Tag: tool

  • Video Marketing Mistakes That Every Marketer Should Avoid

    Video Marketing Mistakes That Every Marketer Should Avoid

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    In today’s digital era, a marketer should not underestimate the power of video, as it solidifies your presence over the internet or intranet. It’s no real surprise that it has now become the need of the time, without which your digital marketing strategy is incomplete. To hit the head like a pro, you need to get out of your comfort zone and jump on the bandwagon that gives you the results. Customers or visitors find videos more interesting and easier to communicate than the content itself. It clarifies and conveys the thoughts better than the written text. While indulging in the strategy, here are some mistakes that you need to avoid, have a look to know them.

    • Creating Never-Ending Videos: Just because videos have now become an integral part of digital marketing strategy, doesn’t mean you make it lengthy or never-ending. If you did so, it’ll only ruin your impression and break your images in front of the clients. Thus, you should keep in mind the duration of the video and try to make it as short, simple and knowledgeable, as possible.
    • Try Not To Push Sale: While creating a video for your company, you need to keep in mind the point that it is to attract people and advertise your products or services to them in a smarter way. If you are not doing so, it’ll break your impression and deliver the wrong results. Make sure the video you create convenience them to try out your products and services, rather than trying to foist it on them forcefully.
    • No Title And Description: Video makes it easier for a viewer to understand your offerings, similarly, title and descriptions help the Google to index it for better ranking. Thus, you should create SEO-friendly title and description that justify your video and make it easier for search engines to index it.
    • No Call-To-Action: Be it content or video content, a call-to-action phrase is very much important to attract the audience and, to increase the chances of conversion. If you are not adding it to your videos, so, it’ll zero your efforts of generating the leads.

    These are a few video marketing mistakes that being a marketer, you must avoid. To add a professional touch to your videos, you shouldn’t hesitate to take the assistance of the experts. Do remember, video marketing has the power to make or break your company’s impression and, you should use this tool ideally to make it work for your goals.

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    Source by Gunjan Singh

    Views: 1

  • Selecting the Character's Emotion

    Selecting the Character's Emotion

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    The last article covered the process used in selecting and portraying the character's objective. Many of the same principles also apply to the selection of the emotions. As with the objective, the ability to choose and convey strong emotions is a valuable tool for the actor. Many performances work mainly because of the powerful emotional portrayals.

    In a dramatic sense, what are emotions and how do they affect the audience? Emotions, together with intentions and obstacles, are the forces that move the characters through the story. They are feelings so powerful that they can change the character's life or destroy it. And by destroy, I mean decimate one's inner powers, beliefs, even one's life. For the actor, such feelings must be larger than life. They must also be readable to stir and lead the audience in the desired story direction.

    Emotions affect the audience in many ways. Most important is the empathy they create causing the audience to care about certain characters and follow their struggles. They likewise, create a for or against polarity for each main character as the audience observes, evaluates, judges, and even takes sides. As part of the behavior, emotions create deeper awareness of the character, often justifying their actions. In addition, emotions can change the audience perspective and the way they feel or think about a given issue. They are instrumental in leading the audience in the desired story direction

    Like the intention, the emotion can intensify the conflict within or between characters. It can likewise, establish sympathetic or antagonistic roles, ones that make the audience root for the hero and boo the villain.

    In choosing the emotion, the guidelines are similar to those used in selecting the objective. First read and study the entire play. Look for clues in the dialogue, the action, the stage directions, and in the resolution of the story. Select choices that result in the story line making sense.

    Like the intent of the character, the emotion is derived from the character's viewpoint, what the character knows and feels up to that point in the story.

    No one lives in a realistic world. We occupy a space of our own creation – bits and pieces of actuality mixed together with our internal perceptions, our hopes, our fears, our memories, and our anticipations. This "reality" we live in – half fact, half fantasy – is as much the product of our emotions as our rationality. Thus, in any given situation, what might be an acceptable intention and emotion for one character might be a contradiction for another character. Knowing the character's goals, flaws, and inclinations in context of the total story will aid in determining these choices.

    Next, we need to answer the question, does the character's emotion assist the intention or does the emotion create an obstacle? Placing the objective, what the character wants, in conflict with what he or she feels will likely shift the focus of the scene to the character with the greater internal struggle.

    Let's use the example where a man is at a dance and sees the women of his dreams sitting alone. His intention might be: To get to know her. But his emotion, fear of being rejected, would be in conflict with his intention. Thus the focus of the scene would be primarily on his internal struggle and the purpose of the scene might be to show the man overcoming his fear.

    But let's say her intention, to marry rich, is assisted by the emotion, ambition. And the scene resolves when the women walks away when she discovers the man is dirt poor. If his initial emotion of fear were replaced by desire and his intention remained to get to know her then the focus of the scene would center more on the relationship and the impending discovery. The purpose of the scene could be to introduce his major obstacle in the story, the women, along with his over all goal: To win her love.

    The initial choices for each character might look like this:

    MAN

    Objective: To get to know her

    Emotion: Fear / Desire

    WOMAN

    Objective: To marry rich

    Emotion: Ambition

    The above choices set up confrontations, the inner doubts of the man, and then, his desire for her is countered by the revelation that he's not rich enough for her. After the woman learns this, her emotion changes to contempt for the man and she walks away. The characters' choices would now change to:

    MAN

    Objective: To win her love

    Emotion: Determination

    WOMAN

    Objective: To marry rich

    Emotion: Contempt (for the man)

    These choices place the focus of the scene on the major conflict that is resolved later in the story when he wins her love. It, likewise, centers on what's important, the relationship.

    As with the intention of the characters, the emotion need not follow the logic of the dialogue and action. Modern plays and movies do not always express the thoughts and emotions of the characters clearly, nakedly, up front. Today, we have to play the duality of people; playing what they appear to want against what they really want. And sometimes the two may have no connection what so ever.

    In modern plays, every character has two behaviors. What is really going on and what they are willing to show to the world? So many emotions, to be played properly, need to be partially masked or repressed.

    Using the man and woman from our earlier example, let's set up a scene later in the story, one that demonstrates the duality of the characters and uses of partially masked or repressed emotions. At a shopping mall, they meet by chance and their dialogue is mainly small talk. The scene ends with each alluding to errands undone. The only hint about what is really going on is found in the following script action lines:

    He rarely looks directly at her.

    They shake hands, each holding on longer than necessary, and then each goes their way.

    In view of the story's final outcome, this is likely a scene where her objective, to marry rich, is weakening, and that she has some attraction for the man. Based on how their first meeting resolved, their selections might be as follows:

    MAN

    Objective: To not upset her / To win her love

    Emotion: Desire / Determination

    WOMAN

    Objective: To show him I don't care / To make him want me

    Emotion: Determination / Curiosity

    This would be a scene where the characters are not open with each other, yet the audience (or camera) is aware of the inner conflicts and what's really happening. The behavior could best be reflected through masked and / or repressed emotions.

    If the man were to play his emotion of desire openly, he would surely upset her. So he has to repress it or use a mask technique and unleash his desire when she is not looking at him. The woman is determined to show the man she doesn't care about him, but now he appears to have no desire for her. From her point of view, something has come to change the relationship and as a result, she alters both her objective and emotion.

    His apparent disinterest makes her curious and her objective in now: To make him want me, like all men do. Her actions might be to get his attention, to entice him. But the problem is, he's not looking at her. How can she obtain what she wants? She uses the lingering handshake.

    You can see where these choices create conflict both within and between the characters. They also create subtle shifts in behavior that move the story forward. Interest in the relationship is likewise increased because the audience is aware of something the characters are not. And as the scene ends, the audience has a pressing question: "What will happen the next time they meet?"

    The foregoing example demonstrates one answer to the character's choices. These are, by no means, the best or only selections. In fact, the type of actor you are is also a consideration. If you were Jack Nicholson, your emotions might be different than if Arnold Schwarzenegger were he playing the same role. Each actor brings to the scene his or her own perspective and emotional latitudes. Furthermore, a scene played as a comedy versus one being played as a drama might result in different sets of emotions for the characters.

    Here are some other factors that should be considered: Who are you in the story? What is the situation, and what is the relationship? For instance, if you were playing a love scene as a character that had little experience with the opposite sex, your emotion might be fear (fear of the unknown) rather than the expected desire or lust.

    Now change the situation to your having a good dinner with your loving spouse. Your emotion would change to maybe contentment or joy. Now change the relationship to your having dinner with an important client. Your emotion might range from apprehension to ambition to greed. Who you are, the relationships, and the situation, all have a bearing on the emotion selected.

    How many emotions can you use in a scene and how long do you play an emotion? As a general rule, work with only one dominant emotion in a scene – until something occurs to change it. These occurrences could be a change in the relationship, the situation, who you are, new information, overcoming obstacles, new obstacles, and succeeding or failing at one's intention. Any one of these events could have enough impact to motivate a change.

    Most scenes have one dominant emotion running through them and while the actor may use subtle shadings of other emotions, that one feeling prevails – until something occurs to change it. If the actor were to change the emotion at each minor occurrence, the audience would question the character's integrity and loyalty to the cause for which he is fighting.

    Too many changes cause the character to lose part of his identity. We become uncertain about who he is, what he's attempted in the past, or what he's after now. Credible characters are made up of consistent behavioral patterns. By that I mean, what has happened before will likely happen again should the same situation occur. There will, of course, be a few surprises, but for the most part, certain emotions will dominate each character's behavior as he or she progresses through the story.

    So when you research and study the entire play, you will likely find certain emotions and emotional patterns repeated to reinforce the identity and commitment of the character. For instance, the repeated pattern of mischief – embarrassment – fear might be the dominant emotions for a small overly rambunctious boy. A young executive struggling with business ethics might have an emotion pattern of ambition – determination – greed – guilt. A woman in jeopardy might follow a curiosity-suspicion – fear – terror progression.

    As you can see, certain emotions and their progressions make up a portion of the character. Also look for surprises where the emotion swings 180 degrees, ie, contentment to fear, desire to contempt, revenge to compassion.

    When working on a play or scene, write down in the margin of the script your choices in objectives and emotions, where the changes occur, and the motivation for making the change. Beginning actors tend to be non-committal while experienced actors, however, take dramatic risks and commit themselves to their choices. By writing them down, you've made a major step to that commitment.

    To aid in selecting the emotion, I've compiled discussions of root emotions , the primary forces in most scenes. These discussions explore the physical sensations, sources, forms, and dynamics of the most common root emotions. They will serve as a guide in stretching the clarity, strength, and polarity of your emotional repertoire.

    This article has covered the basic skills used in the selection of dramatic emotions. Use these skills as tools to nurture and release the character's true feelings, to foster the isolation and control of emotional behaviors, and to achieve the desired strength (story importance), clarity (audience knowing / feeling it) and polarity (protagonist-antagonist orientations ).

    Implementation of your selections is addressed in another article. This article will cover the various methods used to generate credible emotions.

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    Source by Erik Sean McGiven

    Views: 0

  • Health Anxiety and Solutions

    Health Anxiety and Solutions

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    It's always important to take care of oneself using all the principles of good health. Regular check-ups, proper nutrition and healthful living all enable one to keep on top of their health in a careful yet reasonable way. Often one becomes overly concerned with health issues and caught up in a cycle of health worries. One health issue is reconciled when another immediately pops up to take its place. These worries become all encompassing and exhausting after a while.

    Eventually, the individual realizes that this cycle of health anxieties has intruded upon the quality of their life. A dark cloud, always hovering over daily living, this intrusive form of anxiety has to be addressed. One begins by determining why this is occurring, what purpose does it serve and how to interrupt this behavior.

    Reason for Health Anxiety

    Health worries actually serve a purpose and this purpose is not difficult to detect if one looks deep enough into this pattern of behavior. Often this pattern involves the brain distracting from specific emotions which the individual finds difficult to address.

    Many emotions are so overwhelming, such as anger, grief or fear, that the brain looks for ways to distract. Health worries fit the bill because when one worries intensely about their health, there is little room to address an upsetting emotion.

    Health worries blanket every other thought and this WORKS. This is the perfect distraction from unsettling emotions. When one worry is reconciled, another takes it place to veil the unaddressed emotion. Each health worry has a strong purpose, as it masks the true upsetting emotion, which is much more difficult to face in the long run.

    Solution

    – Recognition and acknowledgment of the Health Anxiety habit, one worry quickly following another in a noticeable loop that never ends. Awareness of this cycle is always the first step to reconciliation of the issue.

    – Determining if this health worry is a true physical problem by visiting one's primary physician and ruling out a definite physical cause for the difficulty. Always rule out a physical cause before assuming it is merely health anxiety.

    – Noticing that these health worries settle down when you become intensely interested in another topic or swept into a new relationship, job or cause.

    – Identify your patterns. Do you experience twinges of symptoms that often jump from one area of ​​the body to another? Do you find yourself overestimating physical intrusions and instantly jump to the conclusion that they signify danger or warrant the attention of an alert?

    – Find interests that involve your entire being. Lose yourself in things that allow you little time for inward thinking. True illness does not surface through boredom as do these behaviors. True health problems do not generally follow the same time table as health anxieties do. Health worries are stronger during times of boredom and when one lacks interests. An intelligent mind requires challenges and goals.

    – Activity is an important therapeutic tool against health worries. Exercise and movement invigorate and stimulate the mind and body in a positive way. Endorphins are released and Serotonin levels are boosted naturally when activity is a part of a daily routine. Moderate walking, jogging, tennis, swimming and dancing are all helpful activities that bring forth positive results.

    – Nutrition is also essential to good health which in itself helps eliminate the strong habit of negative thinking, often concerning health worries. When eating properly, Serotonin levels are naturally boosted and blood sugar levels remain stable. This helps settle down an over-reactive mind, leading to a lessening in health anxieties.

    – Talk back to the brain by firmly telling it to stop when health worries enter the mind. Shift into a more positive mode of thinking because you always have a choice in what you think about.

    The mind will respond by quieting down as negative thoughts subside. The brain, caught red handed in this behavior is instantly embarrassed causing it to suspend this cycle of negative thought. This is comparative to a child being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Embarrassment at being caught, stops this intrusive behavior.

    – Be aware of "what if" thinking. If the majority of sentences you think begin with "what if" then this is proof of a strong health anxiety habit. Change "what if" thinking to "so what" and watch the cycle break.

    Most of all, understand that worry solves nothing. Health worries, in particular will only serve to exhaust and deplete both mind and body. Consciously make a concerted effort to change the way you think and you will succeed in changing your life. You will go from self victimization to freedom from the intrusive habit of fearful worry.

    You always have a choice. Life can be wonderful and fulfilling when you learn to alter your perspective and chose a more positive point of view. You always have a choice. Never define yourself by your habit of worried thinking. Do not be victimized by health anxiety and fear. With a few simple corrections, especially in thinking, you will find your life changes from being difficult and upsetting to becoming easier and much more fulfilling on a daily basis.

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    Source by Dr.

    Views: 0

  • Dealing With Customer Complaints – B.L.A.S.T

    Dealing With Customer Complaints – B.L.A.S.T

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    In a restaurant, not so far away, in the not so distant future, a telephone rings, a customer complains… and the battle begins!

    Handling customer complaints doesn’t have to always be a battle, with the right tools and responses you can use complaints to your advantage; to help you build your business. B.L.A.S.T is a great tool that is used by companies such as Yum! (Parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, A&W, and Long John Silvers). Training their employees in the basics of handling customer complaints. The acronym stands for:

    Believe

    Listen

    Apologize

    Satisfy

    Thank

    How does your company deal with customer complaints? The easiest way to find out is to pick up the phone and play the role of the complaining customer. What happened? If you were an irritated customer, would you return? Using the B.L.A.S.T guidelines, allows you to create a standardized method for dealing with your complainers and turning them into loyal customers.

    Believe

    This is the cornerstone of handling a customer complaint. Yes, the customer may be lying and be incorrect about their situation. It is important to understand that your customer believes that your establishment has wronged them.

    Listen

    Stop and listen to your customer’s complaint. I’m not certain whether it’s natural instinct or just plain stubbornness. As soon as a customer starts to complain, we start to think of how we will respond to the accusation before we are done listening, and too often the case, already have the response ready to fight back. Take a second, relax, and listen. On occasion a complaining customer will be rude, angry, and use vulgar language, stay the course and remain calm and level headed.

    When the customer is done venting; in a calm, non-judgmental tone, repeat their problem. An example I used in my KFC for a mispacked order:

    “What I hear you saying is that, you came in ordered and paid for 10 Pieces of chicken and when you got home, you only received 8, is that correct?”

    By repeating the problem at hand, you’ve demonstrated your ability to the customer that you heard and understood their problem.

    Listen and clarify. Never defend or justify. The customer doesn’t care if you were shorthanded or if you’re having a bad day, they only care that they get taken care of. No excuses, just solutions.

    Apologize

    Always apologize even if you did nothing wrong. From your customers’ perspective, they have a legitimate complaint, and they expect an apology. It could be as simple as “I’m sorry we’ve inconvenienced you.” or “I’m sorry I know how frustrating it is to buy dinner for my family, only not to have everything there when I get home” A sincere apology will usually diffuse a lot of frustration that the customer has. There is an exception to this rule though, if a customer calls with a critical complaint, such as food poisoning, don’t apologize, it may be construed as an acceptance of guilt, instead refer to your company’s procedures for such events.

    Satisfy

    Make it right. Ask the customer “What can I do to make this right for you”? Be the judge of what is fair of course, but allow them the opportunity to feel empowered over the situation. Many times they may ask for the problem be taken care of on their next visit or maybe that you talk to the person who made the mistake and correct them. We used a great system of sending out a personalized postcard apologizing for the mistake, it was a couple of handwritten sentences (yes, many times with spelling mistakes from my team members), but it was personal and always well received. We always gave them the unexpected as well, maybe a free dessert or an extra side dish just to show that we cared about them.

    Thank

    At the beginning, at the end, in the middle; it doesn’t matter, thank the customer for calling and complaining.

    Why? With the simple act of complaining, your customer is telling you “I care about your business and your success”. They are giving you the opportunity to fix the problem and invite them back so they can give you more of their money. Puts a different spin on it doesn’t it? Thank them for giving you that second chance, for letting you know that something in your restaurant didn’t work like it normally does, for giving you the chance to make it right, and for the opportunity not to damage your reputation!

    Reputation? I had to throw that one in. You work hard, day in day out, trying the best to make your business the best, and yet one unhappy customer can take it away from you. A happy customer will tell two or three friends about a good experience, but an unhappy customer will tell at least ten friends about their experience and it always multiplies through word of mouth. Case in point, when I moved cross country to my new hometown, I was at a Chamber of Commerce event and being the new person in the group, I introduced myself and what we did. No sooner than five minutes passed did I get a list of 10 restaurants in my area that in their opinion were in “need of my services”. Only one person gave me a good restaurant. I didn’t ask, I was told. To this day I still haven’t been to those restaurants as a customer, why do I want to give them my hard earned money, when they made my new friends unhappy? It may not be a rational thought, but it is human nature.

    Will some people take advantage of your kindness? Of course, a rule of thumb I used in my restaurant was:

    First time shame on me,

    Second time shame on me, but I’m watching you,

    Third time… Shame on you and I will make the decision on how I will deal with you as a customer.

    Keep track of who calls to complain, names, phone numbers for follow up, addresses for your postcards. Using a binder and tracking your complaints, you will be able to detect and deter those that would take advantage of your new complaint procedures.

    Adding B.L.A.S.T to your expanding toolbox of customer service tools will help you in dealing with customer complaints and turn them around so they can tell their friends what great service you have!

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    Source by Albert Barneto

    Views: 0

  • Premium Email Marketing Tools For Business

    Premium Email Marketing Tools For Business

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    Email marketing is one of the ways to boost your business. Social media has become a platform for promoting trade, and email marketing help in that. Email marketing can be used to improve your services and app. "Email marketing is using the specific tools to send your advertising emails to a group of people." Its one of the easiest ways to make money. Marketers can send a targeted message to the intended group. Data regarding customer needs, products are, and then emails are sent to the specific customers. By email, the business can promote their services, offers and what new they have to offer. Transactional email, Direct email, Mobile email are the ways by which email marketing is done.

    This is the cost-effective way, and it is cheaper as compared to others. Target customers are easy to reach within no time and as they are aware of the new things what business has to offer for them. Subscribers get the latest news and offer from the advertiser.

    INSIGHTS ON THE TOOLS

    There are various tools which help in marketing and making business an edge in the market.

    Let's take a view at some of them

    CAMPAIGN MONITOR is a template builder tool, and it assures that email can be read easily on mobile, so that customer or client miss no email. Like Google, Yahoo or any other email platform its uses the same interface so that the things don't get complex. You can upload HTML template and can format and edit when in need. Autoresponder can set only, and data segmentation ensures, that the email gets deliver only to the intended clients. Basic and Unlimited are the two packages which this tool offer.

    VERTICAL RESPONSE helps to connect email campaigns to social sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook. It helps to communicate with a large number of audience. With the help of email building wizard, you can build your advertising drive and by freeform HTML customize it to make your list for company. You can use only text no images, and other statistics are required. Up to 4,000 emails can be sent per month.

    BENCHMARK key feature is that it offers multiple templates for greetings, promotions and many other events. You can use HTML AND CSS to give it a personalized look. With the built-in spam filter, you can check for objectionable material in your templates. They even have a community where you can provide your views and design. Packages are there and start with 600 emails and increases further.

    CAMPAIGNER tool has a lot to offer. It has more than 500 templates which are categorized as industry types and need. Contact management tool is one of the efficient features which it provides, where you can import your contact from the list. Un-subscribed email is automatically removed. In a way, this tool simplifies everything and give more than marketing. You can give a try with the free 30-day trial offer.

    MIL CHIMP allows you to take surveys and send it to people to know the opinion of them. Use of survey techniques in social media makes the most out of your advertising techniques. You have the option to customize your list and know who has received the mail or not and will also come to understand that which campaign has received the maximum clicks. It offers the free subscription for 2000 subscribers.

    GET RESPONSE This tool lets you efficiently maintain your contact list. You can edit your contact list. This tool track and lets you know who have subscribed, unsubscribed and clicked on links. It also gives you a report in pie and chart form and informs you about the mail it got delivered or not. Different packages are offered depending on the need.

    LEAD PAGES helps you to create interactive landing pages for your sites where you have a choice to choose from 50 templates. They are in sync with best email providers. Business can make a mark within no time. Various packages are there for customers. Lead pages can efficiently transform your business quickly.

    MAD MIMI Saves your time; you can clone your previous ad campaigns and make the changes according to your need. Old drives can be used in a way and if delete you can undo it also. The detailing features provide you with the information about the number of emails opened, shared, and how many people clicked on the link. By integrating with Google Analytics, it provides the statistics and clicks targeting.

    CONSTANT CONTACT Offers you several templates and lets you customize your own. It gives you the detailed report regarding the links and emails. Share on social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn can boost your business and gives your site the heavy traffic.

    TOUT APP is the best regarding functionality and features. It has a large variety of templates to choose from. Integration with CRM gives you the details of every email, how they are proceeding. It provides the transparency, and produce reports on which emails have been clicked, deleted, attachment seen or not. In short, it gives the detailing of each activity going on. This helps you to track your business and changes can be made accordingly as it keeps you aware of every situation.

    Email marketing is one of the efficient marketing techniques to promote your services. Effective marketing can give you the higher sales for the business. In this competitive era, the company should be at the prominent methods to attract the audience and make a profit. Sending manual emails to a group of people is a complex task, and it is time-consuming. To save your time and get the desired result email marketing can help you to reach the heights. For any business to succeed the market should be analyzed considering the loss also. It's not necessary that by adopting email marketing, you will always get the positive result.

    By proper study and the knowledge of audience can make your business flourish in the market. So opt for this services and let your business boom in the market.

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    Source by Anjali Shukla

    Views: 0

  • 10 Proven Ways to Make Money With Your Own Blog

    10 Proven Ways to Make Money With Your Own Blog

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    A number of people own blogs but they do not know how to make money out of them. This is mainly because they do not realize how to create attention and attraction for prospective clients to fund their blogs. A well planned and managed blog can actually offer you freedom and control over your financial future. With an effective follow-up of promises of certain blogs and following ‘how-to’ manuals, you can actually smile all the way to the bank. On that note, in the following discussion, we are going to look at 10 proven ways to make money with your own blog.

    1. Google AdSense

    Google AdSense is a very significant tool that was designed with blog and website publishers in mind. Google AdSense works with Cost Per Click (CPC) and Earning Per Click (EPC). Blog publishers will basically get paid for clicks on Ads that appear on their sites. Anyone who has created, and maintains his blogs, can essentially take advantage of this fantastic opportunity. If you really know how to use the tool to your advantage, you can generate a great deal of revenue.

    2. Amazon Associates

    Amazon associates is majorly an affiliate system of a program primarily involving an agreement between the advertiser (you) and the retailer (Amazon). The advertiser markets the involved and he is paid by the retailer based on an agreement. More importantly, the amazon associate will get some commission when an interested buyer clicks on a given link online and makes a purchase. If you can manage to market as many products links as possible in your blog and sell some Amazon products then it’s possible that you can indeed make good money on your blog.

    3. eBooks

    eBooks are basically books that are in a soft copy format and can be downloaded on an internet connection. There are a number of ways through which eBooks can be created. You can employ writers, write them yourself or even use a public domain content. There are always numerous ready buyers to buy your eBooks, regardless of your area of concentration. With your blog, you can actually be selling your eBooks and get money or you can opt to sell the eBooks for other writers and they will pay at a commission.

    4. Sponsored Content

    Sponsored content is generally a native advertising method through which brand-sponsored videos and articles appear on social media platforms and sites of influence and also publishers. When you have sponsored content, there are usually a number of things you need to keep in mind as you market it. Firstly, do a perfect timing for your content, tie the content with your targets audience, use high-quality content such images to add value to the content and keep the tone relatable and authentic. You can always find brand-sponsored articles from big brands and advertise it on your blog and through that, you can indeed raise a significant amount of money.

    5. Contextual Ads

    This is essentially a form of targeted advertising that features adverts that appear on websites, such as the content displayed on mobile devices’ browsers. In a nutshell, in contextual ads, the system displays ads that are closely related to the content of your site depending on the keyword targeting. With contextual ads, you are normally paid per number of clicks. If you can get a significant number of contextual ads displaying on your blog then you can actually earn relatively good money depending on the number of clicks.

    6. Banner Ads

    This is an advertisement that appears on a webpage in the form of a column, bar or box. The major function of a banner ad is to promote a brand or, even more importantly get visitors from the host site to advertise on its advertiser’s website. The major function of a banner is to add traffic to your site and through that, you can seal your marketing deal. The more the traffic to your blog, the better. High traffic means high income.

    7. Online Courses

    When talking about an online course it’s essentially a method of selling what you know. It can be your skill, or any form of art, such as teaching people how to play guitar, how to bake bread or how to use a specific software. With your blog, you can sell your online course very easily. The course can be learned by many people across the globe increasing traffic to your website. Through this, you are able to make a lot of money on your blog.

    8. Promote Paid Webinar or Live Event

    Promotion of paid webinar basically refers to promoting a web conference, online meeting or a presentation that is held online. Live events are always advantageous to both the attendees and presenters. One consideration when it comes to promoting live events is the target audience. Through the promotion of webinar paid events, you generate traffic to your blog hence ending up being paid by your advertiser.

    9. Get Paid to Write Reviews

    A number of brands hire people to write reviews about them and their products. In addition to that, you always have to be honest in proving both the positive and negative reviews. Importantly, through other freelancing platforms, you can also get jobs of writing reviews for different brands. This can actually earn you good money if you are consistent in your work. All you need is to equip yourself with the proper tips.

    10. Consulting Service

    Consulting services basically refer to professional practices that offer expert advice within a particular field. There are many areas where you can specialize and offer advice in as much as your blog is concerned. Making money through consultancy services starts by first inventing your experience and skills. With your skill and experience, you can always earn money per project basis. Use your blog to advertise you’re services and you will earn good money through consultancy.

    Conclusion

    With the above-discussed ways, it’s undoubtedly obvious to see ways that will earn good money from your blog. All you need is to manage, maintain and, take advantage of various opportunities to generate money from your blog.

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    Source by Bob Tom

    Views: 0

  • Top 6 Ways to Get An Angry Customer To Back Down

    Top 6 Ways to Get An Angry Customer To Back Down

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    1. Apologize. An apology makes the angry customer feel heard and understood. It diffuses and anger and allows you to begin to re-establish trust. Not only that, but pilot studies have found that the mere act of apologizing has reduced lawsuits, settlement, and defense costs. You need to apologize to customers regardless of fault. Certainly, the apology needs to be carefully worded. Here’s an example of a sincere, yet careful apology:

    “Please accept my sincere and unreserved apology for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”

    2. Kill Them Softly With Diplomacy. This simple phrase has never failed me: “Clearly, we’ve upset you and I want you to know that getting to the bottom of this is just as important to me as it is to you.” When you say this, anger begins to dissipate. You’ve addressed the anger directly and non defensively and you haven’t been pulled into the drama of the attack.

    3. Go into Computer Mode. To use Computer Mode you take on the formalities of a computer. You speak generally, without emotion, and you don’t take the bait your angry or difficult customer is throwing you. Your words, tone, and attitude are completely impersonal and neutral – (Think of the automated response system you speak to when you call your wireless phone company or bank.)

    This “computer mode” response deflects, diffuses, and disarms angry customers because you don’t add fuel to the fire by giving your difficult customer what they want -an emotional reaction. When you don’t take the bait, the difficult customer is forced to stop dead in their tracks. And that means you regain control (and confidence).

    The Computer Mode Approach In Action

    Let’s say your customer says:

    “You don’t give a d*** about customers. Once you get a customer locked into a contract, the service aspect is over.”

    While it may be tempting to fuel the fire with an equally hostile response such as “What’s your problem, creep?”

    Don’t take the bait. If you do take the bait, the situation will only escalate and nothing productive or positive will result. A computer mode response might look like this:

    “I’m sure there are some people who think we don’t care about servicing customers.”

    “People get irritated when they don’t immediately get the help they need.”

    “It’s very annoying to experience a delay in service response.”

    “Nothing is more distressing than feeling like you’re being passed around when all you want is help.”

    And then you stop -like a locked up computer.

    No matter how uncomfortable the verbal abuse is or how ridiculous it becomes, continue to respond without emotion. This tactic works because it is neutral, doesn’t take the bait, and because it is unexpected. The difficult customer wants to throw you off, make you lose control, and to get you to respond emotionally. When you fail to do each of these things, you actually regain control.

    Go into “computer mode” the next time you’re faced with verbal abuse from an irate or unreasonable customer, and I promise you, you’ll quickly regain control —and you’ll have fun with the process.

    4. Give this question a shot: “Have I done something personally to upset you?… I’d like to be a part of the solution.” Of course, you know you haven’t done anything to upset the customer. You ask this question to force the angry customer to think about his behavior. Often, the mere asking of this question is enough to get the ballistic customer to begin to shift from the right brain to the left brain, where he can begin to listen and rationalize.

    5. Show empathy – Empathy can be a powerful tool used to disarm an angry customer and show that you genuinely care about the inconvenience the customer has experienced. Expressing empathy is also good for YOU, as it helps you truly begin to see the problem from the customer’s perspective/and this perspective will help keep you from losing your cool when your customer gets hot. By letting customers know that you understand why they are upset, you build a bridge of rapport between you and them.

    Here are some phrases that express empathy:

    o “That must have been very frustrating for you.”

    o “I realize the wait you encountered was an inconvenience.”

    o “If I were in your shoes, I’m sure I’d feel just as you do.”

    o “It must have been very frustrating for you have waited five days for your order and for that I am sorry.”

    6. And finally, here’s a tip that works like magic. …. Show appreciation for the difficult person’s feedback. After your difficult customer has ranted and raved, you can regain control of the conversation by interjecting—not interrupting, but interjecting to thank them for taking the time to give you feedback. You can say something like:

    Thanks for being so honest.

    Thanks for taking the time to let us know how you feel.

    We appreciate customers who let us know when things aren’t right.

    Thanks for caring so much.

    The reason this tip works so effectively is because the last thing your irate or unreasonable customer expects is for you to respond with kindness and gratitude. It’s a shock factor and many times you’ll find that your customer is stunned silent and this is exactly what you want. When the customer is stunned into silence, you get in the driver’s seat and steer the conversation in the direction you want it to go.

    When you do these things you’ll find that being on the receiving end of verbal abuse doesn’t have to be threatening or intimidating. You can come across as confident, composed and strong…and most importantly, you’ll regain control of the conversation.

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    Source by Myra Golden

    Views: 0

  • Successful Entrepreneurship – Cracking the Code

    Successful Entrepreneurship – Cracking the Code

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    We've heard stories of penniless immigrants who came to Canada with nothing but a dream, but within a single generation accumulate a lot of wealth. How do they do it?

    This is a mystery to the typical person who graduates with a post-secondary education and goes on to work in the labor force as an employee (ie, most people!). This is because our educational system specifically trains its students to become employees rather than entrepreneurs.

    So when we hear about these rags to riches stories, we ask ourselves – "how did they do it?" As someone who grew up in an entrepreneurial household, here is my take on Cracking the Code to Successful Entrepreneurship:

    1. In most cases, one will never become truly financially independent working as an employee. Whether you are an entry-level bookkeeper or the CEO of a large organization, you can be unexpectedly fired at a whim by whoever you report to. You are therefore susceptible to financial catastrophe.

    2. Therefore, the only way to achieve financial independence is to build and maintain a successful business.

    3. There is a "magic formula" that will allow to evaluate a businesses' odds of success:

    [( Sale price of product – Variable cost of product) x Units sold] – Fixed Overhead Costs = Profit

    This formula will be very familiar to accountants – it's called the Contribution Margin Ratio.

    Let's demonstrate this formula using a Bubble Tea business. Wonder why there are so many Bubble Tea shops in Toronto? Because they make a heck of a lot of money with little risk:

    Price per bubble tea drink – $ 4.00

    Cost to make per drink (water, powder, sugar) – $ 0.50

    Drink sales per month assuming 100 sold per day – 3,000

    Monthly rent for shop – $ 3,000

    · Assume no labor costs – in the early years, the owners will work the shop themselves

    · [($ 4.00 – $ 0.50) x 3,000] = $ 10,500 in sales

    · Profit after paying rent: $ 10,500 – $ 3,000 = $ 7,500

    Once you apply this formula to the multinational soft drink companies to analyze their beverage businesses, you can begin to understand why soft-drinks companies have grown from humble beginnings to global companies they are today.

    You can also use this formula to evaluate almost any small business you might be thinking of getting into: restaurant, nail salon, hair salon. You should quickly realize that it's best to choose businesses with a high profit margin (ie, high selling price for produce / service and low cost of supplying the product / service) and high customer traffic (ie, units sold, people serviced).

    Seeing the Future – Cash Flow Projection

    You want to know if you'll be making a profit before going any further. If you skip this step, your chances of failing increase significantly.

    Investigate your costs to start up and run your business. The most common are:

    · Rent – how much will it cost to rent at the location where you want to set up?

    · Wages and payroll tax – will you need employees or can your run the business yourself? How much do you need to pay yourself to meet your personal living costs?

    · Advertising costs – what types of advertising will you use – TV, radio, internet – and what is their cost versus their potential return on investment?

    · Cost of inventory or raw materials – will these be imported? If yes, you'll need to factor in the impact of exchange rates on your profitability.

    · Purchase of equipment – general office equipment like a phone system, computers and IT network, and furniture, as well as specialized equipment for your specific line of business like restaurant equipment (if you're opening up a restaurant).

    · Business liability insurance – to protect yourself from liability if someone is inadvertently harmed by your product or service, or if someone is injured on your premises.

    · Pricing – how much will you be able to sell your product or service so that's it's competitive with others in your line of business

    Once you've figured out your monthly costs (ie, your overhead) and pricing, you're now in the position to determine how many unit sales you need to make to breakeven – remember the Contribution Margin Ratio that we looked at. Use a spreadsheet to build a cash-flow projection model.

    Protecting Yourself – Creditor Proofing

    If things don't work out for your business you could be financially ruined. Therefore, consider the following techniques to protect your personal assets from your business creditors.

    1. Incorporate the business. This will provide you with a level of creditor protection – most of a corporation's obligations are limited to its assets so this structure can provide protection for personal assets. This structure also has income tax benefits, which will not be discussed here.

    2. Always pay statutory debt on time, specifically:

    · Payroll source deductions;

    · Federal and provincial sales tax collected; and

    · Employee wages and vacation payable.

    Corporate directors can be personally responsible for these debts, notwithstanding that the business is incorporated. In many incorporated small businesses, the shareholder (ie, the business owner) and director are the same person.

    3. If you can, avoid giving personal guarantees of your corporation's business obligations (eg, landlord, suppliers) unless it is absolutely necessary.

    You will need a financial expert on your team to deal with the issues raised in this article. Therefore, I would strongly advise that you contact a CPA who can help you further.

    For all you aspiring entrepreneurs out there, I hope that I've helped take out some of the "mystery" behind successful entrepreneurship. Use this tool wisely and never stop dreaming!

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    Source by Victor Fong

    Views: 0

  • MLM Success Stories and Facebook Pages

    MLM Success Stories and Facebook Pages

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    If you're not sharing your MLM success stories to your Facebook pages by now, you're missing out on lost opportunities. Your success can inspire prospects and help them take action. Facebook is another tool to connect with your prospects and help them learn more about you and your business. It is not the perfect tool, but one that should not be ignored by MLM businesses. While there is competition there, just like anywhere else, the effort and time you devote to your social pages can pay off in the long run.

    Sharing Your MLM Success Stories to Facebook

    Facebook pages is a great ground to share your MLM success stories. There are a couple of options to present them to your audience. One way is through text, graphics, images, audio and even video. You can use a combination to help reach further into the world of Facebook. Don't feel limited to one content format. Some people respond better to videos and some to graphics and text. A blend can help you achieve better results as you post your content. Watch for interaction from your audience and adjust your plan of action. If you feel like images and text are working better than videos, then switch to that format.

    A consistent schedule is important for social media, especially for pages on Facebook. Your MLM success stories should be posted on a regular schedule. This means figuring out how often you want to share your stories, what and in what format to share them in. If you're unsure on how to proceed, try once a week with no more than two stories. Now you just need to figure out the format. Once you get data back, you can make changes to the sharing plan.

    Linking from your MLM success stories to critical pages

    Your MLM success stories are bait to draw in prospects to your website. Make sure that you add the right link to each story. All of your content that you share should point back to your pages of one type or another. It's a free form of advertising. Many out there are not adding links and wonder why they lack traffic and success. Be careful not to add too many links either, use only one link per story that you're sharing. This will make it easier for your prospects and for you to track data from. You can change the links out later, if need be.

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    Source by David L. Feinstein

    Views: 0

  • Cost of Alcohol Abuse is Far Greater Than Drug Abuse in California, Says Study

    Cost of Alcohol Abuse is Far Greater Than Drug Abuse in California, Says Study

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    The misuse and abuse of alcohol and drugs can have various repercussions, not only on the individuals doing that and their families, but also on the society as a whole. One of its major consequences is financial burden. Besides causing health complications and raising concerns for public safety, alcohol and drugs cost the United States billions of dollars every year.

    Like the impact, the economic cost of these substances varies immensely from one place to another. In fact, the cost of alcohol misuse is relatively far greater than the cost of drug misuse in most counties in the U.S. Since studies related to economic and social costs of alcohol and drug abuse are generally conducted at the state and national levels, this allows policymakers to better assess the problems within their jurisdiction and come up with countermeasures.

    Similarly, a study, led by author Ted Miller and conducted at the Prevention Research Center of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, sought to find out the consequences of alcohol and drug misuse in California and was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (ACER).

    Alcohol abuse cost California $129 billion in 2010

    The study highlighted the eye-opening economic burden of alcohol and drug related problems on the Californian taxpayer’s money across all 58 counties and 50 midsized cities. It was found that alcohol-related problems are more prevalent and costlier than drug-related problems in California. Moreover, both costs and repercussions varied greatly from one place to another. Some other findings are as follows:

    • While alcohol-related problems cost $129 billion in 2010, which comes to $3,450 for every Californian, drug-related problems cost $44 billion in the same year.
    • The highest per capita cost ($7,819) of alcohol problem was more than three times the lowest per capita cost ($2,588). Among the counties with drug-related problems the per capita cost varied between $608 and $3,786.
    • The rates of alcohol and drug-related problems were found to be higher in the Californian cities. The highest per capita cost of alcohol-related problems in a city was $10,734, 11 times higher than the city with the lowest costs. Among the cities, the highest per capita cost of drug-related problems was $7,159, almost 19 times higher than the city with the lowest cost.

    Correspondingly, the breakup of alcohol and drug-related costs are as follows:

    • Crashes and accidents under the influence of alcohol cost $26 billion in 2010.
    • Of the $10 billion cost borne due to violence associated to substance use, 73 percent was attributed to alcohol, while the remaining 27 percent was attributed to drugs.
    • Of the $127 billion expenditure incurred due to other illnesses and injuries, 73 percent of the costs resulted from alcohol-related problems. Similarly, 82 percent of the $4 billion cost incurred due to nonviolent crimes were attributed to drug abuse.
    • 74 percent of $2 billion incurred due to treatment expenditure was attributed to drug-related problems.

    The study authors believe that the findings can assist policymakers and help the state in planning and allocating resources for substance abuse problems. In addition, this study provides a crucial tool for predicting and averting alcohol and drug-related problems, as well as a crucial means to plot localized cost estimates.

    According to Dr. Miller, “Efficient funding of substance abuse prevention, enforcement and treatment hinges upon understanding the variation of alcohol and other drug problems from place to place. Because estimated costs combine data across many health and social issues, they provide an effective, comprehensible, and comprehensive measure for use in understanding how communities shape their distinctive social environments and for monitoring the effectiveness of our intervention strategies.”

    Avoid the death trap

    In 2010, problems related to alcohol and drugs in California led to 22,281 and 5,533 deaths, respectively. In addition, crimes related to alcohol and drugs were responsible for 350,000 and 164,000 deaths, respectively. These large and unsettling numbers are pertaining to only one of the 50 U.S. states, signaling a far greater magnitude of the problem.

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    Source by Susan Navarez

    Views: 0