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<title>Latest Articles by imagegal</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/</link>
<description>Articles at Populate.NET</description>
<language>en-us</language>
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<title>Advertising on the Internet: Getting PPC Ads For Free</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Pay-Per-Click/advertising-on-the-internet-getting-ppc-ads-for-free.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Pay-Per-Click/advertising-on-the-internet-getting-ppc-ads-for-free.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ When savvy entrepreneurs construct a business plan, they make the allotment for advertising a large slice of the budgetary pie. 

Too often, folks who are starting out to plan an Internet business put the cart before the horse. They spend much of their time, energy and money devising devilishly clever domain names, getting an expensive hosting company, maybe even spending a lot of bucks up front for a web designer to come up with a fancy site design.

It is laudable to have a super-duper name and image, but you can have ones that are incredible and still will go nowhere because no one knows you are out there on the World Wide Web! You have to advertise.

When formulating plans for a new Web-based business, it is absolutely crucial to think beyond the image and prepare plans for advertising early on in the game and, more importantly, to find the type of promotion that is going to be affordable. Which leads us to the question: how and where can you advertise your site?

Consider the following:
Offline
Placing a small ad showcasing your web business in newspapers or trade magazines (specific to the business you are promoting) can nail down the area of the population you want to target.
 
If you are selling teddy bears, that ad could be in craft magazines or teddy bear magazines! 

If it is auto accessories, your objective is to reach enthusiasts through car magazines. Shop the magazine racks and peruse the various entrepreneur magazines.

Personal contact
Hand out business cards with your online store URL and description to friends, neighbors and business owners.  Post your card on bulletin boards at supermarkets or your local drycleaners.
 
If you are selling pet products, put your card on the notice boards at your local pet stores and ask your vet if you can post your card at his place of business.

Online
There are several methods of advertising online that are effective although some are free and some are not.
Let us look at the free (if time and labor-intensive) ones first.
 
You can submit articles to article directories manually. It means methodically going through the numerous directory participants, weeding out the ones that do not pertain to your particular venue. 

For instance, if you are selling decorative accessories, you will skip past a site that promotes MLM or making money online. Sometimes you can only determine this after laboriously searching the directory site to determine if they have the appropriate category for your merchandise or service.
The same thing is basically applicable when you submit to ezines and there you will also have to submit manually.

You may submit your article to a service that will post it on multiple article directory sites but there will, of course, be a fee for this service and it may be for a limited period of time. This method of advertising can bring targeted traffic to your site but it may only be occasional and limited at that.

The way to most consistently bring targeted traffic to your site is PPC advertising. Pay-per-click ads put your tightly constructed, dynamically worded ad right in front of the potential customer who has typed in keywords describing what you are promoting. But there is a catch. You have to bid for that spot on the (you hope and pray) first page that comes up, not on the 28th page! 

For instance, Google Ads allow you to bid to get the primo spot. And every time someone clicks on your ad, you have to pay a specified, top dollar amount. This can get costly if you are just entertaining lookers and not buyers. Your competition may also click on your ads and that will result in higher bills for you at the end of the month.

Unless you have an unlimited budget this may not be the correct route for you. That is, unless you have a way to eliminate the ppc ad cost. Yes, there is a way to do this and it is perfectly legal. Not only that but Google actually endorses it! ]]></description>
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<title>Setting Up Your Web Site</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Web_Design/setting-up-your-web-site.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Web_Design/setting-up-your-web-site.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Deciding to have your own business on the World Wide Web is an exciting, challenging and a sometimes-daunting undertaking. There are a lot of benefits but there are also quite a few considerations that you must look at before getting started.

1)Before you even think about choosing a domain name or a host for your site, you have to decide what you are going to sell. The category could be:

a)an informational product such as an ebook, hard cover book, report, CD, DVD or a combination of two or three of these,

b)a purchased retail product such as a tangible product that you may buy and stock or have drop-shipped from a manufacturer such as collectibles, decorative items, industrial items, electronic gear and accessories, etc.,

c)a manufactured retail product that you make yourself, or 

d)a service, national or world-wide, that might include such things as starting an articles directory, providing custom written material, locating items for a customer or any type of assistance that a customer might be looking for.

2)Whatever you choose, develop a passion for your business product, whether it is an e-product or tangible goods. If you really do not have strong positive feelings for it, it will be harder to get really enthusiastic. Genuine excitement sells your product.

3)As with any business, you have to be willing to devote your time and labor to it both in setting it up and in maintaining it. But once you are up and running, you can enjoy it if you love what you are doing and the product(s) you are dealing with. 

4)Once you choose your product, you are ready to choose a domain name to let the WWW know what you have to offer. You can check on the availability of any name and submitting your ideas free of charge. 

5)When your site is set up, it is a good idea to keep a three-ring binder with printouts of all your pages on the site, especially product pictures and prices, vendor information and sales receipts for tax-time calculations. Be sure to back up your site pages and information on a CD.

6)The last piece of the puzzle, although it is probably the most important, is advertising so you can start getting visitor traffic and, most importantly, customers. 

You can blog your information, submit it in article form to article directories, take out ads in trade magazines and newspapers, or if your budget is large enough, do a television commercial. Pay-per-click ads are effective but they can get expensive very quickly. There is a way to eliminate those costs. ]]></description>
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<title>Country Kitchen Themes and Colors</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Home/Accessories/country-kitchen-themes-and-colors.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Home/Accessories/country-kitchen-themes-and-colors.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Designing a charming and romantic country kitchen with a warm, inviting atmosphere entails more than just setting the table with some quality decorative accessories. Whether you have a tiny kitchen or a spacious one big enough for a big maple table, you can give the space a country flavor with the right color and themed accents. 

Color is a key ingredient because it makes the first impression of a room on our senses, so setting the mood is your primary concern. If you can paint the walls, you may choose a very light yellow to give a sunny glow to the kitchen. A primitive design wallpaper or stencil border will further the country look. Combining yellow and a french blue, which is a blue-purple hue, is a traditional use of Country french colors. Add accessories such blue glass and amber glass, blue canister sets, potholders, oven mitts, dishtowels and blue and white check table linens and curtains. Use accents like blue tiles and framed sunflower prints or tin signs.

If your walls have to stay white and your appliances are also white, as in most apartments, you will have to rely on well-chosen splashes of color in your design accents to do the trick. You can start by finding a line of accessories featuring one bold color like red or bright blue or a theme such as roosters, berries, sunflowers or country store. Then add accents that complement the color or the theme.

Let us say, for example, that you choose a line of accessories featuring red, like apples, cherries or strawberries. A set of bold red canisters and a red cookie jar will add panache to the countertop. Your kitchen table can sport a red check or red and white stripe tablecloth and red napkins. You could use a centerpiece of fresh flowers in a red glass bowl. For a party, complete the picture with red candlesticks in white ceramic candleholders. Also consider decorative red glass bottles for a windowsill and red chair cushions. Framed prints of red fruits and vegetables dress up neutral walls. 

If you choose blue for your basic color scheme, this color, particularly when combined with accents of yellow, typifies old-world charm. European kitchens feature rich, strong blues in tiles, curtains and glass dishes. At the Claude Monet country estate in Giverny (about an hour north of Paris) the huge, black stove is backed by multi-patterned blue and white tiles, a striking as well as practical design statement. In the adjacent dining room, a dining table has 12-14 yellow-painted chairs and is laid with blue and white dishes on a yellow tablecloth, set off by blue flowers in tiny vases by the place settings. Another set of everyday dishes favored by Monet was bright yellow edged in deep blue. Stunning!

You can use green as an accent in the form of lush, leafy potted plants. Plants serve several functions: they make your kitchen beautiful by bringing nature indoors, they give off oxygen and they will fit right in with your color scheme. If red is your main accent or theme, the green in plants will intensify this color because green is opposite red on the color wheel. They are complementary colors. Green is also the combination of two primary colors, yellow and blue, so it harmonizes with that color scheme also.

Match and complement the featured colors of your country kitchen when you choose your cooking/serving apron as well as potholders and oven mitts. You are the star of the room and you should dress the part! ]]></description>
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<title>Fat Loss</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Health/Wellness/fat-loss.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Health/Wellness/fat-loss.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Successful and healthy fat loss is a balance of what we eat and how we eat. To use food so that it contributes to our health instead of to our indigestion involves, for one thing, the types of foods and how they go together. That is called:

                 Food Combining
If you have ever read about how to combine foods so that they digest properly, it is pretty straightforward and really not complicated. But then you come to the part where you are poking in the refrigerator, pulling things out and say to yourself--- Oh, what the heck, I will just have some of this and a little of that--- and suddenly food combining has just gone into the trash.

If I may, let me tell you the way I remember what goes with what.
        A + C = very good for digestion
        B + C = okay for digestion
        A + B = very bad for digestion
        D = always eat by itself

Okay, this is the rundown:
A = Proteins (Fish, Chicken, Turkey, Beef)
B = Starches/Carbohydrates (Bread, Rolls, Pasta, Crackers, Pizza crust)
C = Vegetables (Raw or Lightly Steamed)
D = Raw, uncooked Fruit

In other words, Fish and a salad, A + C = great. Stir-fry veggies with pasta, B + C, heavier but an okay combination, but do not throw any shrimp or chicken in because then it becomes an A + B = bad. The same goes for pizza. The crust (B-starch) + cheese (A-protein) + pepperoni (A-protein) + tomato sauce (cooked tomatoes, the same as cooked spinach, turn acid in your system) = terrible indigestion. Pizza is delicious, I grant you, but is it yummy for the tummy?

And do not finish up a meal with fruit, ever! Fruit eaten by itself will digest in the system in about 20 minutes. If it goes into your stomach with other foods, it sits there for hours while the other foods digest, fermenting and causing gas.

         What It Takes to Digest Your Food
You probably know that the body uses enzymes to help digest the food you eat. Some enzymes are in your saliva, which is why it is so helpful to eat slowly and chew your food well. It is even suggested that you chew raw vegetable and fruit juices because this will allow the enzymes in the saliva to mix with the juice before you swallow.

Different foods need different types of enzymes to break them down. And the body knows to put the enzymes into your system first that it needs to breakdown or digest the most concentrated foods. For instance, if you have a meal with bacon, pancakes with strawberry sauce, buttered toast and eggs, bacon is the first on the list, since it takes about nine hours to digest. The starches (pancakes and toast) which if eaten alone would take about 5-6 hours, and the fruit (20 minutes to digest if eaten by itself) sit in your stomach. (To say nothing of the egg protein and dairy.) We tend to cram too many types of food on our plates just because it pleases our palates without thinking about how they combine. Do we really consider what our stomachs are suffering? This is sometimes likened to throwing more food down a jammed garbage disposal. It just sits there and ferments.

Are you sick and tired of starving yourself or depriving yourself to lose a few pounds only to have them creep back when you cannot resist the cheeseburgers and fries, pizza or meat, potatoes and gravy? Do yourself and your body a favor. Get the information you can use to get rid of those ugly, fatty bulges that are literally ruining your health. ]]></description>
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<title>Credit Cards: Risky Business</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Finance/Credit/credit-cards-risky-business.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Finance/Credit/credit-cards-risky-business.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Today, emphasis is on the small, rectangular pieces of plastic almost everyone carries in a purse or wallet: credit cards. Carrying cash is considered dangerous and using debit cards equally perilous if they are stolen because it is agonizingly difficult to get reimbursed for funds illegally charged by a thief. 

Additionally, you run the risk of disparaging looks from fellow consumers if you 
dare to slow their whirlwind shopping pace by writing a check! So you sheepishly whip out the plastic. But when you do that, you are playing right into the hands of 
the credit card companies who absolutely love to extend credit to you and will even lull you into further debt by bombarding you with convenience checks. 

By using credit cards for any and every type of purchase, you run the risk of overextending yourself right into a jam. Many financial advisors recommend using the credit cards only for major purchases or something that you would not have enough cash in pocket or funds in your checking to cover. That way, you control your credit card balances and keep a tight rein on your debt to credit ratio. (That is a percentage arrived at by comparing what you owe to the amount of credit you have been granted in unsecured revolving accounts. For instance, if you owe $8,000 and have a high credit limit on all your accounts of $10,000, you have an 80% debt to credit ratio. )

That is a very high ratio and liable to be scrutinized carefully by credit card companies. You are better off to keep the ratio to a lot less than 50%, pay more than the minimum monthly amount and always pay early if you want to maintain a good credit rating.

If you are already in hot water with bad credit and a low FICO score, you can improve your score by adhering to the above advice. Pay down your debts as quickly as you can until you have a lower debt to credit ratio, pay more and pay early. And do not resort to loans from a finance company! 

You can also improve your score by obtaining a merchant charge card. This will usually allow you to only purchase merchandise that the merchant is selling, not make charges for any other purpose. But the big advantage is that it will raise your credit limit and give you a much better credit profile and debt to credit ratio without the usual high interest rates and possible annual fees charged by the major companies.

If you are unfortunate enough to have had to file bankruptcy, your options are more limited initially. A general rule of thumb is that lenders will not consider lending you money for a major purchase like a home until your bankruptcy has been discharged for 24 months. But in the meantime, you will have time to repair and rebuild your credit. You can get a secured credit card, which means you will give a bank an amount, anywhere from $200 to $10,000, that you then may charge against up to the limit you have chosen. This will help to reestablish you in the plastic domain.

To repair your credit necessitates getting copies of all of your credit reports, Equifax, Experian and Transunion. You are entitled to free reports once every twelve months. For information on how to get these, refer to the resources box below.  

Do not bother with the so called free reports that are widely advertised. There are no free lunches! If you apply to one of those companies, you will have to sign up for their services in order to get the reports,

Once you have the credit reports in hand, the next step to repair your credit means correcting or eliminating misinformation. There are very specific ways to handle this all important part of the process and submitting queries in the wrong way or at the wrong time can complicate your credit recovery. If you would like further information, please visit me at the site listed below. ]]></description>
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<title>Renderings in Watercolor and Acrylic of Waterscapes</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Culture_and_Society/Art/renderings-in-watercolor-and-acrylic-of-waterscapes.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Culture_and_Society/Art/renderings-in-watercolor-and-acrylic-of-waterscapes.html</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ The fascination of the almost-mesmeric effects of ever-changing, sparkling light patterns on water has intrigued artists for centuries. The subject could be pounding seas, a placid lake, a rampant river, or a wandering stream. Translating the feeling of the play of light on water to a two-dimensional painted surface is an engrossing artistic endeavor.

Watercolor and acrylic are two interesting mediums (among many) having unique characteristics when used to give the illusion of reflections on water. Handled differently, both are water-based paints, but are definitely diverse in their applications and results.

Different rendering methods are required for reflections of clouds, trees, bridges and boats on top of the water as well as earth and rocks under the water. Please refer to the author bio for the link to view these images. 

Painting #1, Red Boats, will illustrate the usefulness of both the opacity and the transparency of acrylic in reflections. 
                        
The reflection of the sky was painted in a transparent, thin wash with lots of water and let dry. The reflections of the trees were then built up in many layers of opaque and darker, less intense colors, as reflections would appear in water. (Notice the darker red of the boat reflection in the foreground).

The colors of the sky and clouds, showing through between the tree branches, were added in opaque light blue and white. Shadows on the end of the bridge reflect in the water in transparent, washy layers.

Painting #2, Canal Crossing, is a watercolor example of rendering the bubbling, foamy water behind a paddling parade of canal ducks. 

The reflection of the colorful underside of the bridge was painted first and let dry. Then the waterway passage underneath and behind the ducks was scrubbed out with clear water and a soft brush. Carefully done, this takes off the surface paint and exposes the white base of the watercolor board. After thoroughly dry, the board was then painted with horizontal strokes to create the illusion of moving water behind the swimming ducks. This method takes advantage of the non-permanence of the watercolor medium.

Painting #3, Shallows, illustrates how acrylic paint is utilized both opaquely and transparently in painting 1) pebbles and the ground when seen under water and 2) bridge railings reflections on the surface of the water. 

1) The pebbled ground in the lower left foreground steps down under the water towards the middle of the canal. This part of the painting was done at the same time as the bank of pebbles on the right, but the detailing of submerged pebbles is slightly blurred, as it would be when seen under the water. Then, after it all was dry, a transparent water effect was painted over the area. Because of the permanency of the pigment, however, the image underneath remains perfectly intact. 

2) The reflections of the bridge railings are opaque, wavy, abstract patterns looking almost like ribbons bobbing across the surface of the water and over the submerged stones. 

Painting #4, The Yellow House, shows the multi-layering effect obtained using opaque acrylic paint in rendering reflections on water. 

First, the opaque, blue-green pigment representing the sky reflection in the canal water was put on the canvas. Next the reflection of the dark fronds of the palm tree in the center was added. Over the top of the palm frond reflection, several shades of lighter blue-green ripples of water portray the surface movement of the canal water. Three layers of opaque paint create the illusion. 

In acrylic, white pigment is added to a color to get a lighter value. In watercolor, a light value of a color is achieved by letting the white of the watercolor surface show through and darker values are achieved by laying down cumulative washes. ]]></description>
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<title>Make Friends With Your Digital Camera</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Hobbies/Photography/make-friends-with-your-digital-camera.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Hobbies/Photography/make-friends-with-your-digital-camera.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ When a brand new SLR (single lens reflex) model digital camera is put into your hands, whether it is a purchase or a gift, you are holding an exquisitely crafted instrument designed to deliver sharp, crisp, brilliantly colored photos. 

If you spend the time to acquaint yourself with its technical aspects, a whole new world of photography can open up to you.

I admit that the typical manual for digital cameras can be intimidating. I have two manuals for a small digital camera that I bought two years ago. The camera can be used in automatic (point-and-shoot) or manual mode and the basic guide is 32 pages, the advanced guide is 144 pages. 

Fortunately, camera manufacturers now have show and tell instructions in the form of DVDs and that should help. But sometimes technical terms discourage new owners from getting up close and personal with their new cameras.

With computer access it is really easy to search a free online encyclopedia to investigate many technical terms like, for instance, mega pixels (tiny, tiny dots of color). When you see that the more mega pixels a camera has, (like 10.1mp or 12.1mp), the sharper the image is going to be because there is more pixel information being recorded when you shoot. 

This means that you will be able to have your photos blown up to, say, poster or mural size because there is a greater density of pixel information and the image will keep its clarity at large sizes. Photos taken with less mega pixel data appear grainy because there are fewer recorded dots of color information. 

Perhaps you remember with fondness the user-friendly cameras preceding the latest addition to your collection of memory makers.

With the stalwart (if slightly boxy and heavy) 35mm film camera, inserting a roll of film was sometimes a little tricky, lining up the film edge holes on the sprockets, and being careful to shield the camera from too much light when inserting the film.

But then once that was done, your automatic film camera was good to go. Just point, shoot and no worries. Of course, you really had no idea if you actually got the photos of what you were shooting until the film was developed days or weeks later.

Stepping into the 21st century, that scenario has changed dramatically with the advent of the digital camera. You know what you have right away.

(I was amused recently while watching a TV show where an irate actor snatched a camera from a paparazzi photographer to destroy unwanted photos. A scene like this done ten years ago would have been super dramatic with the person pulling out yards of exposed film. Now it is merely a matter of snapping out a tiny memory card!)

Here are a few of the basic things to learn about your camera.
Controlling the amount of light perceived in a scene
Put very simply, the aperture (opening) of the camera lens is like the iris of the eye, enlarging to let in more light in low light situations and narrowing in brightly lit scenes like snow or water-reflecting scenes. In automatic mode, when there is too much or too little light coming through the aperture, the camera computer corrects for this.

You can manually control the amount of light by adjusting the f-stops on your camera lens. Basic f-stops range from f-1.2 to f-22. The lower number setting indicates a low light situation where the camera aperture is opened to its widest diameter to allow in more light. The high number setting shows an extremely brightly lit situation where the aperture needs to be closed down, letting in less light so that the image will not be over-exposed and washed out.

Setting the speed (ISO) at which the camera shutter opens and closes
You can control the speed (ISO) at which the photo will be taken. In film cameras, the only way to change speed was to change rolls of film, sometimes wasting much of a roll. With your digital camera, you simply switch by dialing the speed you desire. 

This is important if you are, for instance, shooting sports photos where the shutter is open a tiny fraction of a second so you can capture action without blurring. Or, you may want the shutter open for long periods if you are shooting night scenes or fireworks

Selecting the focal distance
The part of your camera that is governing how far away from your subject you are shooting is the lens. If your new digital camera is an SLR (single lens reflex) model, you are a very fortunate person. The SLR model is very versatile because with the flip of a button, you can change lenses quickly and easily. You can instantly change from shooting panoramic shots to intimate portraits or switch to a macro mode of ECUs (extreme close-ups).

Even if you start out with a basic lens of 18-55mm, the time you spend learning about the effects of using different focal length lenses will reward you with the knowledge to take spectacular photos.
 
Your digital camera is capable of taking stunning and memorable photos if you take a little time to really get acquainted. ]]></description>
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