How To Slash Soaring Home Heating Bills

Record world oil prices will hit home heating this winter, with consumers likely paying high prices to heat their homes. Natural gas will rise an average of 24 percent and fuel oil a whopping 36 percent says the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association. Now is the time to give your home a "check-up."



Here are seven tips from the Comfort Institute to make your home an energy sipper instead of a gas guzzler. They will help you save money, improve comfort and help the environment too.

1. Ask your heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractor to test your duct system for air leaks. Many people assume that windows and doors are the major cause of a home's energy-wasting air leaks. But according to recent research by the U.S. Department of Energy, gaps, joints and disconnections in the typical home's duct system are much more significant. The DOE states that the typical duct system loses 25 to 40 percent of the energy put out by the central furnace or heat pump. Authorities recommend sealing ducts with a brushed on fiber-reinforced elastomeric sealant. Duct tape, which is great for many things, usually dries out and fails.

2. Ask your contractor to perform an Infiltrometer "blower door" test. The blower door is a computerized instrument originally invented by the DOE. It pinpoints where your home's worst air leaks are, such as duct leaks, and also measures how leaky the overall house is. Most homes have the equivalent of an open window in combined air leaks. Many heating contractors offer an Infiltrometer test as part of a home and duct performance test that also checks insulation levels.

3. Have your heating system cleaned and tuned. A pre-season tuneup is a great investment. It reduces the chances of breakdowns on cold winter nights, improves safety and more than pays for itself through more energy efficient operation. For a free report: "How to Identify a Good Heating and Cooling Contractor," go to www.comfortinstitute.org.

4. Replace your furnace or heat pump air filter, or clean it if it is an electronic unit. Most systems need this done every month to ensure safe and efficient operation. Keep forgetting to do it? Ask your contractor for an extended surface area central air filter that only needs to be replaced once a year. It also does a far better job of keeping your equipment and the air in your home clean.

5. Close your fireplace damper. Did you remember to close it last time you used the fireplace? Shut it now or waste precious warm air all winter long.

6. Install a programmable set-back thermostat. Turning down the thermostat eight degrees for eight hours a day will save 8 percent on home heating costs. An easy way to take advantage of these savings is to lower the thermostat temperature while away from home or sleeping. Ask your heating contractor about new models which are much easier to program.

7. Consider replacing your old furnace or heat pump. Just like a car, heating and cooling equipment doesn't last forever. Is your system more than 12 years old? Planning to stay in your home more than a few years? Many authorities recommend replacing it before it fails permanently. New units can pay for themselves over time as they are up to twice as energy efficient. However, government and utility research has found that over 90 percent of newly installed high efficiency systems have energy wasting mistakes. Today's new equipment is drastically compromised if it is hooked up to bad ducts.

Do some homework before talking to contractors. For more information, visit www.energystar.gov and www.comfortinstitute.org. Print out the free Comfort Institute report "Tips and Secrets to Buying A New Heating and Cooling System."

How To Increase Search Engine Optimization For Your Website

Appropriate web design is not an easy task; it is just a matter of designing your website from a viewer’s point of view. Designing the video jacket, website, figuring out how to market the video and get advertising all while trying to lose weight hard enough to do when you're not stressed and food is you’re only vice. Here's an idea how you can add value to your service and charge more: Besides designing product cover, you can also design matching website header, footer, background image, and order button.

I am happy to say I have made a couple of friends through my articles, one Bipolar man overseas that might collaborate on designing a website with me, and another Bipolar girl in my own city who is going to become a café latte coffee friend and someone to chat to on the phone.

The website for top search engine placement and ranking*Submission of your website, including allowing for all the quirks of various search engines and directories, Com specializes in building, designing, implementing, managing and maintaining corporate website to boost sales of your company. In order to increase the search engine optimization for your website, some new website designing needs to be done.

Services include top 10 SE rankings, Pay per Click (PPC) targeted traffic campaign, Paid Listing Management, Keyword Advertising, website development and designing. When designing your website, you need to ensure that it is compatible with other internet browsers, or your website will appear with a messy layout. This article will help point out some key areas you should focus on when designing your own website. Irrelevant Content Is King when designing your website, and is equally important to both of the major groups who will determine the success of your web site.

One method of thinking about designing a new website is to use a mind mapping process, or to draw up a spider diagram. I wouldn’t name the website here, but I know well about them because I was trying to compete with them for most competitive keywords “web design company” and “web designing company” If you doubt that these keywords are so competitive, I would like you to have a look at this great tool which would tell you how competitive a keyword and a phrase is, it’s fun to play with. When designing your website or any promotional material, make sure you use language that all your customers understand. Design depends on individual taste and designing a website from a first draft that the client will like from the start, can be a real challenge.

When designing your website, it is essential that you switch from your own profit-oriented perspective to the prospective customers’ perspective. Keywords and Search Terms Your business keywords and search terms are also critical considerations when designing your website. Though there are certain things which you would love to see on your website, there are other things that you need to take into consideration when you go through website designing. There are some very important things you must do SEO-wise while designing your website.

See These other Resources as Well:

Google 101

Google Page Rank Explained

Search Engine Optimization

Google Web Masters Help

How To Stretch a Family's Budget

There's no doubt about it, times are tough for many Americans. With today's record-high gas prices and an uncertain economy, families are looking for advice on how to cut unnecessary costs from their daily spending.



Family/lifestyle expert, mother of three and author of "Simplify Your Household," Tara Aronson, has teamed up with Procter & Gamble's Cascade brand to share tips on how to make the most of your paycheck and help save money on household essentials:

Cheaper isn't always better
When you're trying to stretch your dollars, it can be tempting to purchase generic or sale priced products, but you may be doing yourself a disservice as these products may not be the most effective and can result in double the work. Find products that offer you great value like Cascade with the Grease Fighting Power of Dawn, which has the trusted power of Cascade with the grease-fighting power of Dawn. It delivers an excellent wash and cleans so well, there's no need to prewash your dishes. A product like this helps conserve water and can save you money in the long run.

According to a study done by Procter and Gamble, it takes between 6 and 10 gallons of water to run your dishwasher compared to the 9 to 24 gallons you would consume washing them by hand.

Bulk up: Buy your family's essentials -- paper towels, laundry detergent in bulk -- to use less packaging and help save money at the same time.

Purchase a water filter rather than bottled water: According to an AWWA Water and Wastewater Rates survey, the average price for 1,000 gallons of tap water is about $2.77. If families spend their money on a water filter they can potentially save up to $400 a year.

Clothes call: If the label reads "Dry Clean", not "Dry Clean Only", it may be hand-washable. If the garment is simply constructed without lining or delicate trim; has no sequins or beads glued to the fabric; and is not open-weave or loosely woven, give it a try. Hand-wash only please with gentle fabric wash and follow the label instructions.

By following these simple tips and making smart decisions consumers can save money on household essentials without breaking the bank.

For more information on how to help save money and resources when washing dishes, log on to www.cascadeclean.com.

How To Drive Traffic to a Brand New Website

Every single day, more and more people upload brand new websites to the Internet. I don't have any figures but there must be hundreds of thousands of new pages being added daily (if not considerably more!). The one thing that all of these new websites need in order to make their existence worthwhile is traffic, which leads me to one of the most common questions I am asked and the subject of this newsletter.

The one thing that all of these new websites need in order to make their existence worthwhile is traffic, which leads me to one of the most common questions I am asked and the

Subject of this newsletter:

'How can you generate traffic to a brand new website?'

Of course, there are a number of different answers to this question and what I would do myself is probably very different to what a completely new Internet entrepreneur would do. The reason I say this is that the first thing I do when launching a new site is make use of my existing website traffic by advertising the new site on my other established sites. In addition, I have the luxury of a large mailing list which I can use to drive traffic to the new site.

I appreciate that anyone starting out in online business won't have these options open to them (and in fairness, neither did I when I first started), so let's look at things from the beginning. Day one of your first website.....

It is a fact that the quickest and probably most effective way of bringing targeted traffic to your website is by paying for it. Now before you rush off and sink $50 into one of those '50,000 hits for $50' schemes, DON'T, this isn't what I mean. Those schemes are largely a complete waste of money. Even if you get the traffic that you are promised (as opposed to some software script visiting your site and pretending to be a visitor), it will not be targeted and therefore there is a very low chance that the traffic will generate sales. When I talk about buying traffic, I mean by using the pay- per-click services offered by most of the big search engines.

You probably already know the sort of thing I mean - for example, Google Adwords. Pretty much any search on Google will display a list of adverts down the right-hand side of the page and these are all paid adverts. Every time you click on one of them, the advertiser pays Google a fixed amount which could be anything from 5 cents upwards (depending upon how competitive the keyword is).

Pay-per-click allows you to be very selective about which keywords your advert is shown for and this allows you to target your advertising perfectly. Other big names in the pay-per-click market include Overture, Espotting and Findwhat.

Now, before you all start emailing me and saying that you already knew about PPC let me just say that I am well aware that people know about it. The problem (as I see it), is that people aren't using this type of service because of the fact that they don't want to spend any money on advertising. That's all well and good but the fact is that the Internet is getting more and more competitive each day and the chances of you building a successful website business from scratch without investing any money are tiny to say the least.

If you want to attract a decent level of traffic to a brand new website in a short period of time, it is almost a necessity that you use pay-per-click on one of the main search engines. If you don't, then the growth of your traffic levels will be painfully slow and inconsistent at best.

When I launched my very first websites I invested heavily in pay-per-click advertising. At one point, I was spending over $6000 a month on Google Adwords alone!!! Seriously I really was spending that much money. It was a constant battle to tweak the website sales copy and continue to test the advertisement text just to make sure that my sales were covering the advertising payments each month. At the time I was probably just about breaking even but buying traffic in this quantity meant that I was able to fine-tune my sales pages and start to build up a list of mailing list subscribers.

Once you have got to the stage where you know your sales pages are converting visitors into buyers, then you can start to gear up with other methods of getting traffic to your site - writing articles, linking strategies, viral methods (eBooks etc), using your eBay 'About Me' page, using your link as a signature when you post on forums etc. All of these methods will win you traffic (and in most cases it will be completely free) but it will take time for the traffic to build to a worthwhile level. If you rely solely on free traffic, you really will be building your business one hit at a time.

Of course, once the free methods of gaining traffic start to pay off, you can begin to wind down your paid methods, though you may not want to - after all, if you are earning more in sales than you are paying for your pay-per-click traffic, why stop it?

As your portfolio of websites grows, you will also be able to share the traffic around a bit by linking to your own sites and of course, if you are capturing your visitors email addresses, you will be building a mailing list of people interested in the products you are offering.

Like I say, I appreciate that the above may not be the ground-breaking secret that you were hoping for but as with so many things online, there really is no secret. Achieving success is simply about taking action and whilst you can succeed online by spending very little money, the chances are that you will succeed a lot quicker by making a bit of an investment. You don't have to be spending thousands of dollars a month as I was but any new business owner should be prepared to invest a few hundred dollars a month in order to get things off the ground....

How To Optimize Your Fall Wardrobe

Fall is approaching, and it will soon be time to switch over to your cooler weather wardrobe. Whether you are going through your closet to see what is wearable or need new fall clothes to update your look, it's important to focus on quality, instead of quantity, when shopping for a new fall wardrobe.



The key to fall shopping is to think about ways you can optimize your wardrobe, says fashion expert Clinton Kelly. "My top three style pillars are shop, tailor and preserve," he says. "Get the most out of your clothes by shopping for smart classics, tailoring pieces for a perfect fit, and taking good care of your clothing investments by protecting them from stains." According to Kelly, the best way to save a garment is to treat stains immediately with a powerful, color-safe stain remover like OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover.

As host of a popular television makeover show, Clinton Kelly has seen his share of dirty, dingy wardrobes, so he knows how important it is to not only dress fashionably, but to also keep your wardrobe looking its best wash after wash. Taking the best care of your clothing basics, by pre-treating stains immediately and adding a color safe laundry booster to every wash load, will let you wear them more frequently and buy new items less often.

Clinton Kelly's Top Style Tips:

Dress for Your Body Type
The keys to a great wardrobe are classic pieces that fit and flatter. It's essential to try on clothes when shopping and really think about dressing for your body type. Also, never underestimate the power of a skillful tailor! Look for clothes that fit the largest parts of your body and then tailor them down for a perfect fit throughout.

Adopt a European Sensibility to Dressing
Americans tend to buy based on quantity, rather than quality. Instead of buying in bulk, adopt a more European sensibility to dressing: buy a few quality pieces and wear them more frequently. No one needs 15 track suits or 20 faded t-shirts in their wardrobe. Instead, invest in a few quality pieces that can be mixed and matched with other existing pieces in your wardrobe.

Take Care of Your Clothing Investments
Take care of your quality pieces and keep them looking their best so you can wear them again and again. It is always best to pre-treat stains before putting in the wash, and using an oxygen-based pre-treater will help break up stains before they set in. For really tough stains, it may be necessary to soak your garment. A mixture of water and OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover powder can save a favorite piece, and because it is chlorine-free, it's safe to use on colors and whites.

Give the Dry Cleaners a Break
Save money on your dry cleaning bill by taking care of your washables yourself. While you should pay attention to "dry clean only" labels, don't be afraid to hand-wash delicate items in the sink. You can also safely clean your favorite washables, like crisp cotton shirts and dark wash denim, in the washing machine with the help of a color-safe laundry booster.

For more information, please visit www.oxiclean.com

Courtesy of ARAcontent

How to Make Your Basement the Ultimate 'Man Cave'

If a man's home is his castle, shouldn't there be one room in it where he can "hold court" with his noble peers and watch the game? Or where he can retire for solitude to take care of some paperwork or indulge in some woodworking?



Welcome to the concept of the "man cave," guys. You can create the sanctuary of your dreams and enhance your home value at the same time by renovating your basement into the ultimate guy retreat.

More than half of home buyers say they want a finished basement, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders. Real estate experts agree that adding square footage to your living space will deliver the dollars when it comes time to sell. How you decorate that extra space will be secondary.

Here are the top 10 things you'll need to turn your basement into the ultimate "man cave":

1. Finish it. - First, finish those cinderblock walls and concrete floor. If you're a real handyman, you can do the job yourself the old-fashioned way with framing and drywall. Or, you can go quick and easy - and only slightly costlier - with a professionally installed basement finishing system that will cut construction time to just a couple of weeks, rather than months.

2. Get wired. - You have to have a TV - big screen preferred. And tunes, man. Getting wired can be as easy as connecting cable to your portable TV and strategically placing a boom box, or as grand as a wall-mounted, high-def, flat screen TV with surround sound.

3. Go wireless. - A laptop or desktop is a man-cave must for work and play. But you don't want wires cluttering up your kingdom. If you haven't already done so, install wireless connectivity on the primary computer on the main floor of the house. That way, you can use the Internet in the basement without the expense and inconvenience of a lot of wires.

4. Get "guy" with the décor. - Nothing says "This space belongs to a guy" like sports décor. Frame and hang your old high school or college jersey. Mount that foul ball you caught in the bottom of the ninth. Put up a wallpaper mural of your favorite sport. From scenes that give you a pitcher's-eye view of home plate and the stadium, to images that make you feel like you're on the green at Pebble Beach, you'll find easy-to-hang wallpaper murals at www.muralsyourway.com. You can customize the mural size or even have one made from a picture of your own sporting glory days.

5. Drink up. - Watching the game? You're going to need liquid refreshment. A wet bar is every guy's dream, but you can also cool off effectively and economically with a small refrigerator or even a portable wine keeper.

6. Snack attack. - The guys are going to work up appetites playing friendly poker and it could get ugly if you don't have any snacks on hand. Be sure to include space for snack storage in your design, whether it's a pantry or some cabinets.

7. Sit on it. - You'll need the armchair of your dreams in order to be an armchair warrior. Make sure there's some comfy - and durable - seating for your buddies too.

8. Work it out. - Sometimes a guy just wants to work up a sweat. Portable treadmills and exercise bikes are better than ever and easy to store. Set aside a corner of your man room for the manliest activity of all - exercise.

9. Or work on it. - If you're a doer rather than an observer, you'll want a well-equipped workbench.

10. Sit on it, part II. - It wasn't just Al Bundy's dream. It's the ultimate man room upgrade - your own private bath.

Courtesy of ARAcontent