Saturday, December 12, 2009

Synthetic FAQS

If you spend any amount of time on the internet you will sooner or later come across a page called FAQ, which is shorthand for Frequently Asked Questions. The purpose of the FAQ page is to relieve tech support people from having to answer the same questions over and over again, and to make it easy for customers to find answers on their own.
Here are some of the typical questions AMSOIL has received over the years.

Q: What is the difference between synthetic motor oil and conventional petroleum oil?
A: Synthetic lubricants are composed of select base stocks and special purpose additives chemically assembled with planned, predictable properties. Whereas petroleum oils are pumped from the earth and refined, synthetics are custom-designed in the laboratory, with each phase of their molecular construction programmed to produce, in effect, the ideal lubricant.

Q: What are some of the common misconceptions about synthetic motor oil?
A: It is interesting how some of these myths hang around for so many years. Some of the most common were that synthetics are not compatible with seals (properly formulated synthetics actually extend seal life), that synthetics are too thin to stay in the engine, and that synthetics cause cars to use more oil. Of course there are misconceptions going the other direction, too. Some people think synthetic oil is a super oil that will last forever. It is true that synthetic oils are more impervious to oxidation, but the additives in synthetic formulations do get used up over time. A motor oil’s formulation includes the performance of both the base stock and additive package.

Q: If a car is factory fill conventional petroleum, will switching to synthetic void the warranty?
A:  No, it will not. Vehicle manufacturers recommend using motor oils that meet certain viscosity grades and American Petroleum Institute service requirements. Whether the motor oil is petroleum-based or synthetic will not affect warranty coverage. The manufacturer is required to cover all equipment failures it would normally cover as long as the oil was not the cause of the failure.

Q: Is there any truth to the notion that cars should be running petroleum oil during the break in period before switching to synthetic?
A: A premium synthetic motor oil can be used during break-in without any trouble. In fact, dozens of vehicle models come factory-filled with synthetic oil now. Rebuilt engines may still require break in oils that don’t prevent wear as well and will allow rings to seat, but not factory supplied engines.

Since a majority of new vehicles come filled with petroleum oil, it only makes good sense to change to synthetic at the first scheduled oil change interval. New engine components generate high levels of wear metals and can contain contaminants from assembly. By allowing the engine to operate with the petroleum oil until the first oil/filter change interval, the wear metals and contaminants are removed prior to installing the premium product.
Q: Will switching from petroleum to synthetic result in a plugged oil filter when the sludge is cleaned out by the synthetic?
A: This is a common fear, however, switching from petroleum oil to premium synthetics in routinely maintained vehicles will not cause clogged oil filters or passageways, regardless of mileage. Sludge, which is caused by poor quality oil and neglected maintenance practices, would have to be present in significant amounts to plug oil filters and passageways. If there is an excessive amount of sludge present in an engine, it is just a matter of time before oil filters and passageways clog, regardless of the oil you choose.

Q: Will switching to synthetics cause my engine to leak oil?
A: In mechanically sound engines, there’s no risk of synthetic motor oil leaking. In fact, premium synthetic oils are fully compatible with modern seal materials, keeping them pliable to prevent leakage. New engines are built to much tighter tolerances now than they were in the 70’s and 80’s when that notion was promulgated, and is not true anymore.

Q: Is there a recommended procedure for switching to synthetic motor oils?
A. As long as the vehicle has been properly maintained and the vehicle is mechanically sound, there are no special requirements. Some oil manufacturers, however, may indicate specific drain intervals that should be followed for vehicles that have over 100,000 miles and are first time users of their products.

Q: If someone switches to synthetic can they switch back to conventional oil?
A: Yes, they can, but why would anyone want to?

by Ed Newman
AMSOIL Director of Advertising



Friday, November 27, 2009

Google Speed Rumor Appears True

http://onequartlow.comAlthough SEO stuff with Google is about as easy as stuffing Santa Clause down a 2-inch pipe, the recent rumors about yet another “change” in how the world’s biggest, most popular search engine indexes sites and site popularity appears to be coming to fruition. Site speed has been rumored for a while now as something the Googly machine was considering a hard look at. Well, the rumor looks real to many now.


How fast is/are your site(s)? Check Here for Free.


It isn’t as though site speed hasn’t been relevant for some time, but when the God-Machine weighs in it tends to get people’s attention. The problem with this may be for the big, traditional companies who may or may not even have an SEO type of staff. You will see peel off types grabbing up Wal-Mart (for example) and really irritating the searcher. I don’t think Google will get crazy with site speed, but I do think the analytical piece matters to a degree.


With the new host and dedicated server, Onequartlow.com comes in around 2.4 seconds which is acceptable. Unfortunately, this blog is a beast and of the turtle variety with respect to speed. I will rationalize that folks actually going to blogs are more likely to stick around to see em, but this is dangerous as well. We will be looking at some tools in the future to help address some of these issues. Best of luck.




Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Twitter Secretive About New Advertising Program

This article is completely the work of Thomas G. Watkins, CNN. There is no connection to or association with Onequartlow.com whatsoever. This disclaimer complies with the promulgated standards and regulations of CNN with respect to the borrowing of, and/or copying partly, or in whole of the following content that is solely the work of CNN or it’s agents/employees.

The Twitter phenomenon, in which anybody can tell his or her followers anything — in 140 characters or less — now has a payoff that can go beyond the thrill of self-publishing.

A handful of companies are offering to pay Twitterers to gain access to their followers — so they can send them Tweets containing ads. The more followers you have, the more money you make.

Dr. Drew Pinsky cut a deal with one such company, Ad.ly, of Beverly Hills, California, which describes itself as “an in-stream advertising platform that connects top-tier Twitter publishers with top-tier brands.”

Pinsky is a television and radio personality, an internist and an addiction specialist, but Ad.ly considers him a publisher.

The lone advertisement that Ad.ly sent to Pinsky’s 1.5 million Twitter followers was for the NBC program “Community,” a comedy about a lawyer who has lost his license and is trying to get his life together at a community college. Chevy Chase and Joel McHale star.

“I’m delighted to support the show; Joel McHale is a friend of mine,” Pinsky said.

“If someone wants to offer me some money to talk about something that I feel strongly about on Twitter — and I don’t feel it’s diminishing in any way my messages — I don’t see why not,” he said.

But Pinsky said he was not sure he would do it again. “It’s treacherous,” he told CNN in a telephone interview. “I don’t want people to think I’m exploiting my followers.”

Concern about a possible backlash from those followers has led him to reject suggestions for other ads, Pinsky said. “It’s something I would only do very, very occasionally and really has to be something that I already feel I would support.”

He cited advertisements about vaccinations or certain screening programs as possibly acceptable, but said even then he would be concerned about turning off his followers. “On the one hand, I have got to send my kids to college; on the other hand, I don’t want to damage my relationship with my audience,” said the father of teenage triplets.

CEO Sean Rad, 23, founded the company that sold Pinsky on the idea in May. “We were basically looking at Twitter early on and we’ve watched it grow from this place where people were kind of playing with content creation to this very powerful platform where people are using Twitter as their main platform for content creation and content discovery,” he told CNN in a telephone interview.

“We view every Tweet as valuable content,” he said. “It takes time and thought to produce. Everywhere else, where you generate content you get compensated. Same for a lot of these celebrities on Twitter. Their time is money, yet they’re not getting compensated. We’re answering a demand we saw with all these publishers.”

All he needs to monetize Twitter posts is to match the publisher with an advertiser and everybody wins, Rad said. “The advertiser gets as close as possible to an audience and that publisher gets compensated.”

The company launched its service in late September, and Rad said it has already signed up eight of the approximately 50 individual twitterers who have more than 1 million followers.

In addition to Dr. Drew, Ad.ly’s clients include Kim Kardashian, Nicole Richie and Joel McHale, he said.

But it’s not just for celebrities. “We have thousands of mid-tier and top-tier publishers; we’re growing rapidly,” he said. Anyone can sign on and, depending on how many followers they have, start approving ads and earning income, he said.

Advertisers include Universal Pictures, Dell, Maserati, Hilton Hotels and “a bunch” of other national brands, he said.

Though Pinsky said he did not know how much his one deal netted him, and Rad would not divulge it, the tech entrepreneur did say a single Tweet could net the publisher a sum in the five figures.

Rad downplayed Pinsky’s concern that his followers could feel exploited. “If I’m Dr. Drew and getting paid for activity on Twitter, I’m going to take it more seriously,” he said. “So the audience gains because, when you pay somebody to do something, they typically do a better job — higher quality content. The artist now can justify the time on Twitter.”

Each publisher is limited to one Tweeted advertisement per day, he said.

Rad said Ad.ly’s model — or Ad.ly itself — could help Twitter cash in on its own success. He said his company’s model would be one way for Twitter to monetize. “Obviously, an acquisition from Twitter would be awesome,” he said.

But that wouldn’t be the only way. “I would pay for a premium stream that had no ads in it,” said Francine Hardaway, a marketing specialist and partner in Stealthmode Partners.

“Maybe that’s Twitter’s own monetization model,” she said in a posting on scobleizer.com, a blog. “And I also like content providers to be paid. But the more indirectly the better.”

Twitter Director of Media Partnerships Chloe Sladden told CNN in an e-mail, “We generally aren’t commenting on our monetization plans at the moment.”

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Friday, November 20, 2009

Host Monster and Host Gator Problems-Can Bad Hosting Companies Get Better?

It has been a long time since I looked into hosting companies and switching trademark names (domains) etc….Since I am less than thrilled with what a couple of fairly “respectable companies” have done to me over the course of the last few days, I thought perhaps I could warn folks about a couple of companies doing business.

My main domain name is hosted with Hostgator.com. (Fortunately, this site is not the main domain). A few days ago I thought I would try to upgrade this wordpress blog and followed the instructions from “unnamed guy” to the tee. My 2+ year blog vanished. I asked Hostgator if they could fix it and they said they could with an additional 15.00 charge (which I have paid before). On top of the 10.00 or so a month I currently pay. I snapped. (but did eventually pay them in hopes of getting it back, saving it as one should and moving on). However, I was less than thrilled, so…….

I did some host shopping.

Everything I saw pointed to Host Monster being a very good company. Many sites had them in the top 5, while most had them in the top 3. Hostgator on the other hand, was usually not in the top “mix” at all. (usually because they were too expensive…hmmm and I was happy with them for 2+ years…money was not, and is not an issue). It was the principle that mattered to me….Silly me.

I decided to take a big chance. Poor decision. I paid for a year’s hosting at Host Monster and attempted to move the domain over. HostMonster is ZERO HELP in this. Do not try to transfer an existing domain to Host Monster. It will not happen. But wait, it kind of does. When you change the nameservers they do go ahead and make your site “worthlessly parked.” Thanks!

Hostgator on the other hand, refused to release an EPP code necessary to fully transfer the site over to Host Monster. Yes, I’m seeing gators and monsters as evil things to say the least. Host Gator doesn’t themselves host the onequartlow.com (I know it still doesn't work..LOL) site as they claim, but a popular company called ENOM does this for them. Try to contact this outfit. Just try.

I decided in the sake of “up-time” to cancel the new host and change the name servers back to the Host Gator folks….LOL…Yeah… Host Monster all of a sudden could not verify my existence. They needed me to prove I was who I claimed to be by giving them the last 4 of my password or cc. I gave them my whole password and the Paypal receipt (they say they never received). I have filed complaints about both companies and will take this as far as I can. To be held hostage is not ok. This is my experience. These folks need to be accountable for their business practices and actions like the rest of us. They don’t get to hide behind somebody else’s issues (or the customers). I acknowledge full well being a novice (even after many years) in this industry. However, all the customer support on both sides of the coin dried up when both saw me as a “problem” or “disgruntled.” Not so much when they were taking my money. They were super fast and super sweet. Why is it there is NEVER an issue with them taking your money? It’s always seamless. Yet asking for it back…..all of a sudden you are ghost-like…

Hmmmm.

Is there any question why so many of these companies exist today? Here’s your Uncle Tommy advice for the day.

Don’t play with the top 3-10 hosting companies as found on the internet. Even the independent sites I looked at are now looking a little less than “independent.” Don’t pay a year’s worth in advance (though it is always the best deal). Always pay a month at a time at the front. If after some time, it’s working for you then upgrade to a year or more package. If you can find a hosting company that does NOT have somebody making money in promoting them….JUMP at it, and please email me immediately if it works out…I’ll pay YOU.

This has been an ongoing issue for many years. Unfortunately, it remains shady and to say the least, an issue.

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Friday, November 6, 2009

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Free sites kill business credibility

Ok, I've mentioned this before to some extent but am frankly back to being completely astounded by it.  90+ % of the stuff you see on line is a scam, or at least not truthful in it's advertising.  Most of us understand that fully.  What continues to confound me are those using free sites while promoting things that will make people Millions, Billions, or whatever.  Hello???  How stupid are you?  Nobody promoting anything promising riches is actually rich.  Those promoting (whatever it is) are far from it.  STOP.  Business and marketing as it hits the internet or confounds it, is what it has always been.  You need to sell product and you need to do it in volume if at all possible.
The marketers of today push stuff today knowing full well they will be onto the next scam tomorrow.
Rule 1 for those getting in now....DO NOT BELIEVE anyone who pimps ANYTHING that claims you will make money if they are doing it from a BLOGGER (for instance) free site.  Delete that email or whatever medium it comes in INSTANTLY.
Don't get me wrong.  I have used free BLOGGER TYPE accounts for years.  I enjoy starting them.  They are an indication of one thing however; people with no money who are desperately trying to make some.  Yes starting up a business on or off line is expensive.  However, I am reminded by the "you get what you pay for mantra."  It is true.  Sock some money into advertising and then adjust accordingly.  Do not however, EVER promote business opps simply using free services....That, is an immediate turn-off and red flag for most.

Real business success comes with blood, sweat and years of toil.  Bottom line.
If you want to start that process as a millionaire, ya better be one when you engage in it.
Otherwise, you are simply a liar.
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Sunday, October 18, 2009

Catalog Program Making Money!!

Despite the fact that there are literally dozens of different ways to make money with AMSOIL, the last couple of months have shown me one that although aware of, I didn’t give it too much of a thought.  We all know that with all the options available to us we don’t even need to be interested in the Automotive field (let alone know anything about it) and still make money with AMSOIL.  However, the catalog program has snagged my attention.
This month alone the catalog program from my dealers and preferred customers has netted me $50.00.  It may not sound like much, but in essence it is free money.  I didn’t do a thing.  This aspect of the business continues to pay at an astonishing rate.  I may even start to market it.  Wow, what would those results look like?  I guess I’m gonna have to find out.
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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Connecting Social Media



Although I wouldn't consider the Sokule revolution to be a completely new concept in goal of connecting the various and sundry social networking sites, I do find Sokule to have at least aimed higher than others. This site is shooting to connect 40+ social network marketing sites. What does this mean? Post one time on Sokule and have that post generated automatically throughout all the other sites in real time. It is a work in progress to say the least, but they are progressing. I bought on early to this one and have been more than a little amped about it. If you are into social networking and want a business advantage, check out Sokule today. It is free to join, but the smart will upgrade at least to bronze. You'll see why.