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5 Tips to Help You Find a Scanning Company

Mistake One: The higher the resolution, the better the quality scan.

If there is one thing I want you to learn, it is this: when you see 4000 DPI it does not mean quality. DPI is just bits and bytes. DPI has nothing to do with quality. When you scan at 4000 DPI, all it does is pick up pixels. So if your slide is faded, or your photo has finger prints, or your negative is scratched, the scanner will pick up everything. That is the issue when you convert analog to digital. Digital will pick up everything. Even if you have one year old photos, the scanners will find something to ruin the scan. To make sure your scans look better than your originals, you need some sort of editing.

Mistake Two: “Digital Ice” is the answer in fixing scans
You might have seen “Digital Ice”, “DEE”, “ROC”, etc. as some sort of high technology that fixes all scans. And in my ten years in graphic design, I would LOVE to press one button that fixes color, exposure, dust, scratches. Digital Ice is mostly marketing. Even with my high end film scanners, Digital Ice cannot do what the human eye can. That is why I edit all my scans in Photoshop. How Digital Ice works is, say you have a cluster of white pixels. And those pixels are surrounded by black pixels. And the program will fill in the white pixels. But sometimes I would get images of people with no eye balls!

Mistake Three: Buying on price rather than value
There are many bulk scanning companies out there. And if you do not mind editing the images yourself, than there is no harm choosing these companies. Or, you can buy a scanner and do the job yourself. But if you want scans that look better than your originals, find a company who focuses on quality rather than competing on “low low” price.

Recommendation One: Get samples of your own scans before you commit!
A great scanning company will be glad to offer you sample scans for free. Even if they do not, it is better to lose $10 than $100. Send 30 slides or photos. If you like there quality and services, send the rest. And make sure they offer an unconditional 100% guarantee.

Recommendation Two: Ask questions!
1. Ask what their process is. Do they zip through your scans? Or do they take time and make sure all scans are done right.

2. Ask to get a quote. Some might advertise 20 cents per scan. But that advertised price might not include editing, or DVD disc, or handling your originals.

3. Ask to get a few samples done. Even if you have to pay for it, it is better to lose $10 than $100.

4. Ask about their policy on bad scans. Not all scans can be fixed. But a great company will be happy to not charge you for bad scans. Do not accept bad scans.

Thank you for reading my guide!

Konrad Michniewicz : http://www.ScanCanada.ca  is a small team of graphic designers dedicated to slide, negative, photo scanning. Located in Toronto.

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5 Tips To Get Retweeted On Twitter

If another Twitter users finds your tweet interesting, they pass it on (or retweet it). If one of their followers likes it, they can retweet it again (rinse and repeat). Retweets can exposes a single tweet to hundreds, if not thousands, of people all across Twitter.

Here are a few ideas to give your tweets the most viral potential:

1. Have a short username

Your username can be a maximum of 15 characters. However, with a limit of 140 characters, each one is precious. So the longer your username, the less room someone else has to retweet your posts, or @respond to you. You can change your username at any time. It is best to have username less than 10 characters in length.

2. Leave enough space to allow people to retweet

If you want to have your tweet spread throughout the twittersphere, make sure that you are staying well under the 140 character limit. Be sure to leave enough characters that someone retweeting your post can include your username and maybe a short comment of their own. If other users have to edit your tweets to meet the 140 character limit, there’s a good chance they’ll leave your username off or abandon the retweet altogether. Ideally, your posts should be 120 characters or less in length, or at least enough to include a “RT @username” in the retweet.

3. Share interesting and unique content

You don’t want to share anything that you wouldn’t want your mother to see on a billboard, but be interesting. People like to follow people who educate and entertain them. If you can do both, you’re golden. If you can, try and be the first to break the news within your industry. If you’re at a major horse event, let others know what’s going on (scores, news, any changes to the schedule, etc.) And if you can’t be the first, be the best–make your tweet interesting, funny or thought-provoking.

4. Use a URL shortener

You should always use a URL shortener when tweeting links. One of the most useful URL shorteners is bit.ly. Bit.ly integrated with tools such as TweetDeck and Hootsuite. Plus, bit.ly gives you some fantastic real-time stats that allow you to see how well your content is performing.

5. Mind your Ps and Qs

While there is some tolerance for shorthand, it’s best if your tweets use flawless grammar, perfect spelling and correct (and acceptable) punctuation. If YOU can’t be bothered to take the time to do these, no one will take the time to read them.

Bonus: Don’t be a robot

It’s okay to schedule tweets in advance but add your own spin and voice to them. Avoid copying and pasting headlines from other users because that’s what everyone else will be doing. If you add your own voice, other people will get a better idea of the type of person you really are, which can distinguish you from others. While automating processes can save a lot of time, they can also come across to other users as, well, automated.

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YouTube Marketing and advertising And Why You Must Do It

YouTube is a fantastic place to market your on-line enterprise on. YouTube is the amount three rated website on the web in terms of internet site site visitors, and you can get in on this trend even though it is nevertheless below. Every day hundreds of thousands of folks visit this site to look at their favored videos, find out new things, or just to blow some steam. Well you can capitalize large time off of this exercise.

The initial way to make YouTube efficiently is to use it. Seems foolish and straightforward right? Effectively you’d be shocked by how many men and women don’t do anything at all in their organization to get far more targeted traffic and sales. And this contains not marketing and advertising on YouTube. A lot of people consider that they can just take their slow time and make 1 mediocre video every single thirty times. But if you want to make funds on the web, you will have to do a lot more than this.

You have to go tough and be lively on YouTube. Just because you add a movie up to YouTube, it does not suggest that it will get hundreds or thousands and thousands of views right away. What you will be promoting “probably” won’t be related to what a renowned musician is promoting. You will possibly be marketing data – instead of leisure.

Due to the fact of this, you will have to industry your details. You can do a few things to marketplace your video. You can market it in the signature spot of your e-mail e-newsletter. You can promote on the articles spot of your web site or site. You can encourage it in your totally free products (this kind of as a totally free e-book, free of charge report, cost-free online video, totally free MP3, and so on). And you can even market it in message boards. It is just a simple advertising job.

The more you industry your video clips, the a lot more views you will get to it. And the more videos you create and upload to YouTube, the far more publicity your internet site will get. I keep in mind my cousin questioned me a single working day if I upload 1 online video to YouTube daily. I instructed him that I add 5 videos to YouTube every day. He was astonished – but YouTube isn’t.

YouTube in fact has tools that you can use to upload lots of videos to their internet site. So they truly encourage you to add heaps of videos to their web site. Because of this, you will want to generate some substantial high quality videos and submit a whole lot of them to YouTube. Make certain your movies are excellent.

Don’t add “write-up videos”. These are fundamentally conversing articles or blog posts. What I mean is that these are video clips that are someone’s write-up, and it was generally spoken into a video. cheap youtube views does not like this. And it’s from their terms of support (TOS). So if you want to make the most out of YouTube, you will want to get your experience on digicam.

Go down to your neighborhood Walmart and buy your self a great camcorder. It ought to only price you $100. Buy it, and then record oneself on digicam talking out some great info, or what ever kind of material that you want to create. This is infinitely greater than a chatting article, and you’ll truly get more views to your video clips this way.

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5 Tips For Keeping Your Dog Happy

As a dog owner, it’s important that you do whatever you possibly can in order to keep your dog happy. A dog that is happy tends to be more loving towards you, more protective of the household, and more willing to listen to what you have to say.

Some dog owners think that as long as they provide food and shelter, their dog will be happy, but this isn’t true. Dogs need so much more in order to remain happy throughout their lifetime, and the following tips will help ensure that you keep your dog happy at all times.

Your dog provides you with unconditional love and affection, and it’s important that you show them the same in return. You are everything to your dog. They don’t have other friends they can meet up and hang out with whenever they want. They can’t spend an entire afternoon shopping or going out to eat. They need you, and you are their everything.

If you want to keep your dog happy, it’s important that you show them just how much you care at all times. Pet your dog as often as you possibly can. Talk to them whenever you can in a nice soothing tone. By showing them just how much you love them, you will keep them happy.

While crate training is acceptable, it’s important that your dog doesn’t spend the majority of everyday locked up in a crate. Your dog naturally wants to be able to walk (or run) around, and they want to be able to curl up and sleep wherever they feel most comfortable. If you lock your dog up for hours while you’re away, your dog is going to feel miserable.

If you need to crate your dog because he or she has a tendency to chew, you should try to have someone come over once or twice during the day to let your dog out or take them for a walk. This way, your dog is not spending their entire day cooped up in a cage.

Another alternative would be to take the time to ensure you pet is well trained through the use of simple behavior modification techniques that are safe to employ . This will allow you to scuplt your dog as you see fit and keep them out and about throughout the day without the worry of them causing damage to your things.

Take your dog out of the house every now and then. Take them for a walk around the neighborhood, take them to a local dog park, or even take them for a ride in the car. Your dog will be excited just to get out of the house, and this will keep your dog happy.

Take some time every day to play with your dog. Go out in the yard with them and play fetch. Get yourself a rope and play tug of war. Take them swimming. Or even invest in a laser light and watch your dog chase it around the house. Playing with your dog not only keeps them happy, but it also provides them with plenty of exercise to keep them healthy.

Dogs enjoy getting treats from you, even if it’s just a simple milkbone. Make sure to give your dog treats when they’re being good (or whenever you want). It’s a simple gesture that will easily keep your dog happy.

Written by Andy Wilkinson

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5 Steps To Soothing Your Crying Baby

When your baby cries, one of the first things you want to do is make it stop! While the reasons why a baby cries can get complex (since crying is communication and ensure survival), getting a crying baby calmed down can help everyone feel better.

Sources suggest imitating the womb to calm your baby down. The womb is a surprisingly noisy place – it’s dark, snug, and full of various sounds such as blood rushing through the circulatory system and food moving through the digestive organs. And when a mom-to-be walks around, turns over, or moves in any way, her baby feels it. So keep those things in mind as we discuss these 5 steps to soothing your crying baby.

1. Calm Yourself
This oft-forgotten step is crucial. Babies can pick up on your tension and anxiety, which can be quite high after you’ve listened to a crying baby for a while. Many experts are pointing to parental calmness as a key player in calming a baby. Take whatever steps you know work for you that give you a sense of calm and peace – meditation, prayer, deap breathing, even stretching (if baby is in a safe place) are all possibilities. Soothing music may help you and baby to feel calmer.

2. Swaddle
Many mothers swear by this one. The close feeling of the swaddling blanket helps your baby feel secure and “contained,” as in the uterus. Make sure you do it safely, though – lay out a thin, soft blanket, fold down a corner, and lay baby so the back of his head is on the folded down corner. This keeps the blanket from covering baby’s face. Then bring one corner of the blanket across baby’s body and tuck it underneath him. Loosely bring up the bottom of the blanket up to the bottom of baby’s neck, then bring the other side corner up and tuck it under your baby. Do not lay baby on his stomach, and make sure his feet can still move freely. Check with your pediatrician or midwife to make sure you’re doing it safely.

3. Slings
Instead of swaddling, putting baby in a sling (approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics or equivalent organization) and walking her around can help. This is another womb mimicking environment that many babies find so relaxing that they fall asleep.

4. Shush
This “shushing” or “sh” sound that mothers seem to make by instinct is right on track. It sounds like the sounds of the womb, and acts a bit like “white noise.” Experts say you can “shush” as loudly as you need to; you can also play a CD of womb sounds or run an appliance like a hair dryer or vacuum cleaner.

5. Suckling
Whether you are breastfeeding or use pacifiers and bottles, satisfying the suckling instinct is very calming for babies. You can offer him the breast or something baby safe to suck on (such as a pacifier).

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Download Pokemon Black DS Roms

Pokemon Black DS is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Pokemon black console game. It serves as a precursor to the immensely famous Pokemon black and white video game. Once again, the Pokemon Company has developed a high-quality video game based on one of its most popular franchises. The new version retains a number of the features from its predecessors, including incredible image quality visuals and enhanced sound effects. This release maintains the legacy established by the original Pokemon black and white games of having a great narrative, thrilling dungeons and bosses, and awesome Pokemon companions.
Pokemon black | pokemon black nintendo ds | Pokemon black | Pokemon black rom | Pokemon black rom Pokemon black has a slew of great features. Unlike earlier versions of Pokemon black, this version contains all Pokemon black rom charges, Pokemon black a, and Pokemon black gemstone for pikachu, jasmine, and other black-colored Pokemon. Additionally, Pokemon black features the new Pokemon black universe, which acts as a secret world where players may find Pokemon from all prior editions of Pokemon black.

The shiny Pokemon black ds is one of the most notable additions. The new shiny Pokemon ds are glossy red rather than the metallic colors associated with previous shiny Pokemon, and they are shinier than any prior shiny Pokemon. As seen in the new Pokemon black rom, shiny rayon, shiny charizard, shiny Latios, shiny Latias, shiny Latios, shiny genesect, shiny darkrai, shiny Latios, shiny Latias, and shiny Gardevoir-EX. These shining as are only available via the purchase of the Pokemon black DS or through its download from online Pokemon black DS sources.
These Pokemon’s new shiny appearance offers them a whole new look that they may wear with any clothing. This distinguishes them from the crowd. One of the greatest features of the new shiny nature is their capacity to learn skills similar to those seen in the original Pokemon black series. The new Pokemon black randomizer rom download enables players to capture every legendary Pokemon not included in the Pokemon black and white series.
The new shiny appearance of these Pokemon has increased their popularity to the point that individuals began downloading the Pokemon black rom for the Nintendo DS as soon as it became available internationally. Although the black edition of Pokemon black is currently available, there is a chance that the two versions of Pokemon black may ultimately be merged. This may result in an even more potent form of black if demand for it is sufficiently strong.
This is something that many people have speculated about. The new Pokemon black shiny allows us to observe what occurs when the two black variants are merged. According to others, the new shiny nature of these Pokemon indicates that we may see a hybrid of the two. The sparkling hues may indicate a new’version’ of the legendary Pokemon or perhaps a whole new kind of Pokemon. This is just one of the ideas circulating, but it is an intriguing one.
The advantage of downloading Pokemon DS roms is that they often include all of the required files and support for playing the games. Pokemon black ds rom is compatible with a wide variety of platforms, including the Nintendo DS, Xbox, and Wii. The ds roms allows you to get Pokemon black and other Pokemon games for free. You may simply download any of the free Pokemon black DS roms.

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5 Steps To Positioning Yourself As A Leader

I recently attended a coaching call with one of the top leaders in the Network Marketing space. I wanted to share that information with you in order to help you build your business and position yourself as a leader in any niche. I am breaking this information up into a five post series as I believe that each step deserves it’s own post.

This information was from a guy that was in foreclosure in 2009, barely making $19K/year. He now has multiple 7 figure income streams and is paid a lot of money to coach and speak at various events all around the world.

You can position yourself as an authority before you have any major results. You will learn the five steps it takes to position yourself as an expert, even if you have no results. This can be accomplished part time, so all of you that are still working at a JOB, this information will work for you too.

The first step is the most important one of all. You must have a Vision. Now I know that a lot of people are rolling their eyes at this point, saying “not more of this psychological mumbo jumbo crap” . But having a Vision is the most important step. Goals are not good enough to keep you going on track. You must have a Vision of the person you want to become and visualize yourself in that role every day. Any coach or trainer that doesn’t talk about Vision is a waste of your time.

So how do you go about getting your Vision? Start asking yourself the following questions: What do you want to become? How do you want to be known? Stop focusing on the money and instead focus on the person that you want to become. All great coaches and successful entrepreneurs will tell you that once you stop focusing on the money, and focusing on who you want to become, the money will follow.

You must see yourself in better situation than you are currently in without justifying where you are. Most people project all of the bad things that might happen instead. That is why most people are stuck in their current situations and will never change. You must change your mindset and think like successful people.

Successful people have problems just like everyone else. The difference is how they handle and think about those situations. If they don’t have the money, they think how can they get the money. For every problem that comes up, they focus on overcoming that problem. This is completely opposite to how most people handle problems.

Also, you must eliminate the NSS in your vocabulary. NSS – Non Serving Statements. Maybe you are guilty of saying things like…..I don’t know what to do. Easy for him/her to say. It isn’t working! I don’t have the money. Just about every successful person has a back story that is worst than many non successful people. Oprah Winfrey had one of the worst upbringings ever – incest, rape, beatings, and more. Did that stop her from becoming a billionaire?

Don’t tackle yourself on the way to the goal line. Say things like I’m so greatful that the money is on the way. Play to win, not to see the loss. If you have been “where you are” for an extended period of time, you are holding on to something. Things like where you grew up, health conditions, bad childhood, lack of education – these are only excuses. You must let go and focus on who you want to become, not who you were or are.

Do you have a hatred of the wealthy? This is very common as most people are prone to jealousy and bitterness. Just remember that you cannot become that which you despise! You must change your thinking if you every want to become successful.

Maybe you’ve been trying to build a business for awhile and haven’t seen any success. What do you say when someone close to you asks you why you aren’t successful? Think about this for a second. Whatever you would honestly say is most likely holding you back. Here’s a tip – what is your definition of success? I can tell you that mine is growth and contribution. So if you are constantly growing by learning & applying new things and contributing to others by teaching or helping them, is that not success?

In closing, Goals are not enough to keep you going. Goals have to be coupled with the Vision of WHO you want to become in order to stay on the right path for success. And, if you are thinking of giving up, remember that quitting will NEVER speed things up 😉 .

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5 Step System to Niche Marketing

Niche marketing is necessary if you want to establish your share in the market. You must select a niche and a strategy to find your target audience. This 5 Step System to Niche Marketing will help you towards long-term profits.

1. Identify and Understand Your Niche

You must completely understand what niche you are going after. Having some background knowledge in your niche can help you narrow down a target market. Also, by identifying a certain niche, it can help to narrow down the scope of your website as you begin.

2. Find a Target Market

In order to start niche marketing, you must understand your target audience. This requires some research on the customers you plan on selling to. For example, if I am selling women’s jewelry, I should build my content and products specifically targeted at women. Depending on the style of jewelry, I could figure out the age-range of the women I will be marketing to. This can help you decide whether or not to take on certain advertisement ventures.

3. Content & On-Page SEO

This is a very important step when it comes to niche marketing. Many first time marketers do as much as they can off the website like build backlinks, submit articles, and do social bookmarking. However, if the article or page they are linking to isn’t optimized for search engines, it might be hard to rank. On-Page SEO involves putting your keyword in your title tag, meta description, on title tags of pictures, and so forth. When you are building content, it is really important to focus on optimizing it and writing for your website visitors.

4. Submit Articles to Directories and do Guest Blogging

Submitting articles to directories can help your search engine visibility because SE’s will be able to index you faster. Also, there are some niche directories that can help you build an audience. This audience can them become interested in your website and potentially and returning member. Guest Blogging helps get your articles on some of the best websites on the internet. By offering your expertise, you will get several links back to your website helping you rank high.

5. Get Involved in Social Media

The main 3 social media websites to join are Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. If you are active on these three networks, it can help build a larger fan base. Just think about them as a free method of advertising your content. It costs nothing but time in order to be active on social media websites, and it is worth your time. Just make sure you take the time to connect with your fan base and don’t just post your content constantly.

 

These are the 5 Steps to Niche Marketing that I recommend you take. I am currently working on doing all of these things in order to add authority to my website. If you are missing one of these steps, you are potentially losing out on a share of the market.

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5 Reasons Your Website Doesn’t Turn Visitors Into Clients

The vast majority of local customers start with a web search. The lion’s share of that traffic goes to the web sites on the front page of Google. You would think that if your website is on Google’s first page, prospects should pour in. Lots of businesses throw time and money trying to get their website a first page. The problem is – once they get there, nothing happens. All too often, local business owners find that valuable ‘page 1’ traffic doesn’t always turn into a stream of customers. Traffic goes way up, but those new visitors just don’t turn into prospects and customers.

Is this where you are? Stuck on the first page, counting all the visitors not converting into customers?

Your web site’s only purpose is to bring you new prospect leads so you can convert them into paying customers. You made it look great, filled it with valuable information, you may have even loaded it with everything a prospect would know about your products and services. You may be proud of it, but the sad truth is: It’s not working. In short: If your web site doesn’t convert, then it’s not doing its job and you may be wasting a lot of good traffic.

If that’s the case, don’t despair. Non-converting sites share some common problems and most are easy to correct. If you analyse enough poor performing sites you will generally find the same errors over and over.Here are the top 5 reasons web site don’t convert. You may recognise a few that may be hurting your conversions. If so. They can be corrected.

 

Mistake One: Confusing and Distracting Visitors

A common misconception is that business owners think they only get one chance to sell their customers, so everything possible goes onto the page. It seems like a good idea – show as much as possible and cast the widest net. But what happens when people come to your site? What they are looking for is lost among all the clutter. Internet searchers are impatient, and if they don’t see what they want in 8 seconds or less, they hit the ‘back’ button. When that happens, you’ve lost them for good.

Let’s make your pages meet that 8-seond rule…

Scientific eye-tracking studies have shown that readers can’t, or won’t, read large blocks of text. Since they won’t read it anyway, reduce that text to bullets if you can. Your pages must be easy to scan for the important information people want – what you do, where you do it, a few bullet points about your service, and your phone number or other contact information. Well-designed graphics catch the eye and tell a story at a glance, so a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Each service or product you want to promote needs its own ‘landing’ page – a page devoted to one product or service. Each page should have one clear message – other messages should go on other pages. Your site will be cleaner this way, you focus attention on each specific offer, and you control what the user sees.

Making your pages more focused also helps people find your offers easier when they search for you. The search engines rank pages, not web sites. A focused message makes it easier for the search engines to understand the main point of each page and rank it accordingly.

Each focused (or ‘optimised’) page, concentrating on a single subject, will appear in search results when customers search for that particular product or service. This brings people looking for your solution to their problem directly to the page that solves their problem. Bring the right people to the right page and you will convert more of your visitors into buyers.

 

Mistake Two: Hiding Important Information

As we said above, if people can’t find what they want quickly, they move on. They won’t hunt for what they need on your page – put it out front for them, where they can find it. Decide what your page is supposed to say to your customer, and then say it. Make it easy to find your name, location and your hours of operation, the key points of your service or product and, most importantly, your phone number. The number on piece of information that local consumers look for is a phone number, so make sure it is prominent. Graphic elements stand out, so instead of your address in small type, why not embed a Google map on your page? It is immediately obvious what it is.

 

Mistake Three: Forgetting To Tell Visitors What To Do

When a visitor arrives at your site, they have no idea what you want them to do. You have to tell them what it is you want from them. Each page has a desired outcome, and you need to let them know what you expect them to do. Too many people write in ‘passive voice’ instead of ‘active voice’. They start sentences with ‘If you are interested in…’ or other ‘soft’ language. They are afraid of scaring customers away direct speech and, as a result, leave a soft message.

If that is you – then Stop It! You have people on your site, and they have come for what you have to offer. Come on out and tell them what you have for them. Assume they are interested – otherwise, they wouldn’t be there!

Do you want them to call? Then put there in big bold type.

Do you want them to fill in a form to get a free report? Tell them what they will get in return, and put an arrow pointing out the form. Label the button ‘Click Here’, and they will.

And the most important piece of information is your phone number – spell it out in big, bold letters “CALL 123456 TODAY”

One of the best ways to accomplish these calls to action is with Landing Pages. They won’t disrupt your current site and front page placement but will allow you to direct visitors to very specific offers and actions.

 

Mistake Four: Sending Visitors Off Your Site

Once you get people to your site, you want to keep them there, on your ‘money page’, until they pick up the phone, fill out a form, or click the ‘Buy’ button. Offer as few distractions at this point as possible – focus on converting this visitor into your next customer.

Navigation links, YouTube videos and related blog posts are all great ways to get people to your site. That is their purpose – to bring people to your sales page.

But once they are on your site, the rules change. Now the goal is to keep them there until they become a prospect or customer.

Anything on these pages that doesn’t support the sale you have in progress has got to go! Links to other pages, other offers, videos or anything that can send them away WILL send them away.

Video on web sites is a proven sales tool, and YouTube has made it easy for anyone to make and post videos on-line. Embedding a video on your web site is easy to, and it helps make your pages easier to find (Google owns YouTube and favors YouTube videos). And what better way to tell people about your business than a video?

The problem with the way most businesses are embedding YouTube videos is that is that visitors can easily be taken to YouTube where they are presented with ‘related’ videos – and some of these could be your competitors!

 

Mistake Five: A Failure To Communicate

Your customers don’t want to deal with faceless, anonymous web sites. They want to deal with real people like you, not a website. You need to ‘get real’. Make sure you have contact information, including your address, phone number, even social profiles and links to free report landing pages on your main site. Social profiles – such as your business on FaceBook or LinkedIn let prospects know you are a real business. Knowing who they are dealing with helps establish their sense of trust in both you and your business. One of the easiest ways to communicate with your prospects is through offering a free report. When they sign up for that report they can be put into your email marketing campaign. This should not be used to constantly email them sales offers, but to enable you to communicate and provide them valuable information and educate them about your products and services.

Most business make the mistake of burying their valuable information deep within their website in the form of an article or page content. When you position your information as report with a strong cover representation your prospect will perceive this information as important and valuable. This will also build credibility and trust for your business by positioning you as the “Educator / Advocate” by providing this valuable gift.

The best way to offer your information in the form of a complimentary report is through a landing page that is focused squarely on the report content and a strong “Call To Action” for the visitor to enter their email address in return for instant access of the information. At this point you have now turned a visitor into a prospect in which you can follow up.

 

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your opportunities to better turn visitors into customers, feel free to contact us on 01732 462451

Jon Pankhurst

 

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5 Reasons Why your Local Crag is the Most Important Crag out there

There are two kinds of climbers that frequent their local crag – the ones who think their crag is climbing’s best kept secret, and the ones who think the climbing at their crag is complete low-ball choss. Chances are, it’s all low-ball choss and your crag sucks – go climb at Red Rocks, or the Gunks, or Whitehorse, or in the Valley.

No matter what you think of your local crag and no matter what quality the rock actually is, maintaining and being a steward of that small piece of climbing land has huge impacts on the climbing community at large. Here’s why:

It helps develop local feel that is absent at large/famous crags.

I grew up learning to climb at the Gunks, so those ethics are instilled in me. But what about the personality, the feel of a crag? For those big famous ones, the questions we ask ourselves are not, “I wonder if any new routes were put up” or “Has anyone else tried my project?” but “Will I find parking?” or “I wonder what the line is going to be on that moderate, ultra-mega-historical-classic.” And thus the personality becomes overridden by the quantity of people, not the quality. When you change the subject of the question, it sounds like you’re going to a mall or an amusement park, not participating in the sport and adventure of rock climbing.

Local crags have a distinct personality that you’ll learn to cherish. You may not be able to climb 200 feet in the air, or get a beautiful view of a valley or range – but you’ll be out there, with a couple of friends, having a good time, not worrying about other parties/dogs/kids/food fights/music etc. You’ll get to know the rock better. You’ll know the paths and trails blindfolded. It will create a sense of ownership.

Setting up good relationships with LCOs is good for everyone

You may not personally know the landowner of your local crag – but by climbing on his/her/their land, you are in relationship with them. Leave trash and dirty the place – you’ll be told by someone to leave and not come back. Make as if your presence was never there – you won’t hear a peep, and if anything you’ll get a thank you from others for being such a good ambassador for the area. The point is, climbing relationships aren’t often spoken relationships. Many times you communicate through the impact and trace you leave on a certain area.

In many local crags, there are rocks and boulders and routes crossing all sorts of property lines. For instance, at our local area (the Powerlinez), we are allowed to climb on PIPC property, but not the town of Ramapo’s property. This creates a lot of invisible fences, leaving otherwise stellar climbs off limits. Yet as we develop one area with respectful climbers, practicing Leave No Trace principles and respecting the property we’re climbing on; that just sets climbing up with more of a stance to convince adjacent land owners to let people climb there.

You (and others) learn what crag development really means

For those of you who have read “Yankee Rock & Ice: A History of Climbing in the Northeastern United States”, you know how far crags like the Gunks or Whitehorse Ledge have come. Even now, take a look at sections of the Trapps cliff that don’t have routes, or seldom climbed routes. I remember climbing Ruby Saturday Direct and having to fight through some lichen at a certain point. Unheard of on many of the classics.

Well, before your friend rips you apart for your crag being overridden with plants, lichen, loose blocks and more; quiet yourself and think about the legends of history that first developed the famous crags. They went through the same thing, and fought the same feelings you’re probably feeling (like “Is it worth it?”). They never imagined their crags would become popular, and they had to clean many a hold to find the crux sequence. Even climbing at places like Millbrook have lichen on classic routes. In the end, development creates a sense of stewardship and ownership over a little slice that plays into the global climbing community.

Draws people away from the overpopulated, polished holds at the famous crags

Sometimes, even if the crag is empty that day, you’re still climbing routes that have been climbed so much, the rock has wear marks. For those of you who have climbed in the Frog’s Head area at the Trapps recently, jump on City Lights. It’s always been known as a polished first couple moves, but in the last couple years, that first move to the good pocket, seems more sketchy than usual! Beta spray: there’s a less polished way to escape to the left and then back right, still hitting the pocket and avoiding the sketch. Or take Laurel for instance – so polished!

There are days you just don’t want to deal with that. You don’t want a well worn path, you want to worry about how hard the moves are, not will you slip off that overly-chalked hold. There are more times (coughMadameGscough) where it feels like you’re climbing in a gym. Just follow the chalk and you’re done! Sort of takes away any sense of adventure, doesn’t it?

At your local crag, you get to show people a more intimate view of climbing, your life and what you care about. Your projects are more meaningful because they are yours!

 

Bonus: You are making history.

Who knows what your crag is going to be like in 20 or 30 years. Frankly, who cares! You’re out there now and enjoying it, making the most of it – keep climbing.

I want to finish off with a quote from a local climber, who I asked his opinion. He sent me this quick e-mail. He also happens to be a riot.

> “I grew up a short bike ride from my local crag. It was illegal to climb there. However, my friends and I didn’t figure that out usssntil after the internet age besieged us. It was no flowerbed of cragging but did provide us with a unique opportunity to grow up climbing and develop in earnest as future rock stars. We came away from those years with a sense of ownership that I believe many current climbers lack. Even decades later, if we were to return, it would be like visiting an old girlfriend. One that you bumped around in the dark with and learned how to love. Trial and error style.
>
> The benefits of a local crag are that the climber takes with him, that mindset to every other crag he visits and pays it forward. If you grew up “doing it” a certain way…then when you travel, you will inquire and respect how it’s done there. If you feel ownership of your local place and regularly carry out litter, you will be less inclined to leave it behind when your the visitor. If you appreciated solitude once, you’ll do your best to keep your voice down and not be an annoying neighbor.
>
> Just this one guys opinion. I’m sure I could explain it a bit better. But like they say in Kazahkstan…my drip you catch? yes?
>
> …out”