I’ll hopefully be able to post again tomorrow.

I don’t want to go into too much detail as it will spoil the effect of the launch. But as the saying goes,

“Watch this Space”

If you’re not a technical genius as I’m not then code problems can get on top of you, especially when you can’t figure where things are going wrong. Of course if you can’t find the problem, you’ve great dificulty in fixing it. It’s a case of tweaking, changing and trying things out. Patience is the key.

I’m sure once I get the feature up and running it will be a great way of drawing visitors. I had a test post online yesterday for about 20 mins, and got 5 hits from organic google search for the topic.

If anyone has good coding knowledge and could help me embed a program into one of my pages, I’d be grateful for any help.

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Like all experiments, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. It’s the essence of change and not sitting still that keeps their readers continously logging on to see who’s come up with what idea. It’s not always John or Darren that come up with the innovations, but often it’s their skill at seeing an opportunity and making the most from it.

Both blog’s have recently gone through facelifts, again with a lot of similarities between them, but it’s the strive to make the blog more attractive and readable as well as more efficient as far as generating income.

I’ve no need or time at the moment to look at a facelift for wotZcool, but I do need to look into different ways of making my blog more dinamic as far as making money is concerened. Adsense is very limited so I need to develop new sources of income. I have taken the Adsense banner from under my header image and have placed a nice flashy Shopzilla banner. If you haven’t checked out Shopzilla you should, they offer great possibilities for selling from yoursite without those massive traffic levels that other sites like Chitika require.

I’ll be looking at other options also over the coming weeks, like Paid Reviews, Sponsored Posts and playing around with ads in different places. It will be interesting to see what results I can acheive.

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So what happened and why did I disappear for two months?

The work complicated and what and I had to move the deadlines almost a whole month taking me to the end of July. I then took a vacation, and upon returning I was saturated again. But basically the only real excuse I have is that I got out of the habit of writing on a regular basis.

I did keep reading those many blogs that I like to follow on a daily or almost daily basis, but I didn’t know how to start again. What should I write about? Would anyone be interested if I did start to write again? Had I lost my small readership for disappearing without leaving any trace? Those were a few of the questions I was asking myself and that kept me from starting all over.

I guess the only way I can answer them is by writing once again. Time will tell if I can get my small readership back. According to the RSS counter on my sidebar, my RSS subscribers has only dropped from 14 to 12. But then again, that does make me ask if people who were subscribed actually read my RSS feed. If you are a wotZcool RSS subscriber and read this post through the RSS feed then please let me know. It would be nice to know somebody noticed I returned.

The way forward.

I need to get back into the habit of posting on a regular basis. Blogging is about writing continually. I also found it was very much a form a relaxation which I never should have let slip, especially when my reason for stopping was due to work stress. What can be better for releasing stress than a hobby you enjoy and that relaxes your mind.

wotZcool is back, batteries charged and with a whole load of new motivations.

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In both cases they linked their information to different sources. John Chow made a post linked to an article he’d read on Bankaholic.com, meanwhile Kumiko from CashQuests.com made her post based on a story she’d read on hustlermoneyblog.

The Deal

It’s funny because in both cases neither John nor Kumiko can make use of the offer as neither are resident in the US, and the deal they both mention is only for United States residents. The deal basically is that once you apply for an American Express Business Gold Reward Card and your application is accepted then American Express credit your Members Rewards account with 25,000 points which you may use to cash in for free flights, gift vouchers, hotel reservations, donations to charity etc. The Rewards scheme has loads of different offers available suited to almost anyones likes.

Of course American Express, as most credit card companies offer the first year free with an annual membership fee of $125 thereafter. John sneakily mentions that once you’ve used your points you can cancel the card at no cost and you’ve had a free trip.

My Experience

I actually have one of these cards and have had it for a few years now. Initially I took the card because of a similar signing up deal with the intention of getting rid of it, but I soon came to realise how useful American Express is and how much more flexible it can be compared to other credit cards on the market if you use it carefully. It can be really useful when making important purchases as there is no visable limit. The limit is decided by American Express through your usage and payment history. If you use the card regularly and pay up on time then they are extremely flexible on how much they allow you to spend.

Things you should know.

As the card is charged at the beginning of the month for the amount spent the month before you don’t acrue debt over a period of time and end up paying double or triple your spending in interest. American Express is probably the most recognised Credit Card company around and its down to the fact they don’t give easy credit over long periods of time. If you honour your debts they honour you with good credit when you need it. The important lesson is only to spend what you can afford to payback. So many people fall into the credit card traps, and with interest rates rising I’m sure many families will suffer the consecuences.

My recomendation is that if you can genuinely benefit from this card and could use it then don’t hesitate, but if you only want the card for the points and the free flight or voucher then you should think again. Taking credit cards for whatever reason, if you don’t really need them is the recipe for financial trouble.

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It’s the time of year when we all like to sit out in the garden, invite friends for a BBQ or go out to the beach or countryside for picnics. So it’s a perfect time for a recipe for one of Spain’s most famous drinks, Sangria.
To be honest I’m not one for sweet drinks nor am I one for cocktails, but when it’s hot a nice fruity sangria is ideal to quench your thirst. There are numerous recipes for this popular summer tipple, and all are valid, very much depending on your alcohol tolerance level (or dependence level). The important thing is for it to be cold and refreshing and if possible you should enjoy another tipical spanish custom afterwards, the “Siesta”. Whatever you do, never drink and drive, if you have to drive, then refresh yourself with water or cold soft drinks.

Ingredients:

1 Bottle of Red Wine ( Cheap and Cheerful)
Juice from 2 Oranges
4 Peaches cut into small pieces (Use other fruits if desired)
5 Desert Spoons of White Sugar
2 Pieces of Lemon Skin
2 Pieces of Orange Skin (Use previsouly squeezed oranges)
2 or 3 Cinnamon Sticks
Ice Cubes

Optional:
1/2 cup of Cognac, Rum or Vodka. (Can be read as Half a cup or one/two cups, whichever suits)

Steps:

Pour the wine into a jug, preferably a ceramic or glass one.

Add the sugar and stir until properly dissolved.

Squeeze the two oranges and add the juice. (Don’t for get to save some of the skin for decoration.)

Wash and peel the peaches cutting into small pieces.

Add the Peach pieces, Cinnamon Sticks, Lemon Skin and Orange Skin along with the Ice Cubes.

At this point you can add the optional liquor if required. Many other drinks can serve as ingredients and you don’t have to limit yourself to my suggestions as above.

Stir well and place in the fridge until you are ready to drink it. The cooler the better.

If you prefer to reduce the alcohol you can add more orange juice or even add a can of a fruit flavoured soft drink.This isn’t the only popular spanish summer drink, although it’s definately the most famous. Others include Calimocho, Agua de Valencia or Pitilingorri.

Enjoy your Sangria and Enjoy your Summer.

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Actually today the blog is three months and two days old, and to be honest it seems almost like forever since I started on my quest. Registering a name, finding a hosting package, starting my blog and changing the design to make it attractive and readable, even if not unique. So far it’s taken hours and hours of behind the scenes work as well as loads of time dedicated to writing posts. Some of the time things have gone easier than others. There have been times with post blockages, times full of frustration as you try and figure out how something works and times of satisfaction when you write a post and people reply with comments.

I must say that far above the statistics or adsense earnings, the thing that has brought me the most joy has been checking my email in the mornings and finding various comments waiting moderation. The pure fact that someone reads your post and takes the time to comment, be it a recomendation or purely a note of encouragement, is what I’ve found to be the most rewarding part of blogging.

To celebrate wotZcool reaching the great old age of three months and two days today I actaully broke into the “top 10k” on technorati.

This is very much down to ViraLink and ViralTags which have had a tremendous effect on getting linkbacks. Maybe in the long run these links won’t be very effective, time will tell, but nobody can doubt that a Viral Chain can work and create hundreds of links.

I’ll write a full report at the end of June when I make my monthly resume with more information about traffic, search engine results, adsense and kontera earnings.

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So I have decided to try and role a few of these competitions into one post enabling me to fulfill the requirements and enter, but without having to fill my blog with competition entry posts. Here are the competitions I’d like to win.

MsDanielles Microsoft Zune 30GB Giveaway Contest

A favourite blog site of mine, MsDanielle is giving away the Microsoft Zune she won from John Chow after her post about the Zune being the new white elephant. She decided to give away the Zune in a new competition, and although John Chow has entered, I’m hoping I’ll be the fortunate one. If I am then the Zune will have to keep travelling, and I’ll run my own competition. The Zune might be a white elephant but this particular Zune could become a legend amongst bloggers if it keep changing from hand to hand.

John Chow’s Evil Blog Contest - Win a 24″ Wide Screen LCD Monitor

John Chow, as most people know by now is a blog helping you make money online and is giving away a fabulous 24″ wide screen LCD monitor! All you need to do to enter is write about it, so this should include me in the draw. This contest is sponsored by BlueFur, hosting Canada y John Chow.

I could do with a 24″ screen to attach to my laptop, so I won’t auctioning this prize out if I win it.

Kumiko’s Cash Quest Competition - 100$ Plus Other Prizes

I’ve written about this before but here’s a refresher. Kumiko is offering 100$ first prize plus a full review valued at 40$, all of this on her newly designed Cash Quests domain about making money online. Also a one month link in the supersite section and a two week banner add (468×60) both valued at 40$ and 50$ respectively. Find out more at her original post about the competition. This should get me some more tickets for the draw.

Get Paid to Read Bob’s Feed - BobMeetsWorld

Bob is offering both a full review and permenant BlogRoll link if you subscribe to his RSS Feed and post a screenshot as proof. He also offers 30$ via paypal to whoever leaves comment number 30 on the competition rules post. Heres my screen shot.

So thats four competitions in this post. Hopefully I’ll win something. Keep tuned for the news.

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-as the lyrics to the song by Chumbawamba go. What Lifes University is all about is how you handle the exams that are thrown at you. There are two options after a test, you can take things badly or be positive and start over again. I’m of the second nature.

So after my business break up I mentioned yesterday and having put a solution to the immediate problems by selling everything and covering my debts I decided to try and get back into the food/retail trade and start my career over again. After some searching I finally got back into a supermarket chain in a similar position to the one I had been in previously, and since then I’ve developed my career further which is a major satisfaction.

How does all this reflect in my blogging?

After my early learning, I developed into someone who was socially able. Someone with the understanding of what you can achieve through hard work and the satisfaction that this generates. I also have come to realise that life isn’t a bed of roses, quite often it deals you blows, but if you persist then you can succeed.

So to my blogs.

With hard work I know that I can make wotZcool and my new blog venture sportZview into successful blogs. I know they require lots of hard work, and that occasionally I may take the blogs down the wrong roads. But when I make mistakes I can learn from these and change direction. Persistence is one of the most necessary qualities required and I certainly have that. It’s all about having a vision and holding onto it.

I’m really pleased with how much I’ve learned since I started wotZcool almost three months ago. Also some of the great people I’ve come across since I delved into the blogosphere. Many of you visit wotZcool regularly and I thank you.

I’m still on a learning curve, and need to develop my writing skills further as I try and capture and retain new readers. My RSS indicator hit a high today of 30 readers, and that encourages to keep hitting the keys. I need to learn more about SEO and keywords. How search engines work and how by writing my content with more care including the relevent keywords I can generate more organic search engine traffic. Those will be my goals over the coming weeks.

I thought it would be interesting to write a little about where I’m at, hence the four part series to explain how I got here and where I came from. I didn’t want to get too personal as the details are not the important elements, but how I’ve dealed with things is what’s made me the person I am, and is what little by little will be reflected in my posts.

THANKS FOR READING!!!

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The question is, Was it a plot by Welsh Nationalists to get the English only speaking pedestrians run over?

I doubt it, the company that made the sign appologised and removed it quickly before something nasty happened.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that although you are cautious and check and double check before making your decisions, sometimes you don’t have all the answers or those that give you information can make mistakes or misinform you. I had suffered this experience at an earlier stage when we moved to Spain because the information I found about the company that offered me the position of director wasn’t the full picture. Not only that, but the information I found was the information I really wanted hear.

As I wrote yesterday, I was at another crossroads, a time for change, but was determined not to fall into the same traps as previously. The situation was different though, this time I was looking at starting my own business. I had been offered by a foreign company the chance to set up my own company in Spain as their representative for the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). My initial outlay was minimal, the company I would represent was a major force in the industry and I knew the market very well. My only risk was having to give up my job where I had been for seven years and so the risk was if it didn’t work, I’d be jobless.

I decided that I was more than qualified to start my own business, the company I would work with were of sufficient size and the risk was worthwhile taking. It was a feeling of satisfaction knowing that I was able to create my future and build something from scratch. After only six months I had reached 80% of the market and had taken a 30% share. Of course you’ll be wondering what my market was, well I was selling fresh salmon fron Norway. Spain is one of the countries with the highest consumptions per capita of fish in Europe, with a tradition for fresh seafood rather than frozen. Of course, with my products being fresh, it meant continual sales, week in, week out. You couldn’t sit back and think you’d made it after a good week, because the following week your customers were empty and buying again.

After two years a factor I hadn’t taken into account occured, and it was something I had no control over. It was a situation that was created by international law, and from selling 30% of the fresh salmon that came into Spain one week, to selling zero the following week. Unfortunately this situation arose maybe a year or 18 months too early. If it had happened later I would have been prepared, as I had realised I had all my eggs in one basket and was looking at a plan to diversify, but I was too late, or the situation I was fearing came too soon.

To resume, after 6 months of fighting the situation, I had to close the company and sell everything to cover my debts. Another of Lifes University exams.

Tomorrow I’ll finish the series which will bring me upto date and will be when I will try and relate how Lifes University reflects in my blogging.

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