AJ Ashley

This week’s question for a beginner’s blog is not only a good one but a very important one in my opinion. Many people wonder about it and there is a right way and a very wrong way to go about finding them. The Question: What about images? The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is just as relevant in today’s society as it was when the phrase was first coined. People love pictures and the images do enhance the content of what you are writing about.  There are all kinds of... Read Full Story

The old adage is that word of mouth is the best advertising.  That is true when the word of mouth is coming from satisfied customers.  Word of mouth is also the worst kind of advertising when it comes from angry customers.  Therefore, we should all aim to satisfy, please, or astound our customers over and over again. The new term for word of mouth is “horizontal advertising” which Seth Godin talks about in his latest post here .  With the electronic ways of spreading the word, the word of... Read Full Story

David Beckham's Hindi Tattoo David Beckham, the former English international football star, has embraced body art in a big way since he had his first tattoo inked following the birth of his son Brooklyn in March 1999. However, David Beckham also has a tattoo that reinforces one of the first rules of getting a tattoo done in a language that is not your own – and that is to have the tattoo professionally translated ! In 2000, for his third tattoo, Beckham opted to have his wife’s name... Read Full Story

Doing business does not come free. There is always a cost to do business.  The trick is to weigh the cost against the benefit that you receive.  One of the most difficult aspects of doing business to determine is how much to spend on marketing and advertising.  Because of the nature of marketing and advertising, it is often difficult to know exactly how much return you get from each piece of advertising.  And if you think that you are getting free advertising or marketing somewhere, think... Read Full Story

I have just removed the automatic renewal for one of my domains and tomorrow one of my blogs will be no more. I am clearing out the clutter in my life both on and offline and you know what? It feels good! At first it was a hard decision to make. The blog was about Bullying, the topic that first got me writing online and when I started to think about deleting it, I almost felt I was betraying a worthwhile cause. However, the blog was not getting much traffic and much as I want to continue... Read Full Story

This week’s Beginners Blog question is one many new bloggers have and struggle with in the first stages of making their blog. Where is the help when I need it? Honestly, it is going to depend on what kind of help you need. Let’s assume that one of the areas that you need help with involves how to get something to work within the platform or theme that you are using for your blog. If your blog is part of a multi-user site just as Writing Online, one of the very best places to find help... Read Full Story

All about Borderline Personality Disorder and where to get help http://www.squidoo.com/treatments-for-bpd borderline-personality-disorder Read Full Story

Out of all the mythological creatures Dragons Tattoos seem to be the most popular. However, their meaning will depend on the style and source of the design, in addition to the personality of the wearer. There's a huge variety of Dragon Tattoo designs that originate from Western and Eastern Cultures, mythology and fantasy. And because 2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, the appeal of dragon tattoos is bound to increase even further, not only for those born in the Year of the Dragon, but... Read Full Story

Like many people when we first start online, I have been publishing pages on Squidoo and then moved on to include Blogging in my publishing portfolio. I have started several blogs but, again, like many people have either lost interest of felt pressured to keep them updated and fresh, while not receiving any real benefit. The problem is though, that you don't have the heart to just delete the blogs. Not when you have spent time researching the keywords and creating unique content. But recently... Read Full Story

I just finished reading a very good article by Adam Penenberg on Fast Company about Amazon’s Plagiarism Problem .  Penenberg makes excellent points in his article, exposing just a few blatant plagiarists that are earning money on Amazon through their so-called “published works” which are really out and out, copy and pasted books stolen from other authors. The article focused on the erotica section, which has a very large internet audience.  But those of us who have been writing online for a... Read Full Story