Welcome to another Mercury Retrograde.  This can impact our regular lives as well as our business, and for quite some time I didn’t even know that it occurred.

Sometimes, things just happen.  However, sometimes it’s Mercury.

The Mercury Retrograde can be very easily related as “Murphy’s Law”.  Computers crash, software develops unexpected glitches, traffic jams pile up unexpectedly, telephone service drops, letters get lost, machinery breaks down, new projects fail.  Mercury the trickster is at it again pulling out all the stops.  Actually, at least three times a year for approximately 3 weeks Mercury has it’s way with us, playing it’s wild games.

What is Mercury Retrograde?

When we come into a retrograde, it appears that Mercury will actually go backwards across the sky.  This, however, is an optical illusion.  What actually occurs is Mercury slows down and rotate slower which gives the appearance of going backwards.  It is just the same as going down the highway and passing a car going slower than you – they appear to go backwards when they aren’t.

What does Mercury Retrograde do?

Mercury rules communication.  What this brings is basically annoyance and mis-communication if we are too hasty and ‘think’ we know what’s going on, we can actually miss the point or pertinent information.  Anything surrounding communication, verbal activity, technology, trips, primary education, and siblings can all be affected.

Usually the effects of the retrograde are irritating and annoying, but occasionally larger issues can arise.

What should I do during a Retrograde?

There are some things that we can do to make the best of the time we have with Mercury and it’s tricks.  Here are a few pointers to get you through this time with only minor irritations.

1. Stand Back: Mercury may bring up things from our past.  The retrograde gives us time to catch up with ourselves and to look back.  Something from the past might return in a different form.  This can mean people, ideas or buried insights that need to surface for you to move forward.  Watch for these and if they arise, be prepared to learn from the experiences.  Maybe there is something you missed the first time.
2. Just Don’t:  There is a long held belief that it’s best to avoid making set plans during the Mercury Retrgrade.  This means being cautious about things like signing contracts, forming partnerships or corporations, or making big decisions.  If it is not urgent, take some time to step back and contemplate before moving forward.
3. Back up, back up, back up: We all know that we should back up our computer and save our work, but it is increasingly important during the retrograde since computer crashes, lost emails, and other types of technical failures quite often occur during this time.
4. Start Early:  If you are anticipating completing that proposal, a speech, or a new website during the retrograde, give yourself extra time.  If you have finished your ezine the night before it is to be sent, just to find that with the odd turn of fate from Mercury you are unable to gain access to your Email Service Provider – or worse, y0ur internet goes down – you could find yourself a day late.  Always work ahead and get things completed early so if there are any troublesome issues, you have time to work through them before the deadline.  This also is key for getting to appointments on time.  Give yourself the extra time to allow for those possible snags.
5. Sooth Your Mind:  Mercury Retrograde is an energy shift that can create confusion and stress.  Find ways to soothe your mind with music, or rare quiet.  Listen to your own thoughts and be curious about where they are taking you.

In general, take your time, be consistent, and make sure to make some time for you to finish up those lose ends so that you may start fresh!

Here are the dates for the next retrogrades so you are able to keep track and be sure to be ready for the next one.

• October 21, 2013 (2:29 am GMT) – November 10, 2013 (1:12 pm GMT)
• February 6, 2014 (1:44 pm GMT -

  February 28, 2014 (6:01 am GMT)

• June 7, 2014 (3:57 am GMT) -

  July 1, 2014 (4:51 am GMT)

• October 4, 2014 (9:03 am GMT) -

  October 25, 2014 (11:17 am GMT)

The question is “is article marketing still effective?”

The answer is “Maybe.”

Why do we participate in article marketing?

Why do you place posts on article networks? The following are common reasons individuals post short articles, and whether these have been impacted by the newest algorithmic change.

1. You post articles to obtain backlinks.

The genuine problem would not be a drop in keyword positions for your preferred short article network if you’re sole inspiration is building back links. If those articles have actually been de-indexed by Google, then we would be looking at an even larger issue. For the most part, it appears like it’s simply a positions concern, not an indexing concern, however if the articles you have placed your link on have actually been de-indexed, then those links are worthless.

The other thing you need to think about is whether Google values those short articles as much since they have marked the general website as a content ranch. One can assume that links on those sites, even if they are indexed, are worth even less than before.

2. You publish short articles to get traffic.

If you’re publishing content on article sites to develop traffic to your site, then you may be up the creek without a paddle. If your articles have migrated from page one to page 10, then your search engine visitors who are actually visiting your site from your articles will, or already have, dropped off very substantially. If no one is seeing your information, then they’re not visiting by clicking on your links either.

3. You upload articles to develop authority in your specific niche.

This one is a little iffy, however again, if search engines are putting your articles in the search results, it’s going to be hard to reach a larger audience with your material. Of course, if you are targeting people who routinely see the article sites themselves, then you’re probably ok so long as you are a showcased member on the site’s homepage and may have success in that specific site’s own search engine result for a particular subject.

What Can You Do to Battle the Loss of Search Traffic?

You have 2 choices if the outcome you want from article websites is a stable flow of traffic to your own site and offerings. The first is that you could lean far from article advertising and begin focusing your efforts on writing articles as post for your very own internet site or as visitor posts for various other blog websites.

The second is you could begin working towards acquiring traffic from other sources beyond search engines, such as blog commenting, social networks, social bookmarking, and responses websites.

Promoting Your Articles Like an Article

The trick is to have a mindset of promoting your posts like a blog writer would advertise their post.

It doesn’t work so well if you are spinning out crap which is the number one reason article networks have actually been targeted in the rankings. However if you are composing quality material, then you should be able to advertise that content with people curious about your particular niche or market.

If you want to keep advertising by means of article networks, then get prepared to alter your promo design. Focus less on SEOing your content, and find out more about promoting it!

Focus on sharing good quality content – content that people love and feel they need more of – and that will go much further than hoping you are still receiving benefits from article marketing websites.

It got me to thinking – how many people really know why or how to create an awesome password?

It’s just a fact of life, every little thing we do, especially online, requires a password! Passwords keep us safe, keep our information safe, and protects our identity – however if they are not done right, it can open the door for the fastest expanding crime in today’s culture: identification burglary, hacking, hijacking of a website or FaceBook fan page and much more.

And the worst thing about it – most people think it can’t happen to them. Just as anything negative in this world – IT CAN – and the more vulnerable you leave yourself, the easier you make it for others to take advantage. Take the time to create a fantastic password!

Here are some crucial standards to think of when generating a strong password:

1. Don’t devalue the relevance of a password.
   
   Most people feel that passwords are more of a pain than a protection. As a result, something is chosen which is easy to remember, like the name of their dog. Be sure to think about the purpose of your password. Is it for an online gaming site? If so, choosing a basic password may not be a huge issue. But would you want the password to your Bubble Bounce account be the same as your online bank account?
   
   
2. Treat your passwords like money in the bank!
   
   Ask yourself this: Do you leave large sums of money simply sitting on your desk at work? I know I wouldn’t. So why would you leave your passwords laying around? We protect our PIN if we use our debit card at the store – we should also take the proper precautions with ‘hiding’ our passwords from others.
   

3. Produce creative passwords.
   
   Like most of people, you most likely have hundreds of things you are attempting to remember at any one time. Fortunately, there are a few tips and methods out there to help you produce passwords that are easy to remember, yet still tough for others to decode. Explained right here are reversing, characterizing, numerating, and combination basing methods to help get you started.




a) Reversing – Reversing is the art of taking a password you like to utilize and reversing it, so that the letters are in opposite order. For instance, if your password was BLUE, just merely reverse the letters to be EULB. This is a great low-to-medium-level security option for low threat websites, but would be an inadequate selection for your financial account.

yellow	would be	wolley
Ontario	would be	oiratnO
Flying	would be	gniylF

b) Characterizing – Characterizing means taking a word and changing some of its letters with symbols or characters (such as! @ # $ % ^ & \*). While some websites do not permit symbols, if a website allows signs, you benefit from the added security. Below are a couple of instances of how you can utilize characterizing in your passwords:.

yellow	could become	y3ll0w
Ontario	could become	0n+ar!o
Bump	could become	B^mp

Adding one-of-a-kind characters to the start or end of your words will help too, (such as Bump ?!), just make sure not to use symbols that reflect exactly what you are trying to safeguard. (Don’t make use of $Royal$ for your on-line bank account password.).

c) Numerating – Among the simplest methods to add an added layer of security is by numerating, or adding phone numbers to your passwords. These phone numbers must be easy to remember, but tough for a lot of people to determine. Using memorable dates can be a good start, but guide clear from common-knowledge events such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries (either yours or those you are close to). The age you were when you got your first broken arm, the day your partner proposed, or some other exclusive phone number would be a winner. Just simply including four numbers to your password will add a great level of safety if you do not have the time to think that far into it. Some examples are below:

yellow	could become	Yellow1973
Ontario	could become	56Ontario32
Flying	could become	7Flying1932

d) Combination basing – Combination basing is the act of taking two words that don’t suggest anything on their own, and linking them together to make an expression. This expression must have a unique meaning that makes good sense to you, enabling it to be easily kept in mind but hard for others to comprehend. An occasion that attracts attention in your mind, a line from your preferred song, or an odd statement that your dad uses are all prime examples. Combination basing is a fantastic method to produce a medium level password that is difficult to decode, however simple to bear in mind. Here are some examples below:

HighwayPie	We travel the highway to get our favorite pie.
BarbiePaper	My daughter tried to make a Barbie house out of paper.
PugNail	Our pugs nails grow too fast.

 

4. Invest in a program to help you with passwords online.
    
   Anyone who is in business has numerous passwords for multiple things online. Online banking, website hosting, wordpress administration, email platforms, shopping carts, social media and so much more. It can be difficult to have great unique passwords for each one and keep track of them all. There are different way to take care of this issue, however I personally prefer RoboForm. Not only do you have your passwords protected and encrypted on your computer –you can use the program to automatically fill in the login form online so you don’t have to remember your password.

   Better yet – it has a built in secure password generator that you can set for any number of characters, numbers, or special characters to fit any password need. Instead of trying to figure out a password, click the generate button and you can have something like this: 6XX99%y@38d – and a software to remember it for you.

   You can try it out for free right here.

 

5. Special Note About Outsourcing

    

   Many companies – especially solo-preneurs and enetrepreneurs outsource much of their administrative work. One way to ensure safety while sharing your account is to see if your accounts allow secondary ‘administrators’. This way you can set up a special login for your VA or other oursourcing professional, and still keep yours private allowing for you to keep complete control over your account. And should anything go awry with your relationship with that professional – you don’t have to scramble to change all of your passwords.

   Not all services provide this, however there are many that do. Your WordPress installation allows you to set up a second administrator, Paypal now offers this in some of their accounts among others. This is a great thing to look into for your accounts.

   If you are unable to set them up on many of the sites with their own login for you accounts, then make sure they have a confidentiality agreement for you to sign protecting your information and your rights.

Think about which method – or combination of methods will work best for you and your situation. Don’t wait until you have been hacked, or your identity stolen. Ensure you are protected – starting today!

To begin, just like in Facebook, a lot of the power of the site lies in the number of followers you have. The more followers you have (and the more people you follow who may in turn follow you back) the better chance you have of your Pins going viral and your business getting the attention it deserves.

You see just like a post in Facebook that is placed in everyone’s feed a Pin (an image you pin to one of your boards) is posted in all your followers feeds on Pinterest. This means that they may see your products image and pin it to one of their boards and so on and so forth until your reaching as many possible Pinners (a Pinterest user) and potential customers. From there the viral effect takes over and your image makes it way through the 10 million current users.

It also allows you to Pin videos as well, which means it takes you video marketing to a whole new level. If getting your videos on Youtube seen has ever been an issue for you, Pinterest can take care of that as well. Just like the viral effect can occur with your images, it can also occur with your videos. This means you’re now able to take advantage of more methods of marketing then ever before, and the greatest part is that it is free, it relies on social media and the addictive power of it, and it takes very little time to put into effect.

So jump on board and start pinning!

I wanted to share this weeks ezine from the Queen of Extreme Dreams, Laurie A. Santos.  She has some fantastic tips on how to reach YOUR Extreme Dreams in a way I have not heard or thought of before – and it’s worth the share!

Check this out and enjoy!

To view the entire newsletter, please visit:
http://www.extremedreamtraining.com/TipsOnTuesday/Feb22/

For more information on The Extreme Dream Queen, Laurie A. Santos, and to sign up for her weekly tips visit:
http://www.extremedreamtraining.com

Tips on Tuesdays – Dreaming is Big Business By Laurie A. Santos Executive Summary. When writing a business plan they always begin with an Executive Summary. Summarize your strategy, your profit margins (what you will gain by living out your dream), your analysis and your history and background. Company. View yourself and the dream as the company. Write out the history and background of you and this dream and all that entails. Who are you and what is this dream about? Vision. All businesses have a vision, what’s yours? Aim high, think and feel big then write! Mission. What’s your mission statement? Where do you want to go? What’s this all about? Tap into your essence and higher wisdom self and really get underneath the mission of your dream. Objectives. What do you hope to achieve with your dream? Strategic Plan. Map out a 3, 6, 9 and then 12-month strategy to get your dream lived out. Each month have milestones you’d like to hit and then summarize each quarter the progress you’ve made toward your personal goals. Businesses always review their “wins” and “losses” quarterly and you can do the same when it comes to Dream-Planning. Financial Plan. Write up all the expected costs (financials) of attaining your dream. Perhaps you will need to quit your full-time job in order to travel the world; thus, you will need to factor in that loss of income and how much money you will need to save up for example. Get very clear on the financials of bringing this dream to life. Also, businesses have short-term, mid-term and long-term financial forecasting and it is best to do the same when it comes to your dream. For instance, I quit my full-time job to move to Spain and my Dream Business Plan Financials Section took into consideration the amount of money needed to be saved in order for me to live for one year (without seeking additional employment) once I returned to Spain plus the money needed to (the monthly dollar figure I was accustomed to when having a full-time job) operate my business full-time. I calculated all my outgoing expenses (mortgage, electric bills, etc.) and then came up with a figure that felt comfortable for me to save and live off for 365 days once I returned to the US from Spain. Resources. All businesses need resources to pull from and rely on. Who are the folks you hope to use as a resource during this dream-planning time? What tools will you need and use to help you get this dream achieved? Print and bind. I highly suggest treating this Dream Business Plan like an official document by typing it up, printing it out and going to your local printing press to bind it. This binding job should cost less than 10 USD. Once your Dream Business Plan is bound, this document will become your constant reference, template and guide and will show you the next steps when heading out to live your dream out in the world. When you forget the steps necessary to make your dream come to fruition, all you’ve got to do is look inside the coveted pages of your Dream Business Plan. Taking this document seriously will demonstrate back to you just how sacred and special this dream is. Seek funding. Many entrepreneurs, once their business plan is all typed up and looking pretty, start to shop around their plan to potential investors. You may do the same! Let’s say you need some extra financial support, why not take your Dream Business Plan to a friend or family member, share it with them and see if they will supply you with the additional funds you may need to breathe life into your dream.

Laurie A. Santos, is a Certified Life Coach with over 15 years in Behavioral Sciences, passionate living, and full-out-break-a-big-big-sweat salsa dancing. Laurie is the host of Extreme Dream Radio where every week she challenges folks to step it up, super-size their dreams, and go UNCONVENTIONAL! After living in Angola, Africa in 2009, she set off to Salmiya, Kuwait, where she completed a country report for the UK’s Daily Telegraph on the current changes and expected developments of this small Middle Eastern country. She is currently calling Kuwait home. She owns a home in the San Francisco Bay Area, but is never there because she is too busy walking the world living her Extreme Dream. Last year Laurie visited six countries and in 2010, she also checked out another six amazing destinations, including Egypt, Lebanon, Nepal, and Jordan! Travel plans for 2011 bring Istanbul and Insha’allah (God-willing), a silent retreat in Tibet.