to another server and have begun the face-lift it needed. I'd sure love some comments on the new look. I found a photo of a painting from the 1800's that I am using for the site. Got that from the Library of Congress website. Quite a bit of the stuff there is in the public domain, but make sure you check the listings, as they will tell you if something is or not. As a short rule of thumb, just about anything prior to 1923 is, but make sure before you use anything from there.

Sent out the "Fly Beyond" ezine today and it's the wrong number! Darn it. Started to do that last week and set up the new one and forgot I had until after. Too much going on in my head. lol Have the new drive functioning on the computer now and have added two pages to Dog Potentials and the new pages for eDragon. It takes me hours and hours+ to do a page and get it right, but the good news is, once the main page is right, I can use that as a template for the other pages. So, in a way, eDragon is rising from its own ashes. lol

Have to get another issue of DP's newsletter off to the subscribers. It's been longer than FB was. Gad, I almost need a job to structure my days! lol We'll see how things are going next month. Have rough drafts of the diettipz site and the gardeningebook site going, then, need to work on the rest of the crew. Biggest time waster I currently have is spam in the email inboxes for the sites. Have no clue how to put spam filters in Squirrelmail. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear it. I am not a programmer, so it has to be simple! lol

Well, off to post in DP.

Take care,
Chris

Never Piss off a Dragon!

2006-03-14T17:57:00.000-05:00

It is never wise to piss off a dragon! Here is an article from draconic marketer, Jim Edwards. Take heed, those that would do the same!

Auction Sites Trafficking Stolen Goods Online
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Auction Sites Trafficking Stolen Goods Online

- by Jim Edwards

© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.IGottaTellYou.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ah yes, eBay! The online auction giant that makes all your
dreams come true for finding that special something you
can't find anywhere else.

It's like a giant garage sale in the sky.

Unfortunately, eBay's size makes it easy for people to sell
stolen or unauthorized merchandise and not get caught.

To their credit, I think eBay does as much as humanly
possible to police their site and shut down any offenders
quickly.

However, I recently discovered that plenty of mischief still
occurs, especially with downloadable products.

When checking my email yesterday, I found two messages that
disturbed me.

The first was an automated message from eBay telling me
about an auction selling an ebook about writing ebooks.

Another email came in from a good customer who sent me a
link to another auction on eBay that, to them, "looked
suspicious."

I clicked on the links for both auctions and found identical
postings by two different sellers.

Though they did not mention my ebook, "How To Write and
Publish Your Own eBook... in as little as 7 Days," the
blatant similarity between the wording on the auctions and
my www.7DayEbook.com website aroused my curiosity.

Since they didn't reference the ebook they were selling by
title, I decided to go ahead and buy from both sellers to
see what they sent me.

Imagine my horror when they both delivered my own ebook,
which they were selling illegally.

I immediately got the auctions shut down, but the damage was
already done.

Plenty of stolen merchandise gets sold via online auction
sites.

People call it "bootlegged" or "unauthorized copies" to
soften the wording for what they really know is "stolen
merchandise."

Of the two sellers mentioned above, I believe one knew he
was illegally selling my ebook and didn't care, while the
other person was just ignorant and thought she could sell it
because she'd bought it from someone else. Regardless of
their true intentions, their actions were illegal.

Now, let's discuss how you protect yourself and your
intellectual property against illegal sales and
"bootlegging" on eBay and other online auction sites.

First, set up automated searches on the major online auction
services.

Set them up to automatically notify you whenever an auction
gets posted that includes your name or the name of your
product.

You can also set them up to email you whenever an auction
gets listed with certain keywords in it, in my case "write
ebook."

Second, if you find someone has stolen your intellectual
property (sales copy, ebooks, photos, graphics, software,
etc.) you should first contact the seller and politely, but
firmly, ask them to remove it.

If they don't, or if they take more than a few hours to
respond, you should contact the auction site directly to
request an immediate takedown of the offending auction.

eBay's "Vero" program, for example, enables you to simply
fax in a form or send an email to get an auction removed.

You should also go back and check periodically to make sure
that an offending seller doesn't start selling your product
again once they think the uproar has died down.

Third, pay attention to emails from customers and prospects
for signs of anything strange.

Watch for comments like "I saw your ebook for sale on eBay,"
or "I saw it cheaper on eBay."

Also, make sure to compare customer service inquiries to
your customer database.

Anyone who asks specific questions about a product and
appears to possess it, but never bought it from you, should
immediately raise a red flag.

Always try to find out where they bought the product and get
them to send you a copy of their email receipt, because all
roads to the thief usually lead back through the credit card
processor.

Finally, trust the never-failing boomerang of karma to come
full circle and ultimately whack any thief in the head!

----

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an incredible new ebook that will teach you how to
write and publish your own highly profitable ebook in a week
or less... even if you failed high school English class!

=============================================
Why are some people getting rich selling their ebooks?
Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale have created the *ultimate* guide
"How to Write and Publish your own Outrageously
Profitable eBook... in as little as 7 Days!"
FREE Details: ==> http://www.7dayebook.com
=============================================

Here's a HOT Dragon Tip!

2006-03-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

After a year's worth of research, and a whopping investment of over $79,853.28 -- Derek Gehl and his team have just released a special report that's going to blow the lid off everything you THOUGHT you knew about getting FREE search engine traffic.

Do you think it's HARD to get a top-3 ranking in Google, MSN, or Yahoo? Are you spending $1,000's on SEO (search engine optimization) specialists... or buying pay-per-click traffic?

Then you definitely can't afford to miss this.

Because Derek's elite team of Internet marketing specialists has put together test results and case studies that *prove* there is still a FREE way to blast your website to a #1 ranking in Google, Yahoo, and MSN... Yes, I said FREE!

There's tons more to tell you, so visit:

http://www.marketingtips.com/trafficsecrets/t/862374

However, please note that while the strategies that are detailed on this page are EXTREMELY potent right now -- if you don't begin to apply them *immediately* (i.e., within the next 90 days), the opportunity will be lost forever.

Just like those who first embraced online shopping... e-mail marketing... and affiliate programs 10 years ago, only those who act TODAY will claim the lion's share of the traffic and profits.

The rest will be left to fight over crumbs!

I hope you enjoy this!

Christi

P.S. Also, I must warn you that the special FREE teleseminar with Derek that's available on this page is only open to the first 250 people to register. So if you're interested, I'd advise you to move quickly and visit:

http://www.marketingtips.com/trafficsecrets/t/862374

Not the Dragon, but the Dog

2006-02-24T15:23:00.000-05:00

Just added another new design to Keeping to the Borders. Even my mother thought it was cute. It's a picture of RX with specs on looking like he's fallen asleep on an Otter book. He was so good about getting pictures taken with the kid-sized Harry Potter glasses. lol If you're interested in having any of the designs on a different item, contact me at christi@dogpotentials.com and let me know and I'll make the item up for you. Some items can have a picture/saying on the front and another on the back, so if you like something that way, just let me know. Here's the picture I added:

My friend, Robin Piggott, did another radio show this morning in Ireland. He's getting to be quite the radio personality. lol Which is another way to be able to promote your websites, if you can get it. What he said he did is he came across a new radio station there in Ireland and he contacted them by email. He's quite an advocate for improving the driving laws in Ireland. He got an email back from a producer and called them and got booked to be on a show with a politician about Irish driving laws and improving things. His driving (they call it motoring over there) website is Astral Motoring and he has a neat blog for Newbie marketers, too. Very fun guy and very sharp. Just goes to show, if you take action of some sort, you get things done.

Dog Potentials has been getting 3,000 visitors per week which is really neat. The ezine is up to over 90 subscribers in only 4 issues, which is totally AWESOME to me. You can subscribe from any page on the website--just look in the lower right hand column and you'll see the sign-up form. It's free and comes out weekly. You can also see the blog on Blogger. The blog is the extended version of the newsletter.

Hmmm, did I tell you I found a neat dragon image for eDragon? Did you know that photographs made of images that are in the public domain are also, usually, in the public domain? Be sure to verify that if you find an image you want to use on something.

Well, as soon as I can get Brian to get the website linked to the server, I have a new website that will be coming up. Can't tell you much about it just yet, but itsa comin'! Think "Rich Jerk" and "Rich Punk" and that's all I'm going to say just now. lol

Well, that's about it for this post. Just wanted to let you know some of the latest fun stuff.

Ta,
Chris

Dragon thoughts on secrets and more

2006-02-21T12:40:00.000-05:00

I've been a little remiss on getting the ezines out this week. "Fly Beyond" went out to 215 subscribers, which I am so grateful for. This week, I speculated on what "The Secret" is that all the buzz is about. There are two links on the website for it, but it was pushed back from being released on Feb. 15th as originally planned. Seems some larger movie companies might have gotten interested in it. Nothing like tantalizing a dragon's curiousity, is there?

What I have found out, is that Dr. Joe Vitale was one of the participants in the film. He was not the only modern "thinker," apparently. He talks about it in his blog. One of the other "thinkers" of the past they seem to have highlighted is Charles Haanel. I speculated in "Fly Beyond" that what these two have in common are the concepts of keeping your thoughts under control to create the life you WANT. Maybe that's the secret?

I tried to find Haanel's books on ALibris, but there were no copies available. From what I understand, they were taken out of circulation many years ago. Perhaps to guard the "secret" from the common folks. I don't know, but it's fascinating to speculate on. lol

Sent out the fourth issue of the Dog Potentials newsletter today, too. It has grown to over 70 subscribers in only three weeks and a little more. That's really gratifying to me, too.

Need to make some changes on that website, put some of the pages into their own directories, and then add articles to each of those directories and link them on the pages. Besides the trick ebooks I'm planning to add there, I'll be adding some of the old dog fiction from pre-1923 to buy. Have lots of plans for all the ebooks--regular and large-print editions, maybe audio books, even print runs of the books at some point. Those and the audio books will probaby be sold in the Dog Potentials Store. Of course, once they get popular, I'll have to upgrade the store to a paid version, so I can offer several of them in there.

Well, lots of things I need to do today. Flying beyond my own limitations is scary, but fun. I'll keep you informed on how it goes.

Ta,
Chris

Dragon Living Rears Its Head

2006-02-12T13:59:00.000-05:00

lol I put out my third issue of Dog Potentials Newsletter today and got quite a surprise when I checked to make sure it went out. There were 14 subscribers listed on the stats page, with one more pending, but when the issue went out today, it went to 1,352 people!!! I am assuming that since "Fly Beyond" has already been established in their directory, this one was accorded the courtesy of being sent to the Pet subscribers. Later this week, I'll request that it be formally placed in the Pet section of the directory.

Anyway, it's an example of what living like a dragon can do for you. Teehee.

Lost touch with my mentor for most of the week because of a dispute with his ISP provider. Scared the willies out of me. About November of '04, a friend disappeared for a while and we didn't find out until he came back online that he'd had a heart attack! He was 39 years old! So, guess what I was envisioning! Thankfully, Brian is okay and things are just behind for him. If you want to see a really spiffy website, you should check out his. It's about spas and they offer some really neat stuff and all the parts you'd need to keep a spa going. After a hard day of putting up websites and optimizing them, if you're anything like me, it takes a lot out of you. What better way to relax than in a nice warm spa?? Go to Spa Parts Net and see what they have.

eDragon Marketing is doing much better than it had been in the AdSense stuff. Folks have been visiting the site and clicking through on the links there. Thanks! It's a good thing I'm not working another job, as this website building stuff is very time consuming!

Well, I've been up all night again. I'm ready for bed.

Have a fabulous day! Ta, Chris

A Dragon's Way of Life

2006-02-05T06:35:00.000-05:00

Just sent off the latest "Fly Beyond" issue. I'm very grateful to say that the list for that ezine is nearly to 200 subscribers! Thank you all for reading my little ezine and subscribing to it. It amazes and humbles me that it's continuing to climb in numbers. If you haven't seen it, you can read it at the archives and subscribe there, too, if you're so inclined.

You know, even the richest dragon had to work for her hoard. Going out, raiding and pillaging and rounding up the treasures. It's no different in building an ebusiness. I've been poking and prodding the webpages for Dog Potentials all week. My server-meister tells me I need to change some of them from just "pages" to directory index pages. Like, dogpotentials/dog/articles. Things like that will impress the search engines more, he says. I certainly have no reason to doubt him. It's just that none of the other "gurus" (whom I call "da boyz") seem to think of that, or, they assume you would already know to do that.

Well, that's the project for this next week. Deciding on directory names and putting the pages into them. That also means I have to change the links on most of the pages. Did you hear a huge groan just then??

Of course, all this will then be applied to eDragon when I get DP done. That will likely go more easily, as it won't be "new" to me then. Now, you know, until I revamp that site, there are still a lot of good downloads on the Recommends page. Such as, "The Shocking Truth About Action," "The Power of Gratitude," "5 Ways to Create PDFs," and the rebranded book about Empowerism. They're all free to download. Just right-click on them and enjoy.

You will also find my "recommended reading" list there. Authors like Dr. Joe Vitale, Jim Edwards, T. Harv Eker, Robert Scheinfeld and several other excellent books. I'm in the process of re-reading Robert Kiyosaki's "The Cashflow Quadrant," which is not yet on the recommended list, but is an excellent book that tells you about the four ways to achieve income, from being an employee to investing. He explains the differences in the mindsets and words that clue you as to the mindset of a particular quadrant.

For example, the employee will be looking for "security" and "benefits," while the business owner will be looking for the "system" he can put to use so he doesn't have to invest himself, like the self-employed person must. The investor makes his money work even harder for him than the others. Now, according to Mr. Kiyosaki, you can function in each of the quadrants, but one or two will be particularly strong for you. Read the book to find out how to make the choice. You DO have a choice.

Wow, just popped over to visit my friend, Father Dave's, website and got a pleasant new version of the 23rd Psalm there. Check it out. He's been a great help and encouragement to me and it seems a bit odd to find an Anglican Priest that is a martial artist and recommends teaching boxing to young people to help them learn to gain self-control and self-discipline and self-esteem, but, he's really very down-to-earth and as nice a guy as you'd want to have in your corner.

Well, that's it for this time. Remember to do something draconic this week. Be nice, though. ;-)

Ta,

Chris

They're up

2006-02-01T07:06:00.000-05:00

The pages for Dog Potentials are up, although some need tweaked for clarity. My server-meister, Brian, decided to change some things and make me THINK about what I was doing. lol There are now server-side includes on some of the pages and the ones that don't have them, need them. So, I get to go back and fix those pages. Shouldn't be too bad, as they'll have the html already in them, so I can just open 'em in my text editor and transfer the stuff to the template he provided me. Then, upload the darlings and we should be good to go.

January was a prolific month for AdSense! Made almost $4! Seems tiny, but beats the heck out of $0 (ZERO), which is what I had before.

Put the link up for advertising on my Instant Buzz links and the entire "budget" was shot in one day! I had over 300 credits and when I set the link up, 130+ were already gone! Gonna have to spend some time surfing on IE to make up the credits I need to get the link shown again. Crimeny!

Some intrepid soul has been visiting eDragon. Got several links clicked, which is part of that $4 up there. Thanks, whoever you were!

Next step in the biz plans is to fix the ebook for the dog trick and put it up on eBay for sale. Then, I'll work on promoting DP more and getting eDragon fixed and promote IT more. lol Oh, yes, have to promote both the stores and the affiliate links. Gah! Sometimes, it is hard to keep track of what I've signed up for and what I really can handle. lol One of the hazards of paying attention to some of the "gurus" out there. They all tell you stuff that sounds good, but when you go to implement it, you're missing something. Like a list, or good places to promote stuff, things like that.

Haven't been back to Affiliate Classroom in a good while, so I need to spend some time there. Good place to "surf" for credits, as I'll be way behind on reading and posting.

Well, gotta hit the hay, as we used to say in the "old days." LOL

Ta,
Chris

Webpage updates

2006-01-28T04:19:00.000-05:00

Have been working on the pages for Dog Potentials. The official launch is Sunday, Jan. 29th and every time I get one right, it isn't. lol AOL isn't helping much, either, since it seems to think I need to see the cached page rather than the actual page. I've gotten the index page, the articles page and the articles pages done and posted to the site. Now, I need to change the picture of RX on the site pages and I don't do css. Gah! One thing, this html seems a lot easier to use than Fortran 77 that I took in college. lol

I've written up several articles in the past few days and tried to post one to Ezine Articles the other night, but it wouldn't work. Not sure why. It would get me to the preview page, then, when I clicked the "agree" box that you have to click showing that it's YOUR article and you agree to their terms and then the submit link, it would tell me I needed to fill in the text fields. Gave up on it after a bit. I'll try them again today, since I want to get the articles out there.

I have a new affiliate link that I'm using on the pages for DP. It's PetsMart and since I worked there and trust their products, I think it's neat that I could get on their affiliate program.

Well, all this page building is certainly teaching me html, though. lol Slowly, I'm learning stuff about where to put things and how to do the tags and all.

Oh, one of the folks at eBay helped me get my About Me page looking like the pages at Dog Potentials. You can see it here. I'll be adding listings for my eBook that is about teaching your dog the Dead Dog trick this weekend.

And what does all this have to do with eDragon Marketing? It's the marketing aspect of it that is being learned. What I've learned from eDragon is that you have to pay attention to some of the fine details and optimize your pages for searches and adsense, which I have done on DP. Plus, it's great practice so I can eventually learn to edit that .php page on eDragon. lol

Once I get DP settled, I can go back and work on eDragon and get that one straightened out. Brian has been a huge help on DP, so I've learned a lot about how to fix eDragon.

Anyway, I'll be posting the launch announcement here Sunday, too. Watch for it. Ta, Chris

Download 117+ eBooks for Free

2006-01-18T01:08:00.000-05:00

Download 117+ High Quality InfoProducts for Free Today, and Discover how You can Make Money by Doing it. See Website for Details to Join our Contest ($2,000,000 in Prizes)...117Gifts

That's one of the neatest sites for getting a MESS of neat products--ebooks and software you'll ever see. Need to hurry, though, it won't be around forever.

Still working with my friend Brian on the Dog Potentials site. It's coming along, but slowly. I have three more pages to add about ready, but many, many more to add after that. Wears me out to do webpages--too intense.

Well, wanted to make sure you got a chance to get in on the gifts. I've downloaded some and they are terrific! Oh, the time to use all of them. lol

Later, Chris

Feed Your Passion

2006-01-08T22:15:00.000-05:00

Do you remember when you were a child and had decided (several times) what you were going to be when you grew up? How many times did you change your mind? But, eventually, there really was ONE thing (possibly two or three) that you became passionate about. You studied all you could about it. Your aim in High School was to become this person doing that thing. College would lead you to your dream job and the world would be perfect.

What happened?

Are you doing what you were passionate about?

If not, why not? Did life interfere? Did those around you scoff enough to lead you away from YOUR dream and aim you toward theirs? Or, have you achieved your passion?

A huge majority of people are not living the passion of their youth. Perhaps family obligations interfered, college was not "in the cards," a youthful error led you down another path. Whatever the reason, the time is now to feed your passion.

When I was young, I wanted desperately to become a horse vet. Horses were the greatest passion of my life at that time. I wanted one of my own from the time I was old enough to know what they were. I was thirty-eight before I got one. By that time, my vet dreams had fallen by the wayside. I failed Zoology in High School and decided that I'd never make it in Vet School that way. So, I let that dream die, sort of.

Another of my passions way back when was art. I drew constantly (horses, of course) and wanted to go to college to get into graphic art (since the vet dream was dead, why not art?). My parents refused to help me get into college for that. Father said there was no money in it. I have to laugh about it now, because it's everywhere! Who knew then what the graphic arts would lead to? Not only magazine advertisements, TV ads, newspaper ads, but the Internet--look at all the graphics on there.

I actually had three passions when I was young. The third was writing. I wanted to write stories. Fantasy fiction. Romantic fantasies where the fairy princess met the prince and they lived happily ever after.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because passions don't really die. They crop up in unusual ways sometimes.

I don't see myself going to college at this late date for Vet School, but that particular passion has transferred to dog showing and training. It has become, actually, a family thing. My sister, my niece, my mother, my daughters, me...we all show dogs. We have a variety of breeds between us--St. Bernards, Border Terriers, Vizslas, a Jack Russell Terrier, even mixed breeds that are in training for search and rescue work (that's my eldest daughter).

For two years, I taught obedience work at PetsMart. I still write articles about training and, while I don't consider myself an expert, I do think I comprehend the dog's mind as well as many other trainers and better than some. That particular passion is manifesting, with the help of a friend, as a website that will be about dogs. Training them, having fun with them, doing useful work with them. Keep an eye out for www.dogpotentials.com to see how I do.

I had a horse, in fact, I had two. One is dead now. She had a genetic fault that lead to seizures. I didn't know it when I sold her to one of the women I boarded with. The other has also been sold, but she has managed to be the horse of dreams for a couple of other girls. One rode her in three-day eventing for a year or so and did well. But this mare was not the ultimate horse for her dreams.

They gave the mare to a program for kids that were "challenged," but the mare was too peppy for that program. Now, she's helping another girl learn about living a dream of having a horse.

That passion was passed down to my other daughter. She rides when she can, she owns a horse (has had two, as well), and she has even gone to Spain to take lessons on Andalusian horses there. Because of her skill, she was selected early in that program to ride some of the stallions at that training school. An honor reserved for few, from what I understand. She has trained with the Army's riding program and has done very well in horse work.

The artwork, well, I don't draw much, anymore, but I have translated that into photographs and I'm slowly learning about creating graphics on my computer. Not only that, but I have been creating graphics for items I sell in two Cafe Press stores I have (Keeping to the Borders and The Wright Gifts).

All three of my children are artistic, although, my son doesn't think he is. I have seen his work and he is very good. I wish they could all do something with their art.

And the writing? Well, I do write stories and have been published on the internet and in books. And, you see it here. Not only am I blogging about things, I have a newsletter I put out about living the abundant life of a dragon. I am writing the majority of the words on the website(s) and will be helping another friend with a course about writing. In these ways, I am feeding my passions.

How can you feed your passion(s)? Is there another tack you can take that will allow you to do what you've always dreamed of now? Perhaps a slightly different aspect that will be just as satisfying as your original plan?

For just a moment, think back to that youthful passion. Feel it in your heart, see it in your mind. How can you become that person you wanted to be, oh so long ago? What changes would you need to make in your life to achieve it? What education would it take? With all the information on the internet, it should not be difficult to find a way to learn what you need to to fuel that passion.

Making time to do what you want is often a stopper. Can you carve out an hour after the children are in bed to study/practice? Perhaps rising a little earlier? Can you study on your lunch break? Write then? Do things then?

Suppressed passions can lead to bitterness, overweight (trust me on that one--I lost 20 pounds within two months of owning my first horse and couldn't even ride her to start with because she wasn't trained yet), and other problems in life. Have trouble getting along with people at your workplace? Could it be because of suppressed passions?

Give yourself permission to pursue your passion, even if it's in another form. Allow yourself to learn what you need to, feed it a little at a time, let it blossom.

Oh, yes, I hear the excuses. Don't have time, too old, too...whatever. Let me ask you, WHO is responsible for your life? In the end of it all, who will you be?

In our youthful innocence, we knew truth in our souls. What we were meant to be and do in this life. Make this the time that you will feel that truth again and feed your passion.
***
If you'd like to use this article in your own newsletter or on your website, feel free. Just don't change it and include the following information:

C. Rogers Upson is a multi-published author both on the internet and in books and has a website at www.edragonmarketing.com and another at www.dogpotentials.com.

Dog Training...can't even train the humans

2006-01-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

Well, at this moment, there are three (yes THREE) versions of the Dog Potentials page floating around. Okay, they're not "floating," per se, but there are three versions--my original version, the version a friend created (seo optimized, he says, and I have no reason to doubt it) and the "mixed" version I created. Gotta admit, the original was a little "over the top" in that it had a background picture of my boy, RX, and such, but I think I'm going to like the mixed version better even than Brian's version. Yeah, his might be optimized for the search engines, but it looks soooo...well, business-like. I want the site to be visitor friendly and business-like, so, I think the mixed version does the trick, but still waiting on his opinion on it.

Well, just checked my emails (looking for the link to his version) and my friend registered the Dog Potentials domain for me! Is that nice or what??? Thank you, Brian!!

In other news, I'm really anxious to get some folks signed up for the Affiliate Classroom because it can really help with building a business. Even if you go for the affiliate aspects to begin with, it's helpful in all aspects of starting an ebiz. Check it out:
***
Step by Step Training to Building an Online Busines...

Completely revolutionary training system.
We need a few dedicated students ready to learn from those who have done it.
Read more here...
Affiliate Classroom
***
Also, my Empowerism downline has been added to. So, that should start paying at some point, too. Now, if the SFI would get me back into the EA mode, like I should be, then I could get more of my affiliates there going.

Poor ole eDragon hasn't gotten it's facelift yet, either. It just takes me friggin' forever to do up webpages. Maybe when I get better at them--if I do them enough--it will go faster. I think I have figured out something, though, I think I can actually edit those pages online and save them directly to the directory. I'll have to give it a shot and see how it goes. If that IS the case, I can edit and then save the edited version back to my computer. Would sure save a heck of a lot of time on the uploads and all. That is such a process!!! Guess I'd better give it a shot on one of the other pages and see what happens. Then, I might be able to do the main page and get it all fixed up like I want it.

Well, it's been an exciting almost-a-month since I got fired, that's for sure. Gotta get the call for articles up for DP and see what I can get for that. More later. Ta, Chris

I have another site "up"

2006-01-04T00:31:00.000-05:00

Been working on the Dog Potentials site today. Starting to get it into shape, but there are several pages yet to be written and put up. Have the main page up and the Conformation page, the Articles page and the articles to go with it. Still lots to do, though. Rally, Agility, Obedience and all.

I'm not very speedy at putting up pages. I forget from one session to the next how to do it all. lol One of these days, I might even learn to do the cascading style sheets (css), where, as I understand it, you change the main page and all the changes follow through all the other pages. Not sure I really comprehend how that happens, but it sounds cool, eh? I would assume that the main page holds all the "styles" and the other pages just "call the styles" from there. Sorta like the rss feed readers "calling" the feed to display??

Anyway, I have to build them, put them up, look at them, tweak them, look at them, tweak again (and, of course, have to do the SAME tweak to ALL of them at this stage--phew!), and get them right that way. Check the links, make sure they actually GO somewhere, and verify they go the right place.... One one hand, it's very wearing, yet, when you see them up there on the internet, it's a proud moment for me, still. lol Those folks that do this for a living probably think, "yeah, right, wait till you've done a 1,000 of them." (or more) Well, to you I say, no doubt you're right. The 1,000th page won't be nearly as exciting, I'm sure.

Put lots of links on the pages--mainly to the other pages, but also to the AKC, show entry sites and a couple other sites of interest, like the Freestyle people. Now, there's a sight to behold. Folks dancing with their dogs. That's obedience taken beyond the basics in a big way.

When Mother and I went to Crufts in England a couple of years back, there was a woman that was dancing with her Border Collie. I think it was to a Glenn Miller song, but can't recall for sure. Anyway, they were marvelous to watch. The dog would back between her legs and do all sorts of amazing behaviors (or, behaviours, as the English would put it). Then, toward the end of the routine, another Border Collie joined them. She took first place, needless to say. It was awe inspiring to watch them. If you ever get a chance to see such a thing, take advantage of the opportunity. You'll enjoy it immensely.

I've sold a couple more items in Keeping to the Borders, which I really appreciate. I'm thinking that it's nearly time to expand that one to a paid subscription shop and then I'll be able to put more than one version of any item in there. That's one of the goals for this year, I think. To develop a business plan for it and go all out in promoting it. Fortunately, I'll be able to import some of the items from the free version, so that will let me get things in there quickly.

Learning a lot more about doing graphics on the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. Had to totally revamp the Dog Potentials logo, so it can now be used as a shirt design in the Borders shop, since my Border Terrier, RX, is on it. Might want to add the email addy to the bottom, so folks can get in touch if they want to know where to get more of them. lol

I've made a friend in the Affiliate Classroom that is helping me learn more about monetizing the websites. His name is Brian (hi, Brian) and he does websites for a living. He's also well versed in spas, so you might check out his "baby" at www.sparesources.com. I think that's the one. Not only has he been a help to me, but he has put up some really good posts on the forums at AC and they're quite insightful. You might want to join for the trial of 14 days for $1, and check 'em out.

Well, this is getting to book length. Gotta go clear out the email inbox again. Had it under 100 and it's way up again. lol

Ta,
Chris

Your Comfort Zone is Choking you to Death

2006-01-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Another re-post from my defunct blog. It was formerly named Fears To Funds, but I decided that was a little bit scary. Anyway, just some thoughts on fear and how it can "mold" your life, if you let it. Feel free to publish it, just keep the resource box at the bottom.
***
You know, the largest fear everyone seems to have is the fear of change. Family and friends don't help, either, as they really don't want you to be different from them. They want you in your "comfortable little spot" in their universe, so THEY don't have to make any changes.

But, as the saying goes, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." So, the question is, are you happy with how your life is at this point?

If you answered "no," then, you need to decide what changes you'll make to change your situation. You don't even have to start with a huge change. Even just becoming grateful for the things and people in your life is a beginning. You'll be amazed at what that simple little change can do for you.

Another major fear is failure. First you have to define "failure." What do you consider failure to mean? Does it mean that something didn't work? Does it mean that you didn't get what you wanted?

Instead of looking at such a situation as a failure, look at it as an advancement of your knowledge. That specific event, method, whatever, didn't do what you wanted it to, so you know not to try that again.

Many years ago, I worked for researchers in the Endocrinology field. Most of them were doing diabetic research. Even the "failures" told them something. They eventually came to the conclusion that lipids (fat cells) could block insulin from getting into normal cells, thus causing too much glucose in the bloodstream and not enough in the cells for them to use. I think I have that all right, since I'm not a medical doctor and only typed the articles and reports. LOL

But, the point is, they had to do many experiments and had many that didn't work. Were they really failures? No, because each time, a wrong conclusion was eliminated until they came to the right conclusion.

Even Thomas Edison is credited with claiming 1,000 failures to create a light bulb were not really failures, they were just processes he could eliminate as not being the way to do it.

So, instead, define success for yourself--as the opposite tack to take. Then, make changes in small steps. It will help you adjust to making the changes, help you overcome fear of change (yours and others') and just be grateful you have what you have and can do what you can do.
***
C. Rogers Upson is a published author in several venues. She has a website at http://www.edragonmarketing.com that deals with self-help and draconic wisdom, a blog at http://edragonmarketing.blogspot.com that deals with growing a business, and a blog at http://dogpotentials.blogspot.com that deals with her love of dogs and training them.

Sales and then some...

2005-12-23T00:27:00.000-05:00

...made another sale in my Keeping to the Borders shop today. That adds $5 to my profits there. Not a lot you say? Well, five bucks here, five bucks there, it can all add up. This person bought a t-shirt and a mug. Thanks, whoever you are!

Build Up Your Biz 2 is on its way to my new web host. What a production! Setting up the account, then, having to send it to the new host, then, wait until it gets there to log in to build it. Fortunately, I have most of the pages built already. Think I'll just toss in a landing page and then change things around a bit. I ought to figure out how to capture names, since the power is in the list, but what could I offer as an upsell??? This site will be my affiliate links site, while eDragon Marketing will become my "spiritual" site.

Submitted three more articles to Ezine Articles tonight. Two on "religious" issues (a rebuttal to another poster about the Bible being wrong, and one about all this idiocy about Merry Christmas), and one on mentoring. Search for C. Rogers Upson if you want to read them. I hope they'll be up in the next couple of days. If you find them interesting, sure would appreciate if you forward them, vote on them, put them in your ezine. The only article that has been put into anyone's 'zine has been the dog one. Maybe I need to do a few more of those??

I'll probably start my articles file on BUYB2 with the mentoring article. It's not awfully long, about 700 words. Keyword rich, though. lol I was researching some keywords for 'affiliate marketing' and got 'home business opportunity' and a slew of other ones. So, decided to write an article to include as many of the top search terms as possible and still make sense. Think I succeeded admirably.

I have been learning more about building webpages since I got fired. Having the time to work on this stuff is such a blessing!!! At last, I can schmooze in forums and build webpages and try different stuff to work on making a living on the internet. Wish I knew how to do a graphic that would allow me to put my capture page like an envelope and then, when they click on the link to get into the site, it would turn and open and the site landing page would come out and spread out to be read. Wouldn't that be spiffy?

To be truthful, I'm scared to death of collecting addresses and having to DO something with them. I mean, these are affiliate links, so what would be the upsell? What can I tell folks about in a newsletter? My "Fly Beyond" newsletter is growing pretty well, but that's just my "opinions" of things spiritual and not MARKETING information! lol So, I shall have to explore what I DO know about affiliate marketing and round up all the free books that I can toss out there occasionally.

Well, I do have a new program I'm an affiliate of and it's right up my doggie alley.

Wonder if I'll ever have enough business to make banners like that? Teehee, I could do that for my Keeping to the Borders shop now, couldn't I? Put that on my Dog Potentials page and drive traffic there. How's that? I could find a javascript for that and just make it very interesting.

My time spent at Affiliate Classroom is being very productive. I'm just at the waiting game for the domain and then it's off to the races for me. I've been enjoying posting in the forums there and reading all the training materials and working on getting the promotional stuff worked out for my niche(s).

Well, that's about it for now. Happy-Merry-Blessed Whatever! Chris

Send your affiliates to school...

2005-12-20T22:17:00.000-05:00

...if you have any, if your are one, or if you've ever thought about being in business on the internet and don't have a clue how to start. Yes, I get excited about stuff, but this one is really, really exciting. FINALLY, a mentoring program that isn't going to cost $100+ per month to be in, that doesn't require a major investment to get into, that actually suggests programs for you and then walks you though each step to develop your plan for it, and has all these lovely guides and interviews and case studies and a magazine and all. Would it be worth one measley dollar to spend two weeks exploring an environment like that? To go into the forums and find people that know less than you and more than you and about the same but different from you? Well, get ready to roll out the red carpet---drum roll, please...

I have spent the last four days having a blast in the forums, studying the guides for the step-by-step information on marketing, asking questions and giving answers. Realized I know more than I realized and by offering my experiences to others, I've become far more confident. Tomorrow, I'm going to learn the part about autoresponders. An issue that has been a true mystery. Yeah, I've read the books, listened to the audios, but never had anyone take the time to put it into one-step-at-a-time-I-know-you-don't-know-this-yet format. These guys do. And, it's not written in such a way that you feel stupid, either. Too many of the "gurus" forget that regular folks can't afford some computer techie to do all the programming they need and don't necessarily know how to do it themselves. Give it a look.

Well, just over a week ago, I got fired. Again, I think it's going to be one of those best-things-for-me things. NOW, I have the time to study and the brain power to deal with it. I can practice graphic design and design websites. I even added another domain name to my "holdings:" www.buildupyourbiz2.com teehee, I haven't even told my family, yet. This is one of those fait accompli things I think I need to do. Once things are up and rolling, I can casually mention it to them. lol Ought to freak them out something fierce.

Well, I've decided that eDragon Marketing needs a major revamp. I'm going to pull the Spirit of page, the Screen savers page and the World Internet Summit page. Then, I'm going to take eDragon in a more "inspirational" direction. The ezine, "Fly Beyond," has been doing really well, and I think I want the pages to reflect that a bit more. Eventually, all the others will have their own domains.

I have two articles to proof and put on Ezine Articles and see if they get picked up. One is a response to another person's article about how the Bible is wrong because it says that some of the people with Jesus at the time would not taste of death until they saw the kingdom of God. He has claimed that all the "signs" listed in the Bible have come to pass and it STILL hasn't been the end times. The other is my rebuttal to the whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays idiocy that's going on. For one thing, there are many holidays that fall around this same time of year, so it is more politic to use Happy Holidays if you don't know the person you're offering it to well. Heck, they might be of the wiccan or druidic persuasion, you don't know. For another thing, I think it would be of more benefit for the folks that are really pushing this to work on keeping God and the Ten Commandments in Washington. Or, nativity scenes being put out instead of this piddly argument that they're trying to take Christ out of Christmas. Seems like somewhere in the Bible it says something about not offending those that are not of your faith. I still haven't found it, yet.

Well, that's my current soapbox. I'm not an advocate of Political Correctness, but this seems awfully trivial and ridiculous to me.

Mercy, I've about written a book here. lol Well, I'll stop now. I need to feed the dogs pretty soon and then do a slew of writing and see if I can clear my mind of the buzz of ideas that have been disturbing my sleep every night.

Happy Holidays.

I have ANOTHER blog--lol

2005-12-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've added blogware to my eDragon Marketing website. Well, actually, my host did and I just added it to my capabilities! So, you might ask, what the heck do I need with another blog? That one is going to be my "articles" blog, I think. Not my "as things roll along" one--that's this one--but the articles you could copy and post to your own website or use in your ezine. Right now, it's at www.edragonmarketing.com/blog. I still have to put the links on the webpages. Planning on changing them just a tad, so haven't yet done that.

Also, if you've not been to the website lately, check out the first page. Antone of CaRP has gotten my rss feed loaded and functional! WooHoo Now, all I have to do is figure out how to edit the page for the new stuff I want to add without screwing up the .php. Thank you, Antone! I really appreciate it. The check's in the mail--heh, heh.

Well, I am now officially "retired" from WalMart. Okay, I got fired yesterday, but it wasn't going to be long before I was going to leave anyway. Now, I can concentrate on the internet businesses and get fired-UP about getting that done. Most people would be devestated about getting fired, but that's usually because they have no back-up plan. Well, I do, so....

I think I freaked the boss out when he said, "We'll have to terminate you." I just said, "Okay." lol

If I am to take responsibility for myself, I know that this is what I have attracted (read Joe Vitale's "The Attractor Factor" to get that reference) to myself, so, that's where I am and what I have to do about it. Well, there are a few other things, like getting a business license and setting up a business bank account, finding someone to do the taxes, etc.

That's stuff I need to do soon, so I can start 2006 (hmmm, numerologically, 2006=8 which is the number of money--cool) with the right and legal stuff in place. I need to pull my 401K funds to support getting the business legally started properly. Not a problem!

Anyway, that's how my week has been so far--how's yours?

Ta, Chris

New thoughts on negativity

2005-12-07T22:38:00.000-05:00

Some of you might remember the post to my other blog that went like this:

Imagine a huge stone altar. Maybe somewhere like Stonehenge. Now, imagine your worst fears. They permeate your being. Gather it all up from your entire body, like wood for a fire. Put it all on the altar. Get as much as you can find and put it up there.
Now, imagine a fire from Heaven coming down and burning it all away.

Feel better? Let the light of hope and determination fill the areas you just cleared. Do this as often as necessary to help get rid of the negative stuff and fill your life with positive stuff.

All negativity can be removed like this, which has helped me a great deal. But, recently, I realized I hadn't done it in quite some time and when I evaluated my inner being, it was very dark with negativity again. I had noticed that my sales were down and I was beginning to spiral down to the way I was before--cranky, critical, no fun--depressed.

So, I did a removal/burn and felt ever so much lighter. Now, I would like to suggest that you remember to do this at least monthly, but remember, too, that when you remove that negativity, you must fill the space in your spirit with joy and goodness, or, as it says in the Bible, the demon will return and bring friends.

What has this to do with eDragon Marketing and my other business plans? If I am not uplifted, my "vibes" will be negative and will drive business away from me. If I am positive and caring, my "vibes" will draw business to me. Does that make sense?

Think about your shopping experiences, for example. When the cashier and shop staff are upbeat and positive, you have an excellent shopping experience, even if you couldn't get what you wanted there. If they're cranky or just not very positive, you come away with a negative experience, even if you got everything you came for.

So it is even on the internet. Your vibes will infuse your activities and people will either be drawn to what you offer, or repelled. YOU make the choice as to how it will all happen.

In other news, (lol) I have added some new things to my Cafe Press shops: The Wright Gifts and Keeping to the Borders. Check 'em out, might find something there for a Holiday gift. Now, why do I say "Holiday" rather than Christmas? I use the more generic term because there are many religions that celebrate holidays around this time of year. Many nationalities, too. So, why cut any of them out of the concept? I'm hoping to celebrate Christmas at my family home this year, but there are those that celebrate Hannukah (sp??), Kwanzaa, The Three Kings and I don't know what all else. So, Happy Holidays to all. Later, Chris

Moving right along...

2005-12-04T17:55:00.000-05:00

Well, Antone at CaRP has done it. Now, all I have to figure out is how to get the .php page as my main page. I'm sure he'll let me know. lol

I also added some free ebooks for you to download, if you'd like. They're on www.edragonmarketing.com/recommends.
The Shocking Truth About Action action.pdf
The Power of Gratitude PowerofGratitude.pdf
From Jim Edwards 5waystoCreatePDFs.pdf
Empower yourself with this information Empowerism_10_Basics_branded.pdf.
Orrrrrrrr, you could just download them from here. :-)

I've also added a new issue to my "Fly Beyond" ezine. I have about 30 subscribers now. What a thrill! To think that folks actually LIKE what I have to say and want to read the weekly issues! Thank you! I've requested to have "Fly Beyond" listed in the Zinester directory, so, I hope that happens soon. It will be in the Inspirational category, I hope.

I have bought some Christmas presents for the family. Found this interesting site through PayPal that specializes in them and have a really unique way of offering them for sale. Go to www.thaigem.com and check them out. Some really nice looking pieces there, if you like that sort of thing. They FedEx the stones to you. They also have jewelry available.

Anyway, I still have to finish my own ebook and get it up on the website. Soon. Have to work daytime hours tomorrow. YUCKY! I much prefer the 12-9 shift. I'm not much of a morning person anymore. lol Oh, well, guess I'd better be happy for a job until I can get some other source of income rolling in. Okay, so that's about all that's gone on for today. Later, Christi

SOME progress, today!!!

2005-12-02T03:18:00.000-05:00

I actually got some of the screen savers loaded to eDragon Marketing today. There are five of them, Adorable Borders (pix of Border Terriers), Dogs1 (my dogs, lol), Fun Bears (found these on a gov't site), Inspiration1 (inspirational sayings on some of my pix), and Trine1 (Ralph Waldo Trine sayings on a few of my pix). I created them with Cool Captions, which I downloaded from www.download.com and then, after the trial period, paid $10 for the right to "sell" or give away the results. I haven't been able to get hold of the programmer, I tried, but no response. I wanted to know how to "edit" some of the created screen savers. Still don't know.

Heard from Antone at CaRP, today. He's going to fix up my little website with rss AND atom feed capabilities. The second part is going to cost a bit more, but he's going to load both at the same time, so only the one fee for the programming. Thanks, Antone!

Have this huge list of things to do tonight, but didn't get to all of them. Ewan Chia sent another email about an affiliate checklist for programs you might want to consider joining. If you haven't signed up for his Secret Affiliate Weapon program, why the heck not??? You could be leaving lots of money on the table (have you ever wondered WHAT table they're talking about?) if you aren't getting into this information. Ewan is really good at explaining things and I just downloaded another of his free ebooks from his secret blog.

BUT, the main thing I wanted to accomplish tonight is to get the links fixed on the website for the screen savers. They've been a while in coming, but finally decided I could just go ahead with what I had and let the chips fall where they may. lol My next project, besides all the affiliate programs I'm trying to get straight and worked on, is to work on the Trine books. Then, the dog books (think I'll write one on bathing your dog. Found a handy item that will help with that).

First thing in the morning, I have to balance my checkbook, then, transfer my www.buildupyourbiz.com domain to Host4Profit. Plus, I have to get my Christmas shopping on track. I've gotten a few things, but not nearly done. Be glad when I get more time to myself without having to worry when I'll get paid and how much. That's about the only good thing about a regular j.o.b. You know WHEN, just not necessarily how much. I'd rather get a heck of a lot more for the same or less work. ;-)

More later, Chris

Okay, things are trucking right along

2005-11-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

Heh, I have found lots to be doing with the new biz stuff. I have a portal site for one here, have ads to add to my regular site, and am about ready to transfer my buildupyourbiz.com to Host4Profit. Think I'll save that one till tomorrow.

Let's try an experiment here:

Oh, now, isn't that way cool?? That's one of the ads I'll be adding to eDragon Marketing. Very spiffy, don't you think?

I have decided it's time to get REALLY busy on this stuff, because they've made the requirements for profit-sharing at work so high, it's not likely that we'll get ours this year. I honestly think that's not very nice of them (let's face it, it SUCKS!). So, what good is working for profits for someone that isn't going to share them?? After all, they HAVE done in the past and every year till now. So, they've decided to cut that out?? Well, I don't have to stay around while they cut other benefits--not if I can get some residual income streams going and have funds I can count on coming in regularly. Then, I can tell them to take their job and not only shove it, but STUFF it! ;-)

Mr. Sam would NOT approve of what they're doing, but that's okay. If he were here, lots of things would be different. So, the time has come to get other things going and make sure that I spend some time each day on them to increase their productivity.

Things I plan to do on www.edragonmarketing.com include writing copy MY way. Bleah on those 20" long sales pages. Don't you just hate them? You go to a page about something of interest--a product, say--and have to wade through 97 testimonials about how great it is and all their sales copy about how great it is and then, all the bonuses they're going to give you if you buy it. AND a bunch of their personal history and the reason they began the project, etc., etc., ad infinitum. Well, if you're like me, I don't even WANT to read all that b.s. Tell me a little about the product, give me three short testimonials, a brief list of the bonuses and CUT TO THE CHASE!!! 99% of the time, I get about a fourth of the way down the page and grab the scroll-bar and roll on down. I skip more than 2/3 of the garbage because everyone is saying the same sort of STUFF.

I'm beginning to think that internet copywriting is all about how many times can you say the same thing in different words?? Yeah, yeah, tell me some of the benefits, give me a reason to trust you, give me actual (ACTUAL) testimonials and then tell me how much. Is that so hard??

Well, it may not be professional to them, but I would like to see them put the basics on the top 6" of the page. Then, if someone is in doubt, let them look at the rest of the page where you list more benies and more testimonials. According to Tellman Knudson of List Crusade, it's more than a little likely I'm ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). Which I don't doubt. Think it's more ADD than ADHD, although my son was diagnosed ADHD years ago and it does run in families.

Anyway, my pages will be MY pages and not copied off a bunch of others. I mean, c'mon, how many times can you see, "Who else wants to...?" before you KNOW they're all from the same education??? And, heck, some of them don't even make a lot of sense, but they want you to think they do. Dang it, can't think of any examples right off the bat, but seems I read one recently that was like, "Who else wants to read a huge ebook and learn the secrets of the universe?" Nah, that wasn't it. But the fact is, sometimes they're actually making a statement with the "who else wants to" attached on the front, rather than asking a true question. My English grammar education rebels at it.

So, if I say something like, "Wouldn't YOU like to learn...?" don't you think that would be more effective? I'm no pro like these guys (we're talking Shawn Casey and his ilk here), but my first English writing class in college, I tried to write what I thought the professor wanted and it all came back bleeding (marked in RED). So, I finally decided to he** with that and wrote MY way. He asked who I copied it from. I had written a review of a horse show. I talked to him and he said it was the best I had written to date and was good enough to be publishable. Soooo, all those years of writing are going to change the way I do my webpages. I'll write it like I write these blogs--straight out. With a draconic twist. lol I'll let you know when it's changed. Ta, Chris

Hooooo, Buddy, things have...

2005-11-28T00:53:00.000-05:00

...ratcheted up a notch or three here! Ewan Chia sent me this spiffy ebook from another person and it just blew my mind and blew my thinking out of the water. You really HAVE to get over to his affiliate sign-up and join! You will be so glad you did if you're trying to get a business going on the internet!

How about not one, not two, not three, but FIVE easy businesses to get into?? AND, the author of the book will set up YOUR site if you follow the directions to get started. For FREE! Is that too cool or what??!!! Can you tell I'm excited? ;-)

I'm solving the rss feed problem for eDragon Marketing. There is a website called CaRP that has the feed programming and for $30 they'll install it on your site/server and make sure it works. Not a bad price to get someone to professionally install the programming I need, I don't think. The actual program I'm having them install is free, so it's all about their time and I will let you know how it all goes.

I certainly hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving that celebrates it. I had to work at the j.o.b. for four hours. Hardly worth going in for, but I was scheduled, so I was there. It was very quiet, overall, but got hectic at the end. lol

Registered a new domain name yesterday. How do you like, www.buildupyourbiz.com? That's going to be the site I have this guy set up for me on Host4Profit. BTW, if you refer people to their hosting, you earn $10/month/person you refer and 3 people can more than make the payments for your own hosting. Not a bad deal. I'll tell you more about that when I get the domain transferred over there and get it all set up.

For right now, if you're looking for a place to start that will get you up and running quickly AND do your webpages AND help you more than most, check out these freebies here. These guys have been around for several years ('98, I think--could be wrong, likely before that, but can't recall what they said) and have all the tools and training you could possibly want, plus assign you to a "sponsor" to help you out. You could promote products (they have a wide variety of types), or, their system, OR, both. I think I'm going to be promoting everything I can! lol They even have BOOKS you can promote similar to the ones they're giving away free, so you can feel at ease that they aren't looking to rip anyone off. They have an extremely strict spam policy which you have to sign to really get rolling, so it's apparent they value THEIR reputation and that means they'll value YOURS, too. There is something really assuring about such care.

Anyway, I'll be telling your more about this stuff as time goes on. I really want it all to work out well and REALLY want to get away from working for someone else. Now, all I have to do is figure out who's going to do my taxes???

Later, Chris

Still looking for help with rss...

2005-11-19T12:15:00.000-05:00

If anyone out there can help me get rss feeds posted to my web pages, I'd sure appreciate it. I was looking last night for a program/html to add and found one site that would give you the html code and php code, but when I tried to incorporate the php and renamed the index to .php, all I got was a blank page. Real bummer, that.

So, if you know how to get the code onto the pages, I'd love to hear about it. Need to get tomorrow's issue of Fly Beyond ready to roll. Have also applied to get Dog Potentials as a domain name. That was at Name Cheap. $8.88 for domain registration and they're inexpensive for hosting with lots of perks. Although, I'm rather leery of that sort of thing, as it can mean they're not reliable about up time and stuff. I'll let you know how it all goes, though.

Need to change my rss feeds to this blog, soon as I figure out how to get it here. lol I got it for my Wright Gifts blog on this system, so will have to look at it. Think I'll keep the Fears to Funds one available until it's dead and just add this one, too.

Got a really good eBook from Ewan Chia yesterday. 56 pages of terrific stuff on getting your business going and lots of links. That's where I found that Name Cheap link. You can only get hold of this if you're on his affiliate list. Not a bad thing to do, either. He's been pretty busy with info and it's all good.

Oh, as for the Dog Potentials site, I have a few links you might find of interest. They are dog trainers and I'll be using their links to earn some money. I won't publish them here, as I have some more investigating to do on them, but one of them trains animals for movies and ads and the names she has on her site are rather impressive. I'll add them to the site when I get approval for the domain. Watch this space. Anyway, got an idea for another eBook for the Dog Potentials site to promote. I think I'll title it, A Basic Primer: Conformation. Will that sell, do you think?? If I make it inexpensive enough? Since Dog Potentials is going to be about/for the competitive dog, I think this will be a good thing. I shall have to learn about Rally, but I can attest to agility, flyball, and obedience ring work.

I have some reviewers that will tell me if I screwed up on it. lol Then, I have to decide if I can publish it in .pdf format on Keeping to the Borders or if I have to put it on Lulu.com. With the Lulu store, I could do it in .pdf and bound form, and even, an audio book. Teehee, if it's long enough, I could put it in for my NaNoWriMo project. Maybe I'll even do another blog here for it and call that Da Dog Book? Nah, if I do that, I'd better keep it to Dog Potentials. Don't know when I'll hear if the domain is registered to me. It took 72 hours to get eDragon Marketing set up. Probably need to reload those pages, too. Views are getting low again. I do need to make some changes to them. Put up some info on the recommendations and such. I suspect I'll be spending a while offline today to get all this stuff done. That is not a bad thing, although I have to go to the grocery. Almost out of dog and cat food. lol They would not be pleased to have nothing to eat!

Well, guess that's about it for now. I did find a new pizza last night. Papa John's has it and it's called "Papa's Perfect Pan Pizza." Five toppings, a new sauce and it's huge and square. Really good crust, too. Great for while you're surfing or reading your ebooks. Ta, y'all.

Starting over...sorta

2005-11-17T00:20:00.000-05:00

Well, here I am, starting a new blog for eDragon Marketing on Blogger. Since I am losing my Fears to Funds account on that other blogsite (which I won't dignify with a link), I must start over with a new one.

I've decided to create some articles from my former posts and drop them to Ezine Articles. That will be the better choice for links in the long-term, if they get picked up by people. One of my articles has already. It was one about dogs. I have several more of those available, too. lol This has had me in such a quandry, I only got one more item done up for my Keeping to to the Borders store and none for The Wright Gifts.

Tomorrow does not sound like a fun day at the j.o.b. Our District Manager is scheduled to "visit." Gack! He's such a pain in the backside most of the time. Oh, well, what the heck. He's only as bad as I allow myself to perceive him.

Jim Edwards has a new video you might enjoy. It's about "Idea Overload." He explains the difference between "information overload" and "idea overload." It's pretty short, so won't take long to view. Check it out.

Well, this one won't be long, as I have to get to bed reasonably early and I have a book I'm getting deeply into. It's by Ann Rule and she writes about real cases. This one is called, "Every Breath You Take." If you enjoy thriller-type books about real-life cases, this is a good one and she's an excellent author.

Fly Beyond!