Welcome to the Consumer Friend side of the street. Thanks for visiting.
The average pack of cigarettes is currently 5.01 nationwide. Let’s make it an even 5.00. If you smoke 1 pack per day you are spending 150.00 a month or 1800.00 a year without any benefit to the body.
How about making this the best time to quit. Since a tough economy means cutting back why eat out less or deprive yourself of a few great classic rock CD’s?
http://www.quitnet.com/qnhomepage.aspx
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3048036
Check out the above resources and make today the day you do the right thing. Feeling better and saving money are a great team.
You can do it!
The Consumer Friend wants you healthy in 2009. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.
Did you read the article about General Motors and felt it may as well have been a blank page?
April 16, 2009
Welcome to the Consumer Friend part of town. Thanks for visiting today.
With all that is going on with General Motors and Chrysler and how it impacts so many lives I thought there may have been an interesting article today on Yahoo.
It talked about 1700 General Motors dealerships may have to close as part of the restructuring plan.
Where was the beef to the article or even the tires? Nothing was pointed out what the compensation would be to the owners of the dealerships or if there isn’t compensation could that trigger a set of lawsuits? There was brief mention that there are competitors that would consider a purchase of the Hummer and Saturn divisions of General Motors. How about names or even a rumor? Not one mention.
The article contained as many good words as a mime.
Thanks for stopping by the Consumer Friend place and do visit again.
If You Twitter please read, may save some headache later
April 13, 2009
Welcome to the slice of consumer life. How are you and thanks for visiting:
For the weekend the Twitter universe was rocked with 2 worm attacks. Doesn’t say much for the security patches but that is another story. This is simply to pass on the site to trust if something needs to be known about a current technical situation with Twitter.
http://status.twitter.com/
One of the ways the creator of the worm (will not mention name or anything that feeds his ego) gets it to spread is buy sending messages that tell somebody click here if you have the worm. It then infects more and the domino effect comes tumbling down.
Next time there is a Twitter situation please be careful clicking and posting until it is resolved.
It never hurts to change passwords every so often.
Good news I was able to say all that in more than 140 characters.
Thanks for visiting and please stop by often.
878 Channels but is anything on?
April 8, 2009
Welcome to the consumer side of the street. Thanks for visiting.
Us old-timers can recall the days of under 15 channels between UHF and VHF even in the largest metros. I can’t recall anyone ever thinking out loud how they wanted or needed more.
Enter the Cable/ Satellite World. Today I was on the phone with the provider of the television service and they told me that for no extra charge because of a bunch of bundled services I can now have 878 channels to watch. My reaction was this sounds great. Maybe I should have said this looks great. Especially knowing the price is right!
Then I reflected on the conversation. In my youth I would watch a lot of television. Today with more choices I hardly turn it on (excluding sports).
It still seemed to be a thrill in some regard to know that at the click of the remote I could watch over 800 channels or non at all.
Choice is grand, even if an old consumer doesn’t use it.
Glad you were part of the visit to the Consumer Friend side of the street. Please return soon.
Post Office Blues Coming To A City Near You?
April 6, 2009
Welcome to Monday in the Consumer Friend section of town. Thanks for visiting.
On the east coast and very possibly throughout out great nation the Post Office will have a change of hours coming. Awhile back the majority of Post Offices extended the hours of operation Monday-Saturday. It was a pleasant event and something any consumer could applaud.
Many of the branches that once opened at 8AM and closed at 4 or were 9-5, extended their weekday hours until 7PM and Saturday instead of shutting the doors at 12 or 1 they conducted full business until 4.
On a warm and day great for early April I walked into the Post Office this past Saturday and was greeting with the news. We all know the financial trouble that the Post Office appears to be in, so it was not a move that is shocking.
There were three choices the Postal Service had with the budget crisis. They could have kept the extended hours, reverted to the former, or if a town or city has enough postal activity let 1 branch per x number of square miles keep the additional hours.
The answer is? It looks like the last option will be in place. Some of the branches in your community will keep the extended hours.
It was a great convenience while it lasted. The more hours the less the lines and the happier the consumer. Maybe down the road there will be a way to keep the post office and the consumer from having any blues.
From the Consumer side of the street thanks for visiting and please drop by again.
Warriors Wanted For Words Not War
April 4, 2009
Thanks for visiting the Consumer Friend on the 77th floor of a 2 story home.
Warriors Wanted For Words Not War:
When an internet site can offer you free information the size of War & Peace it is best to take advantage of the circumstances.
The Warrior Forum covers a wide range of topics from Affiliate Marketing to Blogging and from E-Books, to membership sites. There are reviews on different products being sold and plenty of posts that deliver the goods on Search Engine Optimization or the latest social site craze Twitter.
Since anyone from the first timer to seasoned professional can enjoy hours on the forum and never get to all the contents the few sticking points can be more easily digested. Some of the members have to find negativity with anyone or any thing. The majority will root for all to achieve their specific goals.
If you are interested in learning or expanding your knowledge on internet marketing, article writing, blogging, or how to have an E-Book cover designed head to the Warrior Forum. You won’t need a shield or weapon, only a pen and paper.
Thanks for stopping by the Consumer Friends’ slice of life. Please visit again.
Welcome to the Consumer Friend Saturday Health Update. Thanks for visiting.
Dealing with Asperger Syndrome
Asperger Syndrome is a relatively mild form of autism that effects people in different ways than regular autism. Since it usually does not affect language, many people with Asperger Syndrome go undiagnosed.
This is the one form of autism that is usually not caught at an early age and is instead a disorder that develops later in life. Asperger Syndrome, however, can be a very difficult condition to have, so as soon as you suspect yourself or your child of having communication and social behavior problems, see your family doctor.
Many famous and successful people were diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Historians even suggest that Einstein and Mozart each suffered from this disorder. It is important to note that no form of autism is a form of mental retardation. In fact, most people with Asperger Syndrome are very intelligent. Asperger Syndrome does not dictate mental ability, but rather makes it difficult for people to communicate in social settings, much in the same way a typical autistic child has trouble with behavior in groups.
When this disorder goes undiagnosed, children do not get the help they need, leading to problems in school such as bullying. Most children are relieved to find out they have Asperger Syndrome instead of just thinking they are less of a person. By getting diagnosed, not only can you or your child put a name to the problems, but it is then also possible to get treated to improve your overall situation.
Some symptoms to watch out for if you suspect Asperger Syndrome are some of the same symptoms that people with full-blown autism experience. This includes social confusion, first and foremost. Many people with Asperger Syndrome find it very difficult to deal with transition or change, wanting everything to stay the same. A quickly changing environment is especially confusing. People with Asperger Syndrome also may say rude or inappropriate things when they don’t mean to do so, and may not be able to understand others’ thought processes. Another common trait they share with autistic individuals is fixation, although people with Asperger Syndrome usually have more control over their fixations, which take the form of highly focused interests.
If you suspect yourself or a loved one of this disorder, these are just a few of the signs for which you should be watching. You doctor should be able to answer further questions and provide both reading material and treatment for this disorder.
Please check out this link for better understanding:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome
Thanks for stopping by and please visit again and check out the other blog posts!
Welcome to the Consumer Friend slice of the neighborhood. Thanks for visiting.
What if they had a new Jay Leno show this fall on the NBC Network and you couldn’t watch? WHDH Boston as of April 3, 2009 is thinking about running a newscast in the 10PM hour and not Mr. Leno.
Enter oversight. Obviously the suits at NBC are displeased and are putting pressure on WHDH for a change of heart. How much? You can be sure they are looking at the contract with their affiliates to see if they can be forced to carry a non-controversial program.
Options would be to have WHDH lose their affiliation and NBC could look to start their own station or have an independent come aboard.
I don’t watch Leno or Letterman and have no stake in this. I am for freedom of choice. If Boston wants to go for the news as long as 50.1 percent or more of their viewers agree, they should. If the majority want Leno that should be delivered.
NBC has got to be displeased with a market the size of Boston even considering not to air the program.
Stay tuned for details same bat time same bat channel, blog I mean.
From the Consumer side of the fence have a great Saturday.
A great lady and her words from 2008
April 3, 2009
Welcome to the Consumer Friend side of the fence. Thanks for visiting.
A women with great talents and a large smile that I’m proud to call a friend sent me this recently. Words from the heart and words from the soul that combine to show a time and place you may know.
Losing all hope felling nothing but pain,
Confused with no change hurt from betray.
Holding on tight losing grip of sight. What was?
Once love is nothing but pain. Hurting inside lost
And confused trying to figure out what to do? How
Can you go on when there’s nothing left to lose. Sad
And sorry for what you did but you know now there’s
Nothing instead. The heart is broken tears have fallen
Nothings left except a gap that cannot be forgotten. A
Peace of me is missing because of you the happiness
The Sadness I have no idea what to do? Where should I walk?
Where should I go? Should I start over can I start over?
Or what will it do will it lead me back to you? I’m lost I’m
Confused all I can picture is you, your smile your laugh
And even when you’re mad I miss you so bad I love you so
Much what happened with us? Someday I hope you
Realize how much I cared and think of all the things we
Shared. I love you so much I don’t want to let you go
But sometime soon it will be time to let go.
From Mandy P
***
Thanks Mandy and to all of you from the Consumer Friend hang-out on Weekend Road at Smile Brightly Blvd.
Will this make it more of Google Tube Than You Tube?
April 3, 2009
Welcome to the Consumer friend World Center at Almost the Weekend Road. Thanks for visiting.
You may use You Tube for marketing, research, to laugh, to rock, or to question why so much content has been deleted the past year but did you know that on or about April 16th, 2009 the site will get a face lift? Changes are coming and that is always open to interpretation (good or bad).
Check out the link and see what you think!
Almost the weekend at Consumer Friend Center, thanks for visiting and remember think for yourself.
Hello Consumer Friends from ther 77th floor of the 2 story Consumer Friend World Headquarters. Thanks for stopping by on a busy Thursday.
If you are looking to buy or lease a vehicle 2009 for example there is a site with an abundance of information:
The Auto Channel
http://db.theautochannel.com/db/newcarbuyersguide/
Once you arrive and get a parking spot you can navigate around the site by checking out SUV’s, Hybrid’s or everything in between.
The opportunity presents itself to see the cost of the vehicle and how it stacks up against others.
They aren’t pushing you in any direction. That is why the Consumer Friend feels comfortable sending you there for a look. The information is written and you make the decision if anything seems perfect for the budget and the heart.
I’ll go now and sign off from the Consumer Friend local at Consumer Friend Road and Be well Avenue. Thanks for visiting and always stop by!
Welcome to the Consumer Friend section of the block. Thanks for visiting.
Tomorrow evening the New Yankee Stadium with all the amenities a fan could want will be open for the first time. The first of two exhibition games with the Chicago Cubs kicks off the new home for the Bronx Bombers.
The new home is not a House. There are certain things that don’t get replaced, the Beatles, Coca-Cola, the Montreal Forum, and the original Yankee Stadium.
For any that walked through the doors suddenly time stopped. The three hours or so were uplifting and if you spent it with your mom and or dad it was that much more meaningful.
The word progress is thrown around frequently but newer isn’t always better. In fact I would have been content if the original configuration of the old stadium didn’t change when it was renovated in the 1970′s. Right field 296 feet away (not 300) and the monuments located not behind center field but on it!
If all goes well the Yankees will put over 4 million people in the park and as a fan spelled f a n a t a c, I hope there is plenty of post season baseball. It was sorely missed in 2008.
Anything but a World Series victory in Yankee land is a failure and when the glitz is gone the championships shine on forever.
Good luck to the 2009 New York Yankees. Bring the title back to New York City.
From the Consumer Friend Headquarters time to get some food for tomorrows game. Thanks for stopping by.
Calling all Cars (Chrysler, Ford, & GM)
April 2, 2009
Welcome to Thursday at the Consumer Friend Headquarters somewhere near Information Alley & Partly Sunny Blvd. Thanks for visiting.
You can’t get too far in the morning without hearing the rumors about the automakers. Will one or two go bankrupt, will there be a merger, does the government need to submit even more bail out funds.
What is the answer? There is none. Whatever road you take there are advantages and pitfalls. Some will argue that good money is being given to bad. They feel not once, not twice… the car makers have not come up with a structure to give quality, service, and financial stability. The other side of the line is if even 1 of the big 3 fold the total job loss would severely damage the path to economic recovery.
A merger? Will that solve the issue? You still would be dealing with large debt and even if buying a competitor helped in the very long term initially wouldn’t that mean more lay-offs, early buyouts, and cuts in man and woman power?
Would incentives work? Buy an American car and you get a tax rebate and a gas card for the first few hundred miles. Refer somebody else and get a small check.
A tough delimina for an early Thursday morning.
Thanks for sharing part of the day with the Consumer Friend. Enjoy spring!
What if they gave a Post and nobody came?
March 31, 2009
Welcome to Tuesday at the Consumer Friend Ranch:
Thank you for taking time to stop in.
Blogs and forums are an excellent resource to expand your on-line presence. It may be for your product, business, or even to tell a point of view.
There is give and take. What many marketers overlook is if they want the posts to be successful they have to create trust and break down the walls. If you are seeing a post that has great potential to be well read (getting your message to the masses) but the views are as low as the temps in Antarctica during December stop and think for a moment.
For somebody to take the time to read your post, isn’t it only right that you have done the same for them? Have you given thanks on the forums for those that helped you and supplied excellent information for others? Are you rooting newcomers on or are you talking down to them?
Do it the right way. When you register on a forum make sure that if people welcome you, you reciprocate. When somebody registers say hello. If there is a post that you have the answer or a link of use please make it available.
When somebody is excited about their new blog and website and ask for a look, take a moment to check it out. You would want them to do the same for you.
Nobody is too big where they can’t afford a few moments to help and nobody is that large they don’t need some new customers.
The more threads in a forum and the more responses the more people that will join and that only spells “Traffic” to your site.
Join the party and don’t be the one to make it end.
From the Consumer Friend World Headquarters at Somewhere and Maybe Roads, thanks as always for reading.
They Wrote What In The Headline?
March 30, 2009
Writing a proper headline for your advertisement:
It’s a windy day around Consumer Friend World Headquarters and I’m glad you took a few moments to drop by. Thanks!
There is no denying the fact that the success of an advertisement lies mostly in the headline. The headline should attract the reader and make him read the rest of the advertisement. The headline should be simply catchy and various key points should be embedded when deciding on the headline for the ad. The headline should catch attention of the eye at the first glance. Words in headlines should act as tags for the advertisement. It should say it all about the content that follows. If a company is selling reasonably priced furniture, the headline of their advertisement should be ‘Durable furniture for less price’. This headline will attract the right customers who are on a look out for durable furniture as well as low cost furniture. If the customers to be reached belong to a category that are interested in decorating their house with beautiful furniture and aren’t concerned about the price to get the right look, then the headline can be ‘Change how your house looks by our oriental furniture’. Anything other than the prospects should not be included in the headline. If both men and women can use a product, both of them should be referred to in the title, missing out even one of the category is like losing a huge number of potential customers. The title should be instant product seller. According to a research, five times more readers read just the headline when compared to those who read the complete advertisement. So the investment is of no use, if the title isn’t good enough to sell the product. There can be a possibility that the content of the ad isn’t strong enough. All the harm can be undone by having a powerful headline. The headline should be centered on the product and not the company that is selling the product. The customer’s interest should be reflected and he should feel that he is directly addressed. Start with ‘you’ and not ‘we’. So if the client specified on mentioning the company’s name, don’t start the sentence with it. For example, instead of writing ‘ABCD – solution for sever cold ’, write “Got sever cold? Try ABCD”. Never forget to mention the name of the product in the headline. The product name should be of top priority. A snapshot of the benefits of the product should be given in the headline. This is an important quality of a well-phrased headline. The customers look out for advantages when he thinks of buying a product. Keywords like whiter teeth, nutritious cereals, or miraculous growth should be incorporated in the title. If inculcating all these factors have made the headline long, it should be remembered to write the product advantages in bold. If a visual is placed in the advertisement, it will be a good complement. As a picture speak thousand words. But care should be taken that the headline should say some part of the story and the visual should say the rest. Don’t repeat the headline or the picture. Too much of cleverness should not be applied to design a headline. There are nearly five hundred advertisements in a local newspaper on weekends. A regular reader reads the headings of all of them. He will be able to classify between a false heading and a genuine heading. No false promises or information should be included in the headline. Over smart headlines are good for award competitions, but don’t really work with the savvy customers. The headline should give out a positive feeling to the reader. Negativity should be totally excluded as it not only creates a negative impression but the mind will also be not receptive friendly. It sometimes confuses the mind and it interprets a negative meaning of the message being delivered. Confidence should be reflected in the headline. Don’t include any doubtful words like if and but. Conditional phrases are a strict no. The sentence should be in present tense, instead of past or future.
That’s it for this edition of Consumer Friend speaks, or is that writes? Thanks for stopping by and please join us again for out next episode.
Hello from Consumer Friend Avenue at Safety Road. Thought Monday would go better with this one.
What’s in a Burger?
In what could be called an oxymoron marketing campaign a minor league baseball team West Michigan Whitecaps have gotten more publicity on Yahoo and other sources than many pro teams the past several days. It isn’t because they have 7 can’t miss prospects destined for Major League Baseball stardom.
A four pound burger that will cost you a twenty dollar bill and put 4800 calories into the arteries will be featured this season. With five patties and an equal amount of cheese I don’t have to go into the details of what this will do to the insides of the average person.
On the one hand the marketing team comes up with a product that has gotten them world wide publicity for free. The other side of the bun is the health backlash.
Will the team keep the burger or have its number retired? The season will answer that question. In the mean time if you feel hungry maybe a quarter pounder would be less dangerous and not set you back as much.
Signing off from the Consumer Friend Hang Out but wishing you health and sanity first.
A Movie Review (Maker that is)
March 30, 2009
Welcome to a new week of Consumer Info. I thank you kindly for finding your way to our information street.
Windows Movie Maker Video Editing Software:
If you have a Windows based operating system such as XP or Vista you may have noticed that there is a free Video Editor included called Windows Movie Maker. For the average use it more than serves a genuine purpose. You have the ability to view and edit your projects and they can include video, photos, and audio.
There are a couple of things you should know since initially some that have used this with the hope they would upload videos to You Tube (you can) forget 1 step.
When you are working on the project and want to save the contents you click Save Project from the File drop down. When you want the actual project turned into a video you click from the File drop down Save Movie File.
Since the application is not geared toward the advanced user there are certain formats that will not open in Windows Movie Maker. Try to get into the habit of working with what is referred to as an MPEG. It is very universal and You Tube is going to convert the file to what they call FLV (Flash) anyway.
One point of frustration to many is that when you use the option to print text either over a clip or on its own you are limited on spaces before you have to start another line. It doesn’t work the way a word preocessor does (letting you type forever). Please keep this mind because of you were putting my website for instance as text:
http://www. consumerfriend.wordpress.com you would need to use the appropriate font and font size so that it would not be split over two lines.
Once you get used to the basics you’ll have the opportunity to share the videos or become a You Tube future star.
If video editing is something that you begin to enjoy and want to explore further there will be an endless ocean of choices for the Windows user. Start with the free program first since there is no financial obligation.
Enjoy the day and consume will, thanks for being here.
Consumer Friend is signing off for now….
As I look out the 77th floor from a 2 Story Consumer Friend Hang-Out, thank you for giving me a few moments today.
I’ll often explore the free information on the Warrior Forum, which entails anything from new products to reviews, and search engine information to finding a web host.
One of the regular contributors is Craig Fenton who is an author of rock and roll books on the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship and a public-speaker with a former Grateful Dead member and a long time rock photographer. Craig pointed something out to a marketing newcomer not too long ago that would be suitable for many to digest.
The post on the forum was something to the extent if somebody can show screen shots of their checks from Click Bank
(people sell and promote products through them) and if the payments are large does that correlate to potential success for the new marketer wanting to invest in the product?
Craig mentioned that not only could screen shots be faked but if you even pretend that every person was honest in their ClickBank information the amount of profit the creator of a product makes is not the key for somebody wanting to fulfill their own dream.
Let’s look further at what he talked about. We can use any numbers you want. For the sake of the post pretend that Marketer XYZ has made 100,000 through Click Bank for a product they launched 2 months ago. Somebody sees this and stars over-take their vision.
It isn’t the profit they made in total that is the key. How much of the 100,000 was because somebody purchased their product and how much was because of the information found in the contents were applied and brought in a good source of income?
If 99,000 came as a result of sales throughout the world the marketer is only profiting on the sale of the creation and not from the actual information.
You as a consumer would rather see honest proof that 31.4 percent of the profit was due to the implementation of his or her own strategy such as article writing, Google AdSense, and so on.
Before you jump because a number seems large please break it down to the smallest segment and then if it can stand on its own it may be worth a look.
Always get impartial information about the service. Does the product that is being sold for traffic generation or blogging for thousands have a money back guarantee, are there complaints about it on the forums or through the Better Business Bureau, and is there an email or phone number you can use to ask questions before the sale?
Take small steps and I hope you make giant dollars.
Signing off with a large thank you from Consumer Friend Headquarters until next time.
