Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross, chair of the Blue Dog Democrats said recently, "We cannot create a public option that puts all the other private insurance companies out of business." The compromise was announced Wednesday, and it is one that will be loved by the health insurance industry.

The Blue Dog Bandits struck hard at the American people. For example:

Employers with a payroll of less than $500,000 will not be forced to offer health insurance to their employees nor will they pay a fine. Before the compromise, the figure was $250,000.

Need help paying your health insurance premiums. Under the compromise, the government will help IF your premium exceeds 12% of your income. In other words – if your total family income is $50,000, the government will help you if your health insurance premium is more than $500.00 per month. How many uninsured Americans will jump on that? Yeah, right!

Bandalero Ross said this would save $100 billion to the government. Sure it will, and that $100 billion will either come out of the pockets of the lower and middle classes, or it will stay in their pockets (if they have any) and they will remain uninsured.

Threats from the Health Insurance Industry

Wendell Potter is a former executive at CIGNA, a major health insurance company. He explained in an interview with Bill Moyer on PBS a simple strategy for dealing with Congress. Members of Congress would simply be told, "we can make things tough for you…by running ads, commercials in your home district when you’re running for reelection, not contributing to your campaigns again, or contributing to your competitor."

Here’s a portion of the PBS interview when Moyer questions Potter about the Michael Moore movie, Sicko.

I would recommend you visit Bill Moyer’s page and see the whole interview with Wendell Potter.

The health insurance companies are getting what they paid for. Meanwhile in America…

More About Health Care Reform

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Single Payer Health Insurance for America

Public Insurance Option is Not Optional

Medical Bankruptcy Shows Broken Health Care

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option

July 15, 2009 is a date that is burned into the memories of the families of First Lieutenant Andrew K. Kinard, USMC (Ret.) and Lieutenant Colonel Raymond T. Rivas, USAR (Ret.). Their stories intertwined with explosions of an improvised explosive device and a mortar shell. The soldiers came face-to-face on April 29, 2009 when they both testified at a Senate hearing in Washington D.C. The Hearing To Examine The Implementation Of Wounded Warrior Policies and Programs was chaired by Senator Ben Nelson.

Lt. Kinard was injured October 29, 2006 in Al Anbar Province when he stepped on an IED and lost his entire body below the hips. Seventeen days earlier, on October 12, Lt. Col. Rivas was working as a civil affairs officer at the Tallil Forward Operating Base in Iraq when it was attacked by mortar fire. He sustained a traumatic brain injury.

According to Rivas, he had previously sustained at least eight concussions and, while serving in Afghanistan, had been thrown through the windshield of a vehicle. (continued below)

Brain Injury Books at Amazon

He told the Senate subcommittee, "When I was originally injured in October of 2006 in Iraq, I was Medivac’d out of Theater and sent to Launsthul Regional Medical Center in Germany for evaluation. My memory is extremely vague about this. I was told that I spent 7 days there and convinced the Neurological staff that I was fit to return to duty. I returned to Iraq, of which I do not remember any of this, and spent approximately 10 days there. I was allowed to go out on missions to Forward Operating bases, and on mission convoys. It was then reported to my Chain of Command that my behavior was extremely ‘bizarre’ and I was referred to the Air Force Expeditionary Hospital Neurologist."

The neurologist diagnosed traumatic brain injury and Rivas was put on priority Medivac back to Launsthul Regional Medical Center in route to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas. (Launsthul, you may remember, is the facility where ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff was sent after sustaining a brain injury from a roadside bomb.)

"What I do remember about my 1st few months at BAMC was that the system was overwhelmed with the influx of new patients. I was pretty much on my own for two to three months. I had a couple of battle‐buddies who helped me with dressing, bathing and eating, as I was not able to do any of these unassisted," Rivas said.

Colleen Rivas also testified before the Senate subcommittee. She said, "One of the issues that I feel very strongly about is the comparison being made between Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In my opinion there are profound differences between these two injuries. TBI is a physical trauma that can range from mild to severe. PTSD is an emotional trauma which can have debilitating effects. I have dealt firsthand with both of these traumas where Raymond is concerned; PTSD more so after Afghanistan which was in the form of nightmares and some depression. What we could not deal with on our own he was able to obtain help with through the VA in the form of counseling.

"The Traumatic Brain Injury has been an entirely different matter. When Raymond first returned to the U.S. he was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center. He suffered from severe headaches that painkillers and brain blocks had no affect on. In addition to the headaches, he had trouble with his balance, his depth perception, his speech, his eye to hand coordination, his memory, which included both his long‐term and short‐term and any task that involved sequencing. He was unable to go anywhere by himself because he was constantly getting lost. It took a year for him to regain his balance and depth perception.

"Now, two and a half years later, he still suffers from daily headaches, however their severity has lessened. He has regained most of his long term memory; however he still has trouble with his short‐term memory which includes misplacing items on a daily basis and constant repetition of subjects previously discussed. In addition, he cannot follow a detailed set of instructions nor can he multi‐task. His condition is frustrating for both him and our family."

After being on his own for two to three months at Brooke Army Medical Center, Rivas met his case manager. More importantly, he was contacted by the U.S. Army Special Operations
BAMC Liaison, Sergeant First Class Craig Coker. Sgt. Coker got the ball rolling, so to speak, and Rivas began to get the care he needed.

Ray was transported from BAMC to HealthSouth Riosa in San Antonio for brain injury treatment. Therapists helped improve his balance, speech, memory and other skills. His vision and hearing suffered too in the blast, yet Rivas still maintained he was not injured.

On April 21, 2008, Lt. Col. Rivas was awarded the Purple Heart. In September, 2008 he enrolled full time at the Easter Seals Hospital Brain Injury program in San Antonio to participate in their Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy program. Six months later he was able to testify at the Senate hearing.

On July 15, 2009, a party was held in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Andrew Kinard’s farewell to Washington as he prepared to leave for Harvard Law School. The loss of half of his body had been repaired to the point to could take on the difficulties of law school. That same night, Ray Rivas drove to Brooke Army Medical facility and committed suicide in the parking lot.

Two soldiers – two different kinds of injury – two exceedingly different outcomes.

Ray Rivas was one of thousands of U.S. troops returning with a brain injury, the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His story exemplifies the problem faced by both military and civilian medical personnel when it comes to brain injury.

A few months after he arrived in San Antonio Colleen told My SA News, "We didn’t expect the seriousness with what he came back with this time."

This is where the lives of Andrew Kinard and Ray Rivas travelled separate roads. Kinard’s injury was there for everyone to see; Rivas, though, was facing life with an invisible injury. It was an injury that goes beyond physical therapy, speech therapy and cognitive therapy. Millions of brain injury victims know all too well the effects of brain injury.

An injured brain needs rest and tires very easily. Mental fatigue is the first step on the Cycle of Response, a term coined in Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide. Those living with an injured brain face the Cycle daily – jumping from a tired brain to confusion, frustration, guilt and depression. Daily headaches, like those experienced by Rivas, are common, and this multiplies each of those steps on the Cycle. No one can think straight during a severe headache. A brain injury more often than not slows thinking skills because of memory problems and a partial shutdown of the executive functions of the brain.

While Ray Rivas was being treated at HealthSouth, he was allowed to go home to his family in New Braunfels each weekend. Colleen said he would ask the same question ten to fifteen times and, each time, family members would provide the answer as if the question had not been asked before. Short term memory problems easily lead to confusion.

Brain injury victims are aware they cannot remember a name that goes with a face or what they were doing ten minutes prior or why they’re standing in the kitchen or why they are holding a pencil. Add mental fatigue and stress to short term memory loss and Rivas’ testimony before the Senate committee that he did not remember anything about those last days in Iraq becomes clear.

The confusion of not remembering leads to frustration which is exhibited in outbursts of anger or crying or both. It is a normal progression to guilt when a brain injury victim recognizes he or she has changed. A tired, confused, and frustrated brain says,"I’m not as good as I once was." The belief that a person is not as good of a father or mother or husband or wife or employee is an expression of guilt and can quickly lead to depression.

Numerous studies of brain injury have found that unchecked depression leads to separation: separation from spouse through divorce, separation from employment and, in far too many cases, separation from life through suicide.

Ray Rivas lived the life of a hero. He wanted to serve his country as best he could. He did not want someone else standing for him in the war zone. It is my hope that America remembers Lt. Col. Raymond T. Rivas as a hero in death. It is my hope that both military and civilian medical personnel learn more about treating brain injury. It is my hope that Congress will understand the necessity of providing more timely and more complete care to the tens of thousands of soldiers returning from war with an invisible injury.

Download The War That Never Ends – pdf

More Information About Brain Injury

Brain injury resources, rehab facilities, associations, support groups and more can be found at Brain-Injury-Online.com

Click here for more brain injury articles on Uncle Brice’s Blog.

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Niche Marketing is THE WAY to earn money from home with an online business. I really appreciate Uncle Brice allowing me to write for his blog; he’s been writing for one of my websites for quite some time. His blog, however, is NOT a good example of niche marketing. It contains over half a dozen niches from politics to health care to humor.

Think of a niche market as the street you live on. There’s the world but it’s divided into continents that are divided into countries that are divided into states or provinces that are divided into towns that are divided by streets. What do you know the most about? Well, the street you live on…certainly! Most home-based online businesses fail because the business owner tries to take on the world instead of concentrating on what he or she knows best.

The most profitable niche marketing ideas are already in your head. Ahhhhhhhh, there’s the problem. What you and I must do is find tools to help us locate those things in our brains. As much as it hurts, we must brainstorm. What do you know the most about? What do you enjoy doing the most? What could you teach other people?

Niche Marketing Ideas

Do you know anything about: advertising, aerospace, agriculture, antiques and collectibles, clothing, art, automobiles, aviation, books, beverages, children or parenting, computers, design, disabilities, education, electronics, energy, engineering, entertainment, finances, food, games, government, health, hobbies, or hundreds of other things in life you may have experienced?

Let’s take books for example. What kind of books do you read? Fiction? Non-fiction? How-to? Humor? Think of books as being a large Internet marketing niche. We then looked at four sub-niches.

Think about this. Health is a big topic. What if we narrowed it down to Mental Health? What if we further narrowed that down to Brain Injuries? Now, what if we added books into this: Brain Injury Books? Okay, we’re not through. Brain Injury Books for brain injury victims and their family members instead of brain injury books for health professionals. This is called drilling down and it helps focus your thinking on a niche you can make profitable.

Niche Marketing Tools

Once you have 5 to 20 niche marketing ideas, it’s time to bring in some professional assistance to help you determine which might be the most profitable place to begin. As far as I’m concerned there is no better program for brainstorming ideas than Ken Evoy’s Site Build It. In fact, the number of tools you receive for the cost makes this a must-have program for any serious online marketer. Plus, domain hosting and domain registration is included at no additional cost.

Keyword Country is a second tool you can use. What’s more, it can be used in addition to the Site Build It Brainstormer because it draws niche information from a different perspective. The Keyword Map feature sorts the keywords in a directory structure that helps you find the most popular niches that are driving traffic to your industry. It helps you uncover popular niches that are related to your main keyword but you are not targeting right now. A good amount of traffic flows towards these niches and the level of that increases every single month. It gives you excellent ideas on which you can build content and increase your website traffic and helps you discover many new opportunities. It is ideal when you are looking for new niches. Give it a test drive to see for yourself with the Free Keyword Tool.

I cannot overemphasize how important it is to use niche marketing tools. The two tools mentioned above will save you a lot of money but, more importantly, they will save you a tremendous amount of time by virtually eliminating trial and error.

Niche Marketing Strategy

Developing a niche marketing strategy may be one of the easier phases in developing a plan for niche markets. Your goal is to make money, right? Your strategy, therefore, is pretty much like having a recipe for baking a cake from scratch. Let me tell you this. There are a tremendous number of people wanting to compete with you who simply close their eyes while thumbing through a recipe book saying, "Eenie, meenie, minie mo, chocolate cake – here we go." And they begin preparing a cheesy grits casserole hoping it will magically turn into a chocolate cake.

These people will not compete with you in your chosen niche market. While it’s true that even a blind hog will find an acorn every once in awhile, that’s not a very good strategy for generating income. Neither you nor I are looking for a $25 commission every three months. Every three hours will do – that’s over $70,000 per year.

Your niche marketing recipe is this:

• Develop your ideas by examining what you know and what you like
• Drill down your ideas with professional brainstorming assistance
• Find content you can use
• Find products you can sell
• Put it in action

Niche Marketing Products

Niche marketing products, the way I see it, includes not only products and services you can sell but also content you can use to build your Internet business. All search engines like a content-rich site. That means you need a lot of content – pages and pages of interrelated content.

I like Private Label Rights (PLR) products. Again, it’s worth a few dollars to get good content ideas. While you won’t be able to use PLR content for building web pages without changing it to some extent, the value lies in having content that is geared to your niche and makes you think of ways to better express it. PLR content also provides you additional ammunition for article marketing, blogging, and other marketing ideas that you’ll find in the links at the end of this article.

Finding actual products or services to sell is probably the easiest part. Surf amazon.com, Clickbank, PayDotCom, Share-a-sale, and many others to find products – but don’t do that yet! Finding products should be one of the last things you do.

Where to Begin

There is one site I recommend for you to begin your niche marketing journey. It’s all about niche ideas and it’s free to join. Click here to visit Niche Ideas.

Now, all you have to do is BEGIN.

Related Information

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Article Writing for Profit

Advantages of being a man are numerous. For thousands of years men have controlled both government and religion. That’s not to say men are better by any stretch of the imagination; it’s just to say they’ve been in control.And that’s not to say many men are just simply plain stupider than doorknobs; it’s just to say they’ve been in control because there are advantages to being a man.

A friend sent me these advantages so I do not claim ownership to these ideas. I just thought you might like to know about them.

Your last name stays put

The garage is all yours

Wedding plans take care of themselves

Chocolate is just another snack

You can never be pregnant

You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt (unless you’re a member of Congress)

The world is your urinal(continued below right after you buy or, at least, look at whatever is advertised next)

Win $1000 from Survey Adventure for your opinions!

Same work (or less), more pay

Wrinkles add character

People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them

New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat

A five-day holiday (vacation) requires only one suitcase

You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness

Your underwear is $7.50 for a three-pack

Three pairs of shoes are more than enough

You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes

The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades

You only have to shave your face and neck

You can play with toys all your life

One wallet and one pair of shoes — one color for all seasons

You can do your nails with a pocket knife

You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache

You can do Christmas shopping for 24 relatives on 24th December in 24 minutes

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Funny Newspaper Headlines

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Nordex USA Inc. announced that it was beginning construction on its $100 million wind turbine manufacturing plant at Jonesboro, Arkansas. The Jonesboro plant, which is the German company’s first in the U.S., will employ 700 people at an average wage of $17 an hour. The nacelle plant will be built on 187 acres in the Craighead Technology Park and will have 115,000 square feet of production space, 10,000 square feet for a Training Academy and 35,000 square feet of office space.

"In a time when our economy has slowed, it’s gratifying to see the creation of high-paying jobs in the clean-energy sector,” Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said. “In Arkansas, jobs in clean-energy industries are outpacing the overall job market, and Nordex is helping to drive that."

With a typical wind turbine requiring about 8,000 components, that will mean a ripple effect in related jobs in the supply chain. Additional jobs will be created through the contracting of services. For example, Nordex has hired the construction firm, H&M Company, Inc. of Jackson, Tennessee, which will dedicate between 250 and 300 workers to the construction project. In addition, Nordex aims to completely localize its suppliers within the next three to four years, as the wind industry matures, which will further stimulate domestic manufacturing.

"There’s no doubt we’ve seen a surge of interest among wind industry players in Northeastern Arkansas since Nordex announced it would build here last October," said Mark Young, President and CEO of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce, with whom Nordex has worked closely on site selection.

According to Nordex USA, the U.S. could well be the world’s biggest wind market as early as next year. That means more sustainable power – and more jobs. Wind energy is the most affordable renewable energy and at some locations simply the most competitive. Power generation costs have fallen by 50% in the last 15 years, moving the generation costs of wind power system close to grid parity. Wind power could help to reduce CO2 emissions by 10 billion tons within twelve years and cover around 12 percent of the world’s energy requirements.

"After much careful planning, we are eager to break ground and make this plant a reality," said Ralf Sigrist, president and CEO of Nordex USA of Chicago, in a news release. "The plant is critical to our goal of generating 20% of global revenue in the US, and I must say I am extremely pleased that construction will begin on schedule." (continued below)

For the state of Arkansas, Nordex believes wind power will play an increasingly significant role. "We want to demonstrate that wind is not only a job engine but also a viable energy source for Arkansas," said Mr. Sigrist. "We are confident that what makes environmental and, in particular, economic sense will gain broad acceptance among policy makers and constituents, and that a national Renewable Energy Standard will be adopted to direct energy policy into the right direction" Construction will occur in two phases, beginning with the nacelle assembly plant and then the rotor blade manufacturing facility.

The nacelle assembly will start in the second half of 2010 and be fully operational by 2012. It will have an annual production capacity of 300 turbines, or 750 megawatts. The entire facility will be fully operational by 2014. "The U.S. is hungry for wind power," Sigrist said , "and Jonesboro will supply it with the highest-quality turbines in the world."

The Jonesboro operation will be an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) producing one of the largest classes of wind turbines in the world, the 2.5 megawatt N90 and N100. In the US, each of these utility-scale turbines is capable of generating enough renewable energy to power about 700 homes. Nordex was the first manufacturer to build a turbine this large in 2000 and has the longest track record for reliability in the class.

"The wind industry is fairly young in the US, so we have to train people from the ground up," said Joe Brenner, Vice President of Production for Nordex USA. "Making turbines requires specialized skills. It’s not just a $100 million facility. It’s a new industry, and the most important resource we can put time and money into is our people."

More Arkansas Stimulus Plans

Killing Cancer in Arkansas with Nanomedicine

Newspaper Headline Editor Wanted: Must be breathing and have at least once walked within 200 feet of a school. I remember a time when newspapers had a section everyone referred to as "the funny papers" or "the funnies." You could find Beetle Bailey and a whole host of short comics that would bring a smile to your face.

Today, you don’t need a comic section. The current crop of headline editors give us plenty to smile about. Now, and this is important, if the headline is actually based on the story, you just gotta wonder about what the story says. However, not having the inclination to actually read newspapers any more since all the best stuff is on the Internet, I freely admit to reading only these headlines that I found on the Internet.

So, without further ado, let’s get on to these tidbits of buffoonery.

Half of U.S. High Schools Require Some Study for Graduation

I’m believin’ it’s the other half of U. S. High Schools where headline editors walked.

Enfield Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

If this is really true, then those policemen walked along with the headline editors as they passed within 200 feet of a school.

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

I wonder if that would apply to a heat wave as well.

If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It Could Last Awhile

I wonder if the headline editors are the ones on strike. That could explain a lot.

Pastor aghast at first lady sex position

You know, I once heard a pastor tell someone that ought not to be inquiring about other men’s wives when someone asked where Cain got his. Then along comes this pastor expressing his views about the sex position of another man’s wife. And that, of course, brings up a whole ‘nother question about how the pastor made such a ghastly discovery.

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says

Now here’s the job I want: Expert Plane Crash Figure-Outer. I can see it all now. First of all, I gotta have a couple hunnert thousand dollars a year because it’s such an important job. "Uncle Brice, do you know why this plane crashed?" "Yes, sir. I do. After careful investigation of the hole in the ground and walking within 200 feet of the black box, I have determined that the dang thing fell out of the sky."

Woman improving after fatal crash

I don’t rightly know what to say about this. But I’m sure glad for the woman. (continued below right after you buy or, at least, look at whatever is advertised next)

Win $1000 from Survey Adventure for your opinions!

Stray bullet killed one bystander slightly

I guess gettin’ kilt slightly is like sorta getting pregnant. But I defer all questions about how to get pregnant and have a baby with no one knowing about it to a recently former governor from a state that is not among those called contiguous and the name therefore, wherewith and whyfor, begins with the letter A.

Typhoon rips through cemetery; hundreds dead

Once agin I find myself at a loss for words.

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

You know, over in west Arkansas is the site of ol’ Hanging Judge Parker’s courthouse, and the gallows are still there. Shooting, I guess, is another option and it would certainly help reduce the prison population.

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Previously, Arkansas Republicrat Senator Blanche Lincoln said, "We want to keep what works in the private industry and make it better." That was a conference call on June 18, 2009. Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Senator Max Baucus (see article Single Payer Health Insurance for America).

Uncle Brice is pleased to have been joined in exposing Lincoln by the likes of John Amato of Crooks and Liars and Greg Sargent of the Washington Post Plum Line. The Blue America PAC has also weighed in on Arkansas’ bought-and-paid-for senior Senator.

Back in June Lincoln said, "One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do."

Here comes that ol’ saying: what a difference a few days make. Okay, so that ain’t really what the old saying is. I had to change it a bit because it took Senator Lincoln a little bit longer than a day to figure out she should say something else. And while I ain’t especially happy with what she said, it is a move toward saying what people want to hear, "Health care reform must build upon what works and improve inefficiencies. Individuals should be able to choose from a range of quality health insurance plans. Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals as those of a public plan."

Blue America PAC Videos for Blanche Lincoln

More About Senator Blanche Lincoln

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Republican?!

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option

Monopoly Money: "Our good friend Senator Blanche Lincoln thinks it’s very dangerous for the insurance companies to have to compete with a public plan option: ‘One of our biggest concerns is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do,’ she said."

For more information about her political contributions, you can visit the Federal Election Commission Blanche Lincoln Page.

A free online business listing is a good strategy for online business optimization. While LinkedIn is certainly one place every business should get listed, there are many more ways to get free online business listings. You should also know that LinkedIn does not provide any "link juice" for your site. Your links will look like this:

< ahref="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ehomebusinessop%2Ecom&urlhash=tk9j" target="_blank" title="New window will open" name="overviewsite">My Website< /a>

You see, not only is it a redirect link, the anchor text is simply "My Website."

Good Free Online Business Listings

Web directories are a good source of free listings for your online business. Please note there are several other articles referenced at the bottom of this page that provide more information about promoting your business website.

Getting a listing in a web directory can be fairly easy, but it can also be a time consuming process. Some directories will list your business with no obligation on your part. These are usually low PR (Page Rank) directories. Other web directories require a reciprocal link and, when you think about it, that’s only fair. It’s a "you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours" situation.

Reciprocal Linking for Your Online Business

Let’s talk strategy. As hundreds and, even, thousands of sites provide good links back to a directory, that directory has a good chance to rise in prominence in the eyes of search engines. As the directory rises in prominence, so does the value of that link to your website. There are hundreds of such directories that allow deep links. A deep link is one that goes to a page other than your home page. Many of these reciprocal link directories also allow you to write an article about your website or a section of your website with a link to any page on your site. You might want to get started at Reciprocal Links Directory.

Traffic Building for Your Online Business

Free online business listings in web directories are just one way to generate additional traffic to your website and, possibly, increase your site’s value according to search engines. There are many more things you can do – for free – to build your online business presence. Dozens of strategies can be found in the eBook, How to Generate Free Traffic. I’ve already written about this eBook. You can read a review by clicking How to Generate Free Traffic.

Perhaps the best way to generate good links at no cost to you is by finding other webmasters with similar sites that would exchange links with you. One program I would highly recommend is called Value Exchange. It’s free to sign up, and the program identifies other sites for you to examine. The webmaster’s email address is given to you for easy contact, and the program even provides updated information about sites that link to yours. It’s a very easy way to manage a linking program – at no cost to you.

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Online Business Optimization

How to Generate Free Website Traffic

Is SEO Dead…or Dying?

Making Money from Home

Key to Marketing

Article Writing for Profit

Online business optimization is an essential strategy for online business success in 2009 and beyond. The Internet has changed, and business promotions on the Internet have changed even faster. Top players like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter did not even exist just a few short years ago.

YouTube and other video sites have become very important to online marketing, and trendwatching.com has identified video advertising as the fastest growing trend for the future. For quite awhile now you and I have been seeing 15- to 30-second commercials at the beginning of a news video or, virtually, any other kind of video on major websites.

More than Search Engine Optimization

Online business optimization is much more than optimizing a website for search engines. While page construction still plays a vital part of business marketing online, it is a much smaller player than it once was. You might want to also read my article, Is SEO Dead…or Dying?

Your approach today must include the Social Media community. Back on April 8, 2009 (just 3 months ago) Facebook reached 200 million active users with 100 million logging on every day of the week. MySpace has 130 million users, LinkedIn boasts of 40 million and Twitter had 25 million in early May 2009 and continues to climb.

Single page complementary sites such as Squidoo, HubPages and Google Knol should also be part of an effective online marketing strategy. Major corporations now employ social media workers who do nothing but interact on social media sites all day long. Press Release (PR) media sites are equally important to getting your business message out to the public.

Social Media Linking

Social media linking strategies are not as important as having a social media presence. Yes, you can still get a little juice for your website with social media links, and forums provide an excellent opportunity to garner some link juice. However, being a good guy on social media sites can bring added value to your online business. You can provide pre-selling information about your products or services and answer questions in a non-pressure environment.

Traffic Building

Let’s step outside social media for a moment and think about other things you can do to generate free traffic to your website. Of course, you want this to be targeted traffic, people looking for your product or service. I’ll talk about article marketing in the next section. For now, however, let’s talk about being a good Internet citizen in places other than social media sites. Having a blog is certainly one no-brainer. Equally important, though, is being a good blogger. You should visit other blogs that post content similar to yours and leave comments. Most blogs allow you to link back to your blog when you post a comment.

Squidoo offers an opportunity for you to create a single page that provides specific information about your products or services with anchor text links back to your blog or website. And, of course, there are ways to promote your Squidoo lens that, in turn, promotes your other online sites.

Dozens of strategies can be found in the eBook, How to Generate Free Traffic. I’ve already written about this eBook. You can read a review by clicking How to Generate Free Traffic.

Article Marketing

Much can be said about article marketing and its value to your online business optimization strategy. Article directories are a growing segment of online information. This provides another opportunity to show your business as a good guy. A properly designed article that presents good, quality information without a blatant sales pitch can help boost your image. Today’s consumer has been over-hyped. Just think for a moment of those in-your-face Billy Mays’ commercials or Sham-Wow or free credit report dot com with the small print on the television commercial that says you must sign up for a program in order to get a credit report.

Don’t confuse article marketing with press releases. Article marketing should be more soft-sell. And you do get a link back to your main business website in your author biography.

Improve Your Online Business Optimization

Online business optimization requires a new kind of webmaster or web development team. Knowing the latest HTML, CSS or PHP is certainly not enough to optimize your online business. You can paint a beautiful masterpiece, but if you wrap it in burlap and put it in storage, the world will not know of its existence. The same goes for a online business that is not optimized for today’s online customer.

Think about this: Pew Research, in January 2009, cited some almost staggering statistics. In the four years from 2005 to 2009, the number of adult Internet users in the United States who have a social media profile increased from 8% to 35%. Narrow that down to adults aged 18 to 24 and you get 75% with a social media profile. Drop down to tweens and you’re nearly at 100%. Where are your future customers? If you still have a question about this, read those statistics again.

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"We cannot create a public option that puts all the other private insurance companies out of business," according to Arkansas Congressman Mike Ross. Ross chairs the group known as the Blue Dog Democrats.

Representative Ross states on his website, "More than one working-age Arkansan dies each day due to the lack of health insurance. It is a fact that uninsured Arkansans are sicker and die sooner than their insured counterparts."

Ross also mentions that 23% of Arkansans aged 25 to 64 do not have health insurance but, still, he wants to preserve the current health care system that is failiing his own constituents. "Health care reform needs to focus on controlling costs, increasing value, and improving access."

Ross’ Blue Dog Democrats sent a letter on Thursday, July 9, to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing their concerns about moving forward on health care reform legislation. This move effectively killed the scheduled unveiling of the final draft of health care legislation that would be introduced in the House of Representatives.

Congress is Confused about Health Care Reform

There is no doubt that a single payer health care system would benefit American the most. And, there is no doubt that Congress will not pass single payer health care legislation. Congressman Ross should take a lesson from a recent hailstorm that hit his home state of Arkansas that sent thousands of citizens to auto repair shops. Adjusters looked at the damage and made decisions quickly to either repair or replace various parts.

Many of those autos had a roof or trunk lid or hood or fenders that were too damaged to repair. Replacement was in the best interest of the car owners. Likewise, America’s health care system is broken because of profit-led decisions managed by health insurers who add 30% administrative cost to processing a claim. Congressman Ross could look at Arkansas’ Medicaid program where approximately 99% of claims pass through an electronic processing system with no human intervention. Medical providers can file a claim on Friday and receive payment the following week. Pharmacies receive instant notification when filing a prescription claim. Hmmmmmmm. A super-efficient, government run single payer health insurance program exists in the home state of Mike Ross and benefits thousands of his south Arkansas constituents.

The United States is currently facing both a health care crisis and an economic crisis. President Barack Obama has correctly stated that fixing one is essential to fixing the other. Jobs continue to be lost because people are afraid to spend money because they fear their job may already have a pink slip attached to it for future delivery.

So Congress, in their confused wisdom, has a health care reform bill that requires employers to offer health insurance to their employees – whether they can afford it or not. The bill also requires employees to purchase health insurance – whether they can afford it or not. Requiring employers to spend money they don’t have means more people will lose their jobs so the remaining employees can have health insurance. Requiring employees to purchase health insurance with money they don’t have will certainly reduce spending in other areas of the already-troubled economy.

Who is Congress Helping?

Congressman Ross and his fellow Blue Dog Democrats (as well as all Republicans) do not want to hurt for-profit insurance companies. You know – the companies that made $50 million in campaign contributions earlier this year.

More About Health Care Reform

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Sen. Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option