Image by thinkpanama

John sits in his cushioned chair, takes a sip of his steaming coffee, and tells himself “I will try to keep an open mind and see the logic to Justin Ewers of U.S.News latest blog article reprinted in the Yahoo! Real Estate section.”

In case you don’t click over to read the article, Justin’s post suggests to us that renting a house and investing your monthly savings may be a better investment than investing in owning your own home.

This sparked a challenge in my head. Which investment is truly better?

I have broken Justin’s article down to 3 main quotes from his article that I will comment on in regards to this idea.

The Challenge

Ok, so you’re not a trained real estate investor and you want to know if there’s any truth to Justin’s article showing how renting can be a better investment than owning.

Do you think this house would sell quickly?

If you’re a normal homebuyer, the statement I’m about to make may shock you.

Price is of little importance when it comes to making a profit in real estate.

“Oh no he didn’t,” I’m sure you’re saying right about now.

Understand this, price is just a number. Price is not the deciding factor on whether you’re going to make a profit in real estate investing or not. Price is something every day homebuyers worry about. For them, it’s about spending the least amount of money, usually looking at monthly payments, and hoping to close the deal with a little equity under their belt.

For a seasoned investor, their only concern is making a profit - that’s it, plain and simple. It doesn’t matter if you spend more or less money as long as the endgame results in an increase of net worth.

For the past month or so I have been using a desktop client for Google Reader called, Google’s ReadAir to efficiently read all my RSS feeds.

It’s still in the development stage but thus far I’ve had no problems with it whatsoever.

For those of you who read a lot of RSS feeds at once, this is a great option that can reduce the amount of time skimming through your feeds and clicking on headlines that catch your eye. It’s as easy as reading your emails.

Google Reader and ReadAir Are In Sync

One nice feature about Google ReadAir is that it’s connected to your Google Reader.

So if you still like using your Google Reader and add or delete a subscription here or there, that’s fine, ReadAir and Reader stay in sync (in reality they are the same account).

Installation

To install, you first have to download and install Adobe Air. Once that’s installed, you can download and install ReadAir.

Image by Swansea Photographer

Just a quick note for those of you who own websites that may collect personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.

If your website is directed at and collects information from children under 13, you must comply with Federal Trade Commission and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

It basically says that you need to get guardian consent before collecting information (name, address, phone, etc.) and give some options.

From their website -

The Rule requires operators (website owners) to:

• Post a privacy policy on the homepage of the Web site and link to the privacy policy on every page where personal information is collected.
• Provide notice about the site’s information collection practices to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children.
• Give parents a choice as to whether their child’s personal information will be disclosed to third parties.

Image by Hysterical Bertha

A while back I went through the Publisher’s Clearing House process online to register to win a million dollars.

Yes it’s a long shot and no I don’t normally sign up for these kinds of contests, I guess I was bored and figured, why not?

A little while into it I began to notice how I was skipping through all the advertisement pages offering magazine subscriptions. They were there, I saw them, but I didn’t look at them. All I wanted to do was get to the end of the registration process and cross my fingers for a million.

Being that so many people register to win the million, I’d be willing to bet a large number of registrants to the contest really don’t care about ordering magazines. Like me, they keep clicking until the page says, “Enter Your Name Here.”

Once I noticed how I was skipping through to the end, I started analyzing the blind marketing system these magazine companies are doing.

As the owner of a web hosting company, I spend a lot of time networking online and answering a lot of questions. Because we are not as big a name as say, Yahoo Web Hosting, I try my best to make sure we provide a little more personal service and help to our customers when it comes to setting up their website and promoting it.

Anyone who has followed my blog for awhile now knows I’m always telling entrepreneurs that you have to read between the lines of what people are telling you.

People often times either don’t really know what it is they really want or they don’t say what they really mean.

As an example, I find people online asking about web hosting. One person asked which web host is a good one that will also help her with her website. She doesn’t know much about setting up blogs and forums but she really wants a site that has a blog, forum, and image gallery on it.

Image by carf

Photos on your website are a great way to convey a message or tell an instant story to your website’s visitor.

These photos are part of your sales tools.

Of course if you have products you’re selling, you should include pictures. But I’m talking about pictures that tell a story to your visitor. The ones that spark emotional responses.

Be sure, however, the picture will convey the response you want your visitor to have. A poorly lit, slightly out of focus, or too busy photo may give your visitor a confused feeling. I have a saying which if you follow my blog and forum posts, you’ll probably see quite often: a confused mind always says no.

Pictures Of Faces

One of the most powerful photographs you can use to tell a story are pictures of faces. Perhaps it’s because we can relate to people and can read their expression and reminisce about times we’ve had that face.