What do you need to know about the Indonesian expat work permit?

Article 1 (13) of Law No. 13 of 2003 on Labor (“Labor Law”) defines foreign workers (“expatriates”) as holders of foreign citizenship visas who come to Indonesia with the intention to work within the territory of Indonesia. Expatriates are foreign workers who live outside their home country and settle abroad, for example in Indonesia. Employers wishing to hire Expats to work with them in Indonesia must ensure that Expats have acquired a full set of Expatriate Work Permits as stipulated by the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower.

In this article, we will delve into 4 (four) important things that all Employers hiring and / or in the process of hiring Expatriates should know and understand:

1. Who can be a sponsor of a work visa?

Only the following entities can sponsor Expats in Indonesia:

• Government institutions, international organizations, representatives of foreign states;
• Representative offices of foreign chambers, foreign companies or foreign news;
• Foreign Direct Investment Companies (Penanaman Modal Asing or PMA);
• Legal entities that are established based on Indonesian laws or foreign business entities that are registered with an authorized institution in Indonesia (ie Foreign Representative Office);
• Social, religious, educational and cultural institutions; and
• Entertainment organizer business services (impresariat).

Entities in the form of a civil association, firm, limited partnership, business partnerships and individuals are prohibited from employing and / or acting as sponsor of Expatriates unless the Laws and Regulations stipulate otherwise.

DKP-TKA payment obligation for employers / sponsors

Employers or sponsors must pay the Skills and Experience Development Fund (“DKP-TKA”) in the amount of USD 100 / month (USD 1200 / year) for each Expatriate hired to work in Indonesia. DKP-TKA is paid in full at the beginning of the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) work permit application procedure, for the period of employment that has been approved by the Minister of Manpower.

The following employers or sponsors are not required to pay DKP-TKA:

• Government Agencies / Institutions;
• International agencies (eg WHO, ILO, UNICEF, etc.);
• Representatives of foreign countries;
• Social institutions; and
• Religious institutions.

2. Prohibited positions for expatriates

The following are the reasons expats work in Indonesia:

• As owner of the sponsoring company (Investor / Shareholders) and / or to act as a member of the Company’s Board of Executives (ie: Chairman / Director);
• As experts in certain skills, for the transfer of knowledge to Indonesians.

Please note that Indonesian law regulates that expatriates cannot fill certain positions in Indonesia. These prohibited positions are primarily in the Human Resource Development (HRD) field, such as Personnel Director, Human Resources Manager, and HRD-related Supervisors. The complete list of prohibited positions for expatriates is stipulated in the Decree of the Ministry of Manpower No. 40 of 2012 (“Labor Decree No. 40/2012”).

Apart from the prohibited positions listed in the Manpower Decree No. 40/2012, there are other prohibited positions for Expatriates working in certain fields, such as in the Oil and Gas Industry.

Ban for expatriates from holding multiple positions

In accordance with article 41 of the Decree of the Ministry of Manpower no. 16 of 2015 (“Manpower Decree No. 16/2015”), employers cannot double-post Expatriates in multiple positions, such as:

• Employing expatriates for dual positions, whether both positions are within the same company or in different companies;
• Employing expatriates who are currently employed by other employers.

Expatriates serving as members of the Board of Directors or the Board of Commissioners are exempt from the prohibition of double publication.

3. Procedures for obtaining work permits

Every employer employing Expatriates is required to obtain written permission from the Ministry of Manpower (“Work Permits”). The following are the procedures for obtaining work permits in Indonesia:

Permits to be owned by the Sponsoring Company:

• Plan for the recruitment of foreign workers (Rencana Penggunaan Tenaga Kerja Asing or “RPTKA”);
• Telex Vitas;
• Permit to hire foreign workers (Izin Memperkerjakan Tenaga Kerja Asing or “IMTA”);

Permits that the hired Expatriate must have:

• Limited stay visa (Kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas or “KITAS”);
• Multiple Exit / Reentry Permit (“MERP”);
• Letter of registration (Surat Tanda Melapor or “STM”);
• Temporary Stay Registration Letter (Surat Keterangan Pendaftaran Penduduk Sementara or “SKKPM”);
• Arrival permit card (Kartu Ijin Pendatang or “KIJ”); and
• Letter of Evidence of Arrival Report (Lapor Kedatangan or “LK”).

The data required from the sponsoring company at the beginning of the procedure consists of the planned: (1) name of the sponsoring company; (2) business address of the company; (3) name of the head of the company; (4) expatriate work; (5) job description of expatriates; (6) number of expatriates hired; (7) workplace of the expatriates hired; (8) Expatriate employment period; (9) expatriate salary; (10) start of employment; (11) number of Indonesian workers hired at the sponsoring company; (12) the appointment of Indonesian workers as expatriate companions; and (13) training program for Indonesian workers.

4. Obligations to obtain other licenses for expatriates

After a certain period of time, Expatriates working in Indonesia must obtain other licenses to fulfill their obligations as stipulated in the Manpower Decree No. 16 of 2015. The obligations are as follows:

• Tax compliance

Article 36 of the Decree on manpower no. 16 of 2015 requires expatriates who have worked for more than 6 (six) months in Indonesia to obtain the Taxpayer Identification Number (Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak or “NPWP”). NPWP functions as tax compliance for legal subjects in Indonesia.

• Local insurance policy

Article 36 of the Decree on manpower no. 16 of 2015 requires expats to have an insurance policy with an insurance company that is currently established in Indonesia as an Indonesian legal entity.

• Register of BPJS or Social Security Agency

Since the enactment of Law No. 24 of 2011 on the Social Security Agency, expatriates who have worked for at least 6 (six) months in Indonesia must also participate in the National Security System. Employers must register their employee with the Social Security Agency (Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial or “BPJS”) under 2 (two) security programs: Employment and Health.

During an interview with David Letterman a few years ago, Mr. Letterman was asked how much he loved his job and the interviewer commented on how great it must be to be the host of such a popular late-night TV show. Mr. Letterman responded, paraphrasing, that “after a while it’s a job like any other job.”

If you love your job but find that over time it becomes more difficult to motivate yourself and be as productive as you were when you started, then you are perfectly normal. We all have times when even the most exciting jobs become “just a job” and we wish we were somewhere else. Over time, we are presented with new challenges or we see that we are quite fortunate to have the job or career that we do, but what do you do when things get boring at work? How can you motivate yourself to complete the tedious tasks that often bother you?

Socialize – While socializing can be a huge “waste of time” at work, you can change this and use it as a motivating force at work. Use five to ten minutes a few times a day to socialize with your friends at work as a gift to complete a task that you really don’t like. Play “Let’s Make a Deal” with yourself and focus on the most horrible task until it is complete and then enjoy spending a few minutes chatting with a friend or a cup of coffee and light conversation once the task is complete.

Denying yourself trying to socialize with your friends at work until a task is complete means no email, no IM chats, and no idle chat. If someone walks by your desk, be honest with them and tell them that it is their “gift” and that you will talk to them once they have finished their work, but that you made a deal with yourself not to socialize until you have completed this task.

Time blocks – If you find it difficult to stay motivated for a long time, break your day into one-hour blocks. Employees are proven to be most efficient and happy when they work and focus on hour-long blocks of time. Work for an hour, get up and walk for a few minutes, and then go back to work. You will soon find that another hour has passed as you have been working diligently and it is time for you to stop what you are doing to take a breath and freshen up.

Using this technique of locking in your day in hourly increments will make it more effective and you will find that you are not as exhausted at the end of the day. You will probably also see that you are more productive despite stopping for a few minutes every hour to recharge your batteries.

You are you, even at work – Personalize your workspace only if your employer allows personal items in the workspace. Images that make you happy or quotes that you find inspiring can have a tremendous effect on your personal motivation throughout the day. A splash of color, family photos, or vacation photos can boost your mood during difficult or stressful times. Another trick that can keep you motivated throughout your workday is having photos or reminders of why you work so hard around yourself. It could be pictures of your children or your family’s pets, or even a brochure of a vacation spot you plan to visit one day.

No matter what motivates you to work, keep a visual reminder handy and keep your eyes on the award as you push yourself. Little tricks like these to help you motivate yourself and treat yourself to doing even the tasks you really hate will make your job more enjoyable and provide more value to the company you work for. You will find that your stress level decreases as you tackle the problem of how to properly motivate yourself, and your coworkers may also find it more enjoyable and easier to work with you.

Try some of these motivational techniques and see if you can make your days more productive and less stressful. Share these tips with your friends and let them know what you are trying to do. You may well be the one who brings motivation and team spirit to your workplace.

By: Erica D.

If you are thinking of selling the crafts you make, one of the most important decisions you can make will be how much to charge for your items. If you don’t price your items correctly, you won’t have sales if an item is priced too high, or you will go out of business if the items are priced too low for you to profit. While there are many formulas for calculating prices, they are all based on certain common elements.

First, know your market. If the items you make are priced higher than what people normally buy in your area, you must either be priced lower or sell on the market that supports your prices. Trying to sell high-end jewelry pieces at a flea market won’t work, but finding a specialty boutique or juried fine art show will. Once you’ve decided who your target market is and what they’re willing to pay for, you can start working on your numbers.

Make a list of all your expenses related to creating your crafts. This includes materials, labor, overhead, and profit. When calculating costs for materials, this includes everything from glue, thread, markers, etc. Be sure to include the shipping costs for those materials if you need to order them by mail. Calculate how much the material costs to produce each piece, this gives you the price of the raw item.

Calculating labor is a bit more personal. How many items can you produce in an hour? How much do you want to be paid per hour? If, for example, you can produce five of your items in an hour and you want to earn $ 10 per hour, then your labor cost on each item would be $ 2. Obviously, this amount will vary depending on how many items you can produce in one. time and how much you want to be paid. Add this amount to your cost of materials per item.

Overloading is tricky. While most artisans work at home, don’t think you have no overhead. There is the space you occupy in your house for your work, pens, paper, the telephone, electricity, etc. that is used during your business process is counted toward your overhead. The easiest way to do this is to keep good receipts and open a separate checking account to buy anything for your business. For utilities, take an average household bill (such as electricity) and divide the total amount by the percentage of square feet your home business occupies. Once you have this total number, you can divide it into a daily or hourly number to make calculations easier. Add this figure to labor and materials.

Earning is one of those things that people add to the calculation of work or do it separately. It depends on whether you have someone to help you make the items or not. The profit is really the number you want to make beyond the cost of the item. So if you want an additional dollar of profit on each item over and above your labor, add that amount to the cost of each item. If the cost of making your items brings your retail price lower than the area averages, you can add profit and increase the price, keeping it in line with the average price.

Once you add these four items, this is the price at which you want to sell your item. As you can see, the profit number is what you can adjust to keep your item price in line with your market.

What if your numbers make the item too expensive for your market? The first thing to consider is the cost of materials. This may mean finding new sources for your materials or buying in bulk to cut costs. Don’t forget to look up your supplies on the Internet; You can often find great prices on materials that way. It could also reduce your earnings, or possibly your workforce, although these are the last decisions you need to make.

Take the time to work the numbers and you’ll be more likely to be successful in business selling your crafts.

While the justice system in the United States is meant to provide the same protection for everyone, this is simply not the case. Time and again it has been shown that if you have money, you can get away with just about anything, in some cases even murder! This is a trend that has to stop here in America, and fortunately for our nation, there have been big changes to our justice system lately. While these changes have had a great impact on many cases and individuals, they are by no means complete. And because of this, in fact, the law is only meant to protect the rich and maintain the status quo.

There are numerous examples of this being the case in the United States throughout history. In fact, it can be argued that because the United States was founded by some of its wealthiest men and individuals at the time, that they even did it on purpose: our founding fathers realized the fact that the economy and well-being of the United States depended on the wealth of only a handful of people. If these people are not more protected than others, our entire nation could be doomed.

At least that’s what they thought in the 1700s and 1800s, anyway. But by now, we’ve seen the deleterious effects of having such a negative outlook on the United States. Wealthy people and large companies engage in unethical and illegal business practices every day, yet charges are rarely brought against them. However, when a poor man leans his head on a sidewalk to go to sleep at night, he can be arrested and thrown in jail simply because he does not have a home to go to at night. Instead of arresting the man, he should be helped, and maybe he can improve his own life. Arresting him is nothing more than angering him and making him even more defiant in front of the law.

Look at the case of OJ Simpson in the 1990s: almost everyone around the world recognized the fact that OJ did indeed kill Nicole, but the former soccer star was still acquitted of murder. Because he had millions of dollars and was able to put together one of the most intimidating, effective and expensive legal teams ever heard of, OJ Simpson was found not guilty.

But there are recent cases of justice being done lately, even when it comes to the rich, famous and powerful. Look at OJ Simpson’s most recent legal troubles, for example: Not long ago he was convicted of armed robbery, and now he can face life in prison. And of course, there’s the dogfighting case involving Atlanta Falcon star quarterback Michael Vick – he was convicted, convicted, and does not spend time in federal prison on dogfighting charges. He has lost all of his sponsors because of this, along with the career he has been working so hard for. However, he committed the crime and now he has to serve the time. Regardless of wealth or fame.

On December 1, 2016, employers will have to pay more to take advantage of the so-called white-collar overtime exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). To prepare for the next change, employers need to know if and to what extent they will be affected by the new overtime exemption regulations.

The new rules focus primarily on the minimum wage and levels of compensation necessary to qualify for the FLSA’s executive, administrative, professional and computer employee overtime exemptions. Employers can ask the following questions to determine the potential impact of the new overtime rules before it is too late.

Are any employees classified as exempt under one of the FLSA’s white collar overtime exemptions? If not, you should not be affected by the higher standard salary levels under the new rules. If so, go to the next question.

Do any of these employees ever work more than 40 hours in a workweek? If not, you should not be affected by the higher standard salary levels under the new rules. If so, go to the next question.

Do any of these employees earn a salary of less than $ 913 per week? (This is equivalent to $ 1,826 fortnightly, $ 1,978 fortnightly, $ 3,956 monthly or $ 47,476 annually). If the answer is no, you shouldn’t be affected by the higher standard salary levels under the new rules. If yes, exemption classifications or offset practices must be adjusted by December 1, 2016.

The most appropriate adjustments will typically depend on specific circumstances, such as the number of recently non-exempt employees, their wages, how often they work overtime, and the amount of overtime they work. Depending on your situation, employers may decide to implement one or more of the following adjustments.

Increase salaries. Perhaps the simplest and least disruptive adjustment would be to increase the salaries of exempt clerical employees to no less than $ 913 per week. Unfortunately, it can also be unrealistic for many employers. While some salary increases may be small, others may more than double.

Those who choose this option should remember that exemption status requires more than meeting the new minimum wage requirements. Main job duties are still relevant under the new rules and employees still have to meet the applicable “standard duty test” to be exempt.

Pay overtime compensation to recently non-exempt employees. The alternative to increasing wages is to reclassify these exempt employees as eligible overtime employees. Those who work more than 40 hours in a workweek are charged one and a half times their regular rate. Remember that employers must track the daily and weekly hours worked by all nonexempt employees, including new nonexempt ones.

Paying overtime compensation may not be a problem for employees who rarely work or work very little overtime. Despite paying more for occasional overtime, it would still be less expensive than raising wages. The same cannot be said for employees who work regularly or who work long overtime hours. Your overtime pay can add up quickly, possibly approaching or even exceeding $ 913 per week.

Ban overtime. Recently nonexempt employees may be prohibited from working overtime. If no overtime is worked, no overtime compensation is required. This option may be simple, but it may not be easy. Exempt employees typically work more than 40 hours in a workweek because they have more than 40 hours of work to do. Your work still needs to be done, but someone else will have to do it.

Adjust staff, schedules or assignments. Those who prohibit overtime may have to make various operational adjustments. For example, workload distribution and workforce scheduling may need to be adjusted to compensate for lost overtime. In some cases, it may be necessary to hire new employees to make up for lost productivity.

Adjust salaries. New non-exempt employees who are allowed to continue working overtime as usual will end up receiving more money for the same amount of work. Reallocating regular wages and overtime compensation is a way to keep hours worked and amounts paid to recently non-exempt employees nearly the same. However, employers cannot reduce an employee’s hourly wage below the highest applicable minimum wage (federal, state, or local) or continuously adjust wages each workweek to manipulate the regular rate.

Employers shouldn’t wait too long to start planning. It takes time to change exemption classifications and compensation practices, especially if they are substantial or complex. With all the hype, it’s safe to assume that the violations will be noticed not only by those who are affected by the new rules, but also by the Department of Labor.

To guard against the uncertainty and confusion surrounding the new rules, employers can benefit from having work practices liability insurance to protect against various employment-related claims. Limited coverage may be available for wage and hour claims.

Employers should discuss the new overtime exemption rules with HR, payroll / accounting, managers, and supervisors. Specific training regarding wages and hours should also be considered. Contact us for more information on how to prepare for the new white collar overtime exemption rules.

To receive regular updates on developments that may affect your business, subscribe to The Human Equation’s biweekly news roundup.

When you take your finances into your own hands and start managing your own equity investments, you have two main ways to analyze the stock market: fundamental analysis or technical analysis. These two types of analysis can be applied not only to stocks, but also to trading options, futures, Forex, and bonds. Today some combination of fundamental analysis and technical analysis is generally used and there are a ton of stock market software and websites that makes such analysis much simpler. What is the basic difference between the two types of market analysis?

• Fundamental analysis it’s what most people are familiar with and were probably exposed at school. Fundamental analysis looks at companies, their businesses, and the economic factors that can affect future stock prices. This is more common among investors, who are looking for price earnings growth and stock valuation for long-term growth.
• Technical analysisAlthough it is often unknown to the public, it has been around for as long as the markets. It’s not a secret, so why not learn how to use its benefits? This method assumes that there are non-random patterns and trends in financial markets, although not necessarily all the time. Technical analysis is more common among traders, who are often more active and don’t have time to wait for the business to affect the stock price, so they look for patterns in the stock price.

Unlike fundamental analysis, technical analysis focuses on analyzing stock price (or whatever asset you are investing in), time, volume, patterns, and trends. So simply put, technical analysts study the statistics for the stocks themselves, not the company behind them. The point of using technical analysis is to anticipate rather than predict the outcome by looking for clues in stock stats, much like sports fans look at star player stats.

Why use technical analysis?

1. It allows you to prepare for buying and selling opportunities and dangers in advance. This requires a proactive approach rather than having to wait for the company’s financial reports, which are compiled only at the end of the quarter and at the end of the year.
2. Spend more time looking for opportunities with various price and volume patterns, which generally takes less time than studying a company’s financial data and business prospects.
3. Best time to buy and sell inputs and outputs, based on statistics from patterns other data
4. Better knowledge of what prices to buy and sell, again based on past statistics and records of stock data.
5. Pick better trading opportunities quickly by looking at a chart or even using stock market software that identifies specific patterns that you know give you a statistical advantage

Technical analysis basics for buying and selling (trading)

1. Trade with the trend: simply following the current direction of what you want to buy or sell
2. Support and Resistance: By identifying support prices (where stocks stopped falling and rose) and resistance prices (where stocks stopped rising and fell), traders assume that this pattern will continue and will buy in support and sell in resistance .
3. Leaks: Stocks can stay in a range for a long time, even for years, but eventually they break, either higher or lower. Traders can take advantage of this breakout.
4. There are many more mathematical formulas, statistics, patterns, and strategies that investors and traders have been able to use to decipher stock data. Some examples you can research include: Fibonacci, Elliott Wave, Time to Market, and Volume Profiles.

How to use technical analysis as an investor or trader?

1. Trading positions (medium and long term): whenever you buy or sell, you are “trading”. Investors and traders alike “trade,” the difference is how old an investment is and how active it is. Both investors and long-term traders do what is called “position trading”.
2. Swing Trading (short to medium term): traders who buy and sell from a couple of hours to a couple of days.
3. Intraday trading (also known as scalping): trading that takes place during the day between the opening and closing of the market only. Daily traders do not hold a position overnight, generally to avoid the potential risk of what could happen between today and tomorrow.

Passive income is a flow of money that does not require any constant effort to conserve, unlike direct income, such as cash earned from a real job. Generally speaking, passive income is created by starting small businesses that, once an initial investment is made, begin to produce passive income without any ongoing maintenance on your part. The definition of passive income that I like the most is the one that says that you are earning income passively and not directly. This means you won’t get bogged down with paperwork and meetings. It also means that you won’t have to constantly defend your business and you can spend time doing the things you love the most.

I think this kind of passive income definition is pretty good, in theory at least. I say it’s pretty cool because a lot of people don’t think much about making money from something that doesn’t work. Many people view passive income as an additional expense, but it is not. You cannot live on passive income, no matter how attractive they may seem. You need to have some financial planning practice, even if it seems so simple.

Here’s what you want to do if you want to start a passive income stream: You want to invest in some high-yield savings accounts. There are many places you can go to get a high-yield savings account, but you should consider a high-yield savings account linked to a real estate company. Because real estate appreciates over time, your returns from this type of investment will be higher over time than a traditional savings account.

You can also invest in some type of reward, either through yourself or an entity. Reips sell things on the open market. The best rewards will pay a higher return than the cost of purchasing and storing the item. An important part of passive profit is the ability to invest in many different things and earn very high returns on them.

This form of income will take a little longer to get going, but it won’t take long to become a stable source of income. To get started in business, you will need to create a website with a shopping cart. This is where your customers will come from. Your site will sell products or services for a commission. Products that you sell in this way will be sold through your online store.

This passive earnings stream includes stocks and dividends. Stocks provide a stream of payments that you earn every time you sell a stock. Share dividends are paid each December, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually. You may also be paid in cash, by checks, by direct deposit, and in a number of other ways.

Another type of this income idea includes buying and selling bonds and mutual funds. These types of investments are great ways to earn money from the comfort of your home. To carry out these transactions, you will need to open a brokerage account. Once your account has been opened, you will be able to buy and sell stocks and bonds. A mutual fund worth $ 1,000 per month can make for a very good monthly income stream.

Collectively funded businesses offer another option for this passive income. This income stream is provided by the project creators themselves. There is usually a fixed amount of money available up front for projects, but if that seed capital is not raised as expected, the creators of crowd-funded projects can still make money by selling their tokens to the general public.

What is QuickBooks Accounting Software?

QuickBooks is a very simple and easy to use online accounting software that helps you manage business accounts with just one click. Now you can do your billing, accounting, and billing quickly because QuickBooks gives you what you need most, all in one place. Quickbooks is the winner of our award for best accounting software of 2017

QuickBooks Online software gives small businesses full control of their accounting and provides totally free online retention, from setup to support. No other software is required as all accounts are displayed.
QuickBooks is an accounting software application that applies the use of windows that look like real life shapes. It offers most of the features that any business will need.

Features:
1. Integration of online banking
2. Free training setup
3. Track sales expenses
4.60 plus postponements
5. Work with your accountant
6. Sharing documents across multiple devices
7. Capture of mobile receipts
8. Export data to Excel
9. Enter and manage invoices
10. Dashboards and feeds
11. Create estimates
12. Create custom invoices
13. Create and manage invoices
14. Synchronization of bank details
15. Automatic tax calculations
16. Automated online banking
17. Actionable insights, etc.
What is ZohoBooks Online software?

Zoho Books is intelligent online accounting software that will streamline your back-office operations, computerize business workflows, and help you work together with your online accountant.
With Zoho Books, you can work as a team with your colleagues, accountants, and clients. With the Customer Portal on Zoho Books, companies can share their estimates, invoices, and customer statements directly with their customers. Business owners can also automate many of their daily processes. Zoho Books is available on the iOS, Android, and Windows app.

Features:
1. Send professional invoices
2. Collect payments online
3. Expense tracking
4. Workflow automation
5. Document management
6. Real-time inventory tracking.
7. Connect Zoho Books to your bank account and get a real-time update of your cash flow.
8. Access key financial reports such as profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
9. Mobile applications: iOS, Android, Windows
10. Integrated barcode, email, bank.
11. VAT / CST / GST reports
12. Multiple Location, Multiple Company, Multiple Currency, Multiple User Login and Roll Based Access, etc.
Both Quickbooks and Zohobooks are similar to each other. Get started with the best accounting software.
For more information and prices:
Perfonec Computer LLC
Visit our website: http://www.perfonec.com
Contact us at + 0582568720/043866199
Or email us at [email protected] or [email protected]

You can promote your site with social bookmarking to develop a more active sense of community engagement on your site. Social sites that allow bookmarking give you the ability to create content and interact with the content of others.

Some social bookmarking sites function as a central link repository. This can be very useful to you if you access the Internet from a variety of devices over time. Others take an even more social approach by allowing you various controls over the public visibility of your bookmarks based on your social settings. This gives you a better chance of increasing your site traffic and invoking interest in your site.

Among the most popular social bookmarking sites for site promotion are those that allow you to set up voting for articles. The more upvotes an article gets, the more exposure it will have. Top-billing articles get significant traffic, which can lead to a lot of referrals to your site. So when creating articles for site content or for generating traffic from bookmarking sites, think carefully about the benefits of hot and controversial topics. Anything that encourages people to vote a lot could boost your site traffic as well.

You can encourage social bookmarking by your visitors by adding bookmarking links from favorite websites to the bottom of each of your article pages. You’re probably already quite familiar with the common bookmark icons that appear for each social media site at the bottom of article pages. Every time one of your readers clicks on one of these bookmarks, a bookmark is added to the corresponding social bookmarking website.

Some of the most popular bookmarking sites available right now are Digg, Reddit, Netscape, Stumbleupon, Blinklist, Del.icio.us, Furl, Fark, and Simpy. You will notice that many other social media sites are starting to add social bookmarking features as well.

PSP game downloads have swept through the PlayStation community like a storm in recent years. Sony PlayStation portable units have been a faithful companion for many children and teens today. In terms of popularity, it is almost synonymous with games, just like music is for the iPod. But before you start downloading games for your PSP unit, there are a few things you need to know about how to play those PSP game downloads.

Our computers run on an operating system, ie Windows or Mac. Unlike PCs, our PSP units run on PSP firmware. This is the core operating system of the PSP that gives your PSP the ability to play games, video, and audio. The firmware is installed on your console’s flash disk. Sony would occasionally release new firmware versions to add more functionality to its console or to fix some bugs that are inherent in older versions.

However, you may not know that only older versions of PSP firmware such as version 1.00 and 1.50 can allow you to play PSP game downloads. How do you check the firmware version of your PSP? Just take a look at the system software information in the system setup menu. Newer versions come with firmware versions greater than 2.00. If you just bought a new PSP, you don’t need to check if it is compatible with PSP game downloads.

This feature is a security protection feature to prevent any user from running unauthorized software on their PSPs. While it has its merits in expanding the functionality of your PSP, it can be crippling if you plan to play some older console games like Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, or PSP game downloads. You may not also know that Sony only allows you to update its firmware to higher versions. You cannot reverse the process once you have updated your PSP. This disability sounds more like a double-edged sword to many people.

Some software designers have been hard at work behind the scenes for years before coming up with ingenious ways to overcome this problem. The solution is in the form of PSP emulators. PSP emulators are software that can read and run game programs that operate on a different architecture, that is, a console unit like Nintendo. There are so many emulators out there, free or paid versions that can easily “convert” your PSP to play any type of console game and PSP game downloads, new and old, proprietary or non-proprietary.

Did you know that there are now plenty of PSP game download sites that offer you lifetime access to their huge vaults of games, music, movies, software, and more. of PSP? Learn more on my blog about how you can join the millions of online users who are downloading PSP games right now while reading this article, without spending more than the cost of a family pizza.

The content in this article is provided for educational and illustrative purposes only and is in no way associated with Sony, PlayStation, or any Sony company or subsidiary. This article may be reprinted or freely distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog, or website. Author’s name, biography, and website links must remain intact and must be included with each reproduction.