In this economic climate, any time you have the opportunity to make a few extra bucks you usually make it happen. Maybe you do a little side work for cash, have a yard sale to get rid of unused items or post items to an online flea market in hopes of getting a few bucks. I do all of these things on occasion. Recently I needed to sell an older laptop that I had sitting around collecting dust. The laptop still worked but it was large, too hot to put on your lap and not getting any use. So I shopped around for what my options were to turn the laptop into cash.

At first I posted an ad on our bulletin board at work. The ad had a picture of the laptop, some of it’s specs and a reasonable price. While I had a few inquiries I didn’t get any real buyers. So I took the ad down and looked for other avenues.

Next I checked eBay for prices on the particular model I was trying to sell. There were a few laptops like it listed there but they were nearing the end of their auction and no one had bid on them. I want to turn this laptop into cash and I don’t want to wait around for an auction to end or give the laptop away for pennies because no one was really interested. Again, I looked for other avenues.

I did a few searches on Google for “selling a laptop” and this is when I started finding shops that actually buy used laptops and other electronics. So I started clicking on the links to see what they were all about. All the sites I found worked the same way: you enter the model number and some specs into a form, choose what condition the electronic is in and then the price that particular site is willing to offer appears. If you find the price acceptable you enter some personal information and you get further instructions. Some of the sites pay for shipping and packaging some do not. *See the table below.

With the first few sites I became a little concerned because they were offering much less than I was hoping to get for my laptop. Before I gave up on the “buy your laptop” sites I found Jay Brokers. Jay Brokers gives you two options: you can see what the FMV or “Fair Market Value” for your device is from historical data via eBay sales or you can fill out a form to get a personalize “guaranteed” quote. The guaranteed quote is “guaranteed” if you are truthful with the information you enter in the form about your device. A quote was emailed to me within 24 hours and it was $100 MORE than any of the other sites. Needless to say I was very happy but still a little skeptical. My next move was to send the laptop to someone I’m not familiar with in hopes of getting the money they guaranteed. Jay Brokers does not pay for shipping and packaging but I knew it would be around $20 ($13 for shipping, $7 for the packaging) from my past experience of sending a laptop out for refunds or repairs. Off to UPS I went and away the laptop shipped.

Two days later I got an email from Jay Brokers that they received the package and will be in the process of testing the device to make sure it works per the data I entered into their form. Within 24 hours I got another email that said the money has been placed in my PayPal account. That was it. A very painless and quick service. From my experience I give Jay Brokers a 5 out of 5 stars for providing an honest and transparent service.

I can only speak of my experience with http://www.jaybrokers.com and from that experience I recommend them for getting rid of devices you no longer use. They offered $100 more than the closest competitor and in some cases almost $200 more.

I have been having a goofy creative spell. What possesses me to do what I do I have know idea. The last few weeks I put together three sites that stemmed from an idea or a brainstorm through goofy conversations with co-workers. The three sites were built with a ‘viral market’ in mind but the main purpose is to sell some t-shirts.

First came twiturder.com. Twiturder (twit-turd-er) is a device that attaches to your toilet and ‘tweets’ whatever happens while you are on it. Yes, it can most certainly be gross. I tried to create a 1/2 serious and 1/2 silliness look and feel for the site hoping to have people guessing whether the twiturder device was real or not. The t-shirt for this product is a simple “got turd?” design. I also have a Twitter account @twiturder where I occasionally update what goes on at the plant including any new products that come along.

The next product to come out of the maelstrom is ThongDrive.com. During a conversation I was having with a co-worker I swear they said something about a thong drive. While he probably didn’t say anything close to that it sounded like a great idea to mix usb flash storage and a thong. Don’t you think? The site is complete with a little Flash application at the top where you can choose your skin color and preferred thong color. The t-shirt for this idea is a simple “ThongDrive” logo with the phrase “thong + storage = genius”. Usually people get a charge out of this product. I’m still working on a way to convince my wife to actually create one but it does not seem like she’s interested at the moment.

The newest product idea was easy to come up with due to the current scare of swine flu. The Swine B Gone.com product is supposed to be an aerosol spray that you can douse yourself with and remove all effect of the swine flu (H1N1). I had a couple t-shirt ideas for this one but stuck with the “Swine B Gone” logo and the words “swine flu protected” below it.

With each site I tried to make them have a similar theme but be fairly unique in content. Obviously the t-shirt element is in all three but the information about each product has it’s own unique flavor and humor. There are some key elements you should include in your site(s) when you build, develop and/or design.

Key Element 1
One of the key elements you need to include is an easy way to spread the word about your site via social mediums. There are a few ways you can cover Twitter, email, Facebook, Digg and a whole slew of others. I use the Add this menu which lists a number of popular social media methods in nice little package. The idea is to make it extremely easy for your viewers to spread the gospel about whatever page they are on.

Key Element 2
Another key element is keyword rich content. If you build a goofy site about a current event you should try to include the keywords in your content about that event. This goes for any site you build. Keyword rich content is extremely important for readability and SEO. Make sure you are conscious of grammar and spelling. People can be turned off by sentences that are difficult to read or include spelling errors.

Key Element 3
An important key element to add is data collection. At a minimum you should have a form on your site to collect emails and names so you can develop an email list. Once your list starts to grow you will be able to use it to spread the word of your newest ventures quickly. If you use Facebook or Twitter more frequently then request their Facebook or Twitter name.

Key Element 4
A key element I try to incorporate is some form of interaction. Generally, this can include a small Flash application that peeks someones interest, a game for people to play, a daily or weekly poll where people can vote on some subject or a comments section where viewers can interact with each other and you. The idea for this is to create a small element that could bring people back because they are curious about the results of a poll or the replies to their previous comments.

Key Element 5
Another key element you can easily include are affiliate marketing links. Obviously people have started putting on their blinders when it comes to banner ads and such but that does not mean they are completely ineffective. Try to think of a creative way to make them look more appealing in your design. There are so many cookie cutter looking sites that just slap them into a column and hope for the best. Try to add a new twist to your affiliate area that might peek more interest. Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.

Just because a venture is not as successful as you hoped does not mean it was a complete failure. Chances are you learned something from the experience and you will be able to put what you learned into use on your next venture. If you sense failure, reassess your position and either make modifications or move to your next venture. If you are just starting out, do not be afraid to fail. Usually in failure we learn enough to make the next attempt successful. Put some thought and creativity into each project you do.

With the proliferation of applications that do something with Twitter most people do not even log into their Twitter account directly though the web site anymore. Early desktop applications have been getting better and new applications are being stuffed with features. Most are now running on the popular Adobe Air platform and most do very similar things with your tweets. Which application is right for you?

TweetDeck
TweetDeck, in my opinion, is the best desktop application for managing your Twitter addiction account. With TweetDeck you organize those you follow into “groups”. These groups make it easier to follow a particular topic without the tweets being intermingled with the tweets of other people you follow. Say you have a “tech” group and you designated a few of the tech savvy people into that group. When they make updates, their tweets will go into the tech group column where you can quickly scan through that topic. The TweetDeck application just rolled out a new update to incorporate Facebook feeds into the mix. With the addition of Facebook you can now have a column that collects you friend’s Facebook status while giving you the opportunity to update your own status. Other nifty additions to make both Twitter and Facebook mesh, you can “tweet” someones Facebook status or update your Twitter and Facebook status all at once. The TweetDeck application is my personal favorite at the moment for its ease of use, slick layout and in depth feature set.

Seesmic Desktop
Seesmic’s Desktop application is the new kid on the block for your tweeting needs. While still in “Preview Release” Seesmic’s offering seems like a stripped down version of TweetDeck…so far. To organize your follower’s tweets you create “User Lists” similar to TweetDeck’s groups. As the application stands now I am not impressed with its feature set and believe their interface could use some work. As of this writing I could not add new followers after a search for particular topics. There are also iconic buttons that do not have tool tips to explain what they do. I like the effort so far by Seesmic and hope when the application is ready for the full release that it will be able to compete with TweetDeck. I look forward to giving it a good run through when it’s fully released.

Seesmic Twhirl
This is another Seesmic desktop tweeting application and it is a great solution for those not needing to organize your followers. It is very simple to use and has just enough features to keep you reading and tweeting in style. This is kind of an odd observation but I almost feel like I am using an IM client when using Twhirl…in a good way.

TwitterFox
While not a desktop application TwitterFox is a great extension for the Firefox browser. TwitterFox offers you the essentials for following your followers and tweeting when you need to. It’s a simple install and once you log in there’s nothing more to setup. I recommend it for your quick tweeting fixes.

One disadvantage practically all Twitter applications have is they can be extremely disruptive if you happen to be doing work and trying to passively keep up. All of the applications have “dings” and pop-ups signifying new tweets and unless you turn them off you will find yourself halting work and skimming through new tweets every couple minutes.

There are a number of “tweeting” applications that work with the iPhone, iPod Touch and other browsers. I just touched on ones that I have experience using. It really is going to be a matter of choosing the application that suits your needs.

If you have not already read part 1 of this study I recommend you check it out Managing Your Social Marketing Part 1 – A Store Owners Experience

If you have been in business for any amount of time you undoubtedly had to answer questions about the products or services you deliver. Chances are you had to answer the same exact questions over and over again. This is the way search engines work for people who use the web as their information source…which means pretty much everyone on the web. People have questions, they type them into their favorite search engine the results should have the answers. In comes the blog.

Think of a business blog as your repository for information about your business, industry, products and services. When you are in business you gain an intimate relationship with whatever you offer. You know how it functions, it’s quirks and you probably have insight into its future. This information is valuable to current and future customers alike. It builds consumer confidence in your business and leverages you as an authority figure in your field. Incidentally, this is one of the “assets” I talked about in Part 1 of this study. If you use other social media for marketing your business, having a blog(if used correctly) gives your more relevance and clout.

Having a blog is not for everyone. An empty or seldom updated blog is akin to having an e-commerce store where you sometimes if ever process orders. It is useless unless you fulfill its function. The business blogs function is to inform, educate and feed those looking for ever changing information. If you are not comfortable doing research and writing information you have two options. One option is to not have a blog. The second option is to start with small frequent blog posts until you are comfortable delving deeper into subjects. We will touch on this more in Part 3.

Start that blog! If you choose to get your blog rolling…blogroll: list of recommended blogs listed on the sidebar of a blog…you will either need a little technical know-how or someone that possesses the technical know-how. If you have the technical know-how then you will need web hosting that supports the blog software you wish to use. WordPress is a very popular blogging software and is one I recommend. There are hundreds of “skins” for WordPress that can take you from the normal “blah” layout of a standard install to completely sheik in a few clicks. After that you just need to familiarize yourself with the amazing administration portion of the software and you are ready to blog.

If you are not technically inclined there are companies that can help you get your blog off the ground. Solid Cactus is a great company that helps business owners develop their online presence. They take care of everything from e-commerce to search marketing to blogs to a number of other services.

Once you get your blog up and running there are some key things you should be conscious of when writing your posts. We will go over that in the next part of this study.

(Written by Susan)
Day 7
The day begins and I am feeling great. I have my usual Chex with Craisins and all is good. For lunch, I heated up the leftover pizza in the oven which allowed the crust to become crunchier. Today, the pizza tasted even better. Greg and I agree that we would like to continue using this recipe. Along with the pizza we had a tossed salad with our favorite sweet Italian dressing.

Shortly after lunch, we headed out to a birthday party. Our friends were great about having foods that were safe for Ryan to eat. He was able to have treats from the prize bucket (tootsie rolls), chips and ice cream. I received notice in advance that there would be cupcakes for the kids, so I made sure to bring a cupcake for Ryan so he would feel included. Ryan had a great time at the party and he even received an ice cream bowl containing treats that were safe for him as a party favor. I can only hope that all the parties Ryan attends will be so accommodating.

We had a special dinner to conclude my gluten free week. Greg helped me prepare a roast chicken with roasted red potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. I baked a loaf of gluten free bread in my bread machine and we also prepared cold slaw as a side dish. To complete our delicious meal, we had strawberry shortcake. The shortcake tasted amazing and was a great way to finish a very successful week. I am excited to continue to eat gluten free foods and to prepare meals for my family which are healthy and safe for everyone to eat!

(Written by Susan)
Day 5
Shortly after I wake up each morning I feel starved. For the past two mornings I have not felt hungry until about an hour and a half after waking up. We will see what tomorrow brings to see if this is a coincidence or related to my new diet. I had my usual Chex with Craisins which again kept me feeling full up until lunch time. For lunch today I was expecting to be disappointed. We were out of the house and I packed three leftover dinner rolls (2 days old) with soy butter and all natural fluff. Ryan has “fluff-r-nutters” nearly every day. I have tried them in the past on regular white bread and I never enjoyed eating them. If there is nothing in the house to eat I might resort to eating a fluff-r-nutter sandwich even though I really didn’t like the soy butter. Today, I actually enjoyed eating my sandwiches. The soy butter did not leave a funny aftertaste and the sweetness of the fluff tasted great with the rolls. For a healthy accompaniment I had several celery sticks.

This afternoon for a snack I decided to mix things up a bit and have a large piece of oatmeal bake in place of my trail mix. That oatmeal bake has been a great alternative. For dinner I fixed a tuna fish sandwich on a dinner roll and a tossed salad with shredded cheese on top. I found a ranch dressing that is gluten free and topped my salad with it. Looking for something crunchy to go with my dinner, I had some corn chips. Tonight, my sweet tooth struck and I had to have a small bowl of trail mix along with a cup of hot tea. That was a yummy combination!

I am feeling very good after five gluten free days. My body feels satisfied and I do not feel bloated like I have felt in the past. Now I am thinking about extending my gluten free diet for another week to see how my body is feeling. I don’t know that just one week is long enough to make conclusions about the impact of one’s diet.

(Written by Susan)
Day 4
To start off my day, I had my usual mix of Chex with Craisins. It is such a tasty breakfast and gives me energy for my busy mornings. Today, I did not even feel hungry for a morning snack. Lunch consisted of chicken, rice, corn and a roll. Not only do leftovers taste great, but they are also quick and easy. For something sweet after lunch I had some grapes. Of course in the afternoon I had my usual trail mix snack.

I decided to prepare ham and potato soup for dinner which is one of Ryan’s favorite meals. Tonight, I made a couple of adjustments to my usual recipe.

Ham and Potato Soup

• 1 small onion
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium carrot shredded
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 cups diced potatoes
• 5 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: Cook the potatoes and save 2 cups of the water from the potatoes. Melt the butter and sauté the onions. Add the carrots and sauté. Mix in the cornstarch, salt and pepper. Slowly add the milk and heavy cream. Stir regularly while bringing mixture to a boil. After mixture has begun to thicken, add the potatoes, reserved water, and ham. Cook for a few more minutes to warm ham. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top.

To go with the soup, we had leftover dinner rolls which were delicious when dipped into the creamy soup. I felt very satisfied after dinner tonight and did not have anything else to eat or drink. As I mentioned in previous posts I have been feeling better. I am not positive that the diet is the only factor but from my reading it certainly can play a huge role.

(Written by Susan)
Day 3
While we have not converted 100% over to a gluten free diet…my husband still snacks on foods containing gluten (Darn you Girl Scout cookies!!)…all of our family meals have been gluten free. This is the third day of our gluten free week and I believe I have been feeling better. I have to research a little more into what others have said about the gluten free diet. Here is my day…

For breakfast I had my usual bowl of Chex with Craisins. Since finding out Rice Chex is gluten free we have been eating them like they are going out of style. It is a great cereal for breakfast or snack. For my mid-morning snack I had a piece of oatmeal bake with milk on top. I don’t mind eating the same things each day and my son Ryan seems to be just like me. When we find things we like to eat, we eat them day in and day out. Lunch was a repeat of dinner from yesterday, grilled ham and cheese with veggie sticks. For something sweet, I had some applesauce with cinnamon. There is no doubt I have been eating healthier over these past three days. My meals are more balanced with lots of fruits and vegetables. And you know what? I am not at all surprised. I am always telling people how healthy Ryan eats. He is sensitive to tomatoes, but other than that, he is able to have all fruits and vegetables. The best part is that Ryan actually likes to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Our afternoon snack time came and I opted for trail mix again. I think this will be a regular habit, because there are not a lot of snacks, besides fruits and vegetables that are safe for Ryan. For dinner I tried a new gluten free dinner roll recipe that turned out great! You can find the recipe here: Gluten Free Dinner Rolls. I wanted to coat the chicken with breading and decided to try something different. I crushed Chex cereal and added rosemary, thyme, salt and locatelli cheese. Next I coated the boneless, skinless chicken with egg and dipped it into my “breading” mixture. It went into the oven and baked for about 35 minutes at 380 degrees. Since I was baking my dinner rolls at the same time it made the meal come together very quickly. Per Ryan’s request, we had white rice and corn to top off the chicken entree. Dinner was delicious and now I am beginning to consider having all gluten free meals all the time. It is going to take a little more effort and a little more money, but it is great to have a table full of food, all of which can safely be eaten by Ryan. After dinner I again had a craving for something sweet. Tonight I decided to have oatmeal bake along with my hot tea. Delicious.

(Written by Susan)
Day 2
This morning I decided to have my usual breakfast, which happens to be gluten free. General Mills now make gluten free Rice Chex and they are great when accompanied by Craisins. When Ryan was ready for breakfast he wanted to have a piece of toast so I decided to try a slice of toasted freshly baked bread. As I expected, it was very good. Next I searched for an oatmeal bake recipe so I could attempt a gluten free version. I substituted applesauce for oil and raisins for the cranberries. You can check out the recipe here: Oatmeal Bake.

For lunch I had leftover meatloaf, potatoes, veggies and a slice of the homemade gluten free bread. Yum! I am a huge fan of leftovers. Next, Ryan and I tried the oatmeal bake which turned out okay. I bet it would be delicious warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. While Ryan enjoyed his ice cream and oatmeal snack, I chose to not do dessert. For an afternoon snack I went back to trail mix, because it is filling and very satisfying.

Time for dinner. I opted for a simple meal since we had been playing outside right up until dinner time. I fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches using the same loaf of bread I baked yesterday. Greg, Ryan, Dominic and I all had sandwiches with the gluten free bread and everyone was pleased. The ham came from Heavenly Ham and I found that my local store has a gluten free ham. Hooray! If you check out the website or call your local store you will find that some locations are still be using the old spice recipe which is not gluten free. As a side to our sandwiches we had carrot and celery sticks and sliced broccoli. We used Marzetti’s Sweet Italian dressing for dipping our vegetables. If you have not tried it shame on you. It is my family’s favorite salad dressing and it is also gluten free! You can check out all the gluten free salad dressings Marzetti’s makes at their website. Shortly after dinner, I always find myself craving something sweet. Lately, I have been having a hot cup of tea with sugar and a touch of milk. Tonight, it really hit the spot.

(Written by Susan)
When my son Ryan was 6 weeks old, he was given a lollipop to taste. No harm in that, right? Within minutes he started developing hives on his cute, little face. Not sure what to do, since I was three and half hours from home, I went to the nearest pharmacy. The pharmacist recommended giving Ryan Benadryl and helped me figure out the correct dose to give him for his weight. Thankfully, this cleared up Ryan’s face and my husband and I could breathe calmly again. After speaking with the pharmacist and later Ryan’s Pediatrician, we learned that Ryan most likely reacted to the red food dye in the lollipop. Several months later I began to feed Ryan bread and noticed that he sometimes developed hives after digesting the bread. When Ryan was 9 months old I was out with a friend and I fed him a baby snack puff. Shortly after, Ryan started to get hives on his face. Within an hour they started to spread to his arms. I called Ryan’s pediatrician and brought Ryan directly to his office. The pediatrician had me pick up some medicine to give Ryan to stop the hives and recommended that we see an allergist. It has been three and a half years now since my son Ryan was diagnosed with a wheat allergy, peanut allergy and red food dye allergy.

I received a bunch of literature from the allergist and began to adjust Ryan’s diet to try to eliminate wheat, peanuts, and food dyes. In the beginning it was a challenge making sure that each food item was free from Ryan’s allergens. I had a list of ingredients commonly found in foods that the allergist said were not to be trusted as safe for Ryan. These ingredients could possibly contain wheat even though wheat was no where to be found on the food label. From time to time Ryan would have a reaction to something that he would eat and I would feel frustrated that I fed something to him that he was allergic to. Then Ryan began having skin problems and his eczema got worse. After speaking with the allergist we thought that Ryan might be sensitive to dairy. So Ryan went on a dairy free diet as well. For about two years Ryan avoided dairy until I decided to gradually start introducing it again. Thankfully Ryan seemed to do fine with dairy products which allows him to eat more foods and have a more balanced diet.

(more…)