Things aren’t always as they seem. Things can be quite counter-intuitive at times. And these kinds of things are being demonstrated in today’s tour of the blogosphere.

Josh Rimer once again asserts the importance of maintaining a mailing list if you’re in marketing, but he says not to use Aweber. After having a very frustrating experience with their referral program, Josh can no longer refer someone to the Aweber service with a clear conscience.

Mark Nichol gives us a list of ten words that don’t mean what you may think they do. We’ve heard the word decimate all the time, but it quite literally means to reduce something by precisely one-tenth.

John Biehler saw something in the Vancouver area recently and it got him scratching his head. As it turns out, the scene is a part of a movie set and it can be very confusing when not seen in the context of the film itself. Special effects are amazing!

Melody Fury goes against the grain with a new summer beverage of choice. How do you feel about staying cool with a watermelon jalapeno cocktail cooler? The watermelon sounds refreshing, but the heat from the jalapeno could have you reaching for something else.

Scott Young has a guest post up on Zen Habits, describing the really simple way to get work done. Yes, work doesn’t have to be difficult. You just have to recognize some of the uncommon causes of procrastination, then overcome them.

So many marketing and advertising efforts tap into this sense of urgency. If you don’t act right now, you’re going to miss out on a great product, a great deal, or both. This is a limited time offer, so we might pull it at any time. Are you sure you don’t want it? This really is your last chance.

We’ve seen all sorts of limited time offers in the context of infomercials and even print ads, but this phenomenon is becoming increasingly prevalent with online advertising too. In fact, many landing pages seem to employ this technique, even if the offer isn’t really all that limited. It’s always on sale, but the potential customer doesn’t know that. This is deceiving and is a practice that should be avoided.

On the flip side, we’ve seen group-buying websites like Groupon positively make fortunes with this approach. Here is a great deal, giving you something that you might want for 50% off or more, and you only have 24 hours to buy it. If you don’t, the offer is gone forever and you’ve missed out. Woot operates in much the same way.

Utilizing this technique in a slightly different way are online stores like TeeFury. In that case, the t-shirt design is only available for 24 hours. If you don’t buy this shirt today, you won’t have any opportunity to do so ever again. It’s not a deal, but it is a limited edition product that won’t be sold again.

Have you considered using similar tactics in your own marketing efforts? Were they successful?

Someone new arrives on your blog for the first time. He or she likes the initial blog post read, whether the referral came organically from another site, via a Twitter mention, or through a search engine result. Whatever the case, he or she likes what you have to offer, but how do you make the most of this positive experience and earn a long-time loyal reader?

Yes, you should absolutely promote your RSS feed and other ways to stay in touch, but the Top Posts WordPress Plugin could prove to be quite useful too. This simple sidebar widget will automatically display the most popular blog posts on your site, not based on the traffic that each post gets, but rather based on the number of comments they receive.

This is a critical distinction, since blog posts with lots of comments usually mean that the online community is actively engaging with that content and having an active discussion about it. These are the articles that you want to promote, because the hope is that the new reader will join in on the conversation too. You can set the Top Posts plugin to show the top posts based on a monthly, weekly, or all-time perspective.

Basic screenshots and the free download link can be found at TentBlogger.com, a site that talks about “blogging for fun and profit.”

It goes with the territory. When you go into business for yourself, you take on a world of additional responsibilities. Let’s say that you have already registered for a business number (which includes registering for a GST number), but you’re moving your office or store to another location. How do you inform the Canada Revenue Agency of this change?

In the instance of a business registered in British Columbia, the easiest solution is to go through the OneStop Business Address Change Service. When you through this online service, you effectively inform multiple government agencies of the address change all at once. That makes the process much faster and more streamlined. The service allows you to change your address for GST/HST, payroll, import/export/MCIT, corporate income tax, WorkSafeBC, and other agencies.

If you want to use the OneStop Business Address Change Service, however, you will need a BCeID. Thankfully, the registration process for that is also available online. The five step process takes about 15 minutes, assuming that you qualify and have all the necessary information in front of you. After that, you can take your BCeID and use it with the OneStop service described above.

Make sure that you keep your records up to date! This includes informing the appropriate governing agencies and organizations of any changes, including changes to your mailing and business address, in a timely fashion.

Keep your hands on the wheel. This has become the law in many jurisdictions around the world, including major cities like Vancouver and Los Angeles. Even so, you might really need to take that important call as you’re making your way between appointments. One option for this is the Jabra Cruiser Bluetooth Car Kit and speakersphone system.

Many people find that wearing Bluetooth headsets can be uncomfortable, especially when they have to be worn for an extended period of time. They might not like the look of them either and that’s why a Bluetooth speakerphone for the car might be more appropriate. It also helps if you have other colleagues in your carpool, since you can all get into the conference call if that’s what is needed.

This particular product comes with the trusted and reliable name of Jabra, so you know that you are getting a quality device. It is compatible with Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, as well as stereo Bluetooth A2DP, remote control AVRCP, and phonebook access (PBAP). The battery offers up to 13 days of standby time and up to 14 hours of talk time. In the instance of the carpool, it also helps that the Cruiser can connect to two devices simultaneously.

The Jabra Cruiser Bluetooth Car Kit and Speakerphone is currently on sale on Amazon for $51.49, which is more than half off the regular list price of $106.04.

All kinds of individuals and businesses choose BlueFur for their web hosting needs. One such example is Falcon Ridge Estates, a small community just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. There are several homes in the area and these are listed on the website.

Despite being only a 15 minute drive from Halifax Shopping Centre, the Falcon Ridge Estates community is able to offer the “country life” as if you were much further away. In this way, it is able to bring its residents the best of both worlds. Amazingly, there are no stop signs or traffic lights; just “towering pines and birch trees.”

One of the homes currently available for sale is a six-year-old Mexican/Spanish theme house. It offers panoramic views, a large two acre lot, 4000 square feet of living space, a two car garage, and plenty of high-end finishes. It’s listed at $799,000.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.