Apologies for the slow updates lately. The first round of article outsourcing took longer than expected, although it was my own fault, just as much as some minor misunderstandings that slowed down the rate at which the articles were finished. The team, Retired and Writing, did what I asked of them, and I learned a lot in the process. Now all that’s left is to write my own custom info boxes and send it all to the guys at EzineArticles for approval. I will update when I get to find out whether it’s been approved by EzineArticles.

First payout from GDI (Global Domains International)
I’ve received the first payout from GDI. It was not enough to make me feel rich, but I always appreciate those e-mails from PayPal. Ding! You’ve got money! I have lost a few GDI referrals since August, none of whom showed any sign of progress nor responded to my messages. C’est la vie, and I sincerely hope they will be more successful elsewhere.

Will there be cake?
I wish Internet Marketing was as easy as baking cake, which is something I enjoy doing. I like cake, and the only thing better than eating cake must be baking it. In fact, I made the most delicious Cheese Cake the other day (okay so I have no shame, but it really turned out great), and followed up a couple of days later with another recipe: “Success Cake“.

The Cheese Cake was like having your own, well established IM business, with everything running smooth and you enjoy life fully. Every bite was delicious and refreshing, tasty and almost perfect. The Success Cake on the other hand, was like having someone shove all the income opportunities on the whole wide web down your throat at the same time. Too much good stuff too soon.

The Success Cake is what most IM newbies go through every day; too much information, too soon. They choke on information overload, burn out and give up. I burn out from time to time, and I like to think that I am not exactly a newbie anymore. I am still struggling to find “my way”, even though I know articles is what works for me, together with various other methods.

So what did we do with the Success Cake, that proved to be too much too soon? We put it in the freezer to take it out another day, when we are ready for it. Forgive me for the sucky metaphor; I just had to get it out of my system. Please do not put your boss in the freezer, if you dislike him or her for whatever reasons. It would be considered a hostile and most likely a criminal act.

Lastly, a friendly reminder: you must spend money to earn money. It is not true always, but usually you have to spend at least a few dollars to get the wheels turning and move forward. Only when you stop being afraid of spending money on intangible services and products can you start moving forward, at least that’s how I feel about it. It doesn’t have to be a lot; I pay ten dollars per month for a GDI membership, I pay annually for my HostGator web hosting and I paid seventy dollars for the articles that I had written by a professional team. It was dirt cheap and a campaign offer, and I got high quality content at a ridiculously low price, if I might add.

I have talked to many IM beginners who told me they think ten dollars per month for a GDI membership is too much, and they sometimes cannot afford it. I am not laughing, because I know very well what being poor means. If you cannot afford such amounts, please come back later as I will tell you about at least one or two easy ways to earn enough money to get started with your IM efforts. There will be no affiliate links posted this time, worry not!

Sorry about the messy post; my mind is scattered all over the place. I’m planning a photo trip on Saturday and looking forward to it.

At last, Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64-bit has been installed and works flawlessly. The only driver I had to install manually was for the E-MU 1616 PCI sound card. Everything else went smooth and I did not swear as much as I usually do when installing a new OS, which is usually a good sign.

Upon finishing the installation, one of the first things I did was checking out the new games that comes with Windows 7 (I did not make the video):

The only 32-bit application that I have not been able to install with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit edition so far, was Screen Capture Professional, which is a free screen capture tool for Windows. On the other hand, It’s old and there are numerous alternatives, so I won’t be missing it.

Installing Windows 7 from USB drive without a DVD-rom for XP users

After going through several guides, all of which was tailored toward those with Windows Vista installed or it being the latest OS they’ve had on their hard drive, I found the missing piece of information required in order to successfully installing Windows 7 Ultimate from a USB thumb drive. Note: This is for XP users; if you have, or used to have Windows Vista installed, your system is already prepared for Windows 7.

First, I followed step 1 through 12 in this guide:
How to install Windows 7 Beta from a USB drive…

Before typing in the command line in step 13, XP users must replace the Bootsect.EXE file that comes with the Windows 7 installation with the one for Windows Vista 32-bit. I won’t tell you where to download it, as technically, it is part of Windows Vista.

I placed the Bootsect.EXE file in the C: partition and then typed in the command in step 13:
C:\bootsect /nt60 K: (K: being the drive letter where your USB drive is located).

The Bootsect.EXE file worked and the USB drive was ready, so I unzipped the Windows 7 ISO image to the USB drive and checked BIOS to make sure the system would boot from the USB flash drive first. Following a quick re-boot, the Windows 7 installation screen now appeared and the rest has been a joyride, compared to other OS installations.

This comment in Bwana’s otherwise excellent guide was the piece that helped me solve this puzzle. Thanks goes to the user Vstoitsov for his very helpful contribution, as well as Mr. Bwana himself, for the newbie-friendly guide.

Sorry about the rather scarce updates, but I have been busy trying to get something done here, before moving on with my blog and other projects.

As you probably knew already, Microsoft generously offered free keys for an extended release version of their brand new OS, Windows 7. Wanting to see what it’s all about and trying something new, I decided to download the 64-bit version before the offer was no longer valid.

My first problem was disk space; the C: partition was too small with its 15GB of total disk space. Windows 7 64-bit RC requires a minimum of 18GB, if memory serves me right. Using a partitioning tool only caused further problems and did not work until I toggled off the System Restore tool in Windows XP. I always use NTFS and was surprised by the partitioning tool’s message that the system was using FAT 32 files for some purpose (System Restore Points).

The second problem turned out to be my system’s ancient DVD-rom drive. It could not detect the content of the Win 7 ISO file, that I burned using a laptop computer. So, we purchased a 8GB Kingston stick, roughly twice as big as needed by Win 7 (a 4GB USB memory stick will do fine).

The file transfer has just completed, and it’s time to see whether the motherboard will accept the USB Flash Memory Stick as a boot-able device. Crossing my fingers ..

Upgrading your OS is not the most easy thing in the world, nor should it be, because it is a pretty serious decision. Windows 7 has been reported by thousands of users to yield higher performance than even Windows XP, despite its higher system requirements, and it seems Microsoft has developed a solid OS eventually.

I look forward to get back to the article marketing and everything, it’s been very quiet for the last week or two due to many reaons.

Upon receiving the articles that I ordered from a team of writers, that I finally decided to use, it is time to share my opinion on the team and the quality of their writing efforts. This review is perhaps a bit lengthy, so muster up some patience, grab a cup of coffee and something to nibble on.

Some marketers prefer writing with sizzle, adding colors and juice to their articles, tools to attract attention from the readers. I specifically asked my writer to keep it neutral and unbiased, on the other hand. Whichever style you want your writer to apply, be sure he or she understands it before they start writing.

Unfortunately, I am unable to post links to the articles at this point, as three of them are missing an info box and I am preparing the rest for submitting to EzineArticles. I will post links to the articles if and when they are approved by E.Z.A.

Note:
I am as unbiased as I possibly can be. I am not affiliated with their services, nor do I get paid to write this. Furthermore, I am not an alien and I never really sympathized with Kif Kroker.

Deciding which team to use
Upon reading about the “Retired and Writing” team in this forum thread in the Warrior Forum, having to decide between them and several other teams, that I didn’t feel too comfortable with, I finally decided to take the plunge and placed an order of 10 articles with 500 words each. Three of the articles are review articles with little emphasis on SEO keywords, the rest of the articles moderately utilize SEO keywords.

Payment and project beginning
The current rate for 10 custom articles is $70. Warrior Forum members receive 10 + 1 articles. When nothing happened after two days upon submitting my payment through PayPal, I notified team leader Carl Travis and he promptly apologized, having forgotten to activate my account. With this out of the way, his writer colleague and I had an ongoing and effective communication as the project moved on. The writer was professional and patient, listened to my nagging requests and comments, and edited parts I wanted done differently.

The first article and onward
During the initial phase of the project, I scanned the first article with CopyScape and discovered a bullet list contributing to roughly 1/3 of the article, had been copied from another article already published. My writer apologized for the inconvenience and re-wrote the article, making it 100% CopyScape-proof.

The writer continued with the rest of my articles, and other than that slight bump in the road in the beginning, I was thoroughly satisfied with the overall quality of this team. My writer did an excellent job, writes beautifully and improved any parts I commented on, almost immediately.

Carl Travis offered me custom info boxes included in the price. They are still introducing their services to the public, and I consider it part of their introductory offer campaign.

Is it worth your money?
So, is it worth your money? Yes, most definitely. Carl Travis and his team write beautifully and articulately, and you will immediately recognize the high quality from their efforts upon reading the first article. They communicate effectively with the client, you are given access to their system and can follow the progress all the way. At such low rates, this team over-deliver, plain and simple. Whether they will be able to keep up when their client base grows is a different question entirely, only time can tell. I am at least satisfied for now.

At these rates you will look long and hard to find good writing services. “Retired and Writing” go all the way and give you excellent and affordable articles. I am definitely interested in using their services again.

Click here to visit their website: Retired and Writing

Click here to visit the Warrior Forum thread: High Quality Article Writing and Press Releases

Haavard L. Lund / Splinterbiz

The Warrior Forum Management have decided to require a paid membership for full access to the Warrior Forum, together with its sub categories. According to Allen, admin of Warrior Forum, it was a necessary step to take in order to prevent spammers and scoundrels to ruin the great reputation and community, which has shaped Warrior Forum into what it is today: a valuable source of knowledge and information on Internet Marketing.

A Warrior Forum membership is a one time amount of $37 and gives access to the “War Room” as well as the rest of the forum. Another perk is storing up to 400 PMs (Private Messages). Most of the current forum users seem happy to welcome this change, hoping it will chase the unwanted individuals out the door and make them stay out.

The War Room is, in a way, the heart of Warrior Forum. The $37 fee was used to give access to the War Room, where valuable information is shared by experienced and professional marketers. Now that management has returned status to a one time payment for access to everything, including the War Room, this is a good reason to upgrade.

Free forum users will still have access to the main parts of the Warrior Forum, although their access will be limited. Perhaps now is the time to ask yourself the question “How serious am I about earning money online?”.

Read the News here: Warrior Forum Going Back To Paid Status