wordpressrobot.com » Part

JESUS – A REAL MAN IN REAL TIMES Part 4

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:44:38 +0000

JESUS – A REAL MAN IN VERY REAL TIMES.

Planned or imposed mission?

This deep look into the reality and myth of Jesus stems from a very long history of research including very pertinent dialogues with both Church figures and mayor executives of Christian Orders of Chivalry which rank him as their source of inspiration and in some cases, like the ancient Templars, a past Grand Master. I say this because what is called the 1705 public re installation of the Order of Knights Templar under the name of the Knights of the Orient caused a variety of documents to be handed over. One of these documents, a copy of which is in Portugal, shows Jesus as an ancient Grandmaster of the Order. The bible itself was a source of unexpected jewels of comments which would have gone unnoticed had I not had suspicions that there was a story within a story. This is not new. Others have made major issues of it, but few have tried to understand the implications of some of these. A picture began to emerge that enabled me to have sudden glimpses of this fascinating man who became both the inspiration and the pawn of millions. Some very disturbing issues emerged with relative evidence that could provide material of a much deeper nature and which explained a great deal in terms of historical events surrounding Christianity. In view of these “findings” best suited for individual books, I chose to concentrate on the question of the real Jesus – the real man with a real mind and above all – real choices. He was a much more interesting and historically relevant man than the Churches makes him out to be.

If we are to take modern studies into his possible background, we can begin to see that his training and travels could have taken him as far afield as most of Asia, Europe and the Norther African coast. It is not difficult to detect that he loved travelling and that his contact with nature was reflected in many of his sayings. In fact, he was probably happiest when wandering through the mountain villages and sharing the family life of the very primitive people who gave him their ears to sit in awe at the sound of his profound chesty voice. His religious beliefs were Asian in context which would fit in well not only with Sufi rigorous training, but with the magical powers of communication of the Magi which without doubt he would have been trained by. How do we know that ? Because when myths are woven by professionals, intent to create a body of opinion and later use it as a means of political leverage, every luxury of detail is woven into it to enable those with the right of entry to see the fact behind the fiction. The three wise kings may have never existed, despite the sarcophagus in Cologne, but the mere fact that they form part of the story in such interesting detail, gives us a wealth of hidden information that takes many pages to illustrate convincingly. Either he was merely the figment of the imagination of a few myth makers or else there is a firm base from which these scribes elaborated future religious/political approaches. In which case we have to take both situations as possible and try and work out just who or what was being created. Ignoring the symbols and implications of the texts is to waste time on nonsensical, puerile conclusions. In fact, taking everything that has been discussed through the centuries about him, we do not find hundreds of unsympathetic fragments refusing to match, but a very real and extraordinary hologram which lacks little to turn it into a materialisation. It is no surprise therefore that Gandhi took him as his mentor when he exercised the silent power of passive resistance. Islam with its new Messiah, did not drop him either. In fact they continued with great respect and dignified attribution to his greatness, to hold him as the Messiah of the end of times. The very term that Christians themselves hold to dearly as the final day of atonement. They did it with one very important “historical” exception. They did not accept his death on the cross but rather that of another in his place. Taking the Jesus and Barabas connotation it makes one wonder, but Islam has done this before with the figure of Isaac being sacrificed by Abraham changed for that of Ishmael who was not the first born even by their own recognition so it is reasonably safe to assume that that is false. They had a good reason for bending the truth and that is that like his son was to do later on, Abraham passed his wife over to a Royal harem with all that could happen there. Islam therefore is not happy about any issue that might cast doubt on the parenthood. They therefore go for the love child that Abraham had of his servant Haggai. Islamic religious interpreters also state that Jesus was laughing at the mistake which saves his life and that does not hold true either and totally out of context if we are to retrieve a real person from the fragments of texts available. The scribes of Islam, may well have been in contact with or descended from the Nestorians or the early Johannites who may well have held that Jesus did not die on that cross in Jerusalem, but who may have been unaware of any “suspicious” circumstances surrounding his revival.

Wasted sacrifice ?

Gandhi´s doctrine of passive resistance was exactly what Jesus instructed his followers about and which led to his easy capture and torture. It is also what gave both, the desired results and the incidentally, the final grief of the realisation of the ingratitude of those in the multitude without “ears to listen” . Gandhi gasped at his own Assassin and Jesus cursed the fate of Judea when he realised the end was near. Both, felt betrayed by those they chose to “save” Yet if in the case of Jesus he plotted his own demise, his poignant cry of despair might well have been provoked by unexpected lance in the side that might not been part of the deal. It might have been instigated by the very priests who were determined to make sure that Jesus did not survive the ordeal. There again, it might have been part of the signs required to show that the heart was not pumping and that there was no need to break his legs. Very little blood mixed with lung fluid would have given that impression and this in turn might have been the product of any heart slowing ingredient that may have been put into the sponge applied when he said he thirsted. It might have been this which forced the issue and a hasty and unceremonious demand for his body to be brought down. Perhaps these precious life and death moments were the planned ones which would bring him to the very lintel of death but which provided, a potentially vital rescue exercise in the tomb. There were other factors of course like the Jewish Sabbath about to enter, but then that was hours away. Again, the burial would have had to be before sunset and the argument with the Temple authorities could have been that of a pious Jewish family anxious not to be found with burial rites into the Sabbath. The whole affair is too graphically documented and the stages of the passion too carefully outlined, for want of a better word, to assume other than it was a Roman event with Roman authorities involved. It is underlined, by the assumed, historically recorded, act of placing the sign of Royal acclaim above his head. No Judean would have done that or even had access to an execution carried out by the Roman military.

Disguised intentions

The doctrine of disguised intention is very ancient and very Sufi. The Asiatic Hashishim, employed it to decimate the Sunni power mongers of Baghdad. Ishmaelis have never been quite accepted by either Christianity or Islam. Both are suspicious of their real ambitions, but in fact the Ishmaelis are the cementing ground between them and deserve a place in religious history if only with respect to the enormous influence they exerted in the promotion and launch of mediaeval chivalry and the Catholic Church itself. The shaping hands of the intellectual Jesuit according to many, learnt their capacity to influence and dominate social power through their knowledge and wisdom in the Ishamaeli centres of Egypt. There is also a strong indication that Jesus himself knew the essence of the Sufi way if his remarkably identifiable parables are anything to go by. The idea of Jesus preaching to the Brahmins therefore is not as preposterous as some would make out to cover up the ambiguity of his actions and those of his followers. Circumcision for example is as inviolable to Jews as baptism is to Christians, yet it was happily dispensed with to let the pagans in. In other words, the teachings of Jesus had little to do with blind cult faith as practiced by orthodox Jews and Muslims, but with the union of cultures within their own specific practices – a federation of conscience followers, rather than narrow sectarian idealism. To Jesus, knowledge and self enlightenment through this, was real liberation from blind tradition and manipulative priests. Jesus was, it seems, a teacher of the “Gnostic” concept of freedom through understanding – a Sophist or a a Cynic (not what it means today). As such therefore, if those who entered the group wanted to be circumcised , well and good, but if not, it had nothing to do with the real mission and therefore of no importance. This was another case of the “dead burying the dead” – the unimportant detail that could and must not detract from the whole. The fragmenting of ancient Al-Israel which included Judea at one time had after all, been for this precise reason. A great commonwealth of nations and beliefs had been blown apart by the narrow ambitions of those who wanted to do things their own way. The commonwealth of federal alliances with individual cultures and histories forged from similar origins, had been forged into a giant platform very much like the modern European concept, but an organised and centralised religion based on Sabine (Ethiopian) Temple worship, was something that would have never and did not, gel. It would have been the equivalent of one of the stronger member states imposing its culture and traditions on the rest them. With the loss of the powerful influence of the first King of Israel, Saul, the tribes entered into a period conflict which culminated in continuous internal strife and an ill fated attempt on the part of the House of Judah to keep the Crown and authority. With the war of vengeance caused by the Judean Levite complaint against the Benjamite rape of his wife, the commonwealth was left in tatters. The peace, unity and prosperity of the chosen tribes, had gone forever. Jesus lived to continue the dream- the removal of the remnants of the tribes from the influence of the new Greek and Roman masters with or without the help of the Judean nation which had failed to find common ground with them. No Jew of any social height would have even contemplated this profane change. Judea would make little or no effort to invite the tribes back, even if they had had the ability or cultural glue to have been able to do it. The Essenes were very definitely against it and held the Judeans responsible for the contamination of the Temple and ritual roles. The Essenes were the backbone of the new Messianic movement of restoration and to them Judea was not part of their claim. To them, the Judean administrators and priesthood had sold themselves to the enemy. Jesus was their Northern Messiah and had been within their monastery walls from an early age, forged to perfection and ready to assume the mantle of leader – but not before he had travelled and joined their many centres and allies throughout the whole of the Middle East and Europe. Whether he was their Teacher of Righteousness is not immediately clear, but it is certainly a very strong possibility and as for the wicked priest, it sounds like Ananias, the intransigent and vociferous fanatic who so desperately wanted Jesus unceremoniously executed. This hidden life of Jesus, can be reconstructed by looking into the crevices of the great amount of so called apocryphal documentation of which the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hamadi cache, form an important part.

A mission from the start

Without looking at Jesus as a first born, son of a leading biblical family, a leader of the Nazarene guardians of the Temple of God and Holy places, it is easy to forget that he was born with a mission. Without knowing the identity of the father, it is even more perplexing, but that he was what we assume we see, is due to the amount of information that is given to us in the bible texts. The attempt to divert attention from the concept of Nazarene which is almost synonymous with terrorist (liberator sicarii) is precisely because the Church wanted to get away from that image. He is instead classified as a man from a non existant Nazareth and the INRI is badly translated as Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. It is Jesus the Nazarene, King of Israel – Iesus Nazarenus Rex Israel with exactly the same letters. Then we have “his hair was parted in the manner of the Nazarenes” to quote just one example of duplicity in the bible texts. In fact, it was more than that, he belonged to a sect whose members did not cut their hair – a tradition which has been inherited by the Sikhs among others like the Rastafarians who curiously trace their ancestry to the land of the Lion of Judah – Ethiopia. Samson was another, amid a great many bible characters. Talking about a non existant Nazareth when he was supposedly born in Bethlehem is an attempt to get him away from the Nazarene connection and the added fear of tracing his father through that line of responsibility. Whereas his father was a fully fledge warrior and the bane of the Romans, he had told Jesus that that was not the way to go about things and to keep away from direct conflict. Jesus almost certainly said the same thing to John and which betrays a family connection. His remark about his role to the disciples, can be loosely translated as explaining “I want him to be here when I return because he is to important to put at risk”.

It is a foregone conclusion therefore that all genuine Jews or rather Judeans, would have been easy to manipulate against him, by the wily priests, even for just the single abandonment of traditional circumcision. They could however only do it by accusation of subversive activity against Judean principles – making him an enemy of the people. Previously they had found it too difficult to insert a wedge between him and his large following who saw him as a very learned and holy man. Jesus, however, was indeed doing what he said he would – not destroying the Temple, but rebuilding it. He was shaking the whole Judean religious foundation by its roots and if we care to examine him a little closer, we find that to him the Temple was in the heart not on the ground and with this in mind he sought to woo the remnants of the ancient tribes scattered over a very wide area indeed. In fact, the beginnings of this strange “Religion”, sees it in active communication through Paul with areas in Egypt, Anatolia and even Britain, where the scattered tribes had proliferated and identified themselves with local cults. The success of this binding mission involving the good news that the Messiah and come, died and risen to atone for all, fed on the nostalgia and ancestral memories which most of these peoples enjoyed. Without a common heritage, there would not have been a platform on which to built this extraordinary reconstruction of ancient Israel. The factor that comes to light immediately has to be reiterated, is that it is not Jewish. Further evidence to that effect will become obvious as the scene unfold.

A presence for the job.

Jesus was the sort of character who filled the space around with a presence that did not fail to impress Josephus. It was not beauty – it was rugged character and eyes and smile that made the needy and unhappy flock to him. He was no soft touch however and had an organisational ability that came from his Greek learning. It has been said that his parables reflect a Greek format called Cynicism although it does not mean what it means today. Others call it Sophism which implies study of deep knowledge, which without doubt he had, but in the overall, it was all a curious mix that amazingly smacks of the much derided Scientology with its emphasis on non attachment. How anyone can associate one thing with the other, would no doubt raise hackles, but when we perceive the statement attributed to him with regard to the “day off to bury his father” that one of his followers wanted to take, his answer is not far short of what this modern institution tries to forment. “Let the dead bury the dead ” Tie that in with his scalding rebuke to his mother when she thought she had lost him when he was only eleven years old ” Can you not see that I must go about my father´s business?” and we have short temper, intransigence and royal arrogance. I believe these things stem from real events because they do not show him in the sort of pink light the Church elders would have liked recorded. It also makes him very human to a fault. There is also a type of “mind over matter”and fraternity regard over family duties – a man´s world with business in hand. This is not the voice of an orthodox Jew, but of a stern taskmaster with a mission as disciplined as that of a modern Mormon or Scientologist.

There is therefore no hint in Jesus of anything remotely resembling the traditions of the House of Judah and even his early discourses in the synagogue practically caused his demise by the lynching mob. Yet he knew every single aspect of the history of the tribe and could quote scripture to any Jewish priest to the point of making them run scared. Jesus placed the Temple firmly and squarely in the heart of each man alongside truth and nobility of sentiments. The saying “blessed are the meek” is about as nondescript of what he meant as we can possibly stretch. Saying that cowards were braver for living to fight another day is not Jesus at all. He meant noble (which later lent its name to the aristocracy) – and this was the inbuilt sense of dedication and generosity of spirit which we now atribute to something like a noble deed. Yet he chides his follower for wanting to bury his father. More likely than not, there were Jews among them looking for meaning to their lives and the touching of the dead was something only the untouchables could do. The double meaning becomes more obvious in that context as he uses a traditional approach to one of discouraging too much involvement in things that cannot be undone. This sense of nobility was also a very much respected and admired trait in others. The falling on the sword of the dishonoured Roman – the self execution of the state condemned, like Seneca etc. The fierceness and bravery of the Spartans whose coupling Jesus taught his followers to emulate – “go in pairs” – all shows a synthesis of overall precepts which can be described as “synergy” – fusion of roles. We have this coupling in Simon and Jude, John the beloved and the Divine, Peter and Paul. It is obvious and intended. It was also built into the love teachings of the earlier Phoenicians from which many of the tribes took a common cultural descent. Its symbol was the heart and the fact Alexander the Great had a golden one around is neck, is not a coincidence, nor the fact that Jesus was later to become the Sacred Heart anything other than the need to encapsulate the ancient religious main principle. The Greek influence and logic into which Jesus was initiated was to turn his teachings into the material understanding of social integration and the power of cohesive identity through fraternity or brotherly love. Jesus saw Israel emerging from its embers like the Phoenix (from which Phoenicia took its name) of those self same people who dominated the earth at one time. It was his scale model and if we take what followed in the few hundred years leading to Constantine, he succeeded in setting it in motion even in those early days. It was Paul however who gave it its Roman slant and long before it was possible to integrate it into the Byzantium State religious philosophy. Constantine did that but not before these dangerous gospel preachers of liberation and neighbourly love, had been put to the sword and fire by the thousand. There was very little that harsh military authorities could do against these teachings which needed no masters. Did Jesus not realize that that was going to happen ? Could he perhaps simply not see this happening in his vision of a New Israel for all to join ? In the Syro Phoenician woman encounter where Jesus comes off badly with his harshness, it seems that despite saying that she had nothing to do with his mission of the reunification of Israel, he is unhappy about being associated with the Messiah of David. He seems to imply that the dogs are over on that side otherwise it does not make sense. When she changes her phraseology to simply Lord and Master, he relents and says that children of any race or creed should not be held responsible for the ideas of their parents. Jesus is disturbed at the thought that he should be playing the role of a Jewish Messiah and whilst he remains silent, he is working out his response to the situation very carefully before making his abrasive statements. However, true to his style, his heart comes first,

A new age preacher of old.

Jesus was a modernist and New Age preacher with the knowledge of a scholarly, Assyrian and other cultural features he can be identified with. He spoke Syrian Aramaic which points in that direction. But he was not Jewish. This was of a different order. Why? Simply because he challenged the assumed Judaic leadership of Israel which did not coincide with historical reality and because the overall population of places originally occupied by Israel like Samaria, Galilee etc,completely overshadowed the sectarian interests of the Jewish or Judaic people whose ancestors were African and were forbidden to marry outside their cultural and family ties. The scattered tribes had no sense of identity with a priestly culture stemming from ancient Ethiopia and which was a state all of its own with Governing Priests or Imams in the same religious mode as say – modern Iran. It was a Theological society with family graduations of affiliation to the Temple at the medium and high levels of the society whilst the rest paid tribute and circled the inner core. It was also, in a sense, an Oligarchy even, with political pursuits all of its own. To the gentile, the nature of the Jewish God or his place of residence outside the Holy of Holies, was a mystery without a name. At best, according to the traditions and written histories associated with the tribe, it was a fire God with mountain associations as we see in Hermon and Sinai. Curiously, the Essenes were also of that ilk and Mount Carmel was the archetype of the origins of all monastic Orders. The Hasmodeans had been responsible for the setting up if these contemplative communities in an attempt to recapture the spiritual values of the Judean people but it had not worked out that way. The desert monks had changed their goals to the aspirations of Abraham and the tribes of Israel and the Judean Priesthood had ceased to represent those values. They had become materialistic and isolated in their new found power as colonial administrators of the spiritual side of the race. They had neglected to support the communities which had found it difficult to gather enough food for day to day activities. Had it not been for the women from Samaria and beyond who had brought what they could from their own farms, they would have had to disband or die. One of those women had recognized Jesus when he preached to them in Qumran. She saw him at the well and remembered who he was vividly enough to stand back in reverence. This is conjecture but it makes more sense than simply being recognized as a public figure. Jesus the teacher is being humble and every inch a man, gives way to chivalric respect and perhaps a little amusement with the women folk as is so often the case in other bible scenes. He is a teaser and obviously enjoyed it, much to the annoyance of his rugged and exasperated apostles and disciples. His little outburst with his mother when she came back looking for him – the astonishment of the male entourage when he allowed himself to be oiled by the Magdalene and the affair of the rising of Lazarus when he appeared to be taking little notice of their cries of anguish. They obviously all needed him to be there whenever they wanted him but he he had little time for hysterics and was showing them there was a time and a place for everything This could be considered phlegm – a stoical approach to situations which needed to be weighed up in context. We see Jesus in a completely different light when there are woman around. Much against popular tradition of male/female segregation, Jesus delights in bringing them right into the heart of things without disguising his delight. He is very modern in terms of our concepts today and this would have upset a very great many in the male executive traditional role. It is this aspect of his strange behaviour that made him very attractive to the female population who feature very conspicuously in their demands for his intervention. It is not surprising that Pilate´s wife was closer to him that her husband. Jesus was loosening hypocritical public mores and this was well illustrated in the saving of the woman´s life by questioning the past sins of those present. She was probably not the Magdalene supposedly having married him. The early church scribes may have wanted to destroy the concept of issues of the marriage and may well have chosen to create this harlot link and harness public opinion against it.

Pagan origins of Christian rituals ?

In old testament days, mountain worship had been translated as places of isolation and divine contact. It was believed that initiates were closer to heaven and somehow the air gave them a great sense of communication with nature and a mind as crisp and full of joy as could be had. Life down in the valley could sometimes lower those energy levels to the point of distraction. All monastic communities to follow, like Mount Athos, San Michel etc. were places of great religious attention for apart from the unbridled solitude it is possible that the nature of the electro magnetic concentrations that they produce near the peak, could have somehow accelerated the overall dynamism of the mind. Lighting as has now been found starts from these concentrations and sends the initial weak wave to the highly charged clouds above. It is now a well known scientific fact that it causes the bolt to follow and hit the same spot. The earthed Church steeple was an attempt to harness this force, and without which no religious building was ever without one in high places. It must have been obvious to early modern man that it was there that those terrifying sparks seemed to make their appearance. How many died in finding it out can well be imagined. Pyramids may well also have been the prototype for the ” collection of this force” and it appears likely that they stem from the same architectural principle. The association of Yahweh with fire or volcanoes and the choice of name for Jerusalem which means city of the sun in Latin, may also not be a coincidence. The concept draws in many other untied associations which need careful study before conclusions can be made. John the Baptist, baptised with water, but questioned Jesus as to whether, like the promised Messiah, he would baptise with fire. He incidentally did not recognize his own cousin so Jesus must have been well away form, there for a considerable amount of time and from an early age. John was without doubt, an Essene but his father appears to have come from a Mithraic background if we are to go by his name and that was a fire and sun culture par excellence and the reason why the Persians always burnt their dead in funeral towers. Jesus was also born it would seem in a Mithraic cave and the matter is noted at the Bethlehem site even today. The chosen date of his birth was the birth date of Mithras. – 25th. December. It therefore shows that those who care to explore these things – those with eyes to see and ears to hear, are pointing in the direction of a Mithraic Jesus or a prophet of a sun God. The important thing to note therefore that things are now what they appear to be and Jesus was to be a prophet who would cover a whole multitude of religious doctrines. One could say that this covered all the religious beliefs of the tribes of Israel. Above all, it illustrates that the Magi bearing gifts were looking for exactly that prophet – a descendant of Zoroaster, Mithras and the very Asahuru Mazda himself.

A royal or priestly heritage.

Clearly the story of the birth and mission was orchestrated for only one reason – that Jesus was the heir of a priestly or royal bloodline. It also suggests, in view of the crucifixion of other religious figures in mythical history, that the life of Jesus was controlled by others who controlled his destiny through the occasional intervention in the same biblical way that the mysterious elohim appeared to deliver their messages and perhaps instructions. It is inconceivable that his father would have told him all this during the first few years of his life. Other uncles on John´s side or Joseph of Arimathea may have planned it carefully to ensure that the ordeal of the crucifixion was reduced perhaps to something from which he could be withdrawn without public reaction at any time. This line of thought however, does not ring true to the type of person we can safely assume Jesus was. The whole situation seems to have been gradually developing in his own mind, scarred by the death of the father he could not spend most his time with – the Robin Hood of his constant alert for. Jesus was no stranger to the wilderness and harsh self inflicted conditions as can be seen today with respect to Indian Shamans or holy men. For these modern mystics, being buried alive for up to three days is an inconsequential exercise which has astonished modern science, but the investigations in Haiti with respect to what they call their living dead and their use of a cataleptic drug drawn from the Fugu fish, no longer questions the issue. Jesus may well therefore have decided that this was the way to go if he, as he made it quite clear, wanted to become a sacrificial lamb who would descend to hell and come back to life within three days. If he did say that, then playing a hand in his own death/rebirth situation would have been carefully planned with the help of others. He would have been able to decide where and when intervention was necessary to avoid absolute death. Roman implication appears to have been necessary and taking the ritual garb including the crown of thorns into account, the whole thing seems to have been geared to perform a living ceremony of one of the most treasured and feared of the Mithraic mysteries practiced by the Roman military and nobility. If so, it was one of the most adventurous and awesome acts anyone had ever dared to be involved in and Pilate´s involvement as one of the initiates of this Order may be taken for certain. The theatrical washing of hands, if indeed it took place, would be intended to be recorded as a sign of complete submission to the rite by the aspirant to the godly status itself – a type of disavowal of involvement which coming from the very Procurator himself, seems almost rehearsed. Pilate, as we know, hated the Emperor who had practically exiled him to Judea and which may have save his life as a result. He would have gladly participated something that could be described as throwing the cat among the pigeons.

The whole crucifixion scenario including the tossing of dice for the scarlet cloak – the crown of thorns plant known in the Meditteranean as Mirto “myrtle” which is also the crown of Demeter of the Greek Mysteries initations together with the reed – all smack as much of Mithraism and Eleusian mysteries as an apron with masonic device looks clearly masonic to us today. It cannot all be coincidental. Even Simon of Cyrene – (a town close to the ancient Siwa oracular site in Egypt) might have been one of a few collaborators along the way ready to move in at a given sign. Who knows if this was not part of their own initiations as helpers of the incarnations of the Gods ? All this, of course, implies that the Roman masters of Mithras were in on the act and it was in their interest or that of the procurator Pilate to see it all through and hopefully create a demi god likely to challenge the very might of Rome itself. Many of the followers of the Church of Mithras were not happy about the Divine aspect of the emperor and knew how dearly Julius Caesar had paid for it only two generations before. Taking into account the origens of the Kittim (as the Romans were called by the Essenes), as being that of the tribes of Israel, such a plot could have had some very far reaching support. In fact it has been suggested that the installation of the statue of the pagan God Baal by Titus in front of the Temple was to remind the Judeans that the Romans had as much a right to be in the land of their forefathers as they had. Nothing, as we shall see, with respect to the story of Jesus, is all that surprising. All these fascinating sparks of incidental understandings makes the whole business of the real religious beliefs of Jesus a very extraordinary quest indeed. In fact, it is quite possible that he was what we call an Agnostic today.

JESUS – A REAL MAN IN REAL TIMES Part 4 is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Do It Yourself Energy Efficiency Projects: Your Home’s Thermal Envelope (Part 1)

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:50:07 +0000

Many people struggling through the tough economy are not going to be able to take advantage of the 2009-10 Energy Efficiency Tax Credit simply because they can’t afford new windows and doors, water heaters, or more insulation. However, there are a few things you can do around your home to air seal it to save money during the winter months and during the summer.

Because of the price and use of energy, architects and builders now design a home to be a “thermal envelope”. That is the sum total of the home’s insulation systems including walls, ceilings, foundation, floors, windows, and doors. These work more effectively with good, tight fits that seal out the weather and air. By having a tight seal on your home’s thermal envelope, the less energy you waste or lose by exchanging it too often with the air outside.

So, with this in mind, let’s start at ground level and work our way up to seal your house.

Moisture Barrier

A moisture barrier (usually plastic sheeting) covers the earth beneath a structure to prevent moisture from infiltrating the structure from the ground. All-wooden structures last years longer if they are kept dry and out of contact with the ground. For a house, not only does it help prevent rot but it also helps keep the drier. Because moisture in the air holds heat, even during the most humid months, a moisture barrier will make your Texas home feel drier and cooler.

Most Texas homes are built on either a slab or have crawl spaces under them. Houses with slab foundations typically have concrete poured on top of a plastic moisture barrier. This limits the infiltration of moisture into the thermal envelope of the house. Homes with crawl spaces, meanwhile, feature a moisture barrier in their crawl spaces. Some older homes do not have one and these can be installed by the home owner very easily.

A moisture barrier is plastic sheeting, usually about 6-8 mils thick and is available at any hardware store, typically in sizes ranging from 25 × 25 feet to 100 × 100 feet. It also need not be one single piece of plastic. As long as the sheets overlap each other by about 6 inches or so, it will be effective.

To install, you will need to know the dimensions of your crawl space and buy enough plastic sheeting to cover the ground in that space. Simply cut the plastic sheeting to cover the earth from wall to wall, laying it flat. You can use either black or clear plastic, but I would use clear because black plastic would make your crawl space feel like a cramped version of Batman’s lair.

You should notice the difference within 24 hours. If your house feels too dry, simply fold back some of the plastic sheeting to expose the earth underneath. Continue adjusting until your home feels the most comfortable to you.

As mentioned, moisture barriers limit the infiltration of moisture into the thermal envelope of the house. The house feels drier: It will be easier to cool in the summer and less likely to develop mold or contribute to wood rot in the winter.

Mudsill and Rim Joists

The next place to check out is the mudsill. The mudsill is the board that is bolted flat on to the top of the foundation wall. An example of one is a 2×8 board bolted onto the final course of cement blocks. It provides a bed to attach the flooring joists and banding boards for the first floor of the house. Depending on how well it is installed, it can let in a lot of cold air and moisture.

Places to look for gaps is where the mudsill is fastened to the foundation. A common building practice now is to put down a plastic foam gasket over the foundation before attaching the pressure treated lumber that will be the mudsill. In older homes, either a paper-backed cellulose material was put down or nothing was used. To find gaps, get as close as possible to the mudsill from the inside and look for daylight shining through between the mudsill and the foundation wall and feel for a draft of cool air.

If your foundation is made of cement blocks, look for the vertical joints between the blocks. When these blocks are put into place, the mortar between the blocks often slumps leaving thin mortar or none at all. Over time as the house settles, holes can appear. While these might be small holes that let through tiny amounts of air, if your home has 10 or 20 of them, you’re letting in a lot of weather and insects. Seal every hole you find with silicon caulk or expanding foam.

Another place along the mudsill to look for is where the rim joists attach. The rim joist (sometimes called “banding joist”) is the piece of wood that closes off the end of the flooring joist or is the last floor joist underneath the exterior wall. The bottom edge is not necessarily an air-tight seal. In fact, I lived in one older house where there was a half-inch gap between the rim joist and mudsill. Now, while this seems small, the gap ran for the entire length of the house: 25 feet. It was the equivalent of leaving a 24 inch by 24 inch window open all the time. Some expandable foam quickly sealed this gap and there was a noticeable improvement in comfort and cost right away.

Windows

If you have double-hung wooden sash windows with storm windows that are drafty, there are several ways to make them more energy efficient.

Make sure the glazing on the glass panes of the sash windows is not cracked or crumbling. The glazing helps hold and seal the glass to the wooden window and thus blocks drafts and quiets rattling – especially from traffic. It also lessens the likelihood that the glass will break if a pet or a child presses against it. Glazing is something of a skilled art. That being said, it’s not that hard to do. Re-glazing a window yourself can save you $50 to $100 or more. All you need is glazing putty ($5), a putty knife ($2), some glaziers’ points ($2 for a box of 100) and some time.

First, remove any old, cracked, or crumbling glazing with a putty knife. Glazing putty dries to be very, very hard and will last decades. It can be loosened with a heat gun, but keep the gun moving or the heat will crack the glass.

When the old putty has been removed, remove all the old glaziers’ points. Now, lift out the pane and set it aside. Sand the channel where the pane fits on the wooden sash. Usually, I apply a thin bead of silicone caulk in this channel before replacing the glass. This helps to seat and seal the glass pane. This especially helps when working on multiple small panes (called “lights”) separated by thin or fragile wooden mullions (also called “muntins”). Next, insert new glaziers points. This is done by using the putty knife to press points into the wooden sash along the glass pane to keep it in place. Take your time so that you don’t break the glass.

Glazing putty can be purchased in either a can or a tube with a shaped tip that fits in a caulking gun. However, it does take some practice to get just the right angle and right amount of putty on the glass. When using the tube mix, keep the 45 degree angled tip steadily against the glass and lay a bead of putty the length of bottom of the pane. If you’re using the putty from the can, roll the putty into long snake (or rope) and place it along the edge of the pane and along the wood. Gently press it into position so that it forms a nice 45 degree angle with the putty knife. The putty is shaped this way so that water runs off the glass to the edge of the window sash instead of into the window pane channel where it can rot the wood.

The next thing to look for is if your windows close snugly. Both the top and bottom window have what is called a “meeting rail”. On the upper window, it is the bottom of the window and on the bottom window it is the top. These meeting rails are shaped so that they mesh together when they close. This helps seat and seal the window properly. Check to see if the bottom window runs firmly – but not tightly – along the window jamb as you close the window. If it’s too loose and wiggles back and forth, it probably won’t seat very tightly when it’s closed. You can use a putty knife to pry out the window jambs and then re-position them to improve how tightly the window will close. You might try adding felt or self-adhesive foam weather stripping. Also make sure you clean out any debris from the window to ensure the window will seat and seal snugly.

As metal storm windows age, the harder they seem to close. This usually happens because of dirt and corrosion. Make sure the window tracks are clean and free of dirt and debris so the window runs smoothly.

Outside, check that the storm window frame is held tightly in place against the wooden window frame. Screws that hold this frame in place might be loose and might need to be replaced or moved to a new spot. Most drafts from storms windows come from where the storm window frame meets the wooden window frame. Once you’re certain the storm window frame is secure, lay a bead of caulk into the seam where the metal storm window frame meets the wooden window frame. Typically, there are two slots cut into the bottom apron of the storm window frame. Do not seal these. These are weep holes that allow condensation to escape.

If you have modern, double glazed windows (windows with two panes of glass), one of the things to look out for is fogging between the panes. Double glazed windows are made by attaching a pane of glass with adhesive to either side of a half-inch wide aluminum frame either in a vacuum or a very dry environment. It is then a single unit and is installed into a standardized window frame. Fogging is a sign that the seal on the window unit has failed and water vapor has penetrated into the space between the panes. If the fogging is still present in summer, it’s a good guess that acids have also leeched in with the water vapor and have permanently etched the window glass. If the fogging disappears when the window warms, then it’s not too late to treat it. Examine the wood of the window for any discoloration from moisture. Look for peeling, flaking paint or soft, gray-colored wood. If you find some, sand it smooth and then seal it with an oil-based enamel or polyurethane. If the wood is very soft, you might try using an epoxy formulated to penetrate and preserve rotten wood. Be sure to mask the glass first with painter’s tape.

A builder installs a door or window with wedges called shims so that the window can float inside a rough opening in the framing. While this lets the door or window open and close freely as it expands and contracts during the year, it also means a lot of outside air can infiltrate your house by getting in around the window frame if it has not been insulated or if it has been damaged. During the summer, it usually isn’t a noticeable problem. During the winter, though, if you see moisture or mildew there could be a problem with the window frame.

Look outside for damage to the siding and window frame. Look for holes or wet, rotten wood, or even a loose piece of siding. It’s important to clean and seal problems like these quickly, especially if moisture has been getting inside your wall, because the damage will just worsen over time. Rotten or damaged siding can be replaced easily with new pieces from the hardware store. Rotten or damaged window sills should be completely removed and replaced and the inside of the wall inspected for mold, rot, and other damage. However, this is no small job and requires time and skills to complete. It might need the hand of a professional. For an immediate, short-term fix, clean out the rotten wood as best you can and fill the hole with fiberglass auto body putty. This will provide a hard, waterproof barrier against the weather. Be sure to contour and shape it so that it will not interfere with opening and closing the window.

If moisture or rain is getting into your window frame, check to see if any of your rain gutters run over head. Check to see if these are clogged. Also, consider installing drip edging along the top of your windows to help run water around and away from the windows and siding when it rains. After you’ve installed it, be sure to caulk it in place so moisture can’t penetrate behind it.

A lot of folks consider it hideous to put over your windows but it will keep the wind out: clear plastic sheeting. This is probably the easiest temporary energy fix owners of older homes use to keep cold, damp winter weather out. There are two approaches: Apply the clear plastic sheeting to the outside of the window by stapling it to the wood window frame and then nailing lathe over the stapled edge to secure the plastic. Or apply the plastic sheeting to double-sided tape on the inside of the window frame (usually available in kits from the home center). To be sure, neither is an attractive solution. However, if you have an older home with double-hung windows in poor condition, this short-term fix does a lot for only $10 and about 15 minutes of work. In fact, even if your windows close snugly, it might not be a bad idea for a north-facing window that doesn’t have much of a view.

Energy Efficient Window Treatments: “It’s Curtains for You!”

Curtains not only add style, color, and privacy to a room, they also act as an insulating blanket for one of the most thermally conductive parts of the house: the windows. Curtains are even more effective at sealing off a window when they have thermal backing. Thermal backing is usually foam because foam permits water vapor to move through the fabric rather than condensing on the cold side toward the window and causing moisture problems. An additional benefit to thermal curtains is that they help deaden noise from outside that is normally transmitted into the room by the window glass. In the summer, the curtains also block hot sun.

Thermal curtains can be made even more efficient by adding a valance with a top. Usually, window valances conceal the curtain hardware such as the rods and brackets. However, if the valance has a top cover, warm air that would normally circulate down between the cool glass and the back of the curtain is blocked. Valances can be made with plywood and then stained, painted, or covered in fabric.

Another option is a window quilt. These are blanket-like shade that roll down to cover the window. Some are held tightly in place by magnetic strips attached to both the quilt and the window frame.

Finally, one last accessory for the double hung window is the Window Worm. This is a fabric tube about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter and is as long as a window is wide. It is stuffed with quilting foam or cloth scraps and laid along where the top and bottom window sashes meet to help keep out drafts. Longer ones weighted with sand can also be made and placed across the foot of doors.

Do It Yourself Energy Efficiency Projects: Your Home’s Thermal Envelope (Part 1) is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Search Engine Optimisation Explained: Part 2

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:36:38 +0000

What vs who – clarify what it is your site offers, and ensure that this is clearly articulated throughout its content. Unless you are a “household name” brand, the focus should be on what you produce, sell or service, not on who you are.

Searchers usually refine a query with 2-4 words, e.g. “stainless steel spade” It is amazing how many sites waste vital opportunities with fatuous lines like “Welcome to my web site.”

Define the key words or phrases that potential customers would use to find you. Ensure that those are prominent components of every title, description, heading and paragraph, and part of a coherent sales pitch. For example the Johnson spade manufacturer’s site title ought not be “Welcome to the Johnson Agricultural Implements Web Site.” Instead, a minimalist “Stainless steel spades by Johnson” would provide maximum keyword density.

Content is King
The goal of search engines is to deliver the most relevant content for each search
Your goal is to make sure your content is relevant to any search made for products or services you offer! The best way to ensure “free” prominence for your site is to provide valuable, in-depth, relevant content. A few lines of explanatory text buried inside a Flash animation do not do this. Product reviews, case studies, white papers, client testimonials, newsletters and manufacturers specifications are good content creation sources.

Make each page unique, and target a specific key word or phrase in meta-tags and body text.

Sites constructed entirely in Flash might look great, but they are destined for mediocrity in the “free” search engine traffic stakes.

No Page More Than Two Clicks Away
Wherever you are within a site, no page should be more than 2 clicks away from you. The search engines will usually only drill 3 layers deep. If you want all content indexed, this is a crucial issue, usually resolved via a Home page link to a site map page which in turn has text links to every internal page. A recent alternative is the Google Site Maps submission service which is well worth the effort of signing up to, not least for the excellent statistical information Google will provide you!

It is also important to provide hyperlinks to main internal pages from within Home Page body text. This elevates their importance, and reinforces keywords or phrases within the Home Page with relevant supporting content.

Mighty Meta-tags
There are many meta-tags. Most are ignored. Some, like the “keyword” tag are now less used by search engines due to persistent abuse. However, there are still two “Head” section elements crucial to your goal of a steady stream of qualified traffic. Both provide an opportunity to control exactly what viewers see by way of search engine results, and thus influence viewer’s decision to select your site from that list. Both provide valuable information to the search engines as they try to determine the site’s theme, category, type etc;

First is the Title, the content of which is displayed on the top line of the browser when viewing a site. The page title is also used as the “headline” displayed when/if it appears on a search engine’s search results page. This is a crucial 1st impression, and again, “Welcome to My Web Site” does not cut the mustard. Summarise your offerings in less than 10 words, ensuring that the primary keywords or phrase is pre-eminent, thus ensuring maximum keyword density.

Second is the Description tag, often used verbatim in search engine’s search results page. Again, this gives you an opportunity to influence a searcher’s click-through decision, and should reinforce the message in the title in less than 25 words / 200 characters. Again, the primary keywords or phrase should occur at the start of the description to ensure emphasis, and total character count should be restricted to 200 in order to maintain maximum keyword density.

Dubious Practices
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the vital importance of Top 10 search engine rankings has spawned some seriously dodgy mechanisms to enable sites to climb to the top of the heap. These have ranged from the simple tricks of hidden text to the mysteries of doorway and hallway pages, link farms, and on to the intricacies of cloaking and redirection.

Basic rule of thumb should be – don’t do anything which might be construed as spamming, or subverting the search engines indexes.

Once a site is banned from a search engine index, it’s pretty much dead in the water. The search engines are always on the alert to newly discovered loopholes and close them quickly once discussion of new “trick” begins in search engine forums and list servers. Instead, rise to the top of the heap on merit, it’s a better long-term strategy!

Site Submissions
Having rebuilt your site in a search engine friendly fashion, how do you ensure it’s included within the indexes of the various search engines. This is another area which has changed dramatically. A few short years ago, listings were free. Not that long ago, you’d have to buy into a 48 hourly indexing process on Inktomi etc to ensure you stayed listed. Such a system delivered good value to the customer whilst generating good revenue for the search engines.

The state of flux seems to have eased. Indexing footpaths have been constructed between linked sites – to the point where if you have no good links TO your site, you may not be indexed at all, regardless of manual submissions.

The “Submission to 10,000 Search Engines for $99.95″ was never good value, and is even less so today.

Summary
In terms of total traffic potential, the three main search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN, each of which feed their results into sundry subsidiary search engines and portals. The Big Three account for around 90% of all searches performed on the Internet. They are all now “spider” type engines, which index the content of web sites in an automated manner, and are not hierarchical, human-edited directories. They all have supplementary “sponsored listings” derived from PPC advertising subscription systems.

For a site owner, search engine optimisation of your web site is now even more important than it ever was. Your goal of a steady stream of qualified traffic is best met by ensuring you have the best content, organised/optimised in the best manner, and supplemented by well designed and managed PPC campaigns.

If you are a web designer, you have an obligation to your clients to ensure their sites are built in a manner which facilitates search engine indexing, instead of impeding it. Establish the function first, and the form as a secondary issue.

If you are business planning a new web site (or contemplating reconstruction of an existing site), insist on making SEO the most important design criteria, it will save you money in the long term, and ensure the return on investment (ROI) timetable is substantially shortened.

Search Engine Optimisation Explained: Part 2 is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

How to Rethink Residential Solar Energy. How Solar Systems Work. (part 2)

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:30:56 +0000

You are contributing to a cleaner environment by upgrading to solar generated electricity. You are also taking a step toward energy independence when you begin using solar power in your home.

To better understand solar electric systems and how they work, you first need to understand the technical components making up a residential solar energy system.

New solar rental services are emerging that offer solar power in new and simple ways. There are a number of solar panel rental offers now on the market. They offer energy efficiency in your home, better control and tracking of home power, and make a home’s electricity services more reliable, and renewable.

This article explains, defined, and illustrates the parts and pieces going into a residential solar energy unit.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panels

The primary components of a home solar system are the Solar (PV) panels. These panels utilize solar cells to convert sunlight directly into home electricity. A group of solar cells hooked together make a solar panel. A single solar panel can produce 250 watts (w) of electricity when the sun is shining at maximum capacity. The panels then route power through an inverter where a controller determines how to distribute the power throughout your home.

Solar Energy Controller and Inverter

The controller is the device that monitors and manages the distribution of electricity produced by a residential solar energy system. Its capability extends even further by monitoring and managing the flow of energy between the house, the solar (PV) panels & system, and the local utility company. Often these controllers also have the ability to manage secondary storage through the use of batteries for more flexibility and control.

Coupled with the controller is the brains of the operation; the inverter. An inverter is in essence an electronic circuit that converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). An inverter allows the 12 or 24 volt DC power produced from solar panels to supply AC power to operate all of the electrical needs around your house.

Solar Array Mounting and Connection Components

Connection components are made up of electrical wiring and the rail mounting structure. Several solar panels are arranged into a grid, secured by a rail mounting device, and connected together to make a solar (PV) array. Electrical wiring is needed to connect the solar panels to the controller, then to your meter box, and then to your utility company via the existing electricity grid. Little additional solar energy equipment is needed, other than the panels, controller and inverters, wiring, and the roof mounting system.

The mounting rail is another simple structure that secures your solar (PV) array to your roof with the little need to drill holes through your singles. It is constructed with sturdy materials and engineering, allowing for quick assembly of the solar panels.

Rental Options for Residential Solar Energy Systems

Homeowners now have the ability to generate electricity right at home in safe, simple, and environmentally conscious way. Residential solar energy systems convert sunlight (i.e. photons) directly into usable home electricity. Residential solar energy systems, now offered to homeowners on a rental basis, provide a new source of reliable electricity and they enhance electric services without expensive investments in solar purchases.

In a future article, we will continue this series related to residential solar energy systems. We will explain in common terms how to measure the power of the sun. One objection often voiced by homeowners researching home solar power relates to the quality of the sunlight.

Is too cloudy? Is it too foggy? How does snow effect solar cell output? We will show how to calculate your sunlight hours and to determine if your part of the country gets adequate sunlight hours to have a solar system make sense.

How to Rethink Residential Solar Energy. How Solar Systems Work. (part 2) is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Do It Yourself Energy Efficiency Projects: Your Home’s Thermal Envelope (Part 2)

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:45:12 +0000

Right now, there are a few things you can do around your home to air seal it to save money during the winter months and during the summer.

As mentioned in Part 1, your home is a â??thermal envelopeâ?. That is the sum total of the homeâ??s insulation systems: walls, ceilings, foundation, floors, windows, and doors. These work more effectively with good, tight fits that seal out the weather and air. By having a tight seal on your homeâ??s thermal envelope, the less energy you waste or lose by exchanging it too often with the air outside.

Now, weâ??re going to look at exterior doors, the laundry center, the water heater tank, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning), attic insulation, attic ventilation and rain gutters.

Presenting The Doors!

We all want our doors to be attractive, secure, and weather proof. Like windows, when they are properly installed and kept in good condition, they can save you energy and money. If your door is hard to close or open, moves the whole door frame when you open or close the door, rattles when it is closed, or you see daylight and feel a draft coming from around it, then your door needs work.

When a door doesnâ??t close correctly, it obviously fails to seal. If your exterior door is difficult to open or close, the first thing to look for is if something is caught in the door or if something is sticking out from the door frame, such as a screw head not fully tightened against the hinge. Next, determine with a carpenterâ??s level whether the door is hanging plumb (straight up and down) and if the door jambs are parallel to each other. Sometimes, a screw head not tightened into the hinge can prevent a door from closing properly and over time deform and loosen the door frame or the door. Also, check to see if any hinges move toward or away from the door jamb or if they wiggle. Hinges should be tightly fastened to the door and the door jamb with no other movement except at the hinge joint.

Once I lived in an old house and the back door was hard to close because the whole frame moved with it. It was one of those things I kept putting off to fix. Then one night, I pulled the door shut so hard that I pulled the entire door and door frame out from the wall of the house. I tacked it back in place for the night but the next morning, I settled down to repair it. The original nails had rusted down to the thickness of thread while the wooden shims that kept the door seated properly had rotted because moisture got inside the door frame.

If your door frame moves when you open or close the door, donâ??t put it off repairing it like I did. Fix it now. First, remove the casing from both the inside of the door and the exterior. Be careful â?? often in older homes, door casing and other moldings are unique or are no longer available. Sharp-edged casing pry bars are perfect for this. With a little patience and care, you can remove the casing without damaging it too much. A putty knife and a claw hammer are also useful. Again, be patient and careful â?? you are disassembling not destroying.

After you remove the casing, look for any damage to the wood making up the door frame; such as if it is rotten or split. Check to see if the shims are in place and intact. If everything looks right, check the frame to see if it is plumb. Add shims as needed and check that the door opens and closes correctly. Usually, it is easier to tack a scrap 1? Ã? 2? across the door when itâ??s closed to seat the door frame properly. When itâ??s plumb and shimmed, carefully nail the frame into place. Next, vacuum debris from the area and seal up seams and gaps with either caulk or expanding foam. Re-fasten the casing and cover up the old nail holes with color-matched wood putty.

If you can close a kleenex in your door and then pull it out easily or if your door rattles from noise or the wind, it means itâ??s just not seated snuggly. The easiest starting place to for this fix is to add weather stripping. Usually, doors made over the past 25 years have had weather stripping built onto them. But being a door is rough work. Over time, the weather stripping gets stripped from the door. In some cases, the same weather stripping types are still used by the door manufacturer and can be easily replaced. Usually with much older homes, itâ??s not the case. Youâ??ll be either replacing worn-out weather stripping someone else applied, or youâ??ll be putting on brand new.

First, measure the gap between the door surface and the door jamb at several places. Add about 1/16 of an inch to this measurement and this will give you a rough thickness of the self-adhesive foam or felt you will need to apply. Typically, I apply the foam stripping to the door jamb. Since the door jamb doesnâ??t go anywhere thereâ??s less of a chance for something bumping against it and tearing off the foam. The door, on the other hand, is meant to move and will encounter all sort of things in its travels. As mentioned, you want the door to close firmly. Be sure to buy more foam than you will need so you can add and adjust the foam until you have a good seal.

If your door is in too bad of condition to repair, then it really is no longer a matter of weatherization but security. Seriously consider replacing it. Residential exterior doors come in three standard widths: 30, 32, and 36 inches.

Generally, the most insulating material for an exterior door is wood because it doesnâ??t conduct heat as easily as metal, vinyl, or fiberglass. That being said, most inexpensive wooden doors donâ??t fare well over time. They wear quickly in the areas that have the most contact (door handles and foot area), their mounting screws can loosen or tear, and depending on the harshness of the weather they can dry out and split. Steel doors provide better security and stand up to wear but they conduct heat. Wood-core steel doors and foam core doors last longer, are stronger, and better insulated. Fiberglass doors usually are the most strong, durable, and well insulating but tend to be more expensive.

Door Sweeps and Door Jambs with Vinyl Weather-stripping

A doorâ??s most drafty area is along the bottom where it meets the door threshold. Most thresholds are aluminum or wooden ridges that meet the bottom of the door and form a seal. However, since the door is constantly being opened and the threshold is being stepped on, the factory-installed weatherization can wear out quickly. It can be quickly and easily replaced with a self-adhesive vinyl strip that hangs down from the bottom edge of the door. You attach it on the interior side of the door. There is another kind of door sweep that uses multiple vinyl strips to block drafts. Somewhat more expensive, but it slips on over the bottom edge of the door and is held on with screws.

One product I have used with great success is pvc door jambs with built-in vinyl weather stripping. Mounted on the outside of your door, these door jambs can either replace your existing jambs or slide over them. The vinyl weather-stripping can be pushed up snugly against the door to keep out drafts when the door is closed. Use a circular miter saw to make the proper angled cuts so they can be mounted attractively in place. When they are in position, they can be quickly nailed or screwed into place and then painted. While I like these, there are many other similar kits that might be more suitable for your particular job.

The Laundry Center

The big energy users in the laundry area are the washer and the dryer. The typical washer uses about 0.256 kWh per load. The main cost is obviously the amount of hot water the is used during each load. Top loading washers use up to 40 gallons while front loaders use 10-24 gallons. It is easy to cut costs here by washing in warm or cold water. However, the main energy savings comes from drying your clothes. Even though modern washing machines do an excellent job of extracting the water from clothes by spinning them, they still need to be dried.

Dryers tend not to be very energy efficient because they have one job: force dry, heated air into a rotating drum to evaporate water. Dryers use ten to fifteen percent of domestic energy in the United States. Dryers also cause lint. Lint comes from fibers in your clothing coming loose as the clothes tumble across each other in a dryerâ??s hot drum. Lint not only collects in your dryerâ??s lint trap but also through the dryerâ??s duct work. If lint begins to obstruct or clog your dryerâ??s duct work, the evaporated water from your nice, clean clothes will not leave the system. If the water is trapped, it will take longer and longer for the dryer to work. Therefore, once a year, pull your dryer away from the wall, detach the duct from the bottom of your dryer, and pull out as much lint as you can from the dryer and the duct. The first time you do this, you might be surprised how much you pull out. Youâ??ll also notice a big improvement in the time it takes for your dryer to dry your clothes.

During the cooler winter months when you are heating your home, you may notice your home feeling drier. While not always a bad thing, if your skin feels dry and itchy or if you notice your sinuses feeling raw and irritated more often, maybe your home is too dry. One way around this is to disconnect your dryer vent tubing from the duct work leading out of the house. Place a nylon sock over the end of the vent tubing and tie it in place with a long twist tie or rubber band. (Make sure you block up the vent going outside). This way, every time you run your drier, you will heat and humidify your house too.

Hanging your clothes not only save energy but also helps them last longer. Dry your clothes on a drying rack or clothes line. If you canâ??t hang them outside, you can hang them inside by buying a retractable clothes line (outside models are also available). Set up the line in a hallway of your home and hang your clothes to dry while you are at work. Place a large floor fan in the hallway to help circulate the air. Tumble clothes in the dryer for a few minutes until they are warm. This will relax the fibers and youâ??ll avoid having wrinkled or stiff clothes from hanging.

Getting into Hot Water

The most expensive part of doing laundry is using hot water. And while you might be able to switch to using warm or cold water for your laundry, having hot water for bathing or cooking or washing dishes is an important convenience. Currently, the most efficient way to heat water for a home is an on-demand water heater. While these are increasing in popularity in the US, most homes still rely on the old tank-style water heater. Basically, its a 40 or so gallon tank of water that is heated either by natural gas or electric heating elements. True, the method works well but most of the energy used by tank water heaters is just for maintaining hot water on stand-by and ready for use. That means, itâ??s heating water when you are asleep or at work or on vacation. So, a lot of energy is wasted. Water heater tanks are wrapped with insulation but adding more will save energy.

Put a water heater blanket around your water heater. Most water heater blankets at the home center tend to be about an inch thick so that they can be sold in one piece but not be too heavy to be held up with tape. These are made of plastic-covered fiberglass and you wrap them around your water heater. In terms of R factors of insulation (R-value indicates an insulationâ??s resistance to heat flow), you will adding about 3 Râ??s worth.

You can make water heater blanket with higher R-values. One method is to use reflective aluminum foil insulation (a.k.a. foil-clad bubble-wrap) and cut enough strips long enough to go around your water heater twice. You could then add the store-bought water heater blanket and have an R-value of more than 7.5. With this amount of insulation, you should be able to turn down your heaterâ??s thermostat and save even more money.

For safety, do not block any of the control panels, block off the bottom, or put any of insulation across the top of your water heater. Never obstruct the pressure release valve.

Keeping your hot water hot doesnâ??t stop at the water heater. Insulating your hot water pipes will also save energy and cut energy costs. Consider this: each time you turn on the tap for your shower, you let the water run until it gets warm. Letâ??s say the pipe from you water heater to your shower is 20 feet long. Now, that might only be a quart but that can turn into a couple of hundred gallons for a family of four in the course of a year. Also, consider that after your shower, there is still hot water in the pipe. By adding insulation, that heated water will cool more slowly. If you insulate your pipes efficiently enough, heat from the water heater will be more efficiently contained in your hot water pipes. You wonâ??t need to wait as long for that hot water, you will waste less water, and you will save more money.

Just Ventingâ?¦

There are several ways you can improve the efficiency of your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC). If you have an old thermostat that isnâ??t programmable, turn off your furnace circuit breaker, carefully disconnect the thermostat from your wall, and throw it out.

Programmable thermostats can be found for under $25, are commonly found in home centers, and are easy to install. They connect to the same four wire leads that hooked up to your old thermostat. By programming temperature settings in your house to be colder during the winter or warmer during the summer when you are asleep or away, you can save energy and money.

Another easy way of increasing efficiency is to monitor your systemâ??s air filters regularly. Depending on your lifestyle, you should change the filters regularly. If where you live tends to be dusty from busy nearby streets or if you have pets, change the filters every month. In some homes, it can be done every three months.

While disposable filters are cheaper, their expense builds quickly over time. Consider purchasing two washable air filters. Washable air filters usually cost less than $20 and can be rinsed out in a bathtub with hot, soapy water (in the summer, I hit mine with a pressure washer). By buying two, you can swap in a clean, dry one right way when its time to change out the other dirty filter.

One way to significantly improve your HVAC is to check your duct work thoroughly to be sure the system is sealed. A home owner can save up to $300 from their annual heating and cooling costs by sealing their duct work. Start at your HVAC system and feel for moving air coming from small holes or gaps in the duct work. When you find one, put a piece of aluminum HVAC tape over the hole. Remember: The volume of air leaked adds up; the more leaks you have the less efficient your system is. Check the entire run of your duct work; feel for air leaking from ductwork seams and loose joints. Check at the corners where the metal is folded for leaks, too. Also, make sure that air intake vents are not blocked by furniture or clogged with pet fur.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy Home Energy Saver website, insulating ducts in the typical American home costs about $250. Duct insulation will pay for itself in energy savings in about two and a half years, and continue to save energy and money in years to come. Depending on your duct work, there are many ways of doing this. Some 6 inch and 8 inch diameter sheet-metal ductwork can be replaced with insulated flexible ducting that costs less than $40 for 25 feet at a home center. If you use this, be sure to attach it so that it is snug with the supply ductwork and use aluminum HVAC tape. Other rectangular metal ductwork can be insulated with reflective aluminum foil insulation (foil-clad bubble-wrap), craft-faced fiberglass insulation, and regular gray duct tape.

Remember: you do not need to insulate the HVAC system intake ductwork, just the output side.

The Thing in the Attic

Unless your attic is finished, your attic space is essentially just outside your houseâ??s enclosed thermal envelope. Heated air rises and conducts that heat into the structure and air of your attic and from there to space. Only one thing efficiently maintains and spreads the preferred temperature inside your house: insulation.

Heating and air conditioning account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home. Inadequate insulation and air leakage are leading causes of energy waste in most homes. Air sealing wonâ??t benefit a whole lot if there is insufficient insulation for the whole house. Throughout most of the country, the US DOE recommends at least R30 (about 1 foot of blown cellulose or fiberglass) for attic insulation and a minimum of a R13 (a bit more than 3 inches of blown cellulose or fiberglass) in the walls. (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/insulation/ins_06.html) Unfortunately, most homes built in the past two decades are built with R13 in the walls and attic; few have R30 in the attic.

Letâ??s say your home has R13 of blown cellulose insulation in the attic. The attic measures 1750 square feet and weâ??ll assume that the insulation has settled. To bring it up to at least R30, we need to add a further 17 R-valueâ??s of insulation to the attic. The easiest way to do this is to either apply another 5 inches of blown cellulose or put down un-faced R19 fiberglass batts (about 6 inches thick).

To figure the cost for blown cellulose to cover the attic space, multiply the square footage by the thickness. Therefore: 1750 Ã? 5 inches (or .416 feet)= 728 cu ft. The home center sells bags that are 16 cu. ft. Divide the 728 cu. ft. by 16 cu. ft and you get 46 (16 cu ft) bags. Some home centers may include the free rental of their blowing equipment as an incentive; others may not. To make the insulation work effectively, it must be spread evenly throughout the attic so that no thin spots or hollows are formed. Also, to keep the insulation out of soffiting, dams need to be built and installed at the end of each ceiling joist (or around light fixtures) before turning on the insulation blower.

Fiberglass insulation is typically figured by square foot. Rolls of R19 come in 23 inches wide or 16 inches wide. This is so the insulation fits between the joists. Roll lengths vary, usually between 48 and 77 feet long (though batts are available). What you should watch out for is just how big the roll is. In other words â?? can you get it through the atticâ??s entrance or trap door?

Once youâ??ve decided on what size works for you, divide the square footage (our 1750 square feet) by the length and you have the number of rolls you need. Craft-faced insulation has a paper vapor barrier facing. Because insulation is being added on top of other insulation in this case there is no need for the paper vapor barrier facing. While it is more expensive that the blown cellulose, fiberglass batts are convenient sizes that can be positioned and laid in place or trimmed as needed. And itâ??s always better to have extra.

Now, letâ??s say youâ??ve figured out how much you needâ?¦and that you canâ??t afford more than $50 at a stretch. Not to worry. The great thing about insulating is that it doesnâ??t need to be done all at once. You can take your time and build on it. The best way, though, is to figure out what area of your home you want to insulate first. Consider these two things: where is your thermostat located and where do you spend most of your waking hours in the home? Usually, the thermostat is in the living room and thatâ??s were most people spend their time. The solution is simple here: lay in your first bundles of insulation over this room. But if your thermostat is in the living room and you spend your time in another room, such as a home office, you may wish to divide your insulation between the area over the thermostat and the office. In this instance, itâ??s best to take time to choose what priorities fit your lifestyle and how to proceed from there.

The autumn is the best time to install insulation in your attic. After all, during the summer, it could reach as high as 150Â° F, especially in a poorly ventilated attic. But, if you want to start saving money now during the peak heating season as well as later on during the air conditioning season, now is the best time to do the job. So, hereâ??s some tips on how to make the job easy:

Heat Shield to Maximum!

Your roof is a heat shield for your house. But in order for it to work at peak efficiency, it needs to be adequately ventilated. The National Roofing Contractors Association recommends 1 square foot of ventilation opening should be provided for every 150 square feet of ceiling area. (http://www.nrca.net/consumer/fyi.aspx)

If youâ??ve ever ventured into an attic on a sunny summer day, you know how hot it can be. Temperatures can easily reach 150Â° F. Trapped heat increases your air conditionerâ??s heat load. This raises your energy costs. Trapped heat also can damage the plywood sheathing, under-layment, shingles and personal items located inside the attic.

Roof ventilation works with two kinds of vents, an exhaust and an intake. Heated attic air flows out through a vent in the upper part of the roof. This pulls in cooler air to enter through intake vents located down in the soffiting or fascia board. Most houses built in the 1960s onwards use a combination of soffit vents and either gable vents, roof vents, or ridge venting to allow air to flow through the attic. By allowing the attic to breathe and circulate heated air out, the house is better able to let go of the heat it absorbs during the day.

Retrofitting roof vents is not as hard as it sounds. Nevertheless, it can be daunting to climb onto your roof and cut holes into it. I have found the easiest to install is the ridgevent system. Ridgevents come in metal or plastic kits. It has a hollow inside and either vents along its sides or under a flange. By straddling a slot cut though the sheathing at the roofâ??s ridge or peak, it allows heated attic air to leave without letting rain inside.

The actual installation technique varies slightly depending on the kit you use but very basically remove the top cap of shingles on the roof, and use a circular saw to cut a one inch wide piece of sheathing from either side of the roofâ??s ridge. If youâ??re installing full length venting, youâ??ll be cutting two slots the entire length of your roof so use a sharp blade and take your time. Afterwards, attach the ridge vent and caulk down the loose ends.

Now that youâ??ve seen what to look for in your home thermal envelope, you can start planning where to begin, whether itâ??s walls, ceilings, foundation, floors, windows, doors, or the roof. And while itâ??s import to consider how your home works as a whole, approach improving it one step at a time. Dividing the project of sealing your home into smaller, manageable jobs around the house makes it easier to tackle. Consider that all these jobs donâ??t need to be done all together all at once. Tackle ridgevents one weekend, insulation another, or a new thermostat some weeknight after dinner. You should notice more energy efficiency â?? however slight â?? after each improvement. They will add up and you will save money and your home will feel more comfortable. But be sure to take your time preparing and researching, read the instructions, and use good tools.

Above all, be careful when considering projects that seem beyond your skill level. If in doubt, hire a professional. After all, sometimes doing-it-yourself can really do-it-to-you.

Do It Yourself Energy Efficiency Projects: Your Home’s Thermal Envelope (Part 2) is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Swro Design and Energy Recovery Part 2: Hydropro Design

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:41:03 +0000

Design RequirementsTraditionally Hydropro has always put the needs of the customer into the forefront of its company philosophy. By doing this, Hydropro has always stayed abreast of the latest advancements in technology in the water treatment field. In this case, mostly because of the remote location (nearly everything, including fuel for the diesel generators, is delivered by ship), the most important customer needs were associated with conserving energy and maintaining reliability. Availability of replacement parts was also a major concern due to the remote location and the lead-time required to ship items to the island. Another concern Hydropro had to address was ease of operation and ease of maintenance, as the remote island of Ebye did not have any skilled RO plant operators. The end result would incorporate all these requirements to produce a reliable supply of potable water from a seawater source for the citizens of Ebye. In the original RFP, KAJUR requested twin 75,000 gpd SWRO units (expandable to 100,000 gpd) designed for a seawater feed of 45,000 mg/l TDS. The proposal presented by Hydropro was for two Seawater Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment units each designed to produce 75,000 gallons per day. Permeate water was projected to be of less than 300 mg/l TDS based on feed water from seawater wells with a maximum TDS of 50,000 mg/l and an SDI of less than 3. Each unit was designed to be easily expandable to a daily capacity of 100,000 gallons by the addition of one pressure vessel containing seven seawater membranes. All instrumentation, piping, valves, headers and pumps were pre-sized to accommodate the expansion. Each proposed SWRO system consisted of four pressure vessels containing seven membrane elements each arranged in a single, one-pass array. With the expansion, the system would consist of five pressure vessels in a single staged array. Each system was designed to operate at a 30-40% recovery rate, with a maximum trans-membrane (feed to product) pressure of 1100 psi at a feed water TDS of 50,000 mg/l. With a feed water TDS of 46,000 mg/l, the trans-membrane pressure was projected to be approximately 900 psi at startup and 950 psi after three years of operation. System Design The final, installed 100,000 gpd Hydropro design consisted of the following major components and unit operations for each SWRO unit: • Sand and Particulate Filters: Two HYDROPRO Tubular filter units Model STF5M2-400- PVC/150 each consisting of one PVC housing with a 150-micron wedge wire PVC screen for the removal of sand and particles, with automatic purge valves • Micron Filters: Three heavy-duty filter housings constructed of FRP/PVC and built to ASME Code X, the housings are Eden Model 24EFC each accommodating six (6) 40″ long five micron polypropylene cartridges • RO High Pressure Booster Pumps: Two high pressure feed booster pumps Grundfos Model BM 17-27R (installed in series) – horizontal centrifugal, multi-stage construction of 904L Super Austenitic Stainless Steel, each driven by a 35 HP submersible type motor rated at 460V/60Hz/3Ø utilizing a Soft start motor starter and VFD RO Low Pressure Booster Pump: One booster pump Grundfos Model BM 30-4R – horizontal centrifugal, multi-stage type of 904L Super Austenitic Stainless Steel, driven by a 7.5 HP submersible type motor rated at 460V/60Hz/3Ø controlled by a variable frequency drive • Membrane Modules: One FRP construction structural frame, five pressure vessels of FRP construction rated at 1200 psi operating pressure, 35 Thin Film Composite membrane elements ¬ 8″ x 40″, 2205 DUPLEX SS headers for feed and concentrate and Sch. 80 PVC for the permeate headers and low pressure feed, suction and concentrate piping, Allen- Bradley PLC SLC 5/04 based control system – installed in a NEMA 4X enclosure with system switches lights etc. installed on the panel door • Chemical Feed Systems: One anti-scalant dosing system and one chlorine dosing system • Freshwater Flush/Membrane Cleaning System The system skid was designed and fabricated for a compact footprint due to limited installation space and to allow for shipping both units in a single container. The entire system was pre-assembled as much as possible to minimize field services.

Swro Design and Energy Recovery Part 2: Hydropro Design is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Google AdWords Strategy – Part 3: Other Google AdWords Strategies

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:30:18 +0000

3. Other Google AdWords Strategies

     Google AdWords Ad Positioning

    Although the profit margin on the product or service offered is a large factor, tests have proved that the first ad position on the first page is, generally, not the most profitable. Yes, it gets the most clicks, but it’s often a spontaneous action by the surfer before studying the ad. Sometimes the surfer is merely browsing the subject and is not ready to buy (commonly known as “tyre-kickers”).

    Tests show that the further down the page an ad is, or, occasionally, even on the second page, the greater is its conversion rate. The surfer has taken the time to read the ad carefully because he is ready to buy. Furthermore, the clicks are fewer; so, your overall pay-per-click bill is less than for a higher-positioned ad. The downside is that the click-through rate (CTR) of the lower-positioned ads is lower, which affects your Quality Score adversely and raises your cost per click.

    A happy medium is to aim for positions 4 to 6 on Google’s first page. (You can use the “Show Estimated Ad Position” and “Estimated Avg CPC” columns in the on-line Google AdWords Keyword Tool to determine the cost-per-click to bid for each of of your exact match keyword phrases, and then you can set those bids accordingly. These figures can, however, be notoriously inaccurate. Always check your keyword phrases’ positions afterwards in the ‘Avg Pos’ column on the Ad Group’s ‘Keywords’ index tab or by testing with a search on the main keyword phrases.)

    “Google Search” ads, “Content Network” ads, “Search Network”/”Search Partners” ads, “Placement” ads

    You can specify different maximum bid amounts for these various types of advertising. Because the quality of their traffic tends to be lower, bids for the Content Network (”entire network” option) and Search Network (Search Partners) (see Tactics > Search Network) should be kept lower and be more tightly controlled than those for Google Search traffic and the Content Network (”Placement ads” option). In the early stages of a new Google AdWords campaign, it is advisable to go with only Google Search traffic and switch other options off, to help you to control costs. Once you’ve discovered the keywords that produce the highest return on investment (ROI), you can enable other options for those keywords to see what results they produce.

    If you find that a Google Search traffic campaign is too competitive, don’t just abandon Google AdWords altogether; try a Content Network Placement ad (see Tactics > Placement Ads), bidding either CPC or CPM (q.v.).

    Testing and Tracking

    Ad Variations

    Despite what you may think of your copywriting prowess, you will not write the perfect ad at the first attempt. You may need ten attempts before you find the best formula. Although you may hazard a reasonable guess at the advertisement text that would attract visitors, the ONLY way to KNOW what ad text achieves the highest click-through rate (CTR) is split-test two ads simultaneously.

    Although changing just a single word can make a difference, do not split-test two ads that resemble each other that closely; Split-test two radically different ads. (Switch off Google’s option to show the better-performing ad more often than the other, as that would distort the test results.) After between 20 and 50 clicks it should become apparent which of the two ads is out-performing the other. Then replace the inferior ad with another and split-test again. Repeat this process again and again, each time reducing the textual differences between the two ads until you arrive at the one that performs best of all.

    To track the click-through rate (CTR) of your ads, go to your Google AdWords campaign web page, click on the Campaign name; click on the Ad Group name; click the ‘Ad Variations’ index tab; check the ‘CTR’ column.

    Always keep all the Ad Variations that you create, to check that you don’t repeat any inadvertently.

    Landing Pages

    Split-test your landing pages in a similar way, to discover which style, layout, text, call to action, etc. achieves the highest conversion rate. To track the conversion rates of your web pages for various keywords, go to your Google AdWords campaign web page and click on the ‘Conversion Tracking’ item on the ‘Campaign Management’ index tab.

    Always save all the landing pages that you create, to check that you don’t repeat any inadvertently.

    Keywords

    After a new campaign has been running for about a month, check the click-through rate (CTR) of all the keyword phrases in each Ad Group on its ‘Keywords’ index tab. Click the ‘CTR’ column header to sort the keyword phrases, mark the checkbox of all keyword phrases with a CTR of less than 0.5% and either ‘Pause’ or ‘Delete’ them. (If you have many keywords, it’d probably be quicker to do this in your specialist AdWords software tool and upload the keyword list to your Google AdWords campaign again.)

    0.5% is considered the benchmark of a poorly performing keyword. Such keywords cause your ad to be displayed but, for some reason, the people using the keyword in their search terms don’t connect it mentally with your ad, and don’t click on it. If several keywords have a low click-through rate (CTR), the overall click-through rate (CTR) of your whole Ad Group is reduced and its Quality Score will be affected adversely. Eventually, this Ad Group’s lower Quality Score will also affect the Quality Score of your entire Google AdWords campaign.

    This check should be performed weekly thereafter.

    If you really want to use those poorly performing keywords, remove them from the Ad Group and create a new Ad Group for them, or even a new campaign, so that they don’t affect your overall Quality Score.

    The Bottom Line

    Great importance is attached to the click-through rate (CTR), but, to put it in perspective, it is only a means to an end. A high click-through rate (CTR) does not make you a millionaire in itself; It’s revenue that counts. Your revenue is determined by the successful interaction between keywords, Ad Variation and landing page, all three working in harmony together.

    Maximum CPC Bid

    Don’t be afraid to bid higher than necessary for keywords in a new Google AdWords campaign during the first few days. This will establish your campaign with Google and, as your click-through rate (CTR) rises, your maximum CPC bid amount to achieve the same ad position will fall dramatically. Then you lower your bids and check again the next day. Repeat this process until your bids are minimized. You do this for all the keyword phrases in the Ad Group. If there are too many keywords to deal with manually, invest in specialist software to calculate the bids for you.

      CPC or CPM?

     Google ‘Content Network’ advertising (see Tactics > Content Network) gives you the option to specify your keywords’ maximum bids as cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) (”M” is the Roman numeral for 1,000, “mille” in Latin). CPM can be useful if the Quality Score is low or the cost per click (CPC) is high. If you opt to pay for impressions rather than for clicks, Google couldn’t care less about Quality Score or click-through rate (CTR) or even relevance; You simply pay each time your ad appears. Of course, it’s still in your interest to ensure that you follow the advice about relevance already given.

    It’s your responsibility to track the performance of your CPM ads, because Google doesn’t do it for you. Obviously, you won’t want to keep paying for ads that don’t convert. Moreover, you’ll still have to bid high enough to get your ad to be displayed in the desired position within an ad unit on an AdSense publisher’s web page, or even at all, and that cost could be quite high on a good-quality, popular web site that you choose for a ‘Placement’ ad (see Tactics > Placement Ads).

     Keywords

    Unless you have a six-figure annual budget and would be happy with a mere 10% return on investment (ROI), don’t bother bidding for popular 1-word keywords, such as “mortgage”. The competition for most single-word keywords is fierce, unless the niche is very esoteric. Moreover, searches on single words are made most frequently by people who are simply not ready to spend their money; they are merely investigating the market, gathering information; in other words, they are “tyre-kickers”. 1-word keywords would probably bankrupt you very quickly.

    2-word keywords are a better bet, but they can still command a high cost per click in competitive markets, surfers who search on them may still not be ready to buy, although they’re getting there.

    Keyword phrases of three words and up are known as “long-tail” keywords. (Note that the word “keyword” in pay-per-click advertising can mean a phrase of more than one actual word, e.g., “New York”. A “keyword phrase” consists of more than one “keyword”.)

    3-word keyword phrases have the highest conversion rate, according to tests. People who type three words as a search term have usually done their investigations, know exactly what they want, and are now ready to buy.

    4-word keyword phrases fare slightly less well, perhaps because the searcher may indeed be ready to buy, but is comparing prices for a very specific item, or is doing some academic research.

    Don’t understimate the power of negative keywords! If you sell tulips, you don’t want your ad to appear when someone searches on the term “grow tulips”. Although they may not click on your ad, it’d be an unnecessary impression, and its click-through rate (CTR) would suffer. Specify “grow” as a negative keyword. (Of course, if your Ad Group contains only exact match keyword phrases, there’s no point in specifying negative keywords.)

     Landing Page

    Relevance is covered above, and is by far the most important attribute of a landing page. Here is some advice about other ways to encourage Google to enhance your Ad Group’s Quality Score.

    Google values “real” web sites more highly than mere single-page “mini-sites”. The robot checks for links to other web pages, particularly a ’site map’ page and ‘privacy policy’ and ‘contact us’ pages. A ‘terms of use’ and an ‘about us’ page may also help. Hyphenate these page names as the file names, e.g., ‘privacy-policy.html’. Place the links to these pages at the very bottom of your landing page, in the footer, using as small a font as a human would consider reasonable. You want to reduce the risk as much as possible that your visitor will click away from your landing page.

    Minimize the landing page’s load time. It is believed that Google uses this as an element in its Quality Score algorithm. Keep images and JavaScript to a minimum. They weigh the page down. (Google cannot follow JavaScript links anyway.)

     How to Attract Visitors

    What makes a person click on your ad instead of someone else’s? The answer is the same as to the question why a person clicks the ‘Buy’ button on your sales page: good copywriting. That’s a separate subject, but, suffice it to say here that your ad must be not only relevant, but also compelling. Imagine that you are the searcher, looking to buy a product or service like yours. Look at other ads offering something similar. What attracts you to one and not another? Ask your friends and colleagues what they think.

    You have only a 25-character headline and two description lines of 35 characters each. Don’t squander them on waffling about your company. The consumer couldn’t care less about you or your company. The consumer has a problem to be solved, a need to be satisfied, a desire to be fulfilled. So, mention the problem, the need, the desire. And, most important, tell the consumer that the solution, what he needs, what he wants is only a click away. Tell him to “Get Help Now” or to “Find It Here”. That’s the ‘call to action’.

Google AdWords Strategy – Part 3: Other Google AdWords Strategies is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Swro Design and Energy Recovery Part 3: Major Component Selection

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:41:31 +0000

The sand screens and micron filters were selected because of the durable and corrosion resistant fiberglass and PVC construction. The specific model of Eden micron filters was chosen to maintain the filter element flux at approximately 3.3 gpm/per 10″ equivalent.

Due to the relative remoteness of the installation site, multistage-centrifugal, high-pressure pumps have been selected for their reliability, availability of parts, economics of operation and easy maintenance. Centrifugal pumps in general are smoother, quieter, and require less ancillary equipment (i.e. pulsation dampeners) than positive displacement pumps. Hydropro has found that positive displacement pumps are much more prone to failure and lengthily downtimes than high-quality centrifugal pumps.

The Grundfos Booster Modules were chosen for several reasons. The inline style helped conserve space and provided ease of installation, allowing everything to be mounted on the same skid (with the exception of cleaning/flush tanks, raw water booster pumps, and chemical feeds). These submersible, multi-stage centrifugal pumps were also chosen because they are very efficient and quiet, and are constructed of corrosion resistant, 904L super austenitic stainless steel.

The high pressure feed and concentrate headers were made of 2205 duplex stainless steel for superior corrosion resistance, and the structural skid was constructed of FRP for low weight and zero maintenance. ERI´s Pressure Exchanger was chosen because of its high energy efficiency, dependability, and corrosion resistant materials.

PerformanceValues for the projected power consumption rates that were presented in the proposal were based on a 27ºC feed stream of 45,000 mg/l TDS and a permeate flow rate of 100,000 gpd. The membrane manufactures projection software was used to determine the system parameters at a recovery of 35%, and these parameters were subsequently used to determine the projected power consumption. The result was an anticipated feed pressure of 900 psi and a specific power consumption rate of 3.02 kWh/m³.

Once the system was installed and operating, the specific power consumption was calculated based on actual system parameters and the result was a much lower value of 2.65 kWh/m³. There were several reasons the actual value was lower, the main reason however, was the conservative design. Because of some uncertainty in the feed water quality, the SWRO system was designed with a relatively low flux (approximately 8 gpm/ft2), and a somewhat large hydraulic envelope. As it turned out, the feed water TDS was closer to 36,000 ppm and fairly stable. The lower feed TDS enabled the system to operate at a lower membrane feed pressure of 790 psi and a higher permeate flow rate of 120,000 gpd, consequently using less energy than originally projected and making higher quality permeate.

ConclusionWith most of the system assembled, the installation was fairly straightforward and went smoothly. The two units were installed, started up, tested and operator training was completed in less than three weeks. There was, however, a problem with the feed water quality and the pretreatment system, which was discovered after only 24 hours of operation. It immediately became apparent that the raw water was loaded with particulate that was quickly fouling the sand screens and the micron filters. Fortunately, the feed system could be modified to flow into an existing 250,000 gallon seawater tank from the wells, and the SWRO feed was then drawn out of this tank. This settling tank solution worked quite well and provided a feed water with a pre-filter SDI of 1.25.

There was also one other performance issue that needed to be resolved. Initially, the permeate quality was less than what was projected, and it was not clear why. The system was extensively checked ant tested for leaks, and the possibility that seawater was somehow mixing with the permeate was eventually eliminated. It was finally determined that the membranes did not meet the design rejection required to produce the projected permeate TDS. Once the membranes were replaced, the system was making plenty of high quality permeate that was well below the maximum acceptable permeate TDS.

KAJUR and the residents of Ebye have since been enjoying low-cost, high-quality water for over a year now without any noteworthy system failures. They are so pleased, in fact, that KAJUR has recently awarded Hydropro another SWRO job utilizing work exchanger energy recovery.

Swro Design and Energy Recovery Part 3: Major Component Selection is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 3

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:38:35 +0000

As if you haven’t already heard, millions upon millions of people of people buy and sell on eBay every single day. Some only make a few sales here and there. Others have figured out what it takes to become “Powersellers.” Powersellers are the very small minority of eBay sellers that do at least $2,000 per month in sales on eBay and maintain a 99% positive feedback rating. Powersellers are the ones that really know what they’re doing and if you really want to be successful on eBay then follow the secrets they revealed to me.

So, what are the secrets, tips and tricks that will cause you to become a Powerseller as well?

Well, I’ll be completely honest with you… I may be well on my way but I’m not a Powerseller yet. However, one thing that I know from creating several successful businesses is that if you want to become the best at something, you need to copy those that are already successful, ask them to mentor you and ask questions and take notes. And now I am going to take what they taught me and pass it on to you.

This is part three of a four part article series. You will find links to the other parts of this article series at the end of this article.

SECRET STRATEGY #12 – DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER HAPPY… EVEN IF IT MEANS LOSING MONEY ON A DEAL!

Of course, we’ve all heard “the customer’s always right!” On eBay it’s even more true. Here’s something odd that you probably don’t know: when a customer tells other people that a company or product sucked, the people they told are 5 times more likely than the person that told them to not do business with that company or buy that product. Five times more likely than the person that actually bought the thing!

Now, on eBay it is even more important as a seller to make sure that you maintain a highly positive rating because every single potential customer can see the negative ratings left for you. In addition, for every 1% (for sellers that have a rating under 1000) you’re your feedback is lowered, you will lose 11% in bids. That’s why every Powerseller says that their rating is more important than money that they lose off one deal. Personally, I can tell you that I know that several bidders have purchased my information products and then asked for their money back even though I know that they are still using the product (FYI, there are certain tricks that you can use to make money off even those that rip you off.)

I also highly recommend that you subscribe to SquareTrade and register for the Better Business Bureau Online if you qualify. I’m sure that you are familiar with the BBB so let’s talk about SquareTrade. SquareTrade has been working with eBay pretty much since eBay began and they are a certified eBay partner.

Basically, what they do is mediate disagreements with customers but, even more beneficial, they immediately investigate negative feedback is soon as a customer leaves it for you and they work with eBay to remove negative feedback that is malicious (i.e. your competition buys a product just to leave a negative feedback.) If they determine that the negative feedback was indeed caused by the seller, they attempt work out a resolution with the buyer so that the negative feedback can be removed.

Many Powersellers have been subscribed to SquareTrade for years and they also told me that it pretty much pays for itself right away because when buyers see the SquareTrade logo on the listing that the seller is making every attempt to make sure that their customers are fully satisfied. Check out SquareTrade:

http;//www.a-to-z-web.com/links/squaretrade.html

Next, I believe, as do all the Powersellers that I spoke with, that you should always offer a powerful guarantee. I, for one, offer a 180-day, no-hassle, satisfaction, money-back guarantee on any information product that I wrote and at least a 30-day guarantee on everything else. One thing that I do not do is offer a “100% Money Back” guarantee although if a customer asks for all of their money back, I give them exactly what they ask for. What I do is always send them an email telling them that they will get to keep the product since there is no way me to make sure that they don’t use it. Most of the time they ask for 25-75% of their money back but very rarely do they ask 100% of their money back.

Also, for physical products most Powersellers require that items be returned in their original condition. And they charge a restocking fee for all returned items. But remember that their customer’s satisfaction always supersedes these policies. Just keep this in mind: your feedback rating is your best advertisement but can also be your largest downfall. Never let your emotions get in the way and always make 200% sure that your customer walks away happy… even if you have to bribe them with extra gifts.

SECRET STRATEGY #13 – BUILD YOUR OWN WEBSITE

While you don’t need your own website from the very beginning, every Powerseller I spoke with has their own website. Why? One, they do not want to be at the mercy of eBay. Certainly, eBay doesn’t make it a goal of theirs to hurt businesses that sell on eBay but on occasion they do. For example, a few years ago, many people realized the power of selling their cars on eBay. At that time, it cost around $60-80 to place an ad in the newspaper or AutoTrader but only a couple of dollars to put an ad on eBay.

So, many auto traders started creating businesses where they would sell their cars on eBay. Well, eBay soon realized this new popularity and then created eBay Motors. Now, it costs $40 to list a car and $40 at the close of the sale. This is still a pretty good deal but definitely more risky than it was before. However, Powersellers realize two things: 1) that it is not good to be at the mercy of others and 2) that they can make more money selling through their own web site.

That’s why it’s very important to set up your own web site as soon as possible. Furthermore, when you have people buying through your own web site, you don’t have to pay eBay fees which can save tons of money. Finally, many Powersellers have developed ways to use eBay as a traffic generator rather than really try to make money off eBay. For example, they might have an informational product that they are selling like “The Most Spectacular Fishing Trips In The World” and to promote this product, they sell various fishing items such as lures and rods.

Of course, they want to make a profit off these items but the big money is in the back end product. In this case, one could sell the fishing guide as well as have affiliate tie-ins to companies that selling fishing tours in the areas that were talked about in the guide. On top of that, if you get the customer’s email address then you can contact them in the future about new products or services. Even if you cannot set up your own website right away, at the very least, make sure that you get their email address for use in the future.

SECRET STRATEGY #14 – ACCEPT EVERY FORM OF PAYMENT THAT YOU POSSIBLE CAN!

Powersellers make it as easy as possible for their customers to pay for an item and give them as many options as possible. Many sellers are opposed to accepting credit cards because of the fees that credit card companies charge. This is the most ridiculous belief when it comes to business for several reasons. One, the average credit card purchase is 30% higher than purchases made by cash or check. So, do the math. Do you make more money by offering credit card payments or less? Sure you have to pay 2-3% to the credit card company but you will make 30% more on the sale.

Now, many people then say “Well, why should I accept personal checks or money orders then?” Because, even though credit card payments are the safest way to pay on the Internet, many people believe that they’re just not safe. I try to tell people that using their credit card on the Internet is actually safer online than offline as the credit card companies attest but, most of the time, they simply don’t believe me. And you know what?

I hate having to go to the bank to deposit a check and wait until it clears but the funny thing is that even though I accept checks and money orders, the winning bidder rarely wants to pay via check or money order. This goes back to the first reason why you should accept credit cards… because people that pay via credit card are willing to pay more usually making them the highest bidder. Finally, when you accept more forms of payments, you’ll receive more bids and the interesting thing is that this can often times create a bidding frenzy.

SECRET STRATEGY #15 – START WITH THE LOWEST BID POSSIBLE AND AVOID RESERVE BIDS

Many sellers are terrified of starting their auctions at $.01 and not having a reserve price. They are afraid that if they do this then the item that they’re selling will sell for less than its worth. First of all, an auction is capitalism at it’s best. Whoever is willing to pay the most gets the item. Basically, whatever the highest bid ends up being IS what the item is worth.

Of course, if you have read the rest of this article then you’d know that there are many things that you can do to receive higher bids on your auction like adding photos and writing a great description. However, the Powersellers that I spoke with all told me that they begin 99% of their auctions at $.01 with no reserve; the rare exception being extremely expensive items that they have never sold before.

You see, one Powerseller that I interviewed told me about a little experiment that he conducted on several occasions. Basically, what he did was place identical items up for auction which he knew that he normally had sold for $300 (with a starting bid of $9.99) in the past, placed them in the same categories and began and ended them at the exact same times. The only difference between the two auctions was that one auction he began at $.01 and the other he began at $25. In fact, if one searched for the particular item that he was selling, these two auctions would show up right next to each other.

At the end of the auction, the one that began at $.01 had received 63 bids and ended with a winning bid of $343. That’s $43 more than he had ever made off a previous sale. The auction that began at $25 ended with only 43 bids and a final price of $287 for a difference of $56! Remember that everything was exactly the same except for the starting bid price.

Why does this happen? It’s pretty simple really. First of all, you’ll receive bids from a larger number of unique bidders and remember that every time someone is outbid, they receive a notice that they have been outbid. In affect, eBay is promoting your item for you even more.

Second, more bids draw more bidders. Ask yourself this: when you are scrolling through eBay listings, what catches your eye more: an auction with 3-4 bids or an auction with 20. Some people claim that it doesn’t make a difference but the numbers prove otherwise. Bids beget more bids.

Finally, people always want to “win!” You know, when you go to Wal-Mart and buy something, they don’t say “You Won!” do they? Of course not! But on eBay, you’re the “winning bidder!” The more people that you draw into your auction then the more people you will have wanting to win.

Don’t be scared! Always start your auction at $.01 and “no reserve.” This option always makes more money. But there is one exception to this rule: don’t do it when you are just beginning to sell an extremely expensive item that you have to put a lot of your money on the line. For example, when I first started selling sporting tickets on eBay, I really had no idea what I was doing or how to effectively list an item. But once I figured that out, it really didn’t matter how much I bought the tickets for because when I listed them at $.01 and no reserve, I made about 18% more per sale!

Special note: if you have no reserve on your auction, always put “no reserve” (minus the quotes) in your auction title or, if you don’t have enough space for that, then put “nr” in the title. Do this because many people are opposed to auction with reserves and so they will always search for their keyword plus “no reserve” or “nr” and if your title doesn’t have these keywords then they won’t see it.

Well, that’s it! Armed with these secret eBay strategies, you too should be well on your way to making a very substantial income on eBay. However, should you wish to obtain even more information about how to make money on eBay and the rest of the Internet, please visit our eBay store for some fabulous informational products.

Unleash Life Success Coaching eBay Store
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ulsc-ebay-store.html

And be sure to check out the extremely powerful A2Z Web Building & Internet Marketing Platinum Package. It’s over $1,500 worth of the best web building and Internet marketing books and programs in the world for less than $50. Check out our eBay rating and you will see that people love this package!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/A2Z-platinum.html

Finally, if you missed any of the four parts of this article, you can read the other three at the following addresses:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html

19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 3 is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 4

admin — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:39:37 +0000

As if you haven’t already heard, millions upon millions of people of people buy and sell on eBay every single day. Some only make a few sales here and there. Others have figured out what it takes to become “Powersellers.” Powersellers are the very small minority of eBay sellers that do at least $2,000 per month in sales on eBay and maintain a 99% positive feedback rating. Powersellers are the ones that really know what they’re doing and if you really want to be successful on eBay then follow the secrets they revealed to me.

So, what are the secrets, tips and tricks that will cause you to become a Powerseller as well?

Well, I’ll be completely honest with you… I may be well on my way but I’m not a Powerseller yet. However, one thing that I know from creating several successful businesses is that if you want to become the best at something, you need to copy those that are already successful, ask them to mentor you and ask questions and take notes. And now I am going to take what they taught me and pass it on to you.

This is part four of a four part article series. You will find links to the other parts of this article series at the end of this article.

SECRET STRATEGY #16 – OFFER DISCOUNTS

Every single Powerseller that I interviewed offers some type of discount. It could be something like buy one and receive a second at 50% off. Or it could be that you offer free shipping on another purchase. Just make sure that you offer some type of discount and also keep in mind that “free” always works much better than anything else. For example, rather than say “Buy two and receive 50% off” say “Buy one get one free”. “Free” is a trigger word that really hooks people.

Furthermore, I have found that for most items, that offering free shipping can actually make you more money than if you didn’t. For example, a few years back, I wanted to find out if this was actually true. I had two whole rows at a concert and for the front row, I had people pay for the actual shipping costs which was like $9 to send them via FedEx 2-day delivery. A set of two tickets sold for about $400. The row in the back had free shipping and they sold for about $490 a set.

I made $81 more by offering free shipping. And it had to be the shipping because everything else about the auction was the same. In fact the better tickets made me less money. Now, I am sure that there are some exceptions to this rule (like maybe you are selling bulk items for $.01 and really making your profit off the handling) but I can’t really think of many examples. In fact the only exception that I can think of is international shipping.

But my point is that “FREE Shipping” works because it is very noticeable on search pages. Remember that the word “free” is a trigger word that catches people’s attention. The only other words that catch people’s attention like “free” is “you” and “sex”. Hey, I’m scared to think of what might happen if you put all these words in the same sentence!

Finally, with regards to the word “free”, always include it in your title IN ALL CAPS by simply adding “FREE bonus”. And then give your customers something for free. You can tell them what it is or not but always be sure to put a dollar value on it. For example, when I sell my information products, my bonus is a subscription to my email newsletter which I always give away for free but I put a value on it of $9.95 per month because I really believe that it’s worth that much since I know that I always over deliver. So I always tell my buyers that they are going to get a “bonus worth almost $120 per year!”

But here’s the key: it’s doesn’t really matter what the bonus is… all you are trying to do is get eBay users to click on your auction because you can’t start selling your product to them until the open the listing! Remember this every time you create a new listing. Your first objective is to get them to click on the auction listing. Think of it this way, you can’t sell to someone unless you get them in the store!

SECRET STRATEGY #17 – KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR GREAT DEALS!

Every single Powerseller that I spoke with told me several stories about one little deal or something that they found for free that made them a ton of money. One of them told me about how he goes to swap meets and watches the buyers all day looking for one item that a bunch of them seem to be buying. He then buys one for himself and tracks down the manufacturer so that he can sell the product on eBay. This is an awesome idea because really what he is doing is market research by watching the buyers at the swap meet. In addition, this same Powerseller oftentimes buys a large quantity off a swap meet seller at a really low price right before the seller is about ready to leave for the weekend because would the seller rather make a little money or haul everything back?

Another Powerseller went to Africa for his honeymoon and while he was there he found some fabulous African headdresses. He struck up a deal with the maker and bought 500 of the headdresses at $2 a piece for $1,000 total. When he and his bride returned home, he sold the headdresses on eBay for about $75 a piece, made over $36,000 and got to write off his $10,000 honeymoon as a “business expense”! He did so well selling the headdresses that he decided to “take a business trip… tax deductible of course… back to Africa” and order 2000 more. Also, to share the wealth, he “gave the maker a raise” and paid $5 each without the maker even asking for it! I bet he was pretty happy. But here’s the really funny thing… he got such ecstatic reviews for his previous buyers that the headdresses became much more in demand that his average sale increased to over $125! With these headdresses, he has made over $270,000!

So, keep your eyes open and snatch up those great deals. On thing to remember, if you see a bunch of people buying something, then you can be sure that you will be able to find others that will buy. At the county fair? Ask the popular vendors if they would like you to sell their products on eBay and split the profit. See a great deal at Wal-Mart for some killer product? Buy a bunch of them and sell them to people that don’t live near a Wal-Mart or other discount store (and always list your items internationally because international buyers will often pay you more and even pay the shipping for certain items because many times that item is much more expensive in their country… even if it’s made there!) Basically, make offers that you can profit from everywhere you go. Sure, you’ll get dozens of “no’s” but one “yes” can make you thousands of dollars.

SECRET STRATEGY #18 – INVEST IN YOUR BUSINESS

Of course, you don’t want to waste money on your business but I constantly see people that don’t want to spend money on their business to make money. eBay, in particular, has some features that can make you more money when you use them and others that may not make a difference for your product.

For example, one of the biggest mistakes that sellers make on eBay is not spending $.35 to have the product’s photo show up in the gallery. This is the biggest listing mistake! Gallery photos draw considerably more clicks and bids and yet do a search for a specific product and you will see that about 1/3 don’t have gallery photos and always have lower highest bids. Without exception, all of my auctions have a gallery photo and are listed in bold as are just about every Powerseller listing.

And don’t be afraid to invest in your business by purchasing things like auction software, a digital camera (especially now that you can get them for under $100), a postage system (I use Stamps at http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/stamps.html) or a web authoring program like DreamWeaver. Definitely be sure to invest in a high-speed Internet connection like the ones below because they will save you an incredible amount of time and frustration.

Comcast High Speed Internet Cable – http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/comcast.html
Earthlink High Speed Internet DSL — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/earthlink.html
Qwest High Speed Internet DSL — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/qwest.html
Verizon Online DSL — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/verizon.html
Time Warner High Speed Internet — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/tw.html

Or my personal choice:

Time Warner Digital Cable High Speed Internet — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/tw-dig.html

Just do some research and determine how it will make you more money before you buy anything.

SECRET STRATEGY #19 – ALWAYS BE LEARNING… ALWAYS BE UP TO DATE

As a personal coach, I recommend that people reinvest 10% of their income in their personal education so that they constant grow. And I suggest something similar for your business. Constantly read books about eBay and the Internet all of the time and you will grow year after year after year. Here are a few titles that I suggest to get started on eBay:

The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay by Jim Cockrum
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/silent-sales.html

eBay Cash Machine by Sebastian Foss
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-cash.html

What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It by Chris Malta
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/what-to-sell.html

eBay Powerseller Secrets: Insider Tips from eBay’s Most Successful Sellers by Debra & Peter Schepp
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/powerseller-secrets.html

eBay Timesaving Techniques for Dummies by Marsha Collier
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-timesaving.html

In addition to these titles above, the is one other great resource: EBAY!

Check out the following eBay pages:

Learning Center — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-learning.html
eBay University — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-university.html
Security & Resolution Center — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-security.html

Well, that’s it! Armed with these secret eBay strategies, you too should be well on your way to making a very substantial income on eBay. However, should you wish to obtain even more information about how to make money on eBay and the rest of the Internet, please visit our eBay store for some fabulous informational products.

Unleash Life Success Coaching eBay Store
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ulsc-ebay-store.html

And be sure to check out the extremely powerful A2Z Web Building & Internet Marketing Platinum Package. It’s over $1,500 worth of the best web building and Internet marketing books and programs in the world for less than $50. Check out our eBay rating and you will see that people love this package!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/A2Z-platinum.html

Finally, if you missed any of the four parts of this article, you can read the other three at the following addresses:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html

19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 4 is a post from: wordpressrobot.com