Stop Foreclosure, or at least Slow It Down.

A while back I started going into foreclosure.  I got panicky and went through total hell.  I woke up every night and every time the phone rang I dreaded answering it.

What I thought was just an injury that would lay me up for a day or two ended up being a job costing series of ACL surgeries.  As if the thought of not supporting myself wasn’t hard enough, the harassment was even worse.

My mailbox and my phone seemed to be nothing but the bearers of bad news.  When I was able to answer the phone I felt like nothing but the bad guy and my wife and I had the first fight of our marriage of several years.

I went to this “free” class on stopping foreclosure and all it ended up being was someone telling me how I should  pay them $3,000.00 so they could slow the process for me. What a complete and total waste of time.  I wasn’t looking for someone to stop foreclosure for me and charge me more than my house payment.  I wanted to learn what I could do simply because if I had the money, I would make a damn house payment.

The next mail I got was for an attorney who tried setting an appointment with me before telling me what they would do or how much it would cost.   Finally when she realized I was not going to come in without that information she let me know they would declare bankruptcy for me and that I would, once again, owe someone else money.  Bankruptcy doesn’t stop foreclosure, so again, what was the point.  All I wanted was MY house while I tried to get back on my feet.  If I could ever get back on my feet.

I looked on line and page after page was filled with the same con artists.  I felt helpless.  How do I wade through a big bunch of liars while trying to find the information I need?  Then I saw someone answering a question on Yahoo about how they slowed down foreclosure giving them enough time to get on their feet.

I followed the link to a little website that said it could help me Stop Foreclosure or at least slow it down.  The book was written by someone who gathered up a ton of information and actually had gone through it himself.

Looking for the catch or the scam line that would give me a red flag and tell me to keep looking.  The guy seemed genuine on every page but I had been conned by so many people at this point that I scoured everything on the website.

Finding nothing I decided to go ahead and get the little e book.  I remember checking out and thinking, for $13.00 there is no way this book is going to be wirth a damn.  But at least I can contest it on pay pal and get my money back once I am done wasting my time.

I had the file the next day and opened up the PDF to start reading There’s No Place Like Your Home.    It started off with the author telling us about his experience and what he did to get all of the information together that he used for writing the book.

I have to tell you, aside from the few grammatical errors that  I found, it was really a good little book.  I learned a ton of information on how to stop foreclosure long enough to work to get back on your feet.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the fact that the writer took the time to explain what put many of us in the situation in the first place.

I’m back to work now after 8 months of not paying a cent on my house and am hopefully going to be back on top of my payments with the bank not even charging me anything back owed.  Instead I will start my payments as though I was never behind in the first place.

The website is http://www.release-me.org and no I do not work for the guy.  I just had to get the word our because I don’t want anyone else who is going through what I am just now starting to come out of, to deal with the same garbage I did when there really is a good resource out there for you.

One final note.  The book helps you emotionally to.  I know that may not seem like a reason to buy a book, but knowing that there is someone to encourage you has always been good for me.

SayItAloud.com is less than a week away from Launch

Anyone who has been to their website knows that on March 1, 2009 a very exciting thing will be happening.  SayItAloud.com will be going fully live.

This is an anticipated time as nearly 500 writers and several dozen sponsors wait to see what the site has in store for their opening day.  The rumers are thick with everything from nothing, to an entire site rebuild.  There are even whispers in the back that there is a new logo in the works and many of the features that have been asked for will be going live.  This highly anticipated launch is something that several of the writers have been lighting up their blogs and information with.

Will be interesting to see who is right, who is wrong, and what SayItAloud.com truly has in store for everyone.

Thanks for Supporting Us. Can You Not Spam Please

I am grateful for all the support we have been getting from our nearly 400 writers.  But it has come to my attention that some of you are going crazy posting all over wordpress and other blogs either recruiting more writers, or building backlinks.

Please stop.  I don’t want any part of http://www.sayitaloud.com to have been remotely built by anything other than integrity.  That is not what we want at all.  There are plenty of marketing efforts that we have in place that don’t involve spamming.

So please, don’t take away from what we are wanting to be a great thing.

Say It Aloud is catching the eyes of the people.

Say It Aloud is starting to get the attention of people all over the world.  Our newest Alexa ranking shows that people are not only coming from the US, but India, Canada, the UK, and Australia as well.  Writers are grateful to know there is a company who is working to make them money and take a smaller percentage with a greater payout.

So whether you are a potential advertiser wanting to take advantege of flat rate advertising while supporting great writers, or just an aspiring author, visit http://www.sayitaloud.com today.

Flat Rate Banner Ads, Out With the Old, in With the Older.

Ahh evolution.  When the internet first came out everyone was scrambling to advertise like there was no tomorrow.  Flat rate banner ad advertising was really the only choice.  Then a little company decided to work on an unheard of concept; pay per click advertising.  People loved the idea of not paying for a banner unless someone actually clicked on it.  Pricing was low and returns were profitable.  Flat rate banner ads seemed to disappear as a host of new terms like PPC, PPI, CPC, and CPM gave us ADD.

Soon bid wars ensued to the point where now it is not unheard of to pay mid digits for links to sites who knew that the first order would not turn over any kind of profit.  Shortly after people began abusing these methods and so the companies supplying these ads spent millions and millions trying to combat this issue.

Recently a small child of a website stood up and said “Can’t we just put the old clothes back on the naked Emperor?”

www.SayItAloud.com has recently released their new site design and concept in which writers are paid by sponsors for space on their original content articles.

Advertisers, known as sponsors pay a single fee of $55.00 at maximum, receive space on one of only three available spaces on the article, and the banner is permanent for the minimum 1 year of the article.  In addition, sponsors get acknowledgment in text form at the bottom of an article as well as on the Sponsors page of the website.

“Our writers are tired of making almost nothing for their hard work.” Joseph Zeleny says.  “It also does anything but level the electronic playing field when you have to get into a bidding war with a giant competitor.  By creating a website where writers get up to 50% of the revenue that they have worked hard for.”

The benefit to websites like Say It Aloud is that sponsors can target their key demographic by category, keywords, or even by similar likes.  This means that a sponsor can choose a flat rate banner ad on an article that will be more to the liking of the person reading the article.  A weight loss company can market in the health and fitness, while a game site can show up in articles that would be of interest to male teenagers.  Best of all, with the current pricing, it is cheaper for most businesses to purchase a fixed price banner ad than they are going to spend in one month on their PPC ad being on the same article.

So is it time to put down your bidding signs and make the full leap over to fix priced advertising like this?  Even  Zeleny, and award winning marketer thinks this is not the best move.

“I don’t believe that this is going to eliminate the need for the different types of online advertising out there, I just believe that by offering more choices in different areas that are just as effective, if not more so, while lowering pricing of other advertising forms; hopefully bringing what has become off balance, back in to the proper place.”

www.SayItAloud.com Celebrates 300 Writers

Flat Rate Banner Ads and writers equal a winning combination

I know that several people have been contacting the good writers on here about writing on www.SayItAloud.com.  It’s very hard not to get excited abotu a website that actyually has the opportunity to make writers a decent wage.  But today there was an extra buzz in the air.

“We Broke 300.”  The entire staff cheered as the milestone they were looking for was achieved.  “We still have a ways to go, but this was important.”

With 300 writers the odds that someone can contribute to the over 400 categories and sub categories has been met.

The next challenge for the SIA sales staff will be to try to get each end every secton filled with sponsors.  The staff is grinding away and alreayd has several sponsors who’s banner ads will appear on their official March 1 launch.

SayItAloud is eliminating ppc, cpc, and cpm marketing, deciding to give writers a flat rate for their work and effort.  Writers are benefitting as they see the benefits of their hard work much quicker, while advertisers, known as sponsors, can purchase a top space banner ad that is accompanied by a text link and recognition of their support, for as little as $35.00 for the minimum one year life of the article.  “We decided not to worry about monthly fees, or any other kind of management of banners as we wanted to give both writers and sponsors the best options for their investments.

We will keep you posted, but at present several dozen banners have been purchased already as the small company which shot up Alexa from 18,000,000+ place to be in the top 100k on a daily basis moves forward.

Calling All Writers

Now first off, I am not trying to take anyone away from WordPress.  I think WP is great and will continue to use it myself.

But a few writers and I have been working on a project for some time now and need writing experts for it.  The website is http://www.SayItAloud.com

The site is designed to be an article based website with comments, a Writer’s Cafe, and a nice little forum.

We have tons of categories and I along with a few others have been plugging away at putting articles up with everything from Autmotive to Zoos.  The plan is once we have articles in every section to launch with Google and the other search engines in a big way.  Our marketing staff (consists of about 20 people right now) will then go after advertisers and try to get each article sponsored.

Once fully launched, new writer’s will be given a sliding scale percentage starting at 10 percent of the sponsorship revenue and working up to 50% once they have submitted 50 articles.  The marketing team gets 25% and costs for everything will cover another fifteen percent meaning the board will see the remaining 10% split among them.

Here is what I am offering right now.  For anyone who joins and submits articles now; I will start you off at the 50% mark.  If a 600 word article is written and both pages are sponsored, the writer will receive $135.00.  Writers also have the opportunity to have additional funding from readers who donate and we will also be offering awards to the best writers in each section.

Again, you can write about just about anything.  The only thing we ask is for people to keep it clean, topic focused, professional, and original.

And yes, you can insert back links on your article to your site.  Just make sure when you sign up you state that you came from WP.

Thanks everyone and happy posting.

TMI Yet More The Government Thumb is Getting Bigger

I was driving home from my Sacramento website design and marketing office.  Typical winters day in Sacramento.  Clouds threatening rain with a wink.  People jamming to merge one car ahead on the road.  In my haste to be home with my wife I realized I had left my cell phone and headset at the office.  This is not untypical of me.  If  I didn’t need my keys to drive home, God only knows how many times they would be sitting on my marble desktop.

So I turned back around and grabbed my phone and headset and headed back out on the road again.  I hadn’t even gotten far enough from my office to justify it when I heard the “Gotcha” tag of the Sacramento police car behind me.  I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong, but pulled over and shut off my engine.

While he sat in his car for a few moments, to make me sweat every wrong deed I had ever done in my life I was sure, I grabbed my registration and insurance.  I remember thinking that I needed to start dieting again as I struggled to get my license out of my wallet, firmly hiding in my back pocket.

Now, it has been about 5 years since I was pulled over, but I knew that having everything ready for the officer would make him much happier and a happy officer was more likely to give me a warning rather than a ticket.

“License Please.” was the unmuffling voice as I rolled down my window, wondering if anyone of my Sacramento area clients or employees would drive by, recognizing the SIA vinyl in my back window.  Not really paying attention to the officer I handed up my bundle of goodies.  I was more than slightly shocked when all he did was remove my license itself from the top of my pile and left me everything else. I had created a small mess in scrambling to get the proper documents, so him not taking them was honestly more disturbing and questioning than why he had pulled me over in the first place.

He came back to my car with license in hand and not clip board.  This meant I was probably in the clear for not getting a ticket. However, the bigger problem and question lingered in my head.  I felt I already knew the answer and dreaded it; but I had to ask anyway.

He explained that I was pulled over for not signaling as I left  my Sacramento website design company parking lot.  As he told me he was just giving me a warning, it became obvious to him that I had a bigger concern on my mind.

“Wondering why I didn’t take your registration or proof of insurance?”

I didn’t even ask him and he knew what the question was going to be.  This means that enough people have been in the dark about this that the question has become common.

Turns out now, in California, your registration and all of your insurance information is submitted to the DMV.  This may on the outside seem like a simple way to keep you license and have proof of all your documentation.  So instead of giving any official your three documents, you simply hand over your license and life is easier right?

I, for one, do not see it this way.  Now the state of California has more data on me in one place.  In talking to my insurance company afterwards, I learned that along with a document that states I am insured, they turn over full policy information including payment history, type of coverage, number of vehicles, and any other insurance that I have through their company.  This means that the state of California knows how much of what kind of coverage I have on my house, my car, and my family.  Now any state official with access can see more information about me than anyone else.

This should send fear in every Californian for two big reasons.  First, big brother now can keep tabs on you in a way they never could before.  Not just what the state says your items are worth, but what you are saying they are worth by insuring them.  If you are insuring jewelry, assets, or anything else; the state now knows what you have of value and can tax you accordingly.  Second, think of the security issue.  Now, instead of having to hack into several different databases in hopes to steal your information; a hacker can simply break into the DMV (and it has been done) database and get your banking information, your personal information, your social security number, and know more about you than your own mother.

Does this not bother anyone else?  Does the though of all your information being accessed by the big GOV not make you feel a little uneasy?

I spoke with several of my employees and the stories amazed and scared me all at the same time.  One of my employees had a lapse in his insurance and instead of being warned by his insurance company, he was warned by the Department of Motor Vehicles directly that his registration would be considered invalid if he did not rectify the situation.  This means that our tax dollars are now going to a department in the DMV that monitors our insurance.  Where did that money come from?  Another employee told me that their insurance company would not insure their car for what the Kelly Blue Book was on it because the bill of sale value was listed at $1,000.00.  His mom gave him the nearly new SUV, but the DMV insisted on a price being placed on it so they could tax his registration accordingly.

This is an absolute invasion of our privacy.  Not because we have anything to hide; but rather because their are parts of our lives that the GOV has no business being in.  What business is it of any official that I insure my mothers ashes?  Why should it matter to the DMV that I pay by check and have full coverage on my vehicle and the items inside it?

There is a great fear here.  With the tightening economy, how many people who have access to your information, may be tempted to sell it?  This happens more than anyone wants to admit as it is.  Now, with the increased difficulty of following any kind of paper trail, it will be an even greater temptation for someone who needs the money to start down a road that would damage so many.

Of course, we all know how it works with the GOV  once they have their hooks into something, getting them to let go is like trying to remove a piece of steak from the jaws of a pit bull.

So what can we do?

And there is the question.  We drive around, spend our lives trying to protect our self and those things of value, but now, we live knowing that one day, everything we want to keep quiet, can be taken by someone who wants it bad enough.

Sacramento Website Design, Why the Industry is Dying.

Ok, first of all, I am not just talking about the Sacramento website design industry here.  I am using Sacramento in this article simply because that is where I am.

Going through our books for the last fifteen years I have noted a major trend and wonder if anyone else in the industry is feeling it as well.

For over a decade and a half SIA Professional Services has provided Sacramento website design, printing, promotional items, screen printing and more.  ON an annual basis we pull a number tally on each of the products and services that we offer to see what is popular, what isn’t, and try to get an idea of where to put our efforst in the future.

To give you a little insight on SIA Professional Services, the company was built around my marketing.  This means that all of the products and services we offer has to be a certain caliber (price, quality, practicality) before I will allow it to join the ranks of the endless products and services our Sacramento office has.  Simply put, if someone is looking for crap, I send them elsewhere.

So here I am with my P&S (product and service) tally when I notice a trend.  Our upper and mid level websites seem to be dwindling as the cheaper packages (which were originally made to be built upon websites) are increasing in number.

I knew a couple of the clients personally and so I called them only to find out that they never really were into having a website in the first place. I went through call after call and all of those who chose the cheaper sites had the same mediocre response, getting a website because everyone has a website.

I was taken aback because a website can be a powerful marketing tool and many of us who post blogs do so not only to enlighten and share, but to build our own presence on the web.  Whether we own a Sacramento Website design company, a marketing consultation business in California, or just looking to sell some small trinket we make at home, the Internet is the cheapest form of advertising and marketing, requiring little more than the time of the creative.

So why have websites become the hum drum of the business owner?  Why do people look at websites now with more of a requirement, than as a powerful tool that can put a business on the map?

There are three main reasons for this problem.

1.  Oversaturation

People think about website design as something they have to do because all of their competitors are doing it.  This is a far cry from doing it to gain business.  Yes a website shows presence.  Yes, there are websites for any and everything you could possibly look for.

2. Undereducation

In my case, my staff wasn’t getting people fired up aboput their website and instead was just hadning them the different sheets and wondering why people were picking the cheapest option.  Look if you are a Sacramento website designer, or anywhere for that matter, you can’t expect your customers to understand the differense between a search engine friendly website and a search engine optimized website.  You have to take the time to explain the difference in detail so they understand it.  Just because you understand something doesn’t mean your customers do.

3. Value

So many times we think of things in monetary value.  A website should carry a different mentality.  When choosing a website, someone should ask themselves…

How many customers do I need to get to make this investment worth it.  Sometimes doing the math versus other advertising and marketing mediums is all someone has to do to spend a little extra on the website than they would have otherwise.

If we, not only as Sacramento website design companies, but all web and graphic designers, will take the extra time and show the value of a website, we can save people from bad websites and oversaturating the web with sub par websites.

Joseph L. Zeleny

Chief Marketing Officer

SIA Professional Services

916-361-0792

http://www.siaservices.net

Pimp Yourself

OK, time once again to allow for some valuable back linking and shameless promoting.  Every so often I will do this as long as it remains popular.

Many of us post on these blogs to not only express our views and our opinions, but to also promote ourselves, our products, and our services.  Postings build valuable back links and allow us all to increase our overall web exposure. As with my former blog posts, I will submit this one to some of the search engines once I see the numbers trickle out.

So take a few sentences or paragraphs and tell everyone here on wordpress about yourself, your business, your church, or heck, even your dog.

I only have a couple of rules.  Number One: Nothing illegal, crude, or slanderous.  Number Two: No Spammed content.  Other than that….

Pimp Away