Blog Archive: August 2015
Privatbank Offers Check Redemption in Latvia
| Investments | 16 seen
When it comes down to bank check redemption it's always a struggle to find a bank (at least in Europe) which offers such service. You may find my discoveries of finding a reliable bank in Republic of Georgia, when at the end I found Bank Republic.
In case of Latvia, you have few options, like SEB or Swedbank, but both of them require you to have an active bank account at their branches for at least 6 months before you can start such a simple bank operation like check redemption.
After a quick search I did find a Privatbank offers such service, for really affordable prices and really quick (if you can call it actually a quick) time. So it will cost you $35 for a check and 20 days to arrive money to your bank account, if you are not willing to pay $35, you can pay even less - $25 but then you should wait 40 working days for money to arrive at your bank account.
It took me some 20 minutes to open a new bank account at Privatbank, I did chose Branch in Liepaja and I'm very thankful to lady who serviced me - Tatyana, as I remember, if correct. She was even so kind that agreed to combine 2 separate checks into one, so I do not have to pay double bank commissions.
Thank you Privatbank for being in business!
About Privatbank
Established in 1992, AS PrivatBank is now one of the most popular banks in Latvia. The bank is a part of the PrivatBank International Banking Group, which renders services to more than 22 million individual and corporate customers in 12 countries. In TOP 1000 banks of the world PrivatBank ranks No.9 among the ten largest banks of Central and Eastern Europe.
PrivatBank is one of the most innovative banks of the world. More than ten years ago the bank was among the first ones to implement dynamic SMS passwords. Mini-terminal for payments, internet banking using a QR-code, online cash collection and dozens of mobile applications represent the latest innovations of the bank, which are widely recognized all over the world.
Learn more: www.privatbank.lv
Lux Express - One Of The Best Options To Travel Between Riga and Tallinn
| Railway / Bus / Ferry | 35 seen
At the start of this August I traveled to Estonian capital city Tallinn from Riga (Latvia) to celebrate my birthday and I had a few options to choose on how to actually get there - like, car, coach (bus) or plane (I believe there is a rail connection as well, but I also believe it takes some 12 hours to travel a short ~ 300 km distance)
The fact is as I believe it will be even cheaper or about the same to fly between those two Baltic Capital cities, rather to use a bus. But since I'm sick and tired of all these airport procedures, I decided we will use a bus leaving Riga International Bus Station.
Waiting for our coach at Riga Coach Station
Riga - Tallinn coach also goes through city of Parnu in Estonia
Lounge seat and Free Wifi at Lux Express coach
I had a chance to do some little Drupal development and of course to upkeep my blog. A lovely feature. For some extra EUR 7 you can have a separate seat and enjoy your ride. They serve a free coffee and tea at this coach as well.
Tallinn coach station
The Bottom Line
If you are really for comfort and not in rush - you will enjoy Lux Express ride, pay that extra EUR 7 to have a seperate seat. Total ride time some 5 hours. Ticket price EUR 33.
About Lux Express
Lux Express Grupp is the largest international express routes coach operator in the Baltic region who offers the most frequent connections in Baltic States, to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Minsk. Our coaches also travel to Prague, Helsinki and Berlin. Lux Express Grupp offers the coach services of Lux Express, Lux Express Lounge, Lux Express Special and Simple Express, visas, insurances and ferry tickets.
Learn more or buy tickets online: http://www.luxexpress.eu/en
Gretna - Small Town Close To New Orleans, Louisiana
| Travel guides | 30 seen
We arrived at Gretna, Louisiana back in Summer 2013, just before the July 4th celebrations, and we actually stayed at this small town close to New Orleans a week or something, just for one plain reason - accommodation here is much cheaper than in New Orleans. We spent our nights here at Gretna, while our days passed in New Orleans.
To get to New Orleans we used public transport - bus, we had a bus stop just right next to our motel. All the other "normal" people use SUV cars here for getting around.
I wouldn't say Gretna is a very tourist popular spot, but here in some grocery store, I met a salesperson who sang a very popular Russian song - Миллион Алых Роз (Million Alyh Roz) performed by Alla Pugachova. This sales guy was from Vietnam or something.
The bridge connecting Gretna to New Orleans
Sun Suites motel In Gretna
We stayed at this motel for some 3 nights and then we changed motel because we got a cheaper price for a week-long stay.
Firework supplies in Gretna
It was some days before July 4th
Welcome to the city of Gretna
Gretna Fireworks store in B&W
Gretna Fireworks Store
Indeed seems that I will always remember Gretna as a Fireworks paradise
Author of this blog captured in action doing VoIP conversation
Either with my grandma, either with some customer.
About Gretna
Gretna is the second-largest city and parish seat of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. Gretna is on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just east and across the river from uptown New Orleans. It is part of theNew Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,736 at the 2010 census.
Walking Around Downtown Atlanta, GA
| Travel guides | 10 seen
We enjoyed our stay in Downtown Atlanta for some 3 days (nights) back in Summer 2013. During our short 3 days stay here we visited World of Coca Cola Museum and CNN Center and did a lot of walking around city.
As well I took a few pictures in Downtown Atlanta.
Downtown Atlanta, GA
Author of this blog captured at Rest in Downtown Atlanta
Cyclists in Downtown Atlanta
Seems Atlanta is cyclist friendly city and that is a good reason to return here.
Hard Rock cafe in Downtown Atlanta
Skyscraper in Downtown Atlanta
Hard Rock Cafe in Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta
Georgia Power
A lovely reminder of Georgia from our motel room - Georgia Power - A Southern Company
About Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia,United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts, Downtown is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters; city, county, state and federal government facilities; Georgia State University; sporting venues; and most of Atlanta's tourist attractions. Downtown measures approximately four square miles, and had 26,700 residents as of 2010.Similar to other central business districts in the U.S., Downtown has recently undergone a transformation that included the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, and arrival of new residents and businesses.
Inside CNN Studio Tour at CNN Center in Atlanta, Ga
| Entertainment | 31 seen
Turns out that Atlanta, GA is home not only for World of Coca Cola museum, but this city also hosts a CNN Center and you can actually book an inside tour here:
The Inside CNN Studio Tour is a 50-minute walking tour that descends 8 flights of stairs. Elevator assisted tours are available at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. These tours tend to sell out quickly so reservations are highly recommended.
Pricing: Inside CNN Atlanta offers a once-in-a-lifetime view of the global headquarters of CNN. Ticket price per adult: $16. More info: CNN Tour
I took a few photos here back in Summer 2013:
CNN logo at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia
Author of this blog captured at CNN center
Inside CNN Studio: World Globe
Flags of all Nations inside CNN Studio
Georgian Flag in the middle of this composition.
About CNN Studio Tour
Get behind the scenes of Cable News Network (CNN), which is based right here in Atlanta, Ga. A 50-minute guided walking tour lets you peek into the newsroom, control room and much more. Be sure to keep your eyes wide open; there's no telling who you might see while walking the halls.
5 Reasons to Take the Inside CNN Studio Tour
Blog Monthly Online Income Report - July 2015 - $528.75
| Blogging | 43 seen
Welcome to another, already the 19th online income report. In this post I will cover some info about earnings I have made in month of July solely with my blog (www.reinisfischer.com). I like to call this phenomena - a smart passive online income.
In case you are wondering why should someone publish online his/her earnings - the answer is pretty simple - I like transparency and these reports help me to observe my progress or bounces. Hopefully my reports can give some inspiration to you as well.
Total Numbers
In July I earned in total $593.75 what is a slight decrease for -10.44% if compared to previous month (June) when I earned in total $662.96.
Daily earnings: $19.79
About Blog Traffic
July was another record breaker month and in total my precious blog attracted 26,063 users. I'm really looking to break a 1,000 user milestone per day in this (August) month.
Income streams
In July in total I had 5 income streams that generated some income and two income streams (Linode and Bluehost) reported pending earnings.
I prefer to divide my income streams into a Display Ads and Affiliate programs:
Display Ads:
- Google Adsense: $26.53
- Amazon CPM: $6.32
- Sovrn: $0.48
Affiliate programs:
- Amazon associates: $504.14
- Booking.com: $61.07
Expenses
- Linode VPS: $62.50
- Facebook ADS: $5.00
I spent $5.00 to promote a new hobbyist club in Georgia - Georgia Expat Photography Club and in fact got back a pretty good return of investments (ROI) - additional 20 likes for my Facebook fan page, about 90 likes and shares and additional traffic to my blog.
I'm proudly hosting my blog with Linode VPS and yes I'm spending more than $60.00 per month just to power my blog. Well actually I do some Drupal development on those Linodes as well.
July 2015 vs July 2014
A year ago my online income resulted in very modest $21.41, but back then I was very excited of such results. Now, a year latter I can proudly say - yeah, I earned about 28 times more. Awesome!
Plans for August
As usual I will end my report with goal and forecast sections. I'm looking to reach $800 milestone this month.
Blog Traffic Report - July 2015 - 26,063 Users
| Blogging | 9 seen
Welcome to the 22nd blog traffic and statistics report. Since the very first month of my blogging career I have created a monthly blog statistics reports and starting January 2014 a blog income reports. These numbers helps me stay focused, motivates and hopefully can inspire you as well.
Since this is already the 22nd traffic report, for me it feels kinda special - its just 2 more months, and my blog will celebrate it's 2 year anniversary. Read more how I felt like turning 1: Blog One Year Anniversary
July was another record breaker month and in total this blog attracted pretty decent 26,063 users - It;s already more than one forth of my goal reaching 100K users per month. Good to know.
Blog Traffic Report July 2015
- Last July comes with a strong 15.48% traffic gain if compared to previous month (June).
- Average daily user count: 840.74
By now I'm looking to crack the 30,000 users milestone, and I have a strong inner feeling telling that I will most probably crack this milestone this month (August)
Last July in total I published 39 articles, a lot of travel stuff, and a few affiliate marketing articles
July 2015 vs July 2014
This is another interesting trend I like to measure. My blog now is 22 months old and since I have been doing monthly traffic reports from the very first blogging month, it's easy to compare where I was year ago.
Blog traffic report: July 2015 vs July 2014
Recently I got contacted by some starting blogger and he asked me, like - hey buddy, you have a lot of traffic, what's the magic? My answer is short, there is no magic at all, just constant, everyday blogging for already 22 months. And I'm really excited seeing 1,069.79% growth in traffic over a year period.
Forecast for next month / next year
As usual I will end my traffic report post with a forecast/goal for the next month. And for the third time I will try to forecast my traffic report for the next year.
Speaking of the monthly forecast - I eager to crack 30,000 user milestone, anything above will be excellent, anything bellow will be a humble result.
Now, regarding a forecast for the next year. That's a tough one actually! I will be very optimistic and forecast some 70,000 for month of July 2016.
Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing!
One Year After Being An Amazon Associate ($7,636.62)
| Blogging | 45 seen
I took me a lot of time to decide either to publish or not to publish post regarding my experience of being Amazon Associate after the first year, but since I like transparency (Read my monthly online income reports) and in fact in past I have done similar reviews, like I covered something about my earnings after my first year of blogging (Read: One Year Blog Anniversary) and my total online earnings in 2014, I decided well - it's OK to publish my findings of being an Amazon Associate after the first year.
I first opted in for Amazon Associates account back at he end of June 2014, and made first sale at the start of August 2014, so in this blog post I'm covering a time period August 2014 - July 2015:
Monthly Amazon Associates Income graph
In total for the last year period (August 1st, 2014 - July 31, 2015) I have earned in commissions from Amazon pretty impressive amount of money - $7,636.62, it is around $20.92 per day or $636.38 per month (equals to minimum wage in Portugal ($653) or average salary in Latvia ($667)
Now, that huge spike is made on December 2014, when I was surprised to learn the power of holiday season. After then earnings have felt sharply, but I'm looking for some good growth rates for last quarter of 2015 (again, it's holiday season approaching).
Blog Traffic Report
I have been doing monthly traffic reports since the very first month of blogging (October 2013) but I decided to add a general traffic report for the last year.
Blog Traffic report: August 2015 - July 2015
Traffic to my blog have grown from 2,584 users in August 2014 to 26,063 users in July 2015 and I find it a pretty impressive blog traffic growth. In total for the last year my blog has attracted 172,725 users and 260, 707 page views. If I would like to express how much I have earned per 1000 users or per 1000 page views, here is what I would get:
- Earnings per 1000 users: (7,636.62/172,725)*1000 = $44.21
- Earnings per 1000 page views: (7,636.62/260,707)*1000 = $29.29
Well, in general I'm pretty satisfied with above numbers, since I'm using other streams to monetize my blog, like Google Adsense, Amazon CPM and Svorn - I believe if I would stick with them only I would earn max one tenth of the total number I have earned with Amazon Associates. By now I can tell - Amazon Associates have been the most successful discovery for me.
Amazon CTR for 12 months
Not every month is equal, there have been ups and downs. By now I can confirm that holiday season (December) are most profitable while Summer months makes less. A lot of is affected by actual purchases, measured by CTR. And so for the last 12 months I have been measuring my Amazon CTR closely and here is what I got:
Month CTR % August 20144.71 %
September 2014 5.6 % October 2014 2.38 % November 2014 4.04 % December 2014 7.26 % January 2015 3.16 % February 2015 4.19 % March 2015 1.99 % April 2015 2.55 % May 2015 1.85 % June 2015 2.05 % July 2015 1.68 %Top 3 months for me have been: December 2014 (7.26%), September 2014 (5.6%) and August 2014 (4.71%), while the worst performing months have been July 2015 (1.68%), May 2015 (1.85%) and March 2015 (1.99%).
In fact by now overlooking those figures I find it a bit interesting that my first month with Amazon Associates on board generated me very good CTR. Speaking of December - it's holiday season, and I expect to see strong growth in CTR for this December (2015) as well.
In overall I'm pretty satisfied with CTR above 2%, anything more is brilliant, less - not so good.
What works best
I have tried several ways of promoting Amazon products and yet I have found that the most effective way is to make a top/best seller lists. Speaking of products I promote I'm always looking for products that I'm interested myself and which price is above $100.
Any goals for next year?
At first I will definitely stick with Amazon Associates and will do my best to comply with their rules, for now I have already implemented Amazon API for retrieving prices (it's against TOS to display price in some other way), I'm always adding a brief explanation for such posts, like I'm doing affiliate marketing and by clicking on links, images e.t.c. I will earn an income from that.
Speaking of numbers - I will be very satisfied if I will manage to triple traffic coming to my blog (it would be awesome to see 500K users for the next 12 months) and to double my earnings from Amazon.
On the other hand I'm actively seeking other affiliate income streams to diversify my online income stream, and for now seems that I have found one another very interesting affiliate program for bloggers - Bluehost.
Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing!
World of Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta, GA
| Tourism objects | 14 seen
It was a damned hot day when we arrived to Atlanta, Georgia. After a few hour rest in our motel we decided to explore what's interesting nearby our location, and turned out that museum "World of Coca Cola" were among the closest tourist attractions. So we started to walk (don't walk when it's + 108 Fahrenheit outside). And here you go - some pictures back from 2013.
World of Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta, Georgia
Aquarium at World of Coca Cola
View to Down Town Atlanta
World of Coca Cola museum
Vending machines
Author of this blog captured at Coca Cola museum in Atlanta
About World of Coca Cola
The World of Coca-Cola at Pemberton Place® celebrated its Grand Opening on May 24, 2007. It’s the only place where you can explore the fascinating story of Coca‑Cola® – the world’s best-known beverage brand.
Thunderstorm in Downtown Knoxville, Tennessee
| Travel guides | 5 seen
We stayed in Knoxville for some 3 nights, since our motel was located pretty far away from Downtown Knoxville we traveled here by Public Transport (for a surprise they have a one). Since we didn't know much (except Megabus is heading here) about Knoxville, we opened Wikipedia and learnt that a World's Fair has been held here in 1982. We decided to take a closer look of Downtown Knoxville and here is what we got:
Thunderstorm in Down town Knoxville
Author of this blog hiding from rain in some cafeteria
Knoxville
Down town Knoxville, Tennessee
Down town Knoxville, Tennessee
After Knoxville we headed to Atlanta, Georgia, but it's another blog post.
About Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Knox County. The city had an estimated population of 183,270 in 2013, and a population of 178,874 as of the 2010 census, making it the state's third largest city. Knoxville is the principal city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, which, in 2013, had an estimated population of 852,715. The KMSA is, in turn, the central component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2013, had a population of 1,096,961.
Quaker Steak & Lube in Knoxville, Tennessee
| Restaurant reviews | 9 seen
Seems this place is closed for now, but back in 2013 we found it our second favorite place in US (after Chikie's & Pete's in Bordentown). Quaker Steak & Lube was located closely to our motel and when we went here, we were just impressed.
Quaker Steak and Lube in Knoxville
Live performance at Quaker Steak and Lube in Knoxville
Bike Night 2013
Tables at Quaker Steak & Lube in Knoxville
Author of this blog eating pork ribs
The Bottom Line
It would be sad to learn that this place is closed (in 2015), it was a great place, with great food (Best Wings in USA), awesome atmosphere and good prices.
Washington D.C. (Super Moon & Spending Night With Homeless People)
| Travel guides | 13 seen
What seemed to be one of the most interesting travel experiences turned out to be the worst travel experience and that happened in Washington D.C. back in summer of 2013 (I can actually recall it was June 22). While back in Georgia we had negotiated an accommodation in Washington D.C. using coach surfing - our host didn't showed up and since it was late night we stayed on street.
We have never tried coach surfing again. Well, I agree we could book a hotel, but since we arrived late in D.C. we decided to take the next Megabus bus and head furthermore into Southern States. We had to wait some 6-7 hours... in time of what we met a lot of soliciting homeless people, with one I even chatted for some 2 - 3 hours and in fact it was a quite interesting conversation, we talked about Soviet Space program, about China's economical growth e.t.c.
Another interesting phenomena happened that night - Super Moon. I took my humble camera and tried to memorize this night in Washington D.C.
Super Moon in Washington D.C.
Lively street in Washington D.C.
Street musicians in Washington D.C.
Shakespeare theater in Washington D.C.
Streets of Philadelphia
| Travel guides | 13 seen
From my travel notes to the United States back in 2013. Just as from the World famous Bruce Springsteen song, we too experienced this lovely phenomena called - streets of Philadelphia.
Update: I wish I was a better photographer back then, as all of the photos from that trip were taken using my old Sony DSC camera, and ... let's say they didn't pop out. Some three years latter, by writing an article on Geghard monastery in Armenia, I remembered Philly. All I was left, to browse for my old articles and take a help from Adobe Lightroom and fine tune my scenery.
Here are few things I can associate Philadelphia with - Penn Station (if you are traveling deeper into United states using rail or bus network, you will definitely use this facility), very Masonic city (here you will find Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and a lot of Masonic symbols), very beautiful skyscrapers, tastiest coffee in the United States, and here I first time observed have noodles actually are prepared (at Philadelphia's Chinatown). Oh, and Philly cheese steak - damn I miss one right now.
Yellow cab in streets of Philadelphia
Ask me - what US associates to me - and yellow cabs will be a top of the list
Huge billboards and skyscrapers
Didn't they invented both?
Noodles being prepared at Philadelphia's China Town
Nope, I wasn't a restaurant critique back then, and this awesome place is missing it's spot on restaurant review series.
China town in Philadelphia
Masonic temple in Philadelphia
Oh, gosh, just like from the National Treasure with Nicolas Cage
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania claims to be the oldest Grand Lodge in the United States, and the third oldest in the world after England (est. 1717) and Ireland (est. 1725), having been originally established as the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1731. This claim is disputed by both the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and the Grand Lodge of Virginia.
Sculpture in Philadelphia
Benjamin Franklin - Craftsmen
At Penn Station
Streets of Philadelphia
From Philadelphia's Penn Station we used Megabus coach service and headed to Washington, DC
Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting.
Manhattan - Island of Many Hills
| Tourism objects | 13 seen
Today by overlooking some old photos (taken in Summer 2013) I found some epic pictures back from my travels to United States, so I decided to add some photos I have taken there on my blog - and today I will add Manhattan.
It was interesting for me to learn that "Manhattan" can be translated as "Island of many hills" from the Lenape (Unami) language. I didn't noticed many hills there, but a lot of skyscrapers instead.
Street musician in Manhattan's subway
It is interesting to learn that in New York you can (must) obtain some license for performing on the streets - as you can see from picture above - this musician is a musical saw player.
Manhattan
Manhattan
Times Square in Manhattan
Visit card of Manhattan - yellow taxi cabs
Manhattan
About Manhattan
Manhattan is the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coterminous with New York County, founded on November 1, 1683 as an original county of the U.S. state of New York. The borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the East, Hudson, and Harlem Rivers, but also includes several small adjacent islands, as well as Marble Hill, a small neighborhood on the mainland.
Manhattan is often said to be the economic and cultural center of the United States and serves as home to the United Nations Headquarters. Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, and Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough. Historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americansi n 1626 for the equivalent of US$1050, Manhattan real estate has since become among the most expensive in the world, with the value of Manhattan Island, including real estate, estimated to exceed US$3 trillion in 2013.
Staten Island Ferry - Free Tourist Attraction in New York City
| Tourism objects | 15 seen
In case you are looking for budget-friendly and interesting activities in New York - try a free-of-charge ferry service connecting Manhattan with Staten Island. Y
ou won't find much interesting in Staten Island (although you can rent a much cheaper apartment here like in downtown New York), but you will definitely enjoy views offered from the ferries deck, the best way to see Liberty Statue for free? - Staten Island Ferry!
Staten Island Ferry
View to Manhattan
Staten Islands Ferry's deck is a great place for photographers to take beautiful views of Manhattan, unfortunately back then I had only a simple bridge camera and best I could get was above seen picture. Also you can capture Statue of Liberty from ferries deck as well.
Author of this blog captured in action
About Staten Islands Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. It runs 5 miles (8.0 km) in New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island. The ferry operates 24/7.
The ferry departs Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal at South Ferry, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park. On Staten Island, the ferry arrives and departs from the St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace, near Richmond County's Borough Hall and Supreme Court. Service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is punctual 96% of the time. The Staten Island Ferry has been a municipal service since 1905, and currently carries over 21 million passengers annually on the 5.2-mile (8.4 km) run. While trips take 25 minutes, service usually runs every 30 minutes most hours of the day and night, with more frequent service during peak times.
The ferry is free of charge, though riders must disembark at each terminal and reenter through the terminal building for a round trip to comply with Coast Guard regulations regarding vessel capacity and the use of placeholding optical turnstiles at both terminals. For most of the 20th century, the ferry was famed as the biggest bargain in New York City.