Now that summer’s officially here, along with the hot, humid weather that I absolutely love (really), Darling Daughter and I were talking about the memorable family vacation we took to Disneyworld in August many years ago.

The kiddos were about 7 and 11, and we had saved for a year to take that trip and stay at the Polynesian. My granddaughter, ‘Lil Moomette, will turn 2 in October, and Darling Daughter is already making noises that she would like to make the trip again, only this time with both sets of grandparents in tow!

I think we’d have a blast, and hope that my Baby Boomer body will be able to keep up the pace like I did so long ago!

This time around, I’m going to let my daughter do the planning, and suggest she contact Trusted Tours & Attractions for reservations. There’s plenty of things to do in Orlando that we didn’t get to do the first time around. Charming Son-In-Law has been there with his family too, so we’ll have to put our collaborative heads together and check out the online travel guides.

Since we’re all from New England, we can get a jump start by flying out of New York, and maybe even leave a day ahead and take in some New York City tours!

Trusted Tours and Attractions offers discounted tickets to the best sightseeing tours in 23 cities across America.

Planning your next vacation? Looking for ideas on what to do? Sign up for the Trusted Travels newsletter and enter to win a handheld GPS Offer ends June 30th, 2008.

Wow, I recently got approved and signed up for the social networking site SocialSpark!

This is going to be my first paid post about the site!

As all my faithful readers know, I’m trying to retire from my day job. Social Spark from IZEA gives me the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, and helps to monetize my blog by enabling me to post for honest, reputable companies.

Similar to Pay-Per-Post, once your blog is approved, you can browse the marketplace and apply for any posting opportunities that you may be qualified for. When you submit your blog for approval, you can choose which categories you would like to qualify for to be shown on your blog.

What’s equally nice, is that Social Spark maintains a very high standard of ethics. This means:

* 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
* 100% Transparency
* 100% Real Opinions
* 100% Search Engine Friendly

Since I am a WAHG with several online ecommerce sites, I try to give tips and promote my businesses through my blog. I’ve become an avid blogger, and the social aspect of Social Spark enables me to visit other bloggers, and leave and receive comments on my blogs and theirs. Here’s my profile that I’ve created so other bloggers can find and network with me.

Lastly, Blogging is becoming mainstream, and more and more people are looking towards bloggers to receive their news and garner new opinions. Advertisers are recognizing the value of this new social media, and taking the opportunity to create buzz for their products. It’s a way for advertisers to reach a whole new target market and generation of potential customers who are familiar with technology.

If you’re a stay-at-home Mom or Dad, Work-at-Home Mommy or Dad, or Baby Boomer such as myself looking for a supplemental source of income, or simply looking to reach out, network and explore new horizons, sign up for Social Spark now! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the benefits!

Here’s my disclosure policy that I’ve developed:

A new highlight of my Blog will be featuring and offering site reviews of WAHM (Work-At-Home Mom) eBiz ventures. I would like to try to offer a “Best Of WAHM Site Award” Banner to a WAHM who’s site has been featured.

It’s great to see so many young women taking the plunge and becoming business owners and self-employed. This was essentially not an option when I was younger!

I’d like to start out by letting you know about a young, WAHM who is venturing into the Virtual Assistant services field.

Erin Hall has recently launched her EH Virtual Assistant Services website. Proud mom of a toddler daughter, Erin and her husband are expecting their second child . Describing herself as a team player and Varsity College Lacrosse Letter Winner, Erin’s drive and determination are certain to assure this mompreneur success in whatever she sets out to accomplish!

A Virtual Assistant (or simply VA), is an independent contractor providing administrative, technical, or sometimes creative assistance to clients …Wikpedia

Erin holds a B.S. in Communication, concentrating in Advertising and Marketing, with a Minor in Business Administration. Erin is experienced in all aspects of the sales and marketing area, with extensive experience in the Advertising and Pharmaceutical fields.

A sampling of the services that EH Virtual Assistant Services is able to offer are:

- Marketing/Advertising /Cold Calling/Mailings

- Business Promotion/Event Promotion & Conference Planning

- Advertising Copy and Articles

- Press Releases

- Creation of Training Materials

- Consulting Services

- Travel Arrangements

As each business has a different budget and need, one can request a free initial consultation.

Please take a moment to visit Erin’s site and see what areas she may be able to assist you with in your business!

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If you would like the opportunity to be a featured WAHM on my blog, please drop me a note or comment to have your WAHM site or Blog reviewed and be considered for an Award Banner!

Recently I’ve been reflecting on what I was up to when I was both of my DD’s ages. When I was single back in the ’70s, one of my future inlaw’s favorite pastimes was wanting to go to NYC. We spent many a wild time there, and sometimes would drive down just for the night. They’d treat the whole family to dinner at Jack Dempsey’s on Times Square and a night on the town.

Sometimes we would go down for New Year’s Eve and stay over. We’d do dinner at some of the most famous haunts, and do a jaunt through Times Square before the ball dropped. My future mother-in-law, father-inlaw, brother & sister-in-laws would all pile into shared cabs. It was great. We knew the City inside out. Those were some wild times.

If you’ve been thinking about visiting the Big Apple, but have never been before, you can plan your trip tour easily through Trusted Tours & Attractions. Sign up and make arrangements for some sightseeing tours of all the well-know attractions, such as the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Shopping District, Diamond District, Broadway & more!

Trusted Tours and Attractions offers discounted tickets to the best sightseeing tours in 23 cities across America. If you can believe it, DH and I are the only ones in the family who’ve never been to the Left Coast. One of these days I’d like to visit San Francisco . I never did get to visit the Golden Gate City back then!

So are you planning your next vacation? Looking for ideas on what to do? Checking out Things to do in Las Vegas? Sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win a $150 iTunes gift card.  Offer ends Saturday, May 31st, 2008.

In an earlier post, I spoke of how I recommended to a fellow forum member the benefits of how I started several blogs to promote my Shoppes site, eBay store and affiliates. Here’s additional tips to support that suggestion.

Want Website Traffic? Start A Free Blog!

Blogging has become increasingly popular in the past couple of years. There are more and more blogs created everyday on a vast array of topics. Both personal and business.

If you own a website, then you know how difficult it is to get exposure to it. Creating a blog is one of the best resources there is today for receiving that exposure.

Like anything else…it takes hard work on creating interesting content on a new blog and getting traffic to it. Focus on your website or business when creating new posts and always try and add something new everyday. Try and connect with your creative side…we all possess some level of creativity! Give it a try…you just may surprise yourself at what you manage to conjure up.

Topics:

Concentrate on what people may be searching for today on the Internet. A lot of people are searching for content for their existing websites, marketing advice, and/or finding work at home jobs and home businesses.

While some people may be just searching for friendship and are interested in simply having a good time…getting to know others, conversing about current events, funny jokes, and the like. Some people are interested in infant clothing, toys, various baby items, and parenting tips or advice.

For example: If your website focuses on women’s interests…then center your blog around women’s interests, support groups, parenting issues, bargain shopping, household items, recipes, or whatever your website content may be. Try and make your blog posts as interesting as possible to try and keep people coming back for more.

Tips On Getting Comments:

1) Simply invite people to join in on the conversations and encourage them to comment on the various posts within your blog description.
2) If you own a website and message board, and you have advertising space available for other webmasters or business owners…announce a contest on your message board offering free advertising for the person that posts the most comments on your blog. ( I have a good friend that has done this very thing and it’s working great for her.)
3) Give people a chance to self promote their websites or businesses through their comments.
4) Offer something free…for example, a free ebook or some kind of software.
5) Participate in message boards, announcing your blog, and request their opinion. Ask them to place a comment post and share their thoughts and opinions about your blog.

Promoting Your Blog:

1) Advertise your blog on various message forums.
2) Include your blog link in your signature within message forums and emails.
3) Submit your blog in blog directories.
4) Exchange links with other bloggers.
5) Write articles relating to blogging and submit them to article directories.
6) Advertise your blog in various newsletters and ezines.
7) Include your blog link on any websites you may have.

One Last Thought:

Have fun with your blog. If there is something (off the wall) that you want to share or you think is really amusing…share it in your blog. Write about anything you feel like writing. The possibilities are endless!

You can create a free blog at http://www.blogger.com. Or, you can search for free blog sites at your favorite search engine.

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Article written by: Tammy Embrich
Tammy Embrich is an Internet Marketer and is the
Owner of: WAH Opportunities, Owner of: Real WAH Jobs, and owner of Cookin At Home

Tammy’s two WAH websites focus on free telecommute job leads and more.

As a special gift to my Readers to Ring in the 2008 New Year, I’m offering a FREE eBOOK from Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Towne Shoppes when you sign up for my Blog Newsletter!

Sign up, and then choose your eBook. You may e-mail me at moomettesmagnificents06@yahoo.com with your selection, and I will forward you the link for your FREE Immediate Download!

I have many eBook categories- Computer & Tech, eBay, Crafting, Recipes, Lifestyle, Parenting, Kids, Holidays, Events & Parties ~ your choice!

Most books are in Adobe PDF format, so you will need the Adobe Reader, which, if you don’t have it, is also a Free Download.

I’m looking forward to having you as a subscriber, and Happy Reading!

As a Boomer, not having grown up with computers as the younger generation today has, I know that I had heard quite a bit about eBay and the wonderful buys that people could get at auction. I’d also heard of the success others have had selling. But I was hesitant to get on the Internet!

At first I signed up for an Adult Ed class on eBay at my local high school at night. But I didn’t feel I got that much out of it. So ~~ it was by trial & error that I learned! It really isn’t that intimidating!

Here’s some info on getting started from
The Fainting Couch”Newsletter

Never used eBay before? Don’t worry; it’s not so scary. Here, we’ll go through it together.

Easy eBay Signup 1-2-3
Work on getting positive feedback, especially when you first start out. Provide great customer service, answer all questions in a timely manner and of course ship asap. Don’t forget to ask your customers to leave you feedback and do the same for them. Prospective customers will be more likely to buy from you if you have a high feedback score.
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Helping you take your eBay business to the next level… www.jennihunt.com

Good! You’ve signed up! Now it’s time to start your holiday shopping!