Thursday, February 26, 2009

De-Motivational Posters & Despair Merchandise - When Motivation isn't Quite Enough!

Ever gotten tired of all those inspirational posters and motivational quotes that are hanging about in your office or at home? Well, here are some posters that will possibly cheer you up. Take a look...





I came across Despair.com only recently and was totally amazed by their collection of demoralizing merchandise. The stuff they offer at their site ranges from posters, pessimist's mugs, bittersweet sweets, calendars, t-shirts and note cards. The quotes are great and you can't help but smile. The site is definitely worth a visit. I especially loved their t-shirt collection and the posters are excellent.

So, the next time you feel like sending a straight-forward message to your pal or just want to speak out your thoughts, order something from despair.com. Or just buy a couple of posters and stick em up at your office ;)

Monday, February 23, 2009

10 Simple Steps to Writing a Good Online Article

With the rapid growth of the e-market and the constant rise in competition online, article writing has become one of the fastest growing and the most effective ways of promoting your business worldwide. It’s not just free but also highly efficient. Persuasive article writing can help boost your business sales and offer you quality traffic in a short span of time.

Text that is readable and easily understood attracts not just the readers but also search engines. That is why it is so important that you state your message clearly in the article and follow a step-by-step procedure.
  1. Follow a Steady Approach – write a proper introduction, body and conclusion for your article.
  2. Be Precise – lay things out clearly and outline your article in points.
  3. Grab Attention - write tag lines and catchy phrases to grab the readers attention.
  4. Go Simple – follow a simple and easy content writing style which is understandable to everyone.
  5. Short and Sweet – cut down your article in short paragraphs as this will make it easier for the readers to follow.
  6. Give Relevant Info – offer accurate advice and give relevant information. This will help draw people to your article.
  7. Provide Concrete Examples – give real life instances and hypothetical examples.
  8. Emphasize Benefits – mention benefits and features of your products and services.
  9. Summarize – at the end of the article summarize what you initially started out to state.
  10. Submit to Ezines – submit your articles to ezines. This will help bring quality traffic to your website.
There are now hundreds of sites that promote article writing online and are also absolutely free. Persuasive article writing can help you advertise your services and products free of charge. Most websites that promote article writing offer a resource box which is great for promoting your business. Experts in this field have been able to help bring quality revenue and profits to their businesses and have gained quality back links for their websites. This helps in increasing your PR online and improves your website credibility.

Persuasive article writing has also helped many businesses and companies gain targeted traffic and gain significant value in the e-market. By following a simple approach you can not only make article writing fun but also attract potential customers to your websites.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Landing Page Love - The Success Factors

It makes sense when you are designing your web pages from the usability point of view. Especially if you are ambitious about getting quality traffic on your website and as a result want to turn visitors into potential customers. This is where the Landing Pages come in.

Successful landing pages are able to communicate to customers in a matter of micro seconds only. The clarity of the design and content is the foundation of a powerful landing page. Visitors are able to understand and make sense of what's being said as soon as the arrive on the web page. This is something I like to call 'Landing Page Love'. It's where a visitor gets and stays impressed with your landing page from the moment s/he arrives at it, because you were able to successfully communicate your objectives to him/her. Hence the visitor falls in 'Love' with your 'Landing Page' and generates call to action as a result. Making him/her self as well as you happy... creating reciprocity... the essence of true love (well at least when it comes to the give and take philosophy) ;)

Here's how you can Communicate Instant "Landing Page Love" with Your Visitors:

>> Create Interest: Keeping the reader interested is crucial to a successful web page and for creating instant "Landing Page Love". You don't score a customer unless you can keep him/her interested in your page for over 10 seconds. And for doing that your landing page must be designed such that your objectives/services are effeciently communicated.

>> Link it: If you are able to create interest in your landing page visitors, then the next thing s/he will do is try and find links leading to further information. The quicker your visitor is able to find relevant links, the easier you make it for him to explore your services further and follow through. Make sure that relevant links are place effectively on your landing page but don't complicate things up. Remember to keep it simple and relevant when linking. Because when it
comes to customers, don't forget... "If you confuse em, you lose em!"

>> On-Page Optimization: Increase your page ranking, attract links and get noticed by the search engines. Optimizing the landing page for the search engines on competitive keywords offers significant benefits. You get noticed by the search engines, appear in top results and become capable of attracting more traffic... and yes this means more business!

>> Smart Blogging: You might wonder how this might be related to your landing page at all, let alone your website. But it is. Since search engines favor web pages containing relevant and frequently updated content, it's only a wise move to integrate a blog with your website. Active blogging will not only give you the chance to participate in the social media scene but will also build up your websites' general authority. Not just that but once your blog starts doing well, it can also act like a landing page for your website. With all the relevant links available on it along with interesting content, there is no way that it won't attract traffic straight away!

>> Bookmarks: Bookmarks can help you enjoy viral marketing to the fullest. If your content is powerful and scores with the visitors, then you just might get bookmarked by them and as a result gain more traffic for your website. Adding up various bookmarks (like Delicious, Stumble Upon etc) on your landing page is a clever move as it can help you in the long run.

Landing Page Love - Doing it Just Right!
As long as you keep it simple and play your cards right, there is no reason that you will go overboard when creating a "Landing Page" which both the visitors and the search engines will "Love". Keep the basic factors in view... Offer valid content, relevant link resources and periodic cross-references that will meet the need of your target audience... and get ready to feel the Laaaaaaaave! :D

Thursday, February 12, 2009

10 Most Creative Valentine's Day Gift Ideas -- Expressing Your Love Differently!

Who doesn't want to wow their beloved and show them how much they care. And with Valentines day just around the corner, so many of us would still be searching for 'that perfect gift' or a way to simply say 'I love you'.

Given below are a couple of creative gift ideas that will put a smile on your beloved face for sure. So read on and get ready to express your love this Valentines with the most creative of gifts! ...

1. Lollipop Bouquet:
Of course chocolates and flower bouquets are the most typical of the gifts that one expects to receive on a Valentine, but how about a sweet surprise? Ever thought of saying 'I Love You' a little more creatively with a Lollipop Bouquet? If not, then try it this time ;)

Get a couple of the yummiest, biggest and the most colorful of lollipops, gather them together in a form of a bouquet, tie a big red bow down the middle and present it to your sweetheart... bet it'll be a sweet surprise :D

2. Bake a Cupcake:
Oh yes! This one is guaranteed to put a smile on your sweetheart's face and say I Love You in so many ways. Bake 1 chocolate cupcake yourself and decorate it to give it to your beloved. It's one of the sweetest gifts, especially because you would've taken out time to make that special something for your darling. Trust me, this one can work wonders ;)

3. 'I Love You' Balloon Bouquet:
Send your special someone a 'I Love You' balloon bouquet to say how much s/he means to you.

4. Make a Card:
You don't have to be an artist to pull off this one. Go online, search for a couple of ideas and of course, don't forget to be creative. And this one can't turn out badly, even if you think that it will. Because nothing can say I love you more that spending that little extra time and putting all that hard work into making something for your dearest. This one will be cherished!

5. Small Gift Basket:
Get a small wicker basket and fill it with small sweet things that remind you of your sweetheart, like a little teddy bear, chocolates, candies or anything sweetly different, wrap it up in plastic, finish it off with a bow and present it. A sure winner ;)

6. Candy Jar:
Fill up a transparent jar with colorful candies or heart shaped chocolates and simply tie a bow over it. And of course, don't forget to hide a little 'I Love You' note somewhere in the candies, or you can paste one outside the jar. You don't have to write down something fancy, it can just be a simple line saying 'You are my sweetie-pie' or 'You’re irresistible'.

7. Graphical Love:
If you are a graphic designer or know how to create a graphical image, then get down to it! Create a unique image expressing your love (be creative) and email it to your darling. Or better yet get a huge Panaflex printout to send it over ;)

8. Say it with a Book:
Pick out a small book of quotes on love or something filled with love notes (there is a wide variety of books available in the market, online and off), wrap it up and send it away to speak to your beloved for you.

9. Love Mug:
Get an adorable mug and fill it up with chocolates, candies, a tiny stuffed toy... wrap it up, decorate it and give it away! :)
10. Wrap YOURSELF Up(The Ultimate Valentines Day Gift!):
Yes, YOU! What better gift to give to your beloved than yourself. Tie a bow around yourself, turn up at the doorstep of your sweetheart and give them your undivided attention the whole day long. It's the cheapest gift... but the most worthwhile too :D

You can also mix up some or all of these gifts together to create another. So get cracking and this Valentines Day... get creative!

Monday, February 09, 2009

3 Simple Steps to a K.I.S.S - The Golden Rules


It comes as no surprise that while writing for the web you will feel compelled every now and then to create a dozen of long sentences (expressing your creative genius of course). However that will be one of the worst things you can possibly do.

The best writing strategy to employ when writing for the web is to Keep It Short and Simple. Short because it makes an easy read and simple so that your audience is able to understand you better. The key here is a Language that is Simple, Sentences that are Short and a Content that is Clearly Organized into Sections.

Here's How to Plant a Perfect K.I.S.S ;)

1. Use Simple English >> Common words, layman language and familiar everyday lingo is the best to employ when aiming to improve communication between your webpages and the reader. This makes the content easy to read as well as understand. Try and avoid high-fi and flowery language. Why? Because not everyone around the globe has English as their first language and they might not understand your elaborate tone.

2. Work with Short Sentences >> Sentences under 20 words in length work well, all because they are easier to read and absorb. Long sentences tend to become complex and the reader will eventually become confused and lose interest. In case you have written down a very long sentence it will be best to break it up into smaller sentence. This way you won't repel your readers with confusion.

3. Be Clearly Organized >> Over 75% of your website/blog visitors don't read the entire content word by word. A majority of people will only scan your webpage, read it in bits and understand it in parts only while ignoring a significant amount of content. Being clear and organized is the key here. Create content for your webpage that is easily scannable. By applying bold formats, including numbered or bulleted text and adding an interesting picture or two you can make sure that the readers stay tuned in.

There you have it... 3 simple steps to writing readably attractive content. And although content policies have come a long way to becoming what they are today (hoping and helping millions of web pages attract readers and search engines alike), the K.I.S.S Strategy continues to remain the backbone to all good content. It ensures that the content remains simple and understandable while continuing to keep it worthy of reading.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

What Google Tool You Should NOT Worry About?

Google Page Rank. Quite simply don't worry about this one. It doesn't matter and probably never will!

Did you know that some of the best websites, with quality content, sitting at the top of Google results DON'T have a very BIG page rank? So quite frankly Google Page Rank doesn't really matter! And I just couldn't have put it more simply :)