Filed under: Power of Planning

You always remember to change the oil in your car … when the red warning light comes on. You get diligent about flossing … when the dentist mails the reminder postcard to make an appointment for your six-month checkup. So consider this article your warning light/postcard to get ready for your midyear money review.

With six months of earning, saving, and spending under your belt, you’ve got plenty of data to project how 2012 is going to play out. So let’s lift the hood on your finances and…

Your 7-Step Midyear Money Checkup originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-19T05:00:00Z.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Los Angeles Lakers 99, Oklahoma City Thunder 96 (Thunder lead series 2-1)

Game 1 was the blowout, the startling realization that the Oklahoma City Thunder remained a championship-level force to be reckoned with, even after a week-long layoff. Game 2 was the ugly nail-biter, the one that Los Angeles let get away. Game 3? It wasn’t perfect. But it was fantastic, end-to-end playoff basketball.

There were quibbles, to be sure. Thunder coach Scott Brooks probably shouldn’t have left Derek Fisher try to guard Kobe Bryant after Kobe’s entrance in the fourth quarter; Kevin Durant will get criticism for the pass he made (to Serge Ibaka, in the game’s third-to-last possession); Ibaka will get criticism for the pass he didn’t make (to Durant or Russell Westbrook with the Thunder down three with three seconds left); and Kobe Bryant’s ability to goad referee Marc Davis into putting him at the line on a phantom foul late in the fourth quarter. There were mistakes.

[Photos: Lakers get back in series with win over Thunder]

Kobe, though, earned just about every other trip to the line. He hit double-figure free-throw attempts by the end of the third quarter, and did not fall victim to the low-percentage looks down the stretch like he did late in Game 2 (save for one instance, that led directly to OKC going up five in the middle of the fourth as Kobe admired his follow through). One drive and score over both Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka in the fourth probably saved Los Angeles’ season. Whine all you want over the Lakers shooting 42 free throws and Kobe hitting 18 of 18, but by my count he earned all but four of those 18 (both on phantom fouls versus James Harden), and the Lakers earned this win.

Andrew Bynum was fantastic defensively, hedging and moving bodies on the interior, making up for a tough night from the floor (2 for 13) by playing so well on the other end and hitting 11 free throws of his own. Pau Gasol was once again given afterthought status, but still added a team-high (tied with Kobe) six assists, with Los Angeles dishing an assist on 14 of the its 16 first-half baskets.

The Thunder have some rotation issues to work through. Derek Fisher entered the game early (just six minutes in) because Brooks wasn’t happy with Russell Westbrook’s energy level to start the game, and that was probably a good move. But eventually playing James Harden only 29 minutes and letting Fisher get burned on Bryant’s two warm-up jumpers in the fourth quarter was a misstep. Westbrook still has an astonishing two turnovers in 96 combined minutes of play in this series, but he also managed to create only one assist for a teammate on Friday.

And yet, there they were. Kevin Durant with a 3-pointer to tie it with just a few ticks left, just a little to the side.

As much as we dug this game, it’s unfortunate we’ll have to see these two teams suit up again on Saturday night, because a back-to-back (and Los Angeles’ 11th game in 20 days) rarely produces a good batch of basketball on the second end — even dating back to the 1990s in non-lockout years. Three games in, and with just 21 hours separating the final buzzer from the opening tipoff of Game 4, these teams are probably just all adjusted out. They know what they have to do.

And we know what we have to do. Watch.

***

Philadelphia 76ers 92, Boston Celtics 83 (series tied 2-2)

If I told you before the Sixers and Celtics tipped off on Friday night that the 76ers would win by a 92-69 score, you’d probably be a little surprised — especially considering Boston’s dominant turn in Game 3. But it certainly wouldn’t have been the craziest idea, considering how Boston’s offense can come and go, and that the 76ers were working in the midst of a must-win situation.

If I point out that the Sixers spotted the Celtics a 14-0 lead to start the game? Then things get a little dicey. Everyone expected this to be a long series, and in a long series everyone gets their blowout win, so, is this, perhaps, Philadelphia’s blowout win? Even if the C’s seemed well on their way to a blowout win in the opening quarter.

An odd game, obviously. Philadelphia showed absolutely no interest in playing smart basketball from the outset, matching tough perimeter jumpers with frantic, nervous play. Boston relented, though, after its hot start. The C’s gave up too many turnovers, which allowed Philadelphia the chance to leak out in transition and chip away at the lead. Still, with Paul Pierce hitting from the outside and Andre Iguodala struggling mightily, Boston led by 18 in the third.

Then the Celtics went small. For some reason.

[Related: Celtics collapse in Game 4 after succumbing to Sixers' 'trick']

Brandon Bass is no great shakes, but the team missed his ability to connect on jumpers while he was on the bench in the second half. Ray Allen was murderously bad on both ends — missing four of six shots after starting the series by hitting 48 percent of his looks and getting beat continuously on defense. Sometimes by two different players on the same possession, after the Celtics switched. It was not fun to watch.

Philly just chipped. Evan Turner was awful from the floor (5 of 22) but he hit six of his nine free throws, and Lou Williams was the star of stars with 15 points off the bench while somehow registering eight assists in an incredibly ugly game. And after starting the game 2 of 8, Andre Iguodala hit 3 of 4 in the fourth quarter to somehow give the Sixers 33 points in the game’s final 12 minutes. Sixty-one points in the second half for Philly after managing just 31 in the first half. Astonishing.

And yet, somehow during the entire run, I was a little nonplussed. Because Boston is so bad offensively and so banged up, it almost felt normal. Kevin Garnett has probably been the best player in the postseason thus far, but he’s also had to hit his fair share of tough makes in the playoffs — and those tough makes weren’t going down. Toss in the 17 Boston turnovers, both forced and unforced? It just makes sense.

Philly was desperate, but somehow they kept their nerve even in an easy spot to back down with both the early and third-quarter deficits. That’s a credit to Doug Collins, and each member of that Sixers rotation. This team had every right to bow down after being dominated in a fourth consecutive quarter (dating back to Wednesday’s Game 3, in the second quarter), and yet the team gave us a tidy (if borderline unwatchable) best-of-three series to pay attention to over the next week.

Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Adrian Wojnarowski: Spurs still rolling in playoffs while ‘super teams’ show cracks
• Tigers’ Justin Verlander has no-hitter No. 3 broken up in ninth
• Shine: Sue Falsone, L.A. Dodgers’ first female trainer, defies convention

Editor’s note: Oliver Roup is the founder and CEO of VigLink, a service that makes it easier to use affiliate programs on your blog or website.

When an email hits our inbox, we know not only who it’s from but their entire web imprint. LinkedIn can point out the profile of the woman you interviewed for a sales role last week and the gentleman you spoke with earlier in the year at a conference.

And rest assured that the dining room set you checked out over the weekend at CrateAndBarrel.com will haunt your online experience for the forseeable future.

Data — its collection and manipulation at scale — has revolutionized how we interact online. Homepages, banner advertisements and what we see in our Facebook timeline are all tailored-to-fit the reader, and we don’t give it a second thought.

But the hyperlink, the key feature that distinguishes hypertext from text has remained largely unchanged since Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web.

Websites generally, and search and online advertising specifically, would be barely recognizable today by their younger selves. But hyperlinks — their structure, how they’re authored and how we use and track them — have barely changed in 20 years. Consider:

• Inserting links by hand is a labor intensive process and has few tools. How about a recommendation engine to augment our own efforts? (Note: companies like Zemanta are a first step in this direction.)
• If a link is never clicked (i.e. 0% of the world finds it useful), why does it remain in content, distracting from meaningful / useful links indefinitely?
• Keywords in referrer logs have been mined to great effect by companies like BlueKai. (Although Google is slowly but surely taking that information away.) Isn’t where a user clicked out to just as informative? Why are we almost always ignoring it?
• Why do website visitors in Asia see links to online merchants in North America they are unable to purchase from, let alone access?

Hyperlinks, in many ways, are dumb. And as a result, harming your user experience and potentially bleeding money from your company — when they could be a tool for better engagement, increased revenue, and deeper analytics.

Now, there are a cluster of companies innovating by recognizing the power of the link — Omniture, Vibrant Media and Yieldbot, to name a few. But, this isn’t a problem companies can hold off on thinking about until the perfect tech pops up to solve it. There was a time when SEO was considered a “pro-tip” — a way for startups to get ahead of the game. Today, it’s standard best practice — and companies that don’t think strategically about the way search engines view their sites are at a strong disadvantage.

Hyperlink optimization is similar. While link optimization might be a “pro-tip” now, it won’t be for much longer. Companies that aren’t thinking strategically about link placement, closely tracking results, and taking subsequent action, will find the companies that ARE doing these things at an advantage.

The most critical areas to spend time on are tracking outbound hyperlinks, building a linking strategy, and refining it based on results. Let’s briefly dive into each.

Track your Outbound Hyperlinks

The first step to optimizing a site’s outbound traffic is to understand what that traffic looks like. Where do visitors go when they leave your site? What do they do on those other sites?

While there is still a lot of room for growth within the outbound analytics space, Omniture (paid) and Google Analytics (free — but requires a modification to the standard Analytics code you add to your site) both offer tools to help you understand what happens when a reader leaves your site. VigLink (disclosure: I am the CEO there) also offers an outbound analytics suite as part of its content monetization solution.

Build a Hyperlinking Strategy

What do you want your outbound hyperlinks to do for you?

Do you want them to earn you revenue? Do you want them to serve an SEO purpose? Be purely informational? Should they be scarce (keeping readers on your site)? Or abundant (allowing readers to exit as it is helpful)?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have a plan for when your team includes a hyperlink, and when it does not — opening up opportunities for a better reader experience, and deeper engagement.

Refine, Refine, Refine

Combine a plan with data to track that plan’s performance and you’ve got a gold mine on your hands.  Notice a link that is never clicked and your plan requires that links must be useful to readers? Take it out. Or, a heavy percentage of links pointing to non-eCommerce properties, and your goal is monetization? Incorporate fewer links to those non-commercial sites. Refining your hyperlinks will improve reader engagement and overall site performance.

Do It, and Make the Web Better

Hyperlinks should make the web better — more connected, easier to navigate, and intelligent. Hyperlinks should make your site better — more actionable, insightful and profitable.

Today, hyperlinks are falling short. They’re static and largely untracked. Sometimes useful — but often not. As the web becomes ever more crowded, and an organization’s site optimization toolkit begins to produce diminishing returns, the hyperlink is obvious low hanging fruit.

What that means to site owners:

• It’s time to plug the outbound data leak. Implement a tool today that will track your outbound traffic.
• Choose a hyperlinking strategy and share it with your team. This is at least as much a human problem as a technology one – deciding what you want is always the first step.
• Be on the lookout for technology that addresses these issues. There are already solutions to track your outbound clicks and the value they deliver but 2012 is going to be the year the hyperlink gets smart.

I’ll Have a What She’s Having: A flattering swimsuit that camouflage figure flaws and spotlights positives

Call it a cut out swimsuit or a monokini, the strategically cut out swimsuit is the swimwear must-have this season. Just take a look at Jennifer Lopez photographed by Mario Testino for Vogue magazine, pictured above, looking more than fabulous.

Not quite as covered up as a one-piece swimsuit and not exposing too …

Original Post at Flaunt This Not That: Jennifer Lopez Strategically Cut Out Swimsuits

Filed under: Power of Planning

By Dana Burgess, as told to Gabrielle Karol

I live in Graham, Texas, with my husband and three children, who are 17, 14 and 9 years old. I work full-time at a public school as an “intervention” teacher, helping kids who need an extra push academically with reading and math.

When I first started racking up credit card debt, my husband was running two businesses, which we co-owned: a store that sold farm equipment and an auction company. The farm store wasn’t doing so well at the time, so a…

How I Paid Off $27,000 in Credit Card Debt in Two Years originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-18T12:25:00Z.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Thursday on Sirius XM NFL Radio, legendary Ravens safety Ed Reed said he wasn’t “100 percent committed” to playing football this coming season. It’s not about money, he says. It’s about other things happening in his life.

“I know that time is kind of inching away at me. We do have a mandatory camp coming up that I’m still in deep thought about because other things are important to me now. I still know I can play at a high level. I can still go for another couple years physically. But other things is kind of taking place in my life right now and making me think about things differently.”

If it’s truly not about money ‒ Reed is scheduled to make $7.2 million in the last year of his current contract ‒ that’s not necessarily a good thing for the Ravens, because back in April, it was about the money.

“For what I offer on the football field, for what I give on the football field and for what they know they’re going to get, it’s much more than these young guys out here today and what they’re getting. And I’m talking at any every defensive back position right now, not just safety.”

So now maybe it’s about two things.

If you’re a Ravens fan, you can relax. It’s not yet time to start worrying yourself sick about a season that might not include Reed or Terrell Suggs. Especially since Reed said just a few hours after his Sirius interview that he does intend to play this year. From the Carroll County Times:

“It’s not about retirement, it’s about my focus in the offseason, health, family and football,” said Reed, who has battled hip, neck and shoulder injuries in recent years. “This is the time of year where players think through things. My goal is to play football in the years to come.”

So that should ease some concerns. There’s also this: In recent years, randomly threatening retirement in the offseason has become kind of a tradition for Ed Reed. It’s just something he does.

The same time Ed Reed leaves the Ravens could be the same time the Ravens stop being one of the league’s best defenses. He’s one of those lynchpin guys ‒ pull him out, and not only does it create a huge hole, but everything surrounding that hole gets a lot less stable, too. They’ll still have some horses on defense, but the back end won’t be nearly as strong as it’s been for the last decade.

That’s getting ahead of ourselves, though. This is something that’s natural for a veteran player to experience. He gets older, family becomes more important, the body gets worn down, and it’s natural to stop and wonder if it’s all still worth it. It would be weird if he wasn’t thinking of walking away from the game.

When the Ravens need him, though, he’ll be there. He’s still easily one of the best in the game. And there’s still a lot of money on the table. It’s perfectly human for Reed to think about these things, but in the end, I think it’ll turn out that he’s not yet ready to walk away.

Microsoft, just like Apple, usually runs a major back-to-school promotion every summer that is meant to give students (and their parents) some extra incentives to buy a new computer. The company’s just-announced back-to-school deal for the U.S. and Canada is pretty much the same as last year’s. A year ago, Microsoft gave students who bought a new PC and Xbox 360 and this year it’s doing exactly the same.

There are some differences to last year’s program, though. This time around, Microsoft isn’t just partnering with Best Buy in the U.S., but also with Dell.com, Fry’s Electronics, HPDirect and NewEgg.com (its own Microsoft stores, of course, will also honor this promotion. In Canada, students can buy their PCs from Best Buy, Dell.ca, Future Shop, Staples and The Source.

The program is scheduled to start on May 20 in the U.S and May 18 in Canada. To be eligible, students need to buy a Windows PC worth at least $699 ($599 in Canada).

Apple vs. Microsoft

Apple also used free products like an iPod touch as an incentive for shoppers. Last year, however, it switched to handing out $100 gift cards to its digital stores instead. Apple usually announces its annual back-to-school promotion in June.

By the end of last year’s summer promotions, some analysts noted that Apple handily beat Microsoft 8 to 2, with around 80% of incoming students opting for Macs instead of a Windows machine. This year, Microsoft hopes that Ultrabooks like the Samsung Series 5 ULTRA and the Dell XPS 13 will make students think twice about buying a Mac.