Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Affiliate networks and customer service

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I’m really impressed with two companies that I’ve recently started working with as an affiliate. It’s not because of results yet. I haven’t been with either company any longer than a month or so. It’s because of the customer service.

I joined AzoogleAds in December. This site allows it’s affiliates to add banner, and text ads to their site for various companies. Most of the banners that you can add to your site pay you per click, and many also pay you a fee if they gain a new client when someone comes to them from your site.

When I signed up I was assigned a representative that I could contact by email or phone or IM if I ever had any questions. In fact I was told that he would look over my sites and suggest how to use AzoogleAds in the best way for my site.

I put one ad up on this site and then kind of forgot about AzoogleAds. It was close to Christmas time and New Years and life got busy with the holidays and family related activities. Well, sometime last week, maybe Tuesday, I got a phone call and it was my AzoogleAds rep calling to see if I needed any help with their service or if I had any questions. I didn’t at the time but I was very pleased to see that they had come through with exactly what they’d told me.

No other company that I’ve been affiliate for has ever taken the time to have someone contact me personally to see how I’m doing with their service. Ever.

Then, on Tuesday evening I was going through my email on my laptop. Cleaning up a few days worth that had accumulated there and I saw that I’d missed an email that had come in on January third. It was from Share Results, a company that I had signed up for when I decided to put up a banner ad for the Web Hosting company WingSix.

I believe that I’d only signed up with Share Results a week or so before the email came in and here they were writing to me to say that they’d looked over my site and that they’d liked it, saw that I was a nurse and asked if I was still working as a nurse, and then told me about an upcoming promotion that they think might suit my site.

I wrote back to them to reply to their questions and to let them know how pleased I was that they’d contacted me.

These are the only two companies that I’ve been an affiliate of, who’ve spontaneously contacted me. That’s fantastic customer service.

I wonder if it’s a coincidence that both companies are Canadian?





Is using mortgage broker or the banks mortgage specialist better?

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I have a question for any home owners who might read this. When you first went about securing a mortgage for your home how did you do it? Did you go through your bank and speak with the mortgage specialist on hand at the bank branch or did you use Mortgage Brokers? I’m trying to decide which way works better for the home owner.

When Chris and I bought our home we first started out talking with our banks but we didn’t really like the offers that they were giving to us. You see they can only offer whatever mortgage types that the bank they work for handles. We switched to a mortgage broker who’d been recommended to us by our real estate agent, who did not receive any payment from us for his services, and he was able to look through all of the offers with all the banks that have mortgage packages and he found us what I still believe to be the very best mortgage at that time.

Interest rates were really low 5 years ago, and the bank was offering us a mortgage at 5.1% I believe. When we went through our broker we got a mortgage with 0% interest for the first 6 months and then after that we only paid 1% interest for the longest time until the mortgage rates began climbing again. As of right now our mortgage rate is only 4.5% and that’s still a much better deal that what most people are offered.

So my vote is for talking with a mortgage broker when getting a new mortgage for your home. What do you think? What have your experiences been like compared to my own?

Who’s his therapist?

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Wordless Wednesday

Successful therapy?

anorexia

I don’t know why I found this photo funny.

Anorexia is after all a very serious condition and I don’t want to downplay that here, but obviously this man has a sense of humor if he’s wearing that t-shirt. His therapy for anorexia must have been extremely successful, perhaps the most successful therapy ever.

I don’t think I’m going to use Mr. Linky anymore. I’m tired of people, Wordless Wednesday and other meme participants coming by and leaving a link and no comment. I think it’s very rude.

Besides, with my recent Muser links (just below every post) you get a better link anyway since there is no rel no follow tag around the recent commenters link. Google and other search engines will actually follow that link and it will count to help give anyone who comments here a valid link and hopefully a slightly better page rank in the future. The people who’ve just been leaving a link on my Mr. Linky have been doing themselves (and me) a disservice by linking and running.

Want to Join Wordless Wednesday’s? Sign up here:

Photo Enthusiasts earn money with Shutterpoint

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As many of you know I enjoy photography. In fact it’s become one of my greatest hobbies in the last year or two next to my gardening. I’ve actually been lucky with my hobbies and interests because they actually go together very nicely. Readers of my gardening blog have benefited from the combination of my two hobbies on many occasions.

Back in June I realized that I had quite a number of good photographs stored on my computer and that’s when I decide to create my photoblog – Breath of Life Photography. My photoblog has been well received and I’ve been told in the past that I should perhaps try to sell some of my photographs.

A few months ago I went looking for sites where I could sell my work it was at that time that I discovered www.shutterpoint.com. I didn’t become a member at that time though. I’ve been so busy with my blogs and doing some design work on the side that I actually forgot about Shutterpoint.

Shutterpoint is a fast growing stock photography service. Websites, blogs, companies and private individuals are always looking for photos to use on their sites or for commercial purposes. The site has many categories of photographs to browse through and all the photos are royalty free.

I think that this is a fantastic site for photographers – professional and enthusiasts, to promote their work, get feedback from other members through the rating system and forums, and to earn some money for their work.

Shutterpoint offers the highest payout to photographers for their photos on the internet. The payout rate is 85%. No other sites pay anything near this rate. Shutterpoint also goes a long way towards promoting your photos. Each photo you submit will also be listed on the Froogle3 online shopping search engine. Your online shutterpoint gallery can also be integrated into your website in order to promote your photos and increase the sale of your photos. Shutterpoint makes it easier for photographers to sell their work. This seems like a company that wants their members to succeed.

I’m seriously thinking of becoming a member of Shutterpoint. I could use this as another source of revenue if I’m able to sell any of my photographs, and it would also encourage me to improve the quality of my work as I get feedback from the site members. Through their feedback, and hopefully as my skills improve I’ll hopefully be able to sell more photos.

I know that many of my readers are interested in photography and that some are quite skilled at their hobby. That’s one reason why I wanted to post about Shutterpoint as I know that many of you might be interested selling photographs as a member of Shutterpoint.

I also know that a number of website designers read my blogs as well, and I’d like to remind you that when you are looking for photographs to use in your site designs Shutterpoint would be a great place to search for pictures that fit your designs. Actually, when I first found Shutterpoint a few months ago I was looking for sites where I could buy photos for my own designs, as well as sites where I could sell my photos.

I’m going to be joining Shutterpoint. I hope to see a few familiar names there when you sign up too.

My Fine Is… $475.10

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Now here’s a different kind of meme. I hadn’t seen this one before, well not until that Kyle tagged me yesterday.

So, the point of this meme is to add up how much of a fine you would have – if you could be fined for the adventurous activities listed below, that is. If you want to steal this meme and try it on your own be my guest. Just come back and tell me what you fine totaled. Inquiring minds wanna know, you know?

You don’t have to confess your answers, just the amount of your fine, unless of course you want to give us all the juicy details. I’m sure that would keep some of you blogging for a week.

Hmmm it could keep me blogging for a week. I’ve apparently been a very bad girl.

Smoked pot — $10
Did acid — $5
Ever had sex at church — $25
Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next to you — $40
Had sex with someone on MySpace — $25
Had sex for money — $100
Vandalized something — $20
Had sex on your parents’ bed — $10
Beat up someone — $20
Been jumped — $10
Crossed dressed — $10
Given money to stripper — $25
Been in love with a stripper — $20
Kissed some one who’s name you didn’t know — $0.10
Hit on some one of the same sex while at work — $15
Ever drive drunk — $20
Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk — $50
Used toys while having sex — $30
Got drunk, passed out and don’t remember the night before — $20
Went skinny dipping — $5
Had sex in a pool — $20
Kissed someone of the same sex — $10
Had sex with someone of the same sex — $20
Cheated on your significant other — $10
Masturbated — $10
Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close friend — $20
Done oral — $5
Got oral — $5
Done / got oral in a car while it was moving — $25
Stole something — $10
Had sex with someone in jail — $25
Made a nasty home video — $15
Had a threesome — $50
Had sex in the wild — $20
Been in the same room while someone was having sex — $25
Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars — $20
Had sex with someone 10 years older — $20
Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27 — $25
Been in love with two people or more at the same time — $50
Said you love someone but didn’t mean it — $25
Went streaking — $5
Went streaking in broad daylight — $15
Been arrested — $5
Spent time in jail — $15
Peed in the pool — $0.50
Played spin the bottle — $5
Done something you regret — $20
Had sex with your best friend — $20
Had sex with someone you work with at work — $25
Had anal sex — $80
Lied to your mate — $5
Lied to your mate about the sex being good — $25

It’s all the skinny dipping and streaking that brought up my totals. Honest!

Tally it up and Title it…”My Fine Is…” and pass it on.

Should I tag someone? I wonder if Anita would play along?

Can anyone beat me? Uhm no I don’t want to be beaten … I mean can anyone top my fine?

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