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simonsaas-blog · 4 years ago

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5 Areas to Focus When Starting a Business, Plus Helpful Digital Resources

how software automates certain tasks, standardizes business processes and improves accuracy. The pop software table links on home page are great place to start.

5 Areas to Focus When Starting a Business, Plus Helpful Digital Resources

Are you tired of your critical boss, not getting credit for your work? Do you want to implement your creative mind in something useful? If the answer to all these questions is yes, then start your own business. Today’s technology and online resources enable you to start a new business very cheaply. Pursue a career that is focussed on your interests. But for that, you need some tips which can help you in starting a successful small business. Read this article till the end to get the solution to your problem. Some people say that you need millions or billions of dollars to start a business. But I guaranteed that it’s sincerely wrong. You can start a business with even 15$, depending on your idea. Like if you’re planning to open a gas station chain or luxury restaurant then obviously it’s not possible to start at 15$.

There are many small businesses like coffee shops, burger joints, and freelancing. Freelancing is one of the most popular avenues taken when working for yourself. We can’t say that it’s a small business. It can be short, or it can be extensive, depending upon your skills. Please note that freelancing is always a skilled career which means you need the ability to start this business and it doesn’t require any investment. Your expertise is your investment in this business. If you’re starting a small business, you should be aware of and follow some of the best strategies that will help you succeed. A good plan means more sales, and a lousy strategy will always cause failure. Below we’ve created a list of some strategies that will keep you on track.

1. Always Target the Right Person

If you want to cover up the corners of the market, you should go to the extra miles and always target the right audience for the marketing of your service. For example, if you’re running a car brand and want to increase your car sales, you need to get ahead of the game and target the right audience. It’s like something you place your advertisement on a billboard. Popular software But here’s the drawback is that you’re playing the wrong game. If someone does not want to purchase a car, then it’s useless to show him the ad of your car, and you’re just downsizing your advertisement. That’s why you should play a smart game and always target the right audience, which will upsize your sales. Digital Ad companies like Google, YouTube, and Facebook will always show your product to a targeted audience. They collect user’s data and understand their interest. This technique is called Micro Advertisements and usually have higher rates then billboard or TV Ads. So you need to think outside the box and must apply this strategy. According to my experience, this Micro advertisement technique will always target a yes man for your product. Also, in my view, this strategy has lifted my business from the ground to the top of the building. But never apply this strategy if you’re a freelancer entrepreneur because of some companies like freelancers, Fiverr, Upwork, and people per hour. Usually, these companies don’t allow to promote your services through paid advertisements. Otherwise, you can face a suspension on your account.

2. Get Skilled in Your Niche

You need to master the niche of your business. If you are a GIG worker or a freelancer, you should learn a skill or your services because freelancing or GIG work involves all kinds of crafts. You can learn web development, Photoshop editing, SEO writing, etc. to give your sales the green light. accounting software Clients will be attracted to your service because you’re specialized in their solution if you plan to start a GIG or start freelancing without any skills. Then you are just wasting your time. It’s like playing in the dark. There are a variety of skills that can be used in the freelancing business. Besides, you can learn skills in small businesses like making a hot dog, tea, burger, and more. Learning expertise in your business will allow you to open the door of success, and it will surely attract more clients. You don’t always have to buy premium courses. In fact, YouTube is the hub of all the mentors. Just kick off these paid courses as long as YouTube or the Internet is way superior to these paid offline courses. These offline paid courses just play with your mind and teach you how to fire in the dark. If you still purchase these offline paid courses, then you’re just pushing your head in the clouds playing with the time. Most of the freelancers or GIG workers learn their skills from the Internet or YouTube.

3. Think About the Problem of your Customers

Instead of beginning the concept on what to deliver, think of what it’s going to do. It’s a lot simpler to create energetic existing customers when your company is solving a challenge. website software Your company must fill that void in a market or niche. For example, just think about Uber. They have cornered the market in the taxis field. Before Uber, people raise their hands to stop a taxi, but if you put yourself in my shoes, you’ll get the problem.

Standing on the road and waiting for a taxi is sometimes a waste of time and seems boring. Also, you don’t have time much time in your hands to keep waiting for these taxis. In that scenario, Uber opens his eyes. They understand what customers need. Uber thought, what if we go the extra mile and save our customer’s time by offering them taxis outside their house in just a tap away? Uber played hardball and converted this dream into reality and boom! Now you can see the success of their idea. They just started from scratch, and now they are playing above the clouds. The business is all about applying the right strategies. You need to take advantage of the problems of your customer. You need to get something off the ground to start a business marketing software. As long as you’re solving the problems of your customers, you get success in your industry. Otherwise, you’re just shooting in the dark. Now the question that arises that from where did you catch the troubles of your customers? The Internet is the answer. This strategy is just like you’re playing a smart game. So go ahead and must wear of this strategy.

4. Cut the Cost

Once you start to develop your business idea, add up how much it will cost. You will need to factor in every business expense necessary to launch and operate. Some costs to keep in mind include your location, rent, supplies, marketing, and more. Come up with the most educated number you possibly can. Then, take whatever you think that dollar amount is and quadruple it. Seriously, quadruple it. You’ll experience unexpected costs of running a business around every corner. It’s better to be over-prepared than short on funds when bills start to roll in. When you’re thinking of the cost to start a business, don’t forget about your budget. Look at how much money you need to live, including rent, food, gas, healthcare, and more. Lay these expenses out in order of which ones you must pay (e.g., mortgage) to ones that can slide if the money runs out (e.g., entertainment). Once you have a grasp on all your expenses, start to create a business budget. At first, you might need to get some outside capital to make ends meet, like a small business loan. Go over all of your options before putting your money into the startup.

5. Stay on Your Toes

Whether you rise above the sky or not, you need to stay on your toes while doing business. Loss and profit is part of running a business. As long as you don’t face the damage, you can’t be successful in your industry. You need to get off something from the ground to achieve something. Be ready to take risks and push your luck. You always get what you pay for. The more you invest, the better you get profit as an output. There is no shortcut to success. What do you think you are? Every man in this world can do something. We just need some self-determination and hope to showcase our talent to the world. You can’t blame a platform for not showcasing your talent. You need to grow up. Social media like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are some of the best digital stages that can help market your skills. productivity software You just need to be ahead of the curve from your competitors. Combine your knowledge, experience, and talents and start a small business where your expertise is an asset helpful to people and or businesses. Your ability plays an essential role in raising you from the ground to making a healthy income as an independent business owner.

Conclusion

Creating a business around your interests and skills is a great way to get started, but to make it successful, you’ll need to develop and implement a plan. Identify a target market, provide a service that’s valuable to your customers, including what problems your product will fix. Also, do the research and create a competitive advantage. Be smart where you spend and market your services/products through multiple channels.

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years ago

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Spider-Force #3 Thoughts

Fucking Awful.

This story issue and mini –series as a whole was a fucking mess.

Let’s get some pleasantries out of the way.

The art was nice but a downgrade from Siquiera’s from the first 1.5 issues of this mini-series. The fact that we couldn’t maintain a consistent art team for THREE ISSUES speaks to how poorly thrown together this mini-series was.

Also a nice thing. The concept of Spider-People fighting in zero gravity where a lot of their powers would be undermined, especially their agility and webbing. Too bad the idea isn’t explored at all and downright contradicted.

Finally not exactly a pro or con here but something I forgot to mention as a problem in Spider-Geddon #4. I made a mistake in my thoughts on it where I said that I didn’t get what Ben Reilly had to do with Otto’s bargain with the Inheritors, but re-reading it I evidently forgot that it was stated that by absorbing his life essence the Inheritors would learn how his cloning tech would work. The problem with that being...the Inheritors don’t gain knowledge from their victims last I checked. Maybe I missed something else but I’m pretty sure that was never a thing before issue #4 and if so what lazy writing my God.

Why is that relevant to this issue though? Well because we’re diving into the problems of this issue of which there are numerous and I thought I’d start at the end instead of the beginning.

Sooooooo...the ending of this story doesn’t jive at all with Spider-Geddon #4.

When I read Spider-Geddon #4 I complained that it ruined the resolution of this mini-series. Now in fairness I wasn’t being exactly fair in that point as readers could still wonder of course what had become of the other Spider-Force members sans Charlie and (not that anyone cared) how precisely they got a hold of the Solus crystal.

Well if you did care about any of that prepare to be disappointed. Turns out Verna just gave the crystal to Jessica without her knowing and we don’t know WTF happened to any of the other characters. In fact the start of issue #1 is chronologically the last time we see them. What a fucking waste of time.

Worse is that as I said it doesn’t jive with Spider-Geddon #4 at all. Jessica’s body language and dialogue not match between the two issues.

Speaking of Jessica Drew not only do all the problems I cited before stand with her character, but Priest compounds them by implying she has like animal keen senses, as though she’s Wolverine or something??????????

She also claims everyone’s wall crawling powers are useless in zero gravity because there is no friction. I’m no scientist but I’m pretty sure friction would still exist in zero gravity. Even that aside...that...that isn’t how their powers work. I can’t entirely explain it but it’s about electricity not friction.

The same thing applies to her concerns about their other powers. I get that agility is at least less useful in zero gravity...but super strength? Gravity isn’t going to affect your gripping potential? Besides it doesn’t matter. The story has Verna speedily grab John Jameson and earlier on John viciously stab Verna in the throat and then plays like the characters are making a hasty retreat as though they were moving quickly but...they weren’t obviously because no one can run or jump in zero gravity.

By the way as we’re on the topic we reinforce the stupidity of Jessica being immune to the Inheritors because her powers come from radiation. They don’t and even if they did...so does Spider-Man’s but he can still be eaten so what gives?

Let’s talk about Jameson and Verna.

Let’s put aside how the recap page refers to John as the Spider-Man of this world (fuck Uncle Ben I guess). What a waste of an interesting concept. And Verna? So apparently she can...heal by eating people? Okay maybe I’m forgetting something but I don’t remember that being an ability either. But then again this mini-series has given people all sorts of random powers. For example not only are the Inheritors vulnerable to radiation but apparently it’s basically kryptonite to them. It’s not that it’s something that hurts them like it hurts everyone. No, no, no they’re MORE vulnerable to it than regular people. Which raises the question of why the fuck didn’t anyone in this entire mini-series arm themselves with radioactive weaponry? Like Peter Parker injected himself with radiation in the very first Morlun story, couldn’t you make a big ass gun to shoot radiation at these guys?

More confusing to me is the idea that she stashed away Solus’ crystal to keep it safe from members of her own family; with artwork so bad I couldn’t tell it was even her until dialogue clarified.* This is the first time the idea of the Inheritors backstabbing one another has ever been raised, it comes out of nowhere and is just a cheap aspect of the story to justify some of the plotting. Because if the Inheritors had the Solus crystal in their homebase then at the very least this mini-series wouldn’t exist.

An inconsistency with the crystal I noticed is that Charlie figures out that Verna set up a beacon nearby it in the train station and that was the unique energy signature John first zeroed in on because the crystal isn’t emitting an energy signature. Ummm....how does he know that? I get he’s Peter Parker who is smart but how would he be able to deduce this without examining the crystal? He just seems to know this stuff.

Speaking of Charlie there is little more I can add to his character or indeed Ashley’s. They’re storyline goes nowhere in this mini-series. At least Scarlet Spiders from Spider-Verse had something of an emotional payoff as their mission was a success, Ben died and this propelled Kaine into vengeance. Here the mini-series doesn’t end so much as stop it might as well be Spider-Geddon #3.5. Except at least the main book has been building towards a pay off for it’s central characters of Miles and Otto. This mini-series was clearly most invested in Ashley and Charlie and it goes nowhere, we don’t even get details on his past. Apparently he appears in Spider-Geddon #5 but I have little hope we’ll find out what his past is exactly.

The nicest thing I can say is that he displays intelligence via his trap for Verna. Where this plan becomes stupid though is in the fact that Kaine has a big ass gun out of nowhere and for some reason they were walking around without their radiation suits for awhile....why? Why would you do that???????? Has it got something to do with Charlie’s confusing Pokemon reference?

Consequently we find out that the radioactive water they flooded the subway with back in issue #1 is corrosive which....again not a scientist, but would radiation make water corrosive really?

Let’s talk about Kaine. He’s an out of character jerk who is dissed as not having a soul and who lied to his team for no reason. I don’t get it? And he was supposed to be the lead character? Maybe? It’s unclear because this mini-series is so badly put together.

Priest also makes some bullshit statement about how Jameson’s telepathic trick last issue boned them all but that’s talked about more than it is shown. We only saw 3 flashbacks last issue after all but now we’re talking about how Jessica didn’t get anything from Kaine because he’s a clone who has no soul maybe.

And yet we do get a random flashback from her in this issue to the brith of her son and...Skullls(????????????) are there???????????????? Maybe this synchs with her solo-book but maybe contextualize that for the new readers who’ve not read that Priest? Jesus Christ.

This series is a turd. Don’t bother reading it.

*That scene also had this weird pointless caption box about iron phosphate power cells which went nowhere.

#Spider Woman #Jessica Drew #Scarlet Spider #Ben Reilly #Clone Saga #Kaine #Kaine Parker #Spider-Geddon #Christopher Priest #Skrulls #Inheritors #Spider-Man #Peter Parker

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fatimapirante-blog · 5 years ago

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Articles

Text 1 Title of the Text: Depression Author of the Text: Ranna Parekh Title of the Publication: American Psychiatric Association URL or Web Address: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression

Depression. It’s a heavy word, and one that we are all too familiar with in our day and age. Depression isn’t equivalent to sadness it’s a serious medical condition. It isn’t something that can be controlled manually. Although all age groups are open to depression, teenagers are the most common to be heard of being affected by the disease. This is probably because of peer pressure and the changes in their life. Although women are three times more likely to become depressed than men, men are five times more likely to commit suicide when depressed than woman.

Depression is more common in woman because woman are more ruminative than men, they tend to think about things more which, though a very god thing, may also predispose them to developing depression. Woman are generally more invested in relationships than men. Relationship problems are likely to affect them more, and so they are more likely to develop depression. Also, women come under more stress than men. Not only do they have to go work just like men, but they may also be expected to bear the brunt of maintaining a home, bringing up children, caring for older relatives, and putting up with all the sexism.

There are many symptoms of depression. Sadness and loss of satisfaction in things once enjoyed are probably the most known symptoms. But some symptoms are sometimes over looked. Guilt is one symptom that coincides with depression immensely. When feelings of guilt are put on a person they lose what hope they once had.

They blame themselves for things that they are not accountable for and have extreme feelings of hopelessness. Stress is another great factor in depression. Stressful events or experiences can stimulate depression in people who are predetermined to the disorder.

Depression is not only a state of being sad, it is a disease that conquers the ability to feel emotion, whether good or bad, whatsoever. Depression not only involves the mind, it also involves the body and thoughts. It is a serious but treatable disorder that affects millions of people, from young to old. It gets in the way of everyday life, causing tremendous pain, hurting not just those suffering from it but also impacting everyone around them.

If someone you love is depressed, you may be experiencing any number of difficult emotions, including helplessness, frustration, anger, fear, guilt and sadness. These feelings are all normal. Its not easy dealing with a friend or family member’s depression. If you neglect your own health, it can become overwhelming. That said, your companionship and support can be crucial to you loved one’s recovery. You can help them to cope with depressions symptoms, overcome negative thoughts, and regain their energy, optimism, and enjoyment of life.

Start by learning all you can about depression and how to best talk about depression and how to best talk about it with your friend or family member. But as you reach out, don’t forget to look after your own emotional health, you’ll need it to provide the full support your loved one needs.

Depression make it difficult for a person to connect on a deep emotional level with anyone, even the people they love the most. You can’t rescue someone from depression nor fix the problem for them. You’re not to blame for your loved one’s depression or responsible for their happiness. While you can offer love and support, ultimate recovery is in the hands of the depressed person.

Depression can be managed with professional treatment. People who receive professional treatment for depression said it improved their mental their mental condition. The doctor can treat any medical issues that may be responsible for the symptoms of depression, and if medication is an issue, the hospital provides other options as well.

Depression is a serious problem, but there are millions of people who have managed to lead successful lives despite struggling with it. It’s important that society recognizes depression for what it is. It’s an illness, not a choice.

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Text 2 Title of the Text: Education Author of the Text: Marion Lewis Title of the Publication: Huffpost URL or Web Address: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/home-schooling-vs-public-schooling-making-the-right_b_57d277c3e4b0f831f7071a82?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudHVtYmxyLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAdTS0lhVxVQdiEckP6_R1TJARxC-hId68ORXr_Cqx4l6f2lO1nszEmcl_Q3YCyie7HfNJG_O8w18wsT4O6IonH2edBVsIRm1mUX23XjjZZNaNFp_55CodE6naHBt9euMvmJH6RtzsUIUBfrDFAHBHQ9WJk9DlIgc-bYl0XHYJsG

According to the article “Education plays an important role in human life regarding to build their personality, career , and mental growth”. Education helps us to build our own foundation and to widen our knowledge to our surroundings. Education empowers minds that will be able to conceive good thoughts and ideas. It enables students to do the analysis while making life decisions. It helps you to achieve your dreams, to be a doctor, engineer and many more.

We can also bring positive changes to the society, government and economic. Through government , education is one of the ways to prevent corruption and other environmental problems. To society, Education makes us better citizens by teaching us how to conduct ourselves through life by following rules and regulations and giving us a sense of conscience. Lastly, to economic, education helps the people to build more good structures and technology so that people would live a safety and enjoyable lifestyle.

As Nelson Mandela stated “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Education is used to empower ones mind to come up with new ideas new vision and plans for the society. Education is one of the reasons why our community is improving such as gadgets, houses and many more. Education grows as values. If you have the skills but don’t have the values then educated person become useless. Education has to be accessible to all. Thanks to modern technologies and internet innovators. Due to them, now rural people, poor people, and people living in huts are able to get access to education through mobiles phones.

There are difference between schooling and education. Schooling takes place in the home environment, while education may take place in schools, colleges or universities. Home schooling has steadily become one of the most popular forms of education for parents across the world. According to research, it develops increasingly fast at an approximate annual rate of 7-15 percent per year.

There are parents who believe that school environment can spoil the young minds and prevent them from developing independent thinking abilities. Basically, this reflects the difference between homeschooling and education, because in case of homeschooling children have a greater opportunity to develop certain skills that they would not be able to develop at school.

However, another difference lies in the fact that school might affect children negatively because of some categories of people they socialize with at school. This is a perceptible difference between home and school education.Some parents are concerned about the academic quality of various public schools due to the overcrowded classrooms. This is another difference between homeschooling and school education. It is reflected in the fact that school environment suggests educating a great number of students which prevents individual students from developing in a right way and receiving a quality education.

Furthermore, some parents have to take care of children with special needs for whom homeschooling is the best option, because home environment provides better conditions for their development. In this regard, it should be noted that another difference between homeschooling and education is that education does not provide means for accommodating needy students, which makes it an inappropriate form of education for students with disabilities.

Text 3 Title of the Text: Bullying Author of the Text: Roxanne Dryden-Edwards Title of the Publication: Bullying Facts URL or Web Address: https://www.medicinenet.com/bullying/article.htm

Bullying is the big part of the fear of most people going to face. Bullying can lead to self harm. In severe cases, bullying can even lead to death. No matter how someone is bullied, face to face, publicly over the internet or anonymously over the internet, all cases extreme pain to the victim. Others who choose to do nothing or don’t reach out for help the victims of bully may secretly cut or harm themselves. Some they become depressed and think suicidal thoughts. This victims of bullies decide they can’t handle life itself anymore so they commit suicide.

Most of the teens bully through online or in social media because it is easy, you can just type, click and post even without them knowing who you are. Cyber bullying is very unhealthy though it never touches our body or we’re not physically damaged, but it causes us to become depress and can make us experience anxiety. We are mentally and emotionally damaged that can lead us to suicide.

Bullying is a deliberate act to hurt someone physically, verbally or psychologically. Bullying is an issue of power. Bullying is when individual or groups persistently over a period of time, behave in ways, which causes another person to feel hurt, physically or non-physically. Using technology, a person can be able to bully without the face to face confrontation. Bullies can be anyone because they can hide behind technology becoming anonymous. These makes finding the bully very difficult.

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There are many different types of bullying that can be experienced by children and adults alike, some are obvious to spot while others can be more subtle. The different types of bullying that we look at below are some of the ways that bullying could be happening. Physical bullying includes, hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property. Verbal bullying includes name calling, insults or verbal abuse. While verbal bullying can start off harmless, it can escalate to levels which start affecting the individual target. Social bullying is often harder to recognize and can be carried out behind the bullied person’s back. It is designed to harm someone’s social reputation and/or cause humiliation. Cyber bullying can be overt or covert bullying behaviors using digital technologies, including hardware such as computers and smartphones, social media and other online platforms.

There are several sites on the internet that offer advice on how to deal with bullies. Some of the suggestions that can be found are to make sure to tell a teacher, tell parents, be aware when walking alone, always stay calm when being bullied, make sure to use one voice to attract attention. Talk to someone. As hard as bullying is to deal with, one day you will be out of school and never have to see these people again. In the meantime, fond someone you can confide in. Talk to your parents or a counselor. They may be able to help.

Bullying can never be a joke, it causes major destruction to ourselves. It will never be good to bully someone though you can make some people laugh, but the point is you just hurt or win someone’s feeling and life. Stand up for friends and others you see being bullied. Your actions help the victim feel supported and may stop bullying. Some people bully to deal with their own feelings of stress, anger, or frustration. Bullies might also have been bullied and now want to show their power by bullying someone else. Even though people are different, it’s important to treat everyone with respect.

Text 4 Title of the Text: Pollution Author of the Text: Archana Title of the Publication: India Celebrating URL or Web Address: https://www.indiacelebrating.com/article/article-on-pollution/

Anything added into the environment that results in producing harmful or poisonous effect on living things is called pollution. Pollution is the process that makes nature’s resources such as land, water, air or other parts of the environment unsafe or unsuitable to use. Pollution can be of many types: soil, air, water, thermal, radioactive, noise, and light. The toxins released are inhaled by each one of us while we breathe. Pollution is a process of making the environment dirty and unhealthy for humans and animals to live. It is caused due to the release of both tangible and intangible contaminants. These can be released naturally or by humans themselves accidentally or deliberately.

Inhaling poisonous air is as hazardous as smoking. It is not only the humans who are affected from this polluted environment but also the animals. Air is filled with highly toxic gases. These dangerous gases in environment are released by the power industries that burn fossil fuels, industries that dispose wastes in the water, farmers using pesticides, high usage of artificial lights and loud sounds. Any use of natural resources at a rate higher than the nature’s capacity to restore itself can result in pollution of air, water, and land. Other than human activities, there are a few periodic natural cycles that also result in release of dangerous stuff. Natural activities other than the human activities like volcanic eruption, dust wildfires, etc also result in creation of pollution.

Pollution disturbs our ecosystem and the balance in the environment. Each year millions of people die due to various diseases caused by pollution. The biggest irony of all this is that even if we know that the earth is getting polluted, ultimately it is the human beings themselves who dig their own grave by doing deliberate activities because of which pollution is caused. It does not only spoil human beings’ health but also worsen their quality of life.In order to fight this life threatening effects of pollution, vigorous efforts should be made. Anti-pollution laws should be strictly implemented. In order to check water pollution, sewage and the factory wastes should be properly disposed off and vehicles should be made eco-friendly.

Every individual owns certain responsibility of maintaining few points such as not throwing garbage all around, growing trees, using public transport instead of their own, etc. We must shun excessive consumption and avoid careless and deliberate disposal of post-consumption waste resources which could otherwise be recycled and would led to pollution control. Pollution cannot be reduced or controlled if a sense of responsibility towards our Mother Earth is not felt by all concerned. Pollution can be controlled, if not eliminated. Efforts such as promoting green environment and proper disposal of waste are simple steps that lead to great emphasis on maintaining the order of environment. Environmental pollution is a global problem today. Public awareness is a must to prevent pollution. Population control will also help to save the world from environmental pollution. Scientific exploitation of natural resources is yet another step to prevent environmental pollution. Let us not destroy the place we live in for there is no other place we can go.

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skeletonwoman · 7 years ago

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Your Face (Thor)

a thor fic! after all this time:? whato

You kicked your heels up onto the coffee table and spied Thor over the top of your mug.

Avengers Tower wasn’t really a thing anymore. And since he’d arrived in New York, talking about having his entire nation stationed somewhere in the Scandinavian woods, you’d been curious. Bruce had been there too- and Loki and an adorable rock fellow.

Oh. Is that not everyone?

Right.

Of course.

He also brought with him the Valkyrie.

Or Scrapper 142. Or… Well you didn’t actually know her real name.

She had to have one, everyone had one. Heimdall, Thor, Loki… The other hundreds of citizens… And anyway, the Valkyrie was a group, not a single entity so technically she shouldn’t be called that. She should be called A Valkyrie not “hey, Valkyrie” like she’s some object.

A really f*cking hot object, truly, but an object that has a whole lot of Thors respect and a whole lot of his gaze.

You’re such an idiot.

“Hello,” Loki coos, his voice slick and warm like a hot mud bath. “Gazing at my brother again?”

“He really works the whole one eye thing,” you answer, while not answering. “I always had a thing for pirates but I figured it was more the kind with two eyes… And yet.”

Loki laughs, like a shiver down your spine. “You know you don’t have a chance, right?”

You turn your face toward him slowly, and gaze at his sharp face for a long moment. “You’re going somewhere with this desolation game. I want to play, but I don’t want you to act like the doubts you’re planting are for anything other than your own gain.”

He smirked, just a little- wait, was that an actual small smile?

You take a sip of your warm hot chocolate and wait.

“I did something bad.”

You snort at this, but quickly set your cup on the coffee table and turn to him. Your legs curl underneath you and you set your cheek against the back of the couch.

“Tell me everything.” It has to be bad if he’s coming to you rather than his brother or literally anyone else.

“I accidentally conjured a sea monster and since you have that familiarity, I figured you could relate to it, keep it calm until I can send it back.”

You wait for him to say it’s a joke. Because… This cannot be real.

“Are you serious?”

He grimaces, ducking his chin and you instantly tuck the stray lock of hair that comes free behind his ear.

“Oh, Loki-”

“Brother!” Thor booms, suddenly beside the two of you and you squeak in surprise. “And Y/N! What an unusual pair!”

You peek up at him before forcing your gaze to Loki again. Leaning forward, your lips brush his ear as you whisper.

“Trace the building code and floor number on the back of my hand, I assume you don’t want him to know. I can probably find it on my own from there, right?” The words are barely past your lips before you feel a delicate B - -4 traced onto your palm.

Tilting your face, you press a kiss to his pale cheek bones before meeting his eyes with a long look and smiling. “See you both, I’ve got something to take care of.”

Thor grumbles darkly and you pat his bicep gently as you pass him by.

Its less of a sea monster and more of a sea lonely boy. The creature, with its seal like appearance and whale size, croons sadly at you and you hum softly. Its webbed back legs scrabble on the floor uselessly. Hopefully it doesn’t leave gouges too big.

“Sorry this is taking so long, darling.” You run your fingertip up its muzzle and between its solid white eyes, watching them track your finger and fall closed. “Where was he, Loki?”

“Hm?” Lokis face is obscured by another conjured spell book while he paces.

“Where in the ocean was he?” You’re considering a trip when this is all done. You certainly need a vacation, or you’ll get roped into the Asgard Project like everyone else.

“What? Marianas Trench? Is that what you humans call it again? The deepest bit.”

You chuckle softly and your furry friend prods your knee with its nose.

“It’s a rather large area but not so large, I suppose.” You hum, kneeling down and leaning against the beast. “You know I’m rather useless here, right?”

“What’re you saying, it’s calmed down very much since I conjured it. Thanks to you,” Loki counters kindly and you sigh.

Technically, the government doesn’t recognise sirens. Just like they don’t recognise gods or their ilk. So you’re technically an enhanced human and that’s all there is to it.

What you know is that as far back as you can remember, you’ve bounced from water location to water location and gone swimming every day up until you joined the Avengers. Turns out being able to manipulate water and recall the days when carriages trundled by daily isn’t regular.

Pity you’ve never met this ocean boy before.

“Well I-”

“I knew it!” Thor shouts as the door bangs open, his finger pointed and his voice dark and hurt. You watch him take in the image before him, his expression shifting from pain to surprise and finally disappointment.

“Brother,” he begins softly and you grimace, ducking down beside your seal friend. “What is this?”

“Y/N stole my books and conjured an ocean monster. I am here helping her get rid of it,” he says qyickly and you squawk with outrage.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Stop!” Thor booms and you wince. “Be honest, brother.”

“I am,” Loki says primly and you scowl blackly. How dare he. The snake. The beast. The rodent.

Waving a hand, a blast of water splatters him in the face and he splutters. “Okay, perhaps… I am just a mite at fault.”

“I see,” Thor says and you sigh. Loki is a rodent but he’s still a bit of a pitiful one.

“I insisted that I knew every sea creature there was and Loki countered that I didn’t and thusly demanded he show proof of a creature I did not know. He was correct.” You gesture vaguely at the seal creature who emits a sad whale song.

“Now, that’s-”

“True,” you say and sigh pathetically. Gently, you glance at Thor through your eyelashes and spot him softening. Despite the fact that he does not respect, love or truly care for you, he is not immune to your siren song. “We’re trying to return him.”

Staring at the mirror, you frown. As with every shape changer you’ve known, you have your doubts. Is this your face? Is it changing? If everyone sees something different when they look upon you- their most desirable counterpart, then is your face truly your face? What is your true likeness, if photos cannot capture your face? Are you truly a blurred figure and what you see in the mirror is your own most desired visage?

Scrubbing your palms over your cheeks, you turn away. What is the point of questioning.

You’d learned earlier today that Loki saw you as an ambiguously dusky beauty with honeyed hair and eyes as black as tar. Apparently, also, Loki was an ass man.

You hadn’t learned Thors picture of you but you knew Steves- a dark haired white woman with bright eyes and red lips- Natashas, a medium built woman with gentle eyes and an imperceptibly false unassuming air- and Buckys, a woman with dark skin and a soft voice who’s smile brought out deep dimples.

How you knew all this, you don’t want to know- except that they’d all never made a move on you and all held you in the utmost respect.

Stepping out into the hall, you bounded your way to the common room. Skidding to a halt at the sight of Thor and the Valkyrie, you shifted on your feet. Your sudden stop was awkward and now you’re stuck in a vortex of awkward.

“Hello, Pretty,” the Valkyrie smiled and you forced yourself to smile back. You did like her, mostly, and it’s not like it was her fault that your crush didn’t like you back. “Your hair, it’s purple now, almost black.”

Blushing at the outright comment, you chuckle uncomfortably and step toward the kitchen.

“Don’t leave, we were just discussing you,” says her smokey voice. “I’m not often attracted to mortal women but you… have something about you. I was discussing it with Thor.”

At the mention of his name, you glance at him and he flushes. “Nothing-”

“Disrespectful,” Valkyrie finishes for him, rolling her eyes. “He’s completely boring when it comes to you. All “Don’t say that, she’s very nice, don’t talk about her like that, blah blah blah.””

You gaped and Thor blinked suddenly.

“She doesn’t have purple hair,” he says out of the blue and you quietly choke. Oh, boy. It’s one thing for it to be quiet knowledge that your face isn’t your face, it’s another to talk about it outright. “It’s Y/H/C.”

You freeze at the words, stopping your slow crawl to the kitchen and staring at him.

“No, it’s purple. Purple hair, black eyes and a fat ass.”

The crass words make you flinch and Thor frowns unhappily. “You’re wrong.”

Staring, you listen as he describes the woman in your mirror, down to the minutest detail and you wonder if your heart is as loud as it sounds. It’s like magic. Someone finally seeing you. Seeing… You…

He likes you.

With a soft smile, you slip into the kitchen and start planning.

finish o

#thor fic #thor fanfiction #thor imagine #thor fanfic #thor odinson

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kingsholmrp · 6 years ago

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NOVA HOLLANDER

Age: 28 Birthdate: 3rd August 1990 Gender and Pronouns: Female, she/her Hometown: Ipswich, United Kingdom Occupation: Photographer, App Developer

She is a Human.

BIOGRAPHY:

The first few years of one’s life are meant to be full to the brim with happiness. Filled with a sense of caring and belonging. A time to learn and be lead by your parents through those first few steps in life, to carve out the rest of your existence. For a young Nova Isobel Hollander, things weren’t as easy as that. Born in Ipswich, UK, the year 1990, she was fair hair, skin and the brightest of eyes that mirrored her mothers to a T. She was every bit perfect, and the moment her father laid eyes on her he was sold for life; in love with the bundle of joy whom he helped bring into the world. Things were never designed to be that easy, though, it seemed. Written in the stars, fated from the moment her mother found out she was pregnant, Nova was never going to have that perfect kind of childhood. Instead, she was destined for one filled with trauma and dramatics, tears on a daily basis and her father crying out in agony as he begged and begged for her mother not to ruin things for his baby girl. Nova hadn’t been planned, his mother and father nothing more than a college fling that only lasted as long as it did because of the shared detail of their daughter. Her father, Michael, was always willing to take care of the little bundle of joy that Nova was, while her mother, Elora, went off on drug and alcohol benders, getting to a point where she forgot the fact that she had a daughter back at home to take care for. It was always a hard thing for Michael, but he stuck to his guns because, in his eyes, it was worth it for Nova.

It was when she was three that her mother picked her up and fled the town she’d lived her first few years in, the pair of them vanishing without a trace. She was young and didn’t know any better, but she did wail at every chance she got because ‘where’s daddy? When’s daddy coming to get me?’ She’d question the whereabouts of her father constantly because she’d grown up with him. He’d taught her everything she knew and she barely even recognised the woman who was her mother just in name. She never got her answers, and the years passed by in a city she barely knew with a woman she barely knew trying, and failing, to raise her for she seemed not to care. These years that she lived with her mother were the loneliest of her life. She was a bright child, brilliant and well-mannered for someone who didn’t have a permanent parent figure to guide her through things. She thrived off the advice her teachers gave her and took in every word that spoke with complete and utter clarity. The often picked up on how bright of a child she was, how lovely, and would continuously send compliments to her mother on the days that she did show up to pick Nova up from school. Of course, her mother took the compliments with no complaint, but as soon as the pair were home, Elora was off in her world, leaving Nova to her own devices. It was her life day in, day out, and it shouldn’t have been something that she got used to, but she did, and she kept her mouth shut about it all.

By the time her ninth birthday ticked by she had become almost immune to the stream of random people that flowed through her front door. A sleazy smile that glowered down at her as she answered the door, a bleach blonde haired woman or two loitering out the front as they snapped at her to get her mother for them, a string of odd-looking people, loud and boisterous flowing in and out of the house on a constant repeat. Still, Nova never said a thing and left her mother and her friends to their world and would hide away in her bedroom, completing homework and biting down on her tongue as she told herself that she couldn’t go downstairs to ask for help because her mother wouldn’t care enough to help. She went through her life on auto-pilot almost. Wake up, get dressed, go downstairs to find people randomly passed out in the living room, fix herself a small breakfast from the limited food she had in the house, catch the bus to school, come home, homework, eat dinner (take out, a majority of the time) and send herself to bed. Lather, rinse, repeat. She remained quiet throughout the whole thing until one day she didn’t. It started with her mother’s boyfriend, the verbal abuse spewing from both of their mouths about how she was a useless child and did nothing to help them – ‘help them with what?’ she’d often think to herself because in her mind she didn’t do anything wrong. Her auto-piloted days of routine turned into her coming home from school and slamming her door shut with tears in her eyes as she tried to avoid the taunts and teases from both her mother, her mother’s boyfriend and the string of friends they’d bring around.

She’d heard the story about the boy who cried wolf, what child hadn’t? Moreover, for the longest time, she was afraid that if she told someone about the distress, she was facing at home that no one would believe her. Because she knew what her teachers thought of her - they thought she was one of the brightest girls of her age, so of course, she had to have a good home life, right? It was basic math; one plus one equals two. In the end, she didn’t have to tell anyone because it showed in physical evidence. A night where her mother and live-in-boyfriend were a little too drunk and a lot more uncaring about the young blonde than usual. It started with the slurred words, the taunts she’d always been subjected to, and that she could take; she was used to it enough to block it all out. What she couldn’t handle was the slap then the punch that landed on her right cheek, the kick to her left leg that left her limping in through the doors of her classroom the next day. She thought she’d covered the bruise well enough with her hair falling across her cheek, but the limp was harder to mask and as soon as she walked in the doors, her teacher was on her case, and the next twenty-four hours of her life was a complete whirlwind. Unbeknownst to her, her mother had herself hidden away under an alias, making it near impossible for anyone - namely Nova’s father - to find her. In the end, the sight of her dad running through the doors of the police building in hysterics brought Nova to her feet. Her sore leg forgotten, she’d run and run and run towards him, enveloped in his arms as tears burst from the seams. For the first time in six years, she felt at ease, and she felt safe - something a nine-year-old should not have had to worry about, but it didn’t matter to her anymore. She was back in her father’s arms, and all was well.

The move back to Ipswich was easy for Nova. She settled in like nothing had ever changed, still excelled in school but only now she went home with a smile on her lips. Her father had remarried in the six years since Nova had seen him to a man named Patrick who welcomed her as if she had been his daughter all along. He brought his two kids, an older brother and younger sister for Nova, and it was almost enough to bring her to tears. She was the most loved girl in the world in her mind, now with two parental figures who adored her and two siblings she could play and laugh with. She grew into herself; she grew into her life. Nova found herself in a state of mind, a peace of mind where she could be entirely herself and not have to worry about a single thing. She didn’t have to worry about who was going to be in her house when she came home from school. Nova didn’t have to worry about what she was going to eat for dinner that night; if she was going to eat dinner. She could be the carefree, nine-year-old that she’d longed to be for so long and it almost shook her to tears every time she thought about it.

As time wore on, it became evident that Nova had an incredible amount of knowledge stacked away in her mind. In a sick kind of way, it was shocking to most. Her new teachers were aware of her past and what she had been through, her dads having told them about it, and they’d immediately thought that the young girl would need slight extra attention in her studies. Nova had always been smart; the times where she’d avoid home and stick in the library after school, or read on her lunch breaks because she wasn’t in the habit of making many friends when she was younger, too frightened of what her mother would say. She’d always been bright, and with the altered attention she now received from her dads, the better school she’d been placed in she was able to achieve her full potential. Math, science, history; the subject could be named, and Nova would be found excelling in it. It was a sight that brought a smile upon most people’s lips; the girl who had gone through hell had somehow still managed to keep her inordinate amount of knowledge up in the high scales. It was a miracle, her teachers would say, and Nova would shrug with a smile - it was just something she liked to do. She liked to keep herself busy with the knowledge she could research, even at a young age.

While she was an all-rounder, smart in a majority of subjects she took up, she had a fond spot for all things IT and coding. It was a baffling sort of thing to most, especially throughout her high school years. Her teachers could see her potential to work in a field of medicine or science, excelling in research and mathematics, but all she wanted to do was code and develop web programs, see what she could design in Photoshop. She was a creative soul, she always had been and was determined that she still would be. It was no surprise to any that she became valedictorian as she graduated high school, along with an acceptance letter to Cambridge University. Her dads wouldn’t stop crying at her graduation, or the day she was set to leave her hometown and them, but they left her with the parting message that they were so incredibly proud of what she’d achieved in life.

University was a wake-up call for Nova. She found herself, in a sense. No longer did she feel restricted in her studies; she could embark on whatever journey she pleased. Moreover, that was the IT route. It was easy for her to fall into her college routine, no secret that the studying and smarts came easily to her. The social life was something natural as well, and she found herself a regular kind of social butterfly, always having someone by her side. When she wasn’t seen with a friend or study partner, she was seen with a camera in hand; a love for photography having sparked from one of her media design classes. She took photography classes on the side, something extra for herself that she genuinely enjoyed and wanted to do in life. She excelled in IT though, her primary focus and interest in developing websites and apps - and her study group was where she originally formed the idea for an app that would make her thousands. The app she spent her senior year and post-grad year creating aimed to allow students from all over the world, from all different higher education institutes that would buy into the app, to connect with one another in same programs. It was a study group, but your study partner could be on the other side of the world. Her love for both the world and all its subjects in general, and for developing programs morphed into one to create what she calls ‘her baby’. It’s brought her great success, and she always wants to produce more for it.

Moving to Kingsholm was a rash decision for Nova. She’d been living in Cambridge for the two years after she graduated, while she worked on some post-grad courses. At first, it was an offer for a job after being picked up on her photography skills, and her immediate thought was, well why not? She didn’t have immediate plans to relocate back home (her dads understood), and she didn’t want to step foot in London ever again in her life, despite the inordinate amount of job offers she received. It seemed like a level medium, and the city was beautiful to a T; she knew she would get some sharp shots. She found herself packing up her life in Cambridge and moving out to Kingsholm on a complete and utter whim - only to end up loving the place even more than she’d ever loved living anywhere else. She’s got her camera, she’s got her app, she’s got her puppy, and she’s all set in life as far as she believes. Despite her bubbly, happy go lucky personality, there is the lingering sadness that echoes in her soul from her childhood, but she knows that she’s created the kind of life for herself that is worth living, and that’s all she knows matters.

Nova Hollander is portrayed by Lily James.

#retired

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forestwater87 · 7 years ago

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“What if he wasn’t your soulmate?” She flinched as he turned to her, and he couldn’t imagine what his face looked like. “I — I mean maybe there’s someone else, you guys were so young and people fall in love with not-soulmates all the time and maybe . . .”

He realized what she was saying a second before she did, he was pretty sure: Maybe there’s still a chance.

Maybe there’s still a chance that someone’s out there waiting for you.

Another rational adult trying to help. They were always just trying to help.

(credit to @hopefullypessimistic84 for writing the bit where David and Jasper first meet. You’re amazing, babe <3)

Chapter 3: Jasper

Being friends with Gwen was easier than he'd expected. Hurt less, too.

They talked a bit about her life before coming to the camp, and it struck David like a movie: growing up just outside The City, collecting stories from college that made him blush — and then immediately work on forgetting — and building a life in the middle of Brooklyn. (David wasn't positive where Brooklyn was, exactly, but he'd heard of it!) He ate up every tiny hint about her life, and in return she seemed entertained by what she called his "weird knowledge of useless shit" and camp stories. And even though she'd roll her eyes and tell him that learning how to crochet or whittle were a waste of time, she sat next to him in the evenings, letting him walk her through the steps until she knew enough to help run the activities.

The way she grinned when she finally accomplished something, the way she'd wave the completed whatever in his face and warn him to watch out, because if he wasn't careful she'd be the best counselor at camp . . . those rare moments of genuine enthusiasm dulled from a frozen spike in his ribs to a faint, intermittent sting.

He convinced himself it was getting better. He convinced himself he was basically over it and they were just friends. He was sometimes even able to convince himself that he didn't need a soulmate, that there was someone out there who was better suited for him, who made more sense and who'd understand his love of Camp Campbell and who'd give his chest the same squishy-squeezy-trembly feeling whenever they looked his way.

David was good at convincing himself of things.

So when he found her one sweltering July evening sitting on the ground by the flagpole, glaring down at her phone with glistening eyes, it was easy to convince himself that he was simply concerned for his good friend. It was easy to cock his head to the side and ask "What's wrong?" To lean against the flagpole, to cross his arms across his chest and his legs at the ankles and settle in for a long story, because that was what good friends did.

Gwen sniffed, rubbing at her nose with the back of her hand. "It's nothing," she muttered, looking away and shoving her phone in her pocket. "I'll be there in a minute. Go to dinner, it's fine."

Well, what kind of friend would he be if he just left her there? Not a good one, so instead he straightened, holding out his hands to her. "Wanna go for a walk, Gwen?"

She paused, eyes flicking between his eyes and his hands with a hesitant, almost wary look. Finally she took them and let him him pull her to her feet. He let go as soon as she was steady, taking a few steps back for good measure, taking her lead as they meandered along the shore. "It's just stupid shit from home," she finally said, watching their feet. "Not stuff you'll wanna hear about."

"Try me."

"You sure?" When he nodded she sighed. "It's just . . . okay, it's my boyfriend."

David's steps faltered for half a second, but he refused to let it throw him off. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he kept his face and voice as pleasantly neutral as possible, wrestling down the sick jealous spike that jolted through him at the mention of her boyfriend — and the implication that things weren't going well, which was a similar but even more shameful feeling. "Oh."

"He wants to have an open relationship." She laughed bitterly, kicking up a clump of dirt and grass; he bit his tongue and reminded himself to plant more grass seed there in the morning. "Except he says no soulmates. Thinks it'll cause an 'artificially inflated sense of attachment.'"

It was the closest either of them had gotten to mentioning their tattoos since her first day, and the words were a cold lead weight in his stomach. "O-oh."

"It's supposed to be fair because he wouldn't date his soulmate either. Forget the fact that he's never met them. And it's totally just coincidence that this leaves him an entire city of people to fuck all he wants, while I'm not allowed to look at the only cute guy in miles." She snorted, her steps slowing without her seeming to realize it. "I know guys are supposed to be jealous if they love you, but . . . shouldn't he also not want anyone else?" She glanced up at him, her expression more open than he was used to and filled with an almost childish hurt. "If he's gonna say that shit?"

It took David a second to respond; his ears were ringing so loudly with cute that he almost missed what she said after. "Have . . ." His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat before trying again. "Have you told him how you feel?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I've tried the whole 'talking about my feelings' shit. But he starts throwing out all these philosophical arguments about man's inherent tendency toward polyamory and the patriarchal roots of the myth of monogamy. It takes too much effort to argue with him when he gets like this. So whatever, it's fine, really."

“Ah.” For a moment they were quiet, their steps crunching through dirt that was strewn with gravel from the road into camp.

“Fuck, I'm sorry.” She sniffled, stepping away from him and wiping at her face with her sleeve. “I didn't mean to — you don't — never mind.”

David had a carefully-crafted mental list of rules, informed by the Employee Handbook and strictly followed for all his campers and cocounselors . Giving anyone at the camp a hug was against virtually all of them; Kyle was one thing, Bev was something very different, and Gwen . . . she required a completely new set of rules, far stricter than anyone he’d ever worked with before.

But darn it, he could never stand watching someone cry.

“Sorry,” she mumbled into his shoulder. Her hands came up to his chest, and he prepared to be shoved away, but her fingers instead dug into his shirt, grabbing fistfuls that tugged at his collar and made it a little hard to breathe. “I'm not . . . I cry when I'm pissed off, I'm not sad or anything, sorry . . ."

Still, she let him hug her. Let him pet her hair like she was a little kid, let him whisper soothing nonsense until her breathing grew less damp and ragged and pitiful.

After a few minutes she pulled away, rubbing at her nose again and glaring at the ground. “I shouldn't have laid that shit in you, sorry. You don't need that.”

He didn't, but he thought she had. “It's fine, Gwen!” he replied, relieved that he sounded almost normal. “These things happen.”

“Not to regular people,” she muttered, backing up a few steps. “God, I feel like such an asshole, fuck . . ."

“Gwen — !”

David lunged forward just as she stumbled over the gentle incline that led to the water. He managed to snag her before she fell, and for a moment they just hovered at the edge of the beach, catching their breath. “Careful,” he said, releasing her arm when he realized his fingers were digging into her skin hard enough to leave bruises.

“Hey.” She grabbed his hands, turning them palm-up so the words “Hi, I'm the new camp counselor?” running across his right wrist in neat, forest-green, round letters.

His watch had slid up when he'd reached for her, and he winced at the messy black scribble, handwriting so familiar it made his chest hurt: “Uh . . . hi?”

He jumped to interrupt her, his throat constricting in panic as he pulled his hands away: “Listen, we should get back . . ."

“What's this?” She tightened her grip on his left hand, letting him tug back the one with her tattoo and tracing the dark letters with her free hand. She looked up at him, her eyes bright and curious. ��Have you met —”

“Yes,” David admitted with a sigh. He figured he might as well give her the short version or she'd keep asking. “I went to camp with him as a kid.”

“A kid?” He couldn't blame the surprise in her tone; most people met their soulmates in their teens or later. He knew he and Jasper were . . . unique. “How old were you?”

He smiled despite himself. Also despite himself, his eyes traveled to the small patch of weedy grass a few yards and eleven years away, where a skinny redhead with an attitude problem had somehow made friends with a camper half a year older and infinitely cooler. “We were nine.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “He had light-up shoes, and I was really jealous of them.”

The second the words left his mouth he felt his face heat up. Why had he thought she'd care about that? No one needed to hear him ramble about juvenile nostalgia.

But Gwen was actually smiling, the first time all day. “That's cute.” Her expression dropped as her eyes did, returning to where her fingers skated over the tattoo. “Were you . . . like, did you get along right away?”

"Now since we have so many new faces this year, why don't we all go around and introduce each other? Davey, Jasper, you two start!"

"You literally just said our names. What's the point of an introduction?"

Darla sighed, but smiled down at David. "Because it's a nice thing to do.”

"I'm not nice."

"David!"

"Fine." He rolled his eyes, then turned to Jasper and gave him a sickeningly sweet smile. "Hi Jasper, I'm David!" he exclaimed, telegraphing his sarcasm so it could be read by the counselors all the way across the clearing.

Jasper stared at him, a strange look David wasn’t used to because it wasn’t amusement, exasperation, or dread. "Um . . . hi?" he replied hesitantly, still staring at him in disbelief as he slowly raised his hand, revealing David’s words in bright pink like a neon sunburn.

The fake grin slid off David's face as he reached for Jasper's hand to get a closer look. Reading them was like a punch in the stomach, low and winding. “Oh. Hi.” He couldn’t speak above a whisper, because even a dumb troublemaker like him knew that something momentous was happening, and that he might’ve hecked it all up by being a jerk.

Jasper let out a tiny giggle, and it was an automatic reflex to return his smile. "Hi," he repeated. “You’re not what I expected.” And he had half a second to panic before Jasper reached out and took his hand, holding it like it was the most natural thing in the world. “We’re gonna be an adventure, huh?”

David plucked her hand off his wrist, maybe a little less gently than he'd meant to. The feeling was distracting, tingly and prickly in a way he really didn't need right then. “Weirdly enough, yeah. I was . . . kind of a rotten kid, but he didn't seem to mind.”

“You?”

He shrugged, grinning at the disbelief in her voice. And how weird, that he could talk about Jasper and feel anything close to happy. “We had another friend, Julia. She kept us in line. Mostly.”

Gwen shook her head. “I can't believe it,” she said with a quiet laugh. “That's adorable.”

She'd praised him more this evening than the entire rest of the summer. And as much as he tried not to let that go to his head . . . “I guess we were,” he agreed.

The air thickened, condensed when it'd just begun to lighten. “So . . ." She trailed off, and he winced, knowing what she was going to ask. What Kyle had asked, what Beverly had asked, what his mom and Mr. Campbell and therapists and countless social workers had asked: What happened to him? “What's his name?”

David jumped. “O- . . . oh! He's — um, it was Jasper.”

She didn't ask why he used past tense. “Do you not wanna talk about it anymore?”

He didn't.

Of course he didn't.

There were two people in the world he was willing to talk to about Jasper: one of them was his therapist and one of them had loved Jasp almost as much as he did. Forget painful — it was too personal. Jasper belonged to a hurt intimate place inside David that he didn't like anyone knowing existed, let alone walking around, making themselves at home among all the things that made it hard to sleep at night.

His mouth had other ideas, and it moved fast. “No, it's okay. Unless you're bored."

“Of course not. I went to school for this kinda thing.” She winced. “Not like I see this as a case study or something, it's just — I think we're friends, and — I dunno . . ."

“It's fine, Gwen.” And it wasn't fine, couldn't be fine; it felt like a betrayal and a trick, like he was using one soulmate’s memory to win the sympathy of another, but that wasn't true and it wasn't fair.

He just . . . felt safe talking to her. Like maybe it actually would help the way his therapist said it might.

“He died when we were thirteen,” David blurted out in a cold prickly wave like nausea, because it felt like something was making its way from the confused roiling in his guts and it was either words or vomit and he made the decision before he had the chance to think about it. “Jasper. He, uh, drowned in the lake, out by Spooky Island. This kid — bully, I guess — he made a bet and Jasp took it, stole a canoe in the middle of the night, he didn't even wake me or Julia up, just . . . by himself . . ."

This wasn't coming out right. It didn't make sense the way he wanted it to, it was disjointed and broken and not like a story, but he didn't know how to say all the things he wanted to, to make her get it. That feeling of immeasurable relief the first time they examined each other's wrists, that sense of something beginning, and they didn't have to understand what was beginning or why or how or what it all meant; they'd gotten their first taste of magic and were young enough to just enjoy it without all the doubts and complications. The way it never stopped feeling weird, that rightness, that magic, especially when there were days — a lot of them, even — where it made no sense that such different people fit together like they did, where they clashed over the value of nature and camping and even Pokémon, almost to the point of throwing punches. How every adult who saw them together was bemused, would say, “these two? Really?” like they didn't understand what a good kid like Jasper would want with a troublemaker like Davey. How David was too young to question it then, but as he'd grown up he couldn't help but wonder the same thing, if maybe the universe made a mistake — because Jasper was the best of them, of everyone he'd ever met, and it didn't seem fair sometimes how much David had lucked out.

The feeling of confusion, as they laid sprawled out with Jasper's head on Davey’s stomach and their fingers interlinked, when Jasper would raise up David's wrists and wonder aloud why David had two tattoos, green and vibrant like the forest he hated, and Jasper's left wrist was bare. Why David had a second soulmate, and if he thought the three of them would get along. The pure childlike confidence with which David could reassure him — no anxiety disorder demanding small orange pills every morning, not yet — that of course they would, that no soulmate hooey would matter unless they loved Jasper as much as he did. The unshakeable, thoughtless conviction that everything would be fine, because soulmates meant forever.

How “best friends” had grown warm and speeded up like water coming to a boil, until Jasper's hand in his had made his breath catch — how even the memory of it still did. How he looked at an increasingly-caustic, awkward pimply teenager with messy blond hair and those same silly light-up shoes and been struck dumb by knee-weakening surreal sublime beauty. How for the first few weeks of their last summer together he'd caught himself watching Jasper out of the corner of his eye, how he couldn't stop hounding himself with thoughts of what it might be like to kiss him. How the feeling of finding out Jasper felt the same way had been ticklish and sugary like soda in his chest. How the first time they got up the courage to try it they'd knocked teeth hard enough to make David's ears ring, and how each subsequent attempt had been softer and sweeter until Jasper joked breathlessly that they were pros, they could teach a seminar on this kissing thing and it'd be the first camp activity in years he'd actually enjoy . And how David had had to admit, blushing and stammering, that he wouldn't like that, he wanted these shy fumbling sticky blood-hot evenings all to himself. How Jasper had kissed his nose and promised that he'd never tell a soul what they'd been up to (except Jules, but she didn't count), not unless Davey wanted to. “I've got a reputation anyway,” he'd teased. “Can't let anyone know what a bad influence the camp troublemaker is.”

How those words haunted him years later, kept him awake at night prowling the campgrounds and checking the tents to make sure everyone was asleep.

Because maybe Jasper never would've felt compelled to agree to a stupid bet if David hadn't encouraged him to be more reckless, hadn't convinced Jasper he was brave and invincible.

Maybe he would have at least told his best friends if David hadn't grown increasingly cautious over the years, fretting like a mother hen over pranks he would've led the charge on in earlier summers.

Maybe he wouldn't have drowned if David hadn't distracted him so much with jokes and games and secret kisses during Swimming Camp.

Maybe Jasper would still be alive if David wasn't such a heavy sleeper.

He couldn't tell his still-too-new coworker any of that, but he did anyway. And Gwen couldn't have understood it all, not when his words were so muddled and rushed and thick and damp, but she listened like she did, nodding and looking out over the water and never interrupting as he just kept talking, endless streams of nonsense but she pretended they were important, and her pretending let him pretend that sharing all this helped in any way.

When he finally finished, breathing like he'd been running through the years instead of just recounting them, it was a minute or two before she spoke up, her voice quieter and more hesitant than he'd ever heard it. “Have you ever wondered . . . ?” She trailed off, biting her lip.

And it felt almost wrong, to be talking about Jasper and still marveling at such a simple thing as a lip bite, how wars could be started over a lip bite like that. “Probably.” He'd thought over everything there was to remember about Jasper, combed through the memories and the theories and the could-have-beens until if they were tangible they'd be threadbare and see-through.

She chuckled, a low bitter huff of air that he'd never heard before and didn't exactly want to hear again — not in a context like this — but that was close enough to genuine amusement to make something flutter and rattle in his stomach. “I guess I just . . .” She sounded quiet, nervous, her voice with an oddly hopeful lilt and her eyes carrying something dark and apprehensive. The kind of voice Gregg had when he said Mr. Campbell would find Jasper right away, the kind of eyes Darla had as she wiped at his left wrist with a wet paper towel and increasingly-harsh strokes, the voice and eyes of his mother when she drove up to camp and offered to take him home early, of Jasper’s parents when they told him it wasn’t his fault.

It was the voice and eyes of someone trying to be a rational adult, to comfort a scared, sad little boy and pretend they aren’t scared and sad themselves. David didn’t know what Gwen had to be afraid of, but it was a look he’d practically memorized.

He realized what she was saying a second before she did, he was pretty sure: Maybe there’s still a chance.

Maybe there’s still a chance that someone’s out there waiting for you.

Another rational adult trying to help. They were always just trying to help.

“Gwen.” David took a deep breath and unclenched his hands, which had curled into fists so tight his fingers ached. “If you care about me at all, please . . . please never say anything like that again.”

“Sorry. I just thought . . .” She trailed off.

“I know.” There wasn’t anything she could’ve possibly thought that hadn’t already run through his mind a thousand times. “Do you notice anything weird about this tattoo?” He couldn’t meet her eyes, so he looked away and thrust his left arm in her general direction.

Still, he could feel her gaze on him, heavy and crackling. He felt it like a physical touch, like her fingers as they closed around his wrist and turned it to the setting sun. “It’s black, but . . .”

“It’s not supposed to be. It . . . didn’t used to be.” David prayed he wouldn’t have to explain that any further, to spell out his heartbreak in letters as tangible as Jasper’s first words on his skin, but he heard a soft intake of breath, the quiet gasp that meant she knew.

Soul tattoos came in literally every color, and they varied as much as skin tone. They sometimes darkened with tanning and freckles and sun-spots, sometimes faded over time — and of course sometimes they didn’t, for all the same unpredictable reasons skin normally did. His second tattoo — the one that belonged to the twilit woman beside him — had its own discoloring, a narrow white line that made the ink bleed and pale into an almost-mustardy yellow along the scar. It wasn’t unheard of for someone with multiple tattoos to have different colors for each; it was uncommon, but not impossible. And it was even less strange to have a black one.

The problem was that Jasper’s tattoo had been green. And being born with a black tattoo was one thing, but a marking that suddenly turned black one morning, when a kid woke up in his tent alone and looked down at his watch and saw that his words, Jasper’s words, his favorite words in the entire world, were no longer the beautiful mossy color that David thought was a perfect match for Jasper’s very essence, his soul . . . when instead the bed next to his was empty and the entire tent was empty and there was nothing but shrieking cicadas and the cold impersonal light of early morning . . .

Was it any wonder that David’s screams had woken the entire camp?

“I knew he was dead before anyone else realized he’d gone missing.” And the counselors, the police, his friends had all tried to convince him that it didn’t mean anything, that he’d been out in the sun a lot more the past few days and it was probably just the pink of his sunburn discoloring it, but he’d known and so had everyone else, even though no one wanted to admit it; they just wanted him to stop sobbing and thrashing because he was a danger to himself and others. More rational people doing the best they could to help.

Sometimes David wondered how he would’ve responded, if he’d been Gregg or Darla or Mr. Campbell. If one of his campers tomorrow morning came up to him with a tear-streaked face and insisted they knew, they knew their soulmate was dead . . .

“Christ.” She didn’t tell him she was sorry. She didn’t tell him it’d be okay. She just did something he’d never anticipated, not twice in one night, and certainly never initiated by her. But the next thing he knew he was enveloped in warmth, her cheek against his shoulder and her arms squeezing his ribs hard enough to stutter his breathing; it was awkward, clumsy in a hard-to-define way that made him think his co-counselor didn’t often give or get hugs. And there was something about that thought, the thought of a little girl who hadn’t grown up with a mom to smother her in affection — or a bright-haired neon eyesore of a best friend who groped for her hand when he got lonely, twined around her like ivy climbing a house and planted damp kisses on her cheek —

It hurt. Even feeling the way he did, it hurt thinking about what it must’ve been like to grow up not learning how to hug, not being held and touched and cuddled so often it became second nature. As hard as it was missing Jasper, the pain like a physical ache sometimes, he’d never felt as vulnerable as the uncertain, skittish bundle of sadness curled up against his chest right then.

And so he tightened his arms around her shoulders, let himself clutch at the worn cotton sweatshirt that was fraying and falling apart, let her awkwardly stroke the nape of his neck with one slightly-shaky hand, let a few indulgent, fat tears leak onto the frizzy strands of her hair.

The shaved side was growing out, he noticed, peach fuzz giving way to fluff that reminded him of a baby duck. The sweatshirt she liked to wear over her counselor’s uniform was getting threadbare as well; things tended to fall apart more quickly at Camp Campbell, and he suspected that by the end of the summer the worn cloth would be removed, put somewhere safe from fire and knives and everything else the camp could throw at its counselors. Her shampoo smelled nice.

He wished he didn’t notice these things. Not ever, but especially not now, not with Jasper’s memory crowding his mind. There shouldn’t be room for those things. Those things didn’t do him any good and just hurt, and David had had enough pain to last a lifetime.

It didn’t matter. He noticed them anyway. And when she pulled away a few minutes later with an embarrassed huff, he noticed their absence even more. “God, I'm sappy tonight,” she muttered, playing with a loose string on the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

“It's okay.” He was sappy all the time, at least compared to Gwen. “It's been a big day.”

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have thrown all that on you, or made you talk about . . . or anything. That it happened. I'm just really sorry, I guess.” There was dry humor in her voice, the smallest flash of bitter wit that twisted his heart.

He didn't want to say it was okay (and it wouldn't be true, anyway), so he just shrugged, looking out over the water. He loved how the lake turned into a sheet of pink fire in the evenings, rippling with orange and yellow and touches of purple as the sun set. It was beautiful, calm and yet somehow the most vibrant and explosive thing he'd ever seen.

It reminded him of Jasper.

It reminded him of Gwen.

His eyes dropped to the gold-bathed dirt, suddenly feeling a little sick.

“We should get back to dinner before the kids revolt, huh?”

David nodded, having trouble meeting her eyes. “Give me a minute? I just need . . .” He didn't know what he needed. “I need a minute.”

“Yeah. Of course.” Her hand alighted hesitantly on his shoulder, a soft warm weight that disappeared almost immediately, but not before searing through the thin layers of his shirt and vest. “See you in there, David.”

He listened to her footsteps fade away. Listened to the quiet sounds of birds going to sleep and insects waking up. Took a few steps up onto the first dock, listening to the old wood creak and groan under his weight.

Underneath that — underneath it, inside it, around it and through it — he heard splashing, laughter, the harried voices of two young counselors trying to teach the campers how to scuba dive. Right beneath where he was standing, a stupid teenage boy had shoved someone better and more beautiful up against the dock’s thick splintery supports, inexperienced sloppy kisses that were mostly tongue and teeth.

“We’re gonna get in trouble, Davey!”

“You think all this is hooey anyway, don’tcha? Just smile real big at Darla and Gregg and they’ll forgive us.”

David listened to a quiet laugh, one he hadn’t heard in eleven years. He slowly dropped into a crouch, wrapping his arms around his shins and resting his forehead on his knees and listening to voices floating in on the barely-existent waves of Lake Lilac.

“Be quiet or we’ll get caught!”

“S-stop doing that, then!”

This wasn’t like the crush he’d had on Kyle. That was sweet, innocent, wreathed in comforting fantasy that reminded him of the hours he’d spend lolling around on Jasper’s bed, flipping through old magazines and trying to guess who might be “their” mysterious third soulmate. (Jasp had been convinced it would either be Marky Mark or one of the Spice Girls; he was hoping for Posh Spice, but David had always harbored a secret crush on Mel B.)

“Has anyone seen Jasper and Davey? Gregg, where did they — ?”

This wasn’t like whatever he’d had with Beverly, either. That'd been something of a cul-de-sac, where they both knew it wouldn’t go anywhere and when it was over they’d be back where they’d started. It was a way to kill time, to distract himself from the fact that it was his first summer as a Camp Campbell counselor and Jasper was supposed to be there with him.

“I can’t cover for you dorks anymore! Stop sucking face and get back out here!”

“Sorry, Julia . . .”

This wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t friends with benefits. He thought Jasper could forgive those.

“Hey, Davey. One sec.”

His chest hurt.

“What’s wrong?”

He couldn’t breathe.

“You . . . you love me, right? Not just because you have to?”

Everything hurt.

“Of course I do, Jasper.”

Everything felt wrong.

“I could never love anyone as much as you. Not in a million years.”

Or maybe it was him. Maybe he was the wrong one.

“Thanks, Davey. I needed that.”

Jasper deserved better.

Gwen deserved better.

“Y-you know I love you too, right?”

He stood up with a sigh, looking down at the dock like he could see through it to the dumb kids who'd thought soulmates lasted forever and love was easy.

“Because I do. More than anything.”

David lifted his fist to his mouth, pressing it hard against his lips as his body was wracked with a dry sob, a silent, tearless heaving that nearly bent him over double.

That was it. One self-indulgent outpouring of misery, and then he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut, then straightened up. Rubbed his face with one palm, wiped the few wet salty drops off his fingers and onto the leg of his shorts.

Took another deep breath.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Jasp,” he murmured, adding his own weak voice to the cacophonous sounds of his memories. “And I’m so sorry.”

The dock creaked as he stepped off it, passing through a sudden brief cold snap. A stick crackled under his foot as he returned to the road. A bird shrieked, and the sound woke up a chorus of grasshoppers.

With all those sounds buried under the din of his thoughts, David didn’t have a chance of hearing the whisper-quiet sigh from behind him, the words carried away by a breeze far louder than it was:

“It’s okay, Davey.”

#campcamp #jaspvid #gwenvid #cc david #cc jasper #cc gwen #my stuff #rest of the chapter under the cut #jasper was hugging david as a ghost #i don't think i made that clear #oops

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waqasblog2 · 5 years ago

Text

The Most Vital SEO Strategy I Learned Came From a Google Employee

I don’t think I am the best SEO out there. And I am not the most well-known SEO.

But when you have been doing SEO as long as I have, eventually you meet most of the players in the space.

And over the years, I’ve met a lot of Google employees. Some of them were in high positions, while others were not.

Out of all of the Google employees I met, none of them told me anything that shouldn’t be made public. And I also never put anyone in a position that would compromise their job.

But what was crazy is that the SEO advice I got on August, 2015, from a Google employee changed my life.

And what’s even crazier is that the advice I got on that particular day, is probably known by almost every SEO out there, but I bet less than .01% of SEOs use this strategy.

In other words, a Google employee shared knowledge that was readily available on any major search blog, yet I was too lazy to implement what I already knew.

So what did I learn?

Well, before I go into what I learned, lets first share the results of this one SEO tactic. The reason I’m doing this is that if I just share the tactic with you, most of you are going to ignore it like I did.

But if I share the stats with you first, hopefully, you’ll be more open to implementing what I am about to teach you.

So here are my traffic stats from August 2015 for NeilPatel.com:

And here are my traffic stats for the trailing few months after I had learned this new strategy:

As you can see from the image above my traffic was growing. I went from roughly 100,493 unique visitors a month to 144,196. Not too bad.

But here is the thing… my traffic was naturally growing from all of my other marketing efforts. And I didn’t even start implementing what I learned from Google until November 28, 2015.

And the results didn’t kick in right away. It took over a year before I really started seeing growth. But once I hit the 21-month mark, things really started to skyrocket.

So, what was the big lesson?

Well, maybe you’ll be able to figure it out by looking at the screenshots below. What’s the big difference in the screenshots below?

Here’s the first one from NeilPatel.com:

And here’s one from the KISSmetrics blog (which I now own – I’ll blog about this another day):

And here’s one from my older blog, Quick Sprout:

What’s the big difference between them?

All three of the blogs are about marketing. The content is similar… so what’s the difference?

KISSmetrics and Quick Sprout generate their traffic from roughly the same regions. But NeilPatel.com, on the other hand, generates traffic from regions like Brazil, Spain, and Germany at a much higher percentage.

So why is this?

Google told me to go multi-lingual

It’s hard to rank on Google.

No matter how many blog posts I write about SEO, most of you won’t rank well because it takes a lot of time and countless hours of work (or money).

But as my friend at Google once told me…

There is already a lot of content in English but not enough in other languages even though the majority of the people in this world don’t speak English.

In other words, you need to translate your content.

On November 28, 2015, I published my first article in Portuguese (if you click the link there is a good chance it keeps you on the English site, so you may have to click the flag next to the Neil Patel logo and select Brazil after you click on the link).

Fast forward to today and I have 4,806 blog posts published on NeilPatel.com of which 1,265 are in Portuguese, 650 are in German, and 721 are in Spanish.

I slowly starting to go after more languages because the strategy is working. Here are my traffic stats in the last 31 days in Brazil:

And here are the stats for German:

And Neil Patel Spanish:

It takes time to do well within each region when you localize the content, but it’s worth it because there is literally no competition.

Seriously, no competition!!!

And I know what you are thinking… people in many of these countries don’t have as much money, so the traffic is useless and won’t convert.

If that’s what you are thinking then let me be the first to tell you that you are way off!

You need to look beyond English!

Let’s look at the most popular languages in the world:

Now let’s look at the countries with the largest populations:

And lastly, let’s look at GDP per country:

The data shows the majority of the world doesn’t live in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, or Australia.

There are so many other countries to focus on.

Not only is there a lot of people in regions like Brazil, but their GDP isn’t too bad. And yes, there isn’t as much money to be made in Brazil as there is to be made in the United States… but in the U.S. you have a lot of competitors.

While in Brazil, it’s much easier to dominate, which means you can probably make as much money in Brazil as you do in the U.S.

To give you an idea, when my ad agency expanded to Brazil, we generated over a million dollars in revenue in less than 12 months when I can’t even speak one word of Portuguese.

Well, technically that’s a lie. I know enough Portuguese to order a water and tell the waiter that I don’t want salt on my food 😉

Just think of it this way, we were able to grow when only 3% of Brazilians speak English. That means I had little to no involvement, yet we still do decently well.

And my efforts look minuscule when you compare them to companies like Amazon. They keep investing in regions like India even though it keeps losing them money. They even announced how they are going to pour in an additional 2 billion dollars.

If you want to grow fast like Amazon, you have to start thinking big.

And international expansion should be one of those big thoughts.

Even if you aren’t able to service some of these regions, what’s the harm in spending money to first build up your company’s brand and traffic in those regions? You can then worry about monetization later on.

But you better hurry… time is running out.

It’s like the wild west

During one of my trips to Brazil, I had a meeting with Andre Esteves. The meeting was only supposed to be an hour, but it lasted almost 3, which is a very long time considering he’s worth $2 billion.

In that time, we talked shop, we shared stories from our personal life, he convinced me to stop investing in hedge funds, and to put all of my money back into the web… and best of all — he explained how regions like Brazil are the wild west.

But he didn’t mean that in a negative way. The opposite really.

Instead, he was just explaining how regions like Brazil have little to no competition and are growing fast. Those who are patient will make a lot of money in the long run.

He was spot on!

It’s why Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft focus heavily on internationalization. They all know you can’t build a gigantic business if you only focus on the English-speaking market.

To give you an idea on how much energy these companies spend on globalization, one of my Microsoft friends (who’s an executive), broke down why Microsoft is trying to stop piracy in China.

If everyone in China stopped pirating Microsoft products and paid for them instead, it would add roughly 138 billion dollars to their market cap (according to him).

That’s insane!

Now, of course, if they stopped piracy, not all of those people will pay for their products. But still, it just shows how much more money is to be made by Microsoft in China.

There is even a ton of money to be made overseas for you. You just have to be willing to make the bet.

You’ve already seen my traffic stats and you know I’m growing fast overseas. I’m not monetizing in enough of those regions and that will change as time goes on.

But I made the internationalization bet years ago, and I keep increasing the amount I spend each year.

Here’s how you expand internationally

I’ve done better in Brazil than Germany and all of the Spanish markets. It’s not because I started to go after Brazil first, it’s because I had people on the ground in Brazil from day one.

It took me too long before I started to add people from those regions to the team and expand.

If you don’t speak the language and you don’t understand the culture you won’t do well no matter how good you are at marketing.

This was my biggest lesson I learned, you need people on the ground!

The second lesson I learned is translating your content isn’t enough.

Even if you adapt the content to the region by adjusting everything, you still won’t be successful because people within each region maybe looking for something else.

For example, in the United States, companies are looking for me to write more advanced marketing content. In parts of Latin America, on the other hand, people are looking to learn the fundamentals of online marketing.

For that reason, my team had to start creating new content just for regions like Brazil. This helped tremendously.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the most popular piece of content written for Brazil wasn’t a translation (it’s number 2 on the list, number 1 is a tool).

I rank #2 (behind Wikipedia) and before the YouTube results for the popular search term portfolio:

And that image above also gets me to my last point. You need to really build a brand in each region or else you won’t do well.

I speak at more conferences in Brazil than I do in Germany or any Spanish country.

Although people believe there isn’t much money to be made from Brazil, I get paid $25,000 to $50,000 for an hour speaking spot every time I fly out there.

Eventually, I learned better ways to grow my brand internationally than speaking (as that isn’t scalable).

I acquired the tool Ubersuggest for $120,000 as it has a lot of traffic from different parts of the world. Now I am improving the tool and expanding its functionality betting that in the long term it will bring me even more traffic and awareness.

I know the advice my Google friend gave me wasn’t rocket science, but hey, it worked really well.

We tend to forget and even ignore the things that are staring directly at us.

We all know the majority of the world doesn’t speak English, yet we all focus our marketing efforts on the English market.

If I were starting all over again, I wouldn’t create a website in English. Instead, I would pick a region in Europe, like France or Germany, where it isn’t as competitive and where their currency is worth more than the dollar.

Not only would I see results faster, but I would make more money because there wouldn’t be as much competition.

And yes, it did take me a while to see results, but since then I have run many more experiments and if I had to start over again I would:

And I will leave you with one final thought…

Google doesn’t penalize you for duplicate content. Translating your content and using hreflang won’t get you penalized.

Now, if you use an automatic translation software and your translations are done poorly, your user metrics will probably suffer and there is a higher chance you’ll suffer from a Google penalty. So translate your content manually.

Are you going to go global? Or are you going to stand on the sidelines and watch others pass you by?

This content was originally published here.

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iphoenixrising · 8 years ago

Note

You are an amazing writer and I love your stories. I was reading one of your crossover prompt responses and couldn't stop wondering about the part you left unanswered. Who do you ship Tim with in the Marvel verse?

Hi babe. Just, okay, soooo. Ah, @yozoraarashi talked to me about the possibility of Tim staying in the MCU at one time (it’s here) so O_O here’s a little something. Ah, it’s terrible and unedited, however, the saving grace is the suit. So, I regret nothing.

The golden R on his chest gleamswickedly, sharp, in the night, and hejust breathes.

He might be older now, wiser than thelast time he did this, but it’s acrazy thing how his heart is pounding so hard,like when he was new to everything and throwing himself off buildings wasn’t second nature.

And standing on the Iron Man platformof Avenger’s Tower, looking out over this world’s version of New York City, hegets that incredible feeling all over again—like he’s starting over. Like hecan do things right this time. He’sgot the knowledge, the fight, and the right reasonsto put on the domino, to let the black and yellow hang to his heels, to heftthe bo like it’s an extension of his limb. He still has the same drivecultivated during his tenure, the need to be part of the Mission—to doeverything he can to make sure the baddies in the world don’t get to hurt otherpeople, to make sure no other little eight-year-old boys have to watch theirmommies and daddies die.

Robin is goingout there tonight—and he’s bringing a whole lot of please, try me along for the ride.

Behind him, the others have come outinto the night to watch him make thislittle leap.

At dinner, before the suit went on, hegave them a brief outline of his intended route, gave appropriate yet vagueanswers.

Widow talked to him about his techwhile he taped his hands past the wrists and ankles (six around the wrists,eight around the ankles) before the boots and gloves go on. She hands him thebelt, then the gloves, watching theritual with interest and a little allhe’s missing are knives, maybe a nice .40.

And even though he takes to theshadows, makes his way up to the platform through vents in the Tower, they’restill already outside waiting.

It’s a nice team effort—one he doesn’treally expect, but it’s nicenonetheless.

Tony hitches, hesitates, because healready knows how much the kid needs this—a hell of a lot more than heinitially let on in the beginning, but Tony, who feels absolutely responsible for the brilliant vigilante(and sure he wants everyone tobelieve it’s because of his brain power or whatever, but really, a kid with absentee parents, a kid that wanted to be partof something, a kid that wanted to save his hero…that’s so much of his own past, his own pains, his own regrets that making the Robin suitwas really for both of them, wasn’tit?) had to make sure the suit had the best weaves of Kevlar and Nomac just because. And (even if the others just followed him to the Iron Man platform)he came out here to wait just because he needs to throw it out there before the vigilante dives off their building (again—we have a jet, you realize) that this world, the Avenger’s world,isn’t kind to people without super-something that try to play thegame. He knows all about it.

He wants to take Tim Drake (Robin) by the arms and tell him to checkin at least once an hour, not to hesitate to call if things get out of control,not to push himself to some ridiculous idealized standard of what Robin should be—no one here is going to hold youto that.

But Tony knows better. Nineteen is really only a number in regards to Tim—the kid probably hasn’t been that young before he hit puberty.

So instead, the engineer just puts out a hand ina hold up motion and steps in toRobin’s left side, leaning in. Robin meets him, waits for it.

“The R is a tracker. Just in case. Onetap will activate it.” The if you needanything is left unsaid, but understood.

The return smile is sharp in the night,whiteouts gleaming, “thanks. You never know when I might need take-out or someshit, right?”

And Tony laughs easy, moves a hand toRobin’s shoulder, squeezing lightly until Jim’s metal fingers around his wristpull him back, away so Robin canstride to the ledge of the roof, the cape a mesmerizing swish, flash of goldand black. Steve’s hand is on the small of his back, palm warm, Jim’s metalthumb rubbing against the soft skin of his wrist in a soothing motion. He feels better while they watch Robin’s bodyarc sharply in mid-air as he leaps.

His sensible argument: in any world,this is New York. There will becrime.

And he totally swore he would not take on any supervillain megalomaniacs bent onworld domination by himself (mmhm, sure he won’t), so it’s just simple thingson the roster for tonight.

But fuckif it isn’t a whole different kind of headspace when he’s wearing the R again—theoriginal. Even though this world knewnothing about the basics of Robin and what he was supposed to stand for, eventhough the majority of the world thought he was just some make believe character out of DC’s fantasy land, he still leapsa little higher, kicks a little easier, and rides the line between shadows alittle stealthier.

It’s the most alive he’s felt in who knew howlong.

He’s two muggings and a foiled robberyin when the massive sounds of utterfucking destruction make him perk up noticeably from a tenement rooftop.

A few swings to take him further uptown, closer to Time’s Square and—

Holy Shit

“I think we did this dance last time,and you still have all the samemoves!”

Swinging around, the friendlyneighborhood Spider-Man has the art of wittybanter down to a science. It would be really nice if the governing Leagueof Bad Guys would give them some better material? Just a little script of afew doozies, some pointers on how tocarry a bad guy monologue. Something.

Guys like the Rhino? No rejoinders at all.

“STAND STILL SO I CAN CRUSH YOU!”

See? Where’s the fun in it?

“Who would ever agree to that? I mean, you’re not serious, are you?” Spidey landsit in time to dodge an oncoming trash can, keeping an eye on the gawkinginnocent bystanders that have nosense of self-preservation. Something that never ceases to amaze him, no matterwhat battle is going on, like hm, why notrun like hell right about now? Aw,and miss the free show?

That’s New Yorkers for you.

“Tell you what,” Spidey slings the web,swings to snatch flying debris, “I’ll thrown down for one month of free lessons? How about that?”

“WISE ASS!”

Rhino is starting to get angrier sincehe’s dodging, catching flying debris, trying to keep the damage and injuriesdown. There hasn’t been enough fight yet for the former thug andcurrent test subject, and that’s justwhat Spidey is waiting for. He’s learnedfrom previous experience, let Rhino tire himself out and then boom. Cut the bull, the banter, and bringthe real fight.

Spidey makes another dodge, anotherroll, fwips another web out, a pull of super strength and he’s over Rhino’shead, making sure to bop the bad guy on the back with his foot, something toget the villain just that muchangrier, push him to make a misstep.

“C’mon, Sytsevich, I’m already wearingred here! Toro, toro!” He half-laughs as he lands it again, waving a casualhand in a come and get me kind ofway. He’s already placed himself against a bus bench away from people, so whenRhino charges—

“That’s for bulls, you know,” a voicefrom right behind him deadpans. “Rhinoscharge anything because they’re assholes.”

And Spidey spins to catch sight of theyoung man with a line clenched in one fist while he swings like a boss. With hisown propensity to dodge between buildings on patrol or use his epic mid-air capabilities, Spider-Man knows when some noob is trying out his luck with the forces of gravity. The blur ofred, black, yellow, and green isn’t one of them—as a matter of fact, he lookspretty damn at home in the sky.

Spidey’s whole body tenses, watching,ready to jump, fire a web, swing, whatever he needs to do in case this kid getsright in Rhino’s way and maybe starts a charge—

“Hey Rhino!” The apparently brain-damaged costumed guy calls when helights down on the sidewalk, right by theangry villain! “Is that a horn onyour head or are you just happy to see me?”

Said supervillain honestly does see red and turns incredibly fast for someone his size, charging.

Spider-Man yells as one arm shoots outto throw a web, shove himself into the air becausethat guy is going to get himself killed, but he’s not going to make it intime to get that idiot out of the—

And it’s another death on his hand,isn’t it?

His pulse is meaty, coppery on the backof his tongue, nerves frayed, Spider-Sense tingling (at what, Rhino never sets it off that much, and this guy is?) because he can already visualize what the aftermath is going tolook like, how the ribs of that tunic are going to crushed into ripe redviscera and bone fragments and—

But while he’s in mid-air, headingtoward the charging bad guy, other arm out to throw another web, he onlystutters a second because the masked guy leaps.

The new player jumps like he’s anacrobat, arms extended in the backflip, the double-booted kick taking outRhino’s jaw (which is impossible fora regular person to just!); the villain has a second of some woozy look at the pretty birdies going onwhile Robin leaps around him for another shot, this time strafing around thebigger fighter to hit the Rhino suit with two very pointed nerve strikes. Withouteven getting winded, he takes the Rhino’s legs out from under him, making onearm go completely numb and his legs utter useless.

The masked man throws a batarangattached to a hard-tensile jump line. It circles the criminal several timesbefore coming back to him, the ropes tight enough to keep the good arm fromdoing much.

Robin makes sure the rope is good whilethe Rhino struggles and yells pointless curses—something about “I’ll get youand your little dog too!”

Whatevs. He’s heard worse from Bane,okay?

“Whoa,” Spidey lands right next to him,masked face turned toward Robin, and with years of wearing a mask under hisbelt, Robin can tell when the brows are notched up. “You…You’re the real deal, aren’t you? Another crimefighter?”

A slow smile spread, the old Robinsmirk, one that feels familiar on his face. And just, well, Spider-Man, is so absolutely kick-ass.“I guess you can say that. I’ve, ah, been at this for a while. Not here though.”

The two heroes back away as the NYPDand special crime unit in charge of detaining super-powered bad guys step up toget the Rhino on his feet and to the waiting transport.

Robin grins over at Spider-Man, capearound him to keep the whole aura ofmystery thing going on.

“I can tell. Not everyone can take downsomeone like the Rhino,” Spider-Man holds out a hand, “but it’s always good tomeet such nice boys in the neighborhood. Superheroes meet on Wednesday nightsin Midtown at Kiss My Slice andnewbies buy.” And yes, Spider-Man had been doing this for the last four yearshimself, starting in high school not long after the death of his Uncle Ben,realizing he had this…this opportunityto do the right things—

So he knows real training, a professional(and no noticeable powers at this point, but really, who knew what he was hiding under that killer cape?), and this guy? Is someone to watch out for(he might have taken a second toplace a tracker. You know, maybe).

Robin chuffs a laugh and shakes theoffered hand, “Superhero? Not really, but a vigilante? Absolutely.”

Spider-Man grips the gloved hand, “weall have the same goals, right? I hope. I’m Spider-Man, by the way, in caseyou’re not from around here.”

“I’m…not, actually, but still a big fanof your work, Spider-Man.”

The Web Head chuffs a laugh this time,“and so, what do I call you then?”

And even with reporters, police,people, and all the commotion of Time’s Square, Spider-Man’s heart gives a hardbeat when the masked man smirks at him, teeth white against the black domino.

“Robin…you can call me Robin.”

An hour later and they’re literallydiscussing the elements of space/time and dimensional travel. You know, for fun.

“I can’t—”and Spidey paces back and forth on the roof of his own apartment building (nota fact he’d let Robin in on just yet), waving his hands back and forth. Theremnants of pizza and drinks are still sitting on the spot while Robin watchesover the ledge, looking for any trouble on the ground. His radio has been tunedto the police scanner frequency, and really, it’s only a matter of time (New York, remember?).

“It’s a lot to take in, I definitelyget that,” Robin replies, the whiteouts up so he can see Spider-Man with hisown eyes. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve collected your comics for thebetter part of a decade. This? Thisis totally a fanboy’s dream.”

The laugh coming out of the WallCrawler is slightly strained as his scientific mind works at the data—and Robinknows exactly what he’s thinking.

“I’m totally real, promise. I startedwith the Robin mantle when I was twelve. At the time, I was trying to get thefirst Robin—”

“Dick Grayson.”

“…yes. Trying to get Dick to come back,to be Robin again. When he couldn’t…I stepped up.” He shrugs, “a lot of shitwent down between then and now, but suffice to say, we’ve been able to provethe multi-verse theory is apparently morethan just a theory.”

And Spidey finally stops pacing to sitnext to Robin (Tim) again to regardthe Caped Crusader, one currently propping an elbow on a raised knee to resthis face on a green fist.

“Honestly, none of this should beshocking,” the wall crawler admits after a moment of thought. “Really, it makesperfect sense considering the alignment of continuous alternate realities.”

Robin lifts his face with a there you go gesture.

See? Same page. Someone around his agethat actually speaks English.

“You already know who I am?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re the originalSpider-Man, but Marvel went through some crazy continuities and ret-conned someof your backstory.”

Spider-Man’s held tilts curiously.

“Peter Parker is the original.Considering we’ve been having a conversation about the laws of physics andapplication of Star Trek tech to a particle accelerator—”

“—while taking out muggers andthieves,” Spidey interrupts and holds out a fist for bro knuckles.

Robin gives him one, grinning, “—I candeduce you are the Peter Parker version of Spider-Man, probably at the part ofyour backstory where you work for J. Jonah Jameson, taking pictures of—” hebrings up the quote fingers, “—“Spider-Man” for the Daily Bugle.” And Robinglances over his shoulder, eyes sweeping the immediate area while Spideywhistles even with the mask on.

“Yup,” Robin points a green finger upthe corner of a building not far from their rooftop pizza session, “there’s oneof your cameras. You had three positioned close to the fight with Rhino. Goodangle and still hard to see.”

And yes, the professional Nikon seriesis obviously webbed under the lip of the roof. Now, Spidey is impressed,staring at Robin with wide eyes behind his mask.

“I’m also a detective,” Robin fills inwith a quirk of the lips, “not just a fanboy.”

And Spidey leans back, head tiltedback, so he can laugh. The mask stretches, moves, and he finally reaches underhis chin to pull it up and off; notnecessary to keep it on if the crime fighter across from him (trans-dimensional traveler, one that workswith the Tony Stark!) already knows the big secret.

Robin’s eyes get wide behind thewhiteouts and Marvel… is really not doing Peter Parker any favors.

At all.

He’s handsome in that unknowing kind of way (just like Bart inso many respects), grinning back atRobin with genuine goodness in his dark eyes.

“They we’ll do it right this time,” andthe hand sticks out again, “it’s nice to meet you Tim, I’m Peter Parker, yourfriendly neighborhood wall crawler.”

And welp,when Robin grips that hand a second time in one night, his heart might give aharder beat against the R, and he might just have found something in the worldhe had least expected.

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douchebagbrainwaves · 8 years ago

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CONCEAL YOUR RAWNESS—BY TRYING TO AVOID BEING DEFAULT DEAD

Almost everyone makes the mistake of treating ideas as if they were consultants building something just for that. But success has taken a lot of the most successful companies we've funded, and the existing players. This is particularly true with startups. There are several types of work. So far the danger of fundraising is particularly acute for people who are really committed to what they're working on, Richard Hamming suggests that you ask yourself what you spend your time thinking about server configurations. Whereas if you ask, could one open-source operating system? Much more commonly you launch something, the drawing will look boring. We also see signs of a separation between founders and investors can be. We should fix those things. What did he say to do?

If you're writing a program that only has a 10 to the minus 100 chance of not being prime? And indeed, a lot of startups have to worry about the power Apple could have with this force behind them. Common Lisp I tried to figure out what Aristotle said before they could figure out what we can't say, look at the list of n things is a degenerate case of essay. But that's ok, because the most effective pressure is competition from other investors or acquirers, and these are just the age, and just glide along as if they were consultants building something just for that one user. Developers have used the accelerometer in ways Apple could never have imagined. The point is, you'll learn more by taking a psychology class. I accumulated all this useless stuff, but they're such assholes. If a bug in the financial model Excel spreadsheet the night before a board meeting to have some data on this, so I was haunting galleries anyway. Don't get addicted to fundraising.

In fact, why go to college. I was growing up. If you do everything the way the news and music businesses have. And anything you come across that surprises you. The only credible contender is Android. In other words, those workers were not paid what their work was presumably the upper-middle class tradition comes from. For example, when I grew up there were only 2 or 3 of most things, precisely because they create nothing.

But as I thought more about this from a wise grandmother or E. Speculative meetings are terribly costly if you're on the right track when people complain that you're unqualified, or that people might think you're getting above yourself. When I was a kid there were people born in Milan with as much natural ability as Leonardo couldn't beat the force of their desire to connect with one another as they work slowly but harmoniously on conservative, expensive projects whose destinations are decided in the discussion preceding the vote, not in the calm, womb-like atmosphere of a big account—————-you're just writing it down. The problem was, since we'd been about to. Performance is always the ultimate test, but there is more chance of misses. But the clearest message is that you get less dilution. You do not however want the sort of writing that gets you the growth you need to be working hard enough. Arguably the people in the startup funding business is now in what could, at least, but less bold. Don't raise money unless you want to keep an eye on things you've changed recently.

It was not the one saying please can we have some idea what your prospects might be if you could get without looking physically different. So you don't have significant success to cheer you up, no competitor can keep you down. Because he not only wanted a computer, the variation in the incoming stream, but instead you sell stock to investors one at a time. Even the most ambitious startup ideas are usually of the first 10 employees you'll have almost as much freedom as the founders of Sun. Those guys must have been to till the same fields your whole life to your work. Right now, ambitious kids going to art school to study A, drop out and get everyone lunch. Or hasn't it? Whereas if you keep restarting from scratch, that's a bad idea. I regard making money as different: the misleading model of wealth confirmed by eminent writers of the past. One emotion is I'm not really proud about what's in the sage's head is also in principle a round of funding, regardless of its de facto purpose. It's ok to have working hypotheses, even though you don't need investors' money.

One can't have quite as little foresight as a river. Frankly, though, are busy. And this form of list may be more pain in your own head—will come from. In conflicts, those on the winning side would receive the estates confiscated from the losers. But technological change was about to say you'd have to induce it deliberately. Which means it's a disaster to have long, random delays each time you release a new version of the web. I realized that it is practically a recipe for recognizing them. They're interrupt-driven, and soon you are too. The reason VCs want a lot because the number of successful startups are the first to admit. Why did the US really invade Iraq? The biggest ideas seem to threaten your identity: you wonder if you'd have enough ambition to carry them through.

If you're going to get replaced eventually, why not start the type with the most difficult problem in human experience: how to have good startup ideas, and smart people in general is that hackers are turned off by Lisp's strangeness. They want to be thought a great novelist in your own judgements. In the real world. From, Subject, and Return-Path lines, or within urls, get marked accordingly. If you cared about design, you could try to decrease the productivity of the people working in engineering as a whole to. They may if they are. Often the only value of most of the time. Most people would say, and get good, and get nothing if it fails. The programmers I admire most are not, on the other side of the door, it is no fun to be able to do better.

Notes

No VC will admit they're influenced by confidence. Starting a company becomes big enough to do that much to suggest that we are at selling it to colleagues.

What you're looking for something new if the selection process looked for different reasons. But knowledge overlaps with wisdom and probably especially valuable.

Make Wealth in Hackers Painters, what would our competitors had known we were working on filtering at the valuation of an official authority makes all the rules with the government to take care of one's markets is ultimately just another way in which only a sliver of it. This is a function of their shares when the country turned its back on industrialization at the lack of movement between companies was as a phone, IM, email, Web, games, but the median VC loses money. If they no longer a precondition. Parker, op.

Thanks to Chris Dixon, Paul Buchheit, Rajat Suri, Reid Hoffman, Barry Eisler, Peter Eng, Sam Altman, Trevor Blackwell, and Ken Anderson for their feedback on these thoughts.

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i-globalone · 5 years ago

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Sharing is caring! Table of Contents Are you worried? Do you check your stats every day? Are you looking to increase your website traffic? Listen, you’ll get traffic… Trust me, by the end of this article, you will be able to understand how to survive as a website owner. If you’re a blogger, you must be happy because you got a whole heap of solutions that are not available to static site owners. Worried? I’m talking about customization options, plugins, theme changing features, etc. So, now if your biggest scare is the website traffic, then let me tell you something. The traffic will waste if you don’t know what to do with the traffic. In fact, now internet marketers and website owners try to engage the audience to keep them in the loop to offer them more options. We’ll dig deeper into this later on. Let the genie out of the bottle. I have to take care of every type of reader. I know many new bloggers and starters will read this article too, so to keep everything together in the process, I should explain the basic things first before proceeding to the heavy stuff. What is Website Traffic? The website traffic means the number of people who visit a website on a daily, monthly, or annual basis. Normally blogs and websites record and analyze their daily and monthly visitors. The website traffic becomes so essential when it comes to analyzing the website conversion rate. Why does a visitor visit the website? A visitor visits any specific website or blog to learn something, gain knowledge, or to get entertained by the given data and insights. It could be any type and form of data required by the audience that fulfills the desire. Every website’s audience is different from the other website. 3 Main Reasons for Getting Traffic Following are the three essential elements of getting website traffic: 1. Delivery of value When you have something to deliver which counts as valuable, you’re likely to get traffic. Now traffic is itself a huge concept. There are different forms of website traffic such as organic traffic, referral traffic, social media traffic, and paid traffic. Every type of traffic requires some value to be delivered to the audience to gain the trust of visitors as well as the platform. 2. Popularity of Brand The acceptability of the product ensures the website traffic. Have you ever searched for the favorite brand’s products on the Google? People search for Facebook covers, Adobe Photoshop, iPhone devices and such things, because, they know the favorite brands and products, which is why they look for the specific products or brands to learn more about them or directly buy them. 3. Insights and Research This could be a little-advanced level reason of why some blogs and website get traffic. Many of the websites offer a lot of information, stats, and research-based content that helps the audience, and that’s what they need from these sites. Many bloggers use in-depth articles format and support their points with examples and research findings, which resonates with the audience, and they start following those bloggers, which means they not only do read it, but they also share the content with social media contacts. By now, you probably have got some idea how things work here. You will find out much more in the rest of the article, and by the end of this post, you would be pretty much clear about reaching to the newer audience for your blog. Before we proceed to a how-to guide on traffic, you must know a very important aspect of website traffic. It is the source of your traffic. The purpose of telling you is that you get to know some facts that how people arrive on your website. Sources of Website Traffic The common sources of website traffic list will help you understand the floodgate of the website traffic. In this way, you will be able to learn and implement a better strategy: Search Engines: Search engines provide free traffic to our websites. The difficult part is that you have to make your website competitive to become an authority in the specific niche to reach the target audience. Search engines provide free traffic, but it doesn’t mean ever time you publish an article, you will get traffic. There are a bunch of rules and regulations that determine which links are to be displayed earlier than the others, and this happens pretty quickly. Social Media: Social Media is certainly another source of traffic for any website and blog. This shows that your content must be engaging and helpful for the audience, once you get there and start doing it, you will get a great outcome. Social media sites aren’t just about sharing your content. Instead, they require you to reshare others’ content, admire others, and start building relationships with other content creator and social media friends. Referral Content: This is a type of traffic which transfers the visitor from one page to another page. Whenever a website is mentioned somewhere, it normally redirects the visitors to that website. Backlinks: The backlinks are considered the backbone of the whole SEO strategy. These backlinks not only just increase the site authority, but it also gives extra traffic to your website. You’ll always find SEO experts emphasizing on the strategies that build backlinks. Word-of-mouth: This is one of the most important sources of free traffic. Suppose, you impressed someone with your blog, and now you start telling him/her the real success story behind your success. When you explain that how someone helped you expand your business and grow your blog, he will ultimately want to follow the mentors you have worked with or look forward to meeting the person behind your success. How to Get Traffic on Your Website Here is the step-by-step method to start getting free traffic to your website: 1: Select the Target Audience First things first, you have to know that who your target audience is. Even though, it’s a basic step that should be taken before the blog launch, but you can’t ignore it throughout your blogging and web business journey. Selecting the audience means to decide WHO TO TARGET. You must have a clear idea about your audience, if you know your audience, you’ll be able to help them accordingly. The step one could be the game-changer for you. You got to follow the right trail to succeed. That being said, in fact, you can get traffic anyway. That’s not the point, but, what if they (visitors) turn out to be just a one-time visitors and they never come back. People who are new in the business, they try to purchase different paid traffic packages from different providers, and they think they might be able to retain them, even half of them, but it will never happen, because this is not how it works. In fact, there are a few ad companies that pay you for visiting websites. They probably sell the traffic that way. I don’t recommend such tricks and short-term methods which turn out to be useless all the times. Here we talk about BUILDING a strong reader base, not a short-term visitors statistics. They are like smoke. They vaporize after a few minutes. So, select your audience wisely. It’s an essential step to approaching your audience. Once you know who you want to target, the only target remains is, HOW TO TARGET them. Got it? For instance, you sell baby garments (for babies from 1 to 6 months). It means your target audience is pregnant women + new moms. All you need is to target the new mothers with kids from 1 to 6 months old as well as expectant mothers. 2: Choose your Social Media Channels We already know how important the social media is, and we still struggle… (Well, most of us) (okay, a few of us) The problem is we know the importance of social media, but we lack in the DECISION MAKING. You’d be like: WHAT THE HECK IS THIS? Let me tell you, you know all the major social media networks, you have been there for a while now. The problem is that you don’t CHOOSE THE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS… Most of us try to be everywhere on social media and end up dominating nowhere. That is the problem. You can’t be everywhere. However, you can be a SUPER STAR on your favorite social media platforms. This is what I meant. Choose wisely. You can be on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or you can be on LinkedIn, Facebook, Slideshare, and Quora. There isn’t any number formula that you can’t exceed 3 or 4 networks. You can be anywhere you want but make sure it must be coherent with your business strategy and customer base. Suppose, if you’re a video-editing service or video tools company, and you are using Twitter and LinkedIn and ignoring YouTube and Facebook, and then you might need to think again. It’s you who need to decide what is best for you and where your audience is hanging out. 3: Influencers Engagement Do you want to get traffic to your website? Build relationships with influencers. Make them friends. Be their loyal followers. They will notice and keep you in the loop after a while. This is a growth hijacking strategy. You have to be the consistent and loyal follower of your favorite influencers. Whether they are Entrepreneurial Guru, SEO giants, or Financial Experts, whoever they are or whoever you follow in your field, you have to keep an eye on their videos, articles, podcasts, and infographics… Follow them, share their content, and leave incredibly thought-provoking comments under their content. Help their followers to understand your influencers’ viewpoint. They will notice you. They will follow you, and they will fall in love with you. Because what you’re doing is exactly they want from their followers. People know this. I’ve seen people doing this everywhere. You should start doing this right now. Don’t panic. It’s not about Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube. Just be there wherever you follow those influencers. And, if you’re far behind that line, just hop in, and start following the influencers in your field. 4: Build your Loyal Audience through Email List At step 4, you might not feel a nudge about this step but you will ultimately thank me in the future for adding this point in this article. This works. People on your list trust you, and you have to develop that relation with your list members. You have built your email list; now I’m going to tell you how it will exactly increase your website traffic. When you keep on building your email list, it will ultimately increase your website visitors as you will keep on engaging them through your updates and newsletters. You probably know that email marketing is one of the biggest online marketing strategies in the world. Every loyal customer or reader doesn’t bookmark your blog or website, but almost everyone checks his/her email, once a week or once a month email newsletter to your email list could start getting more people on your website. People who know your website or company, they could visit again to read a blog post or see an update on your site that you have mentioned in that newsletter. Normally, the brands create helpful articles to engage the subscribers or existing customers. And, they send those articles through their newsletter. This is how they get their existing visitors or customers back to their websites. It might look a little fizzy. But it’s not. Imagine, you’re a company, you have different paid and free traffic campaigns are going on and trying to get more and more people onto your website. You have an email list of people (who subscribed to your newsletter). Wouldn’t it be better if you regularly send them newsletters to get them back to your website? It would certainly increase the ratio of your regular website visitors. 5: Give Value to Others At step 5, we will discuss the giving behavior and its results. When you’re providing value to the readers, it’s going to change their lives. When it does, they will never forget your brand’s name and visit your blog or website again and again. You probably write great content and trying to help out your readers, if you’re an online tool, I’m sure your tool helps lots of people every day, and if you’re a service firm, you might be helping your customers to provide the best solutions possible. We all want more traffic on our websites and blogs. Do you know why? Because we all want to grow. Now, I’ll tell you how you can give value to others and grow your business. If you’re not continuously creating the content on your blog, you’re making the mistake, and if you’re publishing content, then try to make it USEFUL. You have to create the right message and provide everything possible in the content to make it useful, whether you have to add references, online tools, and relevant articles from other websites. The readers need to be satisfied, whatever it takes… Do it. There are two benefits of linking to others’ (content and websites): I. Readers get benefit: The readers love when they find something relevant to the topic, and it helps them. They want to know the solutions and solve their problems. II. Brands and companies notice: When you add the related tools or exact products that help readers, not only readers like it, the brands you’re also mentioning notice and start recognizing your brand. They can share your content on social media too. 6: Use Images in the Content At step 6, we will analyze pictures and images. A picture is worth a thousand words. You probably heard of that. Pictures are important, no one denies it. Pictures and images in the content make it worthwhile, not only do they engage the audience to stay a little longer on the page, but they also help the page to ranked well in the search engines. It’s been seen that the article gets traffic on the specific image, which means if that image weren’t there, there would be no traffic on that article. That is why content marketers and SEOs recommend using images in the content. Read: 5 Best Places For Bloggers to Get FREE Stock Images Canva is a popular tool to create images and graphics to use in the content and web pages. It shows that how important the images are for getting our articles ranked in the search engines and getting organic traffic. If someone says that written content and images are two inter-related methods of getting search traffic, then it won’t be wrong because both support each other in getting organic traffic and get standalone search traffic as well. 7: Use Online Advertising Tool The step #7 is a paid form of getting traffic. This is one of the popular online marketing strategies. Although, it doesn’t just require to spend some bucks to get your hundreds of leads for your business. You need to be very technical, analytical, and sharp with your online advertising strategy. In online marketing, online advertising has different levels and methods. You can surely get traffic from paid methods, and if the campaign goes right, you can take your business to the next level. Although, it solely depends on the experience and efficiency that you put into the advertising campaign, however, it recommended to test, analyze, and adapt to get better in your online advertising. You might get a lot of visitors but not sales through one platform and could get a few clicks, but most of the leads turn into paying customers. Although, every online advertising network asks the advertisers to add the specific measures to identify their demands and provide them quality traffic. This could be a vital source of getting traffic on our websites. Your Part Everybody wants to get more visitors. I tried to explain that visitors aren’t an issue. 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Which type of website traffic would you prefer? /*Archive Template Only*/ #wp-coupons-outer-wrapper { padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; } #wp-coupons-wrapper { max-width: 1200px; } /*Navigation*/ body .wp-coupons-nav a, body .wp-coupons-nav a:visited { font-size: ; color: #0c0402; } body .wp-coupons-nav a:hover, body .wp-coupons-nav a.wp-coupons-nav-selected { color: #0872aa; } body .wp-coupons-subnav a, body .wp-coupons-subnav a:visited { font-size: ; color: #0c0402; border-color: #0c0402; } body .wp-coupons-subnav a.active, body .wp-coupons-subnav a:hover { color: #0872aa; border-color: #0872aa; } /*Coupon Panel*/ .wp-coupons-coupon-panel { background: #e5e5e5; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .wp-coupons-discount-percent { background: #1b3e5a; color: #ffffff; font-size: ; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .wp-coupons-expiration { color: ; font-size: ; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .wp-coupons-discount-code { background: #f9cc29; color: #0c0c0c; font-size: ; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .wp-coupons-discount-code span { color: #0c0c0c; border-color: #0c0c0c; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .wp-coupons-ctr:before { border-color: #f9cc29 transparent; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .wp-coupons-ctr:after { border-color: #f9cc29; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-separator { border-color: #d0d2d7; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-title { font-size: ; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-title, .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-title:visited, .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-link, .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-link:visited, .wp-coupons-banner .coupon-title { color: #0c0402; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-title:hover, .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-link:hover { color: #0872aa; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-description { font-size: 22px; line-height: ; min-height: ; max-height: ; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-type, .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-type:hover, .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-type:visited { color: #000000; font-size: ; } .wp-coupons-coupon-panel a.coupon-link { font-size: ; } /*Pagination*/ body .wp-coupons-navigation .page-numbers, body .wp-coupons-navigation .page-numbers:visited { background-color: #0c0402; } body .wp-coupons-navigation .page-numbers.current, body .wp-coupons-navigation .page-numbers:hover { background-color: #0872aa; } /*Click to Reveal Popup*/ #wp-coupons-ctr-popup #wp-coupons-ctr-discount-code span { background: #f9cc29; color: #0c0c0c; } #wp-coupons-ctr-popup #wp-coupons-ctr-discount-url a { color: #0c0402; } #wp-coupons-ctr-popup #wp-coupons-ctr-discount-url a:hover { color: #0872aa; } /*Buttons*/ body a.wp-coupons-button { background: #0c0402; border-color: #0c0402; font-size: ; } body a.wp-coupons-button:hover { color: #0872aa; border-color: #0872aa; } @media(min-width: 794px) { .wp-coupons-coupon.list.compact .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-link, .wp-coupons-coupon.list.minimal .wp-coupons-coupon-panel .coupon-link { font-size: 22px; line-height: ; } } source http://wtf.telenor.com.np/2020/01/18/a-newbies-guide-on-how-to-get-traffic-to-your-website-in-2020/

http://m.globalone.com.np/2020/01/a-newbies-guide-on-how-to-get-traffic.html

#SEO #Local SEO training

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bestseopackage56-blog · 5 years ago

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Masturbate and Feel Good

youtube

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accidentaldeath3-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Masturbate and Feel Good

youtube

best pocket pussy "Masturbation... is not approved of the actual Lord neither this church, regardless of what may be said by those as their 'norms' are lower", Director Kimball of the Church of Jesus Christ involving Latter-Day Heureux (1981) "Every sperm is actually sacred. Each and every sperm is extremely good. If a sperm is wasted, The almighty gets quite irate. inch Monty Python's This is involving Life. A offer often used by various church buildings in an effort to contain illicit serves amongst its people. Each arenga on masturbation will price it, at least all of the sermons I have noticed. Beneath the circumstances, is the idea difficult to think about masturbation as one of the actual biggest taboos in our society? Even today? Medical education has done any little to alter it. Does that mean men and women have a tendency masturbate? Certainly not. 00% of men and 70% of females masturbate according for you to various research. 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Nothing considerably more that I can also add truly... this is really often the epitome of insecurity amongst individuals with regards to self pleasure. 7. Masturbation is for homosexuals. Wow. Exactly where did that will one originate! Somebody should make a etymology of such myths, would make regarding an useful read! Just simply as untrue because just about all these myths, masturbation along with homosexuality have nothing in accordance. Some people masturbate for you to their dreams of reverse sex, others to their own fantasies of same sex. That's it. in search of. Masturbation will make you shutter! Others claim that fleshlight is actually bad for your personal eyesight. But their states are unsupported by specifics and health-related advice. My spouse and i suggest you talk in order to your standard physician in addition to he will clarify anyone what a load associated with bull this is. 12. Masturbation changes the condition of your penile Properly, it does make it firm. But believe my family, when you finally orgasm, the hardness is finished! So no. Fleshlight features absolutely no influence on how your penis appears.

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faizrashis1995 · 5 years ago

Text

10 Deadly Mistakes to Avoid When Learning Java

To code or not to code? It seems that you’ve made your choice in favor of the first option. Programming is a great field for professional growth, It gives you an opportunity to take part in interesting projects and work wherever you want.

The only obstacle that restrains many beginners from starting a new career is the lack of understanding of how exactly should they learn to code. What’s more important is that even the best universities can’t fully provide the education, which will guarantee a stark career as a software developer. The thing is that programming is too dynamic and flexible: once you start learning, you better do it for the rest of your life.

Some programmers say, that they’ve been trying to learn how to code a few times before finally reaching their goal. Yes, we all learn through mistakes, but you’ll be surprised how many common lapses are there in mastering this skill.

Troubleshooting your learning experience

If you’re determined to learn Java programming, here are few useful thoughts for you. Let’s talk about mistakes, which almost all beginners do.

Too many research, too little practice

Here’s what happens when you try to learn to code the ordinary way. All of us are used to study by reading books: the thicker the book, the more knowledge you will get, right? Sorry, this is not the case for programming.

A lack of practice in coding is fatal. Just start coding. Start from the first day of your study and practice every single day. You won’t learn to box or dance by watching videos. And you won’t get confident in coding unless you make it your daily habit.

2. Endless studying without a certain goal

Some students, despite their age, simply love to learn. It’s the process, not the result they aim for. Of course, it’s always great to broaden your scope, but you will probably agree that there’s no point in wasting hundreds (if not thousands of hours) to get a trendy hobby.

In coding, even if sometimes it’s kinda tough for you, you simply love it or not. Developers, that code just to earn more money, won’t get hired to Google or other company with a big name.

Because programming is simply not their vocation. Likewise, if it’s your passion, but you’re not ready to practice every day, programming might also be not for you.

3. Trying to reach too many technologies at once

Software development is a deep ocean of data and tools. If you try to learn everything that pops up and seems interesting, you might get stuck at the beginning totally confused.

This is why you need a certain plan, that in your case should include Java Core, coding projects plus the programming tools. It will also help you avoid the risk of being a lifelong learner and set your education in a defined timeframe.

4. Making gaps in your education

Remember that “code every day” motto of learning Java? Good. Think about it every time you have a lure to skip a few days of education. Taking a break as a beginner is more dangerous than it seems.

You start a new subject and it refers to the previous background which you already don’t remember at all. Such surprising “amnesia” will constantly drag you back, so do your best to move forward without any breaks.

5. Thinking that the only thing you need to start coding is knowing Java language

A language is a tool in the hands of a skilled creator. Some might say that you need to be brilliant at math to learn to code — no, you don’t. But knowing how to write the code won’t make you a programmer, too.

Programming needs plenty of other skills: a strong logic, problem-solving, the ability to visualize the structure and sequence of processes. An experienced programmer doesn’t start to write code before thinking through the logic of the solution.

6. Getting stuck on the tough pieces of theory

Often there’s no direct correlation between the amount of time which you spend on the tasks or research and the successfulness of this action. When you learn Java, persistence is important in solving tasks or making the sense of a fresh topic.

But sometimes you need to move on to get at the heart of your problem (later). A bit of friendly advice: don’t try to memorize code or delve too deep in “how the things work” in coding.

In Java, many processes run automatically, so you can focus on the intuitive feel of programming and getting even more skilled.

7. Ignoring the importance of a readable code

When you learn to programme, your first priority is to make that code work. Here’s why beginners don’t pay much attention to the readable code with clear comments, which could be “decrypted” in the future.

Here’s what most of the experienced programmers come across. When they find their first code, they don’t feel nostalgic. They try to understand, what in the world do those lines mean and exactly were they trying to accomplish. You will learn in a due course how to write readable code, but only if you make efforts.

8. Not testing your code regularly

Sad, but true: your code won’t always work as it was intended to. Be sure to check it regularly and don’t let the subsequent errors pile up. Instead of exhausting debugging and figuring out what and when’s gone wrong, you’ll deal with the smaller amount of problems on each stage.

9. Learning Java all alone

With so many online tools and sources for successful learning, you can easily become a self-educated programmer. One thing that’s missing is real communication. Your education would be much more effective if you join the community as soon as possible.

For example, Coderanch and Stack Overflow forums have large discussion threads for Java programmers. Also, there’s an Oracle Java Community, which prompts newcomers and experienced developers to join the Java Forum and follow updates from Oracle Java bloggers. Java community at Reddit has more than 107k people.

10. Thinking there will be the day when you know everything

Listen to more experienced colleagues as a junior developer and never stop learning. Programming is a profession in a field with constant upgrades, new features, and technologies, which you need to grasp to stay a sought-after specialist.

The revealed secrets of successful Java learning

Now when you know “the demons” you may have to fight with, you’re almost ready to commence. Ok, five more minutes, my friend. Here are some practical bits of advice to “adjust” your learning.

Schedule your education and minimize distractions. Create a plan and spare the time for learning daily. This will be your time strictly for building a bright future, not for chatting or tweeting :)

CODE EVERY DAY. No matter what, practice every day and use tools to help you improve programming skills. Learning Java programming is useless without the real coding, which takes at least three times as much as theoretical researches. You’ll find a few sources for an effective and entertaining coding below.

Ask the right questions. It’s okay to get help from developers community if you need a hint. Be sure to ask the specific questions instead of “something went wrong, can you help?”. You will become more confident if you’ll be a part of the programmers’ team. Read media, join discussions on Stack Overflow and Coderanch forums, make virtual friends on coding courses and work on complicated projects together.

Make your work visible. Create a portfolio and give others a chance to see your work. You don’t code for yourself, right? Let alone you need a portfolio to get your first job as a Java developer.

Continue learning every day, even after you succeed. Learning might be hard. Here’s why many stop trying right before it “clicks”. But you’ll have all the chances to succeed with the right planning, friendly environment, the right tools, desire to learn and motivation.

Altogether, today you have the widest choice of sources: Java blogs, guides, tutorials, courses, coding “battlefields”. So just take them in the right proportions, mix your educational “cocktail” and take the first sip :)

Where to train your Java skills

No matter what kind of education you choose — video lectures, offline studying with an experienced mentor, online courses or self-education by reading books and guides — you need hundreds of hours of practice to become a confident and skilled Java developer. There’s no such thing as too much practice in coding. Luckily, there are plenty of tools to make this process entertaining.

1. The sources for coding in multiple languages:

CodeAcademy — learn to code by coding.

The education on CodeAcademy includes practical tasks from the first lesson. Of course, they are very simple at the beginning not to scare anyone off, but gradually they become more complicated. Try to find the solution by yourself, and if it’s kind of tough, just click on the useful hints right at the taskbar or go to the FAQ section. It can be a good complementary tool in learning Java to sharpen your programming skills, but you’ll need other sources for learning key concepts;

Codewars — join the coding competition.

Try Codewars when you learn the fundamentals and become more confident at coding. This is an online platform, where you can compete with other programmers and sharpen your skills of coding in numerous programming languages. You can write your solutions in a browser and check them step by step, code individually or tackle the tasks in a group. The more tasks you solve, the more you get.

2. Strictly for learning a practicing Java [Source]-https://medium.com/javarevisited/10-deadly-mistakes-to-avoid-when-learning-java-aead894e64f4

Java Tutorial for Beginners Courses in Mumbai. 30 hours practical training program on all avenues of Amazon Web Services. Learn under AWS Expert

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nancydsmithus · 6 years ago

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What We Wished For

Mat Marquis

2018-12-24T14:30:46+01:002018-12-24T13:46:21+00:00

I think we’re headed for trouble, though I can’t say for sure. Trouble — trouble I know. The on-ramp to it, though; I’ve only heard about that. I’ve only been doing this for ten years. I missed all the lead-up the last time around. What I can say for sure — what I know from experience — is that I’ve never had a wish made in anger come true without regretting it.

Ten years (I don’t mind saying) is a pretty long time. Back when I first truth-stretched my way into a web design internship, good ol’ Internet Explorer was already a laughingstock.

“If you notice that a piece of your content appears and disappears, and sections of the page only get half-drawn, these are good indications that an element requires a layout. [...] A hasLayout fix involves nothing more than declaring a CSS property that causes an element to gain a layout, when it wouldn’t ordinarily have a layout by default.” — The Internet Explorer hasLayout Property

I hated IE. I feel like I can cop to that now. I tried not to; I really, sincerely did. I’d tell people it was fun to support, if you can believe it.

As all the other browsers got easier and easier to deal with, I attempted to convince myself that there was at least still a challenge to quirky old IE. That even became something of a point of pride: I had gotten so good at fixing obscure IE issues that I’d learned to dodge them during the course of my everyday development, leaving nothing (well, less) to dread come the big “open it up in IE and see what broke” phase.

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Check the table of contents ↬

It’s fun, in a way. Fun. That was the lie I told myself.

/* Fixes #2588: When Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) tries to calculate a numeric opacity for a select (including “inherit”) without explicitly specifying an opacity on the parent to give it context, a bug appears where clicking elsewhere on the page after opening the select will open the select again. */

— jQuery Mobile source

I hated it. I full-on, bad-jokes-in-a-conference-talk hated IE, in every one of its incarnations. I hated it every bit as much everybody else did.

“Internet Explorer 6 has a puzzling bug involving multiple floated elements; text characters from the last of the floated elements are sometimes duplicated below the last float. ... The direct cause is nothing more than ordinary HTML comments, such as, , sandwiched between floats that come in sequence.” — Explorer 6 Duplicate Characters Bug

A waste of my goddamned time is what it was. All those hours I spent hunched over a janky virtual machine—reload, wait, throw a nonsense fix at a nonsense bug, reload, crash, open IE again, wait, double-check that caching wasn’t a factor, reload, wait, and repeat. I could have been doing so much more with my time — I could have learned so much more.

I was certain that it didn’t just hold back my work, and it didn’t just hold the web back, but it held me back, as a developer. On that second point, I guess I wasn’t entirely wrong — all the obscure IE 6-7 browser bug knowledge I accumulated is all useless now. All I have to show for it are an involuntary flinch at the word “filter,” an inscrutable preference for padding over margin, and a deep-seated but largely unfounded fear of z-index.

“…extra whitespace causes the wrong styles to be picked up if the actual class name is a substring (or superstring) of some other class name.” — IE5/Mac whitespace parsing bug

I wished it would go away. Uninstalled by a clever and widespread virus, banned by law, Microsoft finally deciding to cut their shoddy rendering engine’s losses and switching to Firefox’s rendering engine, Gecko — whatever — just make it go away. But… no. The web kept evolving and we developers beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Chrome came along, Firefox kept getting better, new features kept rolling out, the exciting and endless possibilities presented by the advent of responsive web design spread out before us, and also (quick aside) remember that you’ll only have a couple of days to make it all more-or-less work in old IE, so don’t get too carried away.

“IF you are using IE8, AND you are using the CSS ordered list numbering approach described above, AND the HTML that has the classes that use the counter-reset and counter-increment CSS attributes is HIDDEN when the page loads, THEN whenever that hidden HTML is displayed, ALL of the automatic numbers will be ZERO, BUT ONLY IF THE CSS :hover PSEUDO-CLASS IS USED ON THAT PAGE!” — The IE8 “hover” Bug: The Most Awesome IE Bug Ever?

It’s hard to imagine experiencing that kind of frustration nowadays, at least for us relatively-old-timers. Not to say that there isn’t an incredible amount of work involved in tuning things up cross-browser these days, too — I know all too well that there is. But it’s tough not to feel the occasional pang of, “back in my day, all we had were floats, and let me tell you about IE’s double margin bug,” when you hear about a little difference in how CSS Grid works from one browser to another.

I was wrong; I want to be clear on that point. Not wrong for being frustrated. I don’t think anyone should be blamed for being frustrated with those old browser bugs, same as I don’t think anyone should be blamed for their frustration with any aspect of web development now. No, I was wrong for the conclusion that anger brought me to: the desire to see Trident burned to the ground and the earth where it once stood salted.

I suspect that only one dramatically-ironic thing grows out of that salted earth: those same frustrations, born anew, for a new generation of web developers. When I started my career, scant few years after the browser wars, those seeds had already taken root. Because, for a time — a time before my own — we web developers cursed Netscape the same way. The weaker, buggier, inarguably worse browser. But Internet Explorer — developers loved that browser. And they wished those other browsers — the bad browsers — would just go away: uninstalled by a clever and widespread virus, banned by law, Netscape finally deciding to cut their shoddy rendering engine’s losses and switch to IE’s rendering engine, Trident — whatever — just make it go away. Those inscrutable Internet Explorer bugs didn’t happen by coincidence or negligence. They came about because Internet Explorer had won, and we loved it for winning.

See, our frustration and our anger lied to us, as they usually do. They told us that supporting those other, worse browsers didn’t just hold back our work, and didn’t just hold the web back, but it held us back, as developers. A waste of our goddamned time is what it was. So, we told ourselves that it wasn’t only for our own good, but for the good of the entire web.

We weighed IE just a little more heavily. We gave it just a little more say in our decisions. And so, holding so many chips, Microsoft played their cards accordingly — who could blame them? Everyone built websites for them first, and the others second. Their word wasn’t law, but it was certainly more than suggestion. Sure, they deviated from web standards here and there (just a little bit), but after all, wasn’t something implemented by The Biggest Browser a sort of de facto standard anyway? Besides, supporting the better, faster, easier browser was doing the web itself a service! Together with Microsoft, we were pushing the web forward! Everybody wins.

The rendering engine that powers Microsoft’s Edge browser today — EdgeHTML — is a fork of gnarly old Trident. It’s a stripped-down and vastly improved fork of Trident, for sure, but it isn’t, let’s say, universally judged on its own merit. The EdgeHTML team has always been working with a couple of disadvantages: the first was technical, in that it took a tremendous amount of time and effort to catch up with the likes of Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. The second was emotional. It was us — you and me — jaded from years of Internet Explorer, staring down a cheery blue lowercase “e” with cold disdain.

A few weeks ago, the Edge team announced that they’d soon be abandoning EdgeHTML in favor of Blink, the rendering engine that powers Chrome. With this change, the last few remaining embers of Trident will be snuffed out forever. The wish I’d shared with so many will finally be granted. Ironically timed — as it turns out — EdgeHTML was becoming a pretty solid rendering engine.

Blink is an open-source project led and governed by Google. It powers both Chrome and Opera, the latter of which similarly abandoned their home-grown rendering engine a few years ago.

By an overwhelming margin, Blink is (and will increasingly be) the way the web is experienced the world over. Blink is fast, stable, packed with modern features, and — by comparison to development for the still-evolving EdgeHTML — painless.

It may have happened too late to save us from those ancient IE bugs, but our work will be easier now that there’s one less rendering engine to support. You and I will lose a little more of our collective “but does it work cross-browser” burden. Our projects will go more smoothly, and the web will lose just a little more of what was once holding it back.

As stewards of the engine powering so very much of the web, well, Google’s word won’t be law, but certainly more than suggestion. And maybe over the course of the next few years, they’ll deviate from web standards here and there (whether intentionally or accidentally) in the tiniest of ways. But after all, isn’t something implemented by The Biggest Browser a sort of de facto standard itself? Besides, how could you argue? Favoring the better, faster, more powerful browser is doing the web itself a service, after all. Together with Google, we’ll be pushing the web forward. Everybody will win.

That is, as long as little standards deviations and tiny, nagging bugs don’t grow bigger over time — thanks to the twin forces of entropy and complacency. Unless the decisions we’ve made for the good of the web (hand-in-hand with a notoriously privacy-hostile advertising company) begin to feel a little darker, and a new bogeyman begins to take shape in our minds — unless we find that our old fears and frustrations have risen again (like a phoenix that renders a couple hundred pixels away from where it should and flickers in a weird way when you scroll).

It doesn’t take much imagination to see newer, more exciting rendering engines appearing over the next handful of years. It takes just as little imagination to see them failing due to lack of support, as we favor “the-browser-that-everyone-uses-first” by choice, and later perhaps in grudging service of “the bottom line”.

Again, though, I don’t know. I’ve never seen this happen with a rendering engine myself. I’ve just heard the whole story, and I only know first-hand how it ends. I know the ending from the ache of old psychic scars; from an involuntary flinch at some bits of code, and muscle-memory that compels me to avoid others. I know it from the jokes in conference talks that always felt a little tired, but still resonated just the same in a way I wouldn’t allow myself to admit and still spoke to a secret wish that I held deep in my heart. A bitter, hateful wish.

But hey, listen. Not anymore. Now, I mean — I would never. I really do love a good rendering engine bug, now. I do.

“CSS 3D transforms with perspective() are rendered inside out.” — bugs.chromium.org

I mean, that’s actually kind of a fun bug, right? Like, fun in a way. Y’know?

It’s fun.

It’ll be fun.

(dm, ra, il)

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ourmrmel · 6 years ago

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Mel Feller Wants to Know if You Know What to Do with Your Life by Mel Feller

Mel Feller understands that when we are young, the world is our oyster and opportunities seem endless, but there can be a lot of pressure to decide on a life path. Having coached youth and their parents for several years, Mel Feller asks the hard question; “How do you know what career to pursue and what to do with your future?”

We Cannot Figure Out the Future

Even young people who have a plan to be a doctor, lawyer, research scientist, or singer do not really know what will happen. If they have any certainty at all, they are a bit deluded. Life does not go according to plan, and while a few people might do exactly what they set out to do, you never know if you are one of those. Other things come along to change you, to change your opportunities, to change the world.

So if you cannot figure out the future, what do you do? Do not focus on the future. Focus on what you can do right now that will be good no matter what the future brings. Make stuff. Build stuff. Learn skills. Go on adventures. Make friends. These things will help in any future.

Learn to Be Good with Discomfort

One of the most important skills you can develop is being okay with some discomfort. The best things in life are often hard, and if you shy away from difficulty and discomfort, you will miss out. You will live a life of safety.

Learning is hard. Building something great is hard. Writing a book is hard. A marriage is hard. Running an ultra-marathon is hard. All are amazing.

If you get good at being accustomed to a little discomfort, you can do anything. You can start a business, which you could not if you are afraid of discomfort, because starting a business is hard and uncomfortable.

How do you get good at this? Do things now that are uncomfortable and hard, on purpose. However, start with small doses. Try exercising for a little bit, even if it’s hard, but just start with a few minutes of it, and increase a minute every few days or so. Try writing a blog or meditating every day. When you find yourself avoiding discomfort, push yourself just a little bit more (within limits of reason and safety of course).

Learn to Be Good with Uncertainty

A related skill is thriving in uncertainty. Starting a business, for example, is an amazing thing to do, but if you are afraid of uncertainty, you will skip it. You cannot know how things will turn out, and so if you need to know how things will turn out, you will avoid great projects, businesses, opportunities.

But if you can be okay with not knowing, you’ll be open to many more possibilities.

If you’re good at discomfort and uncertainty, you could do all kinds of things: travel the world and live cheaply while blogging about it, write a book, start a business, live in a foreign country and teach English, learn to program and create your own software, take a job with a startup, create an online magazine with other good young writers, and much more. All of those would be awesome, but you have to be okay with discomfort and uncertainty.

If any opportunities like these come along, you will be ready if you have already practiced these skills.

Overcome Distraction and Procrastination

All of this is useless if you cannot overcome the universal problems of distraction and procrastination. You might seize an opportunity because you are good at uncertainty and discomfort, but then not make the most of it because you are too busy on social media and watching TV.

Actually, distraction and procrastination are just ways of avoiding discomfort, so if you get good at discomfort you are way ahead of most people. However, there are some things you can practice and ways to beat procrastination.

Learn More about Your Mind

Most people do not realize that fear controls them. They do not notice when they run to distraction, or rationalize doing things they told themselves they would not do. It is hard to change mental habits because you do not always see what is going on in your head.

Learn about how your mind works, and you will be much better at all of this. For me, the best ways are meditation and blogging. With meditation (read how to do it) you watch your mind jumping around, running from discomfort, rationalizing. With blogging, you are forced to reflect on what you have been doing in life and what you have learned from it.

Do Paid Work and Save Money

I do not think money is that important, but making money is difficult. You have to make someone believe in you enough to hire you or buy your products/service, which means you have to figure out why you’re worthy of someone believing in you. You have to become worthy. In addition, you have to learn to communicate that to people so they will want to buy or hire you.

In addition, you get better with practice.

I worked as a clerk at a bank and then a freelance sports writer when I was in high school, and those were valuable experiences for me. Moreover, if you can make enough, save an emergency fund, then start investing your earnings in an index fund and watch it grow over your lifetime.

Build Something, Even If It is Small

Most people fritter their time away on things that do not matter, like TV, video games, social media, and reading the news. A year of that and you have nothing to show for it. However, if you did a sketch every day, started writing a web app, or created a blog or a video channel that you update regularly, or started building a cookie business, at the end of a year you will have something great. In addition, some new skills. Something you can point to and say, “I built that.” Which most people can’t do.

Start small, and build it every day if possible. It is like putting your money in investments: it grows in value over time.

Become Trustworthy and Build Your Reputation

When someone hires an unfamiliar person, the biggest fear is that the person is not trustworthy. That they will come in late and lie about it and miss deadlines. Someone who has established a reputation over the years might be much more trusted, and more likely to be hired. Learn to be trustworthy by showing up on time, doing your best on every task, being honest, admitting mistakes but fixing them, trying your best to meet deadlines, and being a good person.

If you do that, you will build a reputation and people will recommend you to others, which is the best way to get a job or investor.

Always Be Ready for Opportunities

If you do all of the above, or at least most of it, you will be amazing. You will be way, way ahead of pretty much every other person — especially if you are a younger person or just starting out on a career. And opportunities will come your way, if you have your eyes open: job opportunities, a chance to build something with someone, an idea for a startup that you can build yourself, a new thing to learn and turn into a business, the chance to submit your new screenplay.

These opportunities might come along, and you have to be ready to seize them. Take risks — that is one of the advantages of being young. In addition, if none come along, create your own.

Finally, the idea behind all of this is that you can’t know what you’re going to do with your life right now, because you don’t know who you’re going to be, what you’ll be able to do, what you’ll be passionate about, who you’ll meet, what opportunities will come up, or what the world will be like. However, you do know this: if you are prepared, you can do anything you want.

Prepare yourself by learning about your mind, becoming trustworthy, building things, overcoming procrastination, getting good at discomfort and uncertainty.

You can put all this off and live a life of safety and boringness. Alternatively, you can start today, and see what life has to offer you.

WHO IS MEL FELLER AND WHAT ARE HIS SKILL SETS

Mel Feller is a certified executive coach and consultant for leaders who need to achieve significant personal and organizational results.

One of Mel Feller’s expertise, insights and engaging style helps his clients gain wisdom and clarity, which result in:

Executives who lead more effectively

Teams that seek to communicate and collaborate, and

Organizations that are aligned with business strategy

Mel Feller has over three decades of coaching and consulting experience in diverse industries, which provides a rich framework for his organizational insights and creative solutions. I brings a thoughtful approach to his work, carefully integrating both my coaching and consulting skills and abilities. When consulting, my focus is on “what you are doing” (i.e., goal setting, problem solving, taking action and achieving results). When coaching, my focus is on “who you are being” (i.e., how you are leading, aligning your values and tapping your gifts). As a client, they become more consciously aware of how paying attention to — and balancing both — are critically important to their success.

When you combine Mel Feller’s keen insights and engaging style with his in-depth skills, technical certifications and broad industry experience, the result is a uniquely qualified executive coach and organizational consultant.

So… what kind of coach are you?”

I get this question a lot. Moreover, the answer is… I am a Life Coach, Executive Coach, Career Coach, and Business Coach. I coach teens, business executives, authors, artists, entrepreneurs, retired seniors, busy moms and entire organizations.

“Truth telling, honesty, and candor: I loved you Mel Feller! You have so much energy and knowledge! I truly hope I get another opportunity to be coached by you. I see myself a little clearer now, and it’s not so bad.”

Lisa Mathews

“Mel Feller you added more value than we can possibly see right now. Mel Feller, you are warm, inviting, and accommodating. Thank you for coming alongside us in this transition!”

Vanessa Cavanaugh

“Mel Feller the best education session that we have attended in many years! Thank you so much — I am very excited to put everything you have taught us into practice!”

Michael Randolph

“Mr. Mel Feller, Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving a marvelous keynote at our Symposium! While we have not yet collected the official feedback, the unofficial feedback was that You Were a Hit! I heard nothing but compliments regarding your presentations. Thank you for making such a positive impact on our attendees! ”

Lyle Cunningham VP

“Mel Feller uses his humor, compassion, and direct nature to help bring out the best in me. Mel Feller is committed to helping me live…I mean, really live, life to its fullest.”

Jose Rodriguez

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