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Emotions (and feelings) play a strong role in the marketing and selling process. Therefore, we need to be aware of the emotional impact of our websites. So, in this article, I am considering three of the uncomfortable emotions and/or feelings that visitors experience as they surf the Internet and come in contact with various websites.

Feeling #1. Frustration happens in many ways because of thoughtless design.

• Long download time because of huge graphics, Flash introduction pages and bloated code.
• Most visitors will leave because their frustration turns into impatience.
• But, if you know that everyone who visits your site has a high-speed connection, you won’t have to worry about this.

Feeling #2. Confusion arrives in many forms.

• What is this site about? Even though we know what our site is about and why we have it, we must make sure that it is obvious to a visitor what we are working toward accomplishing through our website. It is amazing how many sites leave us wondering and confused.
• Unclear navigation provides a prime area of confusion. If the navigational tools/buttons don’t have obvious labels or are not recognizable, the visitor will have no idea where to go next or how to find what he or she is looking for.
• A shopping cart from H – - -! You know what I mean. It takes a plethora of steps and clicks to buy a small item, and when you get to the end, you are still unsure of whether it worked or not.
• Hard-to-find contact information. It is always surprising to me when I have trouble finding how to get in touch with the website’s company and/or owner. I begin to wonder if they are hiding something. I suggest including this information on every page.

Feeling #3. Distaste results from an unexpected shock.

• The site is the epitome of Kitsch (the tasteless and pretentious). I was just sent to a site like this by a woman who claimed that she is a fine designer. If she is a designer, my shock changed my mind about her credentials, no matter what she had told me.
• We all have different tastes and expectations, but when the website renders distaste in more than a few visitors, it is ready for a re-design.

This article is just scratching the surface of uncomfortable website emotions and feelings. I hope, however, it will encourage you to test your website — or website to be — for whether or not it is succeeding at creating the emotions and feelings you want it to.

Chris King is a professional website creator / designer, storyteller, writer, free agent, and fitness instructor. You will find her business website at http://www.creativekeys.biz where you can sign up for her monthly Internet Tips E-zine. In addition visit Chris’ information website at http://www.creativekeys.net and her blog at http://www.curiositycubed.blogspot.com

There’s no doubt about it; kids love Halloween. They love dressing up in costumes and collecting loads of candy. But did you know that kids also enjoy participating in other fun, creative activities as well? There are tons of interesting ways to entertain a child’s imagination, including simple craft projects and games. Why not take advantage of this amazing holiday by spending some extra time with the children and doing these activities together?

Craft projects are a great way to get your child involved with Halloween traditions. Children love the chance to use and show off their imagination. Why not allow them to help out with the Halloween decorations? Sure, you could go out and spend lots of money on decorations that are already assembled, but wouldn’t it be nice to save some cash by making your own? And as a bonus, you get to share the moment with your children.

Here’s a nifty idea for adding Halloween charm to your porch or patio. Thoroughly clean and remove the labels from empty 2-liter pop bottles and pour a little bit of orange paint inside, replacing lid afterward. Let the kids shake the bottles around until the inside is covered with orange paint. Once dry, allow them to decorate faces onto the outside of the bottles with black paint. Add a green ribbon or bow to the top of the bottle and set on the porch. To lessen the chance of your pop-bottle pumpkins from blowing over, you can add a handful of sand using a funnel.

Another fun project for the kids involves making pumpkin pouches from ordinary paper plates. These creative little pouches will look great hung on the wall or door. Use them for holding candy or other items. In fact, use them all year long. They can easily be created to change as the seasons do. Take two plates and cut one in half. Secure the half plate onto the whole one using either staples or weaving ribbon through punched-out holes. Paint the plate pouch orange and allow it to dry. Decorate the pumpkin with funny or spooky faces and hang (pouch out). You could also have the kids create a festive Halloween handprint wreath for hanging on the front door. Choose autumn-colored pieces of construction paper and trace around your child’s hand. Cut the little hands out and glue them together in the shape of a wreath. These can be further decorated or left as is. The size of the wreath is up to you.

Planning a party? Get the kids to help out with the invitations. Create adorable ghost print cards using their own footprints. Your children will not only enjoy making them, but your guests will love the cute designs as well. Simply grab some black and orange-colored construction paper (amount will vary depending on how many people), white tempera or other washable paint, and some gold gel markers. Lay down some newspaper and fill a shallow container with paint. Fold each piece of construction paper in half and place, one at a time, onto the newspaper. Have each child dip his/her foot into the paint and ’stamp’ the card with a footprint. Allow the cards to dry; afterward, let the kids add a face onto the ghost and print a small message inside using markers. You could use glue for this instead and decorate with glitter.

You could attach some lively little ghost pops onto each card. Just have the children cover a tootsie pop with tissue and secure it in place with a piece of orange or black yarn. Use a marker to add a face to the ghost. These also make fun treats to give out to the trick-or-treaters.

Other interesting ideas for the kids to make and give out to party guests as well as trick-or-treaters include bat bags and candy cups. Use an ordinary brown paper lunch bag and some brown construction paper. Have the kids draw a bat’s head onto the piece of construction paper and cut it out. Let them decorate it with markers, glitter, etc. Fill the bag with treats, fold the top over, and staple (parent/adult should do this). Of course, you don’t need to feel limited to bats; allow them to choose whatever Halloween design they want or one that goes with a party theme.

Candy cups are good for party guests. Simply allow kids to decorate Styrofoam cups with markers relating to Halloween theme. Meanwhile, fill some plastic baggies with individually wrapped candy and tie the tops with decorative yarn or ribbon. Let the kids drop one baggie into each of the cups; these can also contain the names of guests or allow the guests to become involved as well and include the activity as a party event.

While children are always fascinated with creative craft projects, they simply love the opportunity to play. Games are another fun way for them to enjoy the Halloween festivities. Traditional games such as Snap Apple are always a hit. Hang an apple from the doorway with a string and have the children take turns trying to bite the apple, with their hands behind their back. This game was thought to bring good fortunes to those accomplishing the task. Of course, you could give a prize instead.

An interesting alternative to the more traditional Halloween games might include a good old-fashioned game of Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin. This game is played in the same way as Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Create a pumpkin from a piece of orange poster board and draw a mouth and eyes onto it with black marker. Create the nose from a piece of black poster board or construction paper and attach some double-sided tape to the back of it. Blindfold the players, having them turn around a couple of times, then allow them to ‘pin’ the nose onto the pumpkin. Winner gets a small prize.

Halloween isn’t just about the candy or the costumes; nor is it about the ghosts, goblins, or witches. Halloween is an ideal occasion for spending and honoring time with family and friends. From small decorating projects to fun games, the Halloween season offers plenty of easy and interesting activities for the kids as well as the parents.

This article was written by Nikki Phipps and was sponsored by DareToScare.com. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a live link back to http://www.DareToScare.com.

Use eBay picture service or host your own photos?

If you use the eBay picture service, your first photo is free. But each additional picture will cost you $0.15 and the supersize picture will be another $0.75.

This can cut into your auction profits if you need, let’s say, 3 or 4 pictures showing different angles, and one supersize picture for the “WOW” effect!

So I found a way to have as many pictures I want in my listings without having to pay all these fees to eBay: I do my own image hosting!

They are a lot of image hosting services to choose from online. Some are free, and others charge a small monthly or yearly fee.

Currently I use Photobucket image hosting. They have a free starter package (which gives you 25 MB of disc space) or a premium package (unlimited disc space) to store your pictures. You can subscribe to the premium package for 3 months ($9.00) or one year ($25.00).

Now, how to load your pictures on your photo-hosting service?

First, you have to resize your images. One reason for resizing your photos is that Photobucket limits the size of the pictures you can load – 250 KB for the free package and 1 MB for the premium package.

The second reason is that you don’t want to slow down your eBay listings with huge images! Big pictures take forever to load, and potential customers will hit the back button instead of waiting.

So I recommend limiting each picture to a size of 500 pixels maximum. I use the free Irfanview image optimizer to resize my pictures.

Once your photos are resized, you can upload them to your image hosting service, which is very simple.

For Photobucket, you have to log in into your account. Once you are in, there is a white window on top of the page marked “picture”, with a “browse” button on the right. Click on “browse”, and a new “choose file” window will appear. That window shows the files in your computer. From that window, select the file containing the picture you want to upload to the Internet.

Once you have found the right picture, highlight it with your mouse and then in the “choose file window”, click the “open” button. The name and location of your picture will then appear on the Photobucket screen.

Now click the “submit” button, and voila! Your selected picture is on Photobucket. You can even load several pictures at the same time by using the “submit multiple pictures” feature.

All right, your picture is now on Photobucket. But how do you insert that picture in your eBay listing?

Once your image is hosted on Photobucket, you will have to copy the URL of that photo (which is directly under it) and paste it into your eBay listing. Use the following html code to display the picture correctly in your listing (don’t forget to inverse the quotation marks at the beginning and at the end of this code!); paste your Photobucket image URL where it says “the URL of your picture”:

>img src=”the URL of your picture”<

You can even add a border around your picture, by adding a border code to the above, making it:

>img src=”the URL of your picture” border=8<

By changing the number of your border, you can make it larger or thinner.

Another great advantage of choosing online image hosting is that the quality of your pictures in your auction listings will be much better than with eBay picture services!

So you can have as many auction pictures as you need, with higher image definition, for less money. You can’t beat that.

Good luck!

Author Sophie Van Tiggelen of Bagatelle Jewelry (http://www.bagatelle-jewelry.com) creates original handmade beaded jewelry in lampwork glass, freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, semi-precious gemstones and sterling silver. Sophie’s designs are natural, beautiful and sophisticated, and she specializes in turquoise, coral and chalcedony.

As the Major League season, in high drama and excitement,
draws to a close, a consideration materialized – long after
the fact it should be confessed – to this scriber about the
blue ending of the Montreal Expos. Gary Carter steps into
the batters box.

Much conspired, not just in theory but in practice, against
Montreal baseball fans. It is true, as close to the truth one
may come or arrive at, that many fans had to contend with
an indifferent city incapable of grasping the potential and
subsequent loss of the perennial bridesmaid club and an
American news media with infield dirt in its eyes.

Fans who, it can be argued, had bestowed upon them a
local Montreal media -not especially poetic in its grace
these long days- which did its best to treat the Expos as if it
were a disowned gay son.

Eventually and surely, matters began to sink into a banal
surreal plot. The subconscious will have to rule this forever
I’m afraid. Fingers, fat and skinny, young and old, black,
yellow and white alike – colors do bleed into one when it
comes time to asserting blame – were pointed furiously in
various directions from the sky to the diamond. Even
chicken hawk fans, those who hid behind various excuses
worthy of a Hitchcock enhanced mystery ploys to not take in
a lousy game, felt compelled to offer their Grade B opinions.

It is no wonder, and unfortunate, that no one spotted an
irony right under our ugly noses. Carter swings and misses
strike one!

The irony spoken of here manifested itself during the move
of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles – The big club for
the Montreal Royals. Just as the Dodgers departure from
Ebbet’s Fields had its cast of evil characters filled with the
usual 3-sided con story laden with confusion – indeed
political games, greed and environmental circumstances
made up the usual universal themes. The Expos too had
their neat plot and sub-plot on multiple levels.

The dodging Dodgers had Walter O’Malley, the Ex-Expos
had, for their part in the act, ‘The Inept Small Time
Consortium’, Claude Brochu and Jeffrey Loria. O’Malley
sought to move the Dodgers within various spots from
Flatbush and Atlantic avenues in the center of downtown
Brooklyn. Montreal had an imaginary ballpark in the
artichoke heart of the city seeking to regenerate itself. What
happened next in both cases becomes stranger than Bjork.
Whatever the many possibilities, once the scene ended,
with broken hearts and apathy all around, O’Malley left rich
and despised; much like the exit blueprint for Brochu and
Loria. Los Angeles and Washington simply smelled the
fresh blood. Hopeful plans turned to soot and Gary Carter
swings and fouls down the first base line. Strike two.

History? Sure, there was lots of it in both towns. Not just in
Brooklyn. With history as a discipline dead in the public
mind, we may as well leave the ghost of Jackie Robinson
alone. The wind at Ebbet’s Field and DeLormier Downs
died down long ago. Only whispers of branches, memories
and hopes for glory remain for those who care about such
things.

So there and here it is. An unfortunate ending for two clubs
once part of the same fabric and suit. Both let down by the
brotherhood of Major League Baseball. The Royal/Dodger
connection had indeed come full circle in philosophical
speak. Carter takes strike three! He can’t believe it! Neither
can the fans, Gary. Neither can the fans.

At face value it would seem an easy matter to estimate the chances of receiving any certain card in a game of poker. In fact may people who play poker have systems they have developed that rely on the odds they have figured out. However, the simple fact of the matter is that there is actually so much variability to the game of poker that it is almost impossible to know what the next card you have coming is, and even more difficult to manipulate the game of poker so as to make sure the card you need is the card you get. The reason for this is quite simple. The way poker is played and the cards are dealt is simply to chaotic to actually have a good chance at predicting any outcome. If some parts of the poker game were changed such as being able to see what the other players had to work with in their hands than this could be different. However the truth is that unless significant changes are made to the game of poker guessing which card is coming is simply that, a guess.

Yet this does not mean that there are not such things as safe bets and solid hands, quite the contrary in fact. In a game as random as poker the more solid facts you have to work on the better. For this reason it is important to know how your hand stacks up against the infinite possibilities at your table. If for instance you are holding a full house, you know that it is a pretty strong hand. In fact you are one card away from four of a kind. So playing with that hand is a safe bet. However the possibility of a better hand still exists, though this possibility is much less than if you held a single pair. In the end poker is about managing what you know, not hoping to control what you don’t know.

The Berman Isis has remained one of the best selling glass dildos for the past three years. The success of the Berman Isis is due to the unit’s flexibility. The perfect toy for those lonely nights in alone. This marital aid would be a brilliant first time dildo for anyone who does not yet possess a dildo. The Berman Isis is a great choice for the stimulation of all female erogenous zones. This toy would make a ideal addition to any ones collection. Men of both orientations also have fun with the Berman Isis.

The manufacturer behind this sex toy, Smooth are considered the most widely recognised and loved businesses in the production and design of toys. They are producers of an enormous selection of other well known sex toys such as the Sensual Shapeshifter and the renowned Soft Touch Penis. Smooth are a extremely cost competitive, meaning you wont find a cheaper offer anywhere.

In addition to being lots of fun, the Berman Isis moulded from non-toxic plastic, so you can rest assured it is harmless to have fun with. This dildo is supplied in wide selection of colours, lengths and widths. This sex aid has wonderfully made gnarly bobbles along its length, that can help boost your nighttime adventures to another level. The Berman Isis is also equipped with an hi-octane vibration super booster, meaning this is sex aid of the best standards. The pliable construction of the Berman Isis allows for penetration at angles that are hard to pull off through normal intercourse, meaning it is possible to experiment with exotic new sensations and hither to un explored erogenous parts of your body.

What’s the deal with the hidden job market? Why is everyone always talking about it? What is it?

The hidden job market is comprised of jobs that are filled before they are advertised. It is estimated that about 75% of all jobs are in the hidden job market.

Why? Because employers hate to hire. The hiring process is extremely expensive and time-consuming.

They have to advertise the opening, sort through hundreds of resumes and spend weeks, sometimes even months interviewing and trying to select the perfect applicant.

Employers only hire when they have a need to be fulfilled, and even in that situation they will avoid actively seeking applicants as long as they possibly can.

So how does this help you? How can you find jobs that are in the hidden job market? Most importantly, how can you get interviews for jobs in the hidden job market?

One way is to network – which we briefly discussed in Part One of this course.

While that is one very effective way to find jobs both advertised and unadvertised, it’s not necessarily the fastest way to find a job.

The quickest and most powerful method for accessing jobs in the hidden job market is cold-calling.

Employers love a candidate who is bold and assertive enough to go this route. Cold calling may seem scary at first, but it really isn’t as bad as you think. Many people are afraid of cold-calling for two reasons:

They feel like they are intruding; they think the employer doesn’t want to be bothered. We’ve already learned this isn’t true. Employers like to be “bothered” by someone who can solve their problems or fulfill a need in their company – that way they don’t have to actively seek out prospective employees.

What’s the best way to find out if they have a need?

Call them up and find out!

The second reason people generally don’t like cold calling is because they are afraid of rejection. This is a logical fear, nobody likes to be rejected.

The bad news is, there is no 100% rejection proof method for you to use.

The good news is, in my ebook Resume Writing Secrets Exposed, you will discover a little known psychologically persuasive phrase that, when used properly, almost never fails.

Found your dream job but can’t get an interview? Need a powerful, effective resume NOW? Visit http://www.resumesecretsexposed.com to grab your free 7-Day e-course plus learn how you can write a powerful, eye-catching resume in 7 easy steps!

Adrianna Kristian
Author of Resume Writing Secrets Exposed

One of the great business tools of the last few years that the internet has brought to the marketplace is video conferencing. This allows a group of people to be able to meet and collaborate together through sight and sound no matter where they are located throughout the world.

It should be obvious to see that there are many benefits that businesses can derive from video conferencing including being able to hold office meetings in real time without having to pay the travel costs associated to bring people from various locations together at one time. It also saves on the lost productivity spent in just traveling there.

So how do you make sure that the web conference is a success? Here are a few tips to help you plan for your next video conference session:

1. The person conducting the video conference will most likely want to arrive early, and make sure that all of the equipment is functioning correctly well before the meeting begins. You don’t want to have to be fumbling with equipment problems when the meeting is scheduled to start. They should all be ironed out well in advance.

2. The conductor at the video conference should also try to pay attention to the kind of clothes that they wear for the meeting, as bright and bold colors can be very distracting and perhaps even irritating on a video screen. So try to keep clothing colors as muted and solid as possible.

3. Another common cause for irritation while video conferences are going on is excessive movement on the part of the speaker. So whoever is speaking needs to make a conscious effort to try to keep their motion and movements during the discussion down to a minimum.

4. Everyone on the video conference should be made aware that the microphones can be very sensitive, even picking up very small and inconspicuous sounds. So everyone on the conference needs to know that they should be careful to avoid sounds like tapping pencils on a desk, or other similar sounds that can be distracting. They also should be made aware that they should not try to whisper something during the meeting that they do not want everyone else to hear, as it could prove embarrassing if amplified by the microphone.

5. The main speaker of the video conference can also add immeasurably toward the enjoyment of the meeting by imagining that everyone else on the call is in the same room, and by maintaining eye contact with the video camera. This will usually result in natural gestures and a comfortable speaking style that is easy for everyone else to follow.

If you practice these ideas, they will most likely help you to conduct successful and enjoyable video conferences.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including communication. You can find online teleconferencing and online web conferencing and more by visiting our communication website.

Each weekday during my Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp, attendees (or recruits) get a daily drill designed to reinforce the training I give on weekly phone calls. The drills are illuminating and fun. Plus these drills build your copy from the ground up. By the end of Bootcamp, you actually have a sales letter that would have cost you anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 to have written professionally.

So how do you get going? Grab a kitchen timer or stopwatch, a piece of paper and a pen. Your bite-sized drill today is to separate out the features from the benefits. So let’s do an exercise.

Before you write a single word of copy you must define your product or service using features and benefits if you want to really connect with your reader. (When I’m trying to get my features and benefits to poke their heads out, I like to write by hand. I think there’s a connection between the brain and handwriting.)

So we’re on the same page, here are the definitions of each.

• A feature is the adjective of the product. It describes what the product is.
• And the benefit is the emotional component of what the person gets out of the product.

Now schedule 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to play and let’s go!

1. Set your timer for 10 minutes. So take a sheet of paper and fold it in half vertically. In the left hand column write the word “Features”. And on the right, the word “Benefits”.
2. Start brainstorming about what features you offer to clients. Then for every feature find a corresponding benefit. Benefits are what sell. Remember we all want to know, “What’s in it for me?” That’s just the way we’re wired. “How is your product or service going to benefit me?” While the timer is doing its thing, let the ideas flow freely. Don’t judge your answers or edit yourself. Stop on schedule. (You’ll edit later).
3. Reset the timer for the last five minutes. Review your list. Circle the ultimate benefit – this is the benefit your copy and headlines should focus on.
4. Put the other benefits in order of importance. These will become your bullets and subheads.

It’s no secret. The amount of money you make with marketing comes down to how well you craft your words. It’s the most valuable skill you can learn for making money online. But not everyone wants to be a copywriter. So I wanted to create a program that makes writing fun and effortless for entrepreneurs and copywriters alike. That’s how the Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp was launched. Recruits who have gone through it agree – the Bootcamp is the roadmap to a copywriting goldmine. You learn a proven process for writing copy FAST that improves your bottom line. Sure there are other ways to get there, but we get it done in 4 weeks flat (plus 2 weeks of follow up critiques). Face it, if you’re in business you’re also a marketer. And all marketers know it’s the words that sell.

So where do you grab this Field Guide for more copywriting exercises? Sorry. Only recruits of my Bootcamp can get it for now. So sign up today before the next session is full. It will be one of the best business decisions you’ve ever made. Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

International copywriting trainer, author and speaker, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been a freelance writer and journalist for over 25 years. Her words have made her clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now she focuses her vast experience on teaching others the skill of copywriting. Lorrie is the author of a highly acclaimed copywriting course, creator of the Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp and founder of Copy Campus, a unique membership resource site designed to support copywriters and entrepreneurs on all levels. Visit her site to learn more at http://www.red-hot-copy.com.

Not so long a go it seemed like laptops for gaming were only obtainable from particular retailers and they were generally custom made. For sure they were not made in significant volumes but manufacturers did produce a lot of money on them. These desirable notebooks were just unaffordable. Everyone thought they were the best laptops and rightly so. They would create a lot of excitement but I do not believe many buyers would go out and buy laptops at high prices. Sales will pick up though now that established manufacturers are entering the market.

These are certainly big margin notebooks for the global manufacturers and they are aware of it. With such little markup on other notebooks its not a surprise they would like to be involved. Large manufacturers could surely find it effortless to get purchasers to buy these laptops. In my point of view this would really ruin smaller laptop sellers if they do not separate themselves. The top end technology will rapidly make its path into the sight of the average consumers. Also the big brand name will give purchasers greater confidence. The notebooks are surprisingly extremely good as well. Still however, for the small time companies this should prove to be promising. The custom made service is a big bonus to the customer. Such consumers are generally tech savvy and can compare all the technical literature. People like these are on occasions more interested in the performance capabilities of a computer than they are in it’s looks.

This could be rather beneficial from the buyers standpoint. It will induce prices to shrink and make high end technology low priced for the market. I am not too sure any of that would happen however. The best laptops are always going to be high priced to be honest. The established manufacturers have already entered the gaming laptops sector so we’ll have to wait and see what what the result is I guess.

http://www.rizeon.com appear to be selling their gaming notebooks at cheap prices to compete with others.