About communications that could harm your business

Any business expert will tell you that better communication means fewer delays, disappointed customers, and increased productivity. That means a better bottom line and far less headaches!

The inability to communicate has always been a challenge at companies, and advances in technology that allow communication 24 hours a day, seven days a week have not made it any easier. In some ways, technology has just given us more ways to miscommunicate!

It doesn't matter whether you are a Great Communicator or a person who struggles to put thoughts into words, you can better manage your company and productivity by being aware of critical communication issues.

Here are five tips to improve your business through better communication.

1. Be aware of other people's communication problems.

Be it a client or a coworker, be aware of certain challenges they may face in communication.

A dyslexic coworker may be able to keep up most of the time, but it will be more difficult for him to read at the end of the day when he is tired. Leave a voicemail after 3pm.

Customers don't know how to use a keyboard, so don't expect long emails from them. Call or meet him when you need important information.

2. Solve your internal communication problems.

Most companies have a myriad of challenges when it comes to communication.

Write a weekly email newsletter to keep your employees informed of changes or issues.

Ensure all employees have the mobile number of each staff member available at all times.

Requires regular reports from uncommunicative employees.

3. Make meetings productive with agendas and reports.

Be it an internal staff meeting or a client, keep it on the agenda.

Nothing is accomplished in a staff meeting without focus, and an agenda helps with that.

Make sure each agenda item has a short amount of time to cover new business.

After the meeting, write a report, or minutes, so that everyone agrees with the decisions made during your time together.

4. Get it in writing.

This is a basic principle of business, but we all forget it from time to time.

Don't let someone walk past you in the hall at work and ask you to do something - tell them to email you.

Have clients sign off on work by emailing or faxing their approval.

Put everything in writing and make sure that anyone affected by the actions in the document knows their role and they write it down too!

5. Do not rely too much on technology.

Who hasn't been the victim of a broken hard drive, a cell phone dropped in a coffee cup, a misplaced PDA, or a stolen laptop?

As great as technology is, backup systems are essential. Make sure you have yours!

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Tai Chi is one of the oldest styles of martial arts, and one of the hardest to find these days

Tai Chi is one of the oldest styles of martial arts, and one of the hardest to find these days. Just like other martial arts, such as Tiger Claw and Ninjutsu, it can be very hard to find a dojo that teaches the art. 

If you can find a dojo that teaches the art of Tai Chi, you really shouldn’t pass it up. It can teach you a lot about internal energy and your spiritual well being - learning more about yourself than you ever thought possible in the process.

Tai Chi is an ancient martial art, one that was practiced for centuries in China as an exercise, a martial art, and a way to improve the internal flow of energy in the body. 

It emphasis correct form and feeling with each and every movement, which is why it is always taught to be practiced in a slow and gentle fashion.

By involving the entire body with little to no impact, Tai Chi promotes strength, flexibility, and stamina. With the entire body being taught to move as a whole, Tai Chi cultivates the link among the mind and the body, helping to enhance one’s coordination and balance. 

It can also help with the joints as well, especially if an individual is very stiff in the joints.

Although it was developed to be a martial art, it involves very little striking, offensive, or even defense techniques. 

Tai Chi is a movement and breathing art that works all of the major muscles and joints in the body, helping to circulate internal energy, or chi. The Chinese believe that internal energy, or chi is what prevents or stops diseases.

When practicing the art, the body will remain very soft and relaxed, just like it was suspended from the top of the head with the joints being similar to that of a puppet. 

The mind of the student is focused on each movement, focusing on the flow of energy. By being relaxed and focused, you allow the energy to flow through your entire body.

Even though you are soft and relaxed, you are still constantly moving. The energy that flows through your body never stops, it keeps you moving. 

When you move in reality, it takes little to no energy to make a movement. By using your chi, everything you do seems as if it is weightless.

In combat, the Tai Chi student uses his opponent’s energy against him. The stylist is very relaxed, believing that the energy of the opponent can be used against him. 

There is little to no strength involved. When the opponent becomes weak and tires himself out - the stylist attacks. This way, there is very little energy left for defense or even attacking.

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Do Pop-Up Ads Still Work?

A few years ago, pop-up windows was the rage in Internet marketing. It seemed like every time you opened a web page you got bombarded with offers for this or that. It got to the point where surfing the Internet was almost like playing a video game, that is, for every pop-up you tried to close, one or two more would open. 

This is precisely why we have seen the decline in the use of pop-up windows on the Internet today. Surfers simply won't even look at the pop-ups anymore, as they're conditioned to close the pop-up before ever reading the ad. 

Very often, a surfer will even leave your site if there are too many pop-up ads. They simply do not want the hassle of closing those windows while trying to obtain the information that your site has to offer. 

This information, while valuable, is not as valuable as the surfer's time. Recent studies have shown however, that even with these set backs, pop-up windows are still an effective method of Internet marketing. 

Is there some way that pop-up windows can be less irritating and still be effective? Yes! What if the pop-ad was seen upon exiting your site instead of entering? 

This would allow the surfer to obtain the information needed from your site, thus feeling that they were able to come and go quickly without being hassled by other ads and offers all the while making the surfer happy. 

You have left the surfer with a positive attitude and therefore more likely to respond to the pop-advertisement. This is being accomplished more and more by using what is being called pop- under windows. 

When the surfer comes to your site, the ad is opened discretely behind your web page. Then, upon leaving your site, after obtaining all the information that they need, will see the ad and therefore be more likely to respond. 

Since the surfer has the information, he has achieved his objective and is now open to do other things; ideally respond to the pop-under advertisement. 

Not all pop-windows are created equally. There are some things that you can do to make your pop-windows, whether pop-up or pop- under, more effective. 

The pop-window should be easy to "escape" from. If the surfer does not want to see the ad, but has a hard time closing it out, they will likely become frustrated and may leave your site all together. 

You should either use a button that will allow the surfer to close the window or be sure that the "x" is easily visible. Another good idea is to use a script that utilizes cookies. 

Cookies will prevent pop-windows from overloading the surfer since you can decide the frequency of the pop-windows, rather than each time a page is opened. Also be sure that there is not more than one pop-window per page. 

When creating a pop-window, you will be asked to fill out a short information form, select the length of cookies, and choose the layout of the pop-window. 

When choosing the design of your pop- window, you can increase the effectiveness by creating a large headline that includes benefits that will be most appealing to the customer. 

You should also consider using incentives, and lastly, do not ask the customer to read a long and drawn out advertisement. Keep the message simple yet powerful and your pop- ads will be sure to generate profits for your site.

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Use common sense and research your options before diving in

The fact that nobody knows exactly how Google’s algorithm ranks web pages anf that the algorithm is constantly changing and improving (what works today might not work tomorrow)

In this article, I'd like to make a quick rundown of some of the most common things that come up all this time

1. Should I Build “Anchor Text” Links

Clearly exact match anchor text links do correlate with high rankings.

Exact match anchors still positively correlate with rankings, but less so than partial match anchors.

So the answer to this burning question: 

Yes, you should definitely be building anchor text rich links if you are able to do it in a white hat way.

2. Should  you monitor your backlinks to keep an eye on bad links coming your way? 

Absolutely! Especially if you have outsourced your link building to a company or a freelancer. 

The most common reason for getting your site penalized is a poor link building choice from an SEO agency

Should you file a disavow request once you see some bad links coming your way? 

No. Unless you got a sternly worded email from Google telling you that you need to, in which case, you should go and take care of that immediately.

But you do still need to remove them. That is what Google tells you to do:

“First and foremost, we recommend that you remove as many spammy or low-quality links from the web as possible. In most cases, Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most normal or typical sites will not need to use this tool.” Here are two simple ways to do that:

Reach out to the linking site: Simply send the site owner an email asking for the link to be removed. Save the email as a template so you can re-use it in the future to save time. 

404 the page: If you can’t get the site owner to remove the link you can just 404 the page the bad links are pointing to. If you do choose this option, then make sure to check if there were any quality sites which were also linking to the page and if so, ask them to update their link and point it to a replacement URL. 

3. Does Keyword Research Still Make Sense? 

It looks like Google is slowly but steadily making the “Build your site/page/business around these keywords” approach more and more obsolete.

Searchers intent, Personalization, Behavioral factors—all these things seem to be designed with the goal of stealing visitors from your perfectly optimized pages and sending them somewhere else. So should you still care about keyword research or just settle with the “build your site for humans, not the search engines” mantra?

I’d say you do both.

Keyword research will still give you a pretty accurate idea of what people are searching for and what kind of search volume you can expect if you rank high for that term.

But when creating your content around these keywords you should think much further than just putting 500 words on the page and using your target keyword in the title and headline.

These days “meeting searcher’s intent” is becoming a ranking factor that is almost as strong as having a keyword in the title of your page.

You may still have reasonable control of selected “short tail” keywords, but you have absolutely no control over dozens of longer tail keywords that this same page may rank for.

Providing stellar user experience is the only thing you can do here.

4. Should I Make My Website Mobile-Friendly?

Yes. This one is an absolute no-brainer. The exact same site will have two separate rankings for mobile and desktop, and Google has been pretty forthcoming about the fact that they give a lot of privilege to sites that are mobile-friendly.

Not only is adopting a mobile friendly approach better for your overall SEO, it’s also better for you as a business. This year we passed the tipping point where millions of people are using mobiles over desktops. This means going mobile isn’t just important, it’s essential.

5. Should I Hire an SEO or Try to Figure it on My Own? 

This is a tricky question to answer, because there are a lot of factors that come into play.

Website owners usually ask this question for two reasons:

They’re not sure if they will be able to figure it out on their own; 

They’re afraid of scammers, who will charge a lot of money for little to no result. Here’s my best suggestion for people who find themselves in this situation:

First of all, dig as deep as you can for yourself. A lot of SEO is nothing but common sense and if you’re using a popular CMS such as WordPress to run your website, you’ll discover that basic optimization is no rocket science.

Secondly, use your knowledge to hire someone who won’t scam you. Scammers prey on the SEO illiterate. However, if you know what a PBN is and that “full SEO audit of your site” may mean nothing more than the exported results of some crawl report tool – the chances to scam you are pretty much 0. Use common sense and research your options before diving in.

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Here Are Some Of The Prominent Mistakes Made By SEO Experts

The first thing one can do as an internet marketer is to avoid making mistakes. Here are some of the prominent mistakes made by SEO experts: 

1. Not optimizing images with rest of the content

Optimizing images is sometimes not part of the SEO strategy and can be over looked. Adding target keywords to images relevant to the rest of the content helps search engines understand them. 

A link to the image with just numbers and alphabets in odd positions does not convey anything but some relevant words and numbers would matter. 

One should incorporate descriptive keywords for every image. Including relevant alt text helps search engines to find images in relevant searches and even the accessibility of the site. 

2. Keyword stuffing Nowadays websites contain varied types of content in terms of text. 

One needs keywords for SEO and use of right keywords is important for getting the right audience. Optimize them carefully to gain popularity in search engines. 

But keyword stuffing will only ruin your website ranking since cramming a keyword multiple times makes content worthless. Only keywords do not get customers to a website. 

Also, Google algorithms will get the site blacklisted and also issue a bad ranking. Relying on large amounts of mediocre content can affect sites. 

Using specific keywords with strategic placement and relevant content is effective. Creating insightful info about a topic can can attract attention through different channels.

3. Not Setting Up Canonicalization

When implementing an SEO strategy, one should make sure that you do not have duplicate content on the site. 

If there is identical content for online access using different URLs, you need to identify the right page for visitors and implement a canonical to help search engines know that it is not a duplicate version. 

4. Disregarding Pages by Not Indexing Them

One should not forget indexing pages. Pages that are broken or missing are going to avoid search engine results altogether because pages indicating 404 error are excluded. 

A high number of 404s leads to an increase in bounce rate and visitors will feel cheated of any information. Search engines crawl websites and rank them and 404 pages interrupt their process. 

It is important not to have broken links on your site and keep the website active. 

5. No updates on site

After spending months to create an interactive and attractive website, one should try to keep it dynamic with consistent blog posts or some other content. 

Companies fail to optimize the site with keywords and just sit back to watch the traffic decrease. Let in some updates that will help your prospects with relevant information and they might convert to leads. 

One needs to make a schedule for posting different posts related to your field on a regular basis, and consistency will get you the attention of search engines too.

6. Neglecting social media

Neglecting social media is a crime in this day and age. Social media is no longer an optional marketing ploy but a necessity for businesses. 

By being conversant and relevant on popular social sites like Facebook and Twitter, one can enhance a company’s image and credibility. 

Sharing your content will lead the search engines and drive potential visitors to your site. Social media following can also boost brand awareness amongst loyalists. 

7. Lack of internal links

One might think that it is erroneous to link to one’s own content and even think that search engines might read into it and even blacklist the pages. 

Despite what you may think, internal links to website is great for SEO and helps search engines to crawl to your website. One should focus on the most important pages of any site and strategize posts to link back to those pages. 

One should find a real connection between pages to do the linking task. 

8. Failure to measure progress

Improving SEO is like losing weight. One needs to check and measure your progress on a consistant basis. 

One should know the current standing when you start, and then track the changes. With solid metrics in place, one will know that the SEO practices have been working or not. 

If you do not think that there has been any progress, then it is preferable to drop it.

Following “SEO Best Practices” can be difficult for online marketers. With search engines changing algorithms on a periodic basis, every SEO strategy needs to adapt and adjust with the latest techniques while giving up on age-old practices.

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Promote Your Home Business By Using Blog

One of the major pluses of blogs is that they often to get good search engine posititioning because of interlinking and their content. 

Search Engines understand that most blogs are updated on a regular basis. Blogs have brought in a new flavor to the media relations world since bloggers are often seen as opinion leaders in their particular field. 

Topic specific blogs have become a kind of "speaker's corner" for the internet due to their relevency. 

Area specific blogs can also be a very useful resource. 

You might want to set up a city or town based blog. 

Or a webblog that covers particular topics or news effecting a certain state or other geographical location. 

Blogs can also be a source of news for subjects not covered in the mainstream media. 

You could use blogs to promote your website directly or use the traffic to promote an affiliate program like Google adwords to set up another stream of income. 

A blog might contain any content you desire, such as an article, rambling or any irreverent post you can think of. 

It could also feature the latest product upgrades, website updates and other pertinent information. 

By using them to help promote your home business you are accessing an entirely new audience. 

Getting a blog rolling for you is not particularly hard. 

Blogger (owned by Google search) may be the best way. Tblog is also a free to use service, and paid ones include salon dot com and the blogging network. Tripod offers a free blog builder and hosting service too. 

It was one of the first such free services, yet may be inferior to some services in certain quality respects. 

You can also use software applications to to create a more customized blog for your website. 

Once you have your blog up and running, there are a number of superb resources that you can use to promote it. 

Blog-city is a blog search engine and directory, blogsearchengine.com, blogwise (paid) and bloghop dot com(paid). 

Using blogs effectively can certainly improve the internet marketing results for your home business! 

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Setting Your Max Cost Per Click

We've received many emails from customers over the past several years asking how high we recommend setting AdWords' max cost per click. 

Generally, we recommend that our customers set the price somewhere moderately high, between the "base" rate and the max rate suggested by Google. For this entry though, I've decided to discuss a few options that may help you decide where to set your max cost per click to get a maximum return.

What kind of competition do you have?

Before you start, you'll need to do a little experimenting with the keyword tool and traffic estimator to see how high you'll need to bid. If the price to get your ad listed number one, in my opinion, it's a no-brainer. 

Bid what you need to bid to make sure that you have that number one spot. It will bring you the most visibility and generate the most clicks for your ad. Generally, the higher the ad, the better "quality" your clicks will be as well.

If the cost is relatively low, don't even think about it. Set your ads to be number one and then, if you're working with a limited budget, set your daily max spending limit to a number that is comfortable for you. It's generally better to have fewer clicks of "higher quality" than lots of clicks from "lower quality" traffic.

What if your keywords are highly competitive?

Some keywords in AdWords or in Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) are incredibly expensive. Terms for gambling, web hosting, insurance, credit cards and many affiliate program related topics are very, very expensive. It's probably just not feasible for you to get the number one slot. If your budget is limited, you might get one to two clicks a day before the budget is gone. 

In these instances, you're going to need to pick a bid level that is comfortable for you and work on making your ads better. You aren't going to be able to get the top slot by bidding, so you'll need to increase your ad's click-through rate and make it more attractive to the viewers who do see it.

Experiment and decide

Ultimately, the decision is yours. I've found that it pays to have higher placed key words when possible. They seem to convert better than lower placed ads. You're going to have to experiment with your ads though to see what works best for you. Experiment for several days with different maximum click prices to see how your clicks and conversions rank. Only then can you make an educated decision for your website. (BuyItSellIt.com)

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Searching and finding what you are looking for is easy

Dearching and finding what you are looking for is easy if you are armed with the knowledge how to do it.

The best way to find information is through a virtual search engine.

Most search engines have advanced search options which can come in very handy if you are not skilled with operators when searching.

Search engines explore resources on the Internet and return results related to your query.

Search engines allow keyword searches and use crawlers to find sites or pages that match the query.

A simple query like "web hosting" on Google returns 15,100,000 results. Now how do users know which sites are useful to them, thus creating a kind of "Information Overload". How can users be sure of the quality of the information?

The thing about search engines is that they usually display all web pages that contain one or both of the words contained in the search query.

So the question arises: how do we find the information we are looking for?

There are various techniques you can use to make your search queries better which will then help you achieve more relevant results.

For example if you use the "+" operator and reorder your query to "web hosting" + Windows, it will only show sites that offer Windows hosting. You can also use the Boolean "AND" operator, depending on your convenience.

You can use the "-" and "web hosting" - Linux operator keys thus telling Google to make sure that it doesn't show Linux related hosts. This is the same as using the Boolean operator "NOT".

There are also keywords like ADJ, NEAR etc. which are used by some search engines. The NEAR operator looks for the keywords specified in the query within a certain distance from each other, ie ensures that the keywords "web" & "hosting" are on the same page and placed close to each other in the text.

The ADJ operator is a stricter filter and returns only pages that have contiguous keywords, ie it will only return pages where the keywords "web" and "hosting" are mentioned together.

Another technique to ensure you get better results is to use queries that make sense. Use the words you think will fit on the site you are looking for: "web hosting" is better than "I want web hosting".

Also note that search engines usually ignore certain words like "a '," for "," from "," in "," in ", etc.

Another important thing to remember is that most search engines have 'tips' pages that specifically contain information on how to perform better searches on search engines. It's always great to read these tips.

"The internet is an amazing place full of resources that can really help us"

However, finding information that is relevant to you is a challenge.

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Same Old Story

Stress - And stress, not necessarily "bad" stress, but rather certain external and internal stressors, factor into this health equation. So let's take a look at how to handle these stressors with regards to acne prevention. 

External Stressors

A goal of acne prevention would be to keep your skin pores clear from clogging and becoming infected and irritated, resulting in blemishes and inflammation. So you need to take a look at your external environment throughout the day for factors that could trigger skin pore clogging. 

Here are some examples of what to look for: grease, oils and sun, like being around open fryers in kitchen areas, or around machine oil and grease in workshops or factories, or out in the sun all day on a construction jobsite. Too much oil, grease or sun on the skin can clog pores and trigger acne and other skin irritations. 

Minimize contact by wearing long sleeves and other protective wear and gear and discussing further options with your dermatologist or healthcare provider. With regards to being out in the sun, note that a small amount of sun each day can be fine and healthy. 

However, extended periods can trigger the sebaceous glands to create more oil as your skin dries out. At the same time, the dried out skin needs to be cast off or shed at a faster rate than normal. The resulting extra oils and dead skin make a wonderful environment for pore clogging. 

So here, too, use protective clothing for outdoor activities and apply sunscreen; oil-free products are best for acne-prone people, and those with a minimum protection of SPF 15 and both UVA and UVB protection. 

Internal Stressors

Internal stressors like anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, depression and a variety of other internalized emotions, can trigger chemical reactions inside your body that can result in acne flare-ups and other skin irritations. 

What happens is that these emotions can set your adrenal glands to work creating more cortisol, the substance that in turn causes your sebaceous glands to produce increased amounts of sebum oil, excessive amounts of which can be blocked in pores. 

Same old story: extra oil + extra dead skin cells = blocked pores, triggering acne flare-ups. With internal stressors, though, the results are usually "inflamed papules" or small, solid inflammations (or skin elevations that do not contain pus), instead of whiteheads or blackheads. 

To combat internal stressors and prevent acne problems, here are some suggestions. Get plenty of rest and sleep a recommended average of eight hours per night. Try to maintain regular hours each day, regardless of which shift your work. 

Some say to focus on reducing SWAT: reduce your stress, worry, anxiety and tension, so journal a little each day mentioning any "SWAT" stressors you've felt. And focus on those that may seem overwhelming or to be taking too long to "end," seeking help from others or other resources as needed for stress management. 

Check with your dietician or healthcare provider to establish and follow a regular well-balanced dietary and exercise plan of action to keep your body healthy on the inside and outside. 

Keep a check list of "Things that Calm You" handy for stressful times, like reading a book, resting, listening to music, taking a walk, going out for an ice cream cone, etc.

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A website is essential to any business these days

New and small business owners can often be the most innovative and creative marketers there are. They don’t have the huge budgets of the corporate giants; they don’t have large teams of creative designers, advertising executives, brainstorming committees, PR agencies or even a tea person! However, enterprising cash-strapped individuals are constantly striving to invent novel and cheaper methods of marketing their businesses, often with varying degrees of success. 

What must be reiterated though is that marketing and advertising need not cost a fortune, but can still be very effective depending on how you approach it.

The big names and multinationals will have an extraordinary amount of funding set aside in which to convey their marketing message to the masses.

The process will involve an inordinate amount of people, multiple marketing agencies, countless ‘creativity’ meetings and thousands of work-hours. From television adverts to full pages in the newspapers and glossy magazines, brand names and logos jump out at us and are instantly recognisable - such is the power of advertising on an extremely large budget.

Easily missed then in this marketing free-for-all are the smaller or new businesses. After the usually costly process of setting up a business with its requisite equipment, possibly an office or other type of premises, there is usually little or no funds available for marketing or advertising.

From the first trading day of a new business enterprise, the going is tough. It is small wonder therefore that most new businesses do little or nothing about marketing because of what they see as prohibitive costs.

There are instances of course where new businesses have originated from someone’s hobby or part-time occupation; in these cases, the market is usually already there and forming a company was the next logical step, immediate marketing was obviously not required to generate the first customer.

There are many advertising agencies that say there is no need for small businesses to spend a fortune on marketing. This is totally true, but what money a small business does have to advertise should be spent wisely and not just thrown at an agency that might end up failing to deliver.

There are far cheaper and more effective ways to get a business on the map.

A website is essential to any business these days and will certainly be an asset. However, your site will be one amongst many millions of others and will not be of immediate use due to the nature of search engines and the way the Internet works in general; therefore you will need to look to other methods.

One of the most important things to bear in mind is not to run before you can walk.

Start small, start local. Unless you already have contracts from further afield, there is no point in casting nationwide for business when a vast amount is already likely to be on your doorstep.

Depending on what type of business you run, leaflets and flyers to other businesses or homes are a good way to get yourself known.

Always carry a business card with you they are invaluable, you never know when you are going to meet someone who wants printed contact details – hey presto! - Instant advertising. 

If you have access to a computer, join an online business forum. They are an excellent source of information help and advice from people in the same situation as you. Even those in the same line of business as yourself will usually be happy to offer their help – don’t be afraid to take it, you can always return the favour.

Contact your local Chamber of Commerce for practical sound advice on any aspect of business. They are there to help and are extremely knowledgeable and friendly people.

Business breakfast clubs are normally held once a week in most towns and cities and are another rich source of information and a great place to make contacts, again, don’t forget to take your business cards with you.

The methods I have mentioned are by no means the only ways to market on a budget and have no doubt been written about before, and although they take lots of effort and are very time-consuming, they do produce results.

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Today, Inuit art has gained international recognition as a valid form of contemporary fine art

When many people consider sculptures as home decor, the thought comes to ancient Roman or Greek mythological characters like Apollo, Venus or Zeus. Others think about abstract contemporary fine art sculptures that are sometimes difficult to interpret. 

Since there has been a trend in recent years towards a more natural look with more earthy color tones for interior decorating, Inuit art from the Canadian Arctic north can fit in nicely as part of home decor.

Most subjects used in Inuit art tend to be focused on the observations that the Inuit people (formerly referred to as Eskimos in Canada) make of their Arctic surroundings whether the pieces are soapstone sculptures or prints of drawings. 

We often see Inuit art depicting Arctic wildlife including polar bears, seals, whales and walruses as well as lifestyle scenes involving family or hunting. The Inuit have been carving stone sculptures for thousands of years but it was only introduced as fine art to the modern world on a significant scale during the 1950s. 

Today, Inuit art has gained international recognition as a valid form of contemporary fine art.

Colors of Inuit sculptures tend to be polished shades of blacks, grays, browns, greens and whites. Inuit artists also tend to utilize relatively neutral colors for their art prints which work well with all color ranges of today's more natural styles of interior decorating. 

Adding an Inuit sculpture on an end table, mantle or shelf gives a living room or office that gallery touch. An Inuit art print on the wall of a hallway or corridor also works the same way. Since the majority of people especially outside Canada have never seen Inuit art before, such artwork in a home will often end up as conversational pieces with guests.

There are Inuit stone sculptures to suit almost every price range and budget at about $100 to several thousand dollars for large, intricate pieces. Most can be purchased at galleries located in major Canadian cities but there are now a few galleries located in the USA and Europe that specialize in this form of art. Not surprisingly, the latest retail source of Inuit art is on the internet. 

This development is especially useful for those who are not located near an Inuit art gallery. Check out some examples of Inuit art either in a gallery or online and imagine how a piece or two can be part of your home's interior decorating.

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Your prospects will read about you and your company when the time is right

I'm sure you're all cool, interesting people, with fantastic skills, but trust me, that's not what you need to lead with on your Web site - or mailing or brochure.

Does your Web site talk about your company? Yes, I know, it's your company Web site! But the last thing it should talk about is your company.

* The bigger the corporate, the less likely they're even going to blink an eyelid *

There's a lot of truth in the picture of corporate person under siege. I probably don't have to tell you how difficult it is to get through to people in companies any more. But they're not just hiding behind voice and e-mail because they can. They're often just too busy to respond.

So the same applies to your mailshot or brochure, or when they visit your Web site. They don't have time to wade through reams of material that doesn't tell them how you can *ease their pain*. 

How you can solve their problem - or the one their boss has placed in their hands.

* Tell your readers something they need to hear *

Telling people 'we're the leading Megacorp Platinum Reseller in the South West', doesn't cut the mustard. 

Hit your prospects with what they need to know right away. What problem can you solve? How quickly? And - *if* it's relevant - how your product or service does it.

I was taught to think of most prospects as being like car buyers. They want the glamour and good feelings, but aren't interested in the gudgeon pins!

So you should be clear in your own mind how much you have to say to move the sale along. 

Later on, if they're really interested, they'll want to know about your company. So put corporate information near to last.

Your prospects will read about you and your company when the time is right.

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Here are 7 things you should know before hiring your injury lawyer...

1.  The sooner you hire your lawyer the better. 

Begin looking for your personal injury lawyer within a week or two after your accident. If you're not physically capable you should have a friend or loved-one start looking. The sooner you start building your case the better. 

2. Hire a personal injury lawyer that specializes in your specific type of injuries. 

Do your homework before signing the retainer agreement. Visit the firm's website and read up on it's history and each lawyer's biographical information. Ask the lawyer for some referrences and ask how much experience they have in handling cases with similar injuries. What settlement awards did they get in those cases? 

3. Have a face-to-face meeting with your prospective lawyer. 

Your personal injury lawyer is going to be your closest advisor during this difficult time. You must feel comfortable and trust your lawyer. The only way you'll get a feel for the lawyer is by having a sit-down to discuss your case. Any good personal injury lawyer will give you an initial consultation free of charge. 

4. Hire a lawyer that will take your case on a contingency fee basis. 

This means that your lawyer won't get paid unless you get paid. He will take his fee out of the money you receive for your injuries. You can expect your lawyer to take about 33% of your final settlement - that's after expenses are taken off the top. Make sure you clearly understand the payment structure before you sign the retainer agreement. 

5. Beware of ambulance chasers. 

The goal of these lawyers is to get lots of minor personal injury cases and settle them quickly - they make their profit from high turnover. So naturally they won't put as much time and effort into each case as they should. (If you're looking for a quick settlement be prepared to accept less than what your case is really worth.) 

6. Hire a lawyer with a good Martindale-Hubbell rating. 

This service evaluates lawyers in the U.S. and Canada based on peer review. Their website, Martindale.com has a helpful lawyer locator service and will explain the rating system. 

7. Always be completely open and honest when discussing your case with a lawyer. 

Tell the lawyer as much as you can about what happened. Try to remember every detail. Any documentation and pictures you have of your injuries and treatment will be a big help when evaluating your case. 

Bonus Tip: 

NEVER give a recorded statement to a representative from any insurance company until you've consulted a lawyer. When the rep. asks for one simply say, "I'm not prepared to give a statement at this time." A recorded statement can be used as evidence and if you're not prepared you might overlook important details. Anything you miss (or misrepresent) can be used against you in settlement negotiations and in the trial.

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Does Google now view search engine optimization as bad, as spam, as something you could get banned for?

No, SEO isn’t “search engine manipulation” that Google will ban you for - Does Google now view search engine optimization as bad, as spam, as something you could get banned for? 

Almost certainly not, but that’s the takeaway you could now get based on a legal fight between Google and a publisher that was banned from its search results.

The case involves e-ventures Worldwide, which had many of its sites banned by Google and is fighting in court for damages as a result. As we covered earlier, Google lost a battle to have the case dismissed, so the fight continues.

This week, an article in Entrepreneur highlighted an interesting part of Google’s legal arguments, that “search engine manipulation” is something the company fights against, might ban anyone for and, importantly, is defined about the way many people might define SEO.

Google: SEO is not spam

So, “Is Google Trying To Kill SEO,” as the headline of the Entrepreneur article asks? Almost certainly not, as I’ll explain. But let’s start with Google’s official statement that it gave Search Engine Land on this:

While we can’t comment on ongoing litigation, in general, Google supports and encourages SEO practices that are within our guidelines and don’t consider that spam.

Got it? SEO — commonly accepted best practices — isn’t spam. And anyone encountering the newfangled term of “search engine manipulation” should view that, in my opinion, as meaning spam, not SEO.

The “search engine manipulation” backstory

How did the concern over what “search engine manipulation” means come about this week? It’s from a key document in the lawsuit, a statement by Brandon Falls, the Google search quality analyst who took action against the e-ventures sites. This Wall Street Journal article about the case links to his declaration. In that, Falls introduces the term “search engine manipulation” for the first time in my knowledge by anyone within Google’s search team. It’s not a term that’s regularly used by Google when dealing with publishers. There’s not a single help document for publishers that mentions the phrase in Google’s webmaster support area.

From Falls’ declaration, the first reference to “search engine manipulation” is as follows:

An important part of providing valuable search results to users is Google’s protection of the integrity of its search results from those who seek to manipulate them for their own gain.

As noted, efforts to subvert or game the process by which search engines rank the relevance of websites are called “webspam” in the search industry.

Such search engine manipulation harms what is most valuable to users about search: the quality (i.e., relevance) of our search results for users.

Accordingly, Google considers search engine manipulation to be extremely serious and expends substantial resources to try to identify and eliminate it. These actions are critical to retain users’ trust in Google’s search results.

I’ve bolded the key parts. Google opens by saying it tries to protect its search results from those who “seek to manipulate them for their own gain.” The problem with this is that this statement not only applies to SEO best practices that Google itself encourages, but also to activities that violate Google’s guidelines, which it considers spam. Anyone doing commonly accepted SEO is doing so in hopes of manipulating the search results for their own gain. Google’s own guide to SEO acknowledges this in talking about using its advice as a publisher in order to have “a noticeable impact on your site’s user experience and performance in organic search results.”

In short, Google actively encourages and instructs publishers how to “manipulate” its search results, and publishers are inherently doing this for their own gain. SEO is manipulation, and the Google declaration suggests that any “search engine manipulation” to be a potential cause for action.

Why it’s obvious that “search engine manipulation” means spam

Sophisticated SEOs, of course, wouldn’t interpret the declaration’s statement in that way. Knowing that Google does things like publish a guide to SEO, produces videos on it, speaks on the topic and encourages SEO in many ways makes it blindingly obvious that Google doesn’t consider SEO within its guidelines to be bad.

Rather, I’d say most sophisticated SEOs would interpret this new “search engine manipulation” term to be synonymous with “web spam” or “spam” for short — activities that fall outside Google’s accepted guidelines for SEO.

Reading through the rest of the declaration, it becomes pretty clear that “search engine manipulation” is indeed being used as a synonym for spam and does not include accepted SEO. For example:

Google’s online Webmaster Guidelines include a discussion of “Quality Guidelines.” The Quality Guidelines enumerate numerous manipulation techniques that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

In that statement, Google is acknowledging that there are many search engine manipulation techniques, but only some violate its guidelines. In other words, not all manipulation is bad and an actionable offense. SEO manipulation, that which is done within its guidelines, should be okay. Outside the guidelines — that’s spam and potentially gets you in trouble.

Nevertheless, the opening statement in the declaration can be read as including even best practices SEO in “search engine manipulation.” It’s a pity Google wasn’t much clearer and didn’t stay with the commonly used industry terms out there. As a result, it’s possible for anyone to fearmonger or fear that doing accepted SEO might be a bannable offense.

In reality, anyone who stays within Google’s guidelines really should have nothing to fear, as Google’s own statement today says. In particular, it’s important to note that this declaration introducing “search engine manipulation” as a term was made back in November 2014. It was only just noticed now. If this was a first shot in Google’s coming war on accepted SEO, then for over two years now, that’s not actually had any impact.

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Books are magical apparitions

Books are magical apparitions - Since her idea of reality was only what fell into her immediate experience she was discounting the possibility of knowing anything outside it. Yet, unless she was willing to acknowledge the possibility of something outside her immediate circle of influence, how could she invite the actuality of the experience. Unless one has a hypothesis, experimentation is not an option. 

Here is another example. During a certain period of time, a friend of mine and I, while working and living in similar circumstances, developed a completely different view of reality. During this time, I read books on super-string theory, quantum mechanics, occult phenomena, and strategic thinking. My mind was exploding with the richness of the world that I had uncovered. She, on the other hand, preferred to live within the range of her limited experiences. My life took a quantum leap for the better, hers remained the same. 

Since my college days, I have consumed an average of three books a week. My view of the world since those days has expanded so enormously, and my experience of my life and of myself has grown so exponentially that I barely recognize the person I used to be. 

In my view, the development of the printing press and the genius of the global brain called the Internet, have been inventions of such massive importance that they have accelerated the development of consciousness to an unbelievable extent. 

In this century, we have experienced more awareness than at any other time in history. Never before have we, as a species, been aware of so much possibility, so much power, and so much diversity. Perhaps, somewhere along the line, there is a distinct possibility that we will even give up our brutality. 

Dr. David Hawkins, who uses a unique method to measure the expansion of consciousness using the non-linear dimension, has concluded that at the time of the Buddha, the average consciousness of all of mankind was around 80; during the time of Christ, it was around 100; and during the present day, it is around 200 to 210. To appreciate the enormity of this jump, you have to consider that he uses a logarithmic scale of 0 to 1000, with 1000 being the highest state of measurement on this planet, exemplified by the Christ Consciousness. A rise of well over a 100 points for our species is enormous considering a significant rise in consciousness is about 5 points in a single lifetime. 

In Vedantic literature, the highest values are considered to be Jnana and Bhakti. Jnana is knowledge of the absolute; it is recognizing the field of pure potentiality, the quantum soup, from which all manifested things arise. When this Jnana is reached, a state referred to as enlightenment, or satori, or connecting with the Christ Mind predominates; at this point true Bhakti, the unconditional love for all life, emerges. 

Thus the pursuit of knowledge, whether exoteric or esoteric, is of supreme value. Exoteric knowledge allows for a greater power in the world of matter. Esoteric knowledge allows for the next step in consciousness, living beyond conditioned thinking in the pristine quality of the moment. 

What I find fascinating is the idea that both exoteric knowledge, exemplified by science, and esoteric knowledge, exemplified by mysticism, appear to be reaching a common consensus about the nature of reality, the nature of ourselves, and the purpose of life. 

Since we cannot, due to the limitations of time-space, learn through direct experience, we must rely on vicarious experience. In a single book, a man's condensed knowledge can be transmitted to your brain. It took Albert Einstein many years to formulate the Special and the General Theory of Relativity, and behind his breakthrough was the research and the pondering of hundreds of the finest minds. Yet, in a week, given a 200 page book, I can grasp the essentials of what took so long to discover. This is nothing short of miraculous. 

Sometimes, I meet people whom I have not spoken to in years. I find that mentally they have as little understanding of themselves and the world around them as when I knew them before. They even have the same problems that they used to have. 

One does not have to be an intellectual to read a book; one merely has to be curious. And if our species were not curious, we would still be in the neolithic age. 

Books are magical apparitions. Time-bending messages. The wisdom of Socrates or Marcus Aurelius can inform my decisions today in the 21st century. And now with the advent of the Internet, knowledge will expand so rapidly that before the end of this century hover-cars and the scourge of horrific mental and physical maladies will be a thing of the past.

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