Posted on May 31st, 2008 — in Publishing Info
One subject arising whenever writers gather to discuss their craft is the mining of life itself for story material. While a vital and important technique, it is important to remember that real human beings are impossibly complex, far too complicated to serve as story characters without major modification. The most complex character in all of western fiction (arguably), Hamlet, is still only 1% as complex as a real human being.
One must remember that there is a unity between character and plot: they are, in essence, two sides of a single coin. Plot is what a character does in a given situation. A plot must empty a character out, give us everything we need to know about the lead, or the story situation hasn’t been thought through very well.
In life, it is reasonable to take the position that we are what we do. True, this is not ALL that we are, but what we do is closer to this essence than what we “think” we are, or what others define us as. Everyone knows that we judge each other on our actions, and it is childish to pretend otherwise.
We learn to characterize by formulating a theory of human nature, and then testing it against the people around us–our family and friends. You should be prepared to defend this theory in conversation and literary debate. After all, there are only two basic questions being addressed in all of fiction:
1) What is it to be human?
2) What is the ethical structure of the universe?
Whatever your own theory is, you should understand it from every direction, and be able to apply it to understand your own strengths and weaknesses.
Look at the three major areas of human life: body, mind, and spirit. What does your body say about you? Believe me, it says worlds about your values, discipline, emotional health, habit patterns and more. What does your career say about you? Are you operating at full efficiency there? Do you complain about money troubles, but not do anything about it? Do you dream, but not perform? Or are you working at a job that you would continue to do even if you won the lottery? To me, this is a major sign of an active, healthy intellect–the ability to do for a living that which you would do for free.
What about your relationship with your husband/wife/significant other? To me, this is where you reveal yourself most clearly. You ARE your partner, flipped upside-down and inside out. If you like what you see across the breakfast table from you, great. If not, you have work to do. Remember: whoever you see over there was the best you could do. If you could have gotten someone smarter, handsomer/prettier, emotionally healthier–you would have. So take a hard look. Often, you can learn more from a person’s partner than you can from meeting the person.
Viewed in this way, there is a lifetime of study in understanding the people around us, and in understanding ourselves as well. And a lifetime of potential stories in examining how people’s flaws and gaps keep them from achieving their full potential. It can be painful to look at this stuff, but the only thing even more painful is being terminally untrue to your own spirit. That, my friends, is a true tragedy. Better the pain of awareness than the agony of self-betrayal. By a long shot.
Steven Barnes is a NY Times bestselling novelist. He wrote the Emmy-winning “A Stitch In Time” episode of the Outer Limits. He created the Lifewriting high-performance system for writers and readers. Get a FREE daily writing tip at: www.lifewriting.biz and www.lifewrite.com
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Posted on May 31st, 2008 — in Universe Of Relationships
WHAT HAS WORKED FOR US
Brief Reflections On Enjoying 36 Years Of Marriage
© Lee Wise All rights reserved
For some reason or another I had a passing thought today. I
was reflecting on our marriage and I wondered…
“What makes it work”?
We are not perfect, we don’t agree on all things, and we
still work through issues even after being married for
nearly thirty-six years.
Thirty-six years.
And we still enjoy it — LOL!
I didn’t spend a lot of time answering my own question.
I did, however, quickly jot down a few ideas about what has
“made it work” for us.
MAKE YOUR OWN APPLICATIONS
You make your own observations and applications.
Apply what I have written to your marriage, mental “Should I
ever marry” list, insights on being a friend — or
“whatever.”
You are creative.
You can design ways to make this information “yours.”
After all, what is relevant in terms of this article is
what is *most* important for you.
Your ideas
For your world
At this stage of your life.
Your reflections are the most important reflections.
MORE COULD BE SAID
Yes, more could be said.
But…
This was a quick list, remember?
MY OBSERVATIONS…”WHAT HAS WORKED FOR US”
We share the same core values.
We share the same beliefs about knowing and loving God.
We agree about “what matters most.”
We listen.
We communicate.
We pray for each other.
We enjoy and support seeing each other succeed.
We *love* all that it means to be a family.
We *agree* on what “being a family” means.
We try to heal, not hurt.
We don’t strive to win. We strive to win as a team.
We go on dates — often.
We enjoy a lot of little things.
We laugh.
We laugh quite a bit 
We work through pain together.
In the end pain unites. It doesn’t divide.
We give each other space.
We are lovers.
We are closest friends.
“YOU’RE ON”
Translated, it is your turn.
It is time to make this article yours.
Your ideas are…
Your insights are…
Your impressions are…
Your applications are…
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
© Lee Wise All rights reserved. You may freely distribute
this article. The copyright and this resource box must be
included.
Avoid pain/create pleasure. For A Beautiful Moment In Time
go here –> http://www.motivation-for-daily-living.net
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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Posted on May 30th, 2008 — in Better Gardening
Houseplants are one of the quickest and least expensive way of brings life and interest to a room. A splash of green instantly revives a rather tired scheme, and flowering plants provide a lively range of colors. There are few design rules about where to put plants and flowers look good almost anywhere, as long as they are not in the way of everyday activities. You should treat large floor-level plants as focal points, making full use of your lighting to show them off to best effect.
Some houseplants need less light than others, but normal artificial lighting is no substitute for the natural daylight that all plants need. Medium-sized plants can be placed on furniture, but there are alternatives, hanging baskets, wall-hung planters, stands or window shelves. Small plants, such as African violets need placing with care. They usually look and grow best grouped in a box or on a stand. Make sure you match a plant to its growing conditions.
Houseplants and flower help bring the garden indoor and add a human touch to your decorative scheme. The delicate structure of leaves and flowers also helps to soften hard outlines of modern furniture. With care, and frequent dead heading, they will last a lot longer than cut flowers, as long as they get sufficient sunlight at some time during the day. Choose plants with a variety of shapes and colors and try to include some trailing plants to break up horizontal lines.
Houseplants bring a fresh, lively look to a bathroom and ferns, ivies, bromeliads and epiphytes thrive in low light levels. Maidenhair ferns are delicate and are unsuitable for draughty windows. You can also buy plastic hanging baskets with drip trays attached. Cacti and succulents need plenty of direct sunlight; ferns and palms survive in the shade. To avoid drips, stand plants in saucers or on shallow, gravet-filled plastic trays and keep permanently moist.
About The Author:
Roger King has been involved in home interior designs for several years, and has been helping people find and review the best value for interior design solutions. Visit his Web site www.all-homeinteriordesigns.com to learn more about this service.
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Posted on May 30th, 2008 — in Legal Stuff
This is the official stance of K.A.P.A. (Karaoke Anti-Piracy Agency…essentially the RIAA of the karaoke world) taken directly from their website:
Q. If I own my own discs, can I load them onto a hard drive to play them in a show, etc.?
A. No, you MAY NOT load songs from other manufacturers on your hard drive. The licensing rights for music on a hard drive machine exist only between the machine manufacturer and the music provider. These rights do not extend to the owner of the machine, to load songs from other manufacturers on the hard drive player. Copying the discs on to a hard drive is still copying the discs. Legally, it is absolutely no different than burning a copy of the discs. In order to copy your discs on to your hard drive, you have to have the written permission of the company that produced the discs and owns the copyrights.
On this page I will attempt to convince you that format conversion should not be a crime and that businesses should be allowed to convert a phonorecord (That’s the legal definition for a song) from one format to another. I am not making a case for piracy, the legitimacy of Peer to Peer networks, nor serial copying, but rather the simple process of encoding a compact disc to a compressed digital audio format like MP3. With piracy and serial copying, the artist is not paid for their work. With format conversion, it is assumed the work being converted was legally purchased, and thus the artist was paid his share of the royalties.
We’ll begin with a little bit of history on the DJ industry. When the DJ industry first started, vinyl records were the most popular medium for their performances. How ever, these were heavy and easily damaged. Because of their weight and cost, many DJs only brought a few hundred records to a performance and much money was spent replacing records that hard worn out or become scratched. While this was good for the record industry, it was bad for consumers because it increased the costs for the DJ which were then passed on to the consumers. When the cassette tape was introduced, most DJ’s began using them instead because they were lighter and more durable. It was impractical to copy records on to cassette tape because the noise of the record (especially if it was worn) combined with the tape noise made for a poor quality recording. While tapes were more durable than records, they too wore out. Again, this was good for the recording industry because it meant that DJs would have to purchase the same record they already owned in the cassette format. Of course, this cost was passed onto the consumers through higher prices charged by DJs. When the CD came out, DJs switched formats again. They now had a digital medium that wouldn’t wear out no matter how many times it was played. It weighed less than a tape, and it offered the ability to find a particular track as quickly as DJs used to be able to with vinyl records. Now instead of bringing a few hundred records, or several hundred cassettes, DJs could bring one or two thousand CDs. This meant DJs had a consistent product and a wider selection of music than a band, so not surprisingly DJs are now the entertainment of choice at weddings and parties.
Now enter compressed digital audio. Most people are familiar with MP3, so I will use that term in place of compressed digital audio, however most DJs use other better compression formats than MP3. With the MP3 format, DJs can store not just one or two thousand CDs worth of music, but hundreds of thousands of CDs. Since MP3’s are digital, they never wear out, and because they reside on a computer hard disk, they never get scratched. In 50 years they will sound the same as they do today. They take up less room because they are inside the PC, and not spread out on a 3 foot by 6 foot table. They are lighter because they are not a physical “thing”. And since computers are really great at sorting information, requested music can be found instantly by the DJ instead of forcing him to search through thousands of CDs to find that one particular CD that has that one requested song. Compressed audio is a godsend for the DJ because it means he never has to replace a disc/cassette/record, he has less to carry, he can offer the widest selection of music possible, and reduce his cost. This is great for consumers because lower costs mean lower prices.
Some argue that compressed audio does not have the same sound quality as a CD, and I have to agree. However, it takes a very good ear and a good set of speakers to detect a difference between a high quality digital encoding and a CD. In a large hall filled with celebrating people the two are indistinguishable. Further, I would point out that CDs do not sound as good as a high quality analog recording like a vinyl record, but the public still embraced compact discs with open arms. The public seem quite happy with a good recording that is more durable than a great recording that degrades.
Unfortunately, as with every invention that threatens the status quo, it is illegal. Currently disc jockeys who convert a CD to another format (including another CD) are breaking copyright law because such a conversion is not considered “Fair Use”. The courts use four factors set forth in section 107 of the Copyright Law to determine if a use is “Fair Use”:
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
In the case of Disk Jockeys, the questions would be answered as such:
1. Commercial use for private performance. It is a private performance because Joe Public can’t simply walk into Jane Doe’s wedding without an invitation, nor can he attend ACME Corp.’s company Christmas party unless he works there, but because the disc jockey is charging for his service, it is a commercial use.
2. The nature of the copyrighted material is a creative work. Creative works typically afforded a more restrictive definition of Fair Use than informational works like dictionaries and encyclopedias.
3. The entire work is used in the format conversion process. This should be seen as a plus, since the disc jockey is not altering the work in any way. The DJ is faithfully reproducing the entire work as intended by the artist.
4. The effect of this conversion increases the potential market for and the value of the copyrighted work. By allowing disc jockeys to convert formats, they will be able to carry more music to a performance, and potentially bring the artist more fans and ultimately more fame and money.
To add this all up, the fact that it is commercial use of a creative work argues against fair use, but the fact that the entire work is used and its use potentially increases the market for the artist should outweigh the negatives. The fact that it is a private performance is fairly neutral.
Another reason it is illegal is because the CD is not consumed during the process of conversion, so by nature of the process one is left with 2 copies of the recording instead of the one that was purchased. In theory the DJ should pay for that second copy. Unfortunately, no method for paying for this second copy is available, and since many DJs would rather have the music in digital format than CD format you would find them selling the CD after making the conversion which would hurt record sales even more since you would now have a glut of discs flooding an already battered market. This would be legal if the DJ were forced to pay for the copy, as the original CDs carry the Right of First Sale (which means you can sell it at a garage sale, sell it on eBay, or trade it in at a used music store). Having the DJ pay for the created copy would imply its legitimacy as a legal copy in and of itself, and thereby imply the Right of First Sale to it as well.
“What can I do about this?”
If like me you feel that the music industry is trampling your rights, contact your state senators and representatives and let them know that your vote is more important than the money they get from the music industry’s special interest groups.
Tim Smith is the owner of By Request DJ & Karaoke Company and has worked towards getting US disc jockeys the right to use compressed digital audio since it became legal in Canada.
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Posted on May 30th, 2008 — in University of Marketing
Internet Marketing
The continuous and rapid revolution in the advancement of modern era has made every thing so comfortable for everyone and that is the reason why most of the people are fancy to use Internet because of its reliability, speed & performance. Along with message delivering through e-mail, seeking information through searching and browsing, a lot of people are using Internet for online shopping or ecommerce, which have evolved the field of Internet marketing and internet marketing exporters have found an proficient way to find their potential customers.
“The dot.com world was about coming up with an interesting idea and finding unknowledgeable investors to throw at them. But we are now back to live in the practical world, where technology can provide business with an edge over their competition” (Richard Greenwood)
Marketing is actually the craft of connecting different producers (or potential producers) of product or service with prospects, both existing and potential. Marketers basically use four variables while writing marketing plans and making market strategies. They are sometimes referred to as the four P’s (which are Project, process, people & product). The combination of these variables is referred as Marketing Mix. A marketing mix is the combination of these four variables in a way that will meet or improve organizational objectives. A separate marketing mix is usually crafted for each product offering. Whenever a strategies or plans are build it engages a blend of these four combinations. A strategy of selling expensive beneficial products in discount stores has poor coherency between distribution and product offering.
Drawbacks of Internet Marketing The actual size of the market is usually not available Difficult to get demography and penetration figures Coverage is not consistent There can be lack of authority There is no certain control, which causes lack or reliability
Benefits of Internet marketing Easy, less expensive and comfortable access to the information Most of the information is free There are numerous web sites available through which the required subject can be covered efficiently. Contains a lot of background information Information can be found in a very short time Has a broad geographic scope Briskly improving and increasing Many companies are interested to add their own web pages
Non-stopping development of business online has also augmented the field of online marketing. Before starting any business the most important element, which have the most considerable influence of the success or failure of the business is the initial business idea. For the success of any business there must be a proper business idea along with appropriate techniques to run the business accordingly.
The precise approach towards the Business The business plan for any organization consist of three main parts which are
1. Product 2. Targeted Market 3. Unique Selling proposition (USP)
Product The product is any thing for which you are going to charge your customers. These are the things which you are selling and it can be any thing like books, e-books, electronic items, software to download, it can also be a membership of any online community, a professional service, or any thing else which you are interested to sale. The ‘value’ of the product is its most valuable feature. The product you are selling should have the following characteristics It should be beneficial for the customers It should be good enough to solve the customer’s problems Full fill their requirements The product should satisfy the customers
Targeted Market The Targeted market for any business is the audience and the customers to whom the product is being sold.
Even if their analytics provider doesn’t partner with a search or e-mail provider, many marketers are now using their Web analytics package to make decisions about their overall marketing plan-and their business in general. (Karen J. Bannan)
Following are some essential points to keep in mind while selecting the targeted audience The targeted market should have an appropriate size It should be large enough to generate a good profit It should be small enough to fit in the total resources of the business If the business is small then it should avoid contending with comparatively large business The targeted audience should be easily reachable on the internet through the particular websites.
USP (Unique Selling Proposition) The USP is basically the market strategy or the motive of the business through which the corporation is connected with the targeted market. It is the most important part of the business idea in which the corporation decides how to persuade the customers and letting them know that how our product is different from any other item on the shelf waiting to be sold. It should influence the customers and provide them with the reasons that why our product is the best solution for their requirements. When we talk about the profit margin, then it may not necessarily be the financial profit only; there can also be many side advantages, which are essential for running the business smoothly.
Establishing your business on Internet Nowadays Internet is not just a source to get information but it is also a very effective place to run you business. Many people are doing their business on internet and even more people are willing to join them. But unfortunately all of them do not get success and there are also many dot-bombs or fail e-commerce startups. This is because of the lack of awareness about the self-education before starting the business.
The best thing about establishing an internet business is that, there is no big investment required to start an e-business, so if the business is don’t in a proper way so you can get a good profit without investing too much.
Understanding of Customers For the progress of any business, it is essential to have a good understanding of the customers. This issue becomes even more vital when we talk about the online business, where we mostly have no idea about the customers.
Due to this fact, large corporations are spending millions of dollars on marketing research to get as many information as possible about their customers, which allows them to improve their product and make them according to the appropriate requirement of the customers. Although this research is help full but if the business is so this expense can be avoided. “They will try to replicate the in-store experience on many levels, developing applications that enable users to see how something will look on someone. The challenge is to develop applications that simulate the in-store experience while still maintaining the speed, convenience and efficiency of the Internet” (Speicher, GCI) It is important to have a sound knowledge of different ways by which customers buy their products. Few points are important in this regard
Vendors should design their offerings to meet the appropriate needs of their customers. Venders can persuade buyers at decisive steps during the buying process. Venders can provide the additional offers for further business.
Trends & Strategies to boost sale in Internet Marketing
Vivid Word Pictures When developing the advertisement of your product, web pages or other or other sales tools, some vivid word pictures should be used to give a pleasant feeling to the customers. It exaggerates their desire to have it and prompt them to buy the product.
Use of appropriate advertising and marketing methods There should be a continuous observation to the advertising and marketing method of the business which ensure the use of latest advertising methods and some old methods which have not been tried.
” eBay says it reaches 56.1 million active users. The obvious drawback: A vast majority of those users aren’t in the real estate market. But to reach those who are, eBay is a tool–like direct mail or news-paper advertising–that some practitioners are using to market listings, drive traffic to their Web sites, and attract new prospects.”
Cost of the ads If there are some ads allied with any business then it should be carefully examined that if the size of the ads is bigger then it should be reduced to run more ads for the same cost.
Some times the short ads can provide even more response then longer ads and can provide with a bigger return of the cost.
Postcards advertisements There can also be another effective way of advertising by printing a good small ad on a postcard and then send it to the targeted market. People often read postcards if the message is nice and short. This small ad on a postcard can be very effective at times and can make a very rapid change on the sale of the products.
Inspiring words & phrases Lively words and phrases in the advertisements and sales copies make people interested in the product. Try to find some dull sentences and replace them with some active and lively words to obtain the involvement of the prospects.
Eradicate the fear of lost In the manner of revealing the benefits of your product to the customers the other important aspect is to tell them what they lose if they do not buy that specific product. Consumers want any product because of the benefits it offers and on the other hand if they have been told the downside of not buying the product so it will persuade them even more for purchasing that product.
Use of surprise strategies To remove the last minute hesitation, any surprise or pleasant announcements regarding the product also helps influencing the customers to buy the product. The surprise can be any unexpected bonus or additional benefits just before the completion of concluding action of the sale.
Use of special packages For getting a boost in any business the vendors can also introduce some special packages, which combines two or more related items and set a lower prize as compare to each item. These sorts of packages leave a good impact on discount hunters and procrastinators.
Promoting the business sales to new prospects and existing customers Every business always hunts for new customers for intend of improving their sales. But the auction from the existing customers of the business should not be overlooked. It is much easier to get further business from them rather then depending on new prospects. Additional benefits, products and services should be offered to the current customers to get more sales from them.
“As a result of our exposure on eBay, we can attribute two sales, one listing, approximately three good prospects per month, and about 700 visitors per day to our Web site,” (Christopher Walker)
Receiving appreciation from the customers is always good for the motivation of any business. The same sort of respond should be provided for such customers, which induce them to do more business.
Hype the product by the help of customers Often the existing customers of your business can be an important asset for capturing a better market of your product. Incentives can be provided to the customers to let them introduce your products to their friends. Assistance from them can increase the sale of the business in a great deal with out wasting much of the money in ads.
Internet Marketing Through E-mails Email marketing is one of the most influential marketing tools accessible to businesses of all sorts and sizes. No matter how you define success, you can achieve outstanding results with Email marketing while investing only a small amount of time and an even smaller amount of money.
“54% of small businesses surveyed rated Email as the top online promotion to drive site visitors and customers to their web sites and storefronts.” (Experts of small business) Following are the key benefits of Email marketing
1. Economical Email marketing is a reasonable & affordable way to stretch a limited marketing budget. Unlike direct mail, there is virtually no production, materials or postage expense.
“This information has been only available to big businesses who had research and marketing departments, companies like American Express, Now any business can have it.” (Bill Chasse)
2. Effectiveness Email marketing allows active communication with existing customers and prospects instead of passively waiting for them to return to your web site or storefront. Emails can easily be targeted by source, interest, or list. In general, Email communications sent to the prospect and customer lists, and it improves the ROI of all lead generation and customer relation programs, single-handedly.
3. Instantaneous response Email marketing has two great advantages over other marketing vehicles. First, with the existing and easily obtainable self-service tools, anyone can generate and send compelling Email newsletters, promotions, announcements or more in hours or days. No agency or production time is necessary to create and send professional communications. Second, Email marketing generates an instantaneous response. The call to action is apparent: “Click here to take advantage of this offer”, or “to learn more about this service”, or to “attend this event”.
4. Quantifiable results Unlike other vehicles for marketing, results from Email campaigns are easily measured. Results are reported in terms of “opens”, which report the number of people saw your offer or newsletters, Click Through Rates (CTRs), which measure how many people actually clicked on the links in your Email, and in a many cases, who actually clicked on those links.
5. Uncomplicated For small and medium business there are web-based Email marketing products. Most of them include professional HTML templates, list segmentation and targeting capabilities, as well as, automatic tracking and reporting. So, you are free to concentrate on your unique message while the rest has already been done.
Conclusion and Evaluation Internet marketing is no doubt the most effective and efficient mode of communication with the customers and prospects. But unfortunately in some of the developing countries the scope of Internet marketing is not so wide because organizations still relay a lot on advertising through the other channels, as a result spending a lot on conventional marketing.
Apart from some of the developing countries most organizations around the world have found the Internet marketing as the most easy, cost effective and efficient way of marketing.
Alex Martin works as a staff writer for TermPapersCorner,Inc.
Term Papers Corner Provide high quality custom
term paper, custom essay, college term paper and thesis writing service to students and professionals. We are currently having a writing competition visit Writing Contest 2005
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Posted on May 29th, 2008 — in Shopping Mall
For your timeout shopping in the City it is a prudent thought to write down some sort of shopping inventory to guarantee that you do not neglect any of the most iconic shopping avenues, malls and boutiques in London, as there are thousands to call at.
The Capital’s downtown quarters so places like Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square presents stacks of native souvenirs and collectables at the local news agents and newsstands on the corners, all you have to do is swing by any one of the shopping trolleys situated close to the underground and bus stations for the day’s bargains. Oxford Street is amazing for outdoor shopping with nearly every food outlet you can perhaps wish for on only one single street. When you are in the correct frame of mind for some serious retail action and are in need to splash out, there are only two shops that you without doubt will want to stop at. These are Harrods & Selfridges.
Harrods is an essential stop in Knightsbridge, standing tall in all its magnificence at 87-135 Brompton Rd, London. Harrods is the only singular department store where the luxury hotel style service that comes hand-in-hand with wonderful items & an amazing setting. The several floors & departments sell manufactured products from different countries around the world. There are a number of different bistros & beauty stores & hairdressers within, this shop is completely for extravagance & will not in any case put up with being anything but only the best. Check out Time Out today for the latest shopping guides.
Selfridges on the other hand is also amazing albeit it’s a little bit more up to date than Harrods. What brings many people to visit Selfridges is instantly having their window displays transformed weekly they are always so well merchandised and marvellously themed to draw customers to new attractions that they may possible have within the shop. It is just as agreeable inside the store and when you go through the main door you will walk straight into the beauty hall which is filled with every brand of cosmetics you could possibly imagine. There is also an eatery with an ample collection of counters offering everything from cheese, meat, fish, wine, spirits and dairy items. There are great book shops, technology halls, cigar and tobacco stores and each & every type of designer make you could possibly require. It will probably take you at any rat a day to get through Harrods and Selfridges thus it is imperative to make sure you have some period of time to go to some of the City’s other popular shopping hotspots.
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Posted on May 29th, 2008 — in Doing Business
Why is it some people are incredibly successful at utilizing the power of the Internet in their marketing while others can’t seem to figure out the winning formula?
How often do entrepreneurs and salespeople look for that next magic formula to build their business and increasing revenues, never quite making any of it work? Many people make it much more difficult to succeed than it need be while others know exactly what to do … and they do it.
Ask anyone who has effectively integrated the use of the Internet into their overall marketing strategy and they will tell you success in building your business, both online and off, is about systems. Simple as that.
Developing and utilizing systems is nothing new. Yet, the great search for the pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow and getting-rich-quick continues.
The place you’ll find more gold than virtually anywhere else is in doing something many people just don’t find appealing. It is in developing and maintaining a solid database. Unfortunately, many people don’t find database management “sexy” enough. So they continually buy into that next “secret formula.”
Fact is, with a well-groomed database you can increase your revenues and decrease your marketing costs. You can build customer relations and keep your name fresh in the minds of your market by keeping in touch. This establishes excellent position within your market.
Most people would be amazed at how simple it is to build an incredibly profitable database by applying a few simple strategies. Remember, simple is not always easy. It will take time, commitment and focus.
Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to your database. Depending on your industry and what you sell you may be well served to focus on the few dozen or few hundred who want to buy from you rather than thousands who couldn’t care less about what you offer.
On the other hand, there will be situations where building a massive list is exactly what you need to do. Especially if you have mass quantity products you are selling at a very low price. Then you may want to go for the numbers.
Driving traffic to your site is an ongoing process as is building and maintaining your database. If you are serious about using the Internet in your marketing you need to lay the groundwork to optimize your opportunities.
-Develop a fully operational web site
-Have a way to capture contact information such as a sign up form
-Give people a reason for leaving their contact information such as an Ezine, free report or ebook, an article of interest to your target market or anything that is of benefit to the reader
-Develop a series of content driven messages that address your customers’ needs
-Keep your name in front of your market consistently without being annoying
-Write and distribute articles to various online resources pertinent to your market
-Create a resource box containing your web address
-Do not make the articles a hard sell. Rather, provide information that positions you as a resource before you are a vendor
-Develop a list of forums and discussion groups you can participate in
-Commit to the long-term.
By focusing on developing a solid database and providing incredible value to your market you can and will achieve success in your business. Guaranteed!
About the Author
Kathleen Gage is one of the top rated business owners for 2004 in Utah. Gage is an award winning keynote speaker and author. Access her FREE eBook Street Smarts eMarketing Tips Guaranteed to Jump Start Your Internet Presence to Put You Miles Ahead of the Competition at www.streetsmartsmarketing.com/free-ebook.htm
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Posted on May 28th, 2008 — in Better Bets, Managing Credit, Virtual Gambling
Incorrigible gamblers, so to speak, must consider some aspects regarding their fascinating but expensive hobby. And so they are posed with this question in mind: should you invest your gambling money online?
With the multitude of online gambling sites thriving online, it seems really impossible for us to consider the factors concerning this particular hobby. We may think that they are probably not much differences when it comes to online gambling and the real thing, so why bother being problematic about this aspect? Little do we know, there are some added factors that we need to be aware of then it comes to online gambling.
If you are just logging in some online gambling site just for the fun of it, then it is advised that one should not put much money into it. Gambling is still a game of chance, and nothing good will come out of it once that you keep on investing your hard-earned money in the process. Some of the gambling sites only require a little amount of money for you to bet, and this is absolutely fine. But when they ask you to put in a lot of money just to have a turn in their online slot machine, better think twice or suffer the consequences.
“Never put in a lot of money in online casinos. The internet is a place where anything might happen. Sharing your account numbers may be a very risky business, especially when you are betting on such a high price” - playsportal.net.
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Posted on May 28th, 2008 — in University of Marketing
Cold calling doesn’t work, it’s no fun and often you end up with leads, or worse yet, clients, that don’t really value what you do.
Having said that, leads are the lifeblood of growth, without a lead, there is no client.
Set-up a 2 step lead machine and you can say goodbye to cold calling while generating all of the qualified, permission based leads you can handle.
The basic idea behind the 2 step approach is to create one or more valuable reports, workshops, evaluations, trial products, checklists, newsletters, courses or tip sheets. You know, something like, “How To Tell If Your Roofing Contractor Is Lying To You” or “What Every Senior Must Know About Bush’s Social Security Changes” or “101 More Things You Can Do With Your iPod.”
Now that you have your value packed written report or audio CD, every bit of your advertising - that’s Yellow Pages, direct mail, back of your business card, letterhead, email signature, web site - should focus on getting people to pick up, request or download that report. Don’t try to do anything else with your advertising, let the report sell you. See, that’s step 1.
There are several reasons that this approach is so much more effective for the small business owner than the traditional “image” type advertising.
First off, if you only buy a 2 x 3 ad or send a 4 x 6 postcard, can you really tell your story very well?
Secondly, this approach allows you to demonstrate your expertise in a non-threatening, on the prospect’s own terms, way. Nobody likes to be sold to, but if they take the time to read your report, understand what you do that has value, have an 8-10 page conversation with you, the relationship and trust has begun.
A person who has requested your free information in officially a hot lead. When a prospect visits your web site they are effectively raising their hand and identifying themselves as someone who is very interested in what you do. Half of your sales job is done!
If your advertising is focused on gathering the lead into the free report funnel, then your sales efforts are focused on taking that group and only that group that raised their hands and taking them to the next step in the process. That may be an appointment or just a series of more advanced mailings. By the way that’s step 2.
So let’s recap.
Create a free information product that your target market would see as a valuable read or listen.
Advertise the free report in everything you do
Capture the names and emails of those who request the report
Follow-up on those leads
If you take this advice to heart, everything about how you market your business will change. Finding new business will become a much more rewarding and valuable experience.
A couple bonus ideas:
Once you create your free report you will find other uses for it.
Referrals - Give the report or the web page where the report is found to your referral sources and tell them to introduce you by way of your free report or newsletter. This makes it easy for them to refer you and assures that your story is told.
Cold-calling - I know, I know, you shouldn’t ever need to cold call but, if you do, do it this way. Call up those prospects on your list and instead of trying to convince them to give you 5 minutes of their time a week from Tuesday, offer them the address of your power packed free info and then shut-up. Your prospecting time will be much more productive if you can use it to turn cold calling into 2-step prospecting.
Copyright 2005 John Jantsch
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of “Duct Tape Marketing” a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blogs at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php and http://www.bloggingbusiness.com
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Posted on May 28th, 2008 — in Stuff for Kids
Although it might seem pretty corny to a lot of folks today, the old Andy Griffith Show really did have a lot of common sense family values that we could learn from today.
Take for instance the episode “Bailey’s Bad Boy” that guest starred Bill Bixby as a spoiled rich teenager who wanted his rich dad to bail him out of jail once he got in trouble in Mayberry. Bixby’s character sees the perfect example of parenting from Andy when Taylor makes Opie stand on his own two feet and pay for a window he had broken. Too often in real life we bail our kids out of everything. You don’t really do your kid a favor when you take away any chance they might have of getting a personal sense of responsibility. No matter how small the occurrence if your child breaks something even by accident, take the time to explain to the child the importance of taking responsibility for the things we do. I’m not saying you should get angry and act like the Incredible Hulk, just explain to the kid that if he breaks things or makes a mess he has to clean it up, and then make sure they do.
One of the most famous episodes of Andy Griffith was the episode entitled “Opie the Birdman”. Opie accidentally kills a mother bird leaving her baby birds all alone. Andy doesn’t sugar coat the situation. He doesn’t yell and scream like a cat under a rocking chair either. He just simply opens a window and let’s Opie hear the baby birds crying for their mother, and points out to Opie the hard fact that his actions have consequences. Sometimes we shelter our kids from every type of responsibility possible, while at the same time allowing them to absorb hours of violence and sex on the TV and video games.
Today we have more than made sure our kids have material things. They have video games, televisions in their room, so many toys there is not enough time to play with them, but we shirk our responsibility on the biggest, most important part of raising a kid, the part where you actually raise them up to be adults. Fun and toys are great. Every child ought to have fun, but they should be slowly growing up too. So my humble suggestion is like Andy Taylor said make sure your boy or girl can stand on their own two feet. No opportunity is too small to begin instilling these important lessons. It’s just like the Bible says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. “
Taking your kid fishing like Andy did Opie is not that bad either. If that isn’t your cup of tea then surely you can enjoy going to the park with your kid or playing something outside. Most kids never seem to want to venture outside anymore. They’re missing an important part of development and growing more and more obese every year. Health is another important aspect of life that kids need to take responsibility for. Even children are developing diabetes, which they wouldn’t have normally, due to diet and lack of physical activity. The fact of the matter is, in the long run protecting our kids from facing the consequences of their actions today will mean greater consequences later down the line. So be like Andy and open the window and let your kid hear the birds, and don’t be afraid to let him or her pay for a broken window occasionally.
webmaster of Tvcrazy.net TV News & Merchandise
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