The following is a guest post by  Lisa Newton who resides at Iowa Avenue, and is the founder of the Healthy Lifestyle Bloggers Network.

In my last guest post, Don’t Just Sit There Exercise, I discussed the importance of exercise. 

Several commenters mentioned that “bloggers are lazy” or they are “computer-starer-at-ers” and “exercise is boring.”  Someone also said that the “addiction of the computer and internet” played a role in not staying active and exercising.

First of all, I don’t believe bloggers are lazy.  We work hard at researching our blogs, reading and commenting on other people’s blogs, clicking our Entrecards to market our blogs, and of course, the time we spend on our passion—writing our blogs. 

It isn’t easy.  It takes time to take an idea and craft an article around a topic.  In fact, the major difference between blogging and other professions is that for the most part, bloggers work from their home.  If they choose to, bloggers can sit at their computer all day just wearing their pajamas.  I guess that’s why the Pajamas Media group developed.

Who doesn’t like that idea? 

Now that we’ve eliminated the notion that bloggers are lazy, are bloggers “computer-starer-at-ers?”

You bet we are.  It’s part of our job, part of who we are, and a major part of our day.  Does this preclude the idea of getting out of the house and getting off of your “ass” and do something? 

Nope. Why should it preclude you from it?

Regarding the issues of “computer addiction” and exercise being “boring,” I see these two items as being extremely important and topical.  Can the computer and the Internet be addictive?

It’s actually a topic of fierce medical debate and research—it’s real.

I know I’m addicted to it.  I spend hours on my computer everyday.  I have a desktop and a laptop.  I also have a phone modem for my laptop so I’m not limited to finding Internet hot spots.  But even with a computer addiction, I still want to exercise, and I make the time to do so.

Believe it or not, once you get started, exercise can also become an addiction.  Now, I’m not suggesting you become addicted to exercise, but rather you get excited about it. This leads me to the “exercise is boring” issue. 

In order to get your “sea legs” started with an exercise program, start small.

Try 5 minutes of exercise for each hour of the day that you are awake.  If you’re awake for 16 hours, then that’s 80 minutes you just dedicate to exercise, which is 30 minutes more than the government recommended time. 

Most people can do anything for 5 minutes and not get bored, so there goes another urban legend debunked.

Even professional athletes like Tiger Woods, who is currently recovering from knee surgery, have to start from scratch sometimes on their exercise regimens. Hence, building upon small routines can and will lead to a greater amount of stamina, durability, and interest in exercising to stay healthy.

To wit:

What exercises can you do in 5 minutes? 

1.  Jog in place in place for 5 minutes

2.  Do 50 sit-ups

3.  Do 40 lunges

4.  Grab your hand weights and exercise your arms top to bottom, and outward

5.  Stand up and touch your toes, hold it for 30 seconds, and repeat it 8 times

6.  Do 70 jumping jacks

7.  Sitting in your computer chair and with your legs straight, lift them to waist level, hold it for 10 seconds, and repeat 20 times

8.  Lay on your stomach, keeping your legs straight, and lift them about 5 inches off the floor, hold it for 20 seconds, and repeat 10 times

9.  Take a 5 minute walk—yes you’d be surprised, you just might like it.

10. Do 5 minutes of shadow boxing. It’s a fantastic way of getting in shape.

Now that you have at least 10 ideas to get you started, you have the knowledge to apply Newton’s Theory:

“Step away from your Computer” even if it’s only for 5 minutes, because,

After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!

Tired of looking for old posts and getting nowhere with the tools supplied by Entrecard?  Give this search engine a try! Entrecard Forum and Card Search  Fun, Free, and Useful!   Just bookmark it for a rainy day.

I’ve also made it so people can add it to their own site.  Like you see in my “Search Entrecard Sidebar Widget”  Why?  So people can search Entrecard from your site and stay LONGER at your site.  All I ask is that people don’t edit the code or remove the link. Get the Code!

BlogUpp! is another traffic exchange service like Entrecard or Spottt, with a few differrences.  Unlike Entrecard which requires effort, or Spottt, which has rules about where to put the widget, Blogupp! is as simple as a program can get.  There is no signup, simply go to http://www.blogupp.com/ and get the code.  The company takes a snapshot of your page and reads your RSS feed.  That’s one more reader for your Feedburner widget!  Mousing over the widget shows an excerpt from your last article.  Cool idea.

What makes BlogUpp! different?

• No registration and no account required
• No email and privacy exposure
• No ad submission and no efforts
• No animation and annoying ads
• Cheat-proof and fair sharing
• WordPress platform and alike friendly
• Targeted readers reach
• Best de facto exchange ratio (10:9)

Bottom Line

For the effort it takes to set up and install, it’s worth a try.  I can’t say I’ve noticed any traffic at all from the widget.  They say you can track hits by looking for adv.blogupp.com as a referrer, but I couldn’t find any in my logs.  Like ADsflip, I like it because of the synergy with Entrecard.  Entrecard generates the pageviews, and then my website will appear on other sites using BlogUpp!.  The problem is that you can put the widget anywhere, and every site I checked had the widget buried at the bottom of the sidebar.    Still, it doesn’t hurt.  Unless you have something better to put on your blog, it’s so effortless I’d give it a try.

Margie and Edna, the fictional wacky senior citizens of Jericho, Kansas tagged me to write 7 Useless Facts about myself.  Normally, another of my golden rules is never to mix worlds. My Internet world, business world, family world, and social world all stay separate, unless there is an important reason to mix them. For example, my boss invites my family to a picnic, or a personal friend needs their blog set up. Many people learn this rule the hard way.

• Strange fact #1. I’ve received death threats over Entrecard. Some pussy in Singapore was afraid I’d expose his fake identity, that of a successful business women. He was so scared he sent me spam death threats using a Tor client trying to hide his IP. Silly guy. A simple Entrecard message sent saying “Hey, don’t blow my cover if you please” would have been enough.  Instead, he made a real enemy. 
• Strange Fact #2.  I have many great readers.  In fact, you guys are fantastic.  Not one reader has ever requested a personal detail about my life.  I’ve never had to explain why I don’t post personal info before.  Besides, the John Chow “what I had for lunch” thing is old.  You don’t need to know about my last bowel movement.  This Twitter like behavior is for self absorbed a-holes.  However, 3 Ass-monkeys, including the manboy in #1 above have expressed anger about not being able to attack me personally.  Quite funny how some d**chebag is angry at my opinion, then thinks I’m going to provide a roadmap to my house, my phone number, and business address, all so they can spam me in some fashion.  Like that really helps their argument.  “Hey Stupid Turnip!  I may be a marketing fraud, but your company lost 2.5 million last fiscal year”.  Yeah, that’s just the kind of comment I look forward to deleting.
• Strange Fact #3.  Ok, lets make this post at least interesting in some fashion.  In college I made the police report twice, but never mentioned by name.  Once I stole all the furniture of a Sorority House as a drunken prank.  Not easy to carry all that stuff down the street.  The cowardly Frat house where I hid the furniture smashed it all a week later after threatening to beat me up.  Despite the fact I was a member there, and their house was made up entirely of stolen furniture.  The 2nd time I made the paper was when I found the stolen head of the Rutgers University Mascot.  I called the athletic director who tapped my phone call.  He went and got the Head back, then called me later and thanked me.  The newspaper credited “the work of the university police department”.
• Strange Fact #4.  I spent 7 years living in South Korea.  There I taught English at every level, including university students and business men.  I also owned a bar there, met my wife there, hung out with mobsters, and travelled to many other Asian countries.
• Strange Fact #5.  I taught English at a corrupt inner-city high school in New Jersey.  My students would come to class with knife fight wounds and excuses like “I can’t come to school because I stole a car and have to go to court”.  I doubted it until I found a copy of the court order in a book they left behind.  They said they ran out of textbooks when the truth was the guy who hands them out didn’t get his usual $90 bonus pay.  My supervisor refused to talk to me for months at a time.  I watched them frame people who wouldn’t sign made up evaluations.  People openly bragged about who they knew in the mayor’s office or on the School board.  The Union Rep was getting paid for after school programs that didn’t even exist.  The money sure didn’t get to the kids.
• Strange Fact #6. Most of my adult life I dreamed of owning my own bar.  I loved drinking, bartending, and partying.  The perfect life, right?  Wrong!  Right after opening the bar I realized I hated drunks.  Drinking without any responsibility was fun.  Having drunks trash your place wasn’t.  I locked the door of my bar after a few months and made it a private hangout for a few friends to play pool and watch the large screen TV.  7 years later I’ve had exactly 2 drinks of alcohol and haven’t been to a bar since closing mine.
• Strange Fact #7. I took up blogging because I had too much time on my hands.  I had just quit Vangard (WoW clone) after my guildleader cheated me.  Years ago I had 2 blogs in Korea, but gave them up. I had heard about WordPress and just felt like making a blog.  I researched the topic and made Turnipofpower.com.  Then I got bored again and made sales.turnipofpower.com the next month.  Finally I made tech.turnipofpower.com 3 months later.  After making the tech blog, I was Googling ways of promoting it, when I discovered Entrecard.   So 1/1/08 was really about the time I started writing posts at Turnipofpower.com.  Before that the posts had little to do with anything, just testing WordPress or trying various marketing techniques.  So for all my detractors, Entrecard is the ONLY reason I currently blog, not the reverse.  My blog isn’t my primary or secondary source of income, it’s just a hobby.  Making money with it is like earning gold in a game.  I enjoy writing articles for the people that stop by.  After all, I was an English Major, English Teacher, and published book reviewer long before my first online post.  Almost daily I make new sites now, try new advertising methods and test other related Internet things like PPP, AdSense, AdWords,  Direct To Merchant Campaigns.  When I have success or failure, I report it here.  

I think this Tag thing is going to die here.  I’m not about to torment 12 people by tagging them.  Normally I ignore posts like this, but wasn’t in the mood to review another advertising company.  On the other hand, If you want to be tagged, I will tag the first 12 people that request it.  But if I don’t like your blog, the link will be NOFOLLOW.  Just telling you that in advance.

Clickbooth is an advertising company located at http://www.clickbooth.com.  Signing up as a publisher, I’ve been giving them a try the last few days.  Similar to other affiliate companies, they pay you based upon clicks, leads or sales.  Rather than pay every 30 days like most, Clickbooth Publisher Network pays every 15 days as long as you meet the $50 minimum. This is great if you have a network of performing sites.  Other positives are having an active affiliate manager, you can use your own ad variations once approved, and you get paid for referring others to the program. Considering Commission Junction pays nothing and Sharesale only $1 per lead for referrals, this is an outstanding policy. You can find my own affiliate link in the ad below this article.

Signup
Signup was easy and secure, requiring a SS# and automated phone verification to receive a pin #, similar to how Google now does it.   While Clickbooth reserves the right to take up to 72 hours to reply, I received my acceptance email after about 15 minutes.

Navigation
Unlike some other affiliate site I belong to, Clickbooth loaded very quickly. At first I was overwhelmed by the offers because they cover so many areas. I decided the Clickbooth affiliate offer was where to start. I entered “clickbooth” into their search engine and it came right up. Next I found the banner size I wanted. (468×60) There was a very nice selection of odd sized ads, not just the standard sizes. I gave my ad a tracking name, entered my password, and I received the html code.

Reporting
Clickbooth provides realtime reporting. Someone clicks an ad and you see credit for it almost immediately. I was impressed. I’ve gotten used to delayed reporting and leads not showing up until passing through the system.

The Advertisers
There were so many to choose from. I had a harder time selecting ads from companies I thought I could trust. Searching under “Well-Branded” sure helped.   I had no trouble finding ads that fit my niches. 

Remember
Every ad company is not without their detractors. So far I’m about half way to the $50 minimum payout, but I will report whether or not I get paid once I reach that level. My first impressions are good. If your main goal is Pay-Per-Lead income with no questions asked, then you will be in heaven here. Just don’t waste your time trying to scam them. They maintain a list of fraudulent emails they check. Any negative reviews I have seen were over questionable signups. Clickbooth itself has been around since 2003 and I would suggest giving them a look.