Super Ping

Spoiling even the best digital catalog is too easy, even with the best work ethic in the world, if you have bad online magazine software. When you’re determined to make an online publication the key next call is to pick out your software supplier. It’s not about merely formatting your creation nicely - indeed this decision is essential because it can mean success or failure for your entire venture. The essential part of the package is, naturally, intuitiveness of use. If you can’t run the software package it doesn’t make a difference how good it is hyped to be. Before choosing a provider for your electronic magazine, make certain to test it. With hacking and spamming being an online issue, protection should be another concern after you’ve made an online edition. Consider what protection is available for your ebrochure. Will the content be protected? What security steps are in place which prevents people from just copy-pasting the subject? You’ll also need to consider interactive collateral management to properly promote your flash magazine. Regardless of what plan you use you should think about how to deal with advertising. Selling this ezine will probably need search engine appropriate content. How about mixing paid and free content? You might think of offering multiple and single copy subscription options. Also, the nature of your content - is it monetized at all? Will you be providing teasers to sell this magazine? What’s the availability of the ezine? Will it be private - in which case you can investigate many hosting options or is it public? You should host directly with your provider. And what will you be doing about back-isues? Prior to it becoming a necessity you need to think about potentially critical situations. How is their technical support? Check out their FAQ page. Is there a “fix-it” list which you can actually follow? Do they publish any response time? How well-staffed is their tech-support line? Make no mistake: the importance of technical support can’t be over-estimated. You really don’t want to find out the hard way that they’re attempting to cut corners at your expense here!

Your skills are being tried - make your decision with the utmost care! Whether your publication performs well is totally dependent on your selection in provider.

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RESEARCH YOUR AUDIENCE It amazes me how some speakers will show up for a speaking engagement and really not know anything about the audience they are speaking to. Many speakers just get lazy and feel that their message is so important that anyone would want to hear it. They couldn’t be more wrong. Your core message may be about the same for everyone, but knowing your audience will allow you to slant the information so that the audience feels it was prepared just for them. They will relate much better to the information and think much more highly of you for creating something specifically for them. Of course, in many cases you were only slanting your information, but I won’t tell if you won’t.

PRACTICE The only way to look polished while speaking is to practice. This is one skill you cannot delegate to anyone else. It is you that is on stage with the microphone and it is you who will look either great or terrible. You are sadly mistaken and egotistical if you think the PowerPoint slides that either you or someone else created will make you a dynamic speaker. There are specific techniques used to practice that don’t take much time and make you look extremely polished. One of these techniques is called bits. You practice a short piece of material over and over again. You don’t practice it word for word, but just talk your way through it. This way you won’t blank out when a distraction happens while you are on stage.

TAKE CARE OF HECKLERS The following is my famous asterisk technique; I use it to make sure hecklers don’t interrupt my presentation. I get people in the group to identify potential troublemakers BEFORE I get to the event. I phone these people and interview them to give them the attention they are craving. I then mention their names during the speech. This virtually eliminates the chance they will give me a hard time because I am praising one of their opinions. This works really well but don’t mention their names exclusively or the rest of the audience that knows these people are trouble may think that you are just as bad. Mention a wide variety of people in the audience. Just make sure the bad ones are included which normally keeps them at bay.

USE EMOTIONAL LANGUAGE Boring old facts rarely move people to action. Learning to use words that evoke emotions in people will make a much greater impact when you speak. There are many emotions you can trigger in the audience just by your choice of words. Happiness, anger, sadness, nostalgia are just a few. Knowing your purpose for being in front of the group helps you to pick which emotions you want to tap. When your purpose is known, choosing words to get the desired emotional response is much easier. For instance, if you wanted to take someone back to a childhood experience you might say, “Do you remember when someone did something bad at school and the teacher smacked the yardstick on her desk?” The word Phrase “smacked the yardstick” would evoke an emotional response that many adults can relate to. A younger group may not relate to this phrase since corporal punishment has all but disappeared from schools. You must pick the words that would mean something to your audience.

REVEAL YOURSELF Often people have trouble implementing this idea because they like to remain aloof and private. This will hurt their chances of making a good connection with people in the audience. You certainly don’t have to reveal your deepest darkest secrets when on stage, but you certainly could tell someone how much you like horses, or how you love to cook . . .anything that will give them a glimpse into the real you will give you a better chance of connecting with them and getting them to listen to you.

USE PROPS A prop is worth a thousand words. People can really anchor a thought in their minds when it is connected to an object that relates to the point you are trying to make. You could use large, small, funny or serious props. Always relate the prop to the point you are trying to make and make sure the audience can see it. Sometimes you’ll want to hide the prop so people don’t wonder what it is until you are ready to present it.

USE HUMOR Even Shakespeare used humor in the middle of the tragedies he wrote. Humor is a powerful and effective tool that gives the audience’s mind a chance to breath in the face of heavy material. It also makes you more likable and fun to listen to. Humor is also much more likely to make your information more memorable. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian to use humor in speeches and presentations, and you don’t have to tell jokes either. There are many ways to add humor that don’t require any skill at all. You can show funny visuals, tell stories, or read from books or periodicals. Just like with props, make sue your humor relates to the point you are trying to make and you will be much more successful. Each issue of “Great Speaking” has about 20 pieces of humor you can use during speeches.

MOVE ‘EM TO ACTION If you are going to bother taking up people’s time to speak to them, don’t you think it would be a good idea to get them to do something positive because of your presentation? Even if they do something negative, it’s still better than doing nothing because they will at least get a chance to learn something from their mistake. Regardless of the size of your ego, the reality is that you are there for them, not the other way around. I’m all for you building up your reputation, but if you go into your speech thinking it’s all for you, it will show and you probably won’t do as well as you would have had you concentrated on the needs of the audience more.

BRING SOLUTIONS One of the best ways to make sure the audience loves you is to bring solutions to their problems. If you have done a thorough job of researching your audience, you already know what their problems are. It’s your job to bring ideas for them to try. In modern day thinking this is what motivational speaking is all about. No longer is it good enough to get people all fired up where they are bouncing off the walls without a clue as to what they will do with this new found excitement and motivation. Modern professional motivational speakers bring solutions and a plan of action to achieve them. Now those are motivating.

PAY ATTENTION TO LOGISTICS The best preparation, practice, and audience research could be ruined if you forget to pay attention to all the details surrounding a presentation. You want to know what is happening before you speak, and what is happening after you speak: How are the people seated? Are they at round tables where half of them are facing away from you, or are there no tables at all? What kind of microphone is appropriate? How big is the screen in the room? Will the people be drinking alcohol? What is the lighting like? All these items and many more affect the overall effectiveness of a presentation. The same exact words delivered with significantly different logistics could be received in entirely different ways. You could even go from a fantastic evaluation to a bomb just because of the way people are seated. It’s up to you to know the differences and how they affect a presentation.

Tom Antion has only used PowerPoint once in over 2500 paid speaking engagements. His techniques have helped thousands of presenters worldwide make their audiences say “Wow!” For your free mini-course, go to his website by following this link: www.powerpointstinks.com

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Writing valuable content-rich articles for your target market and submitting them to article directories and other publishers is one of the best ways to market your business, become known as an expert in your field, and add subscribers to your list.

For example, if you regularly write an article for your ezine, you can get a lot more mileage out of it if you submit it to article directories and other online publishing services. And making every piece you write work more than once for you is one way to work smarter and not harder. That’s called leverage.

There are several reasons why you want to do this. One is to get your name and your business out there so people will learn who you are and what you do, and it helps to position you as an expert. No more keeping yourself a secret and hiding behind your computer! Another reason is that your articles give people a taste of your style, what it is that you offer, and it gives them an opportunity to get to know you a bit without risking anything.

At the end of each article include a resource box so if people want to find out more about you and your business, they have that information at their fingertips. Once someone reads your article, if they like your stuff, they will likely visit your website and sign up for your Pink Spoon (your free offering that gets people on your list). And writing articles is one of the fastest (and FREE) ways to get lots of exposure, especially if a publisher with a large list picks it up!

Want to get started? Here are the 4 easy steps:

1. Write the article or recycle one you’ve already written, giving it a fresh edit (it never hurts).

Write or revise an article targeted at your niche that is full of valuable content. A couple of tips: Articles can be anywhere from 300-700 words in length for the best chance of being picked up (if you have a longer article, consider chopping it in half and making it two shorter articles). Also, articles with lists, steps, or mini-chunks of information seem to be the most read.

2. Add your copyright.

Don’t forget to protect your work by adding a copyright. At the end of each article, put a copyright notice with the date of when you first published the article. For example, copyright (or ©) 2005 Alicia M Forest.

3. Write the copy for your author’s box.

After your copyright notice comes what’s usually referred to as the “resource box” or “author’s box.” In order for others to publish your work, ask that they include this information at the end of your article, keeping what you provide in it whole and intact. As this is standard practice, you’ll find most publishers will honor this request.

Write 3-5 lines that entice people to find out more about you by providing the web address to the sign-up page for your Pink Spoon. You don’t need to use this valuable real estate to promote your business, but do use it to encourage people to join your list by signing up for your ezine or other free offering.

A tip: Again, don’t send your article readers to your home page. Send them to a page set up specifically to add them to your list. For example, say”for more articles like this, please visit www.yourezinepage.com to sign up!”

4. Submit your article.

Although this is one of the most time-consuming marketing tasks, it can be made much simplier by either hiring a VA to do it for you, or using an article submission service. A couple of services that I use are:

SubmitYOURArticle
www.articlemarketer.com

There are literally hundreds of websites that offer free content for publishers who are in need of quality articles for their own publications or websites. Here are some of the best ones:

www.ezinearticles.com

www.ideamarketers.com

www.goarticles.com

www.article-host.com

www.articlecity.com

Bonus step:

If you want to see stronger results from submitting your articles, contact directly those publishers of ezines and websites in your niche. Google publishers of ezines in your target market and then send a query to the editor/owner about submitting an article. Present yourself as a professional and offer your article for their use, provided the resource box remains in tact. Paste your article under your message (attachments can get blocked, and if the receiver doesn’t know you it’s unlikely they will open and read it anyway).

Writing and submitting articles is one of the tried-and-true, if slow-and-steady, ways to build your list, become known as an expert, and offer value to your target market.

Copyright 2005 Alicia Forest

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach, & Founder of http://www.ClientAbundance.com , teaches coaches, consultants, online entrepreneurs and solo professionals to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve.
For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com

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The same debate topics are used again and again. Why not liven up your next debate with some new ideas? Here are some more unusual and fundamental questions to debate.

Happiness shouldn’t be pursued. The pro side of this could start with the obvious pain that people face when their expectations are not met. Maybe it is better to just relax and stop thinking about happiness. On the other hand, the fact that the pursuit of happiness sometimes leads to pain doesn’t mean it is without success too. What better thing is there to pursue?

Political Debate Topics

Taxation for non-essential programs is stealing. The pro side can start with the idea that a consensus or majority makes it different, and morally acceptable. The con side can point out that it’s wrong to forcibly take your neighbors money to pay for an art program you like, and voting with others to have the government do it for you is no different morally.

It is morally okay to break laws you don’t agree with. The pro side might say that there have historically been many bad laws, and that it is almost a duty to break them. We wouldn’t want someone to have turned in escaped slaves just to comply with the law. The other side could argue that personally choosing to break the law is corrosive to general respect for laws, and this respect is necessary to a civil society.

Government should get out of the marriage business. If the government had nothing to do with marriage, we could drop all the divisive issues about gay marriage, and just let people marry in whichever churches or other institutions will marry them. Taxing all individuals the same is fairer too. On the other hand, marriage is a long-standing institution, and it would be chaotic to remove the legal element of it. Insurance policies, property title and other legal contracts would all need to be re-written.

Other Debate Topics

We should abolish corporations. It is clear that the legal entity is often used to reduce liability for true crimes. Why not let people own companies directly and own up to their actions? On the other hand, one could argue that the corporations made our economy as strong as it is, and it would be extremely dangerous to eliminate them.

There is nothing morally wrong with doing drugs. Clearly the laws about which plant and other substances you can ingest are arbitrary. There is no reason why it would be moral to have a beer, but somehow wrong to have a joint. On the other hand… (you’re on your own on this one).

Intelligence testing is without value. Many people of low intelligence have succeeded in many areas of life. In fact, the most intelligent people routinely fail in business. There is not really anything to be gained by assigning a number to a persons thinking. Of course, whether or not a person succeeds or fails, more intelligence means more potential to succeed in many areas, so it is a useful thing to measure. Whether you can really measure it, and how you define it are just some of the many related debate topics.

Steve Gillman has been exploring new ideas for decades. Visit his site for invention ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and more. Get a free gift too: New Ideas (www.999ideas.com)

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Let’s start right away by examining some famous authors and why they started writing.

Stephen King,
Author of Most Books that Non-Readers will Read

According to Joe Hartlaub, Mainer Stephen King started writing for his aunt when he was nine because she paid him (a quarter). Later, as King would describe in his book “On Writing” and Hartlaub describes in his article, King wrote short stories for extra money when he taught English. He wanted to make the most money per short story and so sold many early stories to men’s magazines. Work experience gave King enough insight into teens’ lives to write Carrie. King often credits his wife Tabitha with supporting and encouraging him to write. In “On Writing”, he also mentions that he writes for Tabitha as an audience, which perhaps explains why his books can hold almost any reader’s attention, because he has an audience in mind.

King is a multi-genre writer and does not just write horror fiction. For example, his non-fiction book, “On Writing” is one of the best books about writing available, not only because he shows how to use reality to create fiction, but also because he inspires writers.

Source: Joe Hartlaub’s article at: http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-king-stephen.asp
You can read an excerpt from “On Writing” at:
http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0684853523-excerpt.asp

Ray Bradbury
Author of “The Martian Chronicles” and “A Sound of Thunder”

In a 2004 interview cited below, Ray Bradbury explains that he began writing stories about Mars when he was 12. For Bradbury, what he loved in the beginning became the object of some of his most famous work, especially “The Martian Chronicles”. As Bradbury says, “The important thing is to be in love with something.”

Bradbury’s interview is fascinating, as he explains the relation between science fiction and space exploration. He also discusses how we should have stayed on the moon and used it as a base for further space explorations. Truly, he writes about his passion and for that passion.

In “Ray Bradbury’s Sunny Terrors,” by Jonathan Kirsch, we learn that Bradbury had a carnival worker magically tell him to live forever. According to the article, the carnival worker’s words influenced Bradbury to start writing and not stop. Perhaps writing is living forever . . .

Read Catherine Donaldson-Evan’s 2004 interview with Ray Bradbury at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110367,00.html
Read Jonathan Kirsch’s article on Ray Bradbury at:
http://www.calendarlive.com/books/bookreview/cl-bk-kirsch26jun26,0,1455766.story?coll=cl-bookreview

Nora Roberts, also known as J.D. Robb
Author of “Northern Lights” and “Origin of Death” as well as many more romance novels and mysteries.

According to article “A Conversation with Nora Roberts” by Claire E. White, Nora Roberts began writing because of “the Blizzard of ‘79, two small children, no morning kindergarten, endless games of Candyland and short supply of chocolate. All of these things and events led up to me writing my first book . . . To entertain myself I decided to take one of the stories out of my head and write it down.”

Of course, Roberts had grown up reading romance novels and wrote the type of novel she read. Harlequin rejected her manuscripts for a year before they opened a new line that fit Roberts’ style (American and not British).

You can read Claire E. White’s article on Nora Roberts at:
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun98/roberts.htm
Roberts’ website is:
http://www.noraroberts.com/

Billy Collins
U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-03 (which means that he was re-elected to the position)

In Christina Patterson’s article, “Billy Collins: Laughter in the Dark,” readers learn that Collins wrote his first poem at ten and continued on into graduate school, where he learned and later unlearned the complexity of humorlessness of past poems (imagine T.S. Eliot) and found it cool that he could write a poem about Elvis Presley instead.

Be sure to read the poems in Patterson’s article. I found the one in the upper right column hilarious.

Read Patterson’s British article about Collins at:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/interviews/article106831.ece

Read an interesting interview with Collins and his approach on the importance of accessibility to the reader:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec01/collins_12-10.html

Why do we write? It’s a fascinating question. I agree with many of the above authors. I write, as I’ve explained to someone recently, because I must. Writing is an irresistible temptation: a new DVD to be played, seeds to be planteda new life to live. Writing is also a necessity: the expression of my soul, my gifts to the worlda way this introvert touches the world. I wrote my first lyrics at 11. At the time, I wanted to write a love song that people all over the world would use to express their latent emotions, so that I could give to others a voice I so often did not have for myself. Also at 11, I began working on magazines and two books, one about an unknown pyramid inspired by a project at school and another about time travel. There’s no doubt Ray Bradbury put the thought there.

Imagine the carnival worker has just told you what he told Ray Bradbury, “You Will Live Forever . . .”

Let’s see if that does for you what it did for Bradbury.

Pen to Paper~
Chris Goebel
Editor, Humdinger Literary E-zine
http://www.humdingerzine.com
Subscribe to Chris Goebel’s newsletter, Jack of Genre: Newsletter for Writers, at:
http://user98512.websitewizard.com/Jack-of-Genre.html
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Would you like to use this article in your e-zine or on your website? Just include the author’s blurb (above) with the article. Make sure not to change the article in any way and to keep the entire blurb intact.

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Another big pitfall of using free software that you may become a victim of all kinds of scams which Internet has become full of. There are tens, if not hundreds anti-spyware applications which destroy your PC security once you double-click on an executable file. They keep reporting of successful scans, deleted spyware, and online guards, while secretly doing evil things you may not be aware about. Even though children who realize they should keep their private information really private can reveal some bits of information to a predator who will then stick the facts together and find out what he needs.

Banning children from computers or allowing using it only when parents are supervising the process is not a good solution. Besides producing a negative impact on relations with you child, this also makes it harder for your offspring to compete with other children, as the Internet these days gives certain social and academic advantages. However, the Internet should be filtered, there’s absolutely no doubt. So what is the solution? Data loggers, key loggers are just a few programs which harvest info from your computer. Winclear is the only program created specially to auto remove such spywares. Spector is a keylogger and once installed on a computer it has the ability to record all keystroke activity and send it out to virtually anyone-including cyber criminals. That is why every computer owner needs winclear.

Protect With Winclear :Absoluteshield Internet Eraser Lite
As employers and managers we need to track down the websites being accessed by our staff. In fact, we need to regularly monitor the e-mails and messages that our workers send to ensure that they are not spreading and selling our company trade secrets to competitors. Like parents, companies need to find a way to check the Internet and computer usage of their employees in the office. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. Another possible way in which cookies can negatively affect your computer is when they are stored on your hard drive for too long. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers for the last 8 years.

Winclear:
Low CPU and RAM usage - something you will begin to value once in a lifetime. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer. Thus we ought to do something to help ensure that our children employees and spouses only make use of the Internet positively. Protect your computer security by using Winclear! More about Winclear here: Win Clear.

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There is an image most people carry of the artist (think Van Gough’s self-portrait, the one with his ear bandaged), working in solitude in a barren garret in a dark corner of the city. Everyday is a struggle. He continually walks between moments of brilliance and moments of insanity. It’s a romantic image, I suppose. Built around the belief that an artist must suffer for his art.

This applies not only to the painter, mind you, but also to the actor, the dancer, the photographer, the writer. We all must suffer for our art.

But image and reality are often two different things. Writing, for example, does NOT have to be a torturous process of endurance and pain. In fact, it should be exactly the opposite. Liberating. Joyous. Enlightening. Why else would you want to invest so much of yourself in it?

So let’s take a closer look at a few common writing myths.

This first one actually applies in all areas of a person’s life. Simply stated: Having a big ego is a bad thing. It’s unbecoming. It’s boastful. It puts you in a negative light.

The truth is … if you want to be a success at anything, you need an ego. It motivates you, keeps you moving, pushes you to do your best. It’s not your enemy. It’s your ally.

The key to making it work for you is to keep it directed inward. Pump yourself up silently. Let it fill you with pride and a sense of possibilities. That’s what the ego does best. Used wisely, it will move you toward your writing goals, not away from them.

Our next common writing myth is one you hear all the time: you have to write something original.

What is originality?

There’s only one thing in the world that can make your work original. That’s you. Because that’s all you have to bring to the table as a writer. Who you are. Your history. Your experiences. Your family. Your beliefs.

When a publisher says he wants something original, he’s saying he wants something fresh, something that reflects you the writer. He wants your voice, your honesty. The world already has a Stephen King and a Mary Higgins Clark and a John Grisham. It doesn’t need more of them.

Our final common writing myth (though there is no shortage of such myths, we are limited by space): the slower you write, the more time you spend with each and every word, the better your writing will be.

The catch to this one is simple: there’s a time and place for writing, and there’s a time and place for editing.

When you mix the two activities (which are very different in their requirements and purpose), you rarely do either one justice. If anything will suffer, it will be your writing. Because suddenly you’ll be under the constraints of the editor sitting on your shoulder. You’ll be fretting over the words while losing perspective on the more important elements of the story. Does the scene work? Are your characters being true to their nature? Does this move the story forward?

The truth is this: your writing will ALWAYS be better when you write in the moment. Remember when you were a child? When you could spend hours building a sand castle or playing catch or flying a kite? Those were moments when nothing else in the world existed because you were completely absorbed in the activity. Write with that same captivation, as if each scene were unfolding right before your eyes, and you’ll find your writing will not only be vivid and powerful, it will flow faster than you ever imagined possible.

Writing does not have to be a torturous, exacting process.

Allow yourself to have fun with it, and you’ll be a better writer for the effort.

Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. David B. Silva is a professional writer, editor and publisher. For a FREE mini-course on the best way to make writing that novel faster and easier, Click Here ==> mailto:easyway@thesuccessfulwriter.com?subject=TRAArticle

dbsilva@thesuccessfulwriter.com

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