Five years of UnderstandingSociety

This week represents the end of the fifth year of the UnderstandingSociety blog. Writing the blog continues to be a source of great intellectual growth for me, not least because it has led me to read and discuss books and articles I wouldn't otherwise have encountered. Readers have often suggested sources I hadn't previously known about, and the result is often a new perspective on a new problem for me.  For example, this week I've been directed to Francis Haskell's History and Its Images: Art and the Interpretation of the Past and John Dittmer's Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. New topics for me in the past year include polarization of the electorate, strategic action fields, neighborhood effects in cities, the market for ethnicity, the sociology of ideas, and identity economics.

The blog has now grown to almost 750 posts on a range of topics about social knowledge and the social world. (That amounts to about 750,000 words.) The range of topics has a certain amount of internal consistency over time; topics like Chinese history, microfoundations, historiography, meso-level causation, and the American civil rights movement recur over time, so it is possible to follow one set of ideas through a number of posts. At the same time, some topics that were extensively discussed in earlier years are no longer on the radar -- heterogeneity and plasticity of the social world, for example.

Each year the distribution of topics seems to change significantly. For a while there were a great many posts on the philosophy of history; then there were a number of posts on Rawls and political theory. Philosophy of social science topics have always been a frequent part of the blog, but other topics rise and fall in frequency.  In the past year the largest group of posts have been on various aspects of sociology and sociological theory (18%), followed by social critique of inequalities and racism (15%), philosophy of social science (10%), philosophy of history (6%), and China (6%).  The labels and categories help readers to find related posts on subjects of interest to them. And the search function helps to locate earlier discussions of a given point or author.

Readership has continued to expand -- thanks, readers! -- with about 2,800 subscribers and 2,600 followers on Twitter and Facebook. There are about 80,000-100,000 page views per month, or about one million page views per year. And the readership continues to be pretty international, with visits from over 160 countries in the past year. Readers from the US represent 60% of visits, UK (12%), Canada (7%), Australia (4%), India (4%), Philippines (3%), Germany (3%), France (2%), and the Netherlands (1.4%).

So thanks for reading, and please continue to comment occasionally and suggest other points of view and other sources that you think valuable! If I have one specific goal for the coming year, it is to find some ways of increasing the amount of engagement with readers that takes place on the blog and in the Twitter and Facebook streams. Facebook in particular is a good environment for creating some exchanges about ideas, applications, and examples of social phenomena from other places (link). It would be very interesting, for example, for readers in Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, France, and Japan to offer their own descriptions of the systems of race and ethnicity that are at work in creating inequalities across social groups in those countries. This is what I tried to do in an entry on the racial system of Jim Crow in the United States (link); are there similar systems in other countries?

Importance of PPC in Online Marketing

 If you are new to online marketing, you might find PPC marketing a bit complicated. There is a general assumption that this is a complicated process. As soon as you understand the basics, you will realise that it is not only easy but an interesting way to generate traffic for your website. The best way to understand PPC advertising is through consulting an expert. There are numerous professionals in online marketing and they can be of great assistance especially if you are new to internet marketing. Of course most professionals will charge a consultation fee but you can be sure that it is worth every single penny. PPC will increase your overall revenue and you will enjoy more profits.

What is PPC Advertising?
Before looking at the significance of PPC advertising, it is good to have a basic understanding of what it is. In a nutshell, PPC is an acronym for pay per click and it is an online based marketing strategy that is based on advertisements in form of text.  Once you have created your advert in text format, it is placed on search engines and anyone who clicks on the text is directed to your website. You will be required to pay for every person that clicks on your advertisement and this is where it derived its name from. You will only pay for the total number of people that are directed to your site through the ad.

Importance of PPC
When it comes to online marketing, the main purpose is to reach out to as many people as possible and PPC is able to do this easily. You will find all sorts of people landing on your website. As more people visit your site, you will enjoy many benefits. Besides generating revenue from the traffic that you attract to your website, you will also have a great opportunity of interacting with many people that you can convert into clients. When you increase the number of clients in your database, you will definitely grow your business revenue to a higher margin.

Fast Traffic
Pay per click advertising is one of the fastest ways to make money using your website.  In most cases, it is known for immediate results and it is believed to generate traffic faster than other forms of advertising and marketing. It is also cost effective since you will only pay for the visitors that land on your website.

How to Make Money Online From Home

 The current downward trend of economies across the globe has led to the loss of traditional employment opportunities and a need for many people to supplement income. This coupled with the growth of the World Wide Web has given rise to numerous online methods of making money. The majority of the methods for making money can be carried out from the comfort of your own home.  When working from home, you can make money online through several ways.

Selling Products and Services
This is one of the most common of online home businesses. These businesses concentrate on homemade items that are sold online. Products range from jewellery to mats to arts and crafts and other decorative items. Food items like muffins can also be sold online. Services sold online include graphic design, events management and social media management. Online market places like eBay and Etsy make it easier for entrepreneurs to sell products and services online.

Freelancing
Freelancing is using your given set of skills, talents, knowledge or education to work as an independent contractor. You will get paid depending on your particular job set. Some common freelancing jobs include virtual assistants, writers, photographers, graphic designers and social media specialists. There are websites that has specific opportunities for freelancers. Odesk, elance and EJury are some good examples of sites with freelance opportunities.

Creating a Website
Creating a website will give you a chance to showcase different talents that you possess while making money. Most websites owned by individuals are niche based. A niche website can provide information through articles or other media like videos and photos. The website can also be   monetized to generate income. The most common monetizing methods include affiliate marketing, Google AdSense ads, advertising and job boards. However, for a website to make money it should attract high traffic.

Writing and Selling an eBook
This is one of the more rare methods used by people to make money online. However, it is also one of the most productive methods. All you need to do is to write about what you know. You then publish and market the book to make sales. Furthermore, an eBook can be used together with other monetizing methods to attract traffic.

Even though there are numerous methods of making money online, they all need hard work and a level of patience to get any results. Also it is important to create a brand name for working online from home is like running a business.

How to Make Money Online with Niche Marketing

Niche marketing targets a specific subset within a market. As such, it is a tricky way of making money online. It requires a lot of calculations and in some cases, not putting all your eggs in one basket. Many call it a hit and miss method of earning. However, with the right information and strategies you can make money online with niche marketing.

Choose a Suitable Niche
This is perhaps the most important part in making money with a niche website. The niche you select will either make or break your marketing strategy. To get the best niche to work with, you have to consider several factors:

i)    What you know about the niche- this is vital because the information you will act as a traffic attractant. The more information you have on the niche the more interesting the content will be.
ii)    Your passion- your passion will seep through to your work. If you are passionate about a topic, your audience will know about it and keep reading or buying your products.
iii)    Market saturation- a niche that is highly saturated will have a low demand. A rare niche on the other hand will be more attractive to more readers due to higher demand.

Monetizing Methods
These are methods that will attract money to your site or page. Monetizing methods will use the traffic that your site gets. Some common monetizing methods include affiliate marketing and Google AdSense ads. It is important to ensure that the methods you use on your site or page are complementary to the particular niche. It is also vital to select the products within the niche with utmost care. After all, you need high quality products that will attract more customers or cultivate repeat customers.

Market
As the name suggests, niche marketing requires aggressive marketing strategies. Marketing will let people know of your site or pages and the available products. Social media marketing, paid advertising and banners are some of the most attractive marketing strategies. Giving free stuff is another way that will attract people to the niche site.

Like any other form of business, niche marketing requires dedication, innovation and hard work. It also requires patience as it takes time to actually make any money. However, once established it is a decent income generator.

How To Choose The Ideal Dog Breeds For Kids

The Ideal Dog Breeds For Kids

Determining that happen to be the ideal dog breeds for kids is very important. If you have kids, you are going to need to choose the ideal dog breeds, as not all the dogs are tolerant and patient for kids. There are plenty of diverse breeds to select from and it may be difficult final decision to make. Here are the numbers of items you'll need to take into consideration in the event you are seeking an ideal dog breed for kids.

 When you are searching for a relatives dog get an excellent, hard evaluation of your lifestyle. Question you the amount of time you can dedicate to your new canine companion. You are going to need to be able to pay time with both the dog and kids making sure that the pet learn respectful, good conduct round the kids.

 Certainly, the way you prepare, treat and get treatment of one does dog will ascertain the interaction using the youngsters. You are going to must train your dog what is the right behavior when round the young children. The socialization and obedience teaching must start out from earlier from the time. You require give them a good education and educate every one of the very good residence manners. You may need to select the breeds are rather simple to educate and so are fantastic with other pets in the majority of circumstances.

Dimension is yet another consideration. In which would you are living? Do you want a large dimension of dog? If you need to possess large dimensions of pet dog, you should have got major yards for them to exercising. Dogs really like huge yards with place to operate but can master with many daily walks and no property. Some minor breed, they continue to will just take up the space.

 Features of dog breeds. For those who are searching for a loved one’s pet that should require a very good, hard review within your lifestyle. Your truly have to investigate with regards to their temperament, history and exercise amount before you actually provide them home. You should come across for a tolerant, amicable and calm dog who will manage the stress in the modest kids should really be number one top priority.

If you have kids with allergic reactions within your loved ones, you actually should choose awareness to find an appropriate breed for your young children. There are actually definitely no such factor as non-allergy dogs, only they are really drop quite a lot less breed. The following are the couple breeds which can be ideal for whose are allergy-sufferers, which can be bichon frise, havanese, golden doodle, Maltese, poodle plus more.

Maybe you ought to review just about every breed temperament prior to making a daily life extensive conclusion. Regardless of whether that you are carry back again from shelter, or acquire from the breeder, that you are seriously really need to realize their individuality just before you bring them house. There's also the ideal dog breeds for kids depending on the way of living they might be able to fit in on your life style. Remember, dogs can unintentionally harm youngsters and also small children can also confuse poodles with comfortable toys as a result injuring them- frequently fatally. So, you need to choose of an acceptable dog for homes with children are of significant benefits.

Chihuahua Dog Breed Report Tips

Chihuahua Dog Breed 

Description:Owning the variance of becoming the smallest breed of dog, the Chihuahua dog breed will typically weigh only 2 to six kilos at maturity. On the shoulder, the Chihuahua will likely be 6 to 9 inches. The Chihuahua contains a trim create, spherical head, small muzzle, and huge, upright ears. This pet has two coat versions - sleek (quick), and prolonged. The coat can show quite a few colors, however the most typical are sand, a gentle fawn, black, red, or black and tan.

Background: There are several theories concerning the origin in the Chihuahua. By far the most commonly adhered to track record idea is the breed originated solely in Mexico from a native pet identified as the Techichi. Consequently, this pet dog was refined initial by the Toltecs, and then from the Aztecs to the pet dog we have been familiar with now. The Chihuahua was utilized in spiritual rituals by both of those of such peoples.

Yet another college of thought believes that the Chihuahua witnessed its birth on Malta, a Mediterranean island. Frescoes in Italy displaying small dogs similar to the Chihuahua predate Columbus' voyage on the New Environment. Spaniards sailing later to Mexico brought lots of puppies with them; undoubtedly this compact puppy was carried throughout the sea in addition. It's pretty feasible this little European dog crossed with all the Techichi to provide the Chihuahua dog breed.

Temperament: Whilst the Chihuahua is a really sweet and affectionate pet, it's not necessarily an excellent pet dog with compact young children. Chihuahuas commonly bond to one man or woman, and may be indifferent or perhaps jealous with other house members. They are usually great with older small children that are in a position to be familiar with the dog's needs. Chihuahuas really like to get the center of attention and have to have a lot of interaction with their operator. They're generally merry, cheerful little pet dogs and make fantastic companions. The Chihuahua enjoys the company of other Chihuahuas.

Wellness Problems: Whilst the Chihuahua is subject matter to varied genetic issues, it is just a long-lived puppy and might typically reach 16 many years of age. Chihuahua's are born using a delicate spot, the molera, inside the top rated in the skull. The small pet from Malta also had this problem. The molera usually disappears to be the pet dog grows, but if it persists, extraordinary care should be exercised to avoid blows for the head.

Chihuahua's tooth normally current decay difficulties and will be checked by a veterinarian regularly. Their gums can also become inflamed. Very low blood sugar, a most likely life-threatening situation, can occur. If this ailment is current, compact, regular meals are best. The protruding eyes must be kept cleanse and this dog may perhaps be subject to glaucoma.

Grooming: In a natural way, the long-haired Chihuahua has more grooming requirements as opposed to short-haired. The long-coated puppy must be brushed each individual working day using a gentle brush. The short-haired Chihuahua requires only occasional brushing. A regular monthly bath will reward the Chihuahua.

Residing Problems: The Chihuahua dog breed is strictly a home puppy. This breed cannot tolerate cold by any means and should be kept hot in winter months. Sweaters or coats should be placed on the Chihuahua whenever the dog should go exterior in cold climate.

Make Money Online with YouTube?

It seems that everywhere you look on Google these days YouTube videos are starting to outrank normal everyday websites!

My own personal thoughts are that this cannot last...Why you may ask?

...well my theory goes along the lines of...

"Why would Google have bought YouTube for $1.65 billion dollars if all they were going to do was swamp their own search engine with videos!"

Are you with me?

Let's see who's right :-)

Either way you cannot get away from the fact that "Right Here, Right Now" ranking YouTube videos has never been easier...

...and with that in mind I want to share with you a FANTASTIC FREE REPORT called...
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Do let me know what you think by leaving a comment below...by clicking here...