Effective communication is vital if you wish people to
understand your viewpoint. It becomes even more crucial in
professional settings, as fierce competition means that
customers must be convinced that your products are superior to
your rival’s. Unless you effectively communicate the features
and advantages of your product, your customers are likely to
walk out the door. Communication is equally important in your
interactions with suppliers, coworkers, managers, and investors.

The following six rules will help you communicate more
effectively, reduce conflict in your organization, and become a
better leader.

Rule #1: Organize your thoughts.

Jumbled thoughts lead to incoherent speech. Organizing your
thoughts systematically is the first step to effective
communication. You should be clear about the message that you
want to convey, and it is helpful to have a framework for the
conversation. Communication is a dynamic process, so you need to
organize and re-organize your thoughts accordingly as the
conversation progresses. This presence of mind is essential.

Rule #2: Plan the conversation ahead of time.

When you think through a subject, try to envision what sort of
reaction you will evoke. Plan out the different directions that
the conversation may go, and prepare your ground accordingly. It
helps to consider the personality and behavior of the person
with whom you are dealing. How does s/he prefer to work, what is
his/her behavioral style? Answering these questions allows you
to tailor your approach accordingly.

Rule #3: Be aware of your nonverbal signals.

Did you know much of our communication happens through nonverbal
signals? The message you convey through your gestures, body
language, and facial expressions will play a huge role in the
response you elicit. For this reason, your verbal and nonverbal
message need to be consistent; otherwise, you will send mixed
signals and not achieve the outcome you desire.

Rule #4: Be succinct.

As they say, less is more. This holds true for communication as
well. Your goal in communication is to convey a message and
create a certain response. Emphasize your key points simply, and
respond to questions directly. Repeating yourself and
reiterating your points will only detract from your message.

Rule #5: Demonstrate how the other person will benefit.

When you show how the other person will directly benefit from
your offer, you are very close to convincing him/her. To do
this, you must highlight the rewards of your offer, and explain
how they will improve his or her life. For example, instead of
explaining that a new product is more efficient, you might
emphasize how much time or money the customer will save. This is
the fifth great rule for becoming a good communicator.

Rule #6: Be a good listener.

The importance of listening to the other party and understanding
his/her viewpoint is often overlooked. Effective communication
is two-way process; if you adopt a one-way attitude, you will
fail to create a rapport with your counterpart. By making the
other person feel that you value their participation in the
conversation, and that you are addressing his/her needs, you
make him/her much more willing to accommodate your position. In
practice, this means that you must listen patiently and converse
accordingly.

Since 1951, the Lladro brothers have been creating some of the
most exquisitely beautiful porcelain figurines in the world. It
was in the small village of Almácera, not far from the town of
Valencia, in Spain, that the humble brothers started creating
their delicate collectibles. Local customers couldn’t get enough
of the lovely miniatures and it wasn’t long before the demand
for them started internationally. Today Lladro export its
porcelain to more than 100 countries all over the world and the
brothers’ small workshop has turned into the famed Porcelain
City, with a workforce of more than 2000 employees. Porcelain
City is acknowledged as one of the finest porcelain-making
factories in the world.

Lladro figurines are loved and coveted as much for their warmth
and humanity, say collectors, as for the skilled workmanship
evident in their construction. They celebrate the positive side
of life from forms of everyday people and events to images of
the mystery of creation.

The Lladro portfolio continues to grow every year, with new
figurines continually added to the collection, including
special, one-of-a-kind premium items that are snapped up by
eager collectors as soon as they are shipped from Porcelain
City.

Viewing Lladro figurines for the first time, one is beguiled by
their fragile innocence and captivated by the subdued colors
that evoke memories of another, gentler, era. There is an
appealing naivety in the posture and expression of the figures,
but certainly not in their construction and attention to
detail.

Each figurine tells a story, like the Man of the Sea whose
muscles strain as he steers his ship through stormy waters. The
soft, glossily feminine lines of the women in Lladro’s ‘adults’
collection breath life into the small figures - a coy smile, a
swirling skirt, a beckoning hand, a tiny foot peeping from
beneath a dress. The young children and baby Lladro figurines
are delightful in their simplicity and make a charming gift to
be cherished on the birth of a child. Your special Angel from
the ‘ethnic’ collection is a distinctive and popular Lladro
piece and a perfect Christmas-time decoration from a country
steeped in religious history.

The vast Lladro figurine collections include fire-breathing
dragons and other fantasy figures, golf and other sporting
collections, religious and nativity figurines, ethnic figurines
from Asia, Africa and India, animal forms and the popular
Christmas range of figurines.

Porcelain figurines make timeless gifts and will be cherished by
the recipient. Lladro figurines are collectibles to be displayed
and enjoyed, and then passed down from one generation to the
next.

Visit Lladro-Porcelain.Com

So everybody’s bloggin’, but what makes one web marketer’s blog
a hotbed of marketer activity and massive sale converter…
while another blog just sits there collecting hits but getting
no real business? Check the Five Bloggin’ Bloopers that will
kill your credibility and drive business right into the other
guy’s lap… then avoid them like the plague!

Blog Blooper 1. Not branding yourself.

How will people who land on your blog via the links and search
engine results know who you are unless you tell them? Try to
close every blog entry you write with a signoff or
call-to-action. Example: “Need a copywriter? Email
dina@wordfeeder.com.” This way, no matter what your fans are
reading, they’ll be reminded of you, your website and what you
can offer them.

Blog Blooper 2. Sharing too much personal information.

If you’re blogging for business, stick to business. Sure, it’s
okay to reveal a few amusing details now and then… but if you
gab too much on your blog, all you’ll succeed in doing is
attract other gabbers. Remember your purpose in all this, and
keep your topics closely geared fulfilling the business needs of
your target audience.

Blog Blooper 3. Too many links to competitor sites.

Your fans will love you for sharing resources, and if you link
to “friendly neighborhood service providers like yourself”, this
will endear those marketers to you and your blog and prompt
reciprocal links back. However, be sure to choose your outbound
links wisely. Select complimentary service providers… not ones
who offer exactly what you do!

Blog Blooper 4. Not enough “spice.”

Post an intriguing or controversial viewpoint, and your readers
are more likely to jump into the conversation with posted
comments. The more activity on your blog, the more people are
“following along” as the plot develops, and the more repeat
visitors you’ll get. If everyone’s flocking to your blog, that
means better page rank for you. So please do “spice it up!”

Blog Blooper 5. All “pickup articles,” no personality.

Hey, now there’s a great way to develop your web style - only
post other people’s tips, stories and advice. Nothing like
drawing a crowd and then sending them away to other folks’
website because you never took the time to reveal your opinions,
advice, or even your line of business for that matter! Sure,
search engines feed on article content, but you MUST develop
your blog persona or you will NEVER get business!

Okay, now that we’ve laid down the blogging laws, it’s time for
you to hit the blogosphere and make a name for yourself. Start
from scratch and have fun with it. I know you can blog like a
web marketing pro.

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Are YOU Content With Your Content? Get Top Secret Marketing Tips
from the Web’s Biggest Gurus and Expert Authors on The First
Annual Web Content Awareness Day on FEBRUARY 9, 2006.

Go to http://wordfeeder.com/wcad/landingpage.html for details.

For most of us we live in a black and white world. Good vs. evil, right vs. wrong. For a few of us the shade of grey is more appealing. In the world of fitness and exercise most people, novice and advanced exercisers (athletes) there is generally a correct and incorrect way to exercise. Just as in any other specialty or business there is much research that goes into doing the right thing from the wrong thing. There are consequences from doing the wrong thing and rewards from doing the right thing.

In fitness and exercise there are a scant few of us that understand the right way to exercise from the wrong way to exercise. Much research is done and continues to be done and interpreted on the correct way to exercise, the beast way to fire the muscle or the fastest way to burn fat. But there is a very scary reality at play here. There is so much miss-information and so many accepted ways to do things, the wrong way, that when you see people doing the proper exercises it looks wrong to you.

But you are not at fault. Coaches, Trainers and other people that should know better have swayed you to the dark side. A thought process called gym science prevails. Gym science is not science at all, it simply states that if that fit or pretty person over there is doing that exercise it must work, never mind that the exercise they are performing is dangerous and injurious. To further sway your thought process exercise machine manufactures continue to make new and fancy machines to place in the gym or your home. These machines generally force you to move in a specific pattern, this pattern conversely is horribly damaging to your joints and is posturally inefficient. Why do we continue to recommend the same exercises that hurt us.

It shock’s me that Personal Trainers continue to recommend dangerous exercises to random people in the gym with absolutely no regard for the consequences of those exercises. There is not a day that goes by that I do not have people in the gym stare at me performing “correct” exercises. I must look like an alien, what strange exercise am I performing on one leg. Why am I not jerking the weight or using momentum, or swinging. Why do I never use the seated machines but I sure hog the cable machines that allow me to stand and do not control my movements, I control my movements. Right exercise is so right it looks wrong.

Yet for some reason trainers do not keep up with science and research. Only a few certifications require any con-ed and much of it is through that certifying company. If you are a trainer reading this, read. Read anything and everything pertaining to fitness, wellness, biomechanics and kinesiology. It must be research based and unbiased studies and articles from experts in their field. Go to seminars often. Muscle and Fitness, Men’s health and Self do not count. If you are an exerciser or athlete try to find a trainer with current certifications that require con-ed, preferably a four year degree and when in doubt ask for references or a resume. Go online and research that trainers fitness certification.

I challenge everyone to open up to new exercises, we open ourselves to new technology daily. Technology has allowed us to better understand the body and what exercises are safe and effective vs. what we did in the past with no real reason why, but hey that big guy did it so it must work!

Bryan Fass, BA, ATCL, CSCS, NREMT-P

Bryan Fass holds a bachelors in sports medicine, is a Certified / Licensed Athletic Trainer, Nationally Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Nationally Registered Paramedic. Bryan is also a highly skilled soft tissue and Myofascial Release therapist, And has over 10 years of experience in clinical and fitness settings.

Precision Fitness is an advanced personal fitness, corrective exercise, post-rehabilitation, and sports performance facility with locations in Cornelius and Mooresville.
http://www.lakenormanfitness.com

CHAPTER ONE: The Attack of the Little People:

TORONTO THE GOOD:

Toronto is one of the world’s most secure and wonderful cities and there are few social systems as good as we have in Canada. My name is Robert Bruce Baird and I live in Parkdale where my parents lived and where I spent the first two years of my life. Circumstances or co-incidences see me researching my books at the same library where my father read almost every book while his grandfather worked long and hard to create the union in an era when that was a meaningful contribution to society and the world. It is a new building and I am sure there are many more books. I can remember him saying he would get the librarian to bring in many books that he wanted in addition to the complete works of Shakespeare, Shaw and the Britannica. He imparted a true Joy of Learning in me that I have never lost. But I am fifty-five years old and I have given up on the materialistic society I once excelled at to the point that I was a self-made millionaire by the age of thirty. I am a proponent of a spiritual and ethical approach to matching assets and responsibilities to actualize plans such as full technology usage in the vein of Galbraith and Bucky Fuller or the Club of Rome. You might already have gathered that from the quotes I began this book with, if you know Bucky’s work. Toronto was one of the places Bucky spent a lot of time.

Friday February, 23, 2006 seemed like many other days at the start. I had finished another book called Phoenician Makers of the Bible and Much More a couple of days before. I was continuing work on two other books but taking it easy as the Winter Olympics from Torino provided me with a lot of entertainment. I was thinking about when I should re-contact best-selling author Jim Marrs about his offer to do a forward for my book titled America’s Assassination and Aspirations. Jim wrote the book that the movie JFK is based on, in part. He is a long time correspondent of mine and we have both given each other some helpful research since I started writing and participating in the World Wide Web. He has said he will do this in the spring so I decided to wait until the end of March; but as you will shortly see I might be in jail at that time.

After depositing my Canada Pension Plan and Ontario Disability Support Plan (ODSP) checks in the bank I went back to the Group Home I self-admitted myself to about seven years earlier. The ODSP check is for about $33. and I could live on my own and get more money from them. They pay my landlord about $500. a month in addition to my rent of $543.30. My spendable income is less than $200. a month with a tax rebate amounting to about $550. a year which I use to get my books in the market or to do research on artifacts sent to me by fellow researchers. I went to the smoking lounge to watch the Olympic coverage and to see how many medals Canada was adding to their already historic medal count.

Minh the Mighty:

There is a long history of activism in regards to my involvement in the Group Home or Hospital and Prison Without Walls that I live in. When I came here in January 1999 the home was owned by Mrs. Carmen Carter whose husband had died a short time earlier. He was a Seventh Day Adventist minister and leader and she is from a wealthy Jamaican family. She had been a psychiatric nurse and was on Mayoral Committees and they had donated the land that Branson Hospital is located on and the city was asking for more of the land to expand that hospital upon as I remember. Mrs. Carter said I was sent by God and other such things. At first I tired to help the mentally challenged and victimized people of the larger community. I established Bridge Clubs and Euchre Tournaments with the help of a COTA (Community Occupational Therapy Associates) worker named Catriona. I organized a newsletter and paid for the printing myself. Catriona said that her bosses liked it and they would distribute it. Habitat Services checked it out in advance and also indicated they would distribute it but the self-help and groups I was promoting created a problem for one of their Directors who had pursued his adopted son into the ‘consumer survivor’ community and these homes for over sixteen years.

His son was cross-dressing and was diagnosed as having Multiple Personality Disorder. In one four or five hour session with me he opened up more than he had ever done with all his social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists during that sixteen years. I discovered someone in his family had taken lit cigarettes to his penis and other such travesties of morality. His step-father was the Director of Habitat that we were dealing with and though I never met him in person he began slandering me. The newsletter was never delivered and we stopped making it after three months. This young man had a sister adopted by the same family. This family is very wealthy and I can only imagine that they would not want this can of worms opened up given the fact that the young girl had run away and she had been involved in the sex trade. These are common symptoms of the Cycle of Violence and incest and the system does not wish to address those problems directly because parents are often the victimizer and they are the voters as well as the fact that it would be hard to help all those who have been abused. C. Everett Koop as Surgeon-General of the United States said it was an epidemic. I was involved in a personal mission to help these people in the US for at least nine years including a year when I lived with a noted Doctor of Psychology who was my ‘twin’ (born the same day as me).

I eventually stopped actively reaching out to help people when various other acts of psychiatrists and hospitals made it clear I was black-flagged and they would not support my efforts. I continued to help as I could in my own home. Mrs. Carter had developed Alzheimer’s or something like that and she had sold the home to Peter and Kelly about a year and a half before the confrontation that is the cause of this effort or explanation.

In the week leading-up to Minh attacking me one of the people I had helped had moved out of the house. His name is Peter Lye and he would have been able to provide me with a good witness to what happened and the police constable would have been more hesitant to do what he did if Peter had been there. I am pretty sure Minh knew this and began to try to get me at this juncture partially because Peter was no longer there. Peter had held the door open over a year earlier when I threw Minh out the door from some distance. Minh is anorexic and less than half my weight. He and his crack-smoking lover who had been squatting in his room for most of that month had forced us to take action and involve the police on more than one occasion. At that juncture Philip (his lover) had bumped me with his chest and I was about to throw him out when Minh came to his lover’s defence.

So when I returned from doing my banking and started to watch the Olympics Minh came into the smoking lounge and turned the station on the TV. Minh does not smoke cigarettes and I do not know if he personally does the cocaine and crack that was often done by his male lovers in his room. A year earlier had seen the end of him going into the street and bringing as many as six lovers a day into his room as well as other thieves, prostitutes and low-lifes. At this juncture I had seen the medal update and there was nothing I really needed to watch; and even though others might have liked to continue watching and Minh had not asked for a vote – I went upstairs to work on my books and web communities.

Later in the day I returned to watch the hockey game between Finland and Russia. Minh came in and turned the station and was still moving it despite my asking him not to. I got up from the couch and went to the TV. I grabbed his hand and because the TV knobs are missing and we have to stick our fingers into the holes where the knobs used to be I had to move his hand backwards rather than merely slap it away. I did not look to see what happened when I threw his hand backwards as I started to return the TV station to the game we were watching.

Minh punched me in the eye from behind. I continued to get the TV onto the right station as well as continuing to smoke a cigarette in my other hand. He may have hit me more than once but am not sure when each aspect of my wounds and chucks of hair lying on the floor occurred. I do remember getting on top of him while still smoking my cigarette and him yanking a huge lock of hair from my head. I do not have a lot of hair up top but I am trying to be humorous in mentioning that. It was at this time that he stuck his fingers into my eye socket and I became concerned. I stood up and got hold of his head. I pushed his head down towards his knees and gradually got him to where I could sit on a chair even though he continued to punch at my lower extremities. I had my left hand under his chin and my right hand on the back of his head at the base of the skull or the top of his neck. He continued punching me even though he must have known I could have broken his neck easily at this juncture.

There have been other incidents where I did not call the police when Minh hit me and I think he knows that I am a person who will not hurt other people unless I have to. In this instance I called for the staff person who we call Cliff to phone the police because I thought this would rise to the level of being worthy of an assault charge what with seeing my hair on the floor and knowing I was bleeding near my eye. There are legal uncertainties about what is allowable for tenants, owners and other rights including whether or not the law for hotels or motels, or apartments apply. This uncertainty had existed even when the house got good police service while Mrs. Carter paid the Benevolent Association and up to $500 a month to various police causes; while avoiding payment of duty on her American-registered Mercedes Benz with Texas plates that had been given to her when her son died around the same time her husband had passed on. Peter and Kelly refused to pay the Benevolent Association when asked to do so but there is no proof which clearly establishes the nature of the ‘protection racket’ they run. The art of SPIN and deception is not limited to journalism or politics.

A TOUGH HOMBRE:

When the police arrived my friend Mel was at the door holding it open for them. Melvin is a black man who served two tours in Vietnam including a black ops base in Laos or Cambodia as an aircraft technician. He became a drug addict in Vietnam but he has beaten the habit in the last four years with the help of Peter and myself as well as others. I asked the policeman if I could leave Minh in his care so I could rest after a long period of adrenaline rush and energy spent restraining his. I sat down in my usual place on the corner of the couch with the table between me and the lady cop I later learned is named Caroline. She took information including my ID from my shaking hands while I explained to the constable what had occurred.

Incredibly the policeman said he would not be pressing any charges as he felt it was just a fight despite the evidence to the contrary. I explained my role in the house even though I was pretty sure he had been there before at a time when things were especially rough and a parolee who was threatening everyone had defecated on the floor in front of the kitchen door to get back at the staff. I explained that I had done everything according to what many cops and the owner thought was the proper way to handle such a confrontation but that we still needed further clarity from the courts as to the legal position we were in vis a vis the different labels that might be legally interpreted as applicable to the situation. He said I was no lawyer and that he was no “Average Joe” and preened his ego along with using words of a purple nature. I responded with the same words and told him I wanted a judge to decide and that I did not need his opinion or that of any other cop due to the established uncertainty. I also said that if there were no charges laid against Minh that would necessitate people using force to protect themselves. He said I was “Threatening”. There is a legal charge that could go along with that. He asked Cliff (Who I think had just came by and quickly left. His son had been killed in the previous two years while acting as security for a downtown bar.) for his opinion and Cliff muttered something about having nothing to say.

I pointed out that the owners were not paying the ‘protection’ and that his threats of sending me to jail did not bother me. I like Jail or I could certainly say I have learned a lot in jail as you can see from my appendix number one. I probably told him about that article titled The Man Who Loved Jail which has been on the web for some time. The situation continued with us repeating our positions until he asked me to go outside. I got up and was near the door when he first laid hands on me. I told him there was no need to get physical. He continued and I braced myself on the door jambs with my legs apart. I remember his first punch to my kidney did not hurt and I remember him saying to his partner “Take him down”. I let them wail on me for a minute or more and kept saying I was not resisting arrest but rather I was insisting on it.

I do not recall him asking me to go to the floor in the small room but I could see that might end the charade so I went onto the floor on my hands and knees. He pounced upon me on the left side of my body and the lady cop went to my fight and grabbed my hand which was under the table. His weight on my shoulders and neck did make it hard to breathe when I was face down on the floor and I told them I was not resisting but I would have to move so I could breath. They could not prevent me from doing any movement I wished to do. I would imagine I weigh as much as the two of them do together. I was on my back with my hands out front to the side so she could put the cuffs on and he was on top of me screaming obscenities and asking me if I could breathe better as he had both hands on my neck. I think he was trying to choke me but he was unable to do it.

Author of many books available at Lulu and World-Mysteries.com

As you sit at your computer reading this somewhere in the
back of your mind may be the little words, “Back me up!”
floating around trying to alert you to something truly
important.

You swat the thought away like a pesky fly telling yourself,
“I will, I will..!” and ignore that silent, almost esp-like
intuition trying to help you and save you from computer
disaster.

For a fleeting moment you give in to the voice, saying to
yourself, “Boy I AM way behind on my backups.” But…

And then it happens… WHAM! And you’ve lost everything

After having suffered two crashes in the Fall of last year,
and a few problems in this new year, I can with all honesty
tell you that being prepared in the event of a computer
emergency is worth every second it takes along the way.

Sure it’s still gut wrenching to have it happen, but putting
it all back together takes less and less time the more and
more you are ready for it.

What Needs Safekeeping?

Your website should be one of the first things you
download on a consistent basis unless you know you have
the complete website files and databases already on your
own computer and you only make changes from your computer
and upload to your website.

If you’ve been in and out of your website via FTP making
a tweak here and a little, but important one there, and
haven’t downloaded those changes to your working folders,
yikes!

Relying on the hosting company to keep your site safe is
cool, but it is your site and overall your responsibility.

If you don’t change it often, then once every few weeks
would be fine. But, if you’re like me and in there every
day, more often is definitely called for… a lot more
often!

Then what?

Sure I have my files on the hard drive, but if I can’t
access them, what good are they?

I’ve got both a read/write CD-ROM and an external drive,
and my preference is the external drive. Call me stupid,
but it’s just like accessing an A disk only much bigger.
It’s just really easy to use, quick to install, and
inexpensive to purchase.

So back ‘em up!

Next, your email - every receipt for purchase, every
password and username, every download link and unlock
code, and… well you get the idea. Save them to disk!

If you just knew how many programs, products, and ebooks
I lost last year you wouldn’t even bother to finish this
article, you’d just high tail it to your inboxes and
start now.

Which, of course leads me to the ebooks, programs, etc.,
that you’ve purchased along the way. Are you 100% sure
that you can remember the urls to the websites where
they all came from…? Are you counting on your trusty
Favorites folder to help you out? Think again.

If catastrophe hits, bye bye Favorites. Back them up,
too.

Yes it’s time consuming now - to some extent - and we
all believe there’s “always tomorrow.”

But should tomorrow ever come… don’t be caught short!

© Theresa Cahill - All Rights Reserved. Feel free to distribute this article. Please keep it intact and with the resource box included below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Theresa Cahill, a two decade veteran of marketing, is the owner of http://www.mywizardads.com and invites you to take a look at the services of MWA and download fr.ee helpful information and more at http://www.mywizardads.com/sitemap.html

Choosing the right bulbs involves more than just selecting colors and cultivars. Timing, bulb size, and most importantly, bulb health are equally significant factors in designing your spring garden.

Before purchasing any bulbs, know the differences in bulb types. Along with true bulbs, several types of flowers, sold as bulbs, grow from the underground stem growth of rhizomes, tubers, and corms.

• True bulbs are rounded, self-sufficient, underground storage organs. True bulbs are an incubator for a flower bud embryo already inside.
• Many perennial flowers grow from tubers, which are flat underground stems that store food and plant energy.
• Corms are thick underground stems that produce the new roots, leaves and flowers of their cultivars.
• Rhizomes are modified plant stems that grow horizontally under the surface of the soil. New growth emerges from several different points along each rhizome.

Bulb Health

The first part in selecting healthy bulbs is knowing the bulb parts.

1. The tunic of a bulb is the paper-like outside of the bulb that protects it from damage and keeps it from drying out.
2. The scale leaves are under the tunic and hold all the nutrients needed to grow the cultivar.
3. The first parts of the plant to push through the soil are the immature leaves, closely followed (or so we hope) by the flower bud and the stem.
5. The roots of bulb cultivars grow from the basal plate, which lies at the bottom of each bulb.

Healthy bulbs are firm, well rounded, and heavy for their size. Although bulbs come in a range of colors, some even with distinctive patterns, color should be uniform with no dark patches or light splotches. Discard any bulbs with weak spots or spongy area, which are signs of rot caused by disease or other damage.

Bulb Size

A double-edged tip for selecting bulbs is “the bigger the bulb, the bigger the bloom”.

First, it helps you select cultivars and decide where to place them in your spring flower garden. For instance, crocus and anemone bulbs are tiny imps that beg a front row or outside border seat, while giant tulip or daffodil bulbs stand tall in back rows or keep watch over the center of your garden.
Second, larger bulbs, within a particular cultivar, are generally more robust than smaller bulbs and produce stronger, healthier plants and blooms.

Timing

When choosing bulbs for a spring flower garden, consider both when they need to be planted as well as when you want them to appear.
Most spring bulbs need to be planted in late summer or autumn. However, the reasons for the timing in planting spring bulbs usually aren’t relative to when the bulbs sprout in the spring. Rather, bulbs usually need to be planted when it is cool enough to keep them from sprouting, but warm enough to allow roots to become established before winter.

All spring bulbs need a cool weather rest period below 50°F in order to sprout successfully. If your climate is warm, you’ll need to provide them with a simulated winter before planting them.

•Tulips — 14 weeks
•Hyacinths — 12 weeks
•Snowdrops and scilla — 6 weeks
•Crocus — 4 weeks

Although crocuses and windflowers are tiny, they are brave little imps and often the first heralds of spring. Generally, they’ll be followed by smaller tulip cultivars and narcissus. Still, even some of the larger daffodils and giant tulip hybrids may surprise you with an early appearance.

The best way to try to synchronize bulb growth with your garden plan is to check the growth patterns of each individual cultivar before purchasing and planting the bulbs.

About the Author

Linda is author of the

Tulip Flower and Bulb Flowers section of
Gardening-Guides.com

** B2B Marketing News ** The Newsletter & Resource Site for
Marketing http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com

IN TODAY’S ISSUE:

1.)… Flashy Web Site Designs are Bad for Business… 2.)…
Recommended Reading 3.)… Does Your Web Site Work?

FLASHY WEB SITE DESIGNS ARE BAD FOR BUSINESS

Have you heard yourself saying, “I don’t understand? I have a
gorgeous site, a really cutting-edge splash page with a flash
introduction, up-to-date technology, I paid a small fortune for
this site, and I’m getting plenty of hits but no one is buying
or staying in the site.”

Well, you may be one of a growing number of businesses, both
large and small, who believed all the hype about the latest in
new technology. Many business owners want their website to have
that cutting-edge look, and so will ask for things such as
animation, music, flash, and other “bells and whistles” that
would be detrimental to their site. These extras are probably
driving potential customers away because they increase download
time and are not search engine optimized.

In the rush to join everyone else on the Internet, businesses
have ignored vital steps in the process of getting their
business on-line. They assumed that because everyone else had
gimmicks such as a splash/intro page, this was the right way to
go. The result: businesses chose design companies who readily
took their money and who designed exactly what the client wanted
without clearly focusing on marketing goals. To be fair,
oftentimes the graphic design company has no idea that a site
designed with all the latest technology doesn’t necessary
translate into a site that has the functionality that an on-line
business needs. This is because the graphic design firms
specialize in graphic design, not in marketing. Many graphic
design sites are full of splash pages, scrolling text,
animation, etc. They use these tools because it allows the
graphic designers to display their creativity and their
knowledge of these “bells and whistle.” Creativity is good but
all the latest cutting-edge technology translates into a lack of
functionality to effectively market any on-line business
including their on-line presence.

When having your site designed, remember that first and
foremost, you are building your site to increase prospects and
sales. Don’t look for a graphic design firm that believes all
you need to do is get in the search engines and place banners to
be successful. Don’t hire a designer that is new to the
Internet–meaning they have years of print design experience but
have just decided to expand their horizons to the Internet.
Don’t hire a graphic designer that doesn’t have a professional
copywriter or marketing person on staff and don’t hire a graphic
designer just because they are the cheapest. Remember, cheap can
cost you money–you get what you pay for. Hire a
marketing/design firm that understands the difference between
form and function and can apply it in a marketing perspective.
Remember, many of these latest bells and whistles are very
expensive and your site may not need them to be effective.

There are several elements, that when pieced together give your
on-line business proper form and function and provide you with a
fighting chance of succeeding. Hand this to your designer before
you begin:

INDIVIDUAL PAGE SIZE: While every day more Internet users are
signing on with DSL, satellite, or cable modems, the majority is
still using dial-up access. Dial-up is the number one way people
access the Internet because of one of two reasons: DSL,
satellite, and cable is not available in rural areas or they
cannot afford the extra costs associated with these cutting-edge
technologies. What this means is that the majority of your
potential customers will download pages at 3-4 KB per second
versus the 0-1 KB per second with DSL, satellite, or cable
modems.

What does this mean? Studies have shown that if a web page
doesn’t load in 8-10 seconds, you will lose 1/3 or more of your
potential customers. The total size of a page should not exceed
30 KB including text, graphics, JavaScript, animations, HTML,
etc. The absolute maximum recommended download time is 30 sec
over a 28.8 modem, which is 15 sec over a 56k modem. Anything
longer and you’ve lost your potential customer.

Even though your logo, fonts, colors, images, etc. are necessary
for your brand, it is important to use them in such a way as to
not cause your pages to load too slowly. If the page does load
too slowly, then your brand is in jeopardy because customers
remember the bad far longer than they remember the good. To keep
top-of-mind awareness, it is necessary to pay attention to these
details as they, too, are part of your brand. Another aspect of
pages loading too slowly is loss of revenue. Customers come to
your site to see what you offer and they need an overall
experience that will stay with them and make them want to
recommend your site to others.

SPLASH PAGES/FLASH INTRODUCTIONS Research is necessary to any
business as this allows a business to track what is happening.
Therefore, research has generated reports about splash pages and
flash introductions. These reports have indicated that these
particular pages are not popular with the buying public. They
are, however, extremely popular with designers and people who
want to keep up with the latest technologies. This raises the
questions, “Who is buying and who will give a return on
investment?” Is it the buying public or the designers and the
people who want to keep up? Obviously, the answer is the buying
public. Therefore, it is a no brainer that a web site needs
functionality for the buying public’s needs and not for a
business owner’s or designer’s ego. Unfortunately, many business
owners are talked into a splash page by the designer simply
because it allows the designer to be creative and, of course,
the extra revenue for the design company. If you have or are
thinking about having a splash page for your on-line
presence–DON’T. They take too long to download, they don’t
provide your potential customer with enough information, and
there’s nothing there for the search engines to spider.
Remember, potential customers are in your site for one reason
only and that is to see what you have to offer them, get the
information they’re looking for, and to potentially buy.

A flash introduction is just as bad for an on-line business.
Although I love flash personally, I do find times when it’s a
pain and often leave the site before seeing anything else. The
rule of thumb to remember is to keep the number of clicks a
potential customer must make to get to the information they are
seeking is three or less. For every added click with a splash
page/flash introduction, you are running the risk of losing that
potential sale which decreases your return on investment.

In conclusion, it is in your best interest to avoid the use of
splash pages/flash introductions. Have actual text that your
customer can read and the search engines can index. If you
really want to have innovative technology on your site and are
willing to pay the added costs, offer it as an option. Have a
hyperlink to a flash introduction on your home page that people
can choose if they have the time or like flash. Another option
is to create a parallel site that potential customers who covet
the latest technology can access. By doing this you will see an
increase in your sales and search engine traffic.

HYPERLINKS Hyperlinks are extremely important for search engines
to index your site. These are what the search engines follow to
find all the pages in your site and index them. However, if it
isn’t a true hyperlink then some of your site may become
invisible to the search engine.

Remember use a true hyperlink. While 90% of most browsers will
recognize JavaScript hyperlinks, they don’t give search engines
anything to follow.

A true hyperlink is:

BODY TEXT Search engines can only index text. Therefore, graphic
representations of text or large graphics are useless unless you
have alt tags attached to them. Even then, search engines don’t
like long descriptions in every alt tag. Thus, to get the full
potential of a page, it is necessary to have content that search
engines can index.

Content is also your calling card to your potential customer. A
recent study/survey (according to MarketFacts) has shown that
one of the major reasons people go on-line is to gather news
and/or information (87.8%). Another study by Forrester Research,
Inc. showed that the highest-ranking reason people go back to a
web site is high-quality content (75%). Consequently, body
text/content is necessary on every web site over lots of eye
appealing graphics.

When laying out the content, it is important to keep in mind
continuity. When a designer uses complex tables (multiple nested
tables), frames, and other design elements, it breaks the flow
of the text on a page. Although we see the page as flowing
nicely, search engines do not. They see the code as unrelated
fragments instead of part of a continuous sentence or paragraph.
Thus, every table or frame breaks the flow of text.

Consequently, the simpler the page design, the better for your
search engine ranking.

Keep in mind the following research when designing your web site
and how it will function (according to Forrester Research, Inc.
as posted on http://www.quickinfo247.com/304895/FREE).

High-quality content: 75% Ease of Use: 66% Quick to download:
58% Updated frequently: 54% Coupons and incentives: 14% Favorite
brands: 13% Cutting-edge technology: 12% Games: 12% Purchasing
capabilities: 11% Customizable content: 10% Chat & BBS: 10%
Other: 6%

This tells me that when building a web site, potential customers
and repeat customers are looking for three basic elements on a
site:

1. Good content. 2. Good navigation/site design. 3. Fast
download time

SUMMARY Every single design element affects your web sites
functionality and marketability–from the decision about how the
navigation will work to choosing the right colors, fonts,
graphics, content, HTML code, and more. These will not only
influence potential customers but search engine indexing as
well.

Therefore, a business plan and marketing strategy that includes
the above elements for your site will increase your chances of
succeeding on-line.

Are you ready to be successful?

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Cheryl Carnright and Joann Marsili have years
of graphic design and marketing experience. They are the authors
of a free monthly newsletter: “B2B Marketing News.” Visit their
site http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com.

RECOMMENDED READING “Ice to the Eskimos. How to Market a Product
Nobody Wants” by Jon Spoelstra
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887308511/b2bstrategicm-2
0 If you need to jump-start your marketing effort, this is a
great book to read and apply. Everyone will get at least one
very useful idea from this book.

DOES YOUR WEBSITE WORK?

Is your website doing what you want it to do? B2B Strategic
Marketing http://www.b2bstrategicmarketing.com/ will give you a
5 - point free analysis of your website. We will look at:

- design - navigation - copy - coding - marketing focus

We will give you some ideas on how we would do things
Differently and also give you some free advice on what you need
to do to make your site more successful.

Having a corporate or promotional video for your company is often viewed as something of an expensive luxury – useful, but rarely considered to be an essential marketing tool. Whilst many businesses can understand the benefits of having a corporate video, all too often they are put off by the perceived cost and subsequently find it hard to justify commercially. Furthermore, the process of making a video can at times, appear complex and intimidating, with an array of technical terms and processes.

Streaming video provides a number of useful opportunities for maximising the potential of an existing corporate video. And compared to other distribution media such as DVD or CD-ROMs it also offers a cost-effective solution for broadcasting a new corporate presentation to a wider audience.

Although streaming video is certainly not a new concept and has been around for some time, it’s now easier than ever to add streaming video content to your website. The technology required to enable video streaming is widely available, it’s relatively inexpensive and with the dramatic growth in high speed, broadband internet connections, a growing number of internet users can now view high quality, streaming video on their computers.

In this article, leading corporate video & business television producer, John Howarth, explains some of the ways in which streaming video content can be made to work effectively for your business and produce tangible results.

Provide Compelling Content

Try to provide content that creates a real interest for the viewer. Instead of simply informing them of your key corporate values – the typical narrative being ‘how successful we are, the great products & services we offer, our featured clients’ - why not turn the message into something that is actually useful and engaging to watch.

Take for example a company that manufactures kitchen products. Whilst you could produce a video to establish company values by highlighting such areas as quality of craftsmanship and original design of the product, this information is almost certainly available more easily on the web pages. It could be far more interesting for the viewer to provide them with a series of recipes, which feature the products being used in context.

Another technique is to provide content that is not centrally focused to your company’s core products & services. For example, your company sponsors a sports event or art exhibition. How about showing some clips from the event, with company branding around it? By using more recognisable and popular content, you are creating a wider ‘reach’ for the video, with the added possibility of gaining increased website traffic.

Re-Package Content

Lets say you already have a corporate video, it’s around ten minutes long and you currently distribute it on a video tape format or DVD. The most obvious solution would be to have it transferred to a streaming format in it’s entirety and loaded up onto your website. Whilst a ten minute corporate video sequence may be useful as a backdrop display in a trade exhibition or screened to a captive audience in a conference, it’s often far too long to use as a streaming video clip on your website. Who really has the time to sit and watch a corporate video clip for this length of time? It’s often far more useful to break the sequence down into a series of individual clips or re-edit into a shorter, condensed version that has greater impact.

Following on from this, you might also want to distribute streaming video clips around different areas on your website. This way, the clips featured can be targeted to match – and complement - the page content. For example, on a page detailing company clients and case studies, the video clip could feature customer testimonials; situated on a contact details page, the video sequence could feature some generic shots of company locations and building exterior shots.

Brand The Video

Whatever streaming video clips you use, try to ensure they are branded with your corporate identity. This could be a small logo in the top corner of the screen or a ‘picture frame’ wrapped around the moving images. Taking it a step further, you may want to add an introduction sequence with animated corporate logos at the beginning and end of every sequence. Another option is to create an HTML or Flash ‘player’ customised with your corporate identity. The video clip would then play within this frame and could be complemented by some animated product or service information around it.

When reviewing website statistics, it is frequently pages featuring streaming video content that are the most ‘sticky’ and have the longest viewing times by site visitors. Use this factor to your advantage - it’s an ideal opportunity to get your core brand values, products and services across to the site visitor.

About The Author

John Howarth is creative director of Blue Tuna Limited, a leading UK-based corporate communications & multi-media production agency. Past projects include live streaming for leading online bookmaker, Blue Square and the launch of the UK’s of the first club soccer channel, Boro TV for NTL.

www.bluetuna.tv

1. UL Listed Christmas Lights
UL Listed means that the lights are certified by Underwriter Laboratories, Inc. (UL). UL knows a thing or two about Christmas lights as they have certified Christmas lights since 1905. Make absolutely certain the lights installed on the Christmas tree are UL Listed. Each string of Christmas lights on a pre lit Christmas tree should have the “UL Listed” tag attached near the plug.

2. Non-Twist Light Sockets
The bulbs in cheap Christmas lights can easily twist in their sockets. Ensure the bulbs on the Christmas light strings have an anti-twist mechanism in the bulb and socket. This provides safety and reliability by preventing the bulb from twisting in the socket. Most inexpensive Christmas lights are easily twisted in the socket causing the light and string to go out. In the worst cases, a twisted light could create a fire hazard.

This is particularly important in homes with small children.

3. Single Pole versus Frame Tree
The majority of residential Christmas trees are “Single Pole” construction which means there is one pole in the center of the tree where all branches attach. This method of construction can be used for trees up to 12-14 feet high.

Above 12-14 feet, “Frame Tree” construction is the preferred method. Frame Tree construction means there is a steel frame resembling a cone-shaped jungle gym with branches attached to the frame. Frame Tree construction trees are a must for outdoor Christmas tree installations. The high quality frame trees are designed so the frame can be secured to the ground or a structure.

4. Steel versus Plastic Tree Stands
Many manufacturers use plastic for the base of their trees. Plastic bases should be avoided as the base of the tree must securely withstand the weight of the tree. Plastic tree stands may flex or break.

5. Rolling Christmas Tree Stand
A decorated Christmas tree may weight 30-60% more than an undecorated tree. For this reason, it is recommended that a Christmas tree stand with wheels attached is used if there is any chance you will need to move your tree. A fully decorated Christmas tree is too heavy to safely move without a rolling stand.

6. Weight Distribution
The weight distribution of a Christmas tree is critical. The weight of the branches should be distributed over the center pole or frame of the tree. Weight distribution is critical for homes with small children and for outdoor commercial Christmas trees.

7. Flame-Retardant Materials
The materials used to manufacture the Christmas tree should be flame retardant to ensure the tree does not become a fire accelerator. The most common materials used on a flame-retardant Christmas tree are polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene.

8. Christmas Light Maintenance
Many miniature light strings manufactured today stay lit if one or two bulbs burn out. It is important to look once or twice a week for burned out bulbs. Consequently, if a bulb burns out, the other lights take on more power. For example, if 5 lights burn out on a 25-light string of lights, each remaining light takes on 25% more electricity. This causes all remaining lights to burn out very rapidly and ruin the sockets as well.

9. Wash your hands
It does not matter if you have an artificial Christmas tree or a real/fresh cut Christmas tree, you should wash your hands after you decorate the tree. Both artificial and fresh cut trees are not something you want to put in your mouth.

10. Use a surge protector
A pre lit Christmas tree is not as important as the home computer but at least plug the tree into a surge protector. This protects your investment in the tree from power surges. Most importantly, the switch on the surge protector makes it easy to not forget the most important point of pre lit Christmas tree safety — Shut off the lights before leaving the house or going to bed!!!

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

Bill Quinn is the Christmas tree expert at ChristmasTreeForMe.com To learn more from Bill, please review our Christmas Tree Buyer’s Guide.