AdSense has changed many of our lives for the better.

I struggled to make money with my Web site business for many years after starting it in 1998. My income depended on having clients. When clients left, my income dropped.

Then, a couple of years ago, my friend Joel Comm introduced me to AdSense. Specifically, what he did was show me how to use it effectively to generate steady income.

The result has been an income that has trended upwardly over the last two years from a few sites I own that have modest traffic. If I can get that traffic higher, the bucks will REALLY flow in. But in the meantime, I enjoy a nice three-figure monthly income for doing, essentially, nothing!

Well, the Master of AdSense has done it again. Check out today’s Family First site: Instant AdSense Templates VRE Building System.

Joel, as he is wont to do, has discovered yet another way to cash in with AdSense: virtual real estate.

AdSense has a few bad actors out there who get themselves in trouble with Google. Some of these jokers even offer their tactics for sale. That’s fine, if you want to get yourself banned from the program.

But Joel takes you on the high road. His suggestions will not only increase your AdSense revenue, they will increase your overall Web site traffic. And friends, increased Web site traffic is good for everybody.

Here’s how Joel describes what he’s offering:

Instant AdSense Templates VRE Building System is a collection of Web site templates and tools specifically designed to put you on the fast track to online success! As you’re about to discover, these aren’t like the templates you’ve seen in the past. The objective of Instant AdSense Templates is to help you easily and effectively set up a collection of your OWN Web sites with your OWN content, and of course… to pull in your OWN huge paychecks from multiple online revenue streams!

And they WORK! Check out the happy testimonials of those he has helped get serious AdSense revenue.

And count ME among his happy customers.

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on FamilyFirst.com? Click here to suggest a site to FamilyFirst.com!

Tags: family first, instant adsense templates, vre building system, joel comm

Regular Family First readers know how much I loooooooooove cooking. I enjoy slipping a cooking site in as a pick from time And today, we’re putting one up for exhibit with a twist: It lets you cook with what you already have in your kitchen! No running to the supermarket!

The site is called Cooking By Numbers.

You begin by selecting what you already have in your fridge and cupboard. Then, recipes are cranked out with what you have on hand! Cool, huh?

How about making your own potato chips with light vegetable oil? Much healthier and more delicious than what you get in a bag. Just slice them with a peeler, douse them in oil, and lay them on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees.

Delicious, healthy, and easy. Now that’s my kind of cookin’!

My ingredients generated well over a hundred great recipes. More ingredients means more recipes, so make sure and log in after a trip to the grocery store for some real fun!

So the next time you have the blues because your cupboard is starting to look bare, go to Cooking By Numbers, punch in your meager holdings, and be amazed at what delicious dishes you can produce with them.

Man, I’m getting hungry. I’m gonna go do some cooking.

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on FamilyFirst.com? Click here to suggest a site to FamilyFirst.com!

Tags: family first, cooking by numbers, chef, cuisine, kitchen, culinary

I’ve done business with lots of folks over the years. By far, the majority have been reputable, honest folks who gave me what I was owed.

However, there have been a few bad apples in the mix as well. They are the ones who make you leery of doing business with the next guy.

Word of mouth among friends and acquaintances is an effective way to spread the word about the losers. But it’s far from the best way. Word doesn’t get out far enough.

Today’s Family First site strives to solve that problem. It’s called Rip-Off Report. Here’s its mission:

We created the Rip-Off report for everyday consumers who are concerned about being cheated. The Rip-Off report allows YOU, the consumer, to be armed with the opinions and comments of your fellow consumers. Browse the Rip-Off reports for free! Be shocked, be dismayed, but most of all, be informed. The data contained in this site will allow you to make enlightened decisions when dealing with companies and individuals. While it must be understood that the statements made in these reports are not guaranteed to be accurate, this site can be a powerful tool in making decisions and choosing whom you want to do business with.

My take on the site? There are a whole lot of people out there getting ripped off. It’s almost depressing. But word is getting out.

Contemplating doing business with a company? It might be a good idea to do a search on them here. Reading through the comments, it should become clear if there is a real problem with the company or if it’s a matter of an individual who has simply failed to pursue a legitimate refund properly.

There is a lot of raw emotion here. There is also good information. Since all comments are posted, you’ll have to do some digging to separate one from another. One thing’s for sure: it’s fascinating.

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: rip-off report, family first, consumer protection, scam, word of mouth

At presstime, I’m watching my beloved St. Louis Cardinals do battle with San Diego.

I don’t expect my Birds to go the distance this year, but I’m sure in the mood to be pleasantly surprised.

Anyhoo, I thought it would be appropriate to pick a baseball site for today’s Family First pick. And not only is it a baseball site, it’s a tribute to, IMHO, the greatest player ever to play the game. However, since he never played for any teams from New York, Boston, or Los Angeles, he remains, despite his obvious greatness, somewhat obscure.

The greatest baseball player in history is one Henry Aaron. Today’s Family First pick is his official Hall of Fame tribute.

I have to tell you, it makes me physically ill when barry bonds (intentionally uncapitalized) continues to evade justice. When he signs with Steinbrenner next year, he will no doubt break Hank’s vaunted record that should have stood for many more years. He will do so (a) with the help of the American League’s idiotic DH rule and (b) despite having admitted in court to taking steroids.

His court testimony stated that he took a substance under his tongue that he thought was mineral oil. Oh darn, it turns out to be steroids that his evil trainer slipped him.

Humanity, are we stupid enough to believe that?

The worst part is that the courageous authors who exposed his court testimony are, at presstime, facing incarceration for publishing the details of bond’s trial testimony. His trainer, too, sits in the hoosegow for refusing to testify against this scofflaw.

Here’s to you, Hammerin’ Hank. May history eventually give you the justice of being the all time home run champion, no DH, no steroids.

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: henry aaron, hank aaron, baseball, home run, hall of fame, barry bonds scandal, family first

Awwwww, isn’t that cute?

That’s right, cuteness can be overbearing. Remember the old classic SNL routine about Gidget’s disease? Adults acting so cute that you, in the sanitized words of Jane Curtin, wanted to regurgitate.

Well, cuteness can also be fun in the right doses. How much is too much? That’s up to the beholder. But one thing’s for sure: You can get all the cuteness you want at today’s Family First site.

It’s called Cute Overload. Mission follows:

At Cute Overload, we scour the Web for only the finest in cute imagery. Imagery that is worth your Internet browsing time. We offer an overwhelming amount of cuteness to fill your daily visual allowance. Drink it in!

So, how do you like your cute? Puppies? Check out the Pups section. See cute little cocker spaniels, beagles, poms, poodles, and seals. Yeah, that’s right, seals have pups, too! I particularly enjoyed the YouTube offering of the cat that adopted the cocker puppies. Bizarre.

Are bunnies your weakness? Well, have a blast. There are enough bunnies here to overload your cute-o-mometer.

Pocket pets are, as you might expect, pets in pockets.

Even products can be cute. Witness the Japanese chrysanthemum poodles.

I predict that you’ll say at least once “Awwwwwwwww, isn’t that cute?” Have fun.

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: cute overload, family first, puppies, kittens, gidget’s disease

I guess I’m pretty green.

By that, I mean I lean strongly towards doing whatever we need to do to protect the environment. I don’t eat organic food, I don’t have a solar-powered house, and I’m not a vegan. But I grew up in the NW Arkansas/NE Oklahoma area, and I appreciate being outdoors in beautiful country that’s pristine.

When I was a kid in the late ’60s, you could drink any cold spring water you found. Not anymore. Thanks to hog and chicken farms, there is bacteria in the groundwater. Even deep wells require chlorination. Thank you, Tyson’s.

Anyhow, I respect the environment, but I’m not what you might call a fanatic. And I suspect that the majority of folks out there, at least the ones who get to visit the great outdoors from time to time, are pretty much the same way.

Today’s Family First site should be just right, then. It’s called Ideal Bite. Here’s its mission:

Like most people, you probably lack the time and tools to make green-shopping decisions. There’re simply not enough hours in the day as it is, never mind having to learn about which products are environmentally friendly - and which aren’t. We can help. The Ideal Bite provides insight and inspiration, level-headed advice, and cool tools to take action for people like you - who aspire to align their everyday actions with their personal values.

As they say, small changes add up. Just buying an environmentally friendly product or two each trip to the store helps. So does shopping online at its eco-friendly store.

So start thinking green with today’s Family First site. It’s okay, take baby steps.

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: ideal bite, environmentally friendly, green, pristine wilderness, eco friendly

Everybody hates having to learn stuff, right?

Well, of course not. But many folks hated school and remain determined to avoid learning as much as possible.

That’s because the school environment was wrong for them. They didn’t find it fun.

Well, with today’s Family First site, you will find yourself learning the fun way. It’s called The Free Dictionary. Here’s what it’s all about:

TheFreeDictionary.com, together with TheFreeLibrary.com, is the world’s most comprehensive online database of reference information. It’s a multi-dictionary/encyclopedia search engine with a customizable portal feature. Our goal is to become the best reference site on the Web, and we aim to meet all of your research/information needs.

What can you find at this incredible site? A dictionary. A thesaurus. Specialized dictionaries, including computing, medical, legal, and financial. Acronyms and idioms. Word of the day. Quote of the day. Article of the day. Today’s news. And killer word games.

Are you getting the picture? You’ll want to bookmark this site (and maybe make it your home page) for the next time you need to know something!

The front page is customizable, too. Create your own content to feel at home.

So have fun learning something at today’s Family First site!

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: thefreedictionary.com, thefreelibrary.com, fun in education, family first

My wife and I have something in common. We both snore.

We’ve long grown accustomed to it, and the wakee will roll the waker off their back. Problem solved.

However, snoring can be a big problem. It can develop into sleep apnea, a potentially serious health issue. And if one partner already has a problem with insomnia, being awakened by a snorer can be very frustrating.

So what’s the solution?

Well, today’s Family First site just might be of help.

It’s called How to Stop Snoring. It presents information about how to make that blasted night music go away permanently.

The suggestions offered here vary from skipping that bedtime glass of warm milk (it tends to close the throat) to undergoing uvulopalatoplasty. Now don’t tell me you’ve never heard of THAT.

You can peruse all the info at the site in about ten minutes if you’re a fast reader like me.

It’s mostly just good old common sense. I didn’t see any groundbreaking news flashes. But it’s good stuff, and if you follow it, the snoring should decrease.

So if sawing logs is a problem at your house, pop in and see if you might get some help at today’s Family First site!

Tags: snoring, snore, sleep, sleeping, family first, how to stop snoring, sawing logs, apnea, uvulopalatoplasty, night music

I’ve been running a Web site business on the side since 1998. It’s been a fun, profitable venture.

One thing I’ve learned is to find a good hosting service and stick with it.

I signed up with some funky Italian service in 1998, and ended up threatening it with exposure on Family First if it didn’t refund my prorated annual fee after it reneged on our original agreement. (The company caved.)

A programmer I had hired to build me a shopping cart recommended Bluehill Communications (now 4Domains.com). Well, I’ve been with it since 1999, and recently upgraded to a fully dedicated server.

It’s nice developing long-term relationships. Pretty soon you’re on first-name basis with the folks you’re dealing with. That’s a good thing.

Not only that, but a good company will make you reluctant to deal with the hassles of moving Web sites. Believe me, while being highly portable, the tweaking involved in moving sites to different servers will make you pull your hair out. That’s why I’m known as the bald guy!

So while most of you probably don’t run Web site businesses, the minority of you who do should pay special attention to today’s Family First site: 4Domains.

Profit is the bottom line. Your profit depends on uptime, easy-to-reach tech support who will help you put out fires, and a reasonable fee.

Speaking from seven years of experience, 4Domains provides all three. I heartily recommend it.

Have comments? Want to see what others have to say about this story? Join the discussion here!

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: web business, family first, web host, 4domains, bluehill communications

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

Poor Richard lived in an era when it was possible to be neither. However, times have changed. It is virtually impossible to live today without borrowing money.

An investment that most of us will make is a mortgage. And in the world of mortgages, the principle of caveat emptor applies, more so than in many other business transactions.

The problem lies with lenders who are less than straightforward about what they do. Unfortunately, they are out there, and the ethical businesses despise them as much as consumers do.

So what does the smart borrower do before making a commitment? He checks out potential lenders.

A great aid in doing so is today’s Family First site. It’s entitled Loan Tactics. It’s powered by a group of mortgage brokers, processors, realtors, and underwriters who hate to see people get ripped off. Here’s what they offer in their own words:

Knowing how busy people’s lives are, we declined writing a tell-all book about the business. It may not only be boring, but it would be a overload of information, it’s like reading a book on flying while piloting a plane. We thought of newsletters, but that would defeat the purpose because it would give hints to vultures, or the people inside our own business. So we came up with the best choice for our customers and our passion, a 24/7 hour correspondence help desk. It would allow us to let off some steam, practice our craft, and help those who want a better deal but don’t know how to get it.

The sad fact is that unscrupulous lenders misrepresent how much your closing costs and interest rates will be. How do they get away with it? Clever advertising. Telling you what you want to hear. Neglecting to tell you essential facts you need to know.

So spend some time here and get a vital education. The next time you borrow money, know what to look for to ensure that you are dealing with an ethical broker.

Have comments? Want to see what others have to say about this story? Join the discussion here!

Do you have a Web site that you want reviewed on Family First.com? Click here to suggest a site to Family First.com!

Tags: scam, family first, consumer, investment, poor richard, loan tactics, ethical business

Man, the things you learn on the Internet.

Did you know Britney Spears was an expert in a rather specialized science?

Today’s Family First site is called Britney’s Guide to Semiconductor Physics. Here’s its mission in a nutshell:
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When I was a younger man, I used to relish taking photos.

I had a Minolta fully manual SLR that I used to create some pretty decent slides. I used to love walking out on an overcast day (when the colors were fully saturated) and just start shooting. Since Kodachrome was my film of choice, I have slides that should still be sharp and accurate in color many years from now.

Well, things have radically changed since 1985. Nowadays, digital SLRs are where it’s at. And today’s Family First site will give you the very latest on what’s hot in photography.
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“Start spreadin’ the news… cause I’m leavin’ today…”

I can’t start a writeup about a New York site without imaging the Great Man singing one of my all time favorites.

That’s right, today we shine our spotlight on the Big Apple. But we’re shining it places that you might not normally visit.

You see, the site is called Forgotten New York. Intrigued? Here’s what it’s all about, in the words of its creator:
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I’ve read a lot of books. And I would estimate that 75% of them were of the paperback variety.

I just don’t have a lot of spare room for a big library of hardbound books. But you can keep a whole slew of paperbacks in a cardboard box in the garage.

Plus, I generally treat myself to a Grisham offering when I go out of town for business purposes. I don’t want to carry a big heavy book on the plane.
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Ah, the back yard.

We love our backyards. We put all sorts of things back there. Pools, barbecues, hot tubs, fountains, caves…

Hold on a minute. CAVES?

Today’s Family First site offers you the opportunity to learn how to create artificial rocks, so that you can create your own caves, landscaping, flowerbeds, altars, whatever you wish!
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Are you ready for a site that’s going to make you scratch your chin and say “hmmm…?”

The site is called Prosper. It’s all about peer-to-peer money loaning and borrowing.

Here’s how it works: You need a loan. You post how much you wish to borrow, what interest you’d be willing to pay, and for how long. Your request goes into the system.
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Our Family First site today
May delight you or maybe dismay
Its theme, you discern
Is that poetry spurned
It’s limericks! What can I say?

Yes, today’s Family First site is called OEDILF: The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form.
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How common is your surname? Have you ever wondered?

Well, if your name is Smith, it’s pretty common indeed. Smith is the commonest name, owned by over 1% of Americans.

But what if you’re a Schwartz? You’re number 323.

A Kowalski, perhaps? 2066.
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I have a pretty darned nice stereo system in my car. It’s a multimedia player that handles all sorts of formats, including standard and mp3 CDs as well as having a USB port so I can copy eight hours of music onto a 512 MB flash drive straight from my computer. It’s cool stuff!

However, if you travel back in time to the early 1970s, there was one format. Not everyone had players in their cars for it, and the ones that did loved it. I’m speaking of the venerable eight-track tape.
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Today, I stumbled into this incredibly cool site that was an instant Family First pick.

What it has are paper models of everything from Wrigley Field to a Delorean, with anything you can imagine in between.

The site is called PaperToys. You print out the paper templates, cut them out, and glue them together. Voila! Instant, three-dimensional paper toys!
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