Award-winning journalist and freelance copywriter, Susanna K. Hutcheson, presents news, thoughts and ideas on the world of business, marketing, copywriting and much more.

One Way to Get More Traffic

The RSS Equalizer

Here's an interesting product designed to get your site more traffic. RSS Equalizer is fast becoming a must-have and it's only $97! I am using it and find it does exactly as designed.

It's quite easy to set up and use. When compared to other products in this class. This one is, I feel, the best.

With things as they are, one has to do all one can to get traffic which converts. So you might want to give this product a try.





Susanna on 09.29.04 @ 05:42 AM CDT [link]

My Krispy Kreme Misadventure

Don't you just hate it when you have waited all week for a small pleasure only to discover the small pleasure has been struck down? Let me explain. Each sunday morning I allow myself the decadent pleasure of laying in bed with books and my laptop and one small very rich Krispy Kreme along with my Starbucks coffee.

Oh I know that may not sound exciting to you. But to me it's just great. Now this Krispy Kreme is the one with rich filling. I don't allow myself this sort of thing on a regular basis. You see, I have a tendency to grow a big butt and food goes directly from my mouth to said butt. Sometimes I only have to look at it and it goes to the butt. So I have to be careful what I eat.

Well, yesterday I put the fork in my Krispy Kreme and there was no filling. All the way to the center and finally there in the dead center I found what I guess was some sort of filling --- about the size of a large pin head. Talk about disappointment.

I know Krispy Kreme is having financial problems. But do they have to eliminate the cream-filled centers to save money? Bad enough Krispy Kreme products are not really much different than any other donut. I mean, a donut is a donut and there's not much you can do to screw one up but keep some poor slob from enjoying one moment of grand and daring caloric passion by keeping the cream filling from them.

So to the folks at Krispy Kreme I offer my Duh of the Day Award.

Susanna on 09.13.04 @ 05:12 AM CDT [link]

Let the Sixties Die for Gawd's Sake!

There they go again. Bringing up what George W. Bush and John F. Kerry did or did not do in the sixties and early seventies. Look, we all were in a god damned coma in the sixties. We all (those of us who were turning of age or barely of age) did stupid things for which we would not like to be judged today nor should we.

And about that war, you had to be there. It was a rotten war that we had no business in. Our youth were wasted and killed in a senseless war. And yes, many of us protested the war. Many went to war. No one was right. No one was wrong. We were all young. We all wanted to change the world. We all saw injustice.

We were mugged by cops on our college campuses. We were gassed and beat and jailed. Yes, we rebelled. We rebelled in every way we could.

National war mobilization starting with Vietnam War led to steady price inflation which peaked in 1980 but continued afterwards. From 1965-95, U.S. prices inflated more than 400 percent. The Vietnam War was politically unpopular and could not be financed from traditional methods (compulsory saving and increased taxation) and so the government borrowed to pay for it.

Fact: We only recently finished paying off the last of the financial debt from the Vietnam War! Who paid most of it? Right. The greying folks who fought it or protested it. Damn the Vietnam war! And damn the old men who created it.

But now we are in charge. It is now our world. We are the establishment. Learn to like it. But for god's sake forget the damn war and the sixties and what we did or did not do during that time. Those of us who lived through it know why we did what we did. The rest of you need not attempt to judge us.

This election is not about Vietnam or drugs or the sixties. Those days are long gone and dead. This election is about our survival. Get over the sixties. Please.

Susanna on 09.12.04 @ 07:43 AM CDT [link]

Making Money with Affiliate Programs

I've discovered that if you learn how to get enough traffic to your site(s), you can make a ton of money with the right affiliate programs.

I use numerous programs from ClickBank and enjoy good steady earnings from them. I also carry products related to my core business and do very well at that. And Google Adsense is a wonderful avenue of revenue for Webmasters with large sites and lots of traffic.

So if you are not using affiliate programs, you are making a major mistake. But listen up --- you have to do it right. There is a right way and a stupid way to do affiliate programs. So do your homework. It will be worth it.

You'll have to invest in some software and invest lots of time --- at least initially. But if you're very smart, you can quit your day job in no time at all.


Susanna on 09.10.04 @ 06:51 PM CDT [link]

Labor Day and Doing the "Labor" We Love

In America, we celebrate the end of summer with a day called "Labor Day".

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

I personally don't like the word workers as it is a socialist word and I am a capitalist of the Ayn Rand breed. But I do know and firmly believe that it is each creative individual who has and is making America, indeed the free world, great and productive.

Moreover, I think this is a good time of year to reflect on our work. Do we love it? Hate it? Don't care one way or the other?

I am one of the very fortunate few. I have the honor of doing work for which I am very suited and trained and which I dearly love. What's more, I earn a respectible living doing it. I do not have to do work that I hate.

I am not in the majority. And that's sad.

Most people go to jobs they hate. They spend hours at labor that is either lower than their education prepared them for, or which they simply do not like.

My career has always been important to me. I have spent most every day of my life either preparing for my career or doing something to achieve some goal on my way. I am very lucky. And I am very grateful.

My wish for you this Labor Day is that you too are doing or soon will be doing the work that you love. There is little worse then spending most day of each week of your entire life at a job you hate.

Happy Labor Day.

Susanna on 09.06.04 @ 07:48 AM CDT [link]