About a month ago, I had to contact Time Warner Cable to discuss a problem that I was having with my Internet connection not working. Since I work from home, it was kind of a big deal, so I was hoping to speak to someone right away to help resolve the issue. However, like most other companies nowadays, when I dialed the customer service number, I didn’t get a human voice. Instead, I got one of those automated prompts. Several prompts later, I finally spoke to a human being who only wound up setting me up for the obstacle course of being transferred to approximately seven different humans before I finally landed on one who was able to resolve my Internet connectivity problem (around 2.5 hours later)
If You’d Like to Make a Call, Please Hang Up & Try Again…
I knew that the issue I was having with my Internet was not one that would be able to be handled by an automated response. I needed to speak to a human…a living human; and my frustration over this fairly new wave of automated response systems is not felt by me alone. In fact, there are many people who, while sitting through various automated response systems, actually become increasingly frustrated and upset. Now, whenever I need to contact the customer service department of any company, I simply keep hitting ’0′ as soon as I hear the first automated prompt come up. Sure, I may still get transferred a dozen times before I speak to someone who can help me, but is there really any other alternative?
GetHuman.com
The geniuses behind gethuman.com have come up with a fairly extensive list of popular companies as well as their customer service phone numbers and how you can reach a human being in that particular business without having to sit through the myriad of automated prompts. The site offers contact information for each of the companies (i.e. customer service phone numbers to dial) as well as the average wait time that you can be expected to experience. In most cases, the site also offers links to that particular company’s Twitter page or support page as well as recent user reviews. To see the complete list, visit their site. In the meantime, the following is one example from their site:
DirecTV- Say “Technical Support” or “CRG” if you want to cancel services. If you want to make programming changes, say, “ACE”. The robot woman will then say, “One moment while I transfer you” instead of asking you a billion questions.
Have you ever wanted to customize your search results on Google so that you don’t have to sift through results that you know aren’t going to be useful to you? For instance, I love to run. That being said, one day I might be interested in finding out what parks are nearby to where I live, so I’ll type in my keywords and wait for the list of results to pop up like they normally do on Google. As I go down the page of results, I might come across links to sites that I know will be useful. Using the Google SearchWiki, I can move the results up so that they appear at the top of the page. I can also customize the results even further by adding notes, which will always appear with that particular web link each time it comes up in a search.
You can also use Google SearchWiki to see how other people have customized their own searches. Keep in mind that the changes you make only affect your own searches and not the searches of others. However, Google SearchWiki is a great way to share your own insights with other people who might be searching for the same topic as you. There is also a spot located near the bottom of the page where you can click to “See all notes for this SearchWiki” which will allow you to see any notes or comments that you may have made about various sites. It’s a really neat feature, as you can see by watching the video below.
What is a Wiki?
A wikiis a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as “the simplest online database that could possibly work.” [source]
Having trouble finding a job these days? Join the club. However, more and more people are realizing the value of Twitter. It’s no longer just about 140 word character blurbs. In fact, Twitter may help you get a job. Here are some tips on how:
5 Things to Consider When Finding a Job on Twitter
Revamp the Profile Appearance- If you still operate off of the original template that Twitter started you out with, shame on you! You’ll never attract any attention to yourself that way! There are some great (and free) backgrounds that you can find here.
Join the Conversations- Twitter is all about tweeting your message to others, having them (hopefully) tweet back and then sharing that message with others. You should be constantly engaging yourself with others. The more you network and build up your online presence/reputation, the more people will notice you.
Using the Search Option- Twitter has it’s own search option where you can type in key words for what you’re looking for. However, there is also something really cool called TwitterJobSearch, which is a search engine for twitter that was designed specifically for those out there who are seeking jobs. Try it out and see how it goes! Tweetmyjobs is also useful.
Be Wary of Who You Follow- These days, most companies are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. If you’re interested in applying or have recently applied for a position with a particular company, don’t be afraid to follow them or to even send them a useful message on Twitter. Also keep in mind that if you follow them, you’re probably going to want to hold off on the Tweets about when you last ate, brushed your teeth, etc…Also, you’ll want to follow people who you think will be most likely to follow you back, because let’s face it- no one thinks much of the person who is following 15,000 people but only has 3 following them back!
Use the Hashtags (#) & Make Your Message Count! There are a ton of job recruiters on Twitter nowadays. Don’t be afraid to use your hashtags and represent your availability clearly when you tweet!
People You Should Be Following for Job-Related Stuff
For a more complete list of twitter jobs, Sarah Evans over at Mashable has a very nice list broken down into various categories. To see the list, click here
What better way to kick off St. Patrick’s Day than to briefly talk about an awesome SEO tool?
Rockin’ SEO is a free keyword tracking tool that creator, Terry Novak, hopes will be useful to other web marketers. This particular SEO tool helps web marketers track how they are doing against their competitors in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. More simply, it tracks the keyword performance over time, which is something that can be extremely valuable.
A Little Background
Rockin’ SEO is compiled of the same team of web developers who created ReviewMyWeb. Frustrated with how much time can get sucked up doing SEO stuff, these web developers decided to create their own set of SEO tools. Out of those that they found useful, they shared them with their friends. The Rockin’ SEO Keyword Rank Tracking is just one of many SEO tools to come, so keep an eye out!
Getting Started
Rockin’ SEOcurrently tracks the top 100 rankings, and it may require users to set up multiple accounts in order to track multiple websites. Using Rockin’ SEO is easy. Just follow the following steps:
Sure, blogging is about writing, connecting, marketing, and free expression; so why not get informed about some really neat tools that can help to enhance not only your blogging experience but the experience of those who visit your blog?
25 Cool Tools for Bloggers
AdSense- an ad program run by Google to help bloggers generate some $
It’s no secret that when you want to get your blog out there, many people often resort to using blog feeds as one of the first steps in making their information available for others to see. Keeping this in mind, here is a list of 20 fabulous feeds that are hungry for your blog!
If you can think of any other useful blog feeds, feel free to add it in the comments section. For more information about Internet marketing, visit Create Business Growth today!
Being salaried can sometimes be a drag. Despite the fact that employees are paid X amount of dollars per year for a certain amount of work time (typically a 40 hour workweek), salaried employees often find themselves at the mercy of their employers who often try to get the most ‘bang for the buck’. This usually results in what should be a 40-hour workweek turning into a 40+ hour workweek without the extra pay.
During these hard economic times, people are desperately trying to hold onto their jobs as others around them get laid off left and right and companies go out of business all together. Employers know this, and some take advantage of this fact by piling more work on their employees simply because they can. The notion of being salaried doesn’t make sense a lot of the time; if you’re only being paid to work X amount of hours, then it seems as though you shouldn’t have to work extra hours without compensation. Granted, sometimes there will be deadlines that have to be met and other things that are beyond our control; but poor management coupled with frugal employers who are looking to save a few bucks is beginning to make a lot of employees wonder how much longer they can tolerate being devalued. As a result, many employees are hanging onto what little job security they have as they look elsewhere for jobs- all the while pondering how much they are truly worth.
Salaries for Writers
You don’t have to wait around for the economic crisis to let up to find out what others around you are getting paid. Even if you are going to be stuck at your current job for a while, it is always good to know what the average salary is for what you do. Possessing this information will let you know whether or not you are being grossly underpaid (or overpaid) for what you are doing, and it will lend you some bargaining power when it comes time to negotiate your salary.
U.S. Department of Labor Salary Results
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average annual earnings for salaried writers and authors in 2006 were $48,640 with the middle 50 percent earning anywhere from $34,850 to $67,820.
Information from the same survey indicated that the median annual earnings for editors were $46,990 with the middle 50 percent earning between $35,250 and $64,140.
The average annual earnings for salaried technical writers were $58,050 with the middle 50 percent earning anywhere from $45,130 to $73,750.
Other Salary Information
There are several sites out there to help you figure out what your salary should be as well as what the average salary for what you do is among others. Simply Hired has a search feature which allows you to type in the title of your job field as well as your location so that you can compare salaries. For example, the average salary for freelance writers in Raleigh, NC is $49k compared to the national average of around $48k. In the meantime, the average salary for a web copywriter in Raleigh, NC is $50k. For a list of other average salaries for web-related writers, Simply Hired provided the following list:
According to the United States Chamber of Commerce, more than 44 million Americans are uninsured, with nearly 60% of those employed by small businesses. This is significant because most small businesses do not offer comprehensive health coverage for their employees because of the cost to the employer. This means that employees of small businesses have to find a way to get health insurance for themselves. However, as the cost of health care continues to escalate in the United States, more employees (such as the ones who work for smaller businesses) will no longer be able to afford health coverage, which will lead to an increased number of people without health coverage.
Recognizing how small business owners have been struggling to provide health insurance coverage for themselves and their employees, The Chamber of Commerce promoted the passage of legislation that would create federally regulated small business health plans (SBHPs). According to the U.S. Chamber of commerce, these SBHPs would allow small businesses to arrange their health benefits through associations thereby making coverage more affordable by spreading risk among a much larger group, strengthening negotiating power with plans and providers, offering insurance across state lines, and reducing administrative costs. This debate for Small Business Health Plan legislation has been ongoing for over a decade now and was just heard in the Senate for the first time back in 2006. The Senate would’ve played a key role in passing the vote for “The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act of 2006,” but ended just five votes short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster and move to a final vote.
Despite the fact that there has been much speculation over whether or not small businesses will eventually get the votes they need, some insurance companies (such as BCBSNC) have begun to support small businesses in terms of providing affordable health care coverage. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC), for example, has been offering over a decade of healthcare coverage and services to fit every small business budget all throughout North Carolina. BCBSNC offers free quotes on several of their plan options to small business companies that have less than 50 employees. They have over 1,000 plans for companies to choose from, so contact BCBSNC today by visiting their web site or by calling them at 1.800.615.5980 or locally at 919.510.5980.
If you are time crunched like I am, it’s hard to sit down and read through WIRED. Although WIRED is all that…totally awesome…yada…yada in the opinion of the masses, I really like the five magazines ( Search Marketing Standard Magazine, Website Magazine, Revenue Magazine, Response Magazine and Target Marketing Magazine ) listed below because they are all about 50 to 75 pages or so each, easy to digest, cover multiple areas and are perfect for the 2008 time crunched seo/tech/marketing enthusiasts.
Click on the image to visit the websites and enjoy…
About a month ago, I had to contact Time Warner Cable to discuss a problem that I was having with my Internet connection not working. Since I work from home, it was kind of a big deal, so I was hoping to speak to someone right away to help resolve the issue. However, like most other companies nowadays, when I dialed the customer service number, I didn’t get a human voice. Instead, I got one of those automated prompts. Several prompts later, I finally spoke to a human being who only wound up setting me up for the obstacle course of being transferred to approximately seven different humans before I finally landed on one who was able to resolve my Internet connectivity problem (around 2.5 hours later)
Being salaried can sometimes be a drag. Despite the fact that employees are paid X amount of dollars per year for a certain amount of work time (typically a 40 hour workweek), salaried employees often find themselves at the mercy of their employers who often try to get the most ‘bang for the buck’. This usually results in what should be a 40-hour workweek turning into a 40+ hour workweek without the extra pay.
