Your Favorite Links Blog This

Once upon a time, there were many long, cumbersome domain names which haunted internet marketers and surfers as well. These website domain names would be so long, that they would or could potentially break in emails or other communication conduits, therefore rendering the link unclickable. Of course, the recipient of the message could copy and paste the link into a browser, but in many cases that never happened. Or sometimes they wouldn’t copy the entire link before pasting it into the browser resulting in a “Page Not Found” error.

Until one fine day, a tiny url came along. This tiny url was generated by a magical tool that would take a long website domain name and transform those long cumbersome links to a much shorter version. They would also be encrypted using a combination of letters or numbers, so there was no way to know where the link would take you.

I know I was afraid to click on them when I first saw them. The dreaded “Pop Up” message was a welcome compared to this masked, cloaked, alias. Who knew what dark alley of a website full of ogres, trolls or naked women it would take you to? Yes, it was a favorable tool used by the porn industry marketers as well as other not so legitimate traffickers.

Back in the real world, the tiny url tool came on the scene circa 2002. www.Tinyurl.com was probably the first out there; to my knowledge and is one of the more popular ones. Many other tools with the same capabilities followed such as www.BudURL.com or www.PIUrl.com. There are literally dozens of these link shrinking sites available.

One of the benefits of these new born URLs; aside from they don’t take up a lot of real estate, is that they don’t expire. So you can store and reuse them indefinitely unless the service you used closes its’ doors. In Dec 2009, www.Tr.im almost did that. I guess it would be a good idea to keep a log where you’ve planted all these little url’s. Imagine posting them in thousands of blogs, articles and forums? Now imagine that you have to go and replace them? YIKES!

Some of these URL shortening tools transmuted into something more than an alias creating device. They now have become highly sophisticated with the potential to customize your alias and provide statistics to see your click-through results. Hey everyone, the domain name wars are back.

With all the social media websites out there like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc; which limit the number of characters allowed in the message you send, has created a tiny url frenzy. So the once convenient popular site, which contains a WHOPPING 15 characters (including the dots) now has heavy competition other tools that consist of fewer characters in their own domain name. The shortest of the url shortening tools with only 8 characters (including the dots) that I could find is. “Z.PE”.

So the once leader of the pack www.TinyURL.com has taken a back seat to www.Bit.ly which is now the Twitter url shortening tool of choice. Bit.ly over took the lead last year. If you wish to see the photo finish results go to www.Compete.com

Some websites have created the tool or pooled resources as a service that you could use to shorten your links right on their site. Stumble Upon has created www.Su.pr and HootSuite.com teamed up with www.Ow.ly.

To date, all of these tools are “free to use” which is great. I haven’t come across any that imposed a fee. That doesn’t mean that it won’t cost us something down the line. Many of these free services are offering toolbars which can be added to your browser. With all the toolbars that some people have on their browser, I wonder how they can read the page at all. I’m sure these toolbars will have some sort of ad space available.

In my travels to research this article I was able to find the anti-Christ of the tiny url tools which is http://freakinghugeurl.com. This site takes even the smallest size url & converts it to one of three sizes; (Huge, Freakin’ Huge & Holy Crap!). So a little itsy bitsy url like http://z.pe; which is a total of 11 characters soaking wet, was to the morphed into this 667 character url below, which then takes you back to, you’ll never guess: http://freakinghugeurl.com.

When I attempted to post the actual link it wouldn’t wrap & ran off the blog, so I had to post an image instead. Amusing, isn’t it?

In closing, I can’t help but say; “It’s a small World Wide Web after all”.

Thank You and GOD Bless,

Mario Puglia
Your Favorite Links
Your Online Shopping Mall
For All Your Home & Office Needs

As part of my blogs I will be featuring articles geared for the business oriented, as well as for the everyday shop-a-holics. Many of the business related products that I write about in these articles can be found under the B2B - Business and Networking category found on Your Favorite Links; Your Online Shopping Mall, For All Your Home & Office Needs.

If you’re reading this article, you may already have a business that you are or would like to market online. Maybe you may want to seriously consider about strictly becoming an internet marketer. What ever the case may be this is a great article to read, not just because I wrote it; but because it explains the benefits and features of this particular internet service.

The first service of this ongoing series of articles that I will be featuring is provided by AWeber. AWeber is one of the most popular eMail Marketing & Auto-Responders companies out there and one that I personally use myself.

You might be asking yourself; “Why would I want or need to use this service?” Using this service is not just a means to facilitate an email marketing campaign. It has much more functionality than that. AWeber has the capability to efficiently create, build and maintain lists. The number of lists, which you can store, is infinite. You can build a list for prospects and a separate one for clients. Create lists in order to do test marketing for your email campaigns. The possibilities are endless. And AWeber has step by step training videos on how to do all that which I’ll go into a little more in detail later on.

The reason AWeber is an asset to your company’s bottom line is because they are able to capture information from someone who visits your website and validates that they are willing to receive your information about your product or service. This is called “Opting In”. When a visitor Opts In, they cannot accuse you of “Spamming”. AWeber makes certain that all your email campaigns comply with all the current spamming laws.

They achieve this by providing forms; which they now offer in various styles through the templates they offer. The forms are equipped with fields of data you wish to capture from whoever is requesting additional information from your site. Once they confirm their email address & grant you permission to contact them, it enables you to begin and continue to maintain a relationship with your website visitor. The is a major key to your success since, as we all know that not everyone makes a purchase on the first visit. By offering a newsletter, report or updates on what you offer in exchange for their information, increases the potential for repeat visits and sales. This is an effective list building tool which is essential to the growth of your business.

One of the biggest features that AWeber offers is the auto-responder. This tool allows you to respond back immediately to the person submitting their data. This happens rain or shine; morning, noon or night. More importantly, you can continually communicate with your prospect by sending them “Follow-Up” emails which you have already created and are ready to send on a scheduled, timely basis. These messages can be sent in HTML or plain text format. You can also use one of many beautifully designed templates that they have available for the novice. Or the more advanced HTML savvy individual can create their own work of art.

Aside from the scheduled messages, you can also send out email blasts or broadcast messages. These messages can be sent immediately or they can be programmed to be sent out at a specific date and time.

Who actually uses a service like this? Well, Jonathan Mizel; an internet marketing guru does. His expertise has been sought out by industry giants like Disney, Microsoft, Intel, and American Express. Below find some quotes taken from a Jonathan Mizel, Autoresponse Seminar. You will have complete access to a one hour Jonathan Mizel video, which is available to you once you become an AWeber customer.

“The most important thing that you can capture from a customer is NOT his money. It’s…”

Jonathan calls AWeber:
“A systematic process that sucks the maximum amount of cash out of each prospect.”

AWeber has also some great marketing tips and blog posts available. They offer a vast array of ideas & concepts to help facilitate your email campaign strategies and your overall marketing schemes. Here are some of the latest headlines from AWeber’s blog post:

In addition to the blogs, you can also count on their support; which is plentiful. They have an abundant amount of resources. Their knowledge base is easy to use and understand. They offer webinars periodically which can be later found as training videos on the website. Lastly they also offer support, based on your preference; which can be in the form of live chat, phone or email.

Don’t believe what I say. Take an AWeber Test Drive for yourself for $1 for the first month. Then you can experience it on your own. They even have discounts for students & Non-profit organizations. Various pricing plans are available.

Try AWeber Email Marketing Risk-Free

Thank You and GOD Bless,

Mario Puglia
Your Favorite Links
Your Online Shopping Mall
For All Your Home & Office Needs

Christmas will be upon us in less than two short weeks. For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, you can now redeem yourselves and still save money with some great promotions posted here on Your Favorite Links; Your Online Shopping Mall For All Your Home & Office Needs.

Your Favorite Links has Special Promos page where you can find dozens of great promotions from several companies in various markets; such as Old Navy, Dell, HP, Jewelry Vortex, Perfume Emporium, Expedia. Get big discounts for Men and Women’s Clothing, Computers and Laptops, Jewelry, Perfume, Travel and more. . Not only will you find advertised specials from the stores for discounts and shipping deals; but you’ll also find some non advertised sales which are EXCLUSIVE to YFL (this website).

Be sure to Bookmark & Share button at the bottom of the blog so you can come back again. It will get updated dated often, but not on a set schedule. Please be sure to share it with your friends and family. They’ll thank you for helping them save money too.

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia
www.YourFavoriteLinks.com
Your Online Shopping Mall
For All Your Home & Office Needs

In an earlier blog I wrote An Alternative To Health Insurance. It addressed how some 47 Million Americans are without insurance.

This time I’d like to focus on another audience. Aside from those staggering numbers of uninsured, there are millions of other Americans that do have insurance, but don’t have or have very limited dental, vision and prescription plans. Their employers may not offer those benefits because they are add-ons to the main insurance policy which also helps to drive up the cost of the premium. To avoid the additional expenditure, they refrain from adding it to the portfolio of benefits.

So what does the employee do to offset the lack of benefits provided at the job? Some people unfortunately avoid going to dentists, optometrist or doctors because they can’t afford the cash outlay for the services. Others supplement their coverage with a separate insurance plan for the services specified above. This can be costly each month and have limited benefits, restrictions and have out of pocket expenses regardless.

Another solution; which is less costly, is to purchase a discounted health care package; which is also referred to as consumer driven healthcare. These programs are membership based, inexpensive and can provide a sizable discount; anywhere from 25% – 80%. Preventive services typically generate a higher discount.

These plans are quite unique from insurance because the cost of the policy doesn’t depend upon insurability, age, income or region. People that may have a pre-existing medical conditions can be receive benefits immediately without any waiting period or restrictions of services.

Click on the link to learn more about Discounted Health Care Plans or to get a Free Quote for traditional insurance products.

To receive my blogs are they’re published enter your information below. To bookmark or share this blog with your friends and family, scroll down & click on the Bookmark & Share button. Have a great day.

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia

Do you remember back in the day, when you went to the supermarket and were asked; paper or plastic? The introduction of plastic products gave consumers a choice. At the time, many of us thought; “save a tree, use plastic”. Plastic bags seemed more convenient because they were easier to tote our parcels in. But we didn’t realize the consequences of our actions. That being the irreversible damage caused to Mother Earth. We’ve created land masses of toxic materials poisoning the earth, not to mention the impurities that are being spewed into the atmosphere manufacturing said product.

One of the industries where plastic has got more than its foot in the door is the pallet industry. Pallets are a multi million dollar business which billions of pallets are in use all over the world at any given time. It’s an item that is taken for granted, but would bring the production process to a halt if we didn’t have them. Without pallets, we wouldn’t be able to move products all over the world

As of late, the pallet industry is now faced with having to opt for what technology has recently developed (plastic pallets), over the more traditional and conventional style (wooden pallets). Which of the two products is more eco-friendly? It’s my opinion that plastic pallets bearf a greater burden on our planet than the wooden pallets do. Are we going to make the same mistakes over again just because we’re faced with options?

Another controversial issue in the wood and plastic wars is safety. Companies that need to store pallets, face a cost factor above and beyond the purchase price of the pallet itself. They need to maintain a more sophisticated sprinkler system for plastic pallets. This is mainly due to the chemicals used in the plastic that can more easily ignite and spread causing a more severe fire than wood. Let’s not forget the toxins that plastics will emit into the immediate surroundings.

Wooden pallets are the epitome of environmentally correct from beginning to end. The pallets’ strips are taken from the discarded bits from trimming trees down which are used to make lumber. So every bit of a tree is put to use. When a pallet is broken, the broken plank(s) can easily be replaced. This recycling of the wooden pallet makes the skid last seemingly forever. And when a pallet finally has seen its last day, it is reincarnated into mulch, flooring, paneling or firewood. As you can see, the wooden pallet keeps on giving even after its use as a pallet is over.

It’s clear to me which seems to be the greener of the two. That’s why I’m affiliated with Deana Pallet Sale Co. We only offer wooden pallets. It’s more cost effective, safer and has a longer life span that its plastics counter part.

Please visit our website www.LIWoodenPallets.com and allow us to take care of your business needs as much as we try to help the environment by using an eco-friendly product.

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia
Marketing Consultant
Deana Pallets Sales Co
We Move The World

Just the other day I posted a blog about about COREL’s WinDVD Pro & Digital Studio. I came across another software company that has some pretty amazing cutting edge technology. Awareness Technologies have been developing software since 1996. The applications that I’d like to showcase are WebWatcher, LaptopCop & Interguard.

What makes WebWatcher the best computer monitoring software because it can be accessed remotely. Having the availability to monitor websites visited and the duration of the visits is just the tip of the iceberg. You can also view emails, instant messages and chat as well.

WebWatcher is used by some companies and government agencies to watch over 1000’s of computers and laptops. For larger companies and agencies InterGuard gives you three world class company protection solutions - Sonar, Datalock, and Laptop Cop - Try InterGuard now. It does everything WebWatcher does and much more. Datalock protects confidential data, trade secrets and more by tracking and controling what data is accessible and what can or cannot be done with it. Sonar is invisible and undetectible. Conduct investigations into employees PC or laptop use even if they’re in the field. Laptop Cop goes beyond encryption, it allows you to retreive or delete files even if it’s in the possession of a thief.

Laptop Cop can also be a stand alone product that can be purchased seperately for your own personal use to protect you data if your laptop is lost or stolen. It can also be used as a tracking device to help locate it; similar to LoJack for your car.

I told you that it was amazing and it gets even better. Below you can find discounts of 40% off for WebWatcher; 20% off for Laptop Cop and a 7 day FREE TRIAL for InterGuard.

Money Saving Discount Coupons

Have a great day.

Ciao For Now!

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia

Software development is constantly evolving every day. Corel Corporation is a top leader when it comes to the software and hardware they offer. They’ve developed exceptional products such as CorelDRAW, Wordperfect, Paint Shop Pro, Video Studio, Digital Studio and more. The list goes on.

What I’d like to do today, is tell you about an amazing offer that isn’t even available on their website. You can now get two of their latest and greatest products at tremendous savings. Save 70% on downloads of WinDVD Pro 2010 with coupon code P843951 and Save 70% on downloads of Corel Digital Studio 2010 with coupon code P843951.

Corel WinDVDPro 2010 is the ultimate DVD and Blu-ray software which will elevate your Hollywood blockbuster movie experience. With superior picture quality and razor-sharp audio performance your PC will transform into the Big Screen right before your eyes.

Corel Digital Studio 2010 will turn your PC into a photo and video editing studio. Digitally organize photos, videos and music all in one place. All the software you need in one simple multimedia suite. Create stunning slideshows and videoclips that you can share on Facebook™, Flickr™, YouTube™, iPod® and more.

Here are some other discounts being offered by Corel Corporation. Most of these discounts are for a limited time only so ACT NOW!

Final Liquidation Save 50% on Photo Album 7 Deluxe was $39.99 now $19.99.

Save $30 on Full Versions of CorelDRAW Graphic Suite Software with Coupon Code FALLCDGS (all caps). Ends 10/31/09

Save 15% on PaintShop Pro software with Coupon Code FALLPSP (all caps). Expires 10/31/09

Save $30 on full versions of Corel Painter software with coupon code FALLPTR (all caps). Ends 10/31/09

Save up to $30 on Corel Word Perfect Office. Was $299.99 now $269.99. Ends 11:59 PM 11/02/09.

So whether your an artist, college student, entrepreneur or someone who likes to have great software to help make your life easier, take advantage of these deals that you won’t even find on Corel.

Have a great day.

Ciao For Now!

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia

As reported in 2007, there are 47 million Americans that were without health insurance. The current economic crisis hasn’t helped the scenario. With the unemployment rate so high, the numbers are soaring even higher.

Insurance is expensive, even when you have your employer contributing to part or most of the premium. For those who have lost their jobs due to downsizing, are now eligible for COBRA. But COBRA is not affordable. How can it be? People who are eligible for COBRA aren’t making any money. If that’s not a Catch-22 I don’t know what is.

What about small businesses that need to offer medical benefits to their employees? The insurance rates so high; that they are causing all these mom and pop shops to close their doors. Or the owners go out and pay for insurance on their own privately, leaving the employees without coverage. Now more and more people need to provide medical benefits for themselves which they can’t afford to pay for.

They aren’t eligible for government sponsored programs because they earn too much. So what’s the answer? What’s the solution? The options for health care are not feasible. Or are they?

Today’s market now has an alternative to insurance for medical, dental and vision plans. Its consumer driven health care; or what is more commonly known as Discounted Health Care Plans. There are many companies that are now offering medical and dental plans through a discounted membership. Now you can attain affordable coverage by paying a low membership fee while getting a 20 to 80 percent discount for services rendered by a participating practitioner within a given network.

How do these plans work? These companies approach medical practitioners, dentists, chiropractors, pharmacists, etc and recruit them into their network. The practitioners are happy to come onboard, because this means less paper work and a faster cash flow for their business. Insurance companies pay based on a schedule. That means that they will be paying a fixed amount based on the specific services rendered. So the practitioner needs to submit claim forms to various insurance companies and follow up with them regularly. This is costly, since it requires a great deal of administrative work on the part of the staff. Now once all the paper work is submitted and approved the insurance company may take 30 to 180 days to submit the payments. By entering these discounted programs the practitioners are paid about the same money without all the headaches of dealing with the insurance companies.

What are the benefits to the members? They can get treated for conditions that may not be covered for through an insurance carrier. There is no approval process; the patient can get treated right away, without going for a second opinion. If a second opinion is desired the member doesn’t need to get approval from the insurance company. You can use the benefits endlessly. There is no limit as to how many times you can use your plan. There is no paperwork for the member as well; simply produce your membership card and your savings are applied instantly. There is no waiting to get reimbursed by an insurance company.

There is a company that offers these discounted plans from $14.95 per month per individual and $19.95 per household. A household consists of anyone living at your address (unit) up to 20 people; related to you or not. The plan mentioned includes dental, vision, prescription and chiropractic services. For a limited time only these plans are offered at HALF PRICE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. There are three other plans available with the same promotion. These plans are worth every cent at the regular price; now that they are half price, it would be a crime not to enroll.

One of the other benefits is that there is NO CONTRACT to lock into. You can cancel at any time without penalty. But why would you? Once you start using the benefits of these plans you’ll realize the savings. Not to mention all the money you’re saving on not paying for expensive insurance premiums which you hope to never get to use.

For more information about these low cost discount medical and dental plans, click here.

Have a great day.

Ciao For Now!

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia

Hello All!

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated Blog This. I think it’ll be a while before I’ll be blogging about Your Favorite Links Blog This for quite some time. I will however be using Blog This to blog about my other business endeavors.

One of the businesses I am involved with is that I offer medical and dental discount plans; which is great if you have insurance but a large deductible, or co insurance. This helps to minimize the payout of the high deductible or out of pocket expense of your portion of the co-insurance. It does not cover co-pays. Many people may not have dental, vision, chiropractic or prescription coverage which makes the dental plan very affordable and practical. There is currently a promotion taking place between 8/14/09 - 9/14/09 5:00 pm CST. Now you can get one of four different discount plans for half the price for an entire year. For more information on the plans & prices Click Here.

The other business I’m affiliated with is a health and wellness company. They offer well over one hundred products that are all natural and non toxic. They are products that you can use day to day such as hair/skin care; dental care; nutritional drinks and supplements. One of their latest products contains resveratrol which has been the talk of the town on many various media shows such as Oprah, 60 minutes and ABC News. Click here to learn more about this product. This product is available for sale and we are also looking for people to help market it as well.

I hope that you’ll come back to visit my website to read my blogs. Feel free to subscribe to my blogs or better yet the RSS feed.

Have a great day.

Ciao For Now!

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia

Your Favorite Links is proud to present this Mays’ events. Quickly beginning with May Day; which is May 1st. Be sure to read one of my other featured blogs this month; May Day Is For Maypoles & Green Thumbs, which gives a little history about May Day and features merchants that can make your garden blossom and flourish.

One of my favorite May celebrations is Cinco De Mayo. For all you non Spanish speaking friends that translates to May 5th. I have enjoyed this celebration so much that my friends have renamed it to Cinco De Mario. If you care to find out why, you should read last years blog about this day; Cinco De Mayo - One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, FLOOR!!!

May 11th is Mother’s Day. A day that is recognized by all. As I wrote in my previous Mother’s Day blog, Moms will always get the spot light over us Dads. I’m OK with that, so why don’t we make Mom proud by getting her some Flowers or visit our Gifts/Presents category to find her something special.

May is packed with more exciting things other than showers. It also has High School Proms & College Graduations . Don’t miss this blog. It’s packed with several sites that can help someone just getting out of college.

May 26th is our final event for this month. It’s a time to pay tribute to all our fall troops. It’s Memorial Day. From the time our fore fathers dedicated their lives to make America the land of the free, till present day where our brothers and sisters fall on foreign soil to keep this country free and safe from terrorism and harm. May we have a moment of silence for those heroes past and present.

On the lighter side of Memorial Day, it’s also a time for BBQs and vacations. Speaking of vacations, make sure you also read my soon to be posted blog “Planning My Summer Vacation”. I wanted to have it ready along with this blog but there’s only so much one guy can do. Having been on vacation myself; in England the beginning of April, I know what it’s like to try to book everything without any glitches. I’ll be writing about my vacation along with various travel search engines & attraction sites for various cities. The rest is up to YOU! Happy Travels!

One last thing before I go. I will also be posting a multi series blog about gardening tips, do’s and don’ts, etc. So make sure you sign up for my blog notification below so that you won’t miss any of it; not to mention my blog about travel and my trip to England. Cheers!

GOD Bless

Mario Puglia
www.YourFavoriteLinks.com
Your Online Shopping Mall
For All Your Home & Office Needs