Friday, December 29, 2006

Happy Holidays!

I spent a few hours with my brother, Sean and my sister, Debi on Christmas Day. The three of us are pretty close. That's me in the middle.  Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 30, 2006

Happy Halloween From Dakota and Gia!

This was my first Halloween without Teddy Bear, and it's a little tough. Every year I have this tradition where I dress the dogs up in costumes and take their pix. I then create cards or flyers and send them out to about 40 of my friends. This was Gia's first year and since she just turned a year old she wasn't very cooperative. Trying to get her to sit still is like trying to kill a mosquito with a needle...impossible.

Dakota on the other hand is a ham. He'll literally "work for food"....if you know what I mean. He has food issues and is in sore need of Jenny Craig services for dogs....if someone would invent that they'd make a fortune. Here is my creation for this year! Happy Halloween Teddy Bear....and to all of you! Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Miss Gia Turning 1

My "little girl" is turning 1 on Oct 21. Can you believe it? I remember bringing her home as a small puppy just a few months ago. It's amazing how fast he year has gone by, but considering it started out with the death of "Teddy Bear" I can't say I'll be sad to see it go. My hope is that next year starts out on a better note. Happy Birthday Gia! You are an angel. Posted by Picasa

Monday, July 31, 2006

Miss. Gia- Isn't She Long

I have not weighed her lately but I'm guessing she's about 13lbs now and so long. All legs she is. A lot of people say she looks like a deer. I guess that would be about right. She's so beautiful I just want to squeeze her up. Posted by Picasa

Gia in Her Pretty Pink Dress- 9 Months Old

I love putting clothes on Miss. Gia. I don't know how she feels about it, maybe she finds me annoying or crazy. That's ok. I am. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Merle's Mission Ezine-6/30/06 - PayPal Goes Mobile

Hey Kids,

Merle here. Gearing up for a long holiday weekend? I'm sure you've got the lounge chairs set up andthe barbecue fired up just waiting for some steaks or ribs.

It's now posted online in PDF format. You can printit out or read it online
http://www.merlesworld.com/archives/MM_063006.pdf

Today's issue looks at Paypal's new mobile service. That's right now you can make purchases and transfer funds withyour cell phone. How cool is that? Read it now or print it out at the link above.

Happy 4th of July! Remember, this means that summer is already half over so if you've been putting off having fun, better get it in now before "Old Man Winter" rears his ugly head.

Merle
http://MerlesMission.com

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Merle's Mission Ezine- New Issue Posted

In today's issue of Merle's Mission Ezine you'll learn how to create a favicon for your website. Quick and painless, I promise.

Merle
http://www.merlesworld.com/archives/MM_061506.pdf

Friday, June 16, 2006

Google Adds DayParting to AdWords

If you advertise with Google Adwords and have always wanted more control over your ad campaigns, now you have it. This new feature allows you to pause, start and stop campaigns based on the time of day or day of the week. Very cool! Read the full story over at ClickZ...

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Me & Miss Gia

Miss Gia is getting so big but she still likes to take her daily naps. Lots of them. Occasionally I join her in this luxury. Posted by Picasa

Thursday, May 04, 2006

MarketingSherpa's 2006 Free Report

"MarketingSherpa's 2006 Ecommerce Study Data Highlights,"with five (5) new charts plus an eye tracking heatmap of Wal-Mart's homepage"- Download the PDF free below.

http://www.sherpastore.com/samples/Ecom_Benchmark_Exec_Sum.pdf

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Merle's Mission Ezine- Latest Issue

"Understanding Ebook Rights: The Basics You Need to Know
By Merle http://MCPromotionsPress.com

Information products are big online. Generally,they're PDF products packaged in what is known as an "ebook format". Years ago another popular option was .exe but due to viruses and their incompatibility with the Mac they have lost alot of their popularity.......

Read the rest of today's issue online at:
http://www.merlesworld.com/archives/MM_041506.pdf

Thursday, April 06, 2006

MediaPost Publications - Google Adds Classifieds To Search Results - 04/06/2006

Google Adds Classifieds To Search Results - 04/06/2006: "Google has started filtering results from its classifieds service, Google Base, into its search results"........read the full story...

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Don't Miss Today's Issue of Merle's Mission Ezine

It seems like every time you turn your head these days you hear something about Google. Definitely a force to be reckoned with, Google is king online. Although they're known mostly as a search engine ,they provide many other helpful services to todays website owner.

Their non-search services include Blogger, Google Adsense,Adwords, Google Desktop, and more. If you use one or more of these services, Google probably publishes a helpful blog to go with it...

Read the rest of the article in today's issue of Merle's Mission Ezine..

http://www.merlesworld.com/archives/MM_031506.pdf

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

E-Cover Generator

E-Cover- If you write ebooks and sell them online you need to have a good looking cover. If you don't know how to create one from scratch or just don't want to pay someone to do it for you, here's a really cool online generator that makes it easy a "pie"...

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Google Page Creator

Google Page Creator- A brand new service from who else, Google. Create and publish web pages quickly and easily with no tech knowledge needed. You'll need a Gmail account to register and right now the demand is so high you'll be placed on a waiting list but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. Your url will look like this...
http://yourgmailusername.googlepages.com

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Internet Explorer 7: Beta 2 Preview

Internet Explorer 7: Beta 2 Preview: It's been a long time coming but if you've been waiting for Internet Explorer 7.0 to make an appearance you can now download the beta version.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Launch of Web Content Awareness Day!

Have you heard of Web Content Awareness Day?

Dina Giolittohas created this special "Net Holiday" to celebrate onlinecontent. I'm proud to be included at Dina's request. Check it out as it launches today at http://WebContentAwarenessDay.com

Enjoy!

Merlehttp://MerlesWorld.com
http://webcontentawarenessday.com/brandedsmall.jpg

Our New Addition

For those of you who read my Blog or subscribe to my ezine you're aware my precious "Teddy Bear" died on Jan 11th. While we will never know for sure what killed him, the doctors guess at Intestinal Bowel Disease. I loved that dog so much it was the hardest thing I had to go through, losing him.

After much deliberation Jim and I have decided to get another dog. Since she's another "Italian Greyhound" like Ted was I gave her a nice Italian name of "Gia Serena"....what do you think? She's about 3.5 months old now and weights about 5lbs. Is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I must admit I forgot how much work a puppy is and I'm not getting much done in the way of work or sleep for that matter. She has helped me to get over my loss with Teddy as I don't cry as much as I use to and she keeps me so busy watching her every move I don't have much time left for anything else.

Meet Gia!

 Posted by Picasa

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Paypal: "Finding the Right Solution for You"

Paypal: "Finding the Right Solution for You"

By Merle http://MCPromotionsPress.com

If you're like me, you probably use Paypal in
order to take payments for your products and
or services online. But Did you know they
offer a multitude of solutions depending on
your need?

Paypal was founded in 1998 and today has over
86.6 million accounts. Owned and operated by
Ebay, they are one of the easiest methods
of sending and receiving money on the Net.

Let's examine some of your options as a
PayPal user.

1) "Website Payment Pro": Allows customer
to pay on your website with a credit
card or they can pay with Paypal. No
separate merchant accounts or gateway
needed and Paypal hides in the background
making it a seamless experience for your
customer. You must have a business account
to use this feature. You'll be able to
accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express
and Discover.

You can also accept orders by phone, fax,
or mail at no additional cost with
virtual terminal. The best way to use this
payment option is with a shopping cart.
You'll find a list of third party solutions
at http://tinyurl.com/9uwyt

Fees range from 2.2% to 2.9% and .30
per transaction depending on your monthly
sales volume. There are no set up or
gateway fees and no cancel fee.

Right now there is no monthly charge to
use "Website Payment Pro" but they have
stated after 2/1/06 it will be 20.00 per
month. To learn more see http://paypal.com/pro


2) "Website Payment Standard": Customers shop
on your site and pay with Paypal. Fees range
from 1.9% to 2.9% and .30 depending on your
monthly volume. No set up fees, monthly fees,
or gateway charges. You can accept these
cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express,
and Discover.

Paypal makes it simple to add payment buttons
to your pages. Simply copy and paste HTML
that they provide. You can accept donations,
subscriptions, and recurring payments.
For more on this option see:
http://www.tinyurl.comcmtn6


3) "Virtual Terminal": Allows customers with
a business account to accept credit card
orders from customers who don't have a
Paypal account. It can be used to accept
credit cards by phone, fax or mail. It
gives some functionality as a standalone
credit card processing terminal. It can
also be used to generate and print packing
slips to enclose with your shipment.

Virtual Terminal is included with Website
Payment Pro service or it can be added to
a "standard account" for 20.00 a month and
small transaction fees.

To apply you must have a Paypal business
account. Once accepted you can access Virtual
Terminal through the "merchants tool tab" in
your Paypal control panel. For more see:
http://www.tinyurl.com/7ep8f


4) "Email Payments": Customers receive a
bill via email and pay using a credit card
or their PayPal balance. No set up fees and
there are multiple ways to request payment.

A) Paypal Invoice: Send professional invoices
you create that contain a Paypal payment
button the receiver clicks on to pay. For
more information on this option see:
http://www.tinyurl.com/92zzm

B) Request Money: Log into your Paypal
account then go to "request money" page
and type in your customer's email address
and type in the amount owed. Click send.
For more see http://www.tinyurl.com/5dsus

C) Quickbook Wizard: Download and install
this add on for Quickbooks that allows you
to create invoices and launch the wizard
to send the bill via email to your customer.
For more on this option go to:
http://www.tinyurl.com/94cok

Now that you know there are so many options
to choose from you might want to re-evaluate
how you're currently using Paypal in your
online business. If you haven't been taking
advantage of the many powerful options, now's
your chance to implement the solution that's
just right for you.

----------------------------------

By Merle- Check out Keith Wellmans ebook
package complete with Resell Rights
for under 10.00...go now to...
http://www.keithwellman.com/resell/thankyou-page/76

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The Latest Issue of Merle's Mission Ezine- Read it in PDF Format Now!

Hi Gang,

I'm back. If you were paying attention you might
have noticed I didn't publish on the 15th. The
new year started out badly for me, full details
in today's issue.

Read it or print it out now:
http://www.merlesworld.com/archives/MM_013006.pdf

Have you heard of Web Content Awareness Day? If not pay
attention today and you might just learn something.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

TeddyBear Giallombardo


In Memory of TeddyBear Giallombardo- Died 1/11/06 Posted by Picasa

In Memory of TeddyBear

In Memory of Teddy Bear:
Born 9/30/98- Died 1/11/06

By Merle

In childhood most of us had a stuffed “teddy bear”.
It brought us comfort and security during the times
that we were scared.

As an adult I obtained a dog and named him “Teddy
Bear”. He was my best friend, my son, my life,
and everything we shared.

But God stepped in and took him away in a cruel
& heartless way. I prayed he would get better
and come home with me to stay.

He fought so hard to live, although he was very ill,
he tried and tried to come back to me, but in the
end he left me still.

Every morning I wake up and search for his sweet
little face, but it’s not there and neither is he and
he’ll never be replaced.

His sweater lies by the door, his food bowl on the floor,
but I know he’ll never use them, he’ll never walk back
through that door.

His little bandana still smells like him, It’s all that
still remains, there’s a hole so big in my heart,
I’m feeling so much pain.

My precious boy, my “little man”,
Wherever you are- I miss you every day,
Someday we’ll be together and in my heart,
You’ll always stay.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Favicon Generator | Make Free Favicons |-Create a Favicon.ico Design

Favicon Generator Favicons are really cool. When you add a website to your favorites, if it has a favicon attached a small picture will show up in your browser address bar. Upload a graphic 100X100 in size and generate your own favicon.They even give you the code needed to add to your pages.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Google Pack

Free Software Google has launched its "Google Pack" software. Sort of like a 6 pack but branded by Google. (LOL) The free software includes desktop essentials such as: Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, Picasa, Firefox, Ad Aware and more. The nicest feature is the automatic updater which keeps the "Pack" fresh.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

The Last issue of Merle's Mission for 2005

The very last issue of Merle's Mission Ezine for 2005 is now posted online at
http://www.merlesworld.com/archives/MM_123005.pdf

If you've been looking for a way to analyze your website traffic you'll be interested in the article on "Google Analytics", what it is and what it can do for your website.

Enjoy!

Merle

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Ezine Builder - Free Articles & Resources for creating e-zines

Ezine Builder A brand new tool offered up by Ideamarketers.com. Build your own newsletter online for free. Just fill in the blanks and push the button and you get your very own ezine complete with syndicated articles.