Posted by Guest Author on Sep 30, 2009 in
Articles Companies as disparate as coal developers and animal feed firms are developing renewable or clean energy, with the aim of powering business in Kentucky in the future.
The Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear has unveiled the states first ever comprehensive energy plan, which calls for reducing green house gas emissions and creating 40,000 jobs tied to energy production and conservation by 2025.
The governor wants to increase renewable energy, boost biofuels, develop a coal to gas industry and encourage carbon capture/sequestration.
In April 2009, the state, University of Kentucky (UK) and University of Louisville (UofL) announced a partnership with Argonne National Laboratory to establish a national Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center in Central Kentucky.
The centers major goals will include supporting development of a viable U.S. battery manufacturing industry. It also will develop advanced manufacturing technology to reduce advanced battery production costs and accelerate the commercialization of technologies developed at national laboratories and universities.
The four year development project allows Kentucky to leverage its abundance of coal while burning fuel cleanly. If approved, the project will take four years to build, create 1,200 construction jobs and 500 long term jobs, and produce nearly $100 million in regional economic benefits each year. Kentucky NewGas will produce emissions of less than 5 percent of the emissions of a comparably sized traditional coal plant.
Alltech, which is based in Central Kentucky, is proving that companies unrelated to energy have an opportunity to thrive in this sector. The company has been one of the worlds top animal health companies. Now it has identified new opportunities with its extensive knowledge of ethanol. The rural community biorefinery would be one of the nations first to use cellulose such as switch grass and corncobs at rates of up to 30 percent. This material is converted to ethanol.
The appealing aspect of using cellulosic materials is that it is considered a waste product by almost any estimation. The market is expanding, and the need to replace fossil fuels is becoming more apparent with the limited supply.
Posted by Guest Author on Sep 30, 2009 in
Articles Weddings are so expensive, that footing the bill can mean a mortgage or a loan.
A good wedding budget considers a variety of things such as wedding favors, wedding floral arrangements and wedding invitations. Be strong in your determination to save money for your wedding and put all that extra toward the honeymoon! While a budget is a good idea, it is not a good thing to budget so cheap that the quality of your wedding suffers. Try to set a budget on quality items.
The day the wedding date is set is the time to start thinking about getting in shape – don’t wait. There are some other quick weight loss tips to consider, but their are ways you can improve your overall look, such as tanning and bridal hairstyles.
Make sure you have all your legal advice taken care of right along side of everything else in your wedding. Talking about legal issues can make couples feel less romantic, but it needs to be done.
Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance from your family and friends. After all, what are friends for?
Posted by Guest Author on Sep 30, 2009 in
Articles My neighbour, Simon, hit me up the other day. He asks me, “Hey Craig, this internet stuff you do. Can you really make lots of money online?” I laughed. Simon is not the sharpest tool in the shed but he is a lovely fellow. His family is what you would call ideal and I have a lot of time for them.
Being a Saturday morning I dragged him inside to my computer to simply show him quickly what it is I do and what the rewards are. In typical Simon fashion he gasped when he saw my online accounts for last financial year. After 15 minutes I asked if he would like to make that sort of money. He told me he already does as an accountant for a leading Melbourne business.
What he did say was that if I had an extra money making idea I could give him he would appreciate it. He did not want to be 100% reliant on an online income but if I could show him how to add to his income he would be happy with that. So I told him, “Sure thing Simon, that will be easy”.
So the next 3.5 hours went something like this.
“Simon, making money online is relatively simple as long as you have a plan in place. It is when you go at it like a bull at a gate with no rhyme or reason that the majority of people fail to make a buck. Planning is the key.” He understood this being a hot shot accountant and told me to continue.
Your first decision, I told him, should be whether you want to make lots of money or would prefer a smaller amount or extra income. In Simon’s case he said he only wanted to add to his current income. I asked him what amount he would call “extra” and he told me “a couple of grand a month” (real specific huh?)
Ok, I said, $2000 per month is our goal. Now let’s break it down. Two thousand divided by 30 days is $67 per day. We now have a daily figure to shoot for. Now we have to work out a strategy to do this. Now keep in mind we are not going to do this from day one. It is a process that we gradually build up to.
The following is a list of ways we could acheive this. Keep in mind that we can use one of the methods or a mixture of these. I will go over each method seprately though for the sake of the exercise. All of these methods you have no doubt heard of, unlike Simon.
1. Sell your own product.
I will not go into the specifics here but selling your own product gives you 100% of the purchase price. Doing this requires only 1 or 2 sales a day depending on your price point but then you have the added responsibility og custmer care, refunds etc.
2. Be an affiliate
This method is hugely popular and eliminates a lot of headaches but does require more sales per day to reach our target, depending on the price point. This one extra money making idea alone can add enormously to your bottom line.
3. Adsense and CPA offers
Using adsense on your websites has been around since Adam was a boy but can still provide you with an income. I know of many people that make lots of money online using this method. To reach our $67 you are going to have to get a lot of visitors to your website/s to get the necassary clicks to reach the goal.
There are just three ways of making money online. After going through this with Simon he said that it sounded hard to do. I told him that it is not hard, it is quite simple. Not easy, but simple. I told him that the kicker is getting eyeballs on what it is you are offering. Without people seeing your offer, no-one will buy and the easiest method of getting traffic to your money making website is to use article marketing.
By writing cleverly crafted articles that contain links to your offer you can get high rankings in the search engines thus providing you with a stream of potential customers. Depending on what niche you are aiming for and the selling term you want to rank for, this could take a handful of articles or it could take quite a few. This is where the planning comes to the fore.
I will tell you what I told Simon. Get a plan of action, write down the steps needed to achieve the plan and do it. Do not over analyze this though. Keep it real simple so it does not do your head in. It is when we make it difficult that we throw the towel in.
I spent 2 hours with Simon yesterday doing lots of niche research and keyword research. He looked at me sheepishly and asked if this is going to work. I gave him a slap on the shoulder and told him that he will make lots of money online with this extra money making idea. He simply shot me that goofy Simon smile.
Posted by Guest Author on Sep 30, 2009 in
Articles Search Engine Marketing Scotland: This post discusses how search engine marketing can benefit Scottish businesses and why it should be considered an important component of any well balanced marketing campaign.
The largest part of search engine traffic goes to those Web pages that are positioned on the first page of search engine results. This traffic represents potential customers who (through the keywords they use to search) are openly declaring an interest in the products or services they are searching for. Many are searching for the products and services that you sell and have already made the decision to buy.
The Local Market
In October 2008 the printed Yellow Pages were relegated to second place for local search surpassed by online search. The information available to consumers through Yellow Pages is limited and the expectation that every company has an informative website somewhat marginalises the benefits of printed directories like Yellow Pages.
The International Market
Scottish products are exported to every corner of the globe and brands like Baxters, Camp Coffee, Ultimo (designer lingerie brand), The Macallan and of course our other national drink Irn Bru are globally recognised household names. The perception of Scottish products abroad is one of quality and value.
Search Engine Marketing
Top 10 search engine rankings for a broad range of relevant keyword phrases means your site is far more likely to get traffic from a local, national and international perspective. Search engine marketing allows you to deliver your marketing message directly into the offices or sitting rooms of your customers regardless of whether they are located on the other side of the street or the other side of the world.