By: valentin alecse
Twitter is the 13th global site today. After more than 1 year of experimentation, here is a compilation of tips for use,that I recommend you to improve your own service experience.
Be Generous
1. Promote other people and their content more than you promote yourself.
2. Retweet quality content that you find to others (citing the source of course)
3. But retweet moderately and selectively. You will be known (and recognized) by the content of your tweets. So send only quality content in order to add value to your followers.
4. Join the # followfriday to tell your followers who are the quality twitters.
5. Be selective in the recommendations that you made for # followfriday.
6. Thank those who retweet your recommend in # followfriday.
7. Praise others for their work and their quality content.
8. You can score big points by showing that you have read published content and adding value.
9. When you identify a connection between 2 people who can make sense, put them in touch. Make the go!
10. When retweet others content you're on your way to develop your relationship but do not forget to also help yourself with the quality original content.
11. Occasionally, talk to a person of quality that you follow and which brings much added value with his tweets. Apply yourself to explain specifically why you are recommending this person.Unlike # followfriday is a way to make an unexpected act of kindness that will surprise the person you mention and which will cross the value in your network.
Be a resource
12. Search and distribute the information of your tweets.
13. Subscribe to Google Alerts to stay informed about the topics and keywords of interest and relevant for your followers.
14. Use Youtube as a search engine tutorials.These videos can be content with strong added value to send to your followers.By the way, you discover people creating interesting content on your interests.
15. When you find someone who creates content for quality, look in the archives to find the pearls to share with your followers.
16.One way to find permanent new sources of content is to subscribe to RSS one or more keywords on google blog search (and / or technorati).
17. You must make your personal mark on the content you create and distribute.The more you give of interesting content, the more people will identify you as a resource.
18. Ask to be retweet (saying please). This will increase your retweetability drastically.
19.Obviously if you do not retweet person do not be surprised if nobody retweet you. 20. Be careful though not to do too often and not for anything. Book this kind of application only for the content of very high quality.
21. Use Tweetburner.com to shorten URLs.Tweetburner allows you to track the number of times your link has been shortened open.
22. Create informative videos (and / or screencast) and then tweet them.This way, you enrich your presence and allow your audience to get closer to you from an exclusive content-rich and original.
23.Use headings of tweets that draw attention to increase their openness.The lists of items like "7 ways to ..." or "How to ..." are still very popular and generates more clicks than securities standards.
Use a good Twitter client
24. Tweetdeck.com is really my favorite tweeter client yet.
25. Create a column for your TOP list members twitters to follow.This list will consist of essential always adding quality content and you will make them stand out from the mass of people who "Twitter for everything and for nothing."
26. However, take a look anyway to those outside this list because at any moment they may become new sources of content and qualify for the toplist.
27. You can create additional columns for all the interest groups around you and you want to track in particular. 28. Tweetdeck also allows you to post your message directly on Facebook (if you have not yet synchronized your application status with Facebook).
29. Also create additional columns to track the keywords you want.
Sell via Twitter
30. Give more than you expect to receive.Send at least 3 or 4 informative tweets about created / discussed content by others for each tweet you send for your personal promotion.
31. Do not spam on Twitter.Your followers can you let go at any moment (and they will). They can also block, which may end in an outright ban of Twitter. 32. Twitter is a very interesting tool to make "forward sale". Rather send your followers on a page that explains what you think / you recommend a product rather than on the product page or direct purchase .
33. If you do not do what I said above, your followers will surely like it's spam. Network on Twitter
34. Put your URL on your Twitter Blog page on your Facebook, Linkedin, in your email signature and on your business card wherever you may want to get in touch with your most followed.
35. Try crossing your networks and synchronize them. Try to retain your followers as a subscriber to your blog, on your twitter contacts or on other social networks...
36. Don't miss the opportunities to meet your followers IRL (In Real Life).
37. Find Twitter local users using the geographical search of Twitter or with http://www.twellow.com
38. Twellow.com is also a great site to find targeted users in relation to your interests.
39.Your goal to twitter (or any social media platform) is to create conversations. You can't achieve this if your tweets are simply marketing tweets.
40. Try to find people who share a common focus. Use search.Twitter.com entering your keywords and subscribing to RSS feeds available on research. Follow them, they may follow you back. If you tweet quality content you will have more reciprocity and may even your content will be retweet ,wich will probably bring you new followers.
41 Find the "influential" in your area of interest on Twitter and follow them. Maybe they will follow you or not but your positive react to their valuable content will attract their attention.
42. When you find "influential" in your area, take a look at who they follow to find others with same interests. If you establish connections with their network, they will be better able to establish a new connection with you.
43. Synchronize distribution of your content using the Facebook application to extend the area of communication.
44. Think to retweet old items because someone may be interested, if you identify a discussion on.
45. Create a professional background to your twitter profile. You can do it yourself or you can use a service like Twitbacks.com.
46. Tweet often but not to much. More tweets will increase the chances to be followed. Be careful to not fall into "the tweet after tweet", without providing real added value.
47. Learn to listen on Twitter to see what others want to send you . It's a great deal to capture the trends before anyone else. Lately Twitter has the keywords most often mentioned in the sidebar pages.
48. Do not give up too quickly.Many people do not see the benefit of combining the tools and very often a see in using Twitter a waste of time. Here's a secret: no one picks up right away the power of the tool but after some practice time Twitter offers a tremendous advantage in your market.
49. Listen and learn. If you tweet more you read and click on content made by others, you probably miss something. Twitter may be the best learning experience and discover content of your life.
50. Remember that when you use Twitter, you're networking as you would while disconnected. The rules remain the same. Be generous, create value, make friends and always give more than you expect to receive.
51. Be sure to keep a ratio following / followers less than or equal to 1. Having many followers is usually a guarantee of quality unless the person is much more than people who did follow in return. Make sure to always have more followers than the number of people you follow.Unfollow those who aren't following you back with Twitter Follower.
52. Follow many. I've been advised to be selective in the people I follow in my own interests. Now I suggest you to expand your sphere beyond your usual niche and follow people with diverse and varied interests.Why? Because it will enrich your life and you learn things that you would probably never discovered otherwise (serendipity you said?). And you may learn things that you can implement in your own sphere of interest.
53. Use reliable Twitter additional tools and resources if you want to have more productivity and make big money, with your Twitter account.Find out more about these social media marketing tools by visiting:www.hoplinkzone.com
54. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/a5v19
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
A Clean Twitter Is A Good Twitter
By: Adam Kirby
Twitter has been called micro-blogging, or blogging for ordinary people. Basically they have provided a way for people who don't want a full fledged blog to post about their daily happenings.
The downside to Twitter is the amount of people who sign up and make a post, but then never return. Currently these abandoned accounts are never deleted, so it's up to you to update your follower and following lists keeping them clear of these abandoned accounts.
Finding Followers:
Besides being able to add your friends and email contacts to Twitter, they also provide a handy search box to help you find people to follow.
One of the best ways to get followers is to follow others first,. There is one check you must do before adding someone to your list, the most recent post date. Just adding thousands of people to your twitter list will not bring you followers. Twitter received a lot of buzz and attracted a lot of tire kickers, but if you aren't paying attention then you could easily end up with the majority of your list being people who haven't logged on to Twitter for a months, and they won't be coming back to check out your profile anytime soon.
So step one to a clutter-free Twitter is to follow the right people. I will search for a particular term, and flip through the list, signing up to follow only people who have posted in the last 7 days. Also I will not follow anyone on their first post, I want to make sure they will be coming back on a regular basis.
Culling The List:
As your lists grow, you will want to check your following list and un-check those who have not posted for a while. I like to use a 30 day rule. Every time I log on to Twitter, I check 5 to 10 people in my list, and stop following the ones who have not made a post in the last 30 days. Many people don't post every day, or even every week, but chances are if they have not posted in the last month, they probably won't be posting again.
Following Followers:
Step 3 is returning the favor. Whenever you log in, check your follower list to make sure you are returning the favor to everyone that is following you. Unless they are just spamming the Twitter system with affiliate links posted every couple of minutes, there is no reason not to give back.
Posting With Links:
When writing a post with a link, whether to your site, an affiliate link, or just something cool you found, there is no need to place a full URL. Just using the www.sitename.com format will automatically make a clickable link.
While affiliate links are okay, try to post valuable content as well. Just putting up a bunch of obvious affiliate links will lose your following.
Twitter has been called micro-blogging, or blogging for ordinary people. Basically they have provided a way for people who don't want a full fledged blog to post about their daily happenings.
The downside to Twitter is the amount of people who sign up and make a post, but then never return. Currently these abandoned accounts are never deleted, so it's up to you to update your follower and following lists keeping them clear of these abandoned accounts.
Finding Followers:
Besides being able to add your friends and email contacts to Twitter, they also provide a handy search box to help you find people to follow.
One of the best ways to get followers is to follow others first,. There is one check you must do before adding someone to your list, the most recent post date. Just adding thousands of people to your twitter list will not bring you followers. Twitter received a lot of buzz and attracted a lot of tire kickers, but if you aren't paying attention then you could easily end up with the majority of your list being people who haven't logged on to Twitter for a months, and they won't be coming back to check out your profile anytime soon.
So step one to a clutter-free Twitter is to follow the right people. I will search for a particular term, and flip through the list, signing up to follow only people who have posted in the last 7 days. Also I will not follow anyone on their first post, I want to make sure they will be coming back on a regular basis.
Culling The List:
As your lists grow, you will want to check your following list and un-check those who have not posted for a while. I like to use a 30 day rule. Every time I log on to Twitter, I check 5 to 10 people in my list, and stop following the ones who have not made a post in the last 30 days. Many people don't post every day, or even every week, but chances are if they have not posted in the last month, they probably won't be posting again.
Following Followers:
Step 3 is returning the favor. Whenever you log in, check your follower list to make sure you are returning the favor to everyone that is following you. Unless they are just spamming the Twitter system with affiliate links posted every couple of minutes, there is no reason not to give back.
Posting With Links:
When writing a post with a link, whether to your site, an affiliate link, or just something cool you found, there is no need to place a full URL. Just using the www.sitename.com format will automatically make a clickable link.
While affiliate links are okay, try to post valuable content as well. Just putting up a bunch of obvious affiliate links will lose your following.
What Is Good Twitter Etiquette?
By: Martin Sejas
If you’ve been using Twitter for a while then you would have heard of the term Twitter etiquette. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of people who don’t know what it is and even if they know, they are not applying it to their advantage. The bottom line is that if you demonstrate good Twitter etiquette, then you can only become successful at Twitter.
The question remaining then is: what exactly is good Twitter etiquette? It’s pretty much involves a list of things you should and shouldn’t do. What you shouldn’t do is not technically illegal on Twitter, but they can stop getting followers and respect from fellow Twits.
So here’s a short list of what you should do on Twitter:
• Write interesting tweets. Put yourself in the position of a follower or potential follower and ask yourself: “Would I want read something like that?” If you don’t, then don’t tweet that message.
• Share links to information and resources which will benefit your followers. If you don’t find it beneficial, don’t send them the link.
• Be concise and straight to the point with your tweet. If you’re not, then people will start to ignore what you say. Plus, you’ve got 140 characters to get your point across.
Here what you shouldn’t do:
• Write completely random tweets. People don’t want to read that you are going to the bathroom or driving a car. Boo-hoo, it’s boring too.
• Spam your followers. Tweeting the same message and the same links constantly is annoying for everyone. In fact, it will most likely mean that many of them will stop following you and Twitter might even choose to suspend your account.
• Don’t acknowledge another person’s tweets. If you tweet someone else’s message, have the courtesy to recognize the original author with an RT (or re-tweet). How would you feel if someone tweeted your message without acknowledging you?
As you can see, achieving and maintaining good Twitter etiquette for success is not difficult if you follow the guidelines outlined in this article.
If you’ve been using Twitter for a while then you would have heard of the term Twitter etiquette. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of people who don’t know what it is and even if they know, they are not applying it to their advantage. The bottom line is that if you demonstrate good Twitter etiquette, then you can only become successful at Twitter.
The question remaining then is: what exactly is good Twitter etiquette? It’s pretty much involves a list of things you should and shouldn’t do. What you shouldn’t do is not technically illegal on Twitter, but they can stop getting followers and respect from fellow Twits.
So here’s a short list of what you should do on Twitter:
• Write interesting tweets. Put yourself in the position of a follower or potential follower and ask yourself: “Would I want read something like that?” If you don’t, then don’t tweet that message.
• Share links to information and resources which will benefit your followers. If you don’t find it beneficial, don’t send them the link.
• Be concise and straight to the point with your tweet. If you’re not, then people will start to ignore what you say. Plus, you’ve got 140 characters to get your point across.
Here what you shouldn’t do:
• Write completely random tweets. People don’t want to read that you are going to the bathroom or driving a car. Boo-hoo, it’s boring too.
• Spam your followers. Tweeting the same message and the same links constantly is annoying for everyone. In fact, it will most likely mean that many of them will stop following you and Twitter might even choose to suspend your account.
• Don’t acknowledge another person’s tweets. If you tweet someone else’s message, have the courtesy to recognize the original author with an RT (or re-tweet). How would you feel if someone tweeted your message without acknowledging you?
As you can see, achieving and maintaining good Twitter etiquette for success is not difficult if you follow the guidelines outlined in this article.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
How A Digital Media Player Will Transform Your Living Room
William Stanford
I have rarely met an individual that likes living with old technology. Usually it is right about the time when you are comfortable with what gadgets you do have, a neighbor or a friend comes along and shows you their bright shiny new toy, and you know immediately that the your gadgets are now old, and you must upgrade if you want to hang with the Joneses.
Right now, the manufacturers and electronics big box stores are all pushing the Bluray Players and telling you that they are the latest and greatest. Well, before you go sinking your money into a Bluray, open your mind to the possibility that there may already be something on the market that will spell the end of the Bluray. If you haven't heard of it yet, it is called a Digital Media Player and it will change your whole idea of how you get your digital content.
Almost everything these days is being built with WiFi technology to allow for wireless streaming communication with the internet. Everything from our digital TV providers and cable services, to the television sets themselves. Soon everything will connect to the internet wirelessly. So what exactly is a digital media player and what does it do? The concept is simple enough, a digital media player is a device that allows you to connect to your home network and the internet wirelessly to access online digital streaming content like movies and TV shows, and also to stream your personal media collection including your movies, music, and photos right to your living room or home theater room.
What is interesting is that most DVDs that you buy today come with an additional copy of the movie called a digital copy that you can download straight from the movie company. A recent example of this is the movie, "The Hangover". After downloading movies and music through iTunes and these free digital copies, with a digital media player you would be able to stream the movie, in Full HD 1080p quality and Dolby Digital sound, right to your living room high definition TV set. Some people are even creating backup copies of their entire DVD collections onto their home network. Just imagine being able to watch your entire movie collection at any time with the push of a button.
Article Tags: Digital Media Player, Digital Media, Media Player, Living Room
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
Getting Your New Novus B54 Heavy Duty Stapler
Mono Machines
Novus produces yet another variety of staplers which is used for a long time and is looking comfortable to use as its structure sits in hand with ease. For such a stapler they have coined the name as "Novus B54 Heavy Duty Stapler"
Also known as the Novus B54 Long Arm Heavy Duty Stapler This unit has an Anti Blocking System that prevents staple jams and a Bypass System that prevents the overlapping of staple legs when stapling smaller quantities. This unit also has a 9 7/8" throat depth for greater reach across documents and binding booklets. It has a dual staple guide that encases the staples and provides superior performance and reliability. It has a stapling capacity from 20 sheets to 170 and sheets with a rotating anvil for bypass or parallel stapling. It also has a heavy duty durable base that provides support and durability for extended use. And lastly, has an adjustable paper depth guide for accuracy. Professionals prefer Dahle. Our German engineered trimmers feature a precision graduated, self-sharpening blade made of German Solingen steel. This blade cuts in either direction and maintains a perfectly honed edge every time it's used. Why trust your images with anything else? With over 75 years of experience, our products are designed to meet the strictest safety standards in both personal and professional grade products. You can have the peace of mind in knowing you are about to purchase a quality product that will provide many years of trouble free operation. The NOVUS brand indisputably owes its wide recognition, first and foremost, to the development of perfect technology for office systems and fastening tools since the company was founded in 1949. Reliability and innovative design are synonymous with a wide range of modern products today: products which have been designed to make office work more economical and easier, as well as professional fastening tools for craftsmen and DIY handymen.
Quick Overview:* Anti Blocking System and Bypass System. * 9 7/8" Throat Depth. * Dual Staple Guide and Stapling Capacity: 20-170 sheets. * Rotating Anvil and Heavy Duty Durable Base. * Adjustable Paper Depth Guide
In-Depth Look: UPC 076769000384 Manufactured In: Germany Manuf Part # 023-0038 Model B54 Shipping Weight 6 Expected Ship Date 1-2 Days Weight 6.0000 Warranty 5 Year Guarantee Dimensions 17 3/4" x 4" x 11" Operation Manual Capacity (sheets/staple) 170 Adj Throat Depth Guage No Staple Load Type Press Button Loading Staple Load Capacity 1000 Staple System Type Bypass Stapling System Throat Depth 9 7/8"
Article Tags: Heavy Duty Stapler, Heavy Duty, Duty Stapler, Throat Depth
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
Monday, February 8, 2010
6 Tips to Optimize Your Website for iPhone
Ordinary websites are receiving more traffic from mobile devices than ever before. Even if you have no immediate plans to serve a microsite to your iPhone visitors, there are steps you can take to make your current website more iPhone friendly. Below we will explore several techniques you can perform to present optimized content for these users.
Using styles optimized for MobileSafari
How does your website look on the iPhone? How will the size and order of your page elements affect an iPhone user's experience? Do you have to zoom into a content area to read content? Can you easily enter text in a search field?
These are some of the questions iPhone microsite development addresses. Consider the number of pixels allocated as padding between your navigation options. If you don't have enough space in between your navigation elements, your site will present difficulties for users trying to navigate using their fingers instead of a mouse. An average persons index finger is roughly 40-70 pixels in width, therefore you should consider leaving extra space between navigation elements or making them larger to allow for easy interaction.
Fortunately, you can make these modifications by using an iPhone specific style sheet (as we discuss here). In this way, it is possible to style your sites content separately for these visitors.
MobileSafari allows you to zoom and rotate page views to more clearly navigate content, but you can easily minimize the need for your users to do so. For example, if your home page loads with extra space on the left and right sides, this will carry over into the default presentation for iPhone visitors. However, you can instruct MobileSafari to zoom into a web pages content by default.
To accomplish this, we set the viewport width to the width of the device by adding the following declaration to the head of your HTML file:
<meta name = "viewport" content = "width = device-width">To set the initial scale to 1.0, add this to the head of your HTML file:
<meta name = "viewport" content = "initial-scale = 1.0"> To set the initial scale and to turn off user scaling, add this to the head of your HTML file:
<meta name = "viewport" content = "initial-scale = 2.3, user-scalable = no"> We utilize the viewport meta tag to improve the presentation of your web content on iPhone. This meta tag sets the width and initial scale of the viewport. Add the appropriate viewport meta data to the head of the document to instruct the browser to present your content in as large a context as possible on the iPhone's screen.
iPhone Viewport Orientation
The iPhone supports both landscape and portrait views. You can specify CSS based on viewport orientation which is determined using JavaScript and updated in the orient attribute of the body element. We've outlined some of the benefits of using iPhone specific style sheets in a previous article.
To achieve this, you target the browser with
body[orient="landscape"]or
body[orient="portrait"]The following javascript detects and sets the iPhone's viewport orientation by evaluating the innerWidth property of the window object and setting the orient attribute of the body element at regular intervals:
var updateLayout = function() { if (window.innerWidth != currentWidth) { currentWidth = window.innerWidth; var orient = (currentWidth == 320) ? "profile" : "landscape"; document.body.setAttribute("orient", orient); window.scrollTo(0, 1); } }; iPhone.DomLoad(updateLayout); setInterval(updateLayout, 500); Hiding the iPhone toolbar
With one line of JavaScript you can hide the big toolbar:
window.scrollTo(0, 1);Include this line of code to the phone's orientation detection JavaScript, and the toolbar will reappear when the orientation is changed. Simply omit this line if you want the toolbar to show. This is discussed in more detail in our article "How to hide the address bar in MobileSafari".
Optimize Images
If you recall optimizing images for 28.8 kbit/s modems you may want to skip this section. Its worth considering the average connection speed of an iPhone user over EDGE is considerably slower than typical transfer rates on conventional computers. As of this writing 3g is unavailable on the iPhone, Nonetheless, considering your user's minimum connection speed should be considered part of your standard website development procedure. We recommend you consider serving re-optimized assets to these users and avoiding the use of large images or other weighty media on your website. Animated gifs are unsupported at this time and gracefully display the first frame of the animation.
No Flash Support
While it may be coming shortly, currently you are unable to view flash content on the iPhone. But what if you already have flash creative on your site? We trust you are presenting alternate content to non-flash enabled visitors, as iPhone visitors attempting to view your flash movies will instead see the default plugin not found image. There are several packages freely available which perform this detection or you can use the tools built into the Flash authoring environment.
These are just a few of the techniques website owners can use to make their content more easily accessible by iPhone visitors. Let us know what you think.
-Shaun Mackey
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Small Business Tips - Insuring Your Business Success
By Ingrid Cliff
Over Easter there was a large fire at Coorparoo in Queensland, where a number of small businesses were burnt out. This is a devastating event for any business, but what made it more so was that a number of the small businesses were not insured.
What was the effect? Let me tell you about one small business and the effect this has had on them. This small business was a service business; they were starting to get a brilliant reputation in the industry and had a number of major contracts on the go. They had employed a number of staff to work in the business and things were looking rosy. Insurance was on their to do list, but as things got busier and busier it never seemed to make it to the top of the list. As their information was critical to their business, they regularly backed up all of their computers.
Then the fire struck and the business was totally burnt out. All the computers melted and as they did not take the back-ups off site, the back-up system was also melted. All of their data disappeared in a puff of smoke, as did all of their client files, project notes, fixtures and furniture.
Instead of generating income, they now were faced with additional costs of trying to recreate their data from their memories and from clients. Their employees suddenly lost their jobs as the company could not afford to keep paying them with no income coming in, and their big contracts looked very shaky.
To make it worse the principal of the business was 6 months pregnant. She is now faced with the very real and hard decision of whether or not to close down the business or to try and start it all again from scratch at a time in her life when she should be slowing down. At the moment she is working from her kitchen table and still sorting out her needs and priorities. What would you do in her situation?
Why don't small businesses get insurance? When talking with them I hear 4 common excuses:
1. Too expensive - we can't afford it now 2. (For home based businesses) - doesn't my house insurance cover me? 3. I am getting to it 4. I believe in the law of attraction - I won't buy into the fear of insurance
All of these excuses are very limiting and will cause your problems. If you believe business insurance is too expensive start to add up the costs of starting from scratch. Also look at the message you are putting out about the value you place on your business and how important it is to you.
For a home based business - no your general home insurance does not cover your business. In case of theft, fire or other disaster your business and computers will all disappear not to be replaced.
If you are "getting to it", what will it take you to move it up your priorities?
In terms of the law of attraction if you focus on the loss of your business, yes you could be creating a problem. However, the law of attraction does not say ignore the problem. All of the best teachers suggest you need to be conscious of potential issues, take steps to offset the risk and then don't put any more energy into worrying about it. By taking out insurance you think about the problem once and then forget about it until you need it. By not taking out insurance you carry a permanent low level concern that maybe your business will be broken into, burnt out or otherwise challenged. I can tell you which is more likely to generate the result you don't want to get!
There are many business insurance policies out on the market, each of them different and with different inclusions and rules. If you are not comfortable with researching the policies, you may want to think about an insurance broker to help you find the right cover for you.
So what should you insure?
Assets - you need to insure your assets against things like fire, theft, storms etc. Other things you may want to consider include business interruption insurance (covers you in case your business is interrupted because of damage to your property as well as cover to rewrite material if your back-up didn't recover effectively etc), insurance to cover you if an employee embezzles or misappropriates money, machinery breakdown and vehicle insurance.
One of the things to remember is that most policies don't cover your laptop or mobile phone. They need to be specified in order to be covered so double check this with your insurer. (I have been caught with this one so it is one of the first things I now check).
People - if you employ people you need to ensure they are covered with workers compensation and superannuation, but if you are self employed you may need to consider personal accident and injury policies to cover you in case of your own illness, injury or death.
Liability - This is an area that many small businesses don't consider, but missing this out can make you bankrupt if a claim is made against you.
With liability you need to include public liability covering your business in case you cause death or injury to someone. This can come from something as simple as someone slipping on a mat in your home, or someone tripping on your briefcase at a coffee shop when you are meeting a client.
Professional indemnity protects you in case someone acts on your advice and this causes a loss to their business as a result of this advice. Product liability covers any injuries or loss arising from people using your products and the products being faulty or causing an injury.
Aside from insurance you also need to put in place some simple routines such as a minimum of a weekly computer back-up that is stored off-site. I do this with two external hard-drives for my computer. I back up to these hard-drives and then swap them weekly at a relative's house.
For critical paper documents you may want to consider installing a fire-proof safe or filing cabinet in your office - but don't use these to store your computer back-ups in as they will generally melt in a fire.
Insuring your business success is an issue many small businesses don't think about until it is too late. Use the Easter fire as a message for your own business, double check your policies are current and effectively cover what your business needs and schedule in an annual check to ensure you are getting the best deal from your insurance.
Ingrid Cliff is a Brisbane freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - her writing services studio that helps put your business into words. Ingrid writes a free weekly newsletter packed full of small business tips to help both you and your business grow www.heartharmony.com.au.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ingrid_Cliff
http://EzineArticles.com/?Small-Business-Tips---Insuring-Your-Business-Success&id=1476475
Reglan Injury Lawsuit and Lawyer Attorney
dave smythe
Have you or somebody has been harmed as a result using Reglan products or drugs containing metoclopramide? If so you need to contact a Lawyer or Attorney as soon as possible for a free consultation as a Reglan class action settlement may occur.
Reglan Lawsuit
The active ingredient in Reglan is metoclopramide. To understand the side effects you must first know what metoclopramide is. Its main function is to speed up the movement of a person's stomach muscles, which in turn shortens the time needed to empty stomach contents into the intestines. Reports have shown that these products in question have led to a high number of instances of a comparably rare condition known as tardive dyskinesia.
The symptoms feature a person's ability to live a normal life and many of them are irreversible. Some of the symptoms they are not necessarily limited to:
· Involuntary/ repetitive movements of the extremities
· Impaired movement of the fingers
· Tongue convexity
· Lip smacking, pursing and puckering
· Rapid eye movements or blinking
· Grimacing
The FDA has few remedies when a substance draws unwanted attention such as this one. Right now at this point two remedies have been administrated. The first is that they must require a 'black box warning' that is to be placed to all products containing metoclopramide that must be detail the risk as was described above. The second remedy is that a risk evaluation and moderation strategy or REMS be done. The REMs is designed to weigh the risks vs. the reward of using this product to provide additional warning to the users of these products.
Contact a Reglan lawyer as soon as possible if you or someone you know has been injured by taking a product containing metoclopramide. To schedule a free initial consultation and to receive the attainments you need regarding your legal rights and options.
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
What Type of Research Grants Are Available?
Peter West
Although most people only really think about medical research grants, there are actually hundred
Most people are surprised with the number of research grants that are given out every year, both on the governmental level and also in the private sector. Although many people would only consider medical grants in this regard, this money actually goes to fund research for a number of different types of organizations that you may not have even considered before. It also supplies grants for research for businesses, in order to help both their own business and to successfully come up with ways in order to help others. Here are some types of research grants that you may not have thought about before.
One of the main types of research grants that are given out on an annual basis are actually funded for the development and furtherance of the arts. This is not only true whenever it comes to graphic arts but it is also true when it comes to music, theater and community development. As a matter of fact, it is possible for you to find these different types of grants in a number of different areas, including some private organizations that will readily give you grant money if you meet their strict requirements.
Another type of research that is funded is for transportation. Many times, these types of funds will go into a research that will help to develop new types of transportation for a number of different reasons. For example, an organization that is going to give money to businesses and individuals that would like to come up with better ways to travel while at the same time, saving the environment. Not only do governments fund research such as this, private organizations do it on a regular basis as well.
Agriculture is yet another way that you can find these grants for research. Many times, this type of grant money is given outside of the actual agriculture sector, such as those that would be used by farmers. Instead, it is given to organizations that help to develop different types of food or to find ways in order to make sure that the food we do have is as good for us as possible.
One other type of research money that we can talk about is that which is given for energy. These can also be loosely tied with a number of other different types of grant research, such as agricultural and educational. By using this research money, these organizations help to develop new and different types of energy or to find ways to make the energy that we are currently using more beneficial to us as a whole.
If you are in need of research grants, it helps to find organizations that are going to find the specific types of research that you are doing. Although there are some organizations that fund research for a number of different categories, the more narrow you make your search, the more likely you are going to be able to find the grants for research that you are seeking.
Article Tags: Research Grants, Fund Research, Different Types
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
Friday, February 5, 2010
10 Advantages of Using Link Building Services
by: Jeyanth Watson
10 Advantages of Using Link Building Services
Link-building is an important part of any website. The whole idea behind it, similar to the political quote: I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.
It begins quite simply. You search for sites that attract you because of their complementary content to your business. You send an email, asking the web master to link to your site. The next thing you know, that site's readers become customers at yours. It's really that easy.
Still not convinced? Check out the following reasons to use link building on your site:
1. Many are free. Nothing's cheaper than free, and it doesn't cost you anything to shoot an email over to a site's publisher and ask for a little mutual traffic exchange.
2. Build credibility. When you write articles and submit them to article directories, you help make yourself known as an expert in your field. Because these articles include a resource box where you list your website, you get a free link every time someone uses it or finds it on a search engine.
3. Boost your relevant traffic. By choosing which sites give you a link, you are hand picking the customers that will come to your site. Since you know who will benefit the most from what you have to offer, it makes sense for you to seek out the websites that would attract your buyers.
4. Make connections with others in your niche. By talking to web masters about including your site in their links, you are also building relationships. When you make connections on a personal level, people will recommend you to their friends.
5. Less expensive than traditional advertising. Web campaigns can get expensive. While many link building programs are free, there are many paid programs that allow you great traffic. You will need to stick with a site for about a month to see results.
6. Your site becomes newsworthy. When you submit press releases on your site, it becomes news. And news draws traffic.
7. Use other sites established traffic to build your own, without taking away from them. Because these sites are complementary and not competitors, you are not stealing any traffic. Their readers will come to their site and check out the usual points of interest, and then head over to yours.
8. Creep up in Google and other search engine rankings. Another site's popularity will increase your position on the search pages. The more links you have, the better you look. Certain sites can get you listed on Google in 24 hours.
9. Learn which sites bring you the right people. You have total control over your link building program. When a site works, you keep the exchange going. But you don't have to be stuck with sites that give you spikes in traffic with no results.
10. Increase sales by partnering with the most popular site. Find the most popular site in your niche and partner up with them. You may get a broader range of people, but your sales will thank you for doing it.
These are just a few reasons why a link exchange program is important. Look around at others who are doing it, and how successful they are. Then get out there and duplicate it.
It begins quite simply. You search for sites that attract you because of their complementary content to your business. You send an email, asking the web master to link to your site. The next thing you know, that site's readers become customers at yours. It's really that easy.
Still not convinced? Check out the following reasons to use link building on your site:
1. Many are free. Nothing's cheaper than free, and it doesn't cost you anything to shoot an email over to a site's publisher and ask for a little mutual traffic exchange.
2. Build credibility. When you write articles and submit them to article directories, you help make yourself known as an expert in your field. Because these articles include a resource box where you list your website, you get a free link every time someone uses it or finds it on a search engine.
3. Boost your relevant traffic. By choosing which sites give you a link, you are hand picking the customers that will come to your site. Since you know who will benefit the most from what you have to offer, it makes sense for you to seek out the websites that would attract your buyers.
4. Make connections with others in your niche. By talking to web masters about including your site in their links, you are also building relationships. When you make connections on a personal level, people will recommend you to their friends.
5. Less expensive than traditional advertising. Web campaigns can get expensive. While many link building programs are free, there are many paid programs that allow you great traffic. You will need to stick with a site for about a month to see results.
6. Your site becomes newsworthy. When you submit press releases on your site, it becomes news. And news draws traffic.
7. Use other sites established traffic to build your own, without taking away from them. Because these sites are complementary and not competitors, you are not stealing any traffic. Their readers will come to their site and check out the usual points of interest, and then head over to yours.
8. Creep up in Google and other search engine rankings. Another site's popularity will increase your position on the search pages. The more links you have, the better you look. Certain sites can get you listed on Google in 24 hours.
9. Learn which sites bring you the right people. You have total control over your link building program. When a site works, you keep the exchange going. But you don't have to be stuck with sites that give you spikes in traffic with no results.
10. Increase sales by partnering with the most popular site. Find the most popular site in your niche and partner up with them. You may get a broader range of people, but your sales will thank you for doing it.
These are just a few reasons why a link exchange program is important. Look around at others who are doing it, and how successful they are. Then get out there and duplicate it.
Back Links 101 - Make Them Work for You
by: Michelle Dale
Back Links 101 - Make Them Work for You
Essentially, back links are inbound links to a web page or site. This means that another website contains a hyperlink directed towards your site. In terms of SEO, the more back links you have pointing toward your website the better, particularly if the back links are coming from a site which deals with the same field as your chosen speciality.
As the number one goal of a website is to achieve traffic, i.e. people actually looking at the site, it follows that you must make the website visible. Generally speaking, to make your website visible, people must be able to find it when they search for keywords directly related to your product, niche, service or whatever else your website represents. Individuals tend to be seeking such information via the big search engines, whose operators have rather complicated algorithms to help them decide whether a certain website is applicable to the searcher's request, or not.
Although they will not divulge exactly how they go about composing these algorithms, the search engine operators do assure us that relevancy, as viewed by others, is most important. If they see that you have a back link or a number of back links from other websites that have some relevancy to yours, this is a plus. In addition, if the site linking to you has a fairly high "page rank", this helps as well. Page rank is Google's proprietary method of allocating a number (zero being lowest and moving up to ten) indicating how important a site is within its particular niche of operations.
There are a number of ways to achieve back links for your site.
ARTICLE MARKETING.
As Bill Gates once said, "content is king". Article marketing is known as one of the most solid Internet marketing methods. By writing highly relevant and informative articles and submitting them to high profile article directories you do several things, not the least important of which is to help establish you or your site as an expert in your niche. Within your article, published in the article directory, is a resource box which contains your details - who you are and what you do, and a link back to your site, the all important Back Link.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING.
There are many hundreds of social bookmarking sites, and their primary motive is basically to provide a way of informing people about the existence of content related to any niche or interest in a very manageable format. You can sign up and initiate a process of notifying social bookmarking sites about fresh content, including back links in many cases. You should note at this stage that some webmasters apply a "no follow" tag which can void the effect of a back link, as the tag instructs the search engine spider not to give you points, or what's called "link love".
SOCIAL MEDIA - TWITTER.
Whilst Twitter and other similar sites are becoming increasingly more powerful in marketing terms, you should know that to include links within your "tweets" or in your URL profile box is not a powerful back linking strategy, as these are all allocated the dreaded no follow tag. However, you may find that it is possible to link within a bio box and get some link love this way. Also, if you syndicate, your Twitter feeds are updated via the RSS aggregators, earning you back links.
BLOG COMMENTING.
First of all, you will have to locate blogs or forums that are relevant to your area of expertise. This is fairly simple to accomplish as a straightforward and pertinent search will locate hosts. Once you find these blogs you can sign up and create a profile. Often you will be allowed to create what is called a "signature", and within that signature you incorporate your links. Note, you should check to see if there are any no follow tags, as these will appear occasionally.
Enter into the spirit of the place by interacting with other members and making entries and posting comments that are relevant, useful and educational. As well as a back link being displayed each time you post a comment, you'll also create a potentially profitable bond with other members - and this has the potential to lead to all kinds of new possiblities.
Back link building remains one of the most important SEO strategies to adopt.
As the number one goal of a website is to achieve traffic, i.e. people actually looking at the site, it follows that you must make the website visible. Generally speaking, to make your website visible, people must be able to find it when they search for keywords directly related to your product, niche, service or whatever else your website represents. Individuals tend to be seeking such information via the big search engines, whose operators have rather complicated algorithms to help them decide whether a certain website is applicable to the searcher's request, or not.
Although they will not divulge exactly how they go about composing these algorithms, the search engine operators do assure us that relevancy, as viewed by others, is most important. If they see that you have a back link or a number of back links from other websites that have some relevancy to yours, this is a plus. In addition, if the site linking to you has a fairly high "page rank", this helps as well. Page rank is Google's proprietary method of allocating a number (zero being lowest and moving up to ten) indicating how important a site is within its particular niche of operations.
There are a number of ways to achieve back links for your site.
ARTICLE MARKETING.
As Bill Gates once said, "content is king". Article marketing is known as one of the most solid Internet marketing methods. By writing highly relevant and informative articles and submitting them to high profile article directories you do several things, not the least important of which is to help establish you or your site as an expert in your niche. Within your article, published in the article directory, is a resource box which contains your details - who you are and what you do, and a link back to your site, the all important Back Link.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING.
There are many hundreds of social bookmarking sites, and their primary motive is basically to provide a way of informing people about the existence of content related to any niche or interest in a very manageable format. You can sign up and initiate a process of notifying social bookmarking sites about fresh content, including back links in many cases. You should note at this stage that some webmasters apply a "no follow" tag which can void the effect of a back link, as the tag instructs the search engine spider not to give you points, or what's called "link love".
SOCIAL MEDIA - TWITTER.
Whilst Twitter and other similar sites are becoming increasingly more powerful in marketing terms, you should know that to include links within your "tweets" or in your URL profile box is not a powerful back linking strategy, as these are all allocated the dreaded no follow tag. However, you may find that it is possible to link within a bio box and get some link love this way. Also, if you syndicate, your Twitter feeds are updated via the RSS aggregators, earning you back links.
BLOG COMMENTING.
First of all, you will have to locate blogs or forums that are relevant to your area of expertise. This is fairly simple to accomplish as a straightforward and pertinent search will locate hosts. Once you find these blogs you can sign up and create a profile. Often you will be allowed to create what is called a "signature", and within that signature you incorporate your links. Note, you should check to see if there are any no follow tags, as these will appear occasionally.
Enter into the spirit of the place by interacting with other members and making entries and posting comments that are relevant, useful and educational. As well as a back link being displayed each time you post a comment, you'll also create a potentially profitable bond with other members - and this has the potential to lead to all kinds of new possiblities.
Back link building remains one of the most important SEO strategies to adopt.
Back to basics on How to Increase Website Traffic
by: Neil Paige
Back to basics on How to Increase Website Traffic
In common terms Website Traffic is the number of visitors coming to a website from all sources over a given period of time. This is one of the basic parameters for judging the success of a website.
If we do a simple mathematics - more visitors would mean more conversions, however this may or may not hold true if sufficient attention is not given to basics, which we simply tend to ignore.
Parts that need to be kept in mind
• Focused Content: Your content has to be focused. The content should be tailored for different set of visitors – to the point that you even think about how your company profile will be presented to respective segments. The quality of writing has to be top-notch business grade.
• Title & Description tags: When a visitor searches for keywords on a Search Engine, results are essentially a fight of the title and description. This is where you leave the first impression. The user will be more inclined towards a compelling title as he would perceive your website to better than others.
• Offer Original & Quality information on your website: This is the best way to attract traffic to your website. Offer original & unique information which visitors cannot find anywhere else. This will also help in branding your business image as Industry experts & will also get you good quality one-way links.
• Give Freebies: Who doesn't like freebies? Offer your visitors free e-books, free Cd's, free whitepapers, free consultation, free webinars etc. People love these and will keep coming back for more. This will not only increase new and repeat traffic but also help in link building.
• Social Media: Use Social Media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to share information with your targeted audience. Share your writings & researches, participate in discussions, and help others by solving their problems. This will propel people to visit your website more often and look for desired information.
• Advertisements: There are many free/ paid ways to advertise your business online. Classified Ads is free and is one of the ways to place business related ads which help in driving traffic. You can also benefit from Paid methods like Google Adwords programs which are more targeted and help in bringing visitors based on demographics, location and preferences. However you need to decide on a budget for these and then plan accordingly.
• Update website regularly: Keep updating your site by adding new, relevant and helpful content to your site. Search engines also give preference to sites with new and relevant content.
• Blog: Using unique and effective writing strategies is one of the best ways to boost website traffic. Create a blog that supports your website and make sure that your blog navigation flow your visitors to your website with ease. Also include your product/services links within your blog posts so that the visitors who read your blog can easily navigate to your website.
We at AftertheNet (http://www.afterthenet.com) keep supplementing our clients with the most basic to the most advanced techniques for any goal they decide to reach with their website. Our step wise approach gives them the complete visibility of their website, which often they are deprived of in absence of a trustworthy resource.
If we do a simple mathematics - more visitors would mean more conversions, however this may or may not hold true if sufficient attention is not given to basics, which we simply tend to ignore.
Parts that need to be kept in mind
• Focused Content: Your content has to be focused. The content should be tailored for different set of visitors – to the point that you even think about how your company profile will be presented to respective segments. The quality of writing has to be top-notch business grade.
• Title & Description tags: When a visitor searches for keywords on a Search Engine, results are essentially a fight of the title and description. This is where you leave the first impression. The user will be more inclined towards a compelling title as he would perceive your website to better than others.
• Offer Original & Quality information on your website: This is the best way to attract traffic to your website. Offer original & unique information which visitors cannot find anywhere else. This will also help in branding your business image as Industry experts & will also get you good quality one-way links.
• Give Freebies: Who doesn't like freebies? Offer your visitors free e-books, free Cd's, free whitepapers, free consultation, free webinars etc. People love these and will keep coming back for more. This will not only increase new and repeat traffic but also help in link building.
• Social Media: Use Social Media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to share information with your targeted audience. Share your writings & researches, participate in discussions, and help others by solving their problems. This will propel people to visit your website more often and look for desired information.
• Advertisements: There are many free/ paid ways to advertise your business online. Classified Ads is free and is one of the ways to place business related ads which help in driving traffic. You can also benefit from Paid methods like Google Adwords programs which are more targeted and help in bringing visitors based on demographics, location and preferences. However you need to decide on a budget for these and then plan accordingly.
• Update website regularly: Keep updating your site by adding new, relevant and helpful content to your site. Search engines also give preference to sites with new and relevant content.
• Blog: Using unique and effective writing strategies is one of the best ways to boost website traffic. Create a blog that supports your website and make sure that your blog navigation flow your visitors to your website with ease. Also include your product/services links within your blog posts so that the visitors who read your blog can easily navigate to your website.
We at AftertheNet (http://www.afterthenet.com) keep supplementing our clients with the most basic to the most advanced techniques for any goal they decide to reach with their website. Our step wise approach gives them the complete visibility of their website, which often they are deprived of in absence of a trustworthy resource.
12 Ways To Do Social Media Marketing With Twitter
by: Ron Knight
12 Ways To Do Social Media Marketing With Twitter
Twitter is a wildly popular microblogging service. It involves writing Tweets, which are short updates of a maximum of 140 characters that tell your followers what you are up to. Although your Tweets are technically supposed to answer the question, "What are you doing?" Twitter has moved far beyond that. Tweets are used to share stories, link to photos, promote content, break news, and a whole lot more. Twitter has also become an incredibly important tool for social media marketing professionals. Here are 12 ways in which Twitter can be used in your social media marketing campaign.
1. Sharing Links to Items of Interest
As soon as you read something online that you think is interesting, it is easy to share it on Twitter with all of your followers. Twitter is highly effective in this manner because it is such a quick way to be able to reach a large group of people. You can also get a lot of great ideas for blog posts from Twitter since many new ideas and stories are floating around that haven't even made it to the blogosphere and definitely not to mainstream media.
2. Building Your Network
Using Twitter is a great way to build your network because it allows you to find and follow people with similar interests. You can use Steeple to find people who live in your geographical area. You can also use other tools that help you find new people to follow based upon who your Twitter friends follow.
3. Build Relationships within Your Current Network
People in different networks often use Twitter to connect with their contacts instantly rather than using instant messaging for that purpose. Furthermore, many people use Twitter to connect with their network during events like conferences.
4. Re-Distributing Content from Your Blog or Website
Twitter can be used to redistribute content from your blog or website. However, you should take care to do this thoughtfully since many of your Twitter followers may already read your blog. For that reason, you may want to avoid using a blog plug-in that automatically Tweets your posts. Your best bet is to Tweet your content manually and customize each Tweet so it doesn't get old.
5. Get Involved in Live Tweeting Events
Twitter launched at SXSW last year, catapulting microblogging conferences to fame. Live Tweeting events are great because they are a form of citizen journalism that allow you to connect with several new people in your niche while making active and valuable contributions to current discussions in your community.
6. Pitching Stories to Journalists on Twitter
You can send a direct message to a journalist who is following you on Twitter to pitch a story idea.
7. Communicating with Your Team
You can use Twitter as a company intranet that connects all of your employees. Twitter can be particularly useful in this regard if you have a virtual business with employees in different geographical locations. You can set your updates to private for security reasons. Anytime you are working on group projects, you can stay in touch with your team members using Twitter.
8. Brand Monitoring
Stay up to date with any mentions of your business on Twitter. If there is anything negative, you will be able to counter it quickly. You can also use Twitter as a way to receive feedback from your customers and improve your business. Just ask your followers to give their opinion on something. For example, if you designed a new website, ask your followers what they think about it and get their constructive criticisms so you can make your site design even better.
9. Acquire More Votes on Social Media Websites
If you have submitted a story to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, or any other social voting website, tweet a link to that submission to try to score more votes from your followers. If your followers like what they see, they are sure to vote for your content.
10. Hiring People
Looking for a programmer, designer, or writer? Whatever type of professional you seek, try finding them on Twitter. Simply send your followers a tweet telling them you are looking for someone for a job. They can either recommend someone to you or offer themselves for the job. Using Twitter in this way is ideal for finding qualified freelancers. It is much more convenient than putting out a classified ad.
11. Build Your Personal Brand
When you use Twitter to talk about things as mundane as what you ate for breakfast or how you are going to sleep early tonight, you make your followers feel like you are casual and approachable. Even those with running a company that has a cold, corporate brand image could create more appeal and build a unique personal brand using Twitter.
12. Streamline Electronic Communications
When you use Twitter, you're likely to find yourself using IM, email, and other electronic communication methods less. Twitter not only provides public chatting through Tweets, it also allows you to send direct messages. Twitter will help you streamline your electronic communications, allowing you to scale back online.
1. Sharing Links to Items of Interest
As soon as you read something online that you think is interesting, it is easy to share it on Twitter with all of your followers. Twitter is highly effective in this manner because it is such a quick way to be able to reach a large group of people. You can also get a lot of great ideas for blog posts from Twitter since many new ideas and stories are floating around that haven't even made it to the blogosphere and definitely not to mainstream media.
2. Building Your Network
Using Twitter is a great way to build your network because it allows you to find and follow people with similar interests. You can use Steeple to find people who live in your geographical area. You can also use other tools that help you find new people to follow based upon who your Twitter friends follow.
3. Build Relationships within Your Current Network
People in different networks often use Twitter to connect with their contacts instantly rather than using instant messaging for that purpose. Furthermore, many people use Twitter to connect with their network during events like conferences.
4. Re-Distributing Content from Your Blog or Website
Twitter can be used to redistribute content from your blog or website. However, you should take care to do this thoughtfully since many of your Twitter followers may already read your blog. For that reason, you may want to avoid using a blog plug-in that automatically Tweets your posts. Your best bet is to Tweet your content manually and customize each Tweet so it doesn't get old.
5. Get Involved in Live Tweeting Events
Twitter launched at SXSW last year, catapulting microblogging conferences to fame. Live Tweeting events are great because they are a form of citizen journalism that allow you to connect with several new people in your niche while making active and valuable contributions to current discussions in your community.
6. Pitching Stories to Journalists on Twitter
You can send a direct message to a journalist who is following you on Twitter to pitch a story idea.
7. Communicating with Your Team
You can use Twitter as a company intranet that connects all of your employees. Twitter can be particularly useful in this regard if you have a virtual business with employees in different geographical locations. You can set your updates to private for security reasons. Anytime you are working on group projects, you can stay in touch with your team members using Twitter.
8. Brand Monitoring
Stay up to date with any mentions of your business on Twitter. If there is anything negative, you will be able to counter it quickly. You can also use Twitter as a way to receive feedback from your customers and improve your business. Just ask your followers to give their opinion on something. For example, if you designed a new website, ask your followers what they think about it and get their constructive criticisms so you can make your site design even better.
9. Acquire More Votes on Social Media Websites
If you have submitted a story to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, or any other social voting website, tweet a link to that submission to try to score more votes from your followers. If your followers like what they see, they are sure to vote for your content.
10. Hiring People
Looking for a programmer, designer, or writer? Whatever type of professional you seek, try finding them on Twitter. Simply send your followers a tweet telling them you are looking for someone for a job. They can either recommend someone to you or offer themselves for the job. Using Twitter in this way is ideal for finding qualified freelancers. It is much more convenient than putting out a classified ad.
11. Build Your Personal Brand
When you use Twitter to talk about things as mundane as what you ate for breakfast or how you are going to sleep early tonight, you make your followers feel like you are casual and approachable. Even those with running a company that has a cold, corporate brand image could create more appeal and build a unique personal brand using Twitter.
12. Streamline Electronic Communications
When you use Twitter, you're likely to find yourself using IM, email, and other electronic communication methods less. Twitter not only provides public chatting through Tweets, it also allows you to send direct messages. Twitter will help you streamline your electronic communications, allowing you to scale back online.
SCORM and the Learning Management System (LMS)
by: Stuart Campbell
SCORM and the Learning Management System (LMS)
What actually is SCORM? SCORM, Shareable Content Object Reference Model, is a standard for web-based e-learning that has been developed to define communication between client-side content and a runtime environment. In the context of this article, the client-side content would be the course launched by a student and the runtime environment would be a Learning Management System. The SCORM standard has undergone several version releases from SCORM v1.0 in 1999 to the SCORM 2004 3rd Edition in 2006. The purpose of this article is to look in a little more detail at the communication flow between the LMS and a course that is SCORM v2.1 compliant. The intention is not to review every possible communication but just the main calls. We will look at SCORM in the context of a SCORM course, i.e. a course that has been developed and built to communicate with a Learning Management System using the SCORM standard.
First of all, let me define a few terms that I will use and that you may hear in reference to SCORM courses:
• API (Application Programming Interface)
The SCORM standard has a defined API. The term API is not unique to SCORM but is a well known term in application development. The SCORM API is a documented set of messages that are sent between the course and the LMS. The message may require a response so that the sender of the message is guaranteed that the message has been received and processed appropriately.
• Manifest
The manifest is the master file for the SCORM course that contains references to all other files that make up the complete content of the course.
• Single SCO
A single SCO is the most basic and most common form of a SCORM course. All files that make up the course, regardless of the number of lessons in the course, are packaged as one SCO unit. When the course is launched within the Learning Management System, it communicates with the SCO.
• Multiple SCO
A multiple SCO is where a group of files within the course can be treated as an individual SCO but packaged together with other SCOs to comprise one course. For example, the files that comprise each lesson of a SCORM course can be grouped together so that each lesson is a SCO in its own right and all the SCOs will comprise the one course.
Course Installation
For the course to be available in the Learning Management System, the SCORM package needs to be installed on the system. The method of installation will vary from LMS to LMS but will typically go through the following steps:
1. The manifest file will be located and interpreted.
2. The course identified in the manifest will be created in the Learning Management System and the course properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. These properties may include course name, creator, etc.
3. The lessons of the course will be created in the LMS and the lesson properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. Lesson properties would include information such as the path to the lesson file, passing grade, etc.
The Learning Management System should provide a facility to overwrite an already existing SCORM course so that if updates are made to the existing course, an installation will deploy those changes.
Course Communication
Initialization
When the course is launched within its run time environment, which for our purposes is the LMS, it will detect the existence of the API and attempt to make initial communication with the Learning Management System. This is a one-time handshake to ensure that communication has been established. The SCORM course is responsible for locating the API in the child browser session that it has launched in from the parent. The API is typically deployed using JavaScript. The API call that the course uses to do this is the LMSInitialize call. When the Learning Management System receives this API message call from the course, the LMS will initialize and respond to inform the course that communication has been established. An object model has been created in memory and the properties have been initialized to default values.
Intermediary Course Communication
Once the course has been launched and initialized with the LMS, the interaction between the two is determined by the course. It will use LMSGetValue and LMSSetValue API message calls to retrieve or populate data in the object model. Bear in mind that the object model exists in memory and has not been sent to the Learning Management System.
When the course needs to write the data so it exists in the database, it will send the API message LMSCommit. The LMSCommit will be received by the Learning Management System and the data stored to the LMS. The course developer will determine when an LMSCommit is required and it will be sent to the LMS when the event is activated. This could be at the end of each lesson or it could be at the end of the course.
The LMSCommit is an optional message and does not require a response from the Learning Management System.
Finalization
When the course is completed, it will send an LMSFinish API message to the LMS. This may be triggered by an event in the course that activates the LMSFinish or it may be on the Unload event of the HTML page when the user closes the browser. The LMSFinish indicates to the LMS that the user has ended the course and any further communication between the two will be rejected. The LMSFinish also initiates the Learning Management System to store any data that has been populated in the object model and complete the unloading of the course.
The key difference between the LMSCommit and LMSFinish API message calls is that the latter will prevent further communication with the course.
The LMSFinish is a mandatory message and does not require a response from the LMS.
Learning Management System Considerations
When the LMSFinish is received by the LMS, there are several scenarios that may need to be taken into account. Some of these may be the product of errors in course development but are scenarios that have been experienced in interfacing with a SCORM compliant course:
1. The SCORM course may indicate the student has failed a lesson but the score passed from the SCO may be greater than the lesson passing grade that was installed from the manifest.
2. The SCORM course may indicate a lesson status for the user and pass the score of the lesson but there has been no passing grade defined for the lesson.
3. It would be advantageous for the Learning Management System to provide API message logging so that a communication history may be recreated for debugging or historical purposes. Consideration should be given to the following:
a. Method of storage, whether it is stored in a database or out to a file.
b. Is logging on all the time or is there a switch to turn logging on or off? (There will be some overhead when logging is switched on, as opposed to being off.)
c. If logging is to file, is there a log file for each course, each user, or one large SCORM log file?
d. How is log data purged? When logging is stored in the database, how often is the table purged? Can the data be deleted or does it need to be archived? If logging is to a file, does the file build in size until it is manually renewed or does the logging mechanism have a trigger that automatically generates a new file? (If the file is left to grow too big, it becomes very impractical to open it in a text editor.)
Conclusions
SCORM has a proven track record in the web based e-learning world and is the accepted standard in the industry. Reputable LMS vendors should support your SCORM course out of the box. The SCORM 2004 version has added much more control and sequencing at a more granular level than SCORM v1.2 however those differences are significant enough to cause the user base to be slower in adopting the SCORM 2004 version.
First of all, let me define a few terms that I will use and that you may hear in reference to SCORM courses:
• API (Application Programming Interface)
The SCORM standard has a defined API. The term API is not unique to SCORM but is a well known term in application development. The SCORM API is a documented set of messages that are sent between the course and the LMS. The message may require a response so that the sender of the message is guaranteed that the message has been received and processed appropriately.
• Manifest
The manifest is the master file for the SCORM course that contains references to all other files that make up the complete content of the course.
• Single SCO
A single SCO is the most basic and most common form of a SCORM course. All files that make up the course, regardless of the number of lessons in the course, are packaged as one SCO unit. When the course is launched within the Learning Management System, it communicates with the SCO.
• Multiple SCO
A multiple SCO is where a group of files within the course can be treated as an individual SCO but packaged together with other SCOs to comprise one course. For example, the files that comprise each lesson of a SCORM course can be grouped together so that each lesson is a SCO in its own right and all the SCOs will comprise the one course.
Course Installation
For the course to be available in the Learning Management System, the SCORM package needs to be installed on the system. The method of installation will vary from LMS to LMS but will typically go through the following steps:
1. The manifest file will be located and interpreted.
2. The course identified in the manifest will be created in the Learning Management System and the course properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. These properties may include course name, creator, etc.
3. The lessons of the course will be created in the LMS and the lesson properties will be populated with the values defined in the manifest. Lesson properties would include information such as the path to the lesson file, passing grade, etc.
The Learning Management System should provide a facility to overwrite an already existing SCORM course so that if updates are made to the existing course, an installation will deploy those changes.
Course Communication
Initialization
When the course is launched within its run time environment, which for our purposes is the LMS, it will detect the existence of the API and attempt to make initial communication with the Learning Management System. This is a one-time handshake to ensure that communication has been established. The SCORM course is responsible for locating the API in the child browser session that it has launched in from the parent. The API is typically deployed using JavaScript. The API call that the course uses to do this is the LMSInitialize call. When the Learning Management System receives this API message call from the course, the LMS will initialize and respond to inform the course that communication has been established. An object model has been created in memory and the properties have been initialized to default values.
Intermediary Course Communication
Once the course has been launched and initialized with the LMS, the interaction between the two is determined by the course. It will use LMSGetValue and LMSSetValue API message calls to retrieve or populate data in the object model. Bear in mind that the object model exists in memory and has not been sent to the Learning Management System.
When the course needs to write the data so it exists in the database, it will send the API message LMSCommit. The LMSCommit will be received by the Learning Management System and the data stored to the LMS. The course developer will determine when an LMSCommit is required and it will be sent to the LMS when the event is activated. This could be at the end of each lesson or it could be at the end of the course.
The LMSCommit is an optional message and does not require a response from the Learning Management System.
Finalization
When the course is completed, it will send an LMSFinish API message to the LMS. This may be triggered by an event in the course that activates the LMSFinish or it may be on the Unload event of the HTML page when the user closes the browser. The LMSFinish indicates to the LMS that the user has ended the course and any further communication between the two will be rejected. The LMSFinish also initiates the Learning Management System to store any data that has been populated in the object model and complete the unloading of the course.
The key difference between the LMSCommit and LMSFinish API message calls is that the latter will prevent further communication with the course.
The LMSFinish is a mandatory message and does not require a response from the LMS.
Learning Management System Considerations
When the LMSFinish is received by the LMS, there are several scenarios that may need to be taken into account. Some of these may be the product of errors in course development but are scenarios that have been experienced in interfacing with a SCORM compliant course:
1. The SCORM course may indicate the student has failed a lesson but the score passed from the SCO may be greater than the lesson passing grade that was installed from the manifest.
2. The SCORM course may indicate a lesson status for the user and pass the score of the lesson but there has been no passing grade defined for the lesson.
3. It would be advantageous for the Learning Management System to provide API message logging so that a communication history may be recreated for debugging or historical purposes. Consideration should be given to the following:
a. Method of storage, whether it is stored in a database or out to a file.
b. Is logging on all the time or is there a switch to turn logging on or off? (There will be some overhead when logging is switched on, as opposed to being off.)
c. If logging is to file, is there a log file for each course, each user, or one large SCORM log file?
d. How is log data purged? When logging is stored in the database, how often is the table purged? Can the data be deleted or does it need to be archived? If logging is to a file, does the file build in size until it is manually renewed or does the logging mechanism have a trigger that automatically generates a new file? (If the file is left to grow too big, it becomes very impractical to open it in a text editor.)
Conclusions
SCORM has a proven track record in the web based e-learning world and is the accepted standard in the industry. Reputable LMS vendors should support your SCORM course out of the box. The SCORM 2004 version has added much more control and sequencing at a more granular level than SCORM v1.2 however those differences are significant enough to cause the user base to be slower in adopting the SCORM 2004 version.
How To Rent Out A Holiday Home
by: David Stuttard
How To Rent Out A Holiday Home
The important steps involved are described in this article; if the advice given is taken and you do the necessary work (some effort is necessary for what is, after all, a major investment), there will be no problems and you will maximise your marketing potential. However - and this cannot be emphasised too strongly - if you are lazy and think that good renters are going to rush to book your beautiful villa while you sit waiting for the phone to ring, you will be left with an expensive, empty investment.
The property obviously needs to meet local health and safety regulations, to be clean, well-maintained and furnished/decorated to a standard that fits what you expect to receive in rent (simple and neutral respectively is normally appropriate). It should not be cluttered by lots of personalised artifacts, such as family photos and all kitchen/bathroom utensils, etc, should be out of sight. If when guests first arrive they are welcomed by a basket of essentials (tea, coffee, milk, rolls, butter and mineral water, etc) and fresh flowers they are more likely to relax and come again next year. You should also make sure there is an up-to-date and complete file of useful local information for each new visitor.
You need to decide what dates you want to rent it out to holidaymakers and then what are the seasonally-based rental prices you should set to attract renters - based on researching prices asked for similar properties in similar locations.
Positive consideration of how the property will be maintained is necessary - if you are there, this can be controlled by yourself (covering such things as meeting guests to hand over and collect keys and formally agree the condition/contents of the property before and after and listing who to call on when the air conditioning or plumbing fails), otherwise you need an agent or a reliable person (make it a business, not an informal, arrangement) to take care of these things.
It should go without saying that you need to find out about legal and tax issues in the country where your property is located and, indeed, with your own country's taxes associated with overseas rental income. This means consulting the appropriate departments or professionals.
Then possibly the most challenging job is that of advertising. There are many ways to do this, such as in newspapers, magazines, local agents, your own website, through relatives and friends and of course via reccommendation. None of these ways are likely to generate enough bookings to make it worth your while. They would cost you a lot of time and money to control and the option of having your own website is a non-starter, because it will cost you from £500 to £1500 for a designer and your website will not be found by searchers.
On the other hand, there are many well-organised holiday rental search type websites, that have other properties on their books and that attract many visitors via the search engines (importantly, they have already made the investments needed to develop a website and promote it using various search engine optimisation, ie SEO, techniques). Some of these websites offer free advertising, some are free to advertise but take a percentage of any rentals and some simply ask for an annual fee, which varies widely but is usually proportional to how big they are. Many in each category charge extras, eg for highlighting an advert or for entering advert details. It is suggested that the free ones do not offer a very professional service, in which properties are presented too simply in advert-bound and cluttered pages. It is further suggested that the very big ones are expensive and are simply overwhelming for searchers (with thousands of options that can quickly lose a visitor).
The best option is undoubtedly to use any and all professional-looking websites with a nominal annual fee, eg £30, noting that some offer a free period (which should be grabbed with both hands!). Some work is necessary to enter details and upload photos, etc; but that's all part of the work needed to promote your property rental. Some websites do that work for you for a price, if you already have your own website to extract details from or you provide them details in some other way.
One website that you must use is http://www.solapartments.co.uk, who are free up to 1/1/2010 (then £29.99/year). Importantly, this is a very professional website that is uncluttered and provides a clean, full-featured property advert page with 16 photos in a distinctive Flash gallery, an interactive map, an availability calendar and direct owner contact details. It also features a wide variety of travel aids via seperate menu selections (not mixed up with property search and property advert pages!). They do not make you pay extra for anything, even if they have to enter your details for you.
On the website(s) you enter your property details, it makes sense to 'sell' your property in the most effective way you can imagine, to attract bookings in what is a very competitive market - good, clear photos of every room, every outside feature and interesting local attractions such as the beach or golf course; a pricing structure; complete and grammatically-correct details of the property and its surrounding areas, including all facilities (air conditioning, TV, broadband internet, kitchen appliances, etc) in the property; what there is to do in the area (horse-riding, sailing, sightseing - you name it).
You can outline terms and conditions in your advert, but you should have a rental agreement already prepared, so that this can be emailed to a renter. The agreement needs to clearly define the deposit required and when it is due, when the balance is due (before they arrive), what the refund and cancellation policy is, what additional costs there are such as for cleaning after they leave, if smoking or pets are allowed and how the condition of the property will be established before and after the rental (to decide if any damages or losses need to be paid for out of the deposit).
Most importantly, when you receive an enquiry you should respond promptly and in a professional and friendly manner (they won't wait more than 1 day - they're anxious to plan their holiday somewhere now not next week and they will be keen to establish a rapport with the owner - they need to feel they can trust you when they send you a deposit) and be prepared to be flexible and helpful with such things as the price, times of arrival and departure, minimum stays, help with airport transfers, etc - just make sure you get that booking!
The property obviously needs to meet local health and safety regulations, to be clean, well-maintained and furnished/decorated to a standard that fits what you expect to receive in rent (simple and neutral respectively is normally appropriate). It should not be cluttered by lots of personalised artifacts, such as family photos and all kitchen/bathroom utensils, etc, should be out of sight. If when guests first arrive they are welcomed by a basket of essentials (tea, coffee, milk, rolls, butter and mineral water, etc) and fresh flowers they are more likely to relax and come again next year. You should also make sure there is an up-to-date and complete file of useful local information for each new visitor.
You need to decide what dates you want to rent it out to holidaymakers and then what are the seasonally-based rental prices you should set to attract renters - based on researching prices asked for similar properties in similar locations.
Positive consideration of how the property will be maintained is necessary - if you are there, this can be controlled by yourself (covering such things as meeting guests to hand over and collect keys and formally agree the condition/contents of the property before and after and listing who to call on when the air conditioning or plumbing fails), otherwise you need an agent or a reliable person (make it a business, not an informal, arrangement) to take care of these things.
It should go without saying that you need to find out about legal and tax issues in the country where your property is located and, indeed, with your own country's taxes associated with overseas rental income. This means consulting the appropriate departments or professionals.
Then possibly the most challenging job is that of advertising. There are many ways to do this, such as in newspapers, magazines, local agents, your own website, through relatives and friends and of course via reccommendation. None of these ways are likely to generate enough bookings to make it worth your while. They would cost you a lot of time and money to control and the option of having your own website is a non-starter, because it will cost you from £500 to £1500 for a designer and your website will not be found by searchers.
On the other hand, there are many well-organised holiday rental search type websites, that have other properties on their books and that attract many visitors via the search engines (importantly, they have already made the investments needed to develop a website and promote it using various search engine optimisation, ie SEO, techniques). Some of these websites offer free advertising, some are free to advertise but take a percentage of any rentals and some simply ask for an annual fee, which varies widely but is usually proportional to how big they are. Many in each category charge extras, eg for highlighting an advert or for entering advert details. It is suggested that the free ones do not offer a very professional service, in which properties are presented too simply in advert-bound and cluttered pages. It is further suggested that the very big ones are expensive and are simply overwhelming for searchers (with thousands of options that can quickly lose a visitor).
The best option is undoubtedly to use any and all professional-looking websites with a nominal annual fee, eg £30, noting that some offer a free period (which should be grabbed with both hands!). Some work is necessary to enter details and upload photos, etc; but that's all part of the work needed to promote your property rental. Some websites do that work for you for a price, if you already have your own website to extract details from or you provide them details in some other way.
One website that you must use is http://www.solapartments.co.uk, who are free up to 1/1/2010 (then £29.99/year). Importantly, this is a very professional website that is uncluttered and provides a clean, full-featured property advert page with 16 photos in a distinctive Flash gallery, an interactive map, an availability calendar and direct owner contact details. It also features a wide variety of travel aids via seperate menu selections (not mixed up with property search and property advert pages!). They do not make you pay extra for anything, even if they have to enter your details for you.
On the website(s) you enter your property details, it makes sense to 'sell' your property in the most effective way you can imagine, to attract bookings in what is a very competitive market - good, clear photos of every room, every outside feature and interesting local attractions such as the beach or golf course; a pricing structure; complete and grammatically-correct details of the property and its surrounding areas, including all facilities (air conditioning, TV, broadband internet, kitchen appliances, etc) in the property; what there is to do in the area (horse-riding, sailing, sightseing - you name it).
You can outline terms and conditions in your advert, but you should have a rental agreement already prepared, so that this can be emailed to a renter. The agreement needs to clearly define the deposit required and when it is due, when the balance is due (before they arrive), what the refund and cancellation policy is, what additional costs there are such as for cleaning after they leave, if smoking or pets are allowed and how the condition of the property will be established before and after the rental (to decide if any damages or losses need to be paid for out of the deposit).
Most importantly, when you receive an enquiry you should respond promptly and in a professional and friendly manner (they won't wait more than 1 day - they're anxious to plan their holiday somewhere now not next week and they will be keen to establish a rapport with the owner - they need to feel they can trust you when they send you a deposit) and be prepared to be flexible and helpful with such things as the price, times of arrival and departure, minimum stays, help with airport transfers, etc - just make sure you get that booking!
The Golden Rule
by: Rick Walker
The Golden Rule
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you"
Mt 7:12 - NIV
We have all heard the Golden Rule but do we really understand it, particularly with regard to our daily interaction with others?
I have been reading the discussion of "The Golden Rule" as presented in Chapter 16 of Napoleon Hill's "Law of Success" and have had an epiphany! I always took the Golden Rule to suggest that you will receive the same (or similar) response from others in similar fashion to the way you treat them. Treat people nicely and people will treat you nicely (and who doesn't want to be treated nicely?). Treat people poorly and expect to be treated poorly.
Is this, however, what is meant by "Do unto others ..." and, more importantly, who does it REALLY benefit the most?
Day to Day Interactions
In our day-to-day lives, we all interact with people; family, friends, business associates and strangers. And, so much of our day is influenced upon the outcomes of those interactions or, more specifically, how we respond to those outcomes.
If we take the transit system or, as an even more emphatic example, an elevator to work, we are very familiar with the manner in which we stay isolated in our separate world, interacting as little as possible with those around us. We have our protective barriers erected against possible interaction. We read books or the newspaper, plug ourselves into our iPods or work on our lap-tops. No end to the ways in which we can communicate the fact that we don't want to ... well, communicate.
If we have an exchange with a taxi driver, vendor or just bump into someone in the street, depending on the nature of both their response and our own, such an incident can set a "mood" for an entire day, if we let it. Some days, simply getting up "on the wrong side of the bed" in the morning can spoil a day, if we let it.
These are, I suggest, examples of how we might "manifest what we visualize into our lives", examples of how "attraction" and "magnetism" colours our interactions with people, how the "Law of Attraction" works when dealing with "mankind". Our mind set, our disposition dictates how we treat the world and, in return, how the world treats us.
"Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it, then, with a continuous series of such thoughts ..."
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Classic Examples
As an extreme example, let's consider the character Scrooge in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". The story begins by defining Scrooge's character as "... a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" ... before he meets Jacob Marley and the three ghosts. As Scrooge moves through every aspect of every day, his interactions with one and all are confrontational and distasteful. He is an entirely unsavoury character with whom to associate and overpowers everyone he encounters with his self-, or more accurately, money-centred consciousness. There are some exceptions, the most notable being his nephew who exudes Christmas cheer despite his uncle's ugly disposition. Scrooge exemplifies the definitive bad attitude toward his fellow man. It is very enlightening that his disposition is a direct result of his money centred consciousness.
He treats everyone he encounters with the character resulting from his money centred consciousness, every human interaction is based on an extreme "cost benefits analysis". In return, he receives cautious, timid, thoroughly cowed responses from his employees, disbelief and disappointment from businessmen (seeking charitable donations) and contempt from his business peers when informed of his death (Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come).
At the other extreme, let us look at another Christmas classic - "It's A Wonderful Life". George Bailey goes through his life (as reviewed for Clarence, his guardian angel) always giving of himself for his family, friends and "Building and Loan" clients, even going so far as to extend loans to his clients immediately after his wedding in response to a desperate financial crisis. He is presented, in many instances, as resenting his circumstances (but, tellingly, not resenting those he has helped). These responses are consistent with the core beliefs of his character. When life presents him with his own desperate, individual crisis, his family, friends and even strangers all come willingly, even eagerly, forward in order to provide the necessary assistance, far in excess of his actual requirements.
"A man reaps what he sows ... Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up"
Gal. 6:7 and 9
Admittedly, these are carefully constructed plots for story purposes, however, they do portray contrasting examples of the human experience and, more specifically, they exemplify "The Golden Rule". Both characters get back responses from their fellow man consistent with the core beliefs of their characters which dictate the nature of their interaction with their fellow man.
Where Scrooge presents a miserly disposition to those whom he encounters, he receives a similarly negative response in return. In contrast, where George Bailey exemplifies a generous and caring disposition in his daily life, he is offered respect, admiration and, when desperately needed, generosity in return. This generosity, as I stated above, was far in excess of his actual needs.
So, when we go about our lives on a day-to-day basis, what is the nature of the character we exemplify toward others; our family, friends, business associates and the strangers we meet. If we typically offer the world an unfriendly disposition, should we not expect, over time, to develop an unfriendly character? On the other hand, if we make active attempts to greet those whom we encounter in a friendly manner, should we not expect to develop a friendly disposition in our character?
"Manifest the Change You Desire in the World"
To be clear, all I am proposing is a simple smile, and possibly a "Hello", to the people we meet in the course of our day. A little daily courtesy to the coffee vendor in the morning. Simply small acts of courtesy and kindness in your day. It has been said that smiles are contagious. Perhaps smiles are similar to love in that it might be very hard to give them away as they are always given back.
"... our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and ... these "magnets" attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts".
Napoleon Hill
If we are going about our day with a cheerful disposition, we should reasonably expect to get cheerful responses from those whom we know. We may not get a cheerful response from the strangers we meet, however, give some thought to how someone you didn't know, passing by with a smile, may have been a ray of sunlight in your day. Furthermore, it's hard to have a bad day if you are smiling.
Who Really Benefits?
In the scenarios presented above, all those involved in the proposed exchanges realize some emotional response out of the exchanges. However, I suggest that you are the greatest (or worst) beneficiary of the exchanges. I believe we reap what we sow. If we present a pleasant and outgoing (positive) demeanor to those we encounter in our day, we become pleasant and outgoing and develop a corresponding positive attitude.
If, on the other hand, we present a disagreeable, negative demeanor to the world, we will drive people away and develop a negative attitude to the world over time (to match our negative demeanor - negative response feedback loop).
To take this argument further, in order to develop the character traits we desire in ourselves, we need to be actively exemplifying them in our daily lives. If these character traits are foreign to us, then we need to initially act" them out in order to eventually possess them. I believe this is what Napoleon Hill suggests in "Think and Grow Rich" and "Law of Sucess".
If we walk around, day-in and day-out, with a frown on our faces, how long until we develop a frown on our heart (if you will permit the metaphor)). Conversely, if we pass our day with a smile on our faces, acknowledging and relishing the good things we encounter every day, how long until we develop that same smile in our heart.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"
Gal. 5:22
At the very least, begin and end your days with a smile and good word for the members of your family. A smile from your wife or husband as you head off to work and smiles from your children goes a long way to easing the stress and tension in a day.
We reap what we sow. With these words in mind, I suggest we go out and sow a cheerful day. Doing so will place a cheerful disposition on ours souls and, over time, we will reap cheerfulness from those we meet.
"A man passes for what he is worth. What he is engraves itself on his face, on his form, on his fortunes, in letters of light which all men may read but himself. ... ".
Emerson.
Mt 7:12 - NIV
We have all heard the Golden Rule but do we really understand it, particularly with regard to our daily interaction with others?
I have been reading the discussion of "The Golden Rule" as presented in Chapter 16 of Napoleon Hill's "Law of Success" and have had an epiphany! I always took the Golden Rule to suggest that you will receive the same (or similar) response from others in similar fashion to the way you treat them. Treat people nicely and people will treat you nicely (and who doesn't want to be treated nicely?). Treat people poorly and expect to be treated poorly.
Is this, however, what is meant by "Do unto others ..." and, more importantly, who does it REALLY benefit the most?
Day to Day Interactions
In our day-to-day lives, we all interact with people; family, friends, business associates and strangers. And, so much of our day is influenced upon the outcomes of those interactions or, more specifically, how we respond to those outcomes.
If we take the transit system or, as an even more emphatic example, an elevator to work, we are very familiar with the manner in which we stay isolated in our separate world, interacting as little as possible with those around us. We have our protective barriers erected against possible interaction. We read books or the newspaper, plug ourselves into our iPods or work on our lap-tops. No end to the ways in which we can communicate the fact that we don't want to ... well, communicate.
If we have an exchange with a taxi driver, vendor or just bump into someone in the street, depending on the nature of both their response and our own, such an incident can set a "mood" for an entire day, if we let it. Some days, simply getting up "on the wrong side of the bed" in the morning can spoil a day, if we let it.
These are, I suggest, examples of how we might "manifest what we visualize into our lives", examples of how "attraction" and "magnetism" colours our interactions with people, how the "Law of Attraction" works when dealing with "mankind". Our mind set, our disposition dictates how we treat the world and, in return, how the world treats us.
"Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it, then, with a continuous series of such thoughts ..."
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Classic Examples
As an extreme example, let's consider the character Scrooge in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". The story begins by defining Scrooge's character as "... a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" ... before he meets Jacob Marley and the three ghosts. As Scrooge moves through every aspect of every day, his interactions with one and all are confrontational and distasteful. He is an entirely unsavoury character with whom to associate and overpowers everyone he encounters with his self-, or more accurately, money-centred consciousness. There are some exceptions, the most notable being his nephew who exudes Christmas cheer despite his uncle's ugly disposition. Scrooge exemplifies the definitive bad attitude toward his fellow man. It is very enlightening that his disposition is a direct result of his money centred consciousness.
He treats everyone he encounters with the character resulting from his money centred consciousness, every human interaction is based on an extreme "cost benefits analysis". In return, he receives cautious, timid, thoroughly cowed responses from his employees, disbelief and disappointment from businessmen (seeking charitable donations) and contempt from his business peers when informed of his death (Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come).
At the other extreme, let us look at another Christmas classic - "It's A Wonderful Life". George Bailey goes through his life (as reviewed for Clarence, his guardian angel) always giving of himself for his family, friends and "Building and Loan" clients, even going so far as to extend loans to his clients immediately after his wedding in response to a desperate financial crisis. He is presented, in many instances, as resenting his circumstances (but, tellingly, not resenting those he has helped). These responses are consistent with the core beliefs of his character. When life presents him with his own desperate, individual crisis, his family, friends and even strangers all come willingly, even eagerly, forward in order to provide the necessary assistance, far in excess of his actual requirements.
"A man reaps what he sows ... Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up"
Gal. 6:7 and 9
Admittedly, these are carefully constructed plots for story purposes, however, they do portray contrasting examples of the human experience and, more specifically, they exemplify "The Golden Rule". Both characters get back responses from their fellow man consistent with the core beliefs of their characters which dictate the nature of their interaction with their fellow man.
Where Scrooge presents a miserly disposition to those whom he encounters, he receives a similarly negative response in return. In contrast, where George Bailey exemplifies a generous and caring disposition in his daily life, he is offered respect, admiration and, when desperately needed, generosity in return. This generosity, as I stated above, was far in excess of his actual needs.
So, when we go about our lives on a day-to-day basis, what is the nature of the character we exemplify toward others; our family, friends, business associates and the strangers we meet. If we typically offer the world an unfriendly disposition, should we not expect, over time, to develop an unfriendly character? On the other hand, if we make active attempts to greet those whom we encounter in a friendly manner, should we not expect to develop a friendly disposition in our character?
"Manifest the Change You Desire in the World"
To be clear, all I am proposing is a simple smile, and possibly a "Hello", to the people we meet in the course of our day. A little daily courtesy to the coffee vendor in the morning. Simply small acts of courtesy and kindness in your day. It has been said that smiles are contagious. Perhaps smiles are similar to love in that it might be very hard to give them away as they are always given back.
"... our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and ... these "magnets" attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts".
Napoleon Hill
If we are going about our day with a cheerful disposition, we should reasonably expect to get cheerful responses from those whom we know. We may not get a cheerful response from the strangers we meet, however, give some thought to how someone you didn't know, passing by with a smile, may have been a ray of sunlight in your day. Furthermore, it's hard to have a bad day if you are smiling.
Who Really Benefits?
In the scenarios presented above, all those involved in the proposed exchanges realize some emotional response out of the exchanges. However, I suggest that you are the greatest (or worst) beneficiary of the exchanges. I believe we reap what we sow. If we present a pleasant and outgoing (positive) demeanor to those we encounter in our day, we become pleasant and outgoing and develop a corresponding positive attitude.
If, on the other hand, we present a disagreeable, negative demeanor to the world, we will drive people away and develop a negative attitude to the world over time (to match our negative demeanor - negative response feedback loop).
To take this argument further, in order to develop the character traits we desire in ourselves, we need to be actively exemplifying them in our daily lives. If these character traits are foreign to us, then we need to initially act" them out in order to eventually possess them. I believe this is what Napoleon Hill suggests in "Think and Grow Rich" and "Law of Sucess".
If we walk around, day-in and day-out, with a frown on our faces, how long until we develop a frown on our heart (if you will permit the metaphor)). Conversely, if we pass our day with a smile on our faces, acknowledging and relishing the good things we encounter every day, how long until we develop that same smile in our heart.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"
Gal. 5:22
At the very least, begin and end your days with a smile and good word for the members of your family. A smile from your wife or husband as you head off to work and smiles from your children goes a long way to easing the stress and tension in a day.
We reap what we sow. With these words in mind, I suggest we go out and sow a cheerful day. Doing so will place a cheerful disposition on ours souls and, over time, we will reap cheerfulness from those we meet.
"A man passes for what he is worth. What he is engraves itself on his face, on his form, on his fortunes, in letters of light which all men may read but himself. ... ".
Emerson.
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