If you haven’t heard already – Google has quietly launched an invite-only Beta for their AdManager product.

This is incredibly exciting news. Everyone currently using other Ad management suites, including OpenX, will find themselves migrating to Google AdManager as soon as possible. I really support Open Source and have had great experiences using PHPads (OpenX), but when the Google Goliath makes a move like this… there really isn’t any way for other solutions to survive. This is an E.L.E. for those developments.

Check out the FAQ and Features list to find out more on how Google hosting, analytics and the other benefits of using Google AdManager is going to directly effect our online businesses.

And, before you do anything else today, GO SIGN UP FOR THE BETA AND TRY TO GET AN INVITE! (if you didn’t receive a private invite already).

I’m back from a week-long excursion and happy to say I am feeling just great!

It definitely wasn’t a vacation, as “a vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking” (Earl Wilson quote) — and I enjoy every minute of what I do on a daily basis. I’ll get into the habit of letting you know when I am planning on not posting for more than a few days at a time.

So, how about a few tips on increasing your sites’ web traffic with little or no effort? Let’s dive in.

We’ll have to break things up into two types of basic sites — business/sales sites and more personal/blog style sites. (Both types may serve as a “muse,” depending on monetization and other factors.)

First off, increasing traffic to your more traditional “business” income sites (cart-based, services, affiliate sites), without just increasing your spending on Google AdWords, can be accomplished by just making subtle and even simple changes to your content and layout.

Secondly, for your personal/blog style sites, you should definitely consider the above two items along with the following:

That’s it for now. I’ll be making a post about SEOmoz’s contest results and my thoughts on landing pages, soon.

The very best reason to have more than one or even just two credit cards is to help you establish a good credit rating with the three credit bureaus. Having a great credit score will enable you to utilize your muses to their fullest potential and will also open up many doors when applying for an account with a wholesaler or vendor.

You should have at least three credit cards (but not an excessive number, no more than five) with a balance of approximately 18% on all cards. Unlike what most sources tell you — having a $0 balance on your cards is NOT a great way to get higher credit scores. In fact, having no balance shows that you don’t actually know how to “manage” your credit to your benefit.

Most important, never max your cards out and make sure you never go over-limit. Even though it may seem counterproductive to keep your cards at 18%, you will see much better credit scores in the long run. Just make sure to avoid any credit card that has an annual fee attached to it. In addition, make sure you use all of your cards at least one time every six months. Cards that are considered “inactive” will not be of much help. Paying a bit of interest is a small price to pay for building excellent credit.

Here’s an example of how to use three credit cards in a positive way — all while helping your muses make you more money:

- Card 1 & 2 are used to 18% capacity each month to pay for PPC advertising via your muses’ Google Adwords programs, plus MS Adcenter / Yahoo (Overture).

- Card 3 is used for your “everyday” expenses (up to 18%) of the credit limit, this allows you to keep track of your daily expenditures so you can keep on budget and make sure you are hitting your goals for your Dreamlines.

If you have a credit limit of $5,000 on each card 1 & 2, you will have approximately $1,800 available to use for your PPC programs (18% of $10k overall limit). By showing your ability to manage creditor debt — the Fair Isaac (FICO) and other two credit bureaus (Experian & TransUnion) will interpret a higher range of credit scores in your favor.

In time, you can use your higher credit scores to request an increase in your cards’ credit limits in order to have even more access to funds for your PPC programs (you may find that you will quickly exceed your available 18% as you create more and more successful muses). And, let’s face it — Google doesn’t mind accepting your credit card(s) as payment for your Adwords accounts.

You can request a credit increase over the phone and even online with your card issuer, in fact, by managing my credit so well over the last few years, I have successfully had increases without having my credit pulled at all!

I’d recommend you get ahold of an American Express card, as well, if you don’t already have one. Once you’ve done enough Google PPC charges each month on your American Express you’ll be able to qualify for an AMEX Centurion card (you won’t mind the $5k setup and $2,500 annual fee once you’ve achieved this feat, trust me). If you haven’t seen one, it is also known as “the black card” and is made of titanium. You’ll be able to run all your muses’ ad programs from it and not worry about hitting a credit limit each month. Plus the discounts and free flight upgrades are awesome.

If anyone needs any help or has more questions about credit, I’d be happy to assist when I can. (Please don’t hesitate to ask via comments, but don’t look for a quick response… give me some time to get an answer back to you!)