Sunday, November 16, 2008

What Is a Blogging Tory?

The term Blogging Tory refers to any one of the many authors affiliated with the conservative Canadian community known as The Blogging Tories. Today, there are over a hundred and fifty text-based blogs associated with the group, and there are new Blogging Tories every day. The Tories stand as an inspiring example of a successful online community where the ever-increasing numbers of affiliated members enjoy a fertile environment for discussion and debate about the
ideas that shape the face of Canada.

The majority of Tory bloggers do make political events and topics the focus of their blogs, but not all of the content that a Blogging Tory creates and publishes is overtly related to the movements of the Canadian parliament or the prime minister. Although the community members were brought together by a shared conservative viewpoint, the fact that not all of the postings on all of the member’s blogs focus on political topics is one of the most exciting things about the Blogging Tories. On any given day, the main website’s blogroll may feature postings about Olympic medalists, a James Bond film festival in Quebec, or a comical personal experience with a telemarketer. The idea that having a political affiliation in common makes it possible to have a fruitful discussion about other kinds of topics has interesting implications for how online communities are established and how they grow.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Quickly Master The Techniques Of Reading Fast

Being able to learn to read fast is an ability that not many possess though everyone would like to possess such abilities. In fact, speed reading is highly regarded in just about every area of life and even though speed reading does not necessarily transform into greater intelligence, it can lead to greater knowledge and becoming better informed which is something that slow readers are not capable of attaining. You may test several different method to learn to read faster, but an alternative that is worth examining is utilizing a speed reading book.

Reading Faster

With the assistance of a speed reading book you are able to do a much more than read written matter faster, you can also learn how to absorb what you have read and then hold the information better. Point of fact, by employing a speed reading book it is conceivable to condition your mind to read faster and in addition train the mind to grasp new concepts much faster and thus enrich the brain as well as spend less time in reading text.

Speed reading books will also assist students who have to read a large amount of books on different topics. Since reading is a time consuming activity, learning to speed read will benefit students substantially by permitting them to pour through numerous subjects in the shortest possible time.

Additionaly, a speed reading book can assist you at your workplace. This is another area in life where reading plays a significant role in discharging responsibilities better. Looking for information will be easier and more immediate if one has disciplined themself to read with the help of a speed reading book and though computers can simplify things considerably in this regard, being able to discover information more immediate is a certain advantage at the workplace.

Perhaps the most direct way in which utilizing a book on speed reading will help you is when you pick up a novel and get through it in double time. Once you have perfected the art of speed reading, you will then be able to read a larger amount of books and so enrich your mind. In fact, you could complete a book in less than fraction of the time it takes a slower reader to finish the same book, and in addition, speed reading also helps when reading the daily newspaper as well as magazines.

If one had a good speed reading eye, life as far as reading would be considerably enriched and in this fast paced world that we live in today, being able to read inconceivable amounts of information in the shortest possible time definitely has its own advantages.

Instead of enrolling in a speed reading class, or correspondence courses, you should simply get hold of a good speed reading book and learn how to read faster, it will unquestionably benefit you in a number of significant ways.

Francis Hesse will help you find all you need to become a proficiant speed reader.

Friday, November 14, 2008

To Join a Blogging Site or Not to Join

Joining an established blogging site like live journal or blogger has plenty of advantages, especially for the blog novice. Sites that host a lot of different blogs often have very useful tutorials about building and updating your blog, and you are likely to encounter a very user-friendly software interface at an established blogging site. In addition, these sites provide a kind of instant community of fellow bloggers who can provide advice, insight, and feedback. These established sites often keep directories of their members, which can be great news for your traffic logs because it means that other bloggers on the site will find out about your pages.

However, there are also some downsides to linking up with a large blogging site. By posting within the established templates of a site like blogger, you run the risk of having your blog look and feel like everybody else’s. The blogging movement is very much about the creation of distinctive sites and the development of individual voices, so it makes plenty of sense that many bloggers would shy away from the cookie-cutter look and feel that these blogging sites often promote. Many bloggers feel that the content of a blog is what makes it distinctive, not the look of the blog, but many members
of the blogging community feel that the visual impact of a blog should match the originality of the writing.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Professional Keyword Research

Keyword research in undoubtedly one of the most important aspects to consider when setting up your own online home business.

If you don’t target your keyword phrases effectively then you will be wasting both time and effort, performing tasks that will never pay off no matter how hard you try.

Here are some points to consider when conducting your keyword research:

1. Consider which tools you are going to use and save them to a one of your favourites folders for easy and frequent access. There are even some tools out there that allow you to download a tool bar with all the tools readily available. There are numerous free tools, many of which are very useful. I personally, use a tool called Keyword Elite to conduct my online keyword research.

2. What keyphrases are you going to target? - If you have very few resources available and are new to online marketing then it is advisable that you target ‘long tail’ keyword phrases. These are keyword phrases with 3-5 words, which make them a lot less competitive and easier to attain top rankings in the search engines.

3. Use a variety of keyword phrases for each campaign - Are you using the keywords in your website content or are they primarily for backlinking text? I would find two or three less competitive keyword phrases for each target market and use these to create backlinks through article submissions. Then, take ten different variations of these keyword phrases and use them in your website content.

4. Target profitable keyword phrases - Obviously the main aim of keyword research is to find profitable keywords. How can we do that? One effective way to target buyers and also find less competitive search terms is to find keyword phrases that contain certain words like, ‘buy’ as in ‘buy keyword research tool’.

5. Find untapped markets - Many of your competitors will be targeting all the same keyword phrases. This is where they fall down. Find obscure phrases that your target are already searching for and go after these by specifically writing articles based on these to achieve better or top search engine rankings. One good way to do this is by scanning your current website visitors and finding the keyword terms that sent them to your site.

Keyword research is only a beginning in building a profitable online business but it is an aspect of your marketing that cannot be overlooked. Effective keyword research is essential to ensure your business becomes a huge success and not a dismal failure.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Benefits of Submitting Your Website to Search Engine Friendly Directories

If you are serious about getting your website exposed to as many people as possible, then you should consider submitting your website to search engine friendly directories. You might be asking yourself, “what are these directories anyways?” Well, let me explain.

Search engine friendly directories are human edited directories that contain many different categories and sub-categories, and within these categories are websites filled with content related to that category. The benefit of all this is that the search engines love these directories because they are real content that people actually benefit from. These directories do not accept spam sites that are just out there to get you to click on ads or buy their products. Therefore, the search engines love these directories and spider them daily and follow the links throughout the site and then go to the sites contained within those categories and spider them also and add them to their search engine index.

You may be telling yourself, well my website is already indexed, what is the point of submitting it to these directories? Well, it is more relevant content related links pointing to your site. The more related links you have pointing to your site, the higher a search engine will value your site and will help you move up in the rankings for that particular keyword you are focusing on in your site. You also get the benefit of receiving traffic from people visiting these directories browsing for certain themed websites. Lots of people go to search engine friendly directories instead of searching for sites in a search engine due to the fact that the majority are human edited directories and they know they will arrive at a quality site full of content and resources and will most likely find what they are looking for.

So now that you have a better idea on what these directories are and the benefits of them…how do you submit to these directories and how do you find these directories? Well, I am going to list a few ways to go about finding these directories for you:

1. dmoz.org - You want to definitely try to get listed in this directory. It may take a long time to get listed, but if you do it will be well worth it.

2. dir.yahoo.com - Another must submit to directory, make sure you submit your website to this one also.

3. You can search for search engine friendly directories by going to a search engine and typing in the following phrase: “search engine friendly directories” and hitting search. This will bring up a vast amount of results for you to go through. Some will be actual directories and some will be forums and pages talking about directories that are worth submitting to or not.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Writing The Perfect Book Report

Writing a book report sounds fairly simple till the time you are actually expected to do one at school by your teacher. The start is fairly simple read the book which needs to be reviewed. But after that what is one supposed to do? Confusion, bewilderment and inertia sets in and you start to wonder whether you will ever be able to accomplish this task which you set out to do. Rather than grounded yourself to a halt or raving in desperation at the impending deadline for your submission look for templates and examples.

Ask other people who have done book reports as to how they had proceeded after reading the book. You could ask your teacher or mentor, your parents or elder siblings or a friend. You could probably ask the librarian since she is sure to have done a book report at some time in her life.

There are numerous books which explain in detail about how book reports should be tackled and approached. One such book that you might want to refer to is How to write Terrific Book Reports by Elizabeth James. This Student Survival Guide explains what a book report is and the main definitions and descriptions required. It also includes lessons on how to choose a book for reviewing, how to use the library and also how to read the book and what to notice while doing so. It also provides sample book reports as a test case.

Another such book is How to Write Book Reports by Dawn B. Sova and Harry Teitelbaum. This book is similar to that by James but also includes the difference between reports and reviews and how to take notes for writing a book report.

Though the Internet is an excellent platform for all information, to write your report learn from the gurus and choose the site from which you judiciously. Only refer to sites which are likely to be genuine and effective. It is important to do so since there may be many sites which may be a sham and provide fake information. Some of the sites which you might find useful are TeensPoint.org, TeenInk.com (which has more than 600 book reviews), and NancyMatson.com (which along with reviews offers a recommended book of the month).

You may choose any or all of the sources to refer to for your book review but the fun is in writing your own report and verbalizing your options and perceptions rather than copying it from someone else.

Monday, November 10, 2008

How To Set Up a Strong Action Plan

In this article I will outline how to set up a strong action plan which will help you to achieve the goals you have set up.

To be able to set up an action plan we need a strong goal and, which is very important, a strong will to achieve it. Without a strong will it is impossible to reach any goal whatsoever. A lot of people set up goals and get very disappointed when they do not achieve them. Image a NHL team who has set up the goal to win Stanley Cup, but do not show up at the hockey arena for playing the games. Do you thing they will win Stanley Cup? Should not think so.

Unfortunately many people expect that they will increase their sales, build up their customer list, get better finances or succeed in something other without doing anything. They get disappointed in themselves or in others and give up their goal and vision before they actually have given it a shot.

The key to improving your results and to succeed is to create a strong action plan that is related to your goals and vision. Of course you must also stick to the plan and perform the necessary activities.

What should you start with?

1. Set a date when the goal shall be achieved (i.e. a deadline)
2. Find out what activities you need to carry out to achieve the goal
3. Break down the action plan from an overall level to detailed level. Start with what needs to happen during a year, then per month and per week.
4. For each weekly planning you shall now break down this to six daily activities you need to carry out to reach your goal
5. Execute the six daily activities before you do anything else each day
6. If you follow this formula you have created a lot of spare time for other things in life

Note that the activites you define in your action plan shall bring you closer to your goal. For example, do NOT set up an activity like Read Email, or Accounting, if they do not contribute directly to achieve you goal. All such administrative tasks should not be part of your action plan.

When breaking down the week into daily activities, it can look like this.

Monday
1. Call an existing customer
2. Call a potential customer (lead)
3. Make a sale to a customer
4. Call 10 cold calls
5. Work on personal development 30 minutes
6. Perform a presentation (e.g. at a seminar or to somebody)

Summarize your activities at the end of each day to make sure all of them are executed. If you do this the right way, you will create habits that are more efficient and successful.

Good Luck!
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