Commercial Web Hosting

Here is how most bloggers get their start on the internet. First they look for a free blogging service like blogger.com or wordpress.com. These are not bad in the beginning when you are just learning how to write and market your blog. But there comes a time when the free service isn’t good enough and you want to start making some real money.

For that you need to ditch the free blogging sites, own your own domain name and look for some commercial web hosting.

I am a firm believer that you need to spend money to make money and nowhere is that more true than on the internet. Now I’m not talking about spending hundreds of dollars and most commercial web hosting is fairly inexpensive, roughly $5 – $12 a month. Owning your own domain is even cheaper at around $10 per year. (even cheaper if you use a name.com promo code)

The 3 Best Commercial Web Hosting Companies
Here are my top 3 picks for commercial web hosting companies. It should come as no surprise that these are also some of the most popular hosting companies on the market today.

1. Hostgator.com
For less than $8 a month you get unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, and the ablility to host unlimited domains. You get a ton of software and support included in this plan and if the time comes you can also upgrade to their dedicated hosting service.

2. Powweb.com
This was that first company I dealt with when I started 3 years ago and they are great. Your first year is $60 including a free domain and 300 GB on disk space (I never even came close to using it all). Powweb also has really good 24 hour support via chat and a great forum with very knowledgeable members. You can pay by paypal too.

3. Godaddy.com
Godaddy’s deluxe plan is more than enough for what most bloggers and internet marketers need. They have all the bell’s and whistles as the other guys but have more free ad on applications. The deluxe plan starts at 6.99 a month, the price decreases the longer you sign up for.

So if you are currently blogging on a free hosted site either (wordpress or blogspot) consider switching to a commercial web host and you’ll be in a better position to start profiting from your site.

Shoptillyoudrop.net Possible Scam?

While looking for ways to increase my income I came a across a site called Shoptillyoudrop.net a site that claims that you can make money as a mystery shopper or get paid to take online surveys.

I found an interesting article about this site that might make you run from it. This is from the Better Business Bureau where a women was scammed out of almost $5000 You can read it here

Keep in mind that there is very little information about shoptillyoudrop.net other than what is posted on the site it’s self and most reputable scam exposing websites don’t have any reports on them yet. I would use extreme caution if you are considering joining shoptillyoudrop.net. Do your research first.

They also charge a registration fee of about $25 to join.

Best Teeth Whitening Deals

Lets face it we all would like a whiter smile, at least I know I would. So I have been looking around for the best teeth whitening deals on the home whitening kits.

I’m not going to pay hundreds of dollars to have it done at the dentist when I can get the same thing done at home for way less.

There are actually quite a few really good deals out there here are some of the better ones.

Crest White Stripes – Save 66% off the regular price (of $116) on the Crest Whitestrips Supreme Professional Strength 84 strips kit. At only $34.95 that is a great deal.

Rembrandt Mint Whitening Strips – 35% off retail and is currently rate 4 stars based on customer reviews. You can get this shipped for free as well. For even better results and a better deal combine this with the Rembrandt Plus Premium Whitening Toothpaste (3 pack) .

Checkout ebay’s teeth whitening sales page for good deals from the top power sellers. Many are offering free shipping on the buy it now price.

There are many different kinds of teeth whitening products out there and not all of them work or are safe. I recommend you stick to a brand name that you trust. Rembrandt and Crest are both really good brands.

While searching for the best teeth whitening deals I came across this review from a Dentist called A Dentist Reviews Crest Whitestrips and I think it clearly explains the pros and cons of these teeth whiteners.

If you’re still looking for ways to save on teeth whiteners try this site for finding Crest Whitestrips coupons.

Laser Hair Removal for Men

This is comes as a request from one of my co-workers. Knowing that I can find deals and get discounts on pretty much anything, he asked that I look into laser hair removal for men and more specifically back hair removal.

We are in Toronto so I focused on the clinics operating in the Toronto and Durham region here is Canada. This seem to be a hot topic that NO ONE whats to talk about, except me because apparently I have no shame.

Let me start by saying that laser hair removal is not a cheap service. But there is such an increasing demand for it that a lot of Clinics in major cities like Toronto are starting to offer it. With increased competition come big opportunities for deals and some really big savings.

To keep it simple I looked at the full back hair laser removal service for 1 session to see which clinic had the best deal. Below are the top 8 best prices at the Toronto clinics. Keep in mind that this is only based on pricing and not quality or effectiveness of the treatments. These are in no particular order.
Laser Hair Removal for Men
#1 TTClinic.com – Special Offer save 50% off their regular price. Cost – $250 Offer good Till Sept 2009

#2 Lasercentre.ca – Promotional pricing on until Feb 28th 2009 50% off regular price. They also claim that they will match the price of any other Clinic in the Greater Toronto Area. Cost – $240

#3 Bellairlaserclinic.ca – Save 25% on medium areas, including the full back service. They have some decent multiple session offers as well and 20% off for first time clients. Cost for single session – $393.75

#4 Yongeeglintonlaser.com – No promotional pricing that I could find other than combining services (chest, stomach and back for $799) They also have a buy 5 get 1 free deal. Cost for a regular full back hair removal session is $399

#5 Ntcenter.ca – Special on the full back service regular price of $500 on sale for $399 limited time offer.

#6 Lilianalaser.ca Located just north of Toronto still serving the GTA lilianalaser.ca has the lowest price on the full back laser hair removal for men service I’ve seen at just $189 per treatment. There is a promotion on until Jan 31st 2009 were the per session price drops to $155.

#7 Baywoodclinic.com No per session promtions right now full back sessions cost $499

#8 Qesthetics.com Promotional pricing on now, save 50% off regular pricing. Cost of a full back session $250

There are about another 8 clinics that I contacted for pricing an laser hair removal discounts or promotions but not one of them would give me a quote without booking me for a free consultation. That sent a red flag up in my books as they would most likely try and pressure me into commiting into a package deal.

How To Get Rid of Whiteheads

As disgusting as it is whiteheads are on of the most common skin problems there are. People are looking for cures and information on how to get rid of whiteheads.

There are 2 schools of thought on getting rid of whiteheads once they’ve appeared. The first is Popping them, although not recommended by dermatologists popping the whitehead is the quickest fix.

There are a few drawback to this though. Scarring for one and infection of the pores around the whitehead, which can lead to even more whiteheads.

If you do plan on popping the whitehead make sure that you are using a sterile instrument (i.e sewing needle) and after the white is popped cleaning the surrounding area is very important. Using a cotton ball soaked in benzoyl peroxide seems to work well.

The second method is to use topical lotions to clean and dry out infected area. There are quite a few over the counter products that can do this, Pro-activ seems to be the most popular one. Keep in mind that the results are not instant and can take up to 4-6 weeks to work depending on how severe the problem is.

For really serious problems with whiteheads you should see a professional dermatologist that can prescribe a stronger medicated solution. (Rentol A or Accutane are the most common).

Prevention
Preventing whiteheads from coming back should be your main goal so that you don’t have to keep dealing with the stress that dealing with these things can cause. Trust me when I say that stress can cause more breakouts, I know first hand.

Your first step is to get a good face wash for whiteheads and use it daily. Keeping your pores clean is essential as dead skin and bacteria are the biggest causes of whiteheads.

2 other tips I can offer you are to stop touching your face so much. Think about where your hands have been throughout the day, by touching your face or scratching the infected areas you are just going to spread the bacteria and make the situation worse. So keep your hands down.

The other tip is to really watch what you are eating. A lot of people say that the food you eat doesn’t have an effect on the number of whiteheads you get, but I think that is BS. Greasy, fat laden food will clog your pores.

Have you ever noticed that people who eat oily types food like garlic, curry, a lot of fish etc.. can smell like the foods they ate for days afterwards? Is comes from your pores and too much of it can clog them, which as you know causes whiteheads.