1. Wear them around the house for at least 2 days, with a pair of thick white cotton athletic socks, using either sandpaper or a sidewalk to slightly scuff the bottom.
2. If theyre leather, waterproof the outside of the shoes, then soak the entire pair underwater for about 2 minutes. Wearing a pair of thick white socks, walk around your house until dry. The shoe will mold to your foot. Caution: Don

September always means Back To School, and for thousands of families it also signals Off To College. In addition, more and more young people are opting to continue their education with post-graduate studies.
Once a student is past the Mandatory - Freshman - Year - In - The - Dorm Policy that many colleges have, parents face an interesting dilemma: should they continue to shell out rent, or considering buying a property for their children to occupy while attending school
Here is a TRUE Story.
In 1994, A young man decided to attend North Carolina State University. He enrolled in a combination Master/Ph.D. program. This meant he would be in Raleigh, NC for the next four -six years. After investigating the rental options in the area, his parents decided to help him purchase a townhouse.
This was the deal. A 3 bedroom, 2

Heres a really simple way... any novice can create a fully functional website in less than a week.
Websites are the wave of the future. Although many companies are using an online presence to drive business to their brick and mortar stores, many hobbyists also tend to have a bit of interest in developing their own online presence as well. Developing a website from scratch can be rather expensive, but armed with the right tools, and given a little instruction, anyone can develop a professional website in less than a week.
One thing you must always remember is that anyone trying to do a particular job should be armed with the right tools. Having the right tools will definitely make your project a bit easier to complete.
I guess you are scratching your head wondering what type of tools I would be talking about. You see when you are developing a website, you become a builder, a painter, or an artist. You are taking an idea from your head and transforming it into a digital image so to speak. Just as if you were going to build a home from the ground up, take a paint brush and create a masterpiece painting, or take a piece of clay and create a winning statue, you need the right tools to do the right job.
The tools Im referring to are web graphics software, web design software, and ftp file transfer protocolsoftware. These are tools are a must if you want to get off on the right foot. There are so many of these types of programs that you must really do your homework in order to purchase the one the best fits your needs. Some of these programs can even be downloaded for free. Each program focuses on a particular task. The graphics software helps you create images for your website from scratch. The web design software in short helps you to design and build a website from scratch. The file transfer protocol software is you link to sending your completed web pages from you computer to the internet.
Day one should be focused on purchasing cyber "real estate", and purchasing a name for that real estate.
Building a website is like building a new house. You have to purchase the land and then you can purchase the materials to build the home on the land. Lets take a look at this. Every website has a so called name. Example www.1234.com. This is called the domain name. There are many places that you can purchase cheap domain names. They usually run under $10 dollars and are good for about a year. Once you have the domain name you can start looking for a place to host you website. There are many hosting companies that are popping up on a daily basis. Hosting can be dirt cheap or it can be rather expensive. It all depends on the quality of service you receive from the company. Heres another area you should consider researching before you make a purchase.
Day two should be focused on the whole planning aspect of your website.
The planning aspect of your website should be focused on the objective of your website, the audience you are trying to target, and how your competition is doing in the market. Focusing on the objective simply means to think about what you are trying to accomplish with your website. Your goals and accomplishments should fall into this category. You should also be trying to focus on a target market. Many internet marketers feel that you should focus on a niche market. Remember that the internet is a big playing field. A beginner will get lost in the crowd trying to cover several areas. Instead, try and focus on something with less competition but enough competition to stay in business. Targeting a specific market or niche market is basically the audience you are trying to win over.
Day two should also be focused on the look and feel of your website. For example, you should have a mental image of how you want your website should look. It would be safe to say that you could even sketch out a raw diagram of how you want things to look. Pay attention to the color scheme as well. remember that all colors do not coordinate with one another.
Day three should be focused on the type of graphics you plan on using.
In all honesty, web graphics can make or break the success of your online presence. The internet is all about information and speed. Its like going to a fast food restaurant. You go their because you something quick to eat. The internet is similar. A fast loading website will beat out any other website hands down any day. In order to have a fast loading website you must keep your image graphics file size down to a minimum. The more clutter or bells and whistles you add to your site, the faster it will take to load. There are several website design programs out their that will let you know how long it would normally take for you page to load up. Shrinking the file size, saving it in different formats, and even cropping the image can cut seconds off your loading time.
If you want to save money, you can purchase a graphics program and make images and logos on your own. If you are a bit scared of the venture, you have the option of hiring someone to do the job for you. Whatever choice you make, always do your research for the best details and outstanding customer support.
Here we are on day four. Only one day left. Creating your web pages.
This is basically the meat and bones of any website. For the most part, an easy way to build a website is to use what is called a template. Basically a template is a preset model used to create a number of different pages. It saves you time and headaches. Once you find the look and feel of your website, you use that interface as a preset model to help you move along more smoothly. There are many html editors that can help you do this quicker than usual. One thing to remember is that using an html editor prevents you from dealing with actual html coding. Basically what Im getting at is you dont really need to know html when using an html editor.
You want to focus on building links, inserting and formatting text, and focusing on building your other pages throughout your site. Day four is the day where everything starts coming together. Take your time on this day. Dont rush anything. Make sure you are satisfied with one step before moving on. Your website is basically a mirror image of what you stand for. It will reflect on your work ethic and personality.
Congratulations you made it to day five. Give yourself a pat on the back. This day is spent publishing your website to the world.
This is where all you work is tied together and presented in a nice package. In order to do this you need some type of ftp software. In technical terms its called File Transfer Protocol. This is how you transfer your web page files and graphics from your computer to your hosting company. The procedure is rather simple. You basically use a point and click interface. You highlight the file you want to transfer and hit upload or send. The software is rather self-explanatory. Once the site is up on the web, check for links that are not working, or slow download times. Way to go, you have completed your first website without all the technical wisdom. There are a few more details that you will run into, but this is like a crash course of something that is really rather simple.

When you decide to tackle this task, just remember to take your time and plan everything out in advance. Do your research, and learn the basics of the three main software tools that are required. The tools are only as good as the user. If you become stuck or confused on a certain function, seek help. Customer support, chat rooms, or newsgroups. Remember the internet is a world of information. Use it to your advantage.
Follow these steps and you can impress your friends and family. Completing this will eventually get you labeled as a genius or whiz kid.

About The Author

c Copyright 2003 by R. Grisby
R.Grisby distributes ebooks dealing with various topics. The information presented in this article above comes from the Ebook "How to create a website in 5 days." Find it at: www.grisbynovels.com/5daywebsite.htm
uggsu@sbcglobal.net

This list is for both young and old. I love reading and want everyone to love it as well. So I hope you will find at least one thing helpful in this list and that it will inspire you to come up with some of your own.
1. Vist the public library if you cant get to the library you can also find some of the great authors works online. Just do a search online for "public domain books"
2. Keep a basket of books in an accessible place for everyone in the family. Put a variety of books in that the various members in your family will enjoy.
3. Make your own library. Keep your eye out at yard sales, thrift stores, online auctions ,etc for books then bring them home clean them up and put on your bookshelf. You can even encourage your children to "check out" the books. Simply seal a business size envelope and then cut the envelope in half and tape or glue one half in the back of a book and place an index card inside. Then the child places their name and the date they got the book on the card and the card is put into an index card box. Children love playing library. They can even let their friends check out books.
4. Read aloud to your family, if you live alone read aloud to yourself.
5. Start a book club among your friends.
6. Do a project that goes along with the book. This could be a craft or a recipe.
7. Make or buy pretty bookmarks as a special gift to your children or yourself.
8. Simply enjoy reading and all the places you can go through books and all the things you can learn.

About The Author

Angela Billings is a stay at home wife and mother who publishes an online newsletter Home and Family Ezine.

http://www.homeandfamilyezine.com

Wouldnt it be nice if the search engines could comprehend our impressions of search results and adjust their databases accordingly Properly optimized web pages would show up well in contextual searches and be rewarded with favorable reviews and listings. Pages which were spam or which had content that did not properly match the query would get negative responses and be pushed down in the search results.
Well, this reality is much closer than you might think.
To date, most webmasters and search engine marketers have ignored or overlooked the importance of traffic as part of a search engine algorithm, and thus, not taken it into consideration as part of their search engine optimization strategy. However, that might soon change as search engines explore new methods to improve their search result offerings. Teoma and Alexa already employ traffic as a factor in the presentation of their search results. Teoma incorporated the technology used by Direct Hit, the first engine to use click through tracking and stickiness measurement as part of their ranking algorithm. More about Alexa below.
How can Traffic be a Factor
Click popularity sorting algorithms track how many users click on a link and stickiness measurement calculates how long they stay at a website. Properly used and combined, this data can make it possible for users, via passive feedback, to help search engines organize and present relevant search results.
Click popularity is calculated by measuring the number of clicks each web site receives from a search engines results page. The theory is that the more often the search result is clicked, the more popular the web site must be. For many engines the click through calculation ends there. But for the search engines that have enabled toolbars, the possibilities are enormous.
Stickiness measurement is a really great idea in theory, the premise being that a user will click the first result, and either spend time reading a relevant web page, or will click on the back button, and look at the next result. The longer a user spends on each page, the more relevant it must be. This measurement does go a long way to fixing the problem with "spoofing" click popularity results. A great example of a search engine that uses this type of data in their algorithms is Alexa.
Alexas algorithm is different from the other search engines. Their click popularity algorithm collects traffic pattern data from their own site, partner sites, and also from their own toolbar. Alexa combines three distinct concepts: link popularity, click popularity and click depth. Its directory ranks related links based on popularity, so if your web site is popular, your site will be well placed in Alexa.
The Alexa toolbar doesnt just allow searches, it also reports on peoples Internet navigation patterns. It records where people who use the Alexa toolbar go. For example, their technology is able to build a profile of which web sites are popular in the context of which search topic, and display the results sorted according to overall popularity on the Internet.
For example a user clicks a link to a "financial planner", but the web site content is an "online casino". They curse for a moment, sigh, and click back to get back to the search results, and look at the next result; the web site gets a low score. The next result is on topic, and they read 4 or 5 pages of content. This pattern is clearly identifiable and used by Alexa to help them sort results by popularity. The theory is that the more page views a web page has, the more useful a resource it must be. For example, follow this link today -

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_detailsq=&url=http://www.metamend.com/

- look at the traffic details chart, and then click the "Go to site now" button. Repeat the procedure again tomorrow and you should see a spike in user traffic. This shows how Alexa ranks a web site for a single day.
What Can I Do To Score Higher With Click Popularity Algorithms
Since the scores that generate search engine rankings are based on numerous factors, theres no magic formula to improve your sites placement. Its a combination of things. Optimizing your content, structure and meta tags, and increasing keyword density wont directly change how your site performs in click-tracking systems, but optimizing them will help your web sites stickiness measurement by ensuring that the content is relevant to the search query. This relevance will help it move up the rankings and thus improve its click popularity score.
Search Engines Can Use the Click Through Strategy to Improve Results
Search engines need to keep an eye to new technologies and innovative techniques to improve the quality of their search results. Their business model is based on providing highly relevant results to a query quickly and efficiently. If they deliver inaccurate results too often, searchers will go elsewhere to find a more reliable information resource. The proper and carefully balanced application of usage data, such as that collected by Alexa, combined with a comprehensive ranking algorithm could be employed to improve the quality of search results for web searchers.
Such a ranking formula would certainly cause some waves within the search engine community and with good reason. It would turn existing search engine results on their head by demonstrating that search results need not be passive. Public feedback to previous search results could be factored into improving future search results.
Is any search engine employing such a ranking formula The answer is yes. Exactseek recently announced it had implemented such a system, making it the first search engine to integrate direct customer feedback into its results. Exactseek still places an emphasis on content and quality of optimization, so a well optimized web site, which meets their guidelines will perform well. What this customer feedback system will do is validate the entire process, automatically letting the search engine know how well received a search result is. Popular results will get extended views, whereas unpopular results will be pushed down in ranking.
Exactseek has recently entered into a variety of technology alliances, including the creation of an Exactseek Meta Tag awarded solely to web sites that meet their quality of optimization standards. Cumulatively, their alliances combine to dramatically improve their search results.
ExactSeeks innovative approach to ranking search results could be the beginning of a trend among search engines to incorporate traffic data into their ranking algorithms. The searching public will likely have the last word, but webmasters and search engine marketers should take notice that the winds of change are once again blowing on the search engine playing field.
Did you find the information in this article useful Feel free to pass it along to a friend or drop us a line at comments@metamend.com.

About The Author

Richard Zwicky is a founder and the CEO of Metamend Software, a Victoria, B.C. based firm whose cutting edge Search Engine Optimization software has been recognized around the world as a leader in its field. Employing a staff of 10, the firms business comes from around the world, with clients from every continent. Most recently the company was recognized for their geo-locational, or GIS technology, which correlates online businesses with their physical locations, as well as their cutting edge advances in contextual search algorithms.
articles@metamend.com

Have you ever wondered how restaurants get their coffee to taste so good
First of all, restaurants are in the business of pampering you so they devote much more time to the perfection of a good cup of coffee. Sometimes Ill remember a restaurant just because of their excellent coffee.
So what are their secrets and how can you duplicate this recipe at home It may surprise you to find out that the French Press brewing method could be the secret in achieving that restaurant quality taste.
Most fine restaurants use a press pot, also known as the French Press, which produces an extremely rich cup of coffee.
Press pot coffee is coffee steeped for 3-4 minutes between 195 to 205 degrees F. It produces a thicker and much richer taste than an auto-drip machine can produce.
A disadvantage of the French Press is it may leave trace amounts of coffee sediment. But the rich taste more than makes up for the small amount of sediment at the bottom of your cup.
So first, start off with a quality medium roast coffee, which is what most restaurants use. I can give you a couple of good recommendations.
Seattles Best Breakfast Blend, Starbucks Breakfast Blend or Starbucks Sulawesi Coffee is 3 excellent choices. These are full-bodied coffees yet very smooth tasting. They are some of our best sellers at PerfectCoffees.com and work well for French Press brewing.
You want to grind the coffee slightly larger than you would for drip coffee. Too fine of a grind will produce a bitter cup of coffee. If your grind is too coarse, the coffee will taste weak. A quality grinder is the best thing you can do to improve the taste of French press coffee.
Remove the plunger from the press pot and put 1 rounded tablespoon of coarse ground coffee per each 6oz. of water into the pot. You can adjust this to your own taste.
Coffee is 99% water so use clean filtered or bottled water free from chlorine and other minerals that affect the taste of coffee.
Boil the water and remove it from the heat for five minutes before you pour it. This will give you the 195 to 205 degree water that is ideal to brew with. Now pour the 195 to 205 degree water over the ground coffee.
Stir the coffee to get total saturation of the grounds then place the plunger on top of the pot and let the coffee steep for 3 to 4 minutes.
Depress the plunger slowly to push the grounds to the bottom of the pot.
Serve all the coffee in the pot after the 3 to 4 minutes of steeping. Otherwise the coffee will keep getting stronger.
If you have any left, you can always transfer it to a clean, preheated air pot or a stainless steel Thermos. This will keep the coffee hot about an hour without hurting the flavor.
The French press brewing method definitely takes more time but gives us the result we are looking for. Restaurant quality coffee in the comfort of your own home.
Copyright © 2004 PerfectCoffees.com. All Rights Reserved.
This article may be re-published "as is" unedited as long as the authors bio paragraph resource box and copyright information is included. The URLs in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks if used on a web page.

About The Author

Gary Gresham is the webmaster for www.perfectcoffees.com where you can purchase quality coffee, tea, cups & mugs, coffee gifts and delicious desserts online. He offers a free monthly coffee newsletter at www.perfectcoffees.com/newsletter.html.
Gary@perfectcoffees.com

Too many sales letters are shaped into paper airplanes and flown into trash cans because freelancers write sales letters that sell their services. These freelancers have never listened to the quietly- whispered secret that says their sales letters should sell solutions, not services, to yield the best results.
Solutions are jewels; they shimmer in sales pieces.
Prospects will peruse your sales letter if they discover you have a solution or solutions to their existing or future problem or problems.
To write a "solution-savvy" sales letter follow the copywriter

For those of you with Web sites, you probably know what a "host" is. Its a company that provides a location, or address, on the Internet where your Web site resides.
In other words, just like a physical business needs an address, so does a Web site. You cant have a Web site and just "stick it up" on the Web. Unless you want to set up your own server, you have to go through a hosting company who gives you that address, including server space and bandwidth, that enables the search engines and visitors to find your site.
Lets look at some common problems we often have with hosting companies:

You can never find an actual person to talk to! They may have a 24-hour customer service line open, but you can never get through to a real person.
Hosting companies often think that the "lowest price" will always get the sale, but they fail to realize that what people really want is excellent customer service, servers that are up almost 100% of the time, and a variety of services that come with the hosting package.
Many hosting companies dont provide any other functionality other than Web site hosting. They dont provide a "control panel" full of goodies such as PGP secure e-mail, shopping carts, log analysis, database creation, etc.
Guess what Technical support people often dont make the best "customer support" people. They may be technical gurus, but their main interest lies in their high tech servers and other functionality, rather than solving the simple problems of their customers.

In other words, weak customer service is a major problem with the majority of hosting companies these days. Solution:
I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to Combustion Hosting Company, and to say I was impressed is a vast understatement.
Here are some things that struck me as unbelievable. When the phone rings, whoever answers the phone is required to stand up to answer it and talk. After all, the sheer act of standing up requires that theyre alert and are listening to your problems and concerns. And, you actually speak to a "real" person!
With Combustion, if you have a problem, they dont just "tell" you how to solve it, they solve it for you! Also, their services certainly arent limited to "hosting." They can set you up with an account to where you can access the Internet through local access numbers no matter where you travel.
Their prices are extremely reasonable -- much better than I had been paying previously. Plus, the "extras" Ive received by going with Combustion are amazing.
But the one thing that makes Combustion shine over most Web hosting companies is their devotion to providing good customer service, and this is an area in which they truly excel.
So, if youre in the market for a new Web site, or if you arent pleased with your current host, consider Combustion Hosting. It will be one of the smartest moves you could ever make for your Web site. http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo
If you want further proof as to the benefits of using Combustion, read: this article.

About The Author

Robin Nobles is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with John Alexander. They teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive "hands on" search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com, and she

Are you a victim of any credit card fraud or identity theft Then you definitely need an enhanced defense from those menaces. You can get superior security from http://www.gotocreditreport.com. Actually, those financial offenses take place due to the lack of knowledge of your personal credit status. But, with GotoCreditReport.com , you will get an in-depth analysis of your personal credit with speed and accuracy. Thanks to our comprehensive credit service, we will relieve you from credit worries.

A credit report comprises different information. All the information mentioned in your credit report is very important. For example, there will be some identifying information like your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth and employment information. We will make sure that your personal identifying information doesnt get into wrong hands. Then a credit report will consist of your trade lines i.e. your credit accounts. The type of account i.e. mortgage, bankcard, auto loan etc, the date you opened the account, your credit limit or loan amount, your payment history and the account balance - all will be mentioned in the credit report. Lenders will give you loan on the basis of your credit report. So, any illegal or surreptitious access to your credit report will wreck havoc to your credit scores and your creditworthiness. So, play safe, opt for a credit service from http://www.gotopatches.com.

The fate of your loan application by and large depends on the credit report. So, if your credit report contains some blots or bad credit information, then obtaining loan will become far more difficult. As a matter of fact credit inquiries, credit rejections, late payments, past due and unpaid payments, court judgments, collections, loan defaults, repossession, foreclosure and bankruptcy are the ten worst things that people always try to avoid in credit report. That negative information, once inside in your credit report, will stay on your credit file for anywhere from 3 to 7 years and will make your life miserable. But, to rectify your credit reports, dont opt for any credit repair agency. They may do more harm than good. Actually promising you a new credit identity, they will force you to shell out hefty consultation fees. And ultimate they wont be able to provide you that elusive fresh credit identity. So, stay away from those temptations and think wisely. In no way can they get a new credit identity for you. You just cant remove all those errors almost instantly. Its a systematic and time-consuming affair. And you should consult with the experts who have enormous experience in handling credit reports of varied specification. In other words, simply opt for http://www.gotocreditreport.com. Let us take care of your credit report.

At GotoCreditReport.com , we will leave no stone unturned to rectify those errors in your credit report. We follow a simple yet effective strategy. We will challenge the accuracy and completeness of your existing credit report before the credit bureau. Sometimes it may so happen that the bad credit information becomes too old to be mentioned in the credit report. At that time, we can help you restructure your credit report in your favor. We simply send the ball to the credit bureaus court. Now, its up to the credit bureau to take action. If credit bureau fails to verify the items within 30 business days, you have won. The Fair Credit Reporting Act enables you to remove those items from your credit report.

Like credit report, the importance of a good credit score cant also be undermined. The credit score will give an indication of your future credit risk. But to make your credit report eligible to be counted for credit score, your credit report should have at least one account that is six-month-old. That signifies that your credit report is in great shape and up-to-date.

There are multiple benefits of having great credit scores. An outstanding credit score is the stepping-stone to become eligible for getting loans. Actually, before lending money to any loan seeker, the lender would like to take a quick and objective measurement of the credit risk of the person concerned. And thanks to the credit score system, credit granting process has become faster.

As credit scores have enabled lenders take credit decisions swiftly. So, if your credit report has some rough edges, patch up them with our credit service. Redefine your creditworthiness with http://www.gotocreditreport.com.

About The Author

George M Noceti, Managing Partner for http://www.gotocreditreport.com. George has designed a web site to help consumers fix their credit reports in an easy fashion. He can be reached at mailto:george@gotospp.com.

I hang out with the other mommies. No, I am not a "Mister Mom" or a "Househusband". I do have one enviable situation, though. I work from home and I have the flexibility to say, "This morning I am going to spend with my daughters. I can play with them. I can sing with them. I can laugh with them. I can clean up their ice cream that drips all over me."
Or I can say, "This morning I am taking my daughters to the play center, where they can play with other children, sing with other children, laugh with other children and spill ice cream on other children instead of on me."
So I hang out with the other mommies.
Ive noticed that many mommies want to start a home daycare. The reasoning seams to go like this.

Im at home within my own children anyway.
So far I have remained relatively unscathed, with few permanent injuries.
How much trouble can a few extra children running around spilling ice cream on the rug cause
Lets tempt fate.

I have two children, a toddler and a baby. They are enough of a handful, and the baby cant even climb on counters...yet.
Before setting up your own home daycare, consider this: how many more inspiring diaper-changing hours do you want to spend each day Little Lady is on her sixth month of perpetual toilet-training. If there is a purgatory, this is it. Too old to just carry her treasures in her quick-change diapers, too young to just go on her own, stuck in the middle in a high-maintenance waiting room of sorts. Little Sister has a nickname: Poopasaurus, because...oh wait just a minute. I have to go clean up a mess. Another mess.
Ive already written about the challenges of dressing a toddler while shes running bounding over the couch at record-shattering speeds: http://www.thehappyguy.com/toddler-dress.html
Then there is the atmosphere. Now that Little Lady doesnt nap anymore, she can get mighty cranky. I know the feeling. It doesnt take much to get a good wail going. And she has lungs. Or she might break a few rules or a few toys. Or she might just disobey. It doesnt take long for a parent to lose patience.
Crying. Stress. Babies sense it, and Little Sister can get cranky, too. Its a whole wailing chorus. Before long, the tension in our house can get so thick you could almost cut it with a chainsaw. Almost.
Does it get any better in a daycare Yes. You can take in only children who are completely toilet trained. Unfortunately, those children can climb counters. And chairs. And tables. And balconies.
If you still want to tempt fate and see how many children it takes to cause irreparable damage to your house, your car and your body, here are four tips:

Keep all sharp objects, cleansers and medications in a safe place...like another town.
Laminate your couch. And your carpets. And your clothes. And your ceiling. And your food.
Get a good pair of industrial strength earplugs