Reviews By Karen

May18

I am Meeting Local Marketing Experts

by Karen on May 18th, 2012 at 11:32 am

Posted In: Reviews

I am meeting local marketing experts when I attend a conference with Google next week to discuss how online marketing has helped me, a stay at home mom of a special needs child, to develop a career. I have the best of both worlds. I am able to be home with my kids, and still use my professional talents while working from home. I am excited about this opportunity. I have a list of things that I want to discuss with these experts while I am there, and am willing to ask questions for any of y’all as well, just leave them in the comments area! The questions I have in mind currently are:

How do you successfully approach local businesses for advertising opportunities on a blog, aside from presenting a media kit with stats.
What tips do you have on developing more of a local following versus international following, so that local businesses are more interested in working with you to provide prizes, and opportunities to local readers.
What tips do you have on explaining the benefits of online local marketing to businesses. Some think it is quick and easy to write up a short article featuring the company, and perhaps a text link on the sidebar. I think it’s more effective to do a series of articles explaining the benefits and features of the business with a larger ad on the sidebar, and even offering a giveaway so that readers can sample what the business has to offer.

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May17

Love in Bloom #Giveaway US/CAN

by Karen on May 17th, 2012 at 9:04 pm

Posted In: Giveaways

I am giving away the Romantic Book of your choice, up to $10 in value from Amazon. I’d love to know in the comments what your favorite romance book/genre is. To enter the giveaway, just fill out the Rafflecopter form. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

7 Comments

Apr21

Books Turned Into Movies #Giveaway

by Karen on April 21st, 2012 at 8:37 pm

Posted In: Giveaways

Welcome to the Books Turned to Movie Giveaway! When I asked for reader suggestions on this one, the landslide vote was for The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set
, so that’s what I am giving away To enter, just complete the Rafflecopter Form, then visit the other blogs to enter there as well

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

29 Comments

Apr20

We got a new water heater

by Karen on April 20th, 2012 at 10:21 am

Posted In: Sites

Last year, we had a doozie of a year with plumbing issues. The year started out with a Blizzard in January, in which our pipes froze and burst in the kitchen, flooding half the house. That was a huge ordeal involving plumbers, restoration workers, construction workers, hotel stays, new dishwasher, new furniture, and new carpet. Just as it all was wrapping up, the A/C went out, and at this point the temperatures were at the other end of the spectrum at over 110 degrees. Literally the day after the A/C was repaired, our hot water heater went out.

Now, you may not think it’s a huge deal to lose hot water when temps are over 110 degrees, but that water was still C.O.L.D.! We called on our favorite pluming company to come out and see if there was any hope for a Water Heater Repair. You see, we’ve only lived in this house for 5 years, and the previous owner said the hot water heater was brand new when we bought the house. That, was not true. The plumber showed us the numbers on the heater, and how you can tell the approximate age of the heater from them. Plus, he called the company whose label was on it, and they said they stopped selling that type of heater over 10 years ago. So, he found us an affordable, more energy efficient Water Heater Replacement. We were so fortunate to have a quality professional install this for us, because it turns out the previous one had been installed incorrectly, and with a gas hot water heater, it could’ve caught our house on fire!

We do not have a basement in our house, so our hot water heater is in the garage. Many others near us though, do have basement, or underground areas where they can go in inclement weather. We are coming out of a season of drought, but flooding is not uncommon in some areas either. In those areas, it is often necessary to have a sump pump to alleviate flooding and leaking issues. After dealing with house flooding, I am a definite fan of taking proactive steps to prevent that possibility. Plumbers can easily perform sump pump installation for you in your basement, and you can rest easy knowing it was done correctly by a professional, and as the spring rains are arriving heavy this year, not fret about your basement flooding!

I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.

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Apr07