Top 7 Tips for All Medical Transcriptionists, New and Experienced

Top 7 Tips for All Medical Transcriptionists, New and Experienced

1. Find the best resources (word books, best medical transcription practices, drug books, cheat sheets, the list goes on). These will make or break your job as a medical transcriptionist. The experts say you are only as good as your resources. I really believe that is true. You have to know where to go to get the answer to any question you have, and the quicker the better. One suggestion would be to jot down anything you want to find out later that you don't have time to look up as you're transcribing. You want to research those things on a daily basis. Don't let a list grow and grow. That will only cause frustration each time you come to that question. If you can't find it in your resource information, find a mentor or a co-worker that will help you with questions you don't have answers to.
2. Use autocorrects or expanders. These are a must. When you transcribe for a living, every keystroke that you save adds to increased productivity which in turn means more money in your paycheck. It also helps with the wear-and-tear on your fingers and wrists. The autocorrects you can use are endless. You may think you don't have time to stop and add them, but in the long run it is going to save you just that; time. A medical transcriptionist should only be looking up something once. For instance, if you look up a drug spelling or whether it is capitalized or not, that should be the only time you look it up. Add it right then to your autocorrects for the next time you'll need it. I put in many shortcuts such as year-old (1yo, 2yo, etc.) and month-old (1mo, 2mo, etc.) that save me keystrokes on a day-to-day basis. The key here is for the autocorrects to make sense to you so you remember them.
3. Use cheat sheets. A medical transcriptionist cannot work without them. The number of cheat sheets you use will depend on the different specialties you type for. There are many of your fellow medical transcriptionists that will share their cheat sheets if you just ask them. You can also ask the MTs you work with to develop one with you since you are all typing for the same providers. Together you can figure out certain phrases or words that a doctor is using and get them on the sheet for future use. How many times do you see something typed that isn't actually what the doctor dictated? (... A little research would eliminate that and putting something that is "close" to what they are dictating is really a disservice. Another way to flag something that you have looked up before in a reference book is by tagging it or highlighting it. )
4. Receive monthly information on what's new with medical transcription. Find a place that has a monthly newsletter where they provide you with the newest information pertaining to drugs, medical terminology, changes in rules for medical transcription, etc. It is your responsibility to keep up on all of this. I have found that our community really wants to help each other. You will be able to help others when you gain more experience and return the favor. You may want to get on an e-mail list of medical transcriptionists where they pass around information that helps each other. These are excellent ways to stay in touch with what is going on out there in the world of medical transcription.
5. Get resume help. Find a service or a person who can help you with your resume. It is not that you should be jumping from job to job but if the time comes when you need to apply for another position, you should always have a current resume on hand. A good resume is critical. Things have changed over the years as far as what they look for on a resume. There are many do's and don'ts that you need to be aware of to even have your resume considered on the first go-round. There are so many other candidates today that you are competing with. One tip that I can share is that you need to have your resume on one page if at all possible.
6. Find the best document samples. Document samples are the key to helping you in your day-to-day work. There are times when you can type without a sample, but there are more times when you will want a sample. Get a sample of what is in a physical examination and a review of systems. Get a sample of any of the procedures or surgeries that you type. How many times have you wondered if something went under musculoskeletal or extremities, cardiovascular or respiratory? Does this sound familiar? Get the information before you need it.
7. Last but not least, ergonomics. You must be comfortable when you are sitting at a computer and transcribing most of the day. Do not be afraid to get up and move around when you feel the need. This will be doing yourself and your employer a favor. You must take care of your body. It will keep you working longer and healthier. Make sure you take your breaks and lunch. It is a fact that you actually type faster and more accurately when you take your breaks and lunch on a daily basis. Make sure that you have the right chair and that your posture is correct for typing. It is critical to have the screen at the right level. You should have checked all of these things out when you first set up your office space, but if you did not make sure you do it now.

Medical Books

USMLE 2 - THREE Steps to Guaranteeing a Score Above 220

USMLE 2 - THREE Steps to Guaranteeing a Score Above 220

It is becoming tougher and more competitive as the years pass bye to get into a residency program you desire, let along any residency program. For this reason, it's important to approach each and every one of the USMLE exams as if it was the make-or-break exam in your career.
It isn't enough to just browse through a review book, do a couple hundred questions from a question bank, or try to squeak through from what you learned while working on the wards. Achieving a great score is done with precise planning and targeted preparation, targeting the high-yield information and learning every single nugget about it that you can. So how do we find out what is really the high-yield information? Here is how...
1. Select the right study/prep guide
As you know if you are a medical student, there are some review books that only cover the bare essentials and are very superficial in nature, and on the opposite spectrum there are those that are so long that they come in a series of books. It is ideal that you select a guide that is somewhere in between these two choices. An ideal study guide is one that covers every single high-yield and medium-yield topic, as these will be tested on your exam. From these clues, you can dig a bit deeper and properly learn the details about all the high-yield information, as the USMLE exams will never ask a simple straight-forward question, rather they'll ask you something that is secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary, all the while still being related to that high-yield topic. Ideally, if you can find a study guide that does this step for you, you are way ahead of the game.
2. Do at least ONE FULL question bank
Ideally, you would do a full question bank after having gone through your study guide and adding more in-depth information to it. From here, you should take good quality notes from the qbank information and insert them into the appropriate places in your study guide. Not only will this add to your knowledge of the highest yield topics, but it will give you a different twist on these topics. This altered method of thinking about topics is one of the greatest benefits of doing the question banks. Once you have been through the whole qbank, you will have a top-notch preparation guide.
3. Try to get through your study guide a minimum of TWO times
You've taken the time to go through and add more information to your study guide, you've worked hard to implement the extra information from your qbank, now is the time to fully commit all of the material to memory. Ideally, you would read through each chapter at least 2-3 times, followed by a full once-through of the whole book. These are the minimum steps you should take to ensure you will be able to tackle each question on the USMLE exam without hesitation.

USMLE Step 2

The Best Way to Study USMLE Course - Part 1

The Best Way to Study USMLE Course - Part 1

Admission procedure for USMLE
It is the dream of every Medical Graduate, whether from the U.S., Canada or International Medical Graduates (IMGs) from different parts of the globe, to get through the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) to become eligible for selection to the Residency Program and practice medicine in the U.S.A.
The first thing to do before proceeding with USMLE is to collect information regarding admission details, eligibility requirements and such other information from USMLE and Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates(ECFMG)'s websites.
Once you have collected information from organizations like USMLE and ECFMG, the next step will be to find out relevant study materials like books, coaching institutes, which are offering excellent coaching and guidance through online, class room based or home study method. You will also have to find out which are the institutes offering Residency programs as per your credentials and is there any possibility of getting externship facility and letters of recommendations.
It is not that easy to get into the Residency Program, especially for the IMGs, because of limited availability of seats for IMGs. One has to go through various hurdles like passing the Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) and Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) for Residency Match and finally the Step 3 in order to get a license to practice medicine in U.S.A.
On an average about 37000 candidates participate in the exam annually for about 25000 Residency positions, of this about 8000 are IMGs. Approximately 75% of the available seats are cornered by US Seniors and a small portion by the U.S. resident IMGs. Out of about 8000 plus IMGs appearing for the exam, only 40-42% of them get selected for the Residency.
That means there is fierce competition for available seats and only the very best and those who have excellent communication, clinical and patient management skills get through to the USMLE Residency Program.

USMLE Step 1

 

USMLE Step 2 CK Exam - FIVE Steps to Guarantee a Score Over 230

USMLE Step 2 CK Exam - FIVE Steps to Guarantee a Score Over 230

Some people will tell you to run out and grab this or that study guide, swearing that it is "the only" guide that you need. But there is a problem with this approach, and this is that the majority of study guides on the market are very superficial high-yield guides, going into little or no detail about each topic it touches. If you really want to score well above average on the CK exam, you have to dig deeper, you have to go that extra mile in order to succeed in surpassing the average and knocking this exam out of the ballpark.
Many medical students aren't really sure how they should approach an exam in order to significantly surpass the average, but the answer truly is not to simply read a review book and do a few questions. The key is to take the high-yield information that is being presented to you in books and on the wards, and take this information one-step further, learning everything you can about it, even the smallest detail you can find.
Here are FIVE steps that can help you secure a score of more than 230 on your USMLE Step 2 CK exam:
1. Figure out what is truly high-yield information
This is the first and most important step in preparing for your Step 2 CK exam. The best place to find this information is in a study guide that is written specifically for the CK exam. A word of caution here is to purchase a study guide that gives you complete information, not simply one or two supposedly high-yield quick facts. You really want to find something voluminous, because truly learning medicine requires lots of information, so don't cut yourself short here by purchasing something because it is smaller than the rest of the guides on the market. On the other hand, don't feel like you have to have full books on each individual subject, because this is not necessary for Step 2 CK preparation.
2. Take the "high-yield" information and dig deeper
This is the step that most people will unknowingly miss, and in turn it will really hurt their score. The key to "digging deeper", is to realize that each topic being presented to you is simply an introduction, and in no way a multidimensional look at that topic. In order to best prepare yourself for the CK exam (and your career in medicine), you should learn the surface information for the topic (ie. the basics), then learn some secondary, tertiary, and quaternary information. Be sure to review the histology, pharmacology, anatomy, pathology, and physiology for each topic. In doing this, you will have a well-rounded knowledge base for each topic on the test. Just a note - this sounds like a lot of work, but most of this information will come back to you from your Step 1 exam, and in the end it will go a long way in helping your score.
3. Take this "deep" high-yield information and apply it to a question bank
Using a question bank as a study supplement is absolutely essential these days, and with the highly targeted information being presented in the qbanks, it is going to go a long way in your quest for a 230 + score on the CK. The key to making the best of your qbank efforts is to go through them relatively slowly and take meticulous notes. These notes are going to be added to your study guide in order to fill in each and every piece of information you may be missing.
4. Fill in the cracks of your current knowledge with your new qbank knowledge
The second-to-last step in fully setting yourself up for a great score is to take your qbank notes and to fill them into your study guide. If your study guide is a PDF document, simply print it out and you will have plenty of room to write in the hundreds of important points you grabbed from doing your question bank.
5. Read your super high-yield preparation guide at least THREE times
Now that you have gone deeper to learn as much as you could about each superficial topic presented in your study guide, taken it a step further by filling in the cracks with all of your qbank information, you are ready to sit down and round out your test preparation by absorbing every last nugget of information in your study guide. Studies have shown that the absolute best way to commit something to your memory is by seeing it at least THREE times. The best approach to doing this can be either reading each chapter three times through, then moving onto the next, or by reading your guide all the way through three individual times. You will know what is best for you from experience. If you want to truly ensure you won't forget anything on test day, you can read each chapter three times in a row, then once you are done, read the guide once through. This will ensure you remember everything, even the first few chapters that you might have forgotten a bit about.
These are FIVE steps you must take in order to ensure you get a score well above average on your CK exam. If you are a weaker test-taker this information may be what you need to propel your scores that much higher, if you are a strong test-taker then this information will help you stay strong and possibly do even better on this test than the Step 1.

USMLE Medical Books

 

Herbal Remedies, Tips and Techniques for Toothache

Herbal Remedies, Tips and Techniques for Toothache

Herbal remedies for toothache can make your life easy and comfortable too. Toothache is one of the worst issue that most of the people suffer. The pain is really bad and it makes your life miserable too. In order to release the pain we do take numerous kinds of medicines or painkillers in order to reduce our pain, but all the medicines are for temporary purpose.
Anti-pains are not for the long-term purpose and thus it is not always recommended by the doctors. Apart from these painkillers, we should go for the herbal remedies for toothache in order to reduce the pain permanently. Herbal medicines are now becoming very common and easy to use products too. Despite other painkillers, they do not have any kind of side-effects.
Herbal remedies for toothache are viable too and can be used with the help of proper consultation from the dentist. It is always correct to concern the dentist for any kind of problem. Herbal medicines are always recommended because of its perfection. Clove oil is one of the best remedy used for the root pains. Other kind of oils are also easily available in the market that helps in reducing the pain.
Another best herbal remedy for toothache is to use the guava leaves. One who is suffering the toothache should chew the guava tender leaves and difference can be easily noticed. Apart from this, if toothache is really severe and you cannot consult the dentist immediately, you can have the seeds of black pepper and can put them on the tooth for a while, like this pain will be released and you will feel better.
Herbal remedies for toothache are thus recommended by everyone and dentist do prefer to use these remedies themselves too in order to be protected from any kind of pain. By using herbal remedies for toothache, problem is solved immediately the patient will himself/herself feel the difference. You can further search for other natural remedies and will see how they work and have no side-effects too. They are authentic and reliable too.

Natural Treatment 

Erectile Dysfunction Home Remedy - Tips to Cure Your ED Problem Naturally

Erectile Dysfunction Home Remedy - Tips to Cure Your ED Problem Naturally

Boys will be boys and men will be men! Unless, you have an erectile dysfunction! Did you know that millions of men suffer from this problem which can lead to emotional and mental problems including depression? If you have been around a group of guys lately, you know that their bedroom night life is important to them and their partner. But millions of men are crippled when it comes to this God-given pleasure.
Statistics show that 18-30 million American men will suffer from an erectile dysfunction problem this year alone. And millions of the those men will choose to treat their bedroom problem with a colorful pill that costs dollars a piece and has been reported to cause blindness, deafness and the regular nauseousness and headaches. But before you risk your eyesight and hearing, have you considered an erectile dysfunction home remedy?
This natural health option is shown to improve your overall health (physically, emotionally, mentally and even spiritually) while curing your erectile dysfunction?
Research Supports E.D. Natural Treatment
A recent study from Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health has recently published a report supporting a natural treatment. The study stated that nearly one and five men are experiencing an erectile dysfunction. However, simple lifestyle changes can be enough to ward off this lifestyle-caused problem.
Are you at risk for diabetes? Do you know if heart disease runs in your family? Do you have a job which requires you to be sitting most of the work day? Are you questioning the foods you put in your body?
If you answered 'yes' to any of the following questions, you might be a perfect candidate to treat your problem with an erectile dysfunction home remedy. Here is how most of our customers started their erectile dysfunction natural treatment.
Tips to Cure Your Erectile Dysfunction Problem Naturally
1. Check the labels! You should begin to take your diet more serious! There are a lot more nutrition details in our E.D. Report but you should begin by lessening: fast food, fattening foods, and high sugar foods or sweats. If you cut your fat intake to less than 60 grams per day and lower your cholesterol you will notice a difference in weeks.
2. Increase Circulation! How do you increase circulation? You cut cholesterol! This is what nutritional expert Michael A. Klaper, M.D. says, "You need to keep the arteries to the genitals open, and the way to do that is with a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet." Moderate the foods from animal and animal-based products.
3. Fiber! If you have been around a grocery store in the last 5 years you should know that fiber is important. Just look at the main label on the front of most healthy foods. High fiber diets (especially fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) have been shown to keep the body regular and cleansed. Our report gives a 'must buy' food description.
4. Meal Size! Make a fist and look at it! That is about the same size your next meal should be. In fact, all your meals should be that size and you should be eating 5 meals per day. This helps with digestion and keeps the blood flow where it should be and not your stomach.
5. Vitamin! Are you taking your vitamins? Your mom was right and you should be taking your vitamins and multi-vitamin! But you should also know what vitamins pump blood flow to where you want it.
6. Ginkgo is good! Herbalist expert James Green states, "Supplements of the herb ginkgo, found in most health food stores, can improve blood flow to the genital arteries and veins, which may help reverse impotence." Do you know what other herbs and supplements are a must?
7. Breathe! Obviously you are always breathing but your posture and various breathing exercises will increase circulation by 15%. You can even do some simple breathing exercises in the comfort of your office desk! And the boss never has to know! Shhhh
8. Water! Got water? Three-fourths of your body is water! And when you add a 1% to that you can have super-human benefits. You should begin a water plan to drink at least 10 tall glasses of water per day! Start drinking 5 glasses per day and work your way up?

 Natural Diet Remedies

Good Movies 2011 - List Of the Best

 Good Movies 2011 - List Of the Best



There is a huge craze of English movies all around the world. People are very fond of watching English movies. There are many people who go to cinemas to watch films. Some people watch movies in their homes either with their friends or alone. These are also a source of information. You can also learn or improve your English by watching English films.

There are many good English films which are released in 2011. There are also many good videos which are coming up. Many films have very exciting titles. Some of the good English films of 2011 are listed below:
• The Green Hornet: It is a very good action-comedy film which was released on 14th of January, 2011 in North America. The name of the director of this movie is Michel Gondry. The stars of this movie are Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz and Seth Rogen.
• Just Go with It: This is a romantic-comedy film which was released on 11th of February, 2011. The director of this movie is Dennis Dugan. The stars of this movie are Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler.
• No Strings Attached: It is a romantic-comedy film, released on 21st of January, 2011. The director of this movie is Ivan Reitman. The stars of this movie are Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Kevin Kline and Natalie Portman.
• The Roommate: It is a thriller film released on 4th February, 2011. The director of this movie is Christian E. Christiansen. The stars of this movie are Aly Michalka, Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly and Cam Gigandet.
• Hall Pass: It is a comedy film released on 14th June, 2011. The directors of this movie are Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly. The stars of this movie are Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Christiana Applegate and Owen Wilson.
• The Adjustment Bureau: It is a romantic thriller movie. The director of this movie is George Nolfi. The stars of this movie are Emily Blunt, Phyllis MacBryde, Matt Damon and Florence Kastriner.
• Take Me Home Tonight: It is a good movie released on 4th March, 2011. The director of this movie is Michael Dowse. The stars of this movie are Anna Faris, Teresa Palmer, Dan Fogler and Topher Grace.
• Red Riding Hood: It is a horror film. The director of this movie is Catherine Hardwicke. The stars of this movie are Lukas Haas, Billy Burke, Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman.

Movies theater

Finding Romance Books To Read Online - Tips and Tricks To Know Before You Download Novels On Love

Finding Romance Books To Read Online - Tips and Tricks To Know Before You Download Novels On Love

There's nothing like being immersed in a good novel on love and romance. Many individuals download romance books to read online and it is a frequent habit, made possible by advancements in computing software and the internet. A book you read on your computer is called an eBook, but they also go by other names, such as an electronic book and a digital book.
Whether or not you are used to downloading romance novels online, the following paragraphs will go into detail with some tips and tricks to know, if you're going to satisfy your need for romance books to read online. We will also discuss the types of places where you can get your hands on some quality romance novels, as well as some precautionary measures you should take.
The internet is a somewhat safer place to do browsing and downloads compared to a few years ago. Even with downloading romance novels to read online, that does not mean you should not be vigilant either. There are rogue websites and files on the internet that are programmed to compromise your privacy and the security of your personal computer. Having some security program(s) on your computer to combat viruses, malware, spyware and rootkits, is a step you should take before doing any extensive browsing and downloading online.
Websites can contain code and romance eBook files may have been tampered with, to cause damage to your computer. While the chances of a downloaded romance eBook, causing an infection on your personal computer is minimal, it can happen, so don't turn a blind eye with regards to having a reputable security program that is regularly updated (to combat new threats) on your computer. This should provide the best experience possible when you download romance stories online.
Finding romance books to read online can be a chore, if you are looking for a database containing a multitude of romantic novels. The easiest databases you will find are shopping sites, as they will have a multitude of romance books for sale. These can be tangible books, which are shipped to your home or downloadable romance eBooks, which are delivered to your computer instantly upon completion of the transaction.
If you're on a budget you will find that many romance books are affordable. There are certain places that may allow free romance eBook downloads, but the quality and content of these books are often questionable and stripped. For example, you may freely download a romance novel to read online, only to find out that you were only given the first couple of pages. These are usually samples and if you like what you read so far, you have to pay for the rest of the book.
What has been emerging lately is a subscription based model. Websites offering a service where you subscribe and afterwards, you are able to download all the romance books to read online that you want. Some of these are "pay by the month" subscriptions, but I have seen one that only asks for a small one time payment for a lifetime membership, and what is offered is surprisingly good. You're basically given unlimited access to a huge library of eBooks.
Because of the advancements in technology, you aren't just limited to reading love and romance eBooks on your computer. There are many other devices that allow you to read digital books. Some of these include, the iPad, Kindle and Nook. The devices that were primarily made for reading eBooks are called eReaders.
The main advantage to having an eReading device, is that they are portable and they can store a multitude of digital books, as opposed to having to tote all the books that you want to read wherever you go. These portable eReaders usually have a very long battery life, before you have to charge them again. Some eReaders have improved lighting features, in case you are going to read in a poorly lit area.

Love Romance

SEO Tips and Tricks - Popular SEO Tools

SEO Tips and Tricks - Popular SEO Tools

Search engine optimization specialists will probably advise you about the effective tools to make your optimization easier. Fortunately, the internet houses thousands of tools that will solve your website problem areas. The following are specific tools and SEO specialists commonly used and visited by many webmasters.
Google Analytics - This is an easy-to-use solution that analyzes a website traffic data. It is a free tool that tracks site activities such as page views, hits, pages viewed per visit, bounce rates and average time spent in the website. This tool covers three SEO elements: search traffic, keywords and content performance.
Alexa - This utilizes toolbars that are installed on internet users' browsers. It has been well-accepted by many webmasters for years already due to its ability to measure the popularity of a website. Alexa could only promise accuracy for the top 100,000 sites.
KeyComplete - This is a tool that determines the keywords of competitors through their PPC campaigns. The good thing about KeyComplete is that is an online tool with a lot of useful features.
SEOmoz - SEOmoz has a great deal of effective SEO tools that opens a pathway for users to obtain information from their competitors and receive reports from big search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Alexa. The tools also feature site error detection, traffic tracking and keyword research.
Widexl - Widel has a link popularity tool that helps webmasters locate pages that are linked to their site. It also has a meta tag analyzer tool that examines the meta tags, keyword density, page load time and others. The Search Engine Saturation, another Widexl tool, checks the linking to websites on six search engines, thus, allowing comparison among competitors.
SEO Logs - SEO Logs has several free tools for SEO. Web Page SEO Optimizer and Keyword Difficulty Check are On-Page SEO tools that analyze webpages for keywords optimization. Keyword Difficulty Check measures the level of difficulty of a keyword to rank in search engines. SEO Logs also includes Google tools that detects faked Pagerank and produces PR value results. Other tools are the Backlinks Analyzer Tool, HTTP Headers and Status Check Tool, Domain Age Check, Alexa Rank Comparison and AdSense Profit Calculator.
Link Diagnosis - It is one of the popular link analysis tools available in the internet. It allows website owners to examine link competition by providing the main details about competitors' links. Results will report the anchor text, PageRanks and others. Link Diagnosis runs only through Firefox.
IWEBTOOL - This website has several tools that basically cover most areas in SEO. It has Google PageRank Prediction which "predicts" ranking in Google; Link Popularity which counts the links of a domain on search engines; Website Speed Test which measures the time of site loading and many more.

SEO Services

 

10 Blogging Tricks to Really Jump Start Traffic

10 Blogging Tricks to Really Jump Start Traffic
The "in" thing right now in network marketing is definitely to have a blog! Doesn't it seem like every single person you know online has a blog? Personally, I absolutely love having a blog, because I made it, I write in it, and it makes me money. I feel like I accomplished something.
However, the problem with this torrent of new bloggers (I'm not criticizing, I'm a new blogger...) is that everyone and their dog is trying to rank on Google! Well, It seems like the "magic" number is to be ranked better than 100,000 in the world, so that's what everyone wants. So how can a bazillion marketers, plus all the other sites out there all rank in the top 100,000?
The obvious answer... they can't. So that means you have to be ahead of the game, get a leg up on the competition (now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn't share this post with you...haha). If you're just writing posts, you are going to be left in the dust because others are doing so much more!
The very first thing you absolutely need to know about blogging is that you need to use a self hosted WordPress blog. I'm going to share my top 10 favorite blogging tricks to get traffic and leads! Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Install the Onlywire plug-in and submit all your blog posts to social media bookmarks, your readers will be able to use this button as well.
2. Put up a video with you introducing them to your blog and say thanks for visiting, this is what you're going to get out of my blog.
3. Don't pitch with every blog post, post content that will actually benefit others.
4. Insert a visible opt-in form that appears on every page. My intro video also invites them to opt-in and tell them what they'll get if they do.
5. Put the Retweet and Facebook share plug-ins on your posts. The more you create a social buzz with your content, the more Google looks at it.
6. You personally can share your new blog posts on Twitter and Facebook
7. Make a video about your post on YouTube and link it back to your blog.
8. Use an article submitter to blast out your post to hundreds of article directories. The more "hooks" you have out there the more people are going to be "caught."
9. Make sure you have a keyword in mind and have that keyword in the title, description, tags, body, and anchor text (the text that you click on in a link)
10. Make a Squidoo and a Hubpage with links back to your original post on your blog.
If you do all of these things, I guarantee that your blog will get a big boost in traffic and therefore your Alexa ranking. It still takes time for your blog to start ranking, so BE PATIENT! I've had my blog up for almost three months, and the ranking is really starting to take off because I've been fairly (not completely) consistent with doing the stuff above. Now my blog posts are showing up on Google! It's exciting and it's fun seeing the results.

Blog Squads