April 30th, 2008
I see affiliates from two perspectives.
Firstly as an affiliate, I see myself as a business partner to those merchants that I promote. I send them traffic, and if I make sales for them, I expect to be paid for my efforts in the form of a predefined percentage or lump sum.
As a merchant, I see my affiliates as partners and value the traffic they send me. My utmost priority is to make sure that any sales that are made are credited to the affiliate that sends me the traffic. This is essential if my affiliates are going to trust me and put effort into promoting my products. This is essential if I want my business to grow!
Most of my own products are related to internet marketing and webmaster tools. Because of the nature of these products, those visitors are likely to be knowledgeable of affiliate programs and probably Clickbank as well.
Imagine this scenario:
Joe goes to Google and searches for “webmaster tools”. Something caught his attention over in the Pay Per Click ads, an affiliate link to a product that promises to make link exchanges easier.
“Hmmm” thought Joe. “That looks like a great tool”.
Joe clicks on the PPC link and is redirected to a sales page. Scrolling to the bottom of the page, Joe sees that the product is $97.
“I want this”, thought Joe, “but $97 is a bit steep”.
Joe searches the webpage for that magic link, and he finds it easily.
“Great” says Joe out loud. “A link to a Clickbank affiliate program, and this program pays 50%”.
After a few minutes, Joe has signed up for the affiliate program, created his own affiliate link, typed it into his browser, and revisits the sales page.
Joe’s mouse clicks the buy link. He fills in his credit card details and clicks the purchase button. Closing his browser, he checks his e-mail. He watches as two e-mails are downloaded to his machine. The first is the download information for the new software he purchased, the second one is an e-mail with the Subject “Congratulations Joe, you have made a sale”.
Joe checks his stats online for this new affiliate program and sure enough, he has made $48.50 commission on this purchase. In other words, he only paid $48.50 for the product.
OK, what is wrong with this scenario?
Is it fair that Joe used his own affiliate link to make a
purchase?
What about the affiliate who advertised this affiliate program at Google? That affiliate paid for the click that started the sale process, yet did not get the commission.
What is going through the minds of merchants who place links to their affiliate programs on their sales page?
I would imagine that some merchants think about these points:
* I want to make $48.50 per sale minimum.
* If I offer it for $97 and give 50% commission to affiliates I will make my goal of $48.50 per sale.
* By adding an affiliate sign up link to the sales page, I can encourage people to sign up for my affiliate program, buy through their own link and get the software for the real price of $48.50, but the customer will be happy thinking they saved $48.50.
*Great plan!
I am sure that a lot of merchants don’t see things this way - they just don’t think hard enough about their affiliates.
A merchant that uses a link to his/her affiliate program on the sales page is using affiliate traffic as free traffic (whether they intend to or not). After all, the merchant does not need to spend time optimising pages or buying traffic - their affiliates will do that and send the traffic to the sales page for free. If an affiliate sends someone who becomes a customer, the merchant will make their money.
The big problem here is that being an affiliate is hard work. You do have to create content, buy and review products, possibly even pay for advertising. If YOU are doing these things as an affiliate, is your merchant doing their bit to protect your you? Unfortunately the majority of Clickbank merchants don’t, and affiliates waste their time building pages and buying advertising to promote merchants who don’t deserve it.
The bottom line
—————-
If you are promoting products aimed at webmasters, the traffic you send will likely know how to “steal” your commission. In this situation it is vital to only promote merchants without the affiliate sign up link.
If on the other hand you are promoting products to the general public, e.g. weight loss products, dog training eBooks etc, this affiliate sign up link poses less of a problem since most of the traffic you generate wont be affiliates themselves (most wont even know what an affiliate is) and wont have the necessary skills to sign up at Clickbank, create a link and purchase through their link just to get a commission.
What can you do?
—————-
If you find a merchant that you want to promote and they have an affiliate sign up link on the sales page, contact them. Tell them about your concerns and that they should treat you as a partner, not the source of free traffic. Suggest that they remove this affiliate sign up link.
The usual reaction I get
————————
Merchant: “I get a lot of affiliate sign ups from this link,
there is no way I am removing it!”
Ask the merchant how many of those affiliates ever make a sale or ever send any traffic. This is exactly my point. The merchant is getting a lot of sign ups purely to get a discount. For every person who signs up as an affiliate to get a discount, there is one affiliate somewhere being robbed of his/her rightful commission.
Most of the “affiliates” you get via a sign up link on the sales page are only signing up to get a discount, they are unlikely to ever try to sell that product.
The only affiliates who will promote the product, are those that buy the software, use it and like it. They see the benefits and can sell it well to their visitors. These are the only affiliates worth getting, and you wont get them from an affiliate sign up link on the sales page.
The best way of getting hard working affiliates is to protect your affiliates from this type of link hijacking, gain their trust and do everything you can to help them out. Build a relationship with your affiliates and most of all, make sure they are rewarded for the traffic they send. To this end, remove that affiliate sign up link, and when someone buys your product, send them an e-mail outlining the benefits of your affiliate program. Active affiliates respond well to knowing their merchants are protecting their interests.
A final thought
—————
If there are two similar products, similar price, similar commission, one sales page with an affiliate sign up link, one without, which would you prefer to promote? If you want to make money online with affiliate programs, take it seriously and start contacting merchants.
*****************************************************
Andy Williams is author of the free, ezSEO
internet
marketing newsletter, offering subscribers up-to-date
information on all aspects of internet marketing.
*****************************************************
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April 29th, 2008
Has debt got you down?
If so, you’re not alone. These days getting into debt is easy.
Getting out is not. Buying lottery tickets and hoping to “win
the big one” is not the answer.
No matter how much money you owe, and no matter how tight money
gets, remember that life is too short to spend time worrying.
Therefore, the real “secret” to getting completely out of debt
is actually very simple:
Make the commitment, then take action!
If all you do is sit back and talk about getting out of debt,
and just complain about how hard it is being stuck in debt - and
never actually do anything about it - an amazing thing will
happen… NOTHING!
You won’t get out of debt overnight - after all, you didn’t get
into debt overnight, either.
But you can change the way you think. Our mind is very powerful.
And when life seems to be out of control, the simplest thing you
can control is how you think!
There’s an old saying:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and
over again, but expecting different results!”
That’s especially true when it comes to getting out of debt!
You need to start with small steps. Take out a notebook and
write down your goals. Write down the small steps you will take
to reach your goals.
* Cut out unnecessary expenses * Think of inexpensive ways to
have fun * Consider selling valuable items you don’t need * Get
a part-time job * Start an online business
Think hard, write down everything you think of, then decide
which steps to take first. And most importantly, go ahead and do
them.
Nobody every got rich by sitting on the couch and thinking!
Without making the commitment to getting out of debt, you never
will.
On the other hand, you CAN live the life you’ve always wanted.
And if you make the commitment - and don’t let ANYONE or
ANYTHING get in your way - you, too, can live a life without
debt!
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April 29th, 2008
Are the things you want in life eluding you? Do you find yourself struggling to achieve your dreams? Have you wondered why it’s so hard to be happy?
If you’re familiar with the Law of Attraction, you know the answer to those questions. (That is, you know your thoughts dictate your experiences.) If you’re not familiar with it, no worries. You’re about to learn a super simple technique for getting what you want, every time.
Without going into tremendous detail as to how this works, know you’re the script writer of your life. You direct everything that happens to you - good, bad and ugly. You’re responsible for every encounter, situation, and result you experience. Most of us just don’t realize it.
Your thoughts create your life, and by directing your thoughts deliberately, you can create what you want. Yes, it’s that simple.
If it’s that simple, you ask, why aren’t we all dripping in money, basking in love, and living happily ever after? Well, some of us are. If you know any truly happy people, you’ll notice that they have a few things in common.
Happy people think about what they want. They give attention to the outcome they desire. They see the best in things. They’re deliberate about what they imagine, think, and fantasize about. And they expect to get it.
Call them positive thinkers, optimists, Pollyanna’s, pie-in-the-sky daydreamers - whatever you want. They’ve mastered the art of expecting the best. They believe they can have what they want. They expect it, and their brain gives lots of air time to it.
That’s the secret to getting what you want: giving attention to it! Simple, yes. Easy, mm … maybe, maybe not. Most of us get stuck observing the “reality” around us, which doesn’t help us gain ground on our dream come true.
But here’s a technique that will make it easier to control your thoughts, thus controlling your results. For novices and experts alike, this technique works wonders in keeping your attention on what you want (which is how you get it).
Imagine your life is a movie, and you’ve written the script. You choose the cast of characters, and you direct the scenes. When you find yourself in a scene that isn’t so lovely, remember how your movie ends. Remember the happy finale you want in this movie of your life, and imagine that scene unfolding.
If it’s a new job you want, and you’re struggling to make headway, remember how this movie ends. Stop worrying about how you’re going to make this happen and jump to the final scenes where you see yourself in the new job, chatting with new colleagues, eating lunch with new clients, depositing fabulous paychecks. Give attention to the ending of your movie, not these scenes leading up where it looks “iffy.”
It’s when we get caught up in these middle scenes, with all the drama and trauma, that our attention is hooked on things going wrong. And things will go wrong until we get our attention off what we’re worried about and back on what we want.
So remember how your movie ends when you get a rejection letter, or when you think you’re flubbing the interview, or when they say they have no openings. It can be a tricky thing because we’re addicted to the “reality” around us, but keep your thoughts on the happy ending.
Although it’s easy to get caught up in the dark scenes of our movie/life, if you remember how your movie ends, your dreams will come true. You’re writing the script; you choose the ending. It’s all up to you! And you can get through these ugly scenes simply by remembering your beautiful ending.
The next time you or someone you love complains about what’s going wrong, ask how the movie ends. It’s a great trigger to remember to focus on what you want, not on what is.
Jeannette Maw is an Attraction Coach and founder of Good Vibe Coaching in Salt Lake City, Utah, who helps her clients make their wish lists come true by leveraging the Law of Attraction.
Power-packed tips to get what you want are yours free by signing up for Jeannette’s monthly ezine at http://www.goodvibecoach.com
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April 28th, 2008
Beaded curtains make windows colorful and are especially good if you want a dramatic entrance to a room. They have been used in Asia for many decades and their popularity in the West rose dramatically in the 1960s. A string of beads are hung from a rod and this was used to achieve the perfect bohemian look that was in vogue at that time. Different types of beads were used to make the door/window colorful and attractive.
Besides being used for doors and windows, beaded curtains are also used to divide a room. They are commonly used in small shops or restaurants to cordon off the storage room or kitchen. You can also use beaded curtains to divide you room. They are used to cover open closets, sleeping quarters and storage areas.
Beaded curtains are popular today with the spread of interest in Feng Shui, according to which passing though a beaded curtain will have soothing effects. It is also believed that positive energy is spread when air passes through the beads.
Different types of beads are used in making beaded curtains. These include glass, wood, plastic, bamboo, acrylic and sometimes even crystals and gemstones. Beads are normally cheap and if you don’t want to buy the curtain readymade, this is a simple project you can undertake at home. You can use as many materials as you like in varied sizes and shapes.
Beaded curtains are also popular as they are low maintenance. If they get dirty, rinse them in soapy water. If your beaded curtain breaks, you don’t have to worry as you can either mend them or since they are inexpensive, replace them with new ones.
Curtains provides detailed information about curtains, window curtains, kitchen curtains, beaded curtains and more. Curtains is the sister site of Candle Chandeliers.
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April 28th, 2008
The 2% rule is a powerful tool in Forex trading. By adopting this rule you’re using a strategy that decreases the size of your losses during losing streaks, an important consideration. There is, however one small caveat that you need to be aware of when using the 2% rule to calculate how many Forex shares you are going to buy. As you know, the number of shares you can purchase is determined by your maximum loss and the size of your stop. This means that by increasing your risk, you can also increase the dollar value of the position you open. By simply shrinking your stop size, that is by setting a tighter stop loss, you can increase the dollar value of the position you open.
To avoid a situation where you could end up with excessively large positions that may put your Forex trading float at risk, you can choose to introduce an extra rule. This rule would limit the dollar value of a position to be no more than a set percentage of your entire Forex trading float.
For example, you might decide that you’ll never open a position that has a dollar value of more than 25% of your entire Forex trading float. This rule would only be executed if, after calculating the formula that determines how many shares you buy, you find the dollar value of that position would greater than 25% of your float. If this happened, you would scale down the position to make sure it did not exceed that 25%.
The percentage that you decide upon will depend on the type of system you’re trading, the size of your float, and your personal tolerance for risk. Generally, smaller Forex trading floats might use 25%, and larger Forex trading floats might use as little as 10% or even 5%. There are no definitive numbers, and the percentage that you choose will depend on your personal circumstances.
Once this tendency is corrected for you will have all your money management rules in place, ready to control your risk in the Forex market. Now you need to take the next step. Test your system to find out which of the variables best suit you, remembering always that position sizing is the most significant part of any system design. It is the lynchpin of money management. Once you’ve tested your system, and fine-tuned your rules, you will be well on your way to becoming a successful Forex trader.
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
David Jenyns is recognized as the leading expert when it
comes to designing profitable stock trading systems.
Discover the “secret formula” of trading that anyone can use
to consistently generate BIG profits from the market by
downloading your FREE copy of David’s new Ultimate
Stock Trading Systems course.
Click Here To Download ==> Stock Trading Systems
http://www.ultimate-trading-systems.com/forex.html
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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April 28th, 2008
Ever heard of the expression, “Getting up on the wrong side of the bed?” Many people have less than idealistic starts to their day. The alarm goes off, the snooze button gets thwacked several times and something gets grumbled about it being too early. Others jump out of bed, and hit the shower running with little thought to creating a spirit of excitement for the new day.
What is your morning ritual when you first wake up? Are you consciously setting aside a few minutes to create the day with vision, thoughtfulness, and excitement?
The first few minutes of the morning can be transformed into a magical time that welcomes change and opportunity. You don’t have to figure out how you are going to get through the next week or month. Or even how you are going to lose all that weight. Focus on what you can do to make yourself feel successful today. It’s within your control to create a positive experience for yourself. During this time, you can set your mood, put yourself in the right frame of mind, and maximize your outcomes for the upcoming day. You could also ask for guidance and be open to receiving support from the universe. What intentions could you set at the start of your day that would help you achieve your dreams?
MORNING EXERCISES
1. DAILY COMMITMENT
One of the first things you can do to get your morning started right is to make a make a DAILY COMMITMENT to yourself. This involves making a personal decision to devote some action to your goal. We’re talking personal will here (what you want and what you stand for) as opposed to will power (what you don’t want and what you stand against). Being aware of who you are and what you stand for strengthens you as an individual.
Define a specific action. Vague and general statements are not going to work. Instead of waking up and thinking, “I’m going to do better today,” “Today I won’t blow it,” “I will not binge today,” try something different. Choose an action that you ALREADY KNOW you can accomplish. Don’t select the hardest, biggest or most impossible thing you can think of. Pick something small and achievable. Be kind and realistic with yourself. Get excited! Use your imagination and bring a sense of fun into what you are going to achieve today. Be silly, or adventurous, or playful. Your goal is to set and achieve one action today. Make it fun. At the end of the day, write down your accomplishment. You deserve praise, recognition, and a big sense of accomplishment. Choosing an achievable goal builds excitement and strength, and acknowledging your effort builds self-worth.
2. VISUALIZE THE GOAL
Take two or three minutes and visualize yourself accomplishing your chosen specific action. For example, what does eating an extra serving of vegetables look like? What color are they? What sounds and tastes are associated with eating these vegetables? What does it feel like to accomplish the goal? Allow all of this to be present within you. Breath, relax, notice what it feels like in your body to be excited and filled with the expectation that you can have what you want.
Whatever you include in your attention, you will include in your experience. What are you doing? What actions are you taking? What are you saying? Where do your thoughts lead you? Cultivate a desire to allowing yourself to feel better. Create an openness to allow greater happiness for yourself.
Spend a few minutes each morning improving the visual picture you want for yourself. See yourself as fit as you want to be, as a strong leader in your own life, standing strong in your choices, and a happy self-motivator. Instead of staying frustrated over where you are, get excited about what you can make possible by deciding willingly to adopt a lifestyle based upon excited vision and action.
3. SMILE
Visit your local Hallmark store. In it they are bound to have a big bright yellow smiley card. You know, the Happy Face. Buy the card and in it write your favorite motivational phrase or quote. Something that touches your heart and brings out the best in you. Mail it to yourself. Once it arrives, place the opened card next to your bed. After making your DAILY COMMITMENT and then visualizing yourself achieving success, pick up your card and read your inspirational message. Bring a big smile to your face.
Now you’re ready to begin your wonderful day!
POSITIVE NOTES
I am beautiful on the outside,
I am passionate within,
I am special unto myself,
So let the love come in!
Dr. Annette Colby, RD
Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Healer
For free inspirational newsletter, articles & info visit:
http://www.LovingMiracles.com
972.985.8750
“Opening Creative Portals to Success”
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April 28th, 2008
Mahi is a beautiful, white, flaky fish caught fresh from the waters of the clean ocean surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. In Mexico, it is called Dorado. It is a colorful blue and yellow fish when fresh from the sea. We prepare it many ways, but this is a favorite Polynesian style.
4 eight oz. mahi-mahi filets
8 large ti leaves with rib removed
lemon grass, chopped
ginger, chopped
garlic, minced
lime juice
cilantro
sesame oil
coconut milk
Lay the mahi on a ti leaf, with lemon grass, ginger, garlic, cilantro and lime juice. Pour coconut milk over filet and a few drops sesame oil.
Tie ti-leaf and wrap with another ti-leaf using rib to tie; then steam or grill for 10-15 minutes.
Serve with steamed white jasmine or calrose rice and mango salsa!
Whole Fish
Steamed Opakapaka
It is not difficult to prepare a whole fish. This is how we can serve many people with ease. Amaryllis learned to prepare dinner for twelve her first time in the Bay Area, when she served whole, baked salmon caught fresh from the sea. This was so easy to prepare! The cleaned fish (gutted, with head removed) was stuffed with whole mushrooms, slices of onions, dried sweet basil, and pieces of butter. The fish was dotted with butter and basil, then covered in foil to bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees! She would look in to see that the fish was pink and moist and perfectly cooked. The sweet basil was so fragrant! To serve, she would cut into 2-inch sections for each person. The mushrooms and onions and buttery juices were drizzled on top of each serving and garnished with lemon wedges. She served a green salad and wild rice.
In Hawaii, she discovered the moist, deep water fish opakapaka, or Hawaiian pink snapper. Hawaii’s seafood has been described as the best in the world! The islands are so remote and the waters so clean. The fish are awesome. She loves steamed opakapaka with a black bean sauce. Black-bean sauce is easy to prepare. She uses 4 tbsp. salted, dried, black beans and 2 and 1/2 cups of water. Boil these in a frying pan, add 1 tbsp. cornstarch to thicken, then add chopped green onions. One tsp. of sugar is added. Cook 5 minutes.The whole cleaned, scaled fish is rubbed with Hawaiian salt and steamed in a long fish-steamer for 20 minutes. The fish is scored, salted black bean sauce and green onions are poured over it, then drizzled with hot peanut oil and served on a platter. Guests can pick at the fish with chopsticks!
Serve with steamed white jasmine or calrose rice and mango salsa!
My name is Marilyn Jansen.
I live on the island of Maui pursuing life as a writer and budding artist.
I worked as a registered nurse for 14 years until I began to follow my true dream of expressing myself creatively through drawing, painting, writing, designing books, creating jewelry, and fashion designs and developing a line of food products to go with my cookbook. It is so fulfilling to pursue a dream with a passion!
I love to do Hawaiian Quilting, & Hand-painting on t-shirts. I plan to create DVDs of a craft series to go with small books. I have painted on tees for over 25 years and have taught teens and adults how to paint. They love it! It is fun and healing for the body, mind, soul & spirit. When creativity flows we feel alive, energized by the excitement overflowing from us. We also experience relaxation because we let ourselves go! It is my goal to get young people interested in gardening & cooking & sewing so they can develop passions of their own. Life is great when we slow down and enjoy the simple things and find beauty in everyday life. Aloha!
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April 27th, 2008
How many of you have made your mind up about a speaker’s message without concerning yourself about the words, purely by observation and your intuition. And this is going on right now somewhere in the world. A business speaker has a good message but it’s being clouded by the way its presented. The purpose of this article is to remind you, no, convince you of some key steps to take to ensure your body doesn’t cloud the message next time you get up a speak.
The Head
As adults, we still have childish habits and one of them is to focus on the face of someone who is speaking to you. So get those expressions working for you and really exaggerate the meaning. Smile, frown, look angry, shocked, amazed - but please always be congruent with your message.
Eye Contact
Next we have eye contact. This is probably the one skill, when mastered, that does the most to engage the audience and build trust and rapport with the audience. The rule is to hardly ever let go. Imagine you’re playing tennis or squash. You never let your eye off the ball otherwise you’ll miss a shot. Like wise, keep your eye contact on the audience at all times.
Careful with the lighthouse technique as well - this is where speakers sweep the audience in a repetitive swishing motion that does more to put people to sleep than engage.
Instead have a conversation with your audience with your eyes. Randomly contact with each audience member and give them 2 to 3 seconds of eye contact and move onto the next person. Maintain this random movement. Find those in the audience who like just a little more eye contact and be aware of those who want slightly less.
When faced with a large audience - I mean more than 25 or so people, adopt a similar habit but don’t give each person eye contact. That’ll take ages. Instead clump people into small groups and give these clumps the same eye contact as if they were one person. I tell you, that because of the distance between you and a large audience, this gives people the impression that you are looking at them.
Feet
Now let’s go to the other extreme of your body. Your feet and legs. Now what do you do with these limbs. Not a lot really unless you are moving around your stage, that’s movement with a purpose, not aimless wandering that only distracts the audience.
Try to stand with both feet firmly on the ground pretty much the same distance apart as your shoulders. Keep them balanced so your body is not leaning to one side. Don’t look like a cat walk model or if you’re supping a pint at the bar of your local. Stand straight and look professional not a slouch.
Nerves…that’s a word than conjures up fear and dread every time people stand up and speak in public. And sure enough you’ll have nerves. Professionals call it adrenaline and you need that to do a really good job. If you don’t have nerves or adrenaline, you might as well not bother because you can’t be bothered. Sop welcome nerves, call them adrenaline and make them work for you. Nerves will show in the periphery of your body. The ends such as feet, hands, head. Keeping your feet still transfers this energy to the top part of your body where it should go.
Now I didn’t say you should stay rigid to the spot; that would be terrible for 20 minutes. Instead focus your attention on preventing aimless movement, pacing up and down, shifting from side to side. Keep well balanced and professional.
The Body
Next we have the trunk. Not much you can do with the trunk apart from keeping it straight. Not like the sergeant Major on the parade ground but not slouched either. Relaxed and comfortable. The worse sin is to block the invisible mid line that runs from between your 2 feet and your head. Block it and you place a barrier with your audience. Just don’t block it - that’s the rule.
Hands and Arms
How many people I’ve spoken with who don’t know what to do with these very useful limbs. Shame really so they copy people on the TV especially weather girls. They grasp them together. I’ve never understood this although I was guilty myself. It made me feel better and comfortable so much that as soon as I stood up to talk, my two hands came together. And when I got really nervous I used to rub them together too. Someone told me I looked like a market trader making lots of money. That sure went down well with my audiences.
So what do you do with them? Behind your backs but that just reminds me of Prince Charles. In your pockets I hear you say. No, you’re hiding something, keeping back from the audience and besides, you’re missing out on a great weapon. No the answer is to use them to back up your message by gesturing.
We should gesture with audiences. Large dramatic gestures to help the audience understand what you’re saying. Broad gestures that welcome every person into your speech, building rapport. Think of your speech content and let your hands do the talking. Watch deaf people doing their sign language - it really is a very clever way of losing your gesture buttons.
And when not gesturing, or talking, maybe standing still to take questions from your audience, assume the assertive stance. Standing straight with your arms and hands down your sides in a relaxed assertive and confident manner.
Body Movement
Finally, body movement. Movement can be an enormously effective way of engaging the audience into your message. Clean your stage - remove obstacles, tape wires to the floor, so you don’t trip over them, place the screen to the side.
Once you have a clear space do move around with a purpose. I’ve used past, present and future by gradually moving along an imaginary line. The audience can see the time moving along as well as hear. I’ve used one side of the stage being advantages of an idea I’m promoting and the other side, the disadvantages. I’ve placed flipcharts at both sides of the room to mirror these place anchors.
Move forward towards your audience when you want to make a really big point. Move backwards when you want them to reflect on something. Move to your left or right to change the subject or pace of your delivery.
Do move around your stage but with a distinct purpose.
The next time you’re observing and listening to a speaker, try and cut out the sound and focus entirely on the visual aspects. Try and interpret what he or she is saying just by the body language alone. You may not be right in your assumption of the meaning, but its the impression that everyone else is probably getting too. And first impressions last for ages.
Paul is an international speaker, trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specialises in rapport selling and rapport sales management and can ignite his audiences large or small. Rapport selling gets more results.
Get your Ebook Presentation Excellence at http://www.archertraining.co.uk and sign up to our regular EZine of sales and management tips.
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April 26th, 2008
One of the most common causes for disputes occurring after the sale of a home arise from the buyer finding defects in the property, defects which were not disclosed to him by the owner before the sale of the property. If you are the owner of a home that you are looking to sell, please be aware that you may be held liable for not disclosing any known defects in your home.
The statutes governing seller obligations vary with each state. Some states require a seller to complete a questionnaire about their property’s condition; in other states, disclosures can be made verbally. In some states, seller disclosures are voluntary. The only sellers excluded from disclosure laws are banks and mortgage companies with foreclosure properties. In addition to the state laws, there are certain federal laws as well which govern what needs to be disclosed. For instance, federal law requires sellers of homes built before 1978 to disclose any known lead hazards. Some real estate companies may also ask you to disclose all known material facts about your home before they decide to take up your home listing.
Some facts may affect one buyer while it may not affect the other. If you’re confused about what you need to disclose, then consult your real estate agent or property attorney. To keep it simple, as an owner you should put yourself in the shoes of the buyer and decide what you would need to know about the house before you decided to make the purchase. If you have to make the sale, make sure it goes through smoothly. There have been many instances of lawsuits arising from owners not disclosing important material facts about their home.
Sameer S Panjwani is the CEO and Founder of ChoiceOfHomes.com - Real estate listings of homes on sale and rent.
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April 26th, 2008
Overexposure is a term often discussed in photography. What does it mean?
Simply put, it is when too much light is allowed to reach the sensor and the resulting image is too “light” or “bright”.
Why does it happen?
To get a decent image, the camera has to select a combination of aperture (the size of the hole in the lens that lets in light) and shutter speed (the length of time the sensor is exposed to the light when taking a picture).
Generally, the camera chooses the correct combination. Sometimes the camera makes a wrong judgement for the scene in front of it OR the photographer chooses settings that are not ideal.
If this happens, too much light can enter the camera and hit the sensor, resulting in overexposure. The “whites” or “highlights” will be burnt out and too bright. Any detail in these areas will tend to be lost.
The cure is to retake the photograph and choose LESS exposure by using a smaller aperture or a faster shutter speed. This can be done either manually by the photographer or automatically by the camera if it has facility for “automatic exposure compensation”. Read the manual to find out.
Your images might also be overexposed if there is a good deal of low light in the scene you are photographing as the camera tries to compensate for the average low light levels by increasing the light hitting the sensor. Alternatively, using flash, especially the in-built flash on compacts and lower end prosumers / SLRs can result in overexposure and “bleaching” of your subjects. In these cases try to compensate using the camera.
Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com.
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