Category Archives: ramblings

Safety Precautions

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safety1Working online can be very rewarding and fun but there are safety precautions that a person can do and should be doing and believe me this is just a few that I have learned along the way.

There are some things that I just wanted to highlight in this blog post to make you aware and use caution here online.  These are just some things that I have learned the hard way and some I have heard from friends.

Phishing

Most of you probably know what this word means but if you were like me you had no clue what it meant when I first started online.  Phishing pronounced fishin is the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company.

This happens in emails, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, etch so it really keeps a person on their toes.  My rule of thumb NEVER click on any links that you do not know where they came from and DO NOT even click on any links from friends unless you are talking to them at the time.  I will even take this one step further – ask a question that only the person you are talking to will know the answer as some hackers will even talk to you – I had that happen on Skype before pretending to be the friend of the account they had hacked.

Trojans

Yes that is a scaring word to lot of people but do you know there are hackers out there that will download them on your computer to get info from you.  They can be disguised in ways that look harmless.

Drive-by downloads

Did you know that hackers can sneak malicious code on to legitimate website – when you think that you are downloading a legit file or even pictures.  That happened to me once when I download a picture that I wanted to use from Facebook and Google.

1069368_10151561408673925_171554819_n Bypassing passwords

As I was researching, I was quite surprised to find out that there is a software that will actually install virus and can read what you type on your computer – thus giving the hackers your passwords.

This info was gotten from this post on USA Today and here is the link to the post and really think that everyone should read this 5 Ways Hackers Attack You. 

This all has been a real eye-opener for me and actually my research started on all this as my support guy is always on my case about logging out of my sites vs just hitting the X at the top and closing out.  Well this does NOT close you out and leaves a door open for hackers – in fact there are a group out there that are doing just that.

So this all started out with me just giving you a eye-opener and like with any thing that you do there are safety precautions that you have to do.  Take the time to log out of your site, your cpanel, the TE you are surfing etc.  I know it’s a PITA and quicker to hit the X but don’t be leaving your doors open and invite unwanted intruders in.  This is like locking your front door and leaving the back door unlocked thinking that a burglar wouldn’t bother to check – think again.

cat5A couple more places that I would like to send you to especially if you share a computer or might have to use the computer at the library or school.  The Data Goldmine

AND this one for sure as I have been guilty of this and that is using the same password at many of the sites that I’m on because it’s easier to remember.  Keep in mind once they have your password – that means that all the accounts with that same password is up for grabs.  9 Things To Do After Your Email has Been Hacked

 

Stopping the Insanity

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insanityWell I have held off on this post for long time now and have been chatting with members and other site owners and I’m going to take a big STEP here and stopping the insanity.

Earlier I had put in an email that there were some changes coming down the road for Zaney Clicks – well I have spent days behind the scene looking at stats, I have went back thru all the members emails that I have got with suggestions, new ideas, and I’m listening.

I know it don’t seem like it sometimes but I do – and I thank all the members for being honest with me – and I was going to wait till the first of the year but when I looked back at the calendar of events, the stats etc.  I have decided that the time for stopping the insanity is NOW.

AND what better time to write this post – Halloween – so for some of you this will be a treat and some of you will think it’s a trick.  Beginning November 1st – ALL regular monthly promos will be canceled.  Shocked you didn’t I?????????????

Well before you get all hiper – let me tell you what I have been hearing from members and they are right – we spend all this time setting up daily promos when that time could be spent working harder for YOU helping you get the traffic that you need, getting the referrals that you are looking for and earning the money that you are wanting to.  So in the future that is what I am going to be doing with the new things that just started at Zaney Clicks – they are going to be a bigger benefit for you as a member and help you the way the site should be helping you..

A few of the new changes have been started with some pages in rotation that has a code and only upgraded members can see and claim – they have a week to make the claim and each get a prize for claiming the codes.  After claiming the code all those members are put in a drawing for a referral and the other a week start page.

KeithHolyCowWHY in the world would I do this – well the reason is that these members have invested in this site by upgrading and I feel that they should also be able to have a chance to build their list.  So this site is going to help them do that by giving away more ACTIVE random referrals, login spotlight pages, start pages, etc.  There will be codes, bonus pages, hangman and other ways that free members can keep earning but I’m also going to take the pressure off you with trying to surf the most.

See I know from experience that these forms of advertising work – when a person can build their list they start making more money, when they can show their pages to everyone for a week they are more likely to get more referrals and also earn more money.

NOW the bottom line here as I know some people are thinking what about the cash that I am earning as of right now this site has paid out some great commissions and will continue to do so.  You will just have new and different ways to earn those commissions and the one that I will be keeping is when I catch you promoting as I surf.

So just wanted to say to all the members that have been in touch with me since July 2012 when the daily promos started – thank you, thank you and thank you for finally getting it thru my head that you DO NOT want to join anymore sites just to win some prizes.  I heard you when you said that you want to surf the sites that you like and stick with them.  You have also said that you are tired of the pressure of so many promos, you are tired of them and want something different.  Well you are going to get something different.

Will this all happen overnight – the answer is NO but I also felt that is was just time to stop talking about it and go cold turkey.  So as of November 1st the only promos that will stay on the calendar Money Monday and Take A Break Tuesday.   I will be getting all the promo prizes caught up and then starting the “NEW” events that have been planned for Zaney Clicks..

Another change that I have listened to is the upgrade that I give away to the person that surfs the most for the week – and thanks members for telling me that I’m wasting your credits for allowing that one – so that one has been changed and it will go to the person that has the most sales.

So we will still have 3 upgrades given out each week and they will go to the person that finds the Treasured Site, The Most Referrals and Person with Highest Sales.  We will still draw a winner from the list of people that submit the site to the Text Link in the email.

changesSo wanted to get this out tonight so that when you see the calendar clean in November you will know why.  All site owners that are reading this I will be personally chatting with you on this matter.  I would like to personally thank everyone that has hung in there and put up with so many promos, and thank to all the members that have come to me with your suggestions, new ideas etc. – this is going to be fun to get these started.

Promos, Team Surfing and Cheaters

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364806082Well I felt so much better last nite after I got my little rant off my chest that I thought while I was on a roll I would talk about promos, team surfing and cheaters.  Keep in mind this is my opinion and sometimes it’s good to get things out in the open.

Promos

Everyone ask me all the time why do I do promos and everyday – well for one they keep members active and I have found there are lot of promoholics out there that just love them.  Now I can imagine what you are thinking – these people are just there clicking and will never join new sites, buy anything and are just chasing those prizes. I have also heard that it’s not good to have the same people surfing a site all the time and that they want new eyeballs to see their sites or it’s not worth it to stay in a site that just has promoholics in it surfing.  Sounds familiar.

Team Surfing

This is another interesting subject that will get many responses but in my opinion I would rather have a promoholic looking at my site vs a team surfer – their goals are different.  The promoholic has a certain amount of pages that they are going to surf that day 50, 100, 125, 150 to reach that goal of the promo BUT a team surfer is there to help his team win for the week.
Yea I know you are thinking it’s a great social event and you are right as I lurk in many chat rooms and see the team members chatting.  Some sites even take it a step further and make chat for just team members.  All this is great but aren’t they the same people surfing a site also – where are the new eyeballs.  And the funny part the ones that talk about unique hits are on teams or have team surfing on their site which also encourages regular members to come back.

Cheaters

I really don’t like that word but it seems to be the thing talked about the most in some of the chat rooms that I’m in and there is even a cheaters list out there that everyone post in the rooms for other site owners to ban them.

Now with all that being said, here is my 2 cents on all of the above – as far as the promoholics – I don’t know about other sites but on Zaney Clicks your sites are getting seen and how do I know this.  Well for all you that may not know is I have a contest each week that I put clues in my email from a site in rotation – and members look at the sites finding the clues and then send in support tickets with the sites name to be in a drawing for a 30-day upgrade EVERY week – new site.

Now when this was first start I only had a few members playing Sherlock Holmes but now my support tickets are flooding in.  OUCH support tickets – well you might not like them but I love them and encourage my members to use them.  And yes I answer them all personally.

How do I know people are seeing your ads and paying attention at Zaney Clicks – well I did another test – I surf the site each week and I find a text ad that catches my eye and I feature the text ad in my email for the week and encourage my members to send me a support ticket with the site name. – why would I do that well for many reasons.  One they are looking at the text ads then, it teaches people to be more creative with their text ads and the site that is featured gets exposure as I add the URL to my email when I announce the winners – so I see it as a win-win .

Well nothing irritates me and some people more than to have their credits being wasted and from what I have seen from everyone and me included this is the three things that  will waste them and have even heard owners discourage people from buying credits at sites that offer any of the above or allows cheaters.

One comment on the “cheaters list” that I have seen – I am going to be like some owners and if that person is NOT breaking any of my terms, that person is promoting Zaney Clicks, is spending money at Zaney Clicks, and is paying attention while surfing because they sent in the Treasured Site or Text ad for the week – well just because they might be on someones list and you ban them – hmmmmmm – I really thought that is the type of member that we were all hoping to find.

BUT I know what you are thinking but there is no way they can surf that many sites in a day and let me tell you what one member told me when he was suspended and contacted me – “I’m retired and I just like surfing and your site is fun and not boring like most and this is why I surf so much”  I also had another tell me “If you don’t want people surfing 1000 sites or more then why did you have a badge made for 1000”.

Also there is an ad-on on Firefox that lets you not have to change the tabs so because you don’t – and the program does it – does that put you on a “cheater list” .  There was also a new program that launched that did the same thing – so everyone that joined that program and uses it does that put them on a “cheater list”  – just things to ponder on and can’t wait to see the responses on this one

09pEvYqoSSo with all this off my chest, (oh I feel so much better) my bottom line here is that there are lot of TE’s out there and lot of owners out there – an EACH one is entitled to run their TE the way they see fit and what benefits their members.  So that is why you will hear me say promote, track, promote, track, promote, track – that is what you should pat attention to and not all the crap floating out there in TEland.

My Aha Moment Today

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aha3It’s interesting how you can by accident run across things that you want to hit yourself upside the head and go why didn’t I think about this sooner.  Those aha moments – well I just had one today and thought I’d share.

Today I have been working on my mailers and getting things set up with the new system at Viral Mail Profits  as I was determined to take the time to finish setting up all the mailers and safelists that I was in as in the long run I will thank myself at the time it will save me.

If you have been like me, I jumped on the bandwagon and tested them out and now I know for sure that they work and now with the new tool on Viral Mail Profits and now with Ulti Send added – well I’m excited as just from the few I have sent to – it’s so worth taking the time to set up.

Now I don’t know about you but when I sign up to a mailer, safelist, etc. , I always set up a filter for each site in my email account and then when I’m mailing out at a particular mailer – all I have to do is go to that site’s folder and click emails to get the credits that I need.

Well, today I was working on this and after clicking, clicking and clicking emails earning my credits – – don’t know about you but I then hit the select all and delete what I didn’t get to as by the time that I do get back they will be expired – right or wrong?  Let’s just say it works for me and keeps me from seeing +999 all the time in the files.

Now I was just working up a storm and doing this routine when ONE of the times that I was hit the delete button – I had my aha moment.  Now wouldn’t it be smart instead of just deleting all them – I go thru all those subject lines and make a file of test subject lines – you know when you go brain dead like I do and just can’t think of something that would maybe get someone to open.

So yes you guess it, I made a new file and just scrolled down all these subject lines and picked some that I thought I’d like to try – and the real aha moment was watching all the ones that I was just scrolling on by and again another aha moment – what was it in these that just made me scroll on by.

Well you need to go to one of those files and try this – scroll down thru all those +999 emails that you have and it will be an eye-opener for you – it sure was for me.  If you do this, I think you will get much better at your subject lines.

The other exercise that you should pay attention to is when you are clicking and reading the emails – which ones stopped you and you really read.  Which ones did you open and couldn’t wait to get to that credit link.

Hope this will make you pay attention to things more and also don’t be so quick on hitting that delete button – there may just be lessons for you in what you are deleting.  You may just have one of your aha moments – let me hear them if you do.

aha

Changes and Updates

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It’s been interesting all the talk around TEland on the some of the changes and updates that some sites are making and when I listen to the good and bad of all the comments well you know me I have to add my 2 cents.

judgingcatChanges and updates are not the easiest thing for me either especially when you get my age – I’m a little set in my ways but there is one saying that always sticks in my head and wanted to share.  A friend of mine told me this years ago so I really don’t know who said it – but It’s not what happens that really matters but how you handle it will make all the difference.

In this world of computer and technology, you have to learn to go with the flow – changes and updates happen all the time and when they do you are not going to understand them all the time but there is usually a reason behind them.  It’s not easy  working online as there are so many out there that are just waiting to take advantage of the hard working honest people.

In TEland there have been some changes and updates and it’s been geared toward security of people sites.  There are behind the scene changes and updates made on sites that you are on everyday and most of the time you don’t even know they are happening.  The one that most don’t even pay attention to is site terms – when is the last time that you have read your favorite site’s terms?

Yea I’m just as guilty as most of you – we all are so busy trying to just keep up, to get our referrals, earn commissions that we forget about these behind the scene things.  Most site owners try and inform their members via their emails but the % of member read them is so low that most don’t have a clue when changes and updates happen.

changesSo I thought I would let all of you know here that Zaney Clicks also did some changes and updates – some you will like – some you want but they were done for the health of the site.  Zaney Clicks is not here just to flaunt high surfing numbers, high member numbers, etc.: it’s here to help you promote your site, get traffic to your site, give you a place that you know the owner is active and working hard to help you learn and earn.

004I054YQm2Also, I believe in keeping the line of communication open at Zaney Clicks and that is why I encourage members to talk to me.  You will see that it’s very easy to get in touch with me – there is a contact me tab on the site, there is an ask Admin on the members page, there is a daily email on site for your convenience.  Don’t be afraid to contact me I answer all my support tickets and I love hearing from all of you.

So hope that as changes and updates are made on some of your favorite sites keep in mind my quote “It’s not what happens that really matters but how you handle it will make all the difference”.

change2

One is a lonely number

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Well I am going to date myself but do you remember the song by Three Dog Night – it was called “ONE” and the line One is a Lonely Number.

Now I know what you are wondering what in the world does that have to do with my blog post – well actually alot as I have been meaning to write this for awhile.  AND I want to gear this post to all the people who I hear that they don’t get any referrals, they are not earning any money online, and they don’t know where to turn.

Well now you will see where the “ONE” comes from – if you are a person that can relate with any of the above – maybe it’s time to back up and reevaluate what you are doing.  When I first started as an affiliate, I found myself joining many programs and then not knowing which one to promote first.

My advice to you is to step back, look at all your affiliate programs you are in no matter what they are and ask yourself some things.  Break down your list into sites that I am upgraded in vs you are a free member of.  Do you have a monthly upgrade or do you have a lifetime membership.  Now research and see what your commissions are in each of the upgraded programs you are in.  Got that info yet?

Ok do you know which if any of these programs you have gotten referrals in?  Have you been tracking to know what page got you the referrals.  Did you connect with your referrals that you did get – do they know you are their person to go to.  You would be surprised how many times I ask this and 80% of the time people have no clue who they joined under and have never heard from the person they joined under.

Once you have done this – what did you learn?  If you listen to your referral, you will find out why they joined under you and you can start developing a game plan.  Was it because you had a branded page, did you design your own page, which page did they join from and what kind of help do they need.

numberoneGetting a layout of your game plan now?  Well you should be – you should know by your tracking and talking with your referral what worked to get them to the site.  Now that you have that, then start with the ONE site with the most referrals and get out there and promote that ONE site for the next 30 days doing all the things that you have just found out – why your referrals signed up, what page worked, from tracking what sites worked.

If you found that it was a safelist, mailer, text ad site etc., then you may want to join a few more of these type of sites and get your ads out there.  Use your ONE ad and put it in everyone of these sites that you belong to and just repeat it for the next 30 days.

Now I know you all are thinking about what about all the other sites that I’m an affiliate of  – well they have to go on the back burner for right now.  You can NOT promote multiple sites and get results until you have some kind of game plan on what it working and get that game plan down – once you are getting signup from what you are doing – then you add a 2nd site – and do what they call a rinse & repeat,

Is this going to work for every site that you are an affiliate at – the answer is no – but at least you have an outline of what to do to get your game plan – and then tweak it for each site.  Just remember ONE is a lonely number but get a game plan on that ONE site and you will be able to move on after that.

Judging a Traffic Exchange

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judgingcatAround the TE world, I know that you have heard many, many reasons why a person joins a site and thought I’d share some of the things that I have heard on how people are judging a traffic exchange.  Why did you click that join button?

Design

This is one that I hear from most that you have to have a fancy expensive design or people are not going to join – a fancy design will get them to join.

Owner/Admin

Well this is one that personally I feel that will make or break a site.  If the owner is never around to keep the site running smoothly, approving sites, and answering support tickets – that makes me wonder why the site exists.

qualityTraffic/Exposure

This one I have heard a lot about – quality vs quantity and I find this interesting as there are so many different points of view on this one.  Personally, if you track what you are doing you will see where your results are coming from.

Referrals

Do you get any signups from this site – and do you if you are – you have to be tracking to know for sure.  Some sites have a mod that will tell you where your referrals came from, do you know?  When you win referrals, are you getting active referrals or just some number in the system just so they can say they gave you a free referral.

Cash/earning potential

This one of the most talked about and where you like it or not, personally I feel cash is here to stay.  Now the key is how do you get that cash and what is the earning potential of the site.  Does the site pay free members, do you have to be upgraded, is there a certain amount to reach to be paid AND does the owner pay

Activity of the Site

Thought this one was interesting when listening in some of the chat rooms – this could include timers. promos, team surfing, chat – sometimes you learn alot from just lurking and listen to what others are saying.  What do you consider an active site.

711a9ba4f608404a8216d90Promotion/Advertising

Does the site give you plenty of options for promoting your referral url or just have the basics – main url, 1 splash, 1 banner?  Do you see the site you just joined being promoted by others?  Can you brand yourself with this site?  What is this site doing to help me?

Themes/Ad Copy

Personally, I feel that your advertising on each site should be geared toward the viewers of a particular site and with a little imagination a great page that will convert could be made.  AND how about the same generic ad copy on the main page – this is one of the most over-looked areas – with all the sites out there tell me WHY I need to click that join button.

Well I can see that I could go on and on here and please as you leave comments I’d like to hear from you on your thoughts on judging a traffic exchange.

Maintenance Checklist

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maintenance2When a person is on their computer as much as I am there are sometimes that you can tell when something just isn’t doing what it’s suppose to be doing or you catch yourself saying to yourself wonder why it did that – well I drop what I’m doing and get out my maintenance checklist.

In answering support tickets, I hear so many people having issues with a variety of things and there don’t seems to be any logical reason – well when that happens to me the first thing I do is stop everything that I’m doing and do what I call my maintenance.  Now I know you don’t expect your vehicle to keep running smooth without after a certain amount of miles – you stop and do maintenance.

You computer is your vehicle and even tho you have an anti-virus system on board – it’s like the vehicle you drive – things happen.  After all the miles you put on your vehicle, when you are using that vehicle everyday – you can just tell when something just isn’t right – well that is how I feel about my online vehicle – go by your gut – if it’s doing things that are just not normal and you are thinking why did it do that – do your maintenance.

Maintenance Checklist

1.  Clean all your cookies
2.  Clean your history, all temp files, caches
3.  Run your anti-virus (I know you are thinking I have it on auto to run – well run it again)
4.  Run Malewarebytes
5.  Run Spybot
6. Reboot,  test your computer again still not acting right
7. Do all of the above in the safe mode (when booting up hit F8 and that will get you to the safe mode)
8. Reboot,  and test your computer again

maintenanceNow when I get to this point and it still doesn’t seem to be right then I go and bring out the big guns lololol  Run ESET online scanner.  The last time I ran this after all the other security that I have this program found 2 Trojans and 6 other things that I had no clue what they were – after that cleaning – knock on wood – my computer has been lot faster, has been working great and don’t see those strange things happening.

So hope this helps you to at least know some things to try when things just don’t seem right with your computer.  To keep this handy, I just opened notepad and copied all these things to do so this forgetful mind don’t miss a step and named it Maintenance Checklist.

 

So You Want Your Own Traffic Exchange

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Well after reading blogs this week, attending the Friday wrap meeting, I thought this would be a great blog post.  So You Want Your Own Traffic Exchange.

questions3There are certain things that should be considered before you jump into owning your own site and this speaking for a TE Owner that learned alot the hard way.

First of all – the name of your site – it needs to be unique – you need to do some research on a theme, will your domain name be different from the zillion that are already out there, will it be easy to brand you or your theme.  Why would someone join your site vs all the other sites that are already out there?  What are you going to do different so that people will want to join your site? Why are you starting your site?  Do you have a business plan?  Do you have money to invest? These are questions that a person should answer before you even get a domain name.

Next in my book – is how long have you used traffic exchanges, how long have you been surfing.  Do you know the TE language?  What is a framebreaker?  Do you know how to get around in a cpanel? Can you explain to someone what your surf ratio is?  Have you compared memberships on other sites?  Do you know the difference in credits earned and hits delivered?  How well do you write ad copy, know HTML, any designing skills, good public relations person, etc.  I could keep going as when I started I sure did not know the many hats that a person had to wear.

Before you think that traffic exchange owners have it made and are just rolling in money – think again.  It’s very hard work – and something that I didn’t keep in mind is that that the internet is open 365 days a year 24/7.

Yea I know most of you think that things run smoothly because your favorites sites are always there for you BUT believe me things do not happen at a convenient time – they are going to happen on your spouse bday, on your kid’s graduation, your kid’s or grandkid’s wedding day – these are things that you need to consider before you tie yourself down.

The other thing is how techie are you?  Are you going to be able to fix things when your site has problems or will have to hire someone?  I know this is lot of questions but you need to think about all this and more.

I personally have been thru all the above and more and really don’t want to see anyone else go thru all this and not know.   Being a surfer for many years, researching, reading everything I could find  and even doing admin work on TE’s before buying,  I really thought, I was ready and then made one mistake after another – the major one buying an existing TE with the name Zaney Clicks – sure didn’t think that one out – where is the freaking theme for a name like that.

Oh I can laugh about it now but believe me there were many tears shed before I got to this point and alot of “what were you thinking”  BUT by accident a friend of mine found some cats one day flipping up in the air and said he thought of me as they were Zaney looking and now you know the rest of story on why cats rule on Zaney.

zcheader

The bottom line here is buying a domain, adding hosting and throwing up a script is not the way to launch a traffic exchange.  So you want your own traffic exchange – do your homework, research and planning that it takes and be prepared to put in some very long, long hours OR if you don’t want to do that have a nice bank roll for outsourcing – you are going to need it.

If you are wanting to open your own and would like to get the script that I have then you can just click this LFMTE and be on your way

 

Branding – is it worth the time

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brand It’s interesting when I first came online and started learning, I had a friend of mine tell me that to make it online you have to learn to sell yourself, brand yourself and at the time I thought right – who is going to want to know about me.  Well I learned fast that he was right and I have some examples today that I’d like to share and then you tell me – Branding – is it worth the time

You know it’s funny as actor/actress have been doing this for many years when you think about it and it don’t necessarily have to be your name – example when you hear these lines does an actor/actress come to mind

I’ll Be Back – right away you picture Arnold in the Terminator
May the Force Be With You – didn’t Star Wars pop in your mind
There’s No Place Like Home –  didn’t Dorothy pop in your head from the Wizzard of Oz
Go Ahead, Make My Day – Can’t forget Clint Eastwood
Beam Me Up Scotty – can’t forget Star Trek

Well you can do the same thing online and I have been watching many people in the traffic exchange industry to the same

Flash – didn’t you think about Jo right away and no name was not used
Splash – bet the dolphin popped in your head right away
Tezak – and bet you are a tezzer now

Now I could go on and on with examples – you don’t necessarily have to use your name to brand yourself – but you do need to have something that will make people think of your of your site right away.

 

So think about it some and then leave me a comment – Branding – is it worth the time?

brand3