#or how many abbreviations that you’ll come across that mean something different from what you’ve always known

[morganbritton132]

No one tells you when you get a Big Serious Job™ how many fucking abbreviations you’ll be forced to learn.

[caffeineivore]

Moar Spirits

Many thanks to both @antivanruffles and @apsaraqueen for their help with logistical type stuff and plotting for this section! Y’all are the best <3

R/J, Spiritverse

Prompt: Pasta

**

Piccoli’s is the type of old-fashioned Italian restaurant that did not aspire towards either Michelin stars or a formidable Instagram following. Indeed, it is tiny and quiet by Manhattan standards, with red-checked tablecloths and dim, flickering candles. Bottles of herb-infused olive oils gleam dully against the walls, and the man behind the host’s podium is a hulking brute dressed in unrelieved black with arms like Easter hams. He gives Ember a deferential nod, though, as she walks in through the door.

“Ms. Ward. Good to see you.”

“You too, Little Tony.” Ember affords the bruiser a gentle smile. “Table for two, please.”

The ironically-monikered Little Tony gives Jareth a long, suspicious once-over and grunts something incomprehensible before leading them to a booth and setting down a pair of battered menus. Jareth pulls one of the menus towards himself, then arches an eyebrow at Ember.

“‘Little’ Tony? He’s six and a half feet tall and built like a Dwarven fortress.”

“It’s short for Antonio. His dad, also named Antonio, who answers to ‘Big Tony’, owns this place,” Ember explains. “Big Tony’s a good friend of my grandfather’s. They became poker buddies after Big Tony retired from his lifelong career and opened this restaurant.” She leans forward, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I’m pretty sure my grandfather didn’t want to win any money that might have questionable origins, if you understand my meaning. But Big Tony’s always been very kind to me. I’m sure you’ll meet him later.”

Jareth tries his utmost to match the solemnity of her tone, but he can’t quite hold in a grin. “Is that a threat, milady wise-woman?”

“Not at all.” There’s a glint in her eyes which bespeaks her own amusement. “Big Tony can be a bit opinionated, to be sure, but he’s a lovely fellow, and he makes a spectacular red sauce from his Nonna’s recipe. I always get the spaghetti and the house Chianti.”

“I think I shall do the same.” They place their orders, and their wine comes first, in a squat bottle encased in a traditional straw basket. Jareth fills both their glasses, then raises his in a toast. “To your vision, and all the lives it will save.”

“To your bow, and all the lives it will save as well,” Ember clinks her glass against his, then takes a slow sip. “I don’t suppose that particular bow is what you’d carry, back at home, but then again, even in New York City, a man with a six-foot longbow is bound to be noticed and not in a good way.”

“It’s not what I’d carry back amidst my kin, no, but it does the job well enough. As far as home goes, that’s been here for the last twelve years.” Jareth leans back in his chair and smiles. “It’s certainly different, but I think I enjoy it, for the most part.”

“Where were you from, before?”

“I was born, quite some years ago, in the house of my father. That is within a settlement on what’s now known to be the Forest of East Derbyshire, in the East Midlands, in England.” A nostalgic smile crosses his finely-cut lips. “I’d practiced archery as a boy with one of my first mortal friends, who’d someday be known as Robin of Locksley. Eventually, however, some of us crossed the ocean during the age of exploration, but instead of settling in the places where your parents had lived, we’d gone further west. There’s land still mostly untouched by mortal hands out in what they’d consider the Pacific Northwest, in the wilds of the North Cascades, and I’ve had family there for the last few centuries.”

“And so you moved out here twelve years ago.” They’d been given a basket of fresh-baked bread with their wine, and Ember cuts a slice, dips it in greenish-gold olive oil flecked with minced basil. “It’s quite different from where you’ve lived before.”

Before Jareth can even reply, a heavy tread sounds by the table, followed by two plates of spaghetti redolent of slow-stewed tomato sauce being set down on the table by a beefy pair of hands, olive-toned, one bearing a heavy gold ring on the pinkie. The pinkie ring glitters in the candlelight as that hand travels up and gently pats the top of Ember’s head. “Ah, Ember, passerotta mia, I heard that you brought a friend with you.”

“Big Tony.” Ember accepts a hearty buss on one cheek, then the other, then gives Jareth a droll look. “Big Tony, this is Jareth Sylvane. Jareth, this is Antonio Piccoli, who goes by Big Tony. I think you’ve already met his son and heir, Little Tony.”

Big Tony has salt-and-pepper hair and a fantastically large and curly moustache, but Jareth can certainly see where his son had inherited his brawler’s build from. He wears a huge white apron over a flawlessly pressed suit, and his beady eyes look Jareth up and down in appraisal. “Where are you from, Mr. Jareth Sylvane?”

“I was born in England, but moved to Washington State at a young age, then came to New York twelve years ago.” Jareth gives Big Tony an abbreviated version of what he’d just told Ember, and meets those beady eyes squarely.

“Ah. And what do you do for work?”

“I’m an architect. A friend and I have a firm-- Sylvane and Vale.” Aeson Vale and his life-mate, Aelene, had traveled with him through the last century together, and Jareth had been grateful for his friends’ unconditional support, even in the unconventionality of journeying across oceans and continents.

“Ah.” Without invitation, Big Tony plops his considerable bulk into the booth next to Ember, and steeples his fingers. Next to him, Ember looks as tiny and dainty as a little, black-clad pixie. “I think I know of your friend. He did some good work, when we put together a fund to shine up our cathedral. A bit of a quiet fellow, but good hands. And his wife’s a beautiful lady. I sat her down and gave her a tiramisu and told her she needed to get some meat on her bones.”

Jareth stifles a chuckle at the idea of the elegant, ethereal Aelene Vale being told that she needed to get some meat on her bones by someone who looked very much like an aging mafioso, perhaps with a grandfatherly pat on the head much like he’d bestowed upon Ember, earlier. Since Big Tony was clearly alive and well enough to tell the tale, Aelene must either have been amused rather than annoyed, or perhaps it had been an outstanding tiramisu. Quite possibly the latter, considering the delicious aroma of the pasta in front of him. “I will pass along your regards when I see them next, Mr. Piccoli.”

“Mmm. I suppose it’s a good thing that you have a job. And how did you two meet?”

“At a carnival. In the midway. We’ve sort of been running into each other here and there, since. After a while it seemed more reasonable just to take down each other’s numbers.” It’s a rather simplistic version of the reality, but then again, it’s also all true.

“Mmm.” Again, that long, drawn-out monosyllable. “And what are your intentions towards my little sparrow?”

“Nothing untoward, if that’s what you mean,” Jareth answers evenly. He had expected an interrogation sooner or later, but perhaps not from a barrel-chested Italian with a moustache rivalling Teddy Roosevelt’s. “She’s a fascinating woman, and I find that I enjoy my time in her company.”

“Hmph.” Another monosyllable, slightly grumpy but not overtly hostile, and Big Tony pushes himself up to his feet. “Enjoy your pasta, you crazy kids.” He gives Ember one more affectionate head-pat, and trundles back towards the kitchen. Ember gives him a half-apologetic look even as her graceful fingers twirl noodles around the tines of her fork.

“He’s been poker buddies with my grandfather for the last five years or so.”

“I don’t begrudge someone who looks to protect you from harm, even from myself.” Jareth samples his own spaghetti. It is as delicious as advertised. Over the dim, flickering candlelight, her face is solemn and lovely. “Though, I daresay you can take care of yourself well enough.”

She sighs, and for just a moment, looks so worried that he wishes he could reach across the table and hold her close, reassure her somehow. “I feel like something is happening, and I don’t like not knowing what it is.”

He nods. Clairvoyance in any form is a gift, but never the most pleasant one, and gives its bearer a heavy cross to bear. “You knew where to be, today.”

“Perhaps, but... you were there, and me, and that lake-maiden. I’ve felt the presence and power of others that I have yet to meet. Don’t you wonder why it is that we’re all here, now? Like we’re converging upon this time and place for a reason?” Her amethyst eyes go distant, as though looking beyond this mortal plane. “Where there is great good, there will always be great evil to challenge it. Despair follows triumph like night follows day. This is the great balance of life, and I fear that the greater and stronger the light, the deeper and darker the shadow will come to encroach upon it.”

It is a gloomy thought, to be sure, and he pauses as a plate of golden-brown cannoli, dusted with confectioner’s sugar and plump with ricotta, is set down in front of them. “What’s destined will come to pass, whether for good or ill, and we simply must face it with courage and the best of intentions when the time comes.”

She looks as though she doesn’t quite like his answer, and a thin line appears between her dark brows. “It is the practice of the Ælf-kine, historically, to steer clear of the trials and tribulations of mankind unless it directly affects them, I believe. You would be within your rights, and certainly within your power, to find a new home if misfortune were to befall this city, and I can’t even fault you for it, to choose life and vanish without a trace.”

They’re sitting in silence, not quite comfortable, and Jareth reaches across the table to where her left hand lays, palm-up. It’s smooth and warm under the fingers of his right hand, and the contact of palm-to-palm feels like a promise of more. “Would you believe it if I said that there’d be no life here for me, if I left?” His kind did not succumb to disease and the frailty of age like mortal men, but untimely death could come from falling in battle or dying from a broken heart. He certainly hoped for neither, but he didn’t quite have the words to explain to her that his heart and spirit were now as deeply entrenched in this time and place as the roots of a centuries-old tree in the Earth. So he simply smiles, gives her hand a quick squeeze before reaching for the cannoli. “I like it here.”

This seems to do the trick of snapping her out of her melancholy mood, and she gives him a tentative smile. “I suppose it’s true that were evil to come to this city, it’d find a formidable opponent waiting to face it. Do your colleagues wonder why you carry a bow in your work bag?”

“Aeson carries his own bow. Aelene, his wife, wears her blades strapped to her leg underneath her skirts. As for the mortals, they don’t tend to snoop through others’ belongings. Not very polite, you know?” Outside, the sky is now as dark as the dusky, candlelit interior of the restaurant. “Maybe we should pack the rest of the cannoli to go. It grows late.”

He pays for their dinner, his signature on the credit card slip graceful and elegantly lettered, leaving a generous tip in cash on the table next to his wineglass. They share a cab, and he makes sure that it drops her off first, despite the fact that her place is a-ways farther than his. The streets of Brooklyn Heights are quiet, pale with new snowfall, when she walks up to the door of the brownstone. In the silvery moonlight, she’s darkly luminous and lovely, and he lifts a hand to gently tuck a strand of her raven hair behind her ear, stroke the soft skin of her cheek.

“Good night, Ember.”

She blinks her long, black eyelashes as though trying to come to a decision, then reaches into a pocket, extracts something small and cool that she tucks into his hand before she closes his palm around it. He opens his fingers again to see a smooth-worn bit of green stone, carved with a rune.

“Jade, bearing the rune of Algiz. It’s the Elk-- for protection, to ward off evil.” Her words are hurriedly spoken, almost as though she’s flustered. “You carry a bow. I carry... something of my own, also. Be careful.”

He can’t help but smile, both at her embarrassment and at her thoughtfulness. “Do you see something bad happening to me then?”

“Oh! No, nothing like that. I just... take care.” And maybe she realizes that she’s blushing and babbling a little, because she leans up, pecks his lips with her own for less than the span of a blink, so she doesn’t have to say anything else. And just as she’s about to pull away, he cups her face with both hands, the jade cool against her cheek, and brings his lips to hers for a longer, sweeter kiss. He holds her close for a few moments after their lips part, tucking the token of her care and her good heart into his coat pocket as his free hand cards through her silky hair.

“Sleep well, Ember. Dream good dreams, and don’t worry about me.” His words are faintly muffled against her temple, but he knows she hears them, all the same. Pressing a final kiss to the crown of her head, he steps back, smiles as she unlocks the door with keys and a whisper of magic. She gives him a little wave before she disappears behind it, and then he can make out the faint sounds of pacing, of crows cawing in greeting. Ever-so-faintly, her voice comes to his ear through the barrier of the walls, only audible because of his preternatural sense of hearing, and what he hears brings an uncontrollable grin to his face.

“Oh, stop it, you two! Don’t look at me and gloat like that, it’s not nice!”

[dermagain]

So after logging in for the first time in- honestly I wanna say a year 😟- I found a private message from someone asking me what has been helping me get better

and like an idiot I immediately accidentally deleted the message. So, sorry person that I can't message you back, but I'm gonna post this and hopefully you'll see it. I've been through a lot of major life changes in the past couple years and haven't really been on tumblr at all (sadly! I've been on a limited data plan too, so I deleted the app). I hope you've all been well in the meantime and are managing ok

This is going to be a very long post, but I'll try to break it up into paragraphs that will make it easier to skim for what you find useful. Quick warning, I'm going to be mentioning eating disorders a few times, but without going into details. First off, I'll go into a couple of the big developments in my life that are derma-relevant. A few months ago I was finally diagnosed with bipolar II, which consists mostly of depressive episodes, but has to be treated differently than unipolar depression, since antidepressants without a mood stabilizer can cause bipolar cycling. I'm now on a mood stabilizer, which is working well, and I'm finding that without bipolar cycling I have less anxiety, leading to less need for self-soothing rituals, which for me leads to less picking. If you might have an underlying condition that's exacerbating your picking, please go see a doctor/psychologist/psychiatrist if you can and haven't already. It took me several of them over several years to be taken seriously, and I'm going to follow up with a separate post with some of the details on how I finally got through to the professionals, in case that's helpful. Another change in my life is that I've relocated, moving out of state after (mostly) living where I come from into my adult years. Being away from all the places and things that pull me back into old traumas and outdated anxieties has helped A LOT. Of course, moving isn't a solution for everyone, and it requires some money and a lot of freedom, and it's stressful... my point is really just that external circumstances play a big role in how we feel and behave and it's worth making whatever positive changes you can. They won't "fix" your derma, but if you can focus on some of your other goals you may find that you're picking less. But of course, change just triggers some people, so it's very important to take what you know about yourself into account on this one. Now, to address the question I deleted, I'm gonna lay out a bunch of the strategies that were working for me before all that: I read a post by someone in the derma community several years ago recommending the book The Four Day Win by Martha Beck, and read it. I wish I remembered who suggested this or where, so I could give credit, but this was probably 5 years back and I have no idea. It's a diet book, but many of the chapters apply to reducing any behavior that you're trying to break out of, and adapt well to skin picking. I had a hard time pushing through the book because I'm extremely anti-diet and firmly believe that advocating dieting is also advocating eating disorders. Several members of my family have struggled with eating disorders, so there were times when I wanted to throw this book across the room, but ultimately I found it helpful. You can probably get a copy from your local library if you want to read it, but I'm also going to give a capsule version here of what I found helpful/adapted from the book for my own use. The premise is that instead of setting ourselves up for failure by trying to do something difficult *indefinitely* (sticking to a diet or not picking, for example), we only commit to four days at a time, and give ourselves a reward when we complete a four day cycle. The rewards, for me, were something small and concrete, usually buying myself something inexpensive that I wanted. When the four days was up, I was allowed to pick all I wanted, but then would start another four days of not picking right after. If four days is too long to manage, you can always use shorter times. I would often do 3 days, but if 2 or even 1 whole day is more realistic for you it's more important to set a very specific time and then reward yourself at the end. You have to be consistent with the reward, not giving yourself the reward anyway if you do pick, and not sacrificing it (to save money or whatever) if you do make your goal. It's like training an animal, except we are the animal we're training. Make sure your rewards aren't anything you pretty much need, since that becomes a system of punishments for not making it, and in order to work this has to be a system of rewards for doing well. It's an entirely positive system. I would sometimes get myself a larger reward if I didn't pick (or barely picked) between 3 or 4 day no-picking periods, but didn't plan ahead for that because you really need to keep your mind on the short term when doing this. If I did pick when I wasn't supposed to, I would sometimes give myself a reduced version of the original reward if I made it to the end of the original 4 days without doing it again. For instance, if I was going to buy a new set of paint brushes, I might scale it back to choosing an individual brush. Or if I felt like it was realistic, I would start another 4 days immediately after lapsing. Being as realistic as possible is important for this one. Another thing I would do is keep a log of where on my body I was picking, when, how many individual spots I was going at, and any particularly pertinent facts like an unusual mood or triggering event. I was putting it in the calendar on my phone so the time was recorded automatically, and I had a system of abbreviations that kept it easy. An entry might read "f4, a2 (blood), s4. Very anxious", which would mean I picked at 4 spots on my face, 2 on my arms to the point of drawing blood, and 4 spots on my shoulders, and that I was experiencing an unusual degree of anxiety. I would differentiate between my arms and shoulders because my shoulders are a particular problem area for me, but I also pick at my scalp sometimes, so I would indicate my scalp with an "h" for head, since "s" was shoulders. If I picked at an area enough that I couldn't say a specific number of spots, I would just say "bad", like "a2, sbad, l3" would mean I picked 2 spots on my arms and 3 on my legs and really took it out on my shoulders. Of course, you would adapt your log to what is most pertinent or useful for you. The log served a few purposes. For one, just having more awareness can be really helpful, also I would actually sometimes hold off on picking just because if I did it, I would have to acknowledge it in writing. I would sometimes stop myself in time to put down a number instead of "bad". It also makes it easier to see when you've been doing pretty well lately, and feel good about it. Prepping to pick helped too, instead of denying that I was going to do it until the very last minute and then going at it impulsively. I would get home at night or in the afternoon and wash my hands with antibacterial soap first thing, then rinse my face and put on a face mask that I could keep on for a couple hours. Its best if you can do that without being in front of a mirror, which could mean using your kitchen sink or covering your bathroom mirror. If you can't do that, try not to even glance at the mirror if you can manage. I got pretty good at keeping my eyes down completely while going through this routine. When I eventually had to rinse off the mask, if I did get sucked into picking at least my hands and face were clean and the skin on my face was in pretty good shape so the damage was minimized and the spots I picked at wouldn't flare up and get infected from getting all the dirt you pick up outside in them (gross, I know). Honey works pretty well in place of commercial face masks, cause it's a physical barrier and great for your skin, but you have to be more committed to avoiding mirrors, since you can still see your skin through honey. Besides face masks/honey, there were other physical barriers that helped. Pretty much everyone comments on this, but it bears repeating. I would wear shirts at home that were tight in the sleeves so getting at my shoulders wasn't convenient, which honestly is something I need to get back in the habit of doing. As you can probably tell from all the past-tense, I'm doing well lately, but my arms and shoulders are what I go for most when I do pick. If there were only a couple visible spots on my face, I would cover them with band-aids, and I would sometimes wear gloves at home. I've also made lists for myself of anything that's helpful, meaning both practical tips and alternatives to picking (even if they sound dumb or obvious), and information that it's helpful for me to remind myself of. I have an old list in front of me right now, and some of the suggestions on it are super simple, but were actually helpful for whatever reason. Some of them actually strike me as kind of self-shaming now, but inspired me at the time. Whatever works, I guess. Here are some of the items from the list (the not-shamey ones): Wait it out. Later is better than now. Drink some water. Have a snack. Take a nap. Put on long sleeves. Consciously remember not to do it. Turn out the lights. Watch a movie. Read a book. Listen to music. This is an outgrown coping mechanism. This is an internalization of being "picked on." I don't want to let people who have treated me unfairly manifest themselves in me. DON'T do "just one" (it's never just one). Relapse is a normal part of recovery, and it doesn't determine the future. Adherence is the goal, but near-adherence is almost as good. If I can't do 100%, I can try for 90%, or 75%. It's still worth maintaining, even if it's not perfect. No comment made by any idiot is my problem. Relax and breathe. Remember to eat, sleep, and play music. I really don't need to touch my face at all except for daily skincare. Even MH "just stopped". I'll explain that last item. It's a reference to Marya Hornbacher's memoir, Wasted. Marya had a severe eating disorder for years, to the point that it almost killed her (you may know this part, it's been a popular title for a while...) Like I said, my family history is peppered with eating disorders, so I've put in my due diligence reading up on them. She reaches the point of almost dying, and then -like some kind of miracle- she "just stops" the behavior that would otherwise have taken her life. The reason I included that as a kind of affirmation isn't because I think my picking will "just stop", but rather because it's such an extreme example of how people sometimes turn a corner in their struggles and start to get better, no matter how bleak their future looked during their darkest times. Anyway, making lists like this are helpful if you can include whatever helps YOU to remember, not what helps someone else, or only things you don't think are obvious. If it's obvious and it helps you, put it on the list. If it's not clear why exactly it's relevant but it helps you, put it on the list. Then keep your list someplace handy, like on your wall or taped to your desk, or in the back of your journal. I hope some of this helps y'all, sorry it's 5 miles long, but I wanted to include everything I could think of. Love you all. Best.

[dipulb3]

2021 Ferrari Roma first drive review: Good feel, bad touch

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/2021-ferrari-roma-first-drive-review-good-feel-bad-touch-2/

2021 Ferrari Roma first drive review: Good feel, bad touch

It’s a defining moment in any blessed auto enthusiast’s life: the first time they get to stab at the big, red Engine Start button on a Ferrari and take it for a drive. I still remember my first time fondly, and if you’ve ever had the pleasure of doing so yourself, I imagine it’s a moment that is similarly revered. 

If so, cherish that moment, because if the 2021 Ferrari Roma is any indication, it’s a simple action that is now obsolete. You see, the Roma doesn’t have a big, red Engine Start button. It doesn’t have a button to start the engine at all, done away with in favor of a new steering wheel riddled with capacitive touch-sensitive pads. That, as it turns out, is not only a bit sad, it’s a big mistake. 

The Roma is the latest model in Ferrari’s stable, and it’s also among the cheapest — actually, make that least expensive — ways to get yourself a ticket into the Scuderia, with a starting price of $222,420, including $3,750 for destination. (The lovely Blu Corsa example you see pictured here has enough visual and functional options to drive its price up to $316,240.)

It’s also among the most svelte and, in my humble opinion, perhaps the best looking of the modern Ferraris. It’s certainly the most distinctive, with a sharp, low nose and a pair of headlights squinting out on either end of a unique, body-colored grille that’s a matrix of ever-widening holes.

The rear, though, is even more of a departure from prior Ferraris. It’s understated and a bit plain compared to the nose but punctuated by four, smallish taillights integrated into a diminutive spoiler. Only the quad exhaust pipes and the oversized, raw carbon diffuser are typical Ferrari. Well, and the prancing horse badging.

Not your typical Ferrari interior, and a somewhat problematic steering wheel.

Tim Stevens/Roadshow

To see the biggest changes of all, though, you’ll need to sit inside. The Roma has the same abbreviated two-plus-two layout as the Portofino — that is to say it’ll seat two with comfort and an additional two with discomfort — but despite those cars sharing a platform and an engine, there’s more different here than there is similar. So much so that it’s hard to know where to begin, but I’ll start with the new infotainment system, which looks like a chonky tablet wedged between the seats. It’s not dissimilar in size and placement from what you might expect in a McLaren, its functions primarily for HVAC and also multimedia. This means the passenger can actually cue up some tunes, something that isn’t so easy to do in the F8 Tributo, for example. 

Beneath that screen rests a gear selector that’s cheekily styled to look like a gated shifter of yore, but is actually a row of three switches used to activate reverse and to switch between manual and automatic shifting. This is the same design found on Ferrari’s other new car, the SF90 Stradale. Appropriate, since the Roma and the SF90 share a transmission. It’s an eight-speed, dual-clutch unit that’s lighter than the seven-speed unit found in the Portofino.

The engine, though, is the same basic lump. Ferrari’s 3.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 produces 612 horsepower and 561 pound-feet of torque in the Roma, which is slightly more than what you get in its other applications and here exclusively driving the rear wheels.

Those wheels are situated just as far apart as they are on the Portofino, but the Roma is almost three inches longer and about two inches wider. Crucially, it’s also some 200 pounds lighter, weighing 3,461 pounds. All this conspires to create a car that is somehow comfortable and touring-friendly yet sprightly and nimble.

On the highway, the Roma is quite comfortable, its ride more pleasantly damped than you’d expect given the ultralow-profile 245/35ZR20 front and 285/35ZR20 rear tires. Likewise, the steering isn’t quite so manic as that of the F8 and even the brake pedal has a relatively long, easy-to-modulate throw that makes tootling through stop lights a nausea-free affair for your passengers. There’s a generous amount of headroom, a decent-sized trunk and really only a bit of a droning exhaust note mars the touring experience here. The Roma gives up nothing compared to more touring-focused sports cars like the Aston Martin DB11, for example.

There’s even a decent trunk.

Tim Stevens/Roadshow

This is even a Ferrari with a modicum of active safety features, including adaptive cruise control and a lane-departure warning system. Mind you, there’s no active lane-keep assist here, just an obnoxious beep whenever you stray anywhere near the lines at the edge of your lane, something you might be apt to do when driving a new Ferrari on a twisty road. “So, just disable the system,” I hear you saying, but there’s a problem: You can’t do that while you’re moving. You need to stop the car before you can gain access to the various menus required to do such a thing.

And that takes me to the worst part of this car: the interface. The Roma borrows the same capacitive-touch steering wheel found in the SF90. Usually, when a more attainable Ferrari shares a wheel with a racier one it’s a positive thing, a standout touchpoint that makes it feel more special. Here, that touchpoint has the makings of a disaster movie.

This new wheel takes the same approach as other modern Ferraris, cramming the most important controls all onto the wheel. I really like how this works in other cars, like the F8 or 488 before it. But I hate how it’s done here. Many of the formerly tactile controls have been replaced by a series of touch-sensitive areas. This covers everything from that engine starter — now accomplished by double-tapping the bottom of the wheel — to scrolling through the car’s various menus.

Some problems are subtle, like the lagging response from the thumb controller that always has me scrolling past the menu item I want. Other problems are more serious, like the placement of the touch control that triggers the in-car voice assistant. Positioned directly beneath the left turn signal, it’s not a question of if you’ll hit this accidentally but rather when and how often. In my approximately six hours spent behind the wheel of the Roma I accidentally triggered the voice assistant eight times. Yes, I counted. 

Tim Stevens/Roadshow

Even at the best of times the integrated voice system is sluggish. I have to say “find me a restaurant” twice, once to toggle over to the navigation interface and a second time to actually search the restaurants. The overall process takes 30 seconds. On my Android phone, the same search takes less than five.

And that irritating lane-keep beeping? The setting to adjust that is buried in a few of those annoying submenus, locked while the car is in motion. Changing the following distance of the adaptive cruise also requires digging a whopping three submenus deep. This is neither easy to do while driving nor intuitive. 

This kind of performance would be unacceptable on a $200 budget tablet. This is a $200,000 Ferrari.   

Those menus are displayed on the wide, curved virtual gauge cluster that sits behind the steering wheel and, at first glance, is quite striking. You’ll quickly realize it’s also quite sluggish, the different panes stuttering as they lazily make their way across the display. This is the kind of performance that would be unacceptable on a $200 budget tablet. This is a $200,000 Ferrari. 

Ferrari assures me that a software update is coming before this car will be shipped to customers, and hopefully that will fix the performance-related woes and maybe clean up the menus, too. I don’t see how the company is going to solve the issue of the placement of the voice assistant control, however, without some sort of redesign.

It’s a special thing.

Tim Stevens/Roadshow

Thankfully, there’s one, still physical, control that works exactly as intended: the little red manettino on the steering wheel that cycles through driving modes. I sadly spend a disappointing amount of time in Rain, as much of my experience was in the midst of a torrential downpour, not to mention awful traffic. But when I finally find some clear roads, toggling over through Sport and into Race, the Roma responds just as quickly. 

Though the steering in Race still isn’t as flirty as the company’s more pure sports cars, it’s light and sublimely sharp, the Roma rotating effortlessly and wagging its tail with glee when accelerating out of corners. The transmission, typically sedate, becomes ferociously quick and any doubts about this car’s provenance are immediately erased. 

The Roma is a sublime drive when piloted aggressively and surprisingly sweet when your demands fall more on the touring side. It’s saddled with a fundamentally disappointing control interface, however, that makes the simple act of using your turn signals or adjusting the cruise following distance incredibly frustrating. This is a car that gets the hard stuff right yet sadly gets the easy stuff very, very wrong.

[salonduthe]

The Tao Te Ching: a modern interpretation of Lao Tzu perpetrated by Ron Hogan copyright 2002, 2004

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial License.

Basically, you can distribute this text all over the place, as long as you always attribute it to me, you don't change a word, and you never charge anybody anything to receive it. But read the license for the full details.

-----

FOREWORD

"Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?"

In the spring of 1994, I was handed a master's degree in film studies and politely invited not to return to graduate school in the fall. So I went to work at Dutton's, a fantastic indie bookstore in Brentwood, less than a mile from the Simpson condo, but that's another story. Doug, the owner, lets his employees borrow books from the inventory, on the principle that you can sell books better if you know them better, and that's how I discovered the Tao Te Ching (or TTC, as I'll abbreviate it from now on).

Oh, I knew about the book beforehand. I knew it existed, anyway, and I knew it was a classic of Eastern philosophy. But that's all I knew. Not that there's that much to know after that, about all anybody can really say about Lao Tzu is that according to legend, about six centuries before Christ, he got fed up with the royal court's inability to take his advice and decided to leave. Then, the story goes, he was stopped at the Great Wall by a guard who begged him to write down some of his teachings for posterity, and the result was this slim volume. Once I actually started to read the thing, I was hooked. Here was a book that managed to say with clarity what I'd been struggling to figure out about spirituality for several years.

The TTC I found at Dutton's was written by Stephen Mitchell, a version which remains popular nearly twenty years after its original composition. Having read a couple dozen translations since, it's still one of the most accessible versions I've seen, but even then, I found his style a bit too refined, too full of a certain "wisdom of the ancients" flavor. For example, here's how Mitchell starts the first chapter:

"The Tao that can be named

is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named

is not the eternal Name."

At the time, I was newly infatuated with the writing of Quentin Tarantino and David Mamet, so my dream version of a TTC reflected the simplicity and grit of their dialogue:

"If you can talk about it, it ain't Tao.

If it has a name, it's just another thing."

Anyway, I grabbed a couple other translations and started looking at the different ways they expressed the same sentiments--or, as I quickly discovered, how much poetic license Mitchell and other translators were willing to take with the original text. I don't think this necessarily matters all that much; many current English- language versions are by people who don't know Chinese well, if at all, and I can't read or speak it myself. To that extent, then, we're *all* (unless we're fluent in Chinese, that is) at the mercy of, at best, a secondhand understanding of what Lao Tzu said.

Once I thought I had a rough idea what was behind the words, though, I went about rephrasing the chapters in my own voice. My guiding principle was to take out as much of the "poetry" as possible, to make the text sound like dialogue, so the reader could imagine someone telling him or her what Tao's all about. You can't take the "poetry" out completely, because the TTC is always going to have those lines about Tao being an "eternal mystery" and whatnot.

But the beauty of the book isn't in its language, at least not for me--it's in the practical advice Lao Tzu offers us about how to live a productive, meaningful life on a day to day basis. What I wanted to do was to make that advice as clear to a modern American reader as it would have been to the guard who first asked Lao Tzu to write it down.

I worked through the first twenty chapters, then put the rough draft up on my website under a pseudonym I used online back in those days. A bunch of fan mail came in, so I kept plugging away at the text, then my hard drivecollapsed and all my files were completely erased. I was freelancing pretty steadily then, and what little free time I had I spent building my own website, so the TTC went on hold. I got an occasional email asking about the other chapters, and I developed a stock answer. When it was time for me to finish the job, I told people, I would.

Years went by. I'd left LA for San Francisco, then moved up to Seattle, chasing after big dotcom money. It was great for a while, but as Lao Tzu says, "If you give things too much value, you're going to get ripped off." In the middle of the worst of the frustration, I rediscovered the Tao Te Ching, and realized I needed to finish what I started.

I dug out all my old copies of the TTC and went shopping for more versions, some of which were even better than the ones I'd found the first time. Brian Browne Walker's translation comes close to the modern oral quality I was striving for, though his voice is still much more of an "Eastern sage" voice than mine. David Hinton is somewhat more poetic, but I think he does a wonderful job of capturing what Lao Tzu may have actually sounded like to his contemporaries. And Ursula K. LeGuin strikes a balance between the modern and classical voices that gave me a new perspective on Tao; her commentaries on several chapters are enlightening as well.

I wish I could say that I wrote the remaining sixty-one chapters in a hurried creative frenzy, but things took a little longer than I thought. I got distracted by the decision to move to New York City, and though I did get some work done on the book, it was a little over a year later, when (and, yes, I know how cliched this sounds) the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and I realized I'd still been wasting too much of my life on things that didn't pan out. Instead of talking about getting serious about my life, it was time to actually do it. (Living through the following two and a half years has also made me appreciate chapters 30 and 31 a lot more, for reasons that will become readily apparent.)

So here you are--with my own name attached, as thepseudonym has long since fallen away. From a scholar's point of view, this TTC is unfaithful to the original text on more than one occasion, if not in every single line. Case in point: in chapter 20, Lao Tzu didn't exactly say, "Don't spend too much time thinking about stupid shit." For all the liberties I've taken with his words, however, I've made every attempt to stay true to his message, and I hope you'll find something useful in my efforts.

--Ron Hogan

(tao@beatrice.com)

January 2004

-----

PART ONE

TAO (THE WAY)

-----

1.

If you can talk about it, it ain't Tao. If it has a name, it's just another thing.

Tao doesn't have a name. Names are for ordinary things.

Stop wanting stuff; it keeps you from seeing what's real. When you want stuff, all you see are things.

Those two sentences mean the same thing. Figure them out, and you've got it made.

2.

If something looks beautiful to you, something else must be ugly. If something seems good, something else must seem bad.

You can't have something without nothing. If no job is difficult, then no job is easy. Some things are up high because other things are down low. You know you're listening to music because it doesn't sound like noise. All that came first, so this must be next.

The Masters get the job done without moving a muscle and get their point across without saying a word.

When things around them fall apart, they stay cool. They don't own much, but they use whatever's at hand. They do the work without expecting any favors. When they're done, they move on to the next job.That's why their work is so damn good.

3.

If you toss compliments around freely, people will waste your time trying to impress you. If you give things too much value, you're going to get ripped off. If you try to please people, you'll just make them pissed.

The Master leads by clearing the crap out of people's heads and opening their hearts. He lowers their aspirations and makes them suck in their guts.

He shows you how to forget what you know and what you want, so nobody can push you around. If you think you've got the answers, he'll mess with your head.

Stop doing stuff all the time, and watch what happens.

4.

How much Tao is there? More than you'll ever need. Use all you want, there's plenty more where that came from.

You can't see Tao, but it's there. Damned if I know where it came from. It's just always been around.

5.

Tao's neutral: it doesn't worry about good or evil. The Masters are neutral: they treat everyone the same.

Lao Tzu said Tao is like a bellows: It's empty, but it could help set the world on fire. If you keep using Tao, it works better. If you keep talking about it, it won't make any sense.

Be cool.

6.

Tao is an eternal mystery, and everything starts with Tao.

Everybody has Tao in them. They just have to use it.

7.

Tao never stops. Why? Because it isn't trying to accomplish anything.

The Masters hang back. That's why they're ahead of the game.

They don't hang on to things. That's how they manage to keep them.

They don't worry about what they can't control. That's why they're always satisfied.

8.

"Doing the right thing" is like water. It's good for all living things,and flows without thinking about where it's going

...just like Tao.

Keep your feet on the ground. Remember what's important. Be there when people need you. Say what you mean. Be prepared for anything. Do whatever you can, whenever it needs doing.

If you don't compare yourself to others, nobody can compare to you.

9.

If you drink too much, you get drunk. The engine won't start if you're always tinkering with it.

If you hoard wealth, you fall into its clutches. If you crave success, you succumb to failure.

Do what you have to do, then walk away. Anything else will drive you nuts.

10.

Can you hold on to your ego and still stay focused on Tao?

Can you relax your mind and body and brace yourself for a new life?

Can you check yourself and see past what's in front of your eyes?

Can you be a leader and not try to prove you're in charge?

Can you deal with what's happening and let it happen?

Can you forget what you know and understand what's real?

Start a job and see it through. Have things without holding on to them. Do the job without expectation of reward. Lead people without giving orders. That's the way you do it.

11.

A wheel has spokes, but it rotates around a hollow center.

A pot is made out of clay or glass, but you keep things in the space inside.

A house is made of wood or brick, but you live between the walls.

We work with something, but we use nothing.

12.

Sight obscures. Noise deafens.

Desire messes with your heart. The world messes with your mind.

A Master watches the world but keeps focused on what's real.

13.

Winning can be just as bad as losing. Confidence can mess you up just as much as fear.

What does "winning can be just as bad as losing" mean?

If you're down, you might be able to get up. But if you're up, you can get knocked down real fast. Don't worry about the score, just do what you have to do.

What does "confidence can mess you up just as much as fear" mean?

Fear can keep you from getting the job done, but confidence can get you in over your head.

Walk tall, but don't get cocky. Know your limits, and nothing can ever hold you back. Deal with what you can. The rest will follow.

14.

You can't see Tao, no matter how hard you look. You can't hear Tao, no matter how hard you listen. You can't hold on to Tao, no matter how hard you grab.

But it's there.

It's in you, and it's all around you.

Remember that.

15.

The ancient Masters were damn impressive. They were deep. Real deep. Words can't even begin to describe how deep they were. You can only talk about how they acted.

They were careful, like a man walking on thin ice. They were cautious, like a soldier behind enemy lines. They were polite, like a guest at a party. They moved quickly, like melting ice. They were as plain as a block of wood. Their minds were as wide as a valley, and their hearts as clear as spring water.

Can you wait for that kind of openness and clarity before you try to understand the world?

Can you hold still until events have unfolded before you do the right thing?

When you act without expectations, you can accomplish great things.

16.

Keep your head clear. Stay calm. Watch as everything happens around you.

Everything reverts to its original state, which was nothing. And when something becomes nothing, it gets right with Tao.

If you don't understand that, you're going to screw up somewhere down the line. If you figure it out, you'll always know what to do.

If you get right with Tao, you won't be afraid to die, because you know you will.

17.

When a Master takes charge, hardly anybody notices. The next best leader is obeyed out of love. After that, there's the leader obeyed out of fear. The worst leader is one who is hated.

Trust and respect people. That's how you earn their trust and respect.

The Masters don't give orders; they work with everybody else. When the job's done, people are amazed at what they accomplished.

18.

When people lose touch with Tao, they start talking about "righteousness" and "sanctity."

When people forget what's true, they start talking about "self-evident truths."

When people have no respect for one another, they start talking about "political correctness" and "family values."

When the nation is unstable, people start talking about "patriotism."

19.

Get rid of sanctity. People will understand the truth and be happier.

Get rid of morality. People will respect each other and do what's right.

Get rid of value and profit. People will not steal if they do not desire.

If that's not possible, go to Plan B: Be simple. Be real. Do your work as best you can. Don't think about what you get for it. Stay focused. Get rid of all your crap.

20.

Don't spend too much time thinking about stupid shit. Why should you care if people agree or disagree with you? Why should you care if others find you attractive or not? Why should you care about things that worry others? Call bullshit on all that.

Let other people get worked up and try to enjoy themselves. I'm not going to give myself away. A baby doesn't know how to smile, but it's still happy.

Let other people get excited about stuff. I'm not going to hang on to anything. I'm not going to fill my mind with ideas. I'm not going to get stuck in a rut, tied down to any one place.

Other people are clever; I guess I must be stupid. Other people have goals; I guess I must be aimless. Like the wind. Or the waves.

I'm not like other people. I'm getting right with Tao.

21.

A Master stays focused on Tao. Nothing else, just Tao.

But you can't pin Tao down-- you can't even see it! How are you supposed to focus on something like that?

Just remember what Lao Tzu said: The universe began as a void. The void fills with images. Images lead to the creation of objects. And every object has Tao at its core.

That's the way it's been, ever since the world began. How can I be so sure? I just know.

22.

Learn how to stand still if you want to go places. Get on your knees if you want to stand tall. If you want wisdom, empty your mind. If you want the world, renounce your riches. Push yourself until you're exhausted, and then you'll find your strength.

You can go far if you don't have anything to carry. The more you acquire, the less you can really see.

A Master takes this to heart and sets an example for everybody else.

She doesn't show offso people take notice. She's not out to prove anything so people take her at her word. She doesn't brag about herself but people know what she's done. She hasn't got an agenda but people know what she can do. She's not out to get anybody so nobody can get in her way.

"Learn how to stand still if you want to go places." That's not as crazy as it sounds. Get in touch with Tao, and you'll see what I mean.

23.

When you have nothing to say, you may as well keep your mouth shut. The wind and the rain don't go on forever. If nature knows enough to give it a rest sometimes, so should you.

If you're ready for Tao, you can live with Tao. If you're ready to succeed, you can live with success. If you're ready to fail, you can live with failure.

Trust your instincts, and others will trust you.

24.

Keep your feet firmly planted unless you want to fall on your face. Learn how to pace yourself if you want to get anywhere. Don't call attention to yourself if you want people to notice your work.

Nobody respects people who always have excuses. Nobody gives credit to people who always take it. People who hype themselves have nothing else to offer.

Think of being in touch with Tao like eating at a buffet: Take only what you need. Save some for everybody else.

25.

Something perfect has existed forever, even longer than the universe. It's a vast, unchanging void. There's nothing else like it. It goes on forever and never stops, and everything else came from it.

I don't know what else to call it so I'll call it Tao. What's it like? I can tell you this much: it's great.

So great that it endures. Something that endures goes a long way. And something that goes a long way always comes back to the beginning.

Tao's great. Heaven's great. Earth's great. And someone in touch with Tao is great, too. Those are the four greatest things in the universe.

Someone who's in touch with Tao is in touch with the earth. The earth is in touch with heaven. Heaven's in touch with Tao. Tao's in touch with the way things are.

26.

To be light on your feet, you need a steady mind. If your body is active, your mind should be relaxed.

A Master can travel long distances and still see everything she owns. She may be surrounded by beauty but she isn't caught up in it.

Why run around thoughtlessly? If you act lightly, you lose your bearings. If you act recklessly, you lose your self-control.

27.

With enough practice, you could come and go without a trace, speak without stumbling over words, do complicated math problems in your head.

You could build a door with no lock that nobody could open. You could tie something down with no knots, without even a rope, and nobody could pry it loose.

Masters have time to help everybody, and ignore nobody. They use their resources wisely, wasting nothing. Some people call this "following the light."

Good people teach others because they have the potential to be good too. Brains count for nothing if you fail to respect your teachers or to honor the potential in others. That's one of the most important lessons of Tao.

28.

If you are strong, but remain sensitive, power will flow through you. With that power, you'll always be right with Tao: It's like a whole new life.

If you are idealistic, but stay rooted in reality, you are an example to others. Set that example, and you'll always be right with Tao: There is no limit to what you can do.

If you are honorable, but remain humble, you will see things as they are. If you see things as they are, you'll always be right with Tao: Your life will become simple, yet full of potential.

Let Tao show you how to get right with Tao, so your slightest gesture can change the world.

29.

Want to take over the world? Think again. The world's a holy place. You can't just fuck around with it. Those who try to change it destroy it. Those who try to possess it lose it.

With Tao, you push forward, or maybe you stay behind. Sometimes you push yourself, other times you rest. Sometimes you're strong, sometimes you're weak. Sometimes you're up, and sometimes you're down.

A Master lives simply, avoiding extravagance and excess.

30.

Listen up: If you want to be a leader who's in touch with Tao, never use violence to achieve your goals.

Every act of violence backfires. An army on the move leaves a trail of tears, and a military victory always lies in ruins.

The Masters do what needs doing and that's all they do. Do what you have to do without arrogance or pride. Get the job done and don't brag about it afterwards. Do what you have to do, not for your own benefit, but because it needs to be done. And don't do it the way you think it should be done, do it the way it needs to be done.

The mighty will always lose their power and any connection they ever had to Tao. They will not last long; if you're not right with Tao, you might as well be dead.

31.

Weapons are terrible things. If you want to get right with Tao, reject weapons.

The Master, knowing all things came from Tao, recognizes what he has in common with his enemies and always tries to avoid conflict.

But when there is no other choice, he uses force reluctantly. He does so with great restraint, and never celebrates a victory; to do so would be to rejoice in killing. A person who would rejoice in killing has completely lost touch with Tao.

When you win a war, you preside over a funeral. Pay your respects to the dead.

32.

Tao is an eternal mystery, so small you can never take hold of it.

If a leader gets right with Tao, people will follow him on instinct. All will be right with the world. People will do the right thing without being told.

Everything that comes from Tao needs a name. But once everything has its name, you should make no other distinction between things. This prevents you from becoming trapped by them.

Everything in the universe is full of Tao and leads to Tao, just like the water in rivers that flows into oceans.

33.

Knowing things makes you smart, but knowing yourself makes you wise. To rule others, you must be powerful, but to rule yourself, you must be strong.

If you have only what you need, you have true wealth. If you never give up, you will find a way. If you stay true to yourself, you will never be lost. If you stay alive your whole life, you've really lived.

34.

Tao flows in all directions. It's in everything, but nothing can contain it. Everything needs Tao, so Tao provides, and never expects anything in return.

Everything comes from Tao, but Tao doesn't call attention to itself. It wants for nothing. Think nothing of it.

Everything leads to Tao, but Tao doesn't call attention to itself. Pretty impressive, huh?

It doesn't strive for success. That's why it succeeds.

35.

When you get right with Tao, everybody wants to be your friend. When they're around you, they can relax and enjoy themselves.

People can be easily distracted by music or good food. When we try to talk about Tao, it seems boring by comparison.

It doesn't look like much. It doesn't sound like much. But no matter how much you use, there's still plenty left.

36.

To make something smaller, you need to appreciate its size. To make something weaker, you must recognize its strength. To get rid of something, you need to hold it tight. To take something, you must give it up entirely.

To put it another way: Sensitivity and weakness overcome unfeeling strength.

37.

Tao never does anything but nothing is left undone.

If our leaders could get in touch with Tao, the world would take care of itself. Even if they wanted to impose their own ideas, they'd be drawn back to Tao's nameless simplicity.

When our lives are that simple, we want for nothing. We can relax, and the world becomes a better place.

-----

PART TWO

TE (POWER)

-----

38.

People with integrity don't even think about it. That's how you can tell they have integrity. Other people talk about how much integrity they have, when they really don't have much. If any. Truly powerful people don't do anything, but they get the job done.

Other people are always busy doing something, but nothing ever gets done. When kind people act, they do so without thinking about it. When the just act, they're always sure they're doing the right thing. But when the righteous act, and nobody reacts, they try to force everyone to do things their way.

If you're not in touch with Tao, at least you can still have integrity. If you don't have integrity, there's always kindness. If you don't have kindness, there's always justice. If you don't have justice, all you have left is righteousness.

Righteousness is an pale imitation of true faith and loyalty, and always leads to trouble. If you've already made up your mind, you don't know the first thing about Tao, and you never will.

The Masters pay attention to what's beneath the surface. They'll look at a tree's leaves, but eat the fruit. They turn all that down, so they can accept this.

39.

Since time began, this is what it's meant to be in touch with Tao:

Tao made the heavens clear. Tao made the earth solid. Tao made our spirits strong. Tao made the valleys fertile. Tao gave all living things life.

Tao gave rulers authority. Without Tao, the heavens would collapse. Without Tao, the earth would crumble. Without Tao, our spirits would fade away. Without Tao, the valleys would dry up. Without Tao, all life would become extinct. Without Tao, rulers would stumble and fall.

Humility gives us power. Our leaders should think of themselves as insignificant, powerless, unworthy of their stature. Isn't that what humility is all about?

Be strong, but pay no attention to hollow praise. Don't call attention to yourself. Don't make a scene.

40.

Tao is always heading back to where it came from. Tao advances by not pressing forward.

Things exist because they are. They are because they once were not.

41.

When a wise person hears about Tao, he gets right with it. When an ordinary person hears about Tao, he tries to get right with it, but eventually gives up. When a fool hears about Tao, he just laughs and laughs. If he didn't laugh, it wouldn't be Tao.

Here's what they find so funny: The path to enlightenment seems covered in shadows. The way forward feels like taking a step back. The easiest path seems difficult. Those with the most virtue seem debased. Those who are most pure seem to be grubby and soiled. The deepest thoughts appear shallow. The greatest strength looks like weakness. What is most real strikes us as imaginary. The largest space has no boundaries. The greatest talent seems to produce nothing. The greatest voice is unhearable. The greatest beauty is invisible.

Tao is hidden to us and it has no name. It is the source and the strength of all things.

42.

Chapter 42 starts out with some cosmic mumbo-jumbo about Tao making one, one making two, two making three, and three making everything else.

I don't know what it means, and, frankly, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Let's get to the practical part: Men hate to be called powerless, insignificant, or unworthy, but that's how Masters describe themselves.

Because when we lose, we've won. And when we succeed, we've failed.

Other people will tell you what I'm telling you now: "Live by the sword, die by the sword." That's pretty much what Chapter 42 boils down to.

(See Chapter 46 for more details.)

43.

The softest force in the universe can overcome the hardest of objects. Something without substance can pass through the space between atoms.

That's how I know about the power of doing nothing.

The silent teachings and the power of doing nothing can only be understood by a few people.

44.

What's more important, fame or your well-being? What's worth more, your money or your life? What is more dangerous, winning or losing?

If you are too attached to your possessions, they will bring you misery. If you hang on to your riches, you will suffer substantial loss. If you know when you have enough, you will never be disgraced. If you practice moderation, you can stay out of trouble.

And that's the secret to lasting success.

45.

The greatest achievements may look like mistakes, but you will always be able to build upon them.

The fullest reserves may seem empty, but you will always be able to draw upon them.

The straightest line looks crooked. The most skilled people come off as clumsy. The most eloquent people are usually silent.

When it's cold, you can move around to stay warm. When it's hot, you should keep still and stay cool. But whatever the weather, if you stay calm, the world will sort itself out around you.

46.

"When the world is right with Tao," Lao Tzu said, "horses haul fertilizer to the fields. When the world loses touch with Tao, horses are trained for cavalry."

Nothing is more insidious than possession. Nothing is more dangerous than desire. Nothing is more disastrous than greed.

If you know when enough is enough, you will always have enough.

47.

You don't have to leave your room to understand what's happening in the world.

You don't have to look out the window to appreciate the beauty of heaven.

The farther you wander, the less you know.

The Masters don't wander around They know. They don't just look. They understand. They don't do anything, but the work gets done.

48.

Usually, we try to learn something new every day.

But if we want to get right with Tao, we have to let go of something every day.

We do less and less, until we end up doing nothing. And it's when we do nothing that we get the job done.

Let events take their course, and everything will turn out in your favor. If you act on your ambitions, they will never pan out.

49.

The Masters don't make up their minds. They turn their thoughts to other people.

They are good to good people, and they're good to bad people. This is real goodness.

They have faith in the faithful, and they have faith in the unfaithful. This is real faith.

A Master throws himself into the world completely, forgetting everything he's been told. People pay attention to him because he lives a life of child-like wonder.

50.

People who look for the secret of long life wind up dead.

Their bodies are the focus of their lives and the source of their death, because they think a healthy body is all there is to life.

Lao Tzu used to say a man who truly understood life could walk through the jungle without fear or across a battlefield without armor, totally unarmed. Wild animals and weapons couldn't kill him.

I know, I know: what the hell does that mean? "Well, he couldn't be killed," Lao Tzu said, "because his body wasn't where he kept his death."

51.

Tao is the source of all living things, and they are nourished by Tao's power. They are influenced by the other living things around them, and they are shaped by their circumstances.

Everything respects Tao and honors its power. That's just the way it is.

Tao gives life to all things, and its power watches out for them, cares for them, helps them grow, protects them, and comforts them.

Create something without holding on to it. Do the work without expecting credit for it. Lead people without giving them orders. That's the secret of the power of Tao.

52.

Everything starts with Tao, the mother of all things. If you know the mother, you know the children. If you know the children and remember the mother, you have nothing to fear in your life.

Shut your mouth and keep still, and your life will be full of happiness. If you talk all the time, always doing something, your life will be hopeless.

It takes insight to see subtlety. It takes strength to yield gently to force. Use that strength to hang on to your insight, and you will always be at peace. That's how to get right with Tao.

53.

If I had any sense, I'd be trying to get right with Tao, and the only thing I'd worry about would be messing up. It's not that hard to get right with Tao, but people are easily distracted.

"When the king's palace is full of treasure," Lao Tzu said, "ordinary people's fields are smothered with weeds, and the food supplies run out." Today, you see sharply dressed people carrying flashy weapons and living the high life.

They own more than they could ever use, let alone need.

They're nothing but gangsters and crooks. That's not what Tao's about.

54.

Tao's power is so deeply entrenched it can never be uprooted. Tao's power clings so tightly it can never slip away. It will endure for generations.

If you get in touch with the power of Tao, it will become real. If your family gets in touch with the power of Tao, the power will flourish.

If your community gets in touch with the power of Tao, the power will grow even stronger. If your country gets in touch with the power of Tao, the power will become abundant.

If the world gets in touch with the power of Tao, the power will be everywhere. How can I know this? I just do.

55.

A person filled with the power of Tao is like a baby boy: bees can't sting him, wild beasts can't attack him.

A baby has soft bones and weak muscles, but a firm grip. He hasn't had sex, but he can get an erection. That's because he's got lots of energy. He can cry all day and never lose his voice. That's because he's at one with his world.

If you're at one with the world, you know constancy. And if you know constancy, you've been enlightened.

It's not healthy to try to prolong your life. It's unnatural to impose the mind's will upon the body. People waste time and energy trying to be strong or beautiful, and their strength and beauty fade. They've lost touch with Tao, and when you lose touch with Tao, you might as well be dead.

56.

Those who know, don't talk. Those who talk, don't know.

Shut your mouth. Be still. Relax. Let go of your worries. Stay out of the spotlight. Be at one with the world and get right with Tao. If you get right with Tao, you won't be worried about praise or scorn, about winning or losing, about honor or disgrace. That's the way to be.

57.

You can run a country by sticking to principles, and you can win a war with strategy and tactics. But you can gain the entire world by doing nothing at all.

How do I know this? I've seen it happen: The more restrictions a nation imposes, the poorer its people become. When a nation hoards weapons, troubles arise from within and from without. When its leaders try to be cunning and clever, the situation spins further out of control. When they try to fix things by passing more laws, they only increase the number of outlaws.

A wise leader says to himself: "I do nothing, and people transform themselves. I keep silent, and they do the right thing on their own. I stay out of the way, and they prosper. I want for nothing, and they lead simple lives."

58.

When a nation is ruled with a light touch, people lead simple lives. When a government is harsh and demanding, people will spend their time trying to outsmart it.

Happiness is rooted in misery, and misery lurks beneath all joy. Who knows what could happen tomorrow?

Everything is relative; what's considered proper today may become improper. Correct appearances may hide dishonesty and sinfulness.

No wonder so many people get confused.

The Masters have sharp minds, not sharp tongues. They are austere, but never judgmental. They are straightforward, but not provocative. They are brilliant, but not flashy.

59.

Leadership is based on moderation. Practice moderation, and you'll get in touch with the power of Tao.

If you get right with Tao, nothing is impossible. If you get right with Tao, there's no limit to what you can do. If you get right with Tao, you can be a true leader.

Remember this advice if you want to be a leader: Plant deep roots in firm soil. Get right with Tao, and you'll always see things clearly.

60.

Being a leader is like cooking a small fish; get right with Tao, and it's quick and easy.

When you're in touch with Tao, you don't need to worry about misfortune. You can't make it go away, of course, but you can keep it from harming other people.

Also, as a wise leader, you cause no harm to others, so people won't have to worry about getting hurt, and they'll take the opportunity to do the right thing.

61.

Power flows down to every level of existence like a river to the ocean.

Victory comes from lying perfectly still and waiting for power to come your way.

If you yield to someone less powerful than yourself, you will be in a position to influence them.

If you submit to someone more powerful than yourself, you create an opportunity to get your own way.

So if you want to get ahead, lay low and bide your time. That way, everybody's happy.

62.

Every living thing gets its strength from Tao. Good people respect the value of Tao. The wicked and foolish don't, but Tao provides for them anyway.

Some people gain power and prestige through fancy words, others through great deeds. But Tao is available to everyone, not just the powerful. So don't look down on anybody.

When people become powerful, and everybody lines up to kiss their ass, sit still and stay right with Tao.

Why have the Masters always respected Tao? Because when you get right with Tao, you can always find what you need to get by, and trouble can never find you.

63.

Keep still. Don't work so hard. Learn to appreciate everyday life. Pay attention to details. Start small and work your way up. When people give you trouble, let it slide.

Break everything down to its essentials. Get the job done before it becomes a chore.

With the right preparation, difficult tasks can be completed with ease; every major project consists of simple steps.

The Masters don't take on more than they can handle, which is why they can do just about anything.

Don't promise more than you can deliver, and don't underestimate the task: You'll only make things harder for yourself.

The Masters are always aware of the difficulties involved, which is why they never have to deal with them.

64.

It's easy to maintain balance. Trouble can be nipped in the bud. Fragile things break easily, and small things are easy to lose.

Deal with the situation before it becomes a problem. Keep everything straight so it can't get messed up.

Every tree was once a seed. Every skyscraper started out with a shovelful of dirt. And--stop me if you've heard this one before-- a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

When you try too hard, you defeat your own purpose. Cling to stuff, and you will suffer loss. The Masters make no effort, so they never fail. They aren't attached to things, so they never feel loss.

People often screw up when the job's nearly done. Pay as much attention to the finishing touches as you do to the initial steps, and you won't screw up like that.

The Masters try to be free from desire. They don't collect precious things. They don't cling to any beliefs. They pay attention to what everybody else ignores. They help the world get right with Tao, but don't try to change a thing.

65.

In ancient times, leaders who were right with Tao didn't teach everybody how to become enlightened. They kept people's lives simple.

People who know too much can't be taught anything. Leaders who try to be clever always screw things up. Leaders who keep things simple always make things right.

If you get that, you'll understand the mysterious power of Tao.

That kind of power is so deep, so extensive, it penetrates into every level of existence.

66.

An ocean is greater than the hundred rivers that flow into it, and all it does is wait to receive what they bring.

If you want to teach people, don't talk down to them. If you want to lead them, find out where they want to go.

People love leaders who make them feel safe without smothering them. They'll always support a leader like that, and because he doesn't try to compete with anybody, nobody is able to compete with him.

67.

Everywhere I go, people tell me, "Tao is so powerful, so immense, it's inconceivable!"

But it's only powerful because it's inconceivable. If we could wrap our minds around it, Tao would be just another thing.

The three most important qualities in life are compassion, or showing kindness and mercy to others, moderation, or knowing what a thing is worth, and modesty, or knowing your place in the world.

Courage stems from showing kindness and mercy to others. Generosity starts with knowing what a thing is worth. True leadership begins with knowing your place in the world.

But these days, I see everyone trying to act courageous without any trace of compassion. They try to be generous but they don't practice moderation in their own lives. They act like leaders, but they have no sense of modesty. No good can come of this.

If you want to get ahead, show people compassion. When other people attack you, defend yourself with compassion. It's the most powerful force in the universe.

68.

A true warrior never uses force with an attitude of pride or anger. A true victor does not pursue vengeance. A true leader shows humility.

This is the power of modesty. It's the best way to deal with people. It's always been an excellent way to get right with Tao.

69.

There's an old military saying: "I'd rather face an attack than have to make one. I'd rather retreat a foot than try to advance an inch."

That's the secret to moving forward while staying put, preparing for battle without revealing your strength.

When you defend yourself without any show of force, you give your opponent nothing to fight.

Attacking an enemy you've underestimated is a costly mistake. When two forces oppose each other, the winner is the one most reluctant to fight.

70.

Lao Tzu's advice was easy to understand and easy to follow. But nobody understood him or did what he suggested.

His words stemmed from ancient wisdom, and his actions were highly disciplined. People didn't get that, which is why they didn't understand him. And the less they understood him, the more meaningful his advice became.

That's why the Masters live simply, hiding their wisdom deep within themselves.

71.

If you know what you don't know, you're doing great. If you don't know what you don't know, you're sick.

The only way to get rid of that sickness is to be sick of it.

The Masters aren't sick, because they got sick of being sick.

72.

When you show no fear at all, the universe gives you something to really be afraid of.

Don't try to fence people in or grind them down. Just let them be, and they'll always be on your side.

The Masters know themselves, but they don't reveal themselves. They love themselves, but they know what their lives are worth. They let go of all that to concentrate on this.

73.

Those who dare to be bold die. Those who dare to be careful survive. So--what do you want to do?

Why is life like that, you ask? I don't know.

This is how Tao works: It doesn't push itself, and it always succeeds. It acts silently, and it always reacts. It can't be summoned; it comes whenever it's ready. It can't be rushed; it's always on time.

"Heaven casts a wide net, with big holes," Lao Tzu used to say, "but nothing ever gets by it."

74.

If people's lives suck, and they look forward to death, what good does it do to threaten to kill them?

If people are afraid to die, and the wicked are condemned to death, then who would dare to commit evil?

But that doesn't mean you or I can just take life and death into our own hands. That'd be like walking up to an industrial buzzsaw and trying to use it without any training. We'd only end up hurting ourselves.

75.

People starve because the government taxes them to death. People rebel because the government tries to run their lives. People act like life is meaningless because the government takes everything they have.

People who know how to enjoy life are wiser than people who value their lives.

76.

A baby's body is soft and gentle. A corpse is hard and stiff. Plants and trees are tender and full of sap. Dead leaves are brittle and dry.

If you are rigid and unyielding, you might as well be dead. If you are soft and flexible, you are truly alive.

Soldiers trained to fight to the death will die. A tree that cannot bend with the wind will snap.

Here's a useful saying: The harder they come, the harder they fall.

Here's another: The meek shall inherit the earth.

77.

Lao Tzu said using Tao was like pulling on a bowstring: The top bends down, the bottom bends up, and all the energy is focused in the middle.

Tao takes energy from where it is, and sends it where it needs to be. But most people take from those who don't have enough, so those who have too much already can have more.

So who in this world is truly generous to others? People who are in touch with Tao. They do their work without taking credit. They get the job done and move on. They aren't interested in showing off.

78.

Nothing is softer or more yielding than water. Yet, given time, it can erode even the hardest stone. That's how the weak can defeat the strong, and the supple can win out over the stiff.

Everybody knows it. So why don't we apply it to our own lives?

Lao Tzu used to say: "Take on people's problems, and you can be their leader. Deal with the world's problems, and you'll be a Master."

Sometimes the truth makes no sense.

79.

Sometimes, when an argument is settled, feelings of resentment still remain on either side. What's the point of carrying a grudge?

The Masters care about what they owe other people, not what other people owe them.

People who are in touch with Tao do their duty. People who aren't try to force others into submission.

Tao doesn't play favorites. But if you do right by Tao, Tao will do right by you.

80.

Lao Tzu had a dream about a small country with very few people.

They didn't need machines to get their work done faster. They took their lives seriously, and stayed close to home.

They may have owned boats and carriages, but they never went anywhere. They may have owned weapons, but they kept those weapons locked up, securely hidden. They had so few responsibilities, they never had to make a To-Do list to remember what had to be done.

They enjoyed simple foods, dressed plainly, lived comfortably, and kept their traditions alive.

And even though their neighbors were so close they could hear the dogs barking at night, they had no interest in leaving their homes, where they grew old peacefully and died.

81.

The truth isn't flashy. Flashy words aren't true.

Educated people aren't always smart. Smart people don't always have an education.

Good people don't argue. People who argue aren't good.

The Masters don't hang on to things. They're always doing something for other people, so they always have more to give. They give away whatever they have, so what they have is worth more.

If you want to get right with Tao, help other people, don't hurt them. The Masters always work with people, never against them.

(with thanks to ronhogan)

[bestseopoint-blog]

12 Effective Digital Marketing Tactics and Strategies in 2019 and Beyond

 With regards to computerized promoting systems, you can make a long look of each accessible procedure or innovation accessible today. While you'll likely hear a lot of proposals that all or some advanced promoting procedures are superior to other people, which ones are the most basic?

 To contend in the excessively aggressive computerized scene of 2019, you'll have to concentrate on twelve explicit regions.

 While you've likely caught wind of these, what number of subtleties do you truly know to make every one viable? They're every one of the guidelines during the current year and into the coming decade.

 Investigate every one and perceive the amount you truly know. At that point survey what components of them you have to focus on. These all range from SEO to points of arrival. In the middle of, you may become familiar with some new things about neighborhood search promoting and the ever-well known organization of video.

 1. Website optimization

 There is nothing more essential to computerized promoting than SEO, something that may at present bewilder you in its continuous unpredictability. While it's actual Google's calculations can even now wind up befuddling, you can more readily get a handle on how it functions when you work more with the idea.

It's in every case better to have a specialist to oversee SEO for you in the event that you need to genuinely succeed. While you can gain proficiency with certain nuts and bolts, you'll need somebody who's worked in it some time to completely enable you to understand the best systems.

One ongoing system includes new HTTPS necessities previously affecting SEO results. In case you're accustomed to utilizing HTTP pages, Google presently proposes you to change to a HTTPS position. The thinking behind this is many contact structures utilizing HTTP pages aren't regarded secure enough.

Since Google is going to mark these "non-secure", it's basic to refresh your site with the HTTPS assignment. Something else, having a "non-secure" stamp on your site could turn into another red letter for your situation on web indexes.

A specialist SEO and computerized promoting pro causes you roll out this improvement.

2. Web index Marketing

In case you're new to web index promoting, you'll for the most part observe it shortened as SEM. It's a type of Internet promoting where you increment your SERPs through paid publicizing techniques.

You'll need a specialist to help you in this field also, particularly one who's worked with Google Ads and search/show promotions. On account of Google Ads, you'll need to instruct yourself first on how the procedure functions.

What you'll value the most is Google makes their Google Ads simple to use through their consideration regarding customization. They let you pick whether you need realistic showcase advertisements, YouTube video promotions, content based inquiry advertisements, or in-application versatile advertisements. These will rely upon your business style and the focused on clients you have to reach.

Google makes it significantly simpler with confined promotion ability, in addition to better measurements than track how well your advertisements work.

Remember about other paid advertisement openings, particularly Facebook Ads. The last gives you sufficient chance to redo to various advertisement groups.

3. Neighborhood Search Marketing

You're seeing much more consideration on neighborhood search showcasing the most recent couple of years. It'll keep being significant far into the coming decade as neighborhood organizations understand the incentive in being found by nearby purchasers.

To begin with neighborhood search showcasing, you can again use more blessings from Google. Through Google My Business, you'll have the option to have your posting turn up the subsequent somebody does a Google search dependent on the client's watchwords. This incorporates your business showing up on Google Maps.

Google makes it simple to refresh your posting also so nothing ends up outdated.

Remember about how significant online surveys are, just as your social notoriety. You'll need to motivate clients to compose positive surveys on spots like Yelp. Via web-based networking media, beginning discussions and posting focused on substance causes you use inbound showcasing. Inbound procedures pull in clients to you as opposed to you looking for them.

4. Substance Marketing

As a connective string to inbound advertising above, content showcasing is a major piece of drawing in a focused on group of spectators. Essential about substance advertising that you have to make your substance important, pertinent, and reliable to make it worth the hour of those expending it.

In the present time, you have to concentrate on making content that can comprehend agony focuses and remain evergreen. Utilizing easy routes or dark cap SEO strategies just to move to the highest point of web indexes won't work on account of Google's all powerful eye.

So consistently keep "content as ruler", the same number of like to put it. To make substance promoting function admirably, you have to concentrate on versatile substance, local publicizing, influencer advertising, and showcasing computerization.

Ponder versatile substance in light of the fact that cell phones are as of now making up half of every single worldwide gadget. This is going to influence advanced publicizing, and how influencers advance your image.

Mechanization apparatuses send substance to prospects on their cell phones at simply the correct occasions.

5. Remarketing

Another basic perspective to advanced advertising is following prospects again with showcasing content on the off chance that they didn't react to your site's pennant promotions the first run through. This works by following these guests through treats and making new promotions on related destinations.

You can likewise make new promotions on your site to all the more likely focus on your prospects. The data you get from your site guests gives you important information to change your advertisements to their torment focuses.

At last, remarketing encourages you remain progressively drew in with prospects, helps in brand mindfulness, and expands changes. You can likewise pick up the clients of your rivals, helping pay back any venture you place in making new promotions.

6. Responsive Web Design

Arriving at clients by portable is pretty much the standard now, and that will go on into the coming decade. Causing your site to comply with versatile screens is one of the most basic pieces of computerized showcasing. The main way you can make this work effectively is through responsive website composition.

With responsive programming, you can make your site consequently adjust to every single versatile screen. This is going to mean more than one arrangement, including tablets and expanding utilization of smartwatches.

While you'll need to work with a website specialist to make this work, you'll need a SEO master for another part of RWD. AMP (or Accelerated Mobile Pages) is another open-source code making versatile website pages load quicker.

Google offers priority to sites utilizing this, so pay attention to it. It's particularly valuable on the off chance that you have a distributing webpage or post substance to your site all the time.

7. Email Marketing

Almost certainly you've done some email advertising, yet how successful is it in arriving at your expected focuses at the correct occasions? Email showcasing is as of now an incredible device for producing a larger number of leads than conceivable through some other promoting strategy. You can likewise expand your deals and transformation rates.

In case you're as of now experiencing overspending on other advanced showcasing, email advertising is one of the most moderate techniques out there. Now and again, it's free, except if utilizing re-appropriated administrations.

Since you can join it with other media, it's likewise one of the most incorporated advertising techniques. You can include social offer symbols, in addition to referral compensate frameworks. Email showcasing at last causes you abbreviate your business cycles when utilizing convincing substance.

8. Online life Marketing

Most likely you've presented content via web-based networking media as of now. However, what would you be able to do to make it increasingly viable this year and the following?

To catch the present crowds, Forbes notes different things, including computerization to post your substance when you realize your group of spectators is perusing. Utilizing devices like Hootsuite for post planning helps massively when arriving at clients in other time zones.

You'll likewise need to clergyman some substance if conceivable to demonstrate your clout. Try not to be too glad to even consider doing this since it adds brilliance to your aptitude and brand. When you minister content from others, they'll likely respond.

Additionally, remember about contracting influencers to post content for you on well known online life channels.

9. Showcasing Automation

As should be obvious, showcasing robotization is a significant component in a great deal of advanced advertising procedures. Find out about it by and large should turn into a top need as it turns into a standard for organizations around the world.

With 91% of fruitful organizations currently saying mechanization is essential to their prosperity, you can get a dream of what the present and fate of promoting is.

To wind up effective with this, take a stab at searching for a CRM stage with promoting mechanization worked in. These can cooperate well in light of the fact that your CRM as of now has contact data. Computerizing showcasing content legitimately to your contact rundown encourages you incorporate your promoting across the board place instead of utilizing different sources.

What's most significant with robotization is to keep your substance steady over all channels to maintain a strategic distance from brand perplexity.

10. Influencer Marketing

Have you considered how you can take on a computerized promoting effort without spending a fortune? While you can set aside cash doing email promoting and inbound strategies, procuring influencers does likewise.

In the event that you think contracting influencers to advance your image online is tied in with enlisting famous people, reconsider. A compelling individual via web-based networking media doesn't generally need to mean being a superstar. It can just be somebody with a ton of supporters and a decent reputation of advancing items.

Forbes notes you have to distinguish top influencers first, which will include a little explore. You can do this doing hashtag look on spots like Twitter to perceive what individuals are stating about themes identified with your industry. If you are looking for more information about digital marketing. visit here

[dorothydelgadillo]

"Killer Inbound Results in the Most Competitive Industry Ft. Brian Greenberg" (Inbound Success Ep. 67)

How can a small business dominate digital lead gen in the most competitive industry when it comes to online marketing?

Brian J. Greenberg

This week on The Inbound Success Podcast, entrepreneur and author Brian J. Greenberg shares the digital marketing formula he used to take on the giants of the life insurance industry and drive growth for his small insurance startup. 

Brian has documented his process in his book, "The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell," but you can learn all about them in today's episode.

Special Offer for Inbound Success Podcast Listeners:

Click here to get your free audio copy of "The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell"

Some highlights from our discussion include:

 The life insurance industry is one of the top four most competitive industries to rank for in Google, but Brian has successfully grown traffic and leads to his website, often outranking major brand name competitors.

Inspired by a talk given by Will Reynolds of Seer Interactive, Brian focuses on doing "really company stuff" in his internet marketing (basically, he doesn't try and game the system).

He starts by building his website's link profile through high quality back links.

Using freelancers he finds through Upwork.com, Brian writes keyword-rich articles that he gets placed on third party websites through his online PR efforts.

He then shares those articles by linking to them on his website press page.

Brian doesn't mind paying outsourced writers or PR experts because he knows the value of a high quality backlink (which he measures using SEMRush).

He has a very thorough process for vetting outsourced writers that he uses to help with content creation.

Brian is a contributor to online publications like Entrepreneur and Forbes and those sites have given him very high quality backlinks.

He also writes long form answers on Quora and has found that these gain the attention of publications that then request to republish them.

Brian uses cash incentives to encourage his staff to solicit online reviews and testimonials as a way of establishing site authority and boosting lead conversions.

Brian measures ROI by determining the exact dollar value of a new backlink or online review.

His marketing system has resulted in True Blue Life Insurance having a lead to customer conversion rate that is 10x that of its competitors.

Listen to the podcast to learn, step-by-step, how to get killer inbound marketing results just like Brian has.

Transcript

Kathleen Booth (Host):Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. My name's Kathleen Booth and I am your host and today my guest is Brian Greenberg, who is the CEO and founder at True Blue Life Insurance and the author of, "The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell." Welcome, Brian.

Brian Greenberg (Guest): Hey, thanks for having me, Kathleen.

Brian and Kathleen recording this episode

Kathleen: Yeah, my pleasure. I got a little tongue tied there around saying True Blue. I think if I said it six times fast it would be a big jumble.

Brian, I was excited to have you because I've been an agency owner for many years prior to joining Impact, and in that time I've worked with a number of insurance agencies and brokerages. I really came to appreciate that from an Inbound marketing and even just a broader digital marketing standpoint, it's one of, if not the most competitive industries. Because so much money is poured into digital marketing in insurance. There's so many 800 pound gorillas in the industry, and especially for independent brokerages, it can be very, very difficult to rank and to succeed with digital.

You're somebody whose kind of figured it out, so much so that you've now written a book about what you're doing. So, before we dive too far into that, let's start by having you tell our audience a little bit about yourself and your background and what brought you here today.

About Brian Greenberg

Brian: Sure. I started in the internet marketing business back in 2003, so I'd kind of seen a lot of the evolution.

Now I've always earned my money, been a business owner and passive income, by bringing in traffic through Google and Yahoo and MSN. I've always been able to rank real well in any of the main key words I've been able to do in the past.

I have owned an organic internet marketing agency. I've owned several e-commerce agencies, there was one point where I owned about 8 different businesses at the same time. Kind of cut down on that, Kathleen.

Kathleen: I was going to say

Brian: Right now, I went into...

Kathleen: You had eight businesses at once? I had one and that was enough to keep me up at night.

About True Blue Life Insurance

Brian: Yeah. Then I decided to go into True Blue life insurance - the life insurance industry, which is very profitable. It's one of the top four most competitive industries on the internet and it was a big challenge.

I started a website a long time ago that had success and now I focus on it 100%. I am competing against a lot of big guys with a lot of deep pockets and knock on wood, I've been able to it very successfully for a long time now.

Kathleen: That's amazing. You know, I think what's interesting to me is there are so many other business owners out there. I have a lot of listeners who are business owners. Who are naturally interested in marketing, either because they have to be, or because their businesses are a size where they can't afford not to be. There's a lot of marketing folks who are helping to grow smaller businesses.

So, for somebody who's in a competitive industry, and looking at trying to get found online and to carve out a niche in the digital world, where do you start these days? You did it in life insurance, but again if you can do it there, I feel like you can do it anywhere. So walk me through what your approach is.

Brian's Approach to Inbound Marketing

Brian: Sure. The first thing I want to say you know, it was back in 2012 when Google came out with this penguin update and it kind of wiped out so many people that were doing too much organic SEO marketing.

So Will Reynolds, he's the owner of Seer Interactive, he did this beautiful presentation, where he said from now on you have to do real company stuff. He had the abbreviation RCS. He had a profanity at the end of it, but it's RCS and what it means is that you should only be doing things that a real company would do.

So, if you get offered somebody who is just going to do excessive log commenting or they're going to be spinning articles or they're going to put you in a private log network. You have to think, is that something a real company would do? So that's the first thing.

Kathleen: Its seems like an obvious one right but it's surprising how many people don't get that one.

Brian: Because people are contacted so often by SEO agencies that don't do things white hat. These days if you do things wrong you could actually end up hurting yourself, which is a terrible thing that I don't want people to do.

So what I like to do is kind of build a website's link profile. Alright, so you're kind of building a foundation. You know, obviously you have content but below that I believe you have links and I'm trying to build up an authority website.

So the first thing you should do is, you should go after all the easy links, all the directories in your markets, try to hit all the competitors. I don't know, get a listing on the better business bureau. Hit all the local directories and start getting known. And start getting those basic links and I think that's the good beginning of a link profile.

Kathleen: Yeah, you know I had the CMO of Yext, Jeff Rohrs on the podcast a few months back. They're such a great service for doing exactly what you just described, which is getting started, getting your directory links set up, doing it right, making sure they're clean and all the information is consistent across them. And it's so reasonable. So, easy way to get started.

So, let's say you've tackled that stage in the process, then what?

Building Site Authority Through Back Links

Brian: You want to start going after more authority links. High quality links. Now these days you don't need that many.

So, you want to pose yourself as an expert. I am a big fan of doing online PR these days. Now online PR, you kind of gotta put yourself out there a little bit, but what I like doing is writing articles. Articles that I basically have a PR person, or I got on to Upwork and I have them release it to all the blogs, all the media outlets, and do my best to get those published.

Now, there's a couple tricks on how to write these articles, to make them attractive to a lot of editors. Number one, you should always use a number in them if you can. It's definitely very helpful. "The Seven Ways This,"... "The Eight Ways This."

I'm writing an article right now, "The Five Life Insurance Game Changers for 2019."

I also recommend you use a catchy headline. I use a site called headlines.sharethrough.com. It is a free website, I have no idea why it's free, Kathleen. It's that good. You just kind of put your headline in there and it will give you a score, and it will also make suggestions on how to make it better. I've had great success with that.

But if you give that to a PR person who has a good Rolodex, they have a good list, and you shop the around, it's wonderful to see it get picked up. And sometimes you'll get some interviews coming in as well. That's a great basis to put yourself out there.

But you do as a business owner have to put yourself out there. It takes a little Chutzpah, to go after these types of links.

Using Online PR to Get Back Links

Kathleen: Now, you're writing these articles, do you have to already have published on your own site? Do you need to have examples of your work or are you really getting these articles published based purely on the merit of the article itself?

Brian: Primarily based on the merit of the article to start. You know, once you start getting these published, you start building up a press page.

I think that's a very important thing. I see so many people they'll get a great listing on Entrepreneur, or they'll do an interview at their local news station, but they won't put it on their website, which is a huge mistake.

Those things are worth a lot of money. Because look, people see that on your website, it builds credibility and it lasts for such a long time. Especially if you can get it in some sort of interview on video, it's nice. 

I just want to stress the importance of putting up a press page and listing all the placements you've got. It is not a form of bragging, it is an absolute must, to make it easier to get more pick ups.

Kathleen: Yeah. You mentioned using either a PR firm or even going on Upwork and finding somebody who can distribute this kind of thing for you. I think for some small businesses, certainly working with PR firms can seem intimidating or it might seem too expensive.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you've done it, what has the cost been to get placements? What should someone expect to spend and are there reasonably priced ways to go about doing this?

Brian: The answer is yes. I think so many people who go to a big PR firm and people will charge you know at least $10,000.00 a month to take you on. You don't have to do that. There's so many people on free lancer websites, and that's a great way to find people. A lot of these people do have their own kind of websites that they do PR.

Although, I can do a release for about $2,000.00. But more importantly, I get the people to guarantee me a certain amount of pick ups.

So, I'll do a release, I use a company that's really good but I pay them $5,000.00, but they guarantee me at least 15 pickups, from authority websites that are real links back. Not just pickups that are a copy of a press release. They're real pickups.

So, if you do that you can value how much those links are.

Now in my book, a good link from a press release from an authority place is worth about $1,000.00 dollars to me. So I know how much I'm willing to pay for the links, and if you can get a PR firm to guarantee you a certain amount of links and they'll keep going until they get them, it's very hard to lose on that Kathleen.

Kathleen: Now, how are you measuring authority of these links?

Measuring Link Authority

Brian: I'm not too strict on them. I like to use SEMrush. I have one of the toolbars that I keep open. As long as the website has basically organic traffic cost. I love this statistic.

I use SEMrush and you know what they do? They take the keywords that you rank for and they convert it to if you were to pay for it on paper click, how much it's worth. So I know if the website is getting some traffic, if they're indexed, it's a valuable link. But more importantly Kathleen, it's an organic link, okay?

So, even if it's not on that great of a website or that much of an authority of a website, it's a natural link and starts building up that link profile and it's worth actually a lot.

Even these podcasts that I'm doing, Kathleen, is a way to build links. So you know a lot of people that run podcasts, they post the article and they'll link to my websites. Those are extremely valuable links that real companies do.

Kathleen: Alright, I'm so glad you brought that up because, it's interesting, the push back that I often hear from business owners, when you say things like you need to write an article and get it published out there, a lot of times what I hear is, but I'm not a great writer. Or I don't like to write, or I can't write. And you know, I think it's great to know that there are options.

Using Outsourced Writers

Kathleen: You don't have to always write. You could go on podcasts and be a guest, if you find the right podcast with the right fit. And that's another way of doing this, so. Good point that you made there.

Brian: I also want to say this. As a business owner you maybe a great writer, you may not. You don't have to write all your own articles. You know I have to have a knowledge of how to write articles. I read some books on writing and I practiced it. I love the book by Stephen King on writing well. Great book. But I hire free lancers to write articles. I do. Alright.

You know it's very hard to keep generating these articles and run a business. I like to find freelancers. I do it on Upwork.com. You hire these people very similar to hiring normal employees.

I like to get them on the phone. I interview them. When I give them an article, I'll actually have a phone call with them, for about a half an hour or an hour, and I'll go over all the content, and they'll provide it back to me. We'll massage it and make sure it's great, and then release it, because they're writing in your voice. You have to make sure you can edit it.

But yes, you don't have to write them yourself, Kathleen. You can hire free lancers. There's a lot of firms that do so. So I definitely encourage people to do that.

Kathleen: I'm glad you brought that up as well, because I think there's different ways of outsourcing article creation, and I've certainly had my experience with most of them.

What I've seen is that where business owners outsource and they say, for example your article, Seven Insurance Game Changers for 2019. You know, if you just put something on Upwork and said I want somebody to write something on this, and you said go and write it, what you would get back would probably be, forgive my language, but total crap.

Whereas, if you're outsourcing writing and you're willing to either write an outline with your key points, you are after all the subject matter expert, or if you're willing to be interviewed and find a writer who has a journalism background, often they can tease it out of you. I think taking a completely hands off approach is a tremendous, tremendous mistake.

Brian: Yeah. You know it's about quality, not quantity. Absolutely.

And yeah, I've made those mistakes too, Kathleen. I've hired people on a lot of these platforms iwriter, I don't know a bunch of them. You can't really just give somebody a topic and let them run with it. It's just not a good practice.

What I've learned is that you want to find somebody you have a rapport with. And absolutely speak with them. If you're not going to be speaking with them verbally over the telephone, it's not really worth doing. You have to treat them almost like they're an employee.

I like to find people that are quality writers, and I stick with them. Right. All these freelancers want long term relationships, and I find a couple and I stick with them.

And absolutely keep having phone calls, get them on video, get them on zoom, and build a relationship with a writer because its so important if they write in your voice.

And again, it's not about quantity. You don't want to pump these out. They have to be quality. Not little short blog posts, either. I like to write actual pages between 800 words and 1500 words.

Kathleen: Yeah. Amen, on sticking with the writers, because it's like hiring anybody. Having that ramp up period can be painful and expensive and once you've gotten somebody to the point where they're doing the job you need them to do, hold on to them.

So, alright. You're working on your back links, you're producing these articles, you're getting somebody to help distribute them out, so that you can get published elsewhere. What comes next?

Contributing Guest Articles as a Back Linking Strategy

Brian: Once you start building up that press page, there's a few different things you can do.

I like to apply to become an editor, or a contributor. So right now I'm a contributor at Entrepeneur.com. And I am also on Forbes.com. There's a couple industry magazines that kind of come to me as well.

I like to join organizations. If you can qualify for an organization, do it. I'm a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable of Insurance. Top 1% of financial advisors in the world. They keep coming to me and I write articles for them or they interview me for articles.

I'm a member of the Young Entrepreneurship Council. They also have the Forbes Council. On those they have questions you can answer and you can get them published all over the web.

So join organizations.

I think sponsoring people is another great thing that you can do. You can just do a Google search for sponsors and find something locally, but make sure that they give you a link.

One of the main things is I want to see if they're giving me a back link. I'll write testimonials for all the companies I do business with and I'll value them higher if they'll give me a link. I'm always after them.

Now, some people say, “Oh, don't go after no follow links.” I'm kind of from the thinking of that I'm fine with no follow links.

Do they help? I think they do. I think they build up your overall link profile. If you don't have a certain amount of no follow links, you're going to stand out in the Google algorithm as an unnatural link profile. No follow, follow, doesn't matter.

Redirects, you'll want redirects. If you hover over that link, you want it to go to your website not a redirect. But every link that you build, everything you do, all I can say is everything I do, I'm looking for those link backs.

Participating in Contributor Programs

Kathleen: So let's go back to the beginning of what you just said, which was that you apply to be a contributor. And you talked about Entrepreneur and Forbes and those are two very well known, well regarded publications. I would imagine most business owners would be really excited to be able to contribute articles there.

How hard is that to do? What's involved in that process?

Brian: You have to have a little body of work. Again, it's so much as the press page. All these places they actually have a forum you'd be so surprised that you can apply to become a contributor. They don't hide it. You can say what your expertise is if you have an expertise in a certain niche, all the better. And if you have a body of work, these people want content.

The other thing they're looking for Kathleen is what kind of following do you have? If you write an article they want people to come to the website.

So if I'm building up a social media profile or my email list, I have 30,000 Twitter followers and 4,000 Facebook followers and I have an email list of 40,000, let these guys know then in the application. Huge.

So those are the kinds of things that they're looking for to become a contributor. I do want to say, well a couple of other things, but I just want to make sure that I give you a chance in case you have questions.

Kathleen: I'm curious about this because I've looked into these contributor programs before and what has stopped me from digging further is, well number one, I'm not sure that I could generate enough articles with enough frequency on top of doing my podcast.

So I'm curious is there an expectation for how often you contribute? Is it however often you want to? How does the program work once you're in? And is it different from publication?

Brian: I think they do want to a regular contributor, I would definitely say you're willing to do it for a month to begin. Use a freelancer to get started. What I found is though they don't really hold you to it.

So if you give them a couple of articles, you can take a break for three months. Once you're in, you're in. They give you access to their admin console and you can submit articles whenever you want. So let them know that you want to do it for a month to begin. I just want to let people know that I've never had anyone holds me to it.

Kathleen: That's good to know. So you said you had a few more things you wanted to add and I kind of interrupted you there. Let's go with what you were going to say.

Other Back Linking Shortcuts 

Brian: All right. There's a couple of shortcuts that I've been using lately.

One is Quora. Quora is becoming a wonderful place to submit and contribute content. If you can write a really nice answer and format it a certain way, it actually gets picked up. I've had pick ups across the board on Forbes and sometimes you get picked up on Time, you get picked up on AOL. It's amazing how many people pick up Quora articles.

You could also publish them on Medium and then you can build up a profile that way. So you don't really necessarily have to be a contributor to build up your kind of portfolio of work.

When you're going on Quora, it's worth learning and you can see the people that are getting picked up, see the format that they're using and you put a link in those and you put a link back to your website and they let you have that.

So I've gotten so many articles also published using Quora. Huge. I think it's kind of a secret that not many people talk about, but I'd like to share it with your listeners.

The other is, I know it's kind of an old thing, but Help A Reporter Out (HARO), you can get a lot of pickups from that. It's such a pain to keep up with it. Although if you outsource it to a freelancer that really speaks in your voice and at least let them run with it, you can get pickups that way.

Kathleen: Yeah, I get those HARO emails several times a day and they are gold mines and I have definitely gotten written up in some pretty big publications, but man, is it like drinking from the firehose?

So now we can't keep going without stopping for a minute and I got to ask you to go into a little bit more detail on this Quora stuff because you are actually the first person who's talked about this on my podcast and I am always a sucker for these new channels and new strategies.

So when you say you got to look at the way they format it, can you get detailed for a minute there and talk through that?

Brian: Yeah, you have to format it. It's coming from you, so it has to be I and pose yourself as the expert. Those are huge.

So right when the beginning you can say, look I've been doing this for 15 years. I've earned $50 million in revenue. Pose yourself as the expert and then organize it like a very good article.

Now, there's a limit. You never want to go over a thousand words. The sweet spot is about 800 words.

You want to give specifics, you want to organize it kind of with the headings on there and then they have kind of like internal blogs on Quora and you can submit it there as well.

So that's the secondary thing you should do. They kind of have industry specific blogs in core that you can post your stuff.

And then I just got to tell you, you'd be so surprised of how many editors and online publications are just monitoring Quora. It's so surprising, but go through some of these people that are contributing quite a bit and you can look in their profile and you can see what articles were picked up. They let you see it. And not only that Kathleen, I mean the traffic they can come from it is immense.

It is kind of a lot of people may answer a question and you may not get the top spot but sometimes you will and when you do it it's so worth it.

Yeah, go through there, find a question that you could answer, do your best. Have a freelancer help you with it and it's a great way to get those very elusive links without having to become a contributor.

Now, you're not going to get published every time, but I'd say for me it's been about 50% of the time.

Kathleen: Wow. Now, are you always creating original content for Quora or are you ever taking content you've published on your own website, for example, and repurposing it?

Brian: I like to do original content and what I'll also do is I'll edit the article a little bit and also post it on Medium and that seems to be the formula.

There's a few internet marketing firms, SEO firms that are kind of doing this under the radar and this is the ingredients to do so. Quora, then Medium, and then you also publish on your LinkedIn.

All right, that's another group I think. Connect with all the editors. It's a simple thing. Very few people turn people down on LinkedIn and then you post it on your LinkedIn and that's a good thing. Also post it on your Twitter and Facebook and boom, let it run from there.

Kathleen: Yeah, that's just so interesting. I'm going to have to test this out now because I have answered questions on Quora, but I've never really written them up like an article, so I'm curious to see what's going to happen if I try that. All right, what's the next step? We got our guest posts, we got our our back links, our press page. What comes next?

Brian: You're starting to build up an authority website and most people are not in that competitive industry like I am. So just a few of those links and you're going to be way ahead of your competitors. You put a little bit of work and then you hired some writers, maybe hired some PR people to distribute.

The next thing is working on your website and conversion rate optimization. I like building up reviews, that's my thing. I'm in the insurance industry and people stereotypically have a terrible reputation.

Using Online Reviews to Drive Conversions

Brian: I want to be the good guy in the industry. So I've always gone after reviews and the more I get the better.

I value a review that on my own website at about $100 a piece and once I get a good review on my website I give them that exact same comment and I ask them to put it on Google Business or the Better Business Bureau. Those are my two, sometimes Facebook. Same comment, just give it to them and overwhelmingly people will give me additional reviews.

Kathleen: Now you've mentioned about Better Business Bureau twice and I have to ask you, why the BBB? And I think I might know the answer, but I'm curious to see what you say.

Brian: Well people have done studies and I've actually done a study myself. I paid 1500 people to do a survey and I asked them what is the most credible source that you would go to? Which one has the most weight? And I did Yelp, then I did a Google Business, the Better Business Bureau, Facebook.

Better Business Bureau wins overwhelmingly. Not only that, it's inexpensive to get in. It's like $550 to get a membership, although they give you a seal. A beautiful seal on your website and that seal is one of the best seals you can get to increase conversion rates. So it's a double pop there.

And then if you can start getting reviews on the Better Business Bureau and an A plus rating, which you kind of get automatically at start, when people look your business up and overwhelmingly people will, they'll still look up your name followed by reviews or complaints.

I've done studies on this and they do do that and the Better Business Bureau comes up number one and two and they'll also display the stars. And usually that's the tipping point.

They'll read your website, they'll read your services, they'll look you up. And then boom, Better Business Bureau wonderful. I trust this company.

Kathleen: Yeah, it's interesting. There's been a lot of chatter in search engine optimization forums lately about whether Google is factoring in particularly Better Business Bureau reviews into its ranking algorithm. And I just read recently that they said they're not, but then there's all these SEOs who are saying, well, they might say that, but the data shows that they are. And so it's something that's been on my radar of, Oh, I kind of need to keep watching this because it's an interesting area that not a lot of companies focus, which if it is a ranking factor, it could be a major opportunity.

Brian: I don't want to speculate on that Kathleen. I do believe so. I know the Better Business Bureau gives a link back and I do believe that that link back is very valuable.

I'd be surprised if they didn't look at the ratings and I'd be surprised if they didn't look at the report, whether it's an A, B or C company and how many complaints. It'd be smart for them to do so. I

also have the beliefs that Google actually ranks websites higher on the website statistics of how many people come to your website and stay on your website and how many page views and whether they go back and do another search for another company.

Back in the day and Google I think it was called In The Plex, where they Google would measure what is a successful search? A successful search is when people type something into Google, go to a website and don't do another search. They found what they were looking for. And I've had pages on my website that I've had great statistics on into how many pages and time and those pages for me rank the best, they just do.

Kathleen: Yeah. I always like to say that Google's in the business of delivering the best answer the fastest and that's why page load times and quality of information, which you spoke to and that they measure quality of information, exactly by what you said, which is how many people bounce, how long do they spend on the page, that sort of thing.

Those are really key metrics for them because they're in a competitive business just like we are even though they're completely killing it, but that's the reason they're killing it, is that they look at that stuff.

Brian: I agree. I think in the past so many people were thinking about technical SEO and in this one bothers me to do technical SEO, although I think Google keeps moving away from it a little bit. They're looking more at those statistics and how it serves the user.

So I like to do a link profile and then the quality content that I want to answer the user's question, I want them to stay on my website. And the more I do that, the higher rank.

I'm ranking against big companies, MetLife and State Farm and then also companies that have been getting funding, getting $180 million in funding, one of my competitors got. The other one got $50 million and I'm able to compete with them.

So it's an even playing field on the internet and you could have a lot of fun if you put a little bit of work in it.

Kathleen: Yeah, and I think time and time again, the data shows and the results show that if you solve for the user, you get better results than if you try and solve for the search engine. Because search engines change their rules all the time.

You talked about testimonials. Do you have a process for getting testimonials because I know lots of companies like the idea of getting them, but then they freeze and sort of fall into paralysis at the thought of how they're going to get them.

Brian: I touched on them a little bit. I value a review that comes into my website at $100 and these are reviews that I control. If someone gives me a bad review, I can fix it. I can contact the customer or I can choose not to display it on my website.

I think that's something that everyone should do. I think so many people are scared to go out and ask them to review on my Google Business, to the Better Business Bureau because the fear of getting a bad review.

Now, I also want to say I value a review on the Better Business Bureau or Google or any of these third party websites at $250 a piece plus maybe $50 each additional year because they stay on there.

So I like to incentivize my team, my employees. I bonus them on the reviews that they get. I do believe that if you have a business that you focus on getting reviews, you're almost kind of like required to do a great ethical, honest and transparent business focused on customer service and I love that. So I like it when the more people that focus on reviews.

I let my customers ask for the reviews. I have an automated process, but it comes from my sales team. I use ActiveCampaign. After I've delivered the service, I send them an email on the fourth, the eighth, and the twelfth day, and I make it very easy in the email.

I have little stars, and if they click a star, they go to the review page. Alright? I have them enter in a comment. I like the stars and the comment, that way on my website I can include schema, or rich snippets, that show up in the search engines.

And if they give me a five star review, I give them that exact comment in another email from the agent, automated, Kathleen. And it has the exact link for them enter in the review. Don't send them to your main Better Business Bureau page or just do a Google search.

There's particular URLs that you can give so it gives them the pop-up right then and there, so they can put the star and the comment. Don't make people click around. The easier it is, the better.

And if you deliver great service, it invokes the theory of reciprocity and people want to help you. And especially if it comes from the person that helped them, and it's a personal thing, and they built a relationship, they're worth so much, Kathleen.

I have seen my conversion rates, and I have seen so many customers call me and say they chose me, they chose our company, because of all the great reviews.

Measuring ROI

Kathleen: Now, one thing that I find really interesting is that a couple of times now, you've referenced whether it's what a review is worth to you, or what an article or a backlink is worth to you. How important is it to your process, to understand the value of those things?

Brian: It's so important. I think it's hard to measure ROI on these things, right? There's a lot of studies. Let's say you get a few five star reviews on Yelp, it'll increase the reservations of a restaurant by 10%. Look at Amazon, people are just scurrying to get reviews for their products to increase their sales.

I like putting a value in there so people know the value of it. For me, look, if I'm getting a hundred dollars for each review, and 250 dollars for another review, I measure on the increased conversion rate, but I also know how much I can bonus my employees for it.

I'll run a special for my employees that equates to about 50 dollars per review that they get from their clients. Normally, it's 25 dollars. But it's a great bonus for my team, and I track it, and I let people know who's winning.

It's definitely an initiative and a main thing in my business. And if you know the value, I think that you can encourage your team to do so and make it more of an initiative for your company.

Kathleen: Yeah. I see, very often, companies that offer customers some sort of bonus, whether it's a gift card or what have you, for leaving a review. But I really like the approach of offering that to your employees. Because ultimately if your customer is giving the review and not getting paid, it certainly is more authentic.

You're going to probably get better reviews because they'll be from people who actually really care about your business, and it's great to have your team really invested.

Brian: Absolutely. Look, I've tried the incentives, and it's a tricky path. I'll offer the incentives for an honest review, but I'll only do it for the review on my own website. But yeah, you're exactly right. I found so much more value in bonusing my team, rather than incentivizing the customer.

I don't know the logic behind it, I think has to do a lot with the reciprocity principle. But yeah, boy, it's a great way to do it.

And also, you want to bonus your team so they have the focus of giving great customer service, and that's what builds the relationship, and it builds lifetime value to the customers, and it starts building and growing your business for the longterm.

Brian's Results

Kathleen: You've talked about so many different and really interesting ways that you've built up your website's authority, and that's really how you get the traffic to the site, and then building up your credibility through reviews and testimonials.

Can you talk a little bit about the results you've gotten from this? When did you start doing this for True Blue? How long did it take for you to start to see results in, and what do those results look like today in your very competitive industry?

Brian: Look, I've seen growth every year, right? I think a few years ago, I was doing a million dollars in revenue. Now I'm doing five, six million dollars in revenue, and it's very profitable. Every time it goes up.

Now one of the ways to keep it going up is increased conversion rates. Kathleen, my conversion rate compared to my competitor's is about 10 times more.

Kathleen: Wow.

Brian: A lot of my competitors are lead generators, and they'll just collect someone's name, email, and phone, to run an insurance quote and those leads aren't worth very much. They'll close maybe 7% of those.

In my business, I collect application requests. I let people run a quote, I give them all the information, I let them view all the reviews. Not only from the customers, but I have people review the actual insurance companies that they buy from.

They're able to do a lot of the research, similar to how they would do it on Amazon when picking a product. So when I get somebody apply, I'm closing about 25 to 30% of them.

Kathleen: You're talking about, now, lead to customer conversion?

Brian: Lead to customer, yes. Exactly. While my competitors are closing seven, I'm closing close to 30, which means I don't have to have that many salespeople. My competitors need to have four or five times more salespeople just to handle that volume.

I got happier employees, my employees love working for us. We're dealing with customers that want to buy from us, too. We're not chasing down customers. They're happy with us, and they've chosen us. So it's a great way to do business.

Kathleen: Now, you've got this really high lead to customer conversion rate, and it sounds like a good part of what's contributing to that is the way you've built out your site and the fact that you've really turned it into a resource center for them to do their research, and you're keeping them on your site while they're doing it which is always a great thing.

How much of that conversion rate is being influenced by any sort of automated lead nurturing you're doing, and how much is being influenced by direct sales with your team?

Brian: It's a little cyclical in my company. Sometimes they have insurance products that are agent-less. Those are great, Kathleen. People go online and they'll do it. It's an easy sale. You don't really have to pay commissions to anybody, you get them all.

Most of the leads that come in, I have one of my sales team collect all the information, just because there's private information that we collect; social security number, and drivers license, and health histories, certain things we don't really want to ask online.

As far as nurturing, yeah, look, we're asking for a lot of personal information for insurance so we let people save their quotes. We'll have them enter their email but not their phone.

We want to be the good guys, and we'll send them a series of emails. We have a series of emails that goes out to everybody, even the people that applied that we couldn't contact. The more emails, the better. The more honest they are, the better. The more personable they are, the better.

I like to assign an agent to somebody, I like to give them a picture of the agent. I like to give them the agent's LinkedIn profile. I like to let them see all the reviews that that agent has gotten, and I'll also include links to the Better Business Bureau and Google.

But yeah, you have to have an automated system to chase down those customers. I'm constantly surprised at how many people respond to the tenth email or the eighth call.

Kathleen: Yeah, persistence pays off, as long as it's done in a way that's not really annoying. Well, fascinating. And you've actually written about a lot of what you're talking about now in your book, correct?

The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell

Brian: Absolutely. I've leveraged the book to do a lot of marketing for my businesses. My goal necessarily wasn't to make a lot of money selling the book. I just wanted to give out the information. I've been very generous and liberal in giving out all the secrets. I don't want people to say, "Oh, he was too general." So I've given away as much as I can.

I want to give your listeners a free copy of the audiobook, my website brianjgreenberg.com/inboundsuccess.

Kathleen: Awesome.

Brian: For anybody that wants to go in there, download the book, I hope they find value from it.

Kathleen: Well, I'll download it because I love audiobooks. I listen to everything on Audible at 2x speeds. I'll hear what you sound like talking very fast.

The book is The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell. So if anybody is really curious about an actionable way to do some of what Brian's doing, that's a great thing to check out, and I will put the link that you just mentioned in the show notes.

Get your free audio copy of "The Salesman Who Doesn't Sell" at brianjgreenberg.com/inboundsuccess

Kathleen's Two Questions

Kathleen: Before we wrap up, I've got two questions for you that I always ask everyone I interview. And I'm interested to hear what you have to say as somebody who's come from an insurance background, even though it sounds like you're a better marketer than a lot of marketers.

The first one is, a company or individual, who do you think is doing, in non-marketing, really well right now?

Brian: In my business, there's a company called NerdWallet, and they started doing commercials right now. They're giving away such customer-friendly content. I love it when people give tables, and graphs, and they give recommendations. And they've been doing such a good job with it and building up so much of a link profile, and they get picked up so often from great publications, and they're ranking so well. It's almost bothersome to me. They've got a great team of content writers, and I have a lot of respect for them.

Kathleen: So check out NerdWallet if you want to see a really good example.

And then the next question is ... And this one's going to be really interesting, for me at least. The thing that I've observed is that the world of digital marketing just changes so fast. As soon as you figure out how to do SEO, the rules of the game change, et cetera. And I'm in marketing, so it's my job to be on top of it all day every day, and I still find it challenging.

So for a guy whose business is not in marketing, although you certainly have mastered it, how do you make sure that you stay up to date and on top of all the latest thinking in the world of digital marketing?

Brian: Good question. I watch Barry Schwartz's weekly video recaps on Fridays. I think he does a great job. I like seeing everything that's coming out, and I get most of my news that way, Kathleen. What I like to do is, I like to do everything per Google's guidelines and do everything on the up and up. That way, every time Google comes out with an algorithm update ... knock on wood ... The majority of time, I'll see my website go up.

I don't want the stress of having these Google updates and having myself be penalized. I don't want it. So I play the longterm game, and I think as long as you're doing everything that real companies do, real company stuff, you're going to be alright. I don't follow too many people, I'm not on everything all the time. But I like to do a general swipe of it, and I get most of it from Barry Schwartz.

Kathleen: Yeah. I follow Barry Schwartz as well, and he is with, if I'm remembering correctly ... Is it Search Engine Roundtable?

Brian: Yeah, Search Engine Roundtable.

Kathleen: He has a phenomenal email newsletter, and I definitely follow him on Twitter. Because if you want the breaking SEO news, that guy manages to somehow be everywhere at once, and he knows everything that's going on with Google, at least it feels like.

Brian: Yeah, he knows everybody there.

Kathleen: He does, he does. He also posts some really cool pictures of different Google offices around the world, which I always think are fun to see.

Brian: I think Moz's Whiteboard Friday is really good. I've kind of stopped watching those since Rand left, a little bit.

Kathleen: I know. But do you follow him at his new website, SparkToro?

Brian: I do. Yeah, he has some great posts. I definitely am on his newsletter, and I don't miss those. He's such an honest guy.

Kathleen: Oh, he is.

Brian: Such inside info.

Kathleen: He's writing some of the best thought leadership on no-click searches right now, or what he likes to call usurp SEO. It's so good.

Brian: Interesting.

Kathleen: I could geek-out over this for hours, but we must wrap up.

How to Reach Brian

Kathleen: So if someone wants to talk to you, learn more about what you've done, you've shared the URL. I'm going to ask you to say it again, and then any other information you want to share about the best way for people to find you online.

Brian: Sure, brianjgreenberg.com/inboundsuccess and my main website, truebluelifeinsurance.com. You can see what we're doing over there and how we're leveraging the reviews and putting people in the sales funnel.

Kathleen: Thank you, that's great, and this has been a lot of fun. I've definitely learned a few new things that I'm going to try out, including Quora for sure. I appreciate it, Brian.

Kathleen: If you're listening, and you found this valuable, you know what to do. Please leave the podcast a review on Apple Podcasts or the platform of your choice. And as always, if you know someone else doing kick-ass inbound marketing work, Tweet me @workmommywork, because I would love to interview them. That's it for this week. Thanks, Brian.

Brian: Thank you.

Want to stay updated when the podcast is released?

Drop us your name and email address below and we’ll send you the show notes every Monday!  

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/inbound-marketing-results-competitive-industry-brian-greenberg

[marketingmbacasestudyhelp-blog]

Dedicated Message Administrators - While IT has total access to SnapComms

Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis contact

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

 Business Communication

 Case Studies

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Do you believe that communication skills are an important part of your relationships and that good relationships are significant for a happy life? However, you’re not sure where to start to improve your communication? Improvement of communication skill is

necessary for better relationships at home and work It can be so frustrating when you struggle to get what you want to say across to someone important. And equally distressing when you know you battle to be in your best state to listen and be open to hear what they have to say. This series of courses will take you on a journey to put the building blocks in place for a strong foundation for effective communication, and develop your skills that are needed for relating to others to build relationships. For the past ten years I – and my clients – have been applying this communication model and enjoying more freedom to express ourselves, and noticed how our empathy and compassion have grown as we become more understanding, more understood and able to handle the complexities of interpersonal communication. Imagine being able to pick up where the mis-communication is happening, make the necessary adjustments that are within your control, and get your message across more often while also understanding others more easily. Would that be useful? Would that improve your relationships? By unpacking the complexity of communication we can simplify it, and then you’ll know how to develop your communication skills.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. Why training on communication skills is necessary? Explain in detail.

 Q2. Give your views on the case.

 CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Some experts believe that over 90% of communication is non-verbal. It’s important because very few people can consciously manipulate their non-verbal cues. We’ve all had that feeling that something isn’t all it seems to be when interviewing someone or chatting with colleagues. That’s because non verbal cues either support or contradict spoken messages. Even the pace or style of speech contributes to the non-verbal equation. It’s more than just body language. More than voice or even words, nonverbal communication cues you in to what is on another person’s mind. Nonverbal communication ranges from facial expression to body language. Gestures, signs, use of space and pace or information delivery. Here are several tips for improving your reading of nonverbal information. No matter your position at work, improving your skill in interpreting nonverbal communication will add to your ability to share meaning with another person. Correct interpretation of nonverbal communication will add depth to your ability to communicate. •Recognize that people communicate on many levels. Watch their facial expressions, eye contact, posture, hand and feet movements, body movement and placement, and appearance and passage as they walk toward you. Every gesture is communicating something if you listen with your eyes. Become accustomed to watching nonverbal communication and your ability to read nonverbal communication will grow with practice. •If a person’s words say one thing and their nonverbal communication says another, you should listen to the nonverbal communication – and that is usually the correct decision. •Assess job candidates based on their nonverbal communication. You can read volumes from how the applicant sits in the lobby. The nonverbal communication during an interview should also elucidate the candidate’s skills, strengths, weaknesses, and concerns for you. •Probe nonverbal communication during an investigation or other situation in which you need facts and believable statements. Again, the nonverbal may reveal more than the person’s spoken words. •When leading a meeting or speaking to a group, recognize that nonverbal cues can tell you: –when you’ve talked long enough, –when someone else wants to speak,

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. “Nonverbal communication is the single most powerful form of communication” Justify your answer.

 Q2. Discuss the tips for Understanding Nonverbal Communication

 CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Dedicated Message Administrators - While IT has total access to SnapComms and can communicate with staff in both hospitals and issue emergency or back-up communications, they have also set up different administrators with varying levels of authority that can create and send desktop messages for PCs located in their own department or hospital. Message targeting based on Active Directory settings - The QHN team have created groups in the SnapComms database using Active Directory in order to expedite the communication of emergency events and administrative updates. Technical Services’ approach has been to empower the different administration and clinical areas of the hospital and provide them with training, reports and templates and give them access to use SnapComms as they saw fit. Ghasemi explains, “We provide a tool for them and how they use it and what they use it for is based on their need.” SnapComms messages now preferred over e-mail - SnapComms messages are preferred by Queens Health Network staff over emails. Ghasemi says that, “Especially the administration thinks it is an effective way of communicating with the rest of the population.” No surprises - Ghasemi is pragmatic when considering the benefits of using SnapComms in an Hospital environment. He says, “It hasn’t surprised us in a bad way. I expected this tool to be very effective and it is.” Speed and targeting of hospital communications- The ability to target messages to certain groups of staff or clinical applications has had significant advantages and when a system goes down unexpectedly time is of the essence. “One of the major benefits of this system is real-time.” Ghasemi says that, “You have a lot of control over when, who and how to send these messages to.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. What are the Key Features of SnapComms that Benefit QHN? Discuss.

 Q2. . Give an overview of the case.

 CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Several years ago, Brittany Brown completed a major undertaking. As a young, ambitious public-affairs professional, she took it upon herself in 2008 to learn how to develop a strategic communications plan for her employer, the Norfolk, Va., district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “It was all on-the-job training, ” says Brown, now 29. “I was learning as I was going.” Though happy with the results, Brown knew she needed further instruction to take her business writing skills to the next level. So she enrolled in a strategic communications class in 2010 at Georgetown University’s Center for Continuing and Professional Education (202-687- 7000). “That course really solidified some of the things I had learned and helped to strengthen my skills, ” she says. “And it impacted my career in a positive manner for sure.” She now works on the marketing, branding and communications team at NPR, and she’s back at Georgetown teaching writing for social media. In today’s era of hash tag-heavy tweets, abbreviation-filled texts and quickly dashed-off emails, you might not think it matters if your written communications have lots of typos and no punctuation. But in the business world, good writing still counts. The way you come across on paper or on the computer screen can impact everything from landing a job to securing a promotion. “We all make assumptions, ” says Anna Mauldin, product manager in the leadership and development division at Management Concepts (888-545-8577), which offers courses on business writing, grammar and other topics at its downtown D.C. and Tysons Corner locations. “Poor writing could lead people to believe that you don’t have attention to detail or to question your competence or ability to do a job.” It can also hold you back in your career. “You can make it to a certain level without having great communication skills, ” says David Lipscomb, interim director of Georgetown’s Writing Center and assistant professor of teaching at Georgetown, who taught the course Brown took. “But you certainly cannot make it to top management without being a good communicator.” If you get tripped up by things like using the passive voice or organizing your ideas, there are lots of writing courses out there that can help. They range from daylong sessions to longer certificate programs offered via open enrollment. You can also find custom classes for specific workplaces. (See sidebar for some examples.) In them, students might cover how to use a comma, how to structure a report or how to write concisely.

 Answer the following question.

 Q1. How the Business communication, report writing skills can be enhanced? Give your comments.

 Q2. Give an overview of the case.

 Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis contact

aravind.banakar@gmail.com

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ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

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[benfchristie2]

How to Use Workplace Email Most Effectively

**Sets alarm for 6am, checks email, goes to bed**

**Wakes up to sound of alarm, turns off alarm, checks email**

Does this routine sound familiar? I can't be the only one that is nearly attached at the hip to my phone, checking email constantly. For over a decade now, email has been only of the top forms of communication for businesses.

Of course, as time and the workplace itself evolves, there's an increasing amount of internal communication options. There are apps like Slack, for example, and many people still prefer the good, old-fashioned method of having a conversation in person. But as these methods for interacting grow in number, it also becomes a bit trickier to remember the right "etiquette" for all of them.

But email hasn't exactly become a thing of the past -- yet -- it's just that many of us have forgotten the right way to use it, at least in the workplace. That's why it's as important as ever to make good, effective use of it, which means maintaining some basic do's and don'ts.

As you'll see from the list below, effective email communication means that it needs to be both relevant and appropriate, depending on its subject and importance. Read on to see the full list.

How to Use Workplace Email Most Effectively

The Do's

1) Personalize.

No matter whether it's an internal email to your best friend/co-worker, or a message full ofimportant information to a client, you should always get in the habit of addressing that person appropriately. A good rule of thumb is to address this person as you would in conversation, whether by first name or more formally.

2) Adapt.

By that, I mean: Know your recipient. Study any past emails this person has sent, recognize her tone or writing style, and adapt to that. If her emails are historically short and straight to the point, it might just mean that she's extremely busy. In that case, try and be concise in your response emails.

3) Always check before clicking "send."

This point might be the ultimate do when emailing. One of the worst feelings is clicking "send," only to realize that you missed something, didn't attach a document, or misspelled something (and hey -- we've all been there). Pro tip: To avoid these mishaps, don't put the email address in the "to" line until you've had a chance to double-check the message.

4) Keep messages short.

There's no point in fluffing an email with extraneous details -- rather, get straight to the point. An email that could double as a novella is not time-effective for the both sender or recipient. We'll leave it at that.

5) Keep your inbox clean.

We know you're out there -- the folks with unopened emails that number in the triple digits (or worse). When I imagine a horror movie that's set in a work environment, the vision of hundreds of unopened emails makes me want to sink into the couch and cover my eyes with a blanket. Clean your inbox, break up folders for different clients, and work toward diminishing the stress that can result from seeing big numbers next to your inbox button.

6) Check your email on your time.

In other words: Don't get caught in the trap o checking your email every few minutes. One of the biggest momentum killers is getting in the habit of checking your email frequently, pausing what you're working on, and having to reset your focus.

At Revenue River Marketing, we aim to check our email a total of 3-4 times each day, unless it's necessary to spend more time on it because of something urgent. That practice helps us stay engaged with content creation and client deliverables.

7) Remember that some things are better kept to yourself.

Oh, you just got back from your buddy's bachelor party in Las Vegas? Oh, you want to email me and recount the details of it that should probably never surface more than once in your life?

Stop right there. Receiving emails that fit this discription through your workplace email address is not a good idea.

That's not to say that your employer is monitoring your emails -- although, some might have the right to do so -- and maybe you work for a company that wouldn't necessary frown upon a rambunctious trip to Las Vegas. But here's a place where common sense is best practiced -- some experiences are better left remembered via personal email.

8) Use Zoom and Slack as alternatives.

Across the board, many companies are implementing video conferencing tools like Zoom, for a number of reasons. Not only do they support a global workforce, but also, it provides an alternative to email that can help clarify important connotations that are sometimes lost over email.

Instant messaging apps like Slack, too, are also growing in popularity -- not only can they help you get quicker answers from your colleagues, but also, it helps to isolate email as a more formal method of communication.

That said, it's easy for instant messaging conversations to stray from work topics -- but we're all human, and sometimes, that means sending your colleague the occasional funny GIF image. But, it still helps to reduce email clutter by sending an informal note that doesn't need to be communicated over email.

The Don'ts

1) Abbrv8 -- I mean, abbreviate.

Although we aren't ranking these tips, this one is might top the list of don'ts. Remember, no matter how laid back your workplace might be, it's still a professional setting. You might not want to get into the habit of signing emails with things like, thx, lol, or c u @ wrk l8r, only to mindlessly send an email to a client with similar vernamular. Here's a helpful resource to make sure abbreviations NEVER happen: The Slang Translator

2) !!!!!!!!!

Ahyes, another one that gives me chills every time I see it: the exclamation point. Because I am a visual person, I see the overuse of exclamation points -- or the dreaded caps lock email -- as yelling. Other people might, too. If used excessively, the exclamation point can give false expectations and look unprofessional. There is a right time for an exclamation point, but before you think about holding your fingers down on the Shift 1 keys, think about the context in which your email may be received.

3) :) or :(

This may just be me, but does anyone else get a little cringe when you see a smiley/sad face in an email? In a professional setting, much like abbreviating, it gives off the vibe of being a bittoolaid back. Keep it professional, and leave out the emoticons.

4) Send the one-word okay or thanks response.

Not to counter the point above, but while keeping messages short is ideal -- sending the dreaded, non-descriptive one-word email is not. Sometimes, people need a detailed answer. Something like content that's ready for edits, for example, can't be answered with a simple okay, so give the sender the courtesy of the answer or closure they need.

5) Use the reply-all button at will.

There comes a time in every marketer's life at which she realizes that the reply-all is rarely necessary. If you haven't learned that lesson yet, allow this post serve as it.

Replying-all to the email includes multiple people who likely don't need to be looped in on every single response in the chain. Reply only to the people who need to see your response -- their inboxes will thank you.

6) Email if you're burnt out.

It's 11:30 a.m. -- almost lunch time -- and you can practically hear your stomach yelling your name for food. Or, better yet, you just surfaced from your computer screen after writing several blog posts in a row, and your eyes are all but glazed over. But then you remember that you need to send a work email; one that requires serious thought, and wonder, "Should I just get this over with now?"

No.

Take a deep breath, stand up, take a lap, and get some water. There are so many instances where an important email should wait -- based on your current level of patience or stress. After you take a break, determine if you feel level-headed enough to send a clear and thought-out email.

Let's face it: We've all broken at least one of these rules. But next time you find yourself tempted to repeat it, take a step back from the keyboard -- and think about this list.

[jasonmkemp4]

How to Use Workplace Email Most Effectively

**Sets alarm for 6am, checks email, goes to bed**

**Wakes up to sound of alarm, turns off alarm, checks email**

Does this routine sound familiar? I can't be the only one that is nearly attached at the hip to my phone, checking email constantly. For over a decade now, email has been only of the top forms of communication for businesses.

Of course, as time and the workplace itself evolves, there's an increasing amount of internal communication options. There are apps like Slack, for example, and many people still prefer the good, old-fashioned method of having a conversation in person. But as these methods for interacting grow in number, it also becomes a bit trickier to remember the right "etiquette" for all of them.

But email hasn't exactly become a thing of the past -- yet -- it's just that many of us have forgotten the right way to use it, at least in the workplace. That's why it's as important as ever to make good, effective use of it, which means maintaining some basic do's and don'ts.

As you'll see from the list below, effective email communication means that it needs to be both relevant and appropriate, depending on its subject and importance. Read on to see the full list.

How to Use Workplace Email Most Effectively

The Do's

1) Personalize.

No matter whether it's an internal email to your best friend/co-worker, or a message full ofimportant information to a client, you should always get in the habit of addressing that person appropriately. A good rule of thumb is to address this person as you would in conversation, whether by first name or more formally.

2) Adapt.

By that, I mean: Know your recipient. Study any past emails this person has sent, recognize her tone or writing style, and adapt to that. If her emails are historically short and straight to the point, it might just mean that she's extremely busy. In that case, try and be concise in your response emails.

3) Always check before clicking "send."

This point might be the ultimate do when emailing. One of the worst feelings is clicking "send," only to realize that you missed something, didn't attach a document, or misspelled something (and hey -- we've all been there). Pro tip: To avoid these mishaps, don't put the email address in the "to" line until you've had a chance to double-check the message.

4) Keep messages short.

There's no point in fluffing an email with extraneous details -- rather, get straight to the point. An email that could double as a novella is not time-effective for the both sender or recipient. We'll leave it at that.

5) Keep your inbox clean.

We know you're out there -- the folks with unopened emails that number in the triple digits (or worse). When I imagine a horror movie that's set in a work environment, the vision of hundreds of unopened emails makes me want to sink into the couch and cover my eyes with a blanket. Clean your inbox, break up folders for different clients, and work toward diminishing the stress that can result from seeing big numbers next to your inbox button.

6) Check your email on your time.

In other words: Don't get caught in the trap o checking your email every few minutes. One of the biggest momentum killers is getting in the habit of checking your email frequently, pausing what you're working on, and having to reset your focus.

At Revenue River Marketing, we aim to check our email a total of 3-4 times each day, unless it's necessary to spend more time on it because of something urgent. That practice helps us stay engaged with content creation and client deliverables.

7) Remember that some things are better kept to yourself.

Oh, you just got back from your buddy's bachelor party in Las Vegas? Oh, you want to email me and recount the details of it that should probably never surface more than once in your life?

Stop right there. Receiving emails that fit this discription through your workplace email address is not a good idea.

That's not to say that your employer is monitoring your emails -- although, some might have the right to do so -- and maybe you work for a company that wouldn't necessary frown upon a rambunctious trip to Las Vegas. But here's a place where common sense is best practiced -- some experiences are better left remembered via personal email.

8) Use Zoom and Slack as alternatives.

Across the board, many companies are implementing video conferencing tools like Zoom, for a number of reasons. Not only do they support a global workforce, but also, it provides an alternative to email that can help clarify important connotations that are sometimes lost over email.

Instant messaging apps like Slack, too, are also growing in popularity -- not only can they help you get quicker answers from your colleagues, but also, it helps to isolate email as a more formal method of communication.

That said, it's easy for instant messaging conversations to stray from work topics -- but we're all human, and sometimes, that means sending your colleague the occasional funny GIF image. But, it still helps to reduce email clutter by sending an informal note that doesn't need to be communicated over email.

The Don'ts

1) Abbrv8 -- I mean, abbreviate.

Although we aren't ranking these tips, this one is might top the list of don'ts. Remember, no matter how laid back your workplace might be, it's still a professional setting. You might not want to get into the habit of signing emails with things like, thx, lol, or c u @ wrk l8r, only to mindlessly send an email to a client with similar vernamular. Here's a helpful resource to make sure abbreviations NEVER happen: The Slang Translator

2) !!!!!!!!!

Ahyes, another one that gives me chills every time I see it: the exclamation point. Because I am a visual person, I see the overuse of exclamation points -- or the dreaded caps lock email -- as yelling. Other people might, too. If used excessively, the exclamation point can give false expectations and look unprofessional. There is a right time for an exclamation point, but before you think about holding your fingers down on the Shift 1 keys, think about the context in which your email may be received.

3) :) or :(

This may just be me, but does anyone else get a little cringe when you see a smiley/sad face in an email? In a professional setting, much like abbreviating, it gives off the vibe of being a bittoolaid back. Keep it professional, and leave out the emoticons.

4) Send the one-word okay or thanks response.

Not to counter the point above, but while keeping messages short is ideal -- sending the dreaded, non-descriptive one-word email is not. Sometimes, people need a detailed answer. Something like content that's ready for edits, for example, can't be answered with a simple okay, so give the sender the courtesy of the answer or closure they need.

5) Use the reply-all button at will.

There comes a time in every marketer's life at which she realizes that the reply-all is rarely necessary. If you haven't learned that lesson yet, allow this post serve as it.

Replying-all to the email includes multiple people who likely don't need to be looped in on every single response in the chain. Reply only to the people who need to see your response -- their inboxes will thank you.

6) Email if you're burnt out.

It's 11:30 a.m. -- almost lunch time -- and you can practically hear your stomach yelling your name for food. Or, better yet, you just surfaced from your computer screen after writing several blog posts in a row, and your eyes are all but glazed over. But then you remember that you need to send a work email; one that requires serious thought, and wonder, "Should I just get this over with now?"

No.

Take a deep breath, stand up, take a lap, and get some water. There are so many instances where an important email should wait -- based on your current level of patience or stress. After you take a break, determine if you feel level-headed enough to send a clear and thought-out email.

Let's face it: We've all broken at least one of these rules. But next time you find yourself tempted to repeat it, take a step back from the keyboard -- and think about this list.

[jimmycrowlikeswebsites]

New Post has been published on https://jimmycrow.com/create-better-keywords-for-your-wordpress-content/

Create Better Keywords for Your WordPress Content

Re-post from the  blog

Creating good content is the most important step to finding an audience, but knowing how to target those users comes very close. Without the right keywords, your WordPress content might never find its intended audience, and all your efforts could go to waste.

In this article, we’re going to talk about why you may need to create better keywords, and then we’ll guide you through three simple steps to help refine your strategy. Let’s dive in!

Why You May Need to Create Better Keywords

If you’ve been running your site for a while, chances are you’re already familiar with the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You probably have a good internal linking strategy, solid meta descriptions, and a decent keyword strategy too. However, it’s easy to become complacent when it comes to your choice of keywords, which can lead to a stagnation in your organic traffic.

Let’s discuss complacency. This means choosing keywords at random, or opting for more flexible keywords than useful ones. These are small oversights that can impact your long term search engine results, so you need to be on top of them. If you’re not aware of what good keywords can do for you, let’s break it down quickly:

They can increase your organic traffic. You can always pay for clicks and views, but search engine traffic (also called organic) is the holy grail of sources. Simply produce good content with solid keywords, and wait for the results to come in.

You can use them to find untapped sources of visitors. The right keywords can enable you to tap into overlooked niches, giving you an advantage.

Make your content sound more natural. Ideally, you want your keywords to fade into the background of your content. If you take every chance you have to stuff them in, the quality of your articles will suffer.

Let’s take a minute to step back and go over an example of what constitutes a suboptimal keyword strategy. Imagine that you’re part of the Elegant Themes team and you’re trying to come up with a good keyword for a theme roundup. A bad example, in this case, would be something such as top wp themes – not only does the term have a low search volume (between 1–10,000) but it’s also confusing thanks to the abbreviation. A better – but tougher to break into – alternative would be top wordpress themes, or premium wordpress themes if you want to be more specific.

To put it another way – even slight changes in your keyword strategy can have a huge impact. That’s why it pays to choose yours methodically.

How to Create Better Keywords for Your WordPress Content (In 3 Steps)

In this section, we’ll walk you through three simple steps to fine-tune your keyword strategy. We’ll keep things simple and explain why each step is necessary. Let’s get to work!

Step #1: Research Your Options Thoroughly

Google’s Keyword Planner is a simple tool that can aid you in your research.

The first phase of a good keyword strategy is not to pick the terms you use randomly. If you have a strong eye for keywords, you might land upon a winner from time to time. However, you’ll also waste valuable time and effort along the way. A basic strategy, in this case, would be to look into the most popular keywords for your niche and take things from there.

This approach involves a bit of work, but you should start seeing results soon enough. If you pick your keywords based on hard data, rather than hunches, traffic will start to trickle in as your site accrues more authority. The process can – and often is – slow, but it works.

If you’re not sure how to approach your investigation, here’s a simple list of steps to follow:

Use a keyword research tool such as Google’s Keyword Planner to identify top search queries in your niche.

Make a list of the keywords you think are a good fit for your site.

Search for each keyword in your list and analyze the top results.

Take note of the approaches your competitors are using and the articles you could compete with by making your content longer and better.

This last step describes what is commonly known as the ‘Skyscraper Technique’. This simply means you take a piece of content and create a better alternative. Your goal at this step is to single out those keywords with content you’re confident you can beat. Put them on a final list, and work your way through in any order you see fit.

Step #2: Add Both Short and Long-Tail Keywords to Your List

  If your keyword is made up of three or more words, it’s on the long end.

So far, we haven’t talked about the difference between short and long-tail keywords. The former refers to terms that are made up of one or two words, such as WordPress themes. Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, use three words at a minimum and are often quite long, such as best free WordPress themes.

Technically, you can use any type of keyword you want for your content. Practically, it’s often harder to rank for shorter keywords since they tend to be more competitive. If you’re an Elegant Themes regular, you know we often recommend long-tail keywords. Not only are they easier to rank for, but they’re more important than ever these days due to the rise in mobile traffic.

For the best possible results, you’ll want to devise a strategy that involves both individual and long-tail keywords. You can then cover all your bases, and as your site gains more authority, you should start seeing better results from your individual keywords. Let’s go over a few simple steps for making this happen, starting with the list you put together earlier:

Divide your list of potential keywords into short and long-tail options.

Use Google’s Keyword Planner to search for each of your short keywords, and look for long-tail variations with decent volumes as replacements.

Replace any short keywords you think would be too difficult to rank for, but leave some of them on your list.

As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to make sure most of the keywords in your list are three words and more.

At this stage, your list of keywords may be getting a bit complicated. If you have too many options, the smart move is to use Google’s Keyword Planner to find out their search volume and rank them from the easiest to the most difficult. You can work your way through it in order, and put together a new list when necessary.

Step #3: Revisit Your Research Periodically

  Moz’s Keyword Explorer is another great tool that can help you create better keywords for your site.

After the last two steps, you should have quite an extensive list of keywords to work with. That’s good news, but you still should take some time every couple of months to research new options, even if you still have some keywords to go.

The reason is simple – the way people interact with search engines changes over time. Keywords evolve, and the options you might have previously discarded due to a lack of competitiveness may suddenly look much more appealing. Take WordPress, for example – if you wanted to do an article concerning Christmas-related plugins in March, you’d probably strike out due to a lack of an audience. Write the same post in November or December, and you’re in business.

That, of course, is an exaggerated example, but it gets the point across. The good news is you don’t need to throw all your previous research out the window. Here’s how you should approach this task:

Look for variations in search volumes for all of the keywords in your list that you still haven’t covered.

Strike out any terms you feel don’t have enough volume anymore.

Re-arrange your remaining keywords according to search volume.

Look for other related terms that you haven’t covered yet.

For this last point, simply revisit the steps we covered during section number one. The only difference is, your website should be in a better position to compete this time around. That means you might be able to target more difficult terms, but your mileage may vary.

Conclusion

Keyword research may not be as fun as creating content, but it’s important nonetheless. Targeting the right terms can get you more traffic, as long as you do your research.

Let’s recap the three steps to creating better keywords for your WordPress content:

Research your options thoroughly.

Add short and long-term keyword variations to your list.

Revisit your research periodically.

[itsworn]

Eleven (More) Ways to Increase Your Social Media Following

Scenario: You have a race car hot rod, or dragster that you are proud of.  You’ve worked on it for years, burning the midnight oil with knuckle-busting effort.   Now you want to show this amazing vehicle to the world!  You’ve taken dozens of pictures of it – in the garage, at the track, on the hauler, at car shows, and in the winner’s circle.  You pick up your phone and you post stunning, breath-taking pics all over Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc.  And then you wait…the likes should come pouring in.  Any minute now…you’ll get a bunch of comments in just a sec…waiting patiently.  Five days later, you have 8 Likes and 1 comment.  What happened?  Did the rest of the world not recognize this car’s greatness?  Did your pictures have bad lighting?  Don’t fret – there is a solution; what you need is MORE followers.  Here are 11 ways to build your social media fan base:

You must give love to get love. You are building your brand and the best brands have loyal, loving followings – see Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Chipotle.  More followers equal more sponsors, merchandise sales, web site visits, and more.  The best way to get followers is to follow.  I don’t mean your friends but you need to follow your friends’ friends, other people in your industry, competitors, companies and anyone else you can think of.  Not sure who to follow?  All social media sites usually provide suggestions of people to follow who have similar interest as yours.

Engage with your current followers (in a positive way). My mother used to say if you have something nice to say, please share it and if don’t have something nice to say – keep your gd mouth shut (author’s note: she did not use the abbreviation “gd”).  Engaging goes above and beyond hitting the “like” or “heart” button.  If you see an amazing photo or video, take the time to write a nice comment about it.  Whenever the Circle Track editors see a pic with a race car up on an open trailer, they always comment on it.  We love open trailers because they show off a racer’s hard work and it gets people interested in the sport.  Watch an open-trailered race car be hauled by a school bus or a van full of kids – you’ll see a lot of smiling young faces and wide eyes.  Comments get noticed by people who don’t follow you.  It doesn’t have to be an in-depth comment on the beauty of a California sunset pic.  Keep it simple: “Cool pic, brah!” has done wonders my social media page.  If someone pays you a compliment on one of your posts, acknowledge it.  If someone says something negative in the comments section, ignore it.  It will be forgotten within a few days.  There is a temptation to remove negative comments, but you don’t want to be North Korea and police every last word that some troll writes on your page.  Just let it slide off your back and keep posting.  As the great poet Eminem once said, “there is no such thing as bad publicity.”

Use different posts for different social media outlets. I use different pics for Instagram than I do for Facebook.  I write different posts for Twitter than I would write on Facebook.  This one is controversial because many people use apps to spread one pic or post across many social media outlets.  Yes, it is easier but it also bores your audience.  Recognize the strong suit of each social media outlet – if it’s a quick, short-worded post: go with Twitter.  If it’s a stellar photo, use Instagram.  If it’s a video or long-form blog, use Facebook.  If you are targeting a younger audience, use Snapchat.  Don’t ignore any of the social media outlets because you don’t like using it.  Your followers may have different preferences than you.  If you don’t know how to use Twitter or Snapchat, ask a friend or relative.  No shame in your game for asking how to use technology.  90% of my social media knowledge comes from my kids.  In addition, don’t put all of your eggs into one (social media) basket.  As Alex Striler of Lucas Oil states, “Twenty years ago, AOL dominated email and Netscape was our primary web browser.  Ten years ago, Myspace was the unchallenged leader in the online community.  Today, none of those companies are relevant…….if you’re focusing all of your efforts on only one social media platform today, beware that-like most of the others-it may be gone tomorrow.”

 Use Facebook Live video or Instagram/Snapchat’s “story” features. Scroll through Facebook on your phone and you will notice that most posts are video-related.  This is not by accident.  Facebook knows that video gets more interaction than static posts or pics.  Videos are sticky meaning that people will spend 1 minute to 10 minutes watching a video.  Posts about your politic leanings or pictures of your dinner do not result in a 10-minute viewing.  Here are a few helpful hints:

Become familiar with Facebook Live and the “story” features of IG and Snapchat. This was tough for me too.  Like most people, I am not comfortable on camera.  But practice makes perfect and live videos usually results in more followers.  A few tips for Facebook Live –

Have a good internet or wifi connection. You don’t want your video to freeze or drop in the middle of it. Have good lighting too and avoid background noise.

Keep it short and have an outline of your talking points. Videos between :30 seconds and 9 minutes usually get the most views, likes, and shares.  Before you go live, think about your main ideas, the camera angles, and what you want the viewer to learn or see.  For beginners, you may want to rehearse it and then do it again with a live take.

The opening shot of the video should be of the product that you are promoting, not yourself. When we are doing a shock installation, the first shot will be of the shock or racecar.  If you are at a race, start with racetrack and then you can pan the camera to your face.  If you are at a car show, find a good vantage point that encompasses a bunch of hot rods.

Post frequently and make it fun. Don’t force yourself to post everyday.  Be timely with your posts (social media site metrics tell us that after lunch and in the evening are the best times to post).  There is a maxim out there that says “the best way to get followers is to post everyday.” In my experience, this leads to a lot of boring posts.  But you should post frequently, especially if you are doing something exciting.  Try different camera angles.  Use filters or black-and-white to make your photos stand out from the crowd.  Also, don’t be afraid to show your epic fails.  Did you engine blow up in mid-race?  Show it and own it. Did you get in a fender-bender on the way to a car show?  Post it and make light of it.  People relate to drama and struggles because we all have them in our everyday lives.  It’s ok to post both the highlights and lowlights.

Be original and relevant with your content. Try to post things that most people don’t see every day.  Finding something unique is the best way to have your post spread virally (without your direct effort).  Your posts should also be relevant to the majority of your followers.  If you are a racer – post pics of your car zooming around the track, or an install of your safety equipment or an un-boxing of your new carburetor.  “Make your posts intriguing, funny, creative, and dramatic.  Nobody is going to repost or share a photo of your meal, pet, or selfie; but, lots of people will share an amusing story, compelling thought, fascinating fact, or creative image,” writes Alex Striler in his book, “Motorsports Marketing and Sponsorships”.

Include your other social media accounts in the biography section on your profile. All social media outlets have a quick bio section for you to fill out.  Include your Twitter handle on your Instagram bio.  Include your Instagram user name on your Facebook bio.  Let your fans have full-access to you.  Remove your privacy settings that require you to “accept every request”.  This discourages followers because they worry that you might not accept them.  If you are trying to build a following, you must be accessible to everyone (not just your friends and family).

Set goals and track your progress. When I started at Circle Track in March 2016, one of my goals was to increase our social media presence.  We had 45,000 followers on Facebook, 1,800 followers on Instagram, and 500 followers on Twitter. Good numbers but not mind-blowing by any measure.  It takes time and effort to build your following, but don’t get discouraged – it won’t happen overnight.  You must remain diligent and upbeat.  I’m happy to report that 18 months later, we have the following stats:

Facebook: 56,000 followers (an increase of 11,000)

Instagram: 7,000 followers (an increase of 5,200)

Twitter: 1,000 followers (doubled our followers)

Use humor and/or be an informer. Informers talk about breaking news, technology updates, or how-to do something (installing a shock or replacing brakes, for example).  Writing captions underneath your pictures is a helpful but humbling experience.  You want to be funny, pithy, or insightful but you don’t want to sound dumb while you are doing it.  I usually come up with 5-6 captions for every one picture or video.  Then I pick the best one or I’ll ask a co-worker for their advice on a caption.

Give stuff away. Contests, sweepstakes, and freebies work best on Twitter.  For example, “Repost this product pic or follow us to receive a free hat or t-shirt.”  This type of post will get shared and liked immediately.  Because social media is free, most followers respond to free stuff.  Tap into this and watch your following grow!

Use hashtags. This one took me a while to understand but I would say it has helped grow our following more than anything else. I have a mandate that every post must have 6-12 hashtags underneath it.  It’s very simple to do: Post your pic or video.  Write a caption to accompany it and then add 6 hashtags after the caption.  Let’s say you post a video of a Mustang doing a burnout.  Can you think of 6 describing words for that?  #yesyoucan #ponypower #tires #burningrubber #smoke #Ford.  Wasn’t that easy?!  The reason for this is that there are people on social media who just look for “burning rubber” posts/videos all day.  On Instagram alone, there are 53,618 posts that reference #burning rubber.  You want these followers because they are enthusiasts.  They like what you like.

Did I miss any other ideas?  Feel free to share your tips on growing your social media fan-base.

The post Eleven (More) Ways to Increase Your Social Media Following appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/eleven-ways-increase-social-media-following/ via IFTTT

[barefoodangelblog]

Healthy Shopping Tips

Does your week seem to get ahead of you? Let me help you! Follow these simple steps and your path to wellness and healthy eating are set in motion.

Practicing healthfully doesn’t come easy for most of us living in the modern world. Most of us are removed from ancestral wisdom and practices.

Unless you were raised with that knowledge, it takes effort to live healthfully now a days.

It is doable though. It starts with having the proper guidance and a plan.

Here are some tips to help you maneuver out of the “convenient fast food” maze world.

Just like anything worthwhile pursuing, it takes some effort initially to build a foundation for healthy eating lifestyle. In no time, it will become second nature.

A big part of overall wellness is healthy eating. This means different things to different people – omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, raw, etc. However, regardless of the particular dietary preferences you observe, there are several basics for healthy eating – minimize or eliminate processed foods; eat lots of vegetables and fruits; and cook meals from scratch, to name a few.  Here are some tips to build or maintain a foundation for healthy eating in your family.

Make a plan. Set aside 15 minutes or so on the weekend to plan your meals for the week. Try new recipes or use tried and true favorites (or both!) Make double batches so there are leftovers for lunches or dinners the next day, which cuts back on the amount of cooking. Make large batches of soups, stews, casseroles, or other recipes that can be portioned and frozen, then thawed during the week.

Create a shopping list from your meal plan. That way you won’t buy too much or forget a crucial ingredient. Having everything you need to whip up a healthy dinner also minimizes the chances you’ll stare into your fridge or pantry at the end of a long day, only to decide that takeout would be easier than trying to play Iron Chef with random things you find there (see #1 above).

Shop wisely. This one’s hard, especially at mainstream supermarkets. So, I’ll focus the rest of these tips on how to shop wisely. Let’s start with where to go – you’ll find a better selection of “real food” options at natural foods stores. Some local favorites: Whole Foods, Erewhon Market, Lassens and Sprouts. Farmer’s markets can’t be beat for produce, eggs, and more. I like getting my bread at the Farmer’s market or a local bakery that follow ancient traditions.

Shop the perimeter. That’s where most of the whole foods are – produce, meat, dairy. A note about produce – frozen is just as healthy as fresh. That’s because frozen veggies are frozen at the peak of freshness, right after being picked. Off-season produce is usually grown very far away, picked early to ensure it can make the long trip to your supermarket, then ripened artificially. However, the best place to shop for produce is the local farmers’ market. That’s a whole post unto itself, but see #10 for the abbreviated version.

Meat and dairy. Try to buy grass fed/grass finished and meat and dairy if it’s within your budget. It’s better for you and the environment. Choose raw organic milk.

Fish. Look for wild and sustainably-caught fish. Alaskan salmon, shrimp or prawns from the US, and Arctic char are good choices. Check www.edf.org/seafoodhealth.

Organic? If it’s in your budget, buy organic produce. You may want to use the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) “dirty dozen” and “clean fifteen” lists as guides for which produce to buy organic. The EWG has a downloadable pdf or an app so you can always have the list at your fingertips: According to the EWG, the “dirty dozen” most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables are: apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, imported nectarines, grapes, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, blueberries, and potatoes. Green beans and kale/greens may contain pesticides of particular concern. The “clean 15″ are onions, sweet corn, pineapples, avocado, cabbage, sweet peas, asparagus, mangoes, eggplant, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, watermelon, and mushrooms. If you’re on a budget (and who among us isn’t?), buy your berries organic but don’t spend extra on organic mushrooms. But, and this is important, even conventional produce is much, much, much better for you than processed foods. So eat lots of it, and don’t skip it if you can’t get organic.

Read labels! Very, very important. Generally consider anything that has more than five ingredients. This isn’t absolute. If say a bag of potato chips have only 3 ingredients and two of them are toxic like vegetable oil, it is best to avoid those chips. Don’t buy anything that has any form of sugar or sweetener in the first three ingredients. Of course, don’t buy anything that has ingredients you can’t pronounce unless they are names of friendly bacterias such as bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus etc in your healthy yogurt. Or, if you’ve taken chemistry, maybe you can pronounce them but if it sounds like something you’d find in organic chemistry lab, don’t buy it. Be wary of products with health claims on the package. They’re usually highly engineered, processed foods. Ignore the front of the package and read the label instead.

Try the bulk bins. Get rice, quinoa, oatmeal, nuts, seeds, beans, interesting grains you’ve always wanted to try (think millet, amaranth, etc.) Bulk bins save you lots of money, and you get real foods there. Stay away from  the candy of course.

Get produce from the farmers’ market or a CSA. Eat locally grown produce that’s in season and picked when ripe. You can chat with the vendors to get new ideas for familiar items, or try something new. When at the farmers’ market, ask lots of questions. Do not assume that just because you find it there, it’s organic. Or just because it isn’t certified organic doesn’t mean the farmer/rancher doesn’t follow sustainable practices. Some smaller farms don’t go through the hassle and expense of becoming “certified” organic, but they do follow organic practices, most importantly they do not use pesticides. However, there are sometimes vendors selling conventionally grown produce (herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, etc.). Some markets are more stringent about this than others, but just be sure to ask.

A CSA (community supported agriculture) is a system where you pay into a farm or group of farms, and get a box of produce each week throughout the season. Some may even be year-round, especially ones that are a group of farms. This ensures that the farmers have reliable funding to support their farm(s), and you get a return on your investment in the form of the farm’s bounty! With some CSA’s you get a variety of things you may not have thought to purchase yourself. You get exposed to many new super healthy veggies and fruits, and help support local farmers in the process. Some others you can pick and choose your produce in advance. Either way it’s a win-win!

The more you practice living healthfully, the easier it becomes and the healthier you become–BareFood Angel

P.S: Done with counting calories, depriving yourself of delicious foods and on top of it all feeling guilty about it? Gain energy and vibrance while eating real food that tastes amazing without counting calories while being practical. If this information above was helpful and you’d like be guided deeper Click HERE to see what this online Smart Shopping Guide course offers.

Leave your thoughts and ideas directly in the comment section below. Remember, share as much detail as possible in your reply. Your comments may provide insight and inspiration and your experience may help someone else have a meaningful breakthrough. Links to other posts, videos, etc. will be deleted as they come across as spammy. Thank you as always, for watching, sharing and allowing me to be a part of your world. It’s a true honor. Feel free to share this post. Ask your friends and family to sign up through this link to automatically receive my latest posts/recipes/practical healthful ideas.

I would really appreciate it if you could share this post socially. If you hover over the main image (the very top image), it will show you the social sites to choose from. Click on any of the social site buttons and share.

To Your Health,

You want practical and real food solutions that meet the modern world demands? Then sign up to receive healthful tips and recipes! 

The post Healthy Shopping Tips appeared first on Barefood Angel.

[barefoodangel]

Healthy Shopping Tips

Does your week seem to get ahead of you? Let me help you! Follow these simple steps and your path to wellness and healthy eating are set in motion.

Practicing healthfully doesn’t come easy for most of us living in the modern world. Most of us are removed from ancestral wisdom and practices.

Unless you were raised with that knowledge, it takes effort to live healthfully now a days.

It is doable though. It starts with having the proper guidance and a plan.

Here are some tips to help you maneuver out of the “convenient fast food” maze world.

Just like anything worthwhile pursuing, it takes some effort initially to build a foundation for healthy eating lifestyle. In no time, it will become second nature.

A big part of overall wellness is healthy eating. This means different things to different people – omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, raw, etc. However, regardless of the particular dietary preferences you observe, there are several basics for healthy eating – minimize or eliminate processed foods; eat lots of vegetables and fruits; and cook meals from scratch, to name a few.  Here are some tips to build or maintain a foundation for healthy eating in your family.

Make a plan. Set aside 15 minutes or so on the weekend to plan your meals for the week. Try new recipes or use tried and true favorites (or both!) Make double batches so there are leftovers for lunches or dinners the next day, which cuts back on the amount of cooking. Make large batches of soups, stews, casseroles, or other recipes that can be portioned and frozen, then thawed during the week.

Create a shopping list from your meal plan. That way you won’t buy too much or forget a crucial ingredient. Having everything you need to whip up a healthy dinner also minimizes the chances you’ll stare into your fridge or pantry at the end of a long day, only to decide that takeout would be easier than trying to play Iron Chef with random things you find there (see #1 above).

Shop wisely. This one’s hard, especially at mainstream supermarkets. So, I’ll focus the rest of these tips on how to shop wisely. Let’s start with where to go – you’ll find a better selection of “real food” options at natural foods stores. Some local favorites: Whole Foods, Erewhon Market, Lassens and Sprouts. Farmer’s markets can’t be beat for produce, eggs, and more. I like getting my bread at the Farmer’s market or a local bakery that follow ancient traditions.

Shop the perimeter. That’s where most of the whole foods are – produce, meat, dairy. A note about produce – frozen is just as healthy as fresh. That’s because frozen veggies are frozen at the peak of freshness, right after being picked. Off-season produce is usually grown very far away, picked early to ensure it can make the long trip to your supermarket, then ripened artificially. However, the best place to shop for produce is the local farmers’ market. That’s a whole post unto itself, but see #10 for the abbreviated version.

Meat and dairy. Try to buy grass fed/grass finished and meat and dairy if it’s within your budget. It’s better for you and the environment. Choose raw organic milk.

Fish. Look for wild and sustainably-caught fish. Alaskan salmon, shrimp or prawns from the US, and Arctic char are good choices. Check www.edf.org/seafoodhealth.

Organic? If it’s in your budget, buy organic produce. You may want to use the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) “dirty dozen” and “clean fifteen” lists as guides for which produce to buy organic. The EWG has a downloadable pdf or an app so you can always have the list at your fingertips: According to the EWG, the “dirty dozen” most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables are: apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, imported nectarines, grapes, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, blueberries, and potatoes. Green beans and kale/greens may contain pesticides of particular concern. The “clean 15″ are onions, sweet corn, pineapples, avocado, cabbage, sweet peas, asparagus, mangoes, eggplant, kiwi, domestic cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, watermelon, and mushrooms. If you’re on a budget (and who among us isn’t?), buy your berries organic but don’t spend extra on organic mushrooms. But, and this is important, even conventional produce is much, much, much better for you than processed foods. So eat lots of it, and don’t skip it if you can’t get organic.

Read labels! Very, very important. Generally consider anything that has more than five ingredients. This isn’t absolute. If say a bag of potato chips have only 3 ingredients and two of them are toxic like vegetable oil, it is best to avoid those chips. Don’t buy anything that has any form of sugar or sweetener in the first three ingredients. Of course, don’t buy anything that has ingredients you can’t pronounce unless they are names of friendly bacterias such as bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus etc in your healthy yogurt. Or, if you’ve taken chemistry, maybe you can pronounce them but if it sounds like something you’d find in organic chemistry lab, don’t buy it. Be wary of products with health claims on the package. They’re usually highly engineered, processed foods. Ignore the front of the package and read the label instead.

Try the bulk bins. Get rice, quinoa, oatmeal, nuts, seeds, beans, interesting grains you’ve always wanted to try (think millet, amaranth, etc.) Bulk bins save you lots of money, and you get real foods there. Stay away from  the candy of course.

Get produce from the farmers’ market or a CSA. Eat locally grown produce that’s in season and picked when ripe. You can chat with the vendors to get new ideas for familiar items, or try something new. When at the farmers’ market, ask lots of questions. Do not assume that just because you find it there, it’s organic. Or just because it isn’t certified organic doesn’t mean the farmer/rancher doesn’t follow sustainable practices. Some smaller farms don’t go through the hassle and expense of becoming “certified” organic, but they do follow organic practices, most importantly they do not use pesticides. However, there are sometimes vendors selling conventionally grown produce (herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, etc.). Some markets are more stringent about this than others, but just be sure to ask.

A CSA (community supported agriculture) is a system where you pay into a farm or group of farms, and get a box of produce each week throughout the season. Some may even be year-round, especially ones that are a group of farms. This ensures that the farmers have reliable funding to support their farm(s), and you get a return on your investment in the form of the farm’s bounty! With some CSA’s you get a variety of things you may not have thought to purchase yourself. You get exposed to many new super healthy veggies and fruits, and help support local farmers in the process. Some others you can pick and choose your produce in advance. Either way it’s a win-win!

The more you practice living healthfully, the easier it becomes and the healthier you become–BareFood Angel

P.S: Done with counting calories, depriving yourself of delicious foods and on top of it all feeling guilty about it? Gain energy and vibrance while eating real food that tastes amazing without counting calories while being practical. If this information above was helpful and you’d like be guided deeper Click HERE to see what this online Smart Shopping Guide course offers.

Leave your thoughts and ideas directly in the comment section below. Remember, share as much detail as possible in your reply. Your comments may provide insight and inspiration and your experience may help someone else have a meaningful breakthrough. Links to other posts, videos, etc. will be deleted as they come across as spammy. Thank you as always, for watching, sharing and allowing me to be a part of your world. It’s a true honor. Feel free to share this post. Ask your friends and family to sign up through this link to automatically receive my latest posts/recipes/practical healthful ideas.

I would really appreciate it if you could share this post socially. If you hover over the main image (the very top image), it will show you the social sites to choose from. Click on any of the social site buttons and share.

To Your Health,

You want practical and real food solutions that meet the modern world demands? Then sign up to receive healthful tips and recipes! 

The post Healthy Shopping Tips appeared first on Barefood Angel.

[ds4design]

12 Phrases That Are Making You Sound Ignorant

How you communicate with others, whether if it’s through speech or written text, influences how others perceive and evaluate you as a professional.

According to Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of ‘Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job,’ "Your ability to articulate your thoughts and ideas will have a direct correlation to how well you garner cooperation and persuade others to support your efforts and projects."

"The words you choose also convey your emotional intelligence,” adds Taylor.

Whether you’re communicating with a co-partner, client, team member, investor, or industry influencer, the language that you use has the power to make or break those relationships. So, to ensure that strengthen those relationships, here are 12 phrases to avoid because they make you come across as ignorant.

1. “I’ll have an expresso.”

Want to start your day with a jolt? Order an espresso, and not this non-existent drink. You’ll not only get your morning-caffeine fix, you won’t embarrass yourself in front of your local barista, the other people standing-in-line, and any other members of your party - like that high-profile client you’ve been trying to impress.

Related: 10 Misused Words That Make Smart People Look Stupid

2. “Well, that’s ironic.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and thank Alanis Morrisette for the misuse of irony. For example, if you arrived at a meeting and Jim from accounting is wearing the exact same tie as you, that’s not ironic. It’s a coincidence. If Jim referred you to his dentist, and the dentist has terrible teeth, that’s ironic.

Remember, a coincidence is whenever two unlikely activities share similarities, like breaking your arm before the rock-climbing company retreat. Irony is when there’s some type of reversal of what was expected. Situational irony would then be when an outcome turned out differently than you expected, like that dentist with the bad teeth. Verbal irony is when an individual says one thing but means another, like “It’s my day. I lost my wallet.”

3. “I was kinda, sorta, hoping we could discuss this in-person.”

"Kinda," and it’s twin "sorta," are just shortened versions of the phrases “kind of” and “sort of.” While kinda and sorta could work during a casual conversation with a friend, and even when battling an opponent during scrabble, these slang terms shouldn’t be used in your writing or when speaking to colleagues.

Even if you don’t shorten “kind of” and “sort of,” Steven Kurutz of The New York Times argues that these phrases have “become a verbal tic, a filler phrase” that we use whenever we’re unsure. So, if you’re 100 percent positive when making a statement, just kinda, sorta, avoid these phrases altogether.

Related: 9 Huge Mistakes You Don't Know You Are Making on Social Media

4. “Irregardless…”

I couldn’t help but chuckle during this exchange between Representative Mark Sanford and a constituent;

“Irregardless —” Sanford began, during a debate on pre-existing conditions.

“Irregardless is not a word!” a man cried.

“Regardless,” Sanford amended.

“Thank you!”

Here’s the thing. Irregardless is a word. So, who’s more ignorant? Stanford for making amends? Or, the man who believed that irregardless isn’t a word? Regardless, and the debate surrounding this word is heated, with many frowning upon anyone who uses “irregardless.” And, it’s easy to see why. “Irregardless” is a nonstandard word and does have that whole double-negative thing going against it. Additionally, when this word is uttered, it’s during a dialogue with someone else and not in written text.

To avoid any debates, it’s best to just avoid using this word. But, if you accidentally do, at least you know that it is in fact a real word.

5. “No worries/ No problem.”

These phrases are being used to replace “You’re welcome” or “It’s my pleasure.” While it’s not the end-of-the-word if you say “No problem” or the Australian-version, “No worries,” whenever someone says “Thank you,” it’s a pet peeve among many professionals. In fact, many of them consider these phrases inappropriate.

6. “Actually,...”

When you start a sentence with this word it can come across as if you’re criticizing the other party, you are making an excuse, or you're defensive. For example, if you were asked, “Do you have the slideshow presentation for the meeting tomorrow?” You began to respond with, “Actually... Jess has it.”

Even if you are being polite, adding an “actually” to the beginning of your sentences is unnecessary. If you were asked if you want a cup of coffee you could simply respond with “I would rather have tea.”

Related: The Biggest Judgment Error You Don't Know You're Making

7. “I did what I was suppose to.”

You’re not correctly using the word “suppose” in this phrase. It should be “supposed.” "I did what I was supposed to." Don’t forget to insert the "d" sound whenever you say this phrase. To avoid the confusion, say, "I did what I was asked to do," or "I did what was expected."

8. "I didn't have time to really analyze the agreement, so I just perused it."

Here’s the proper definition of peruse:

Does that sound like an indication you’ve read something quickly or glanced over a document?

Replace peruse with terms like “glimpsed,” “peeked,” “looked,” or “glanced.” So that statement above would now become, "I didn't have time to really analyze the agreement, so I just glanced over it."

9. “i.e.”

It’s easy to misuse “i.e.” and “e.g.”  Both are abbreviations of Latin terms that are similar. But, here’s the difference. I.e. stands for id est and roughly translates into "that is,” while e.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means “for example.”

If you’re confused, think of e.g. as "example given" and i.e. as "in essence."

For instance:

It’s early, and factors beyond anyone’s control (e.g., the euro, Iran) could impact the race. [Washington Post]

In 2005, America had the lowest personal savings rate since 1933. In fact it was outright negative — i.e., consumers spent more money than they made. [Chicago Tribune]

10. “You look tired.”

“Tired people are incredibly unappealing -- they have droopy eyes and messy hair, they have trouble concentrating, and they’re as grouchy as they come,” writes Dr. Travis Bradberry. “Telling someone he looks tired implies all of the above and then some.”

Instead you should ask, “Is everything okay?” According to Bradberry, “Most people ask if someone is tired because they’re intending to be helpful (they want to know if the other person is okay). Instead of assuming someone’s disposition, just ask. This way, he can open up and share. More importantly, he will see you as concerned instead of rude.”

Related: How to Receive a Compliment Without Being Awkward About It

11. “Let’s nip that in the butt.”

The correct phrase here is "nip it in the bud.” It has it’s origins from gardening because whenever you nip something in the bud you’re stopping it before it has the chance to flower. Nipping something in the butt, then, is meaningless - unless you're a dog chasing the mailman.

12. Big words.

No one is questioning your intelligence. But, studies have found that when you use big words you look, well, stupid. Even if you’re using the word correctly, others may think that you’re not as smart of your trying to be. You’re better off sticking with simple words. This will demonstrate that you not only have mastery over the English language, but that you know what you’re talking about because you’re an expert and not just faking it.

[timbdesign]

How Can I Increase Traffic on My Website? 5 Simple Steps

Once you have a website, you quickly realize having it isn’t enough.

You hand out your business card, or send a couple tweets and realize – people give no fucks about me.

It feels as if you could yell out into the abyss – “Is anyone out there?!” and only hear your own echo.

Then you start to get it, creating traffic is the game – not just having a website. Having a solid and professional website is really important, but these 5 simple tips will help you increase traffic on your website, and get more customers:

1. Increase the amount of content on your site by targeting questions.

You can target your site to the kinds of questions your customers ask, and providing deep in-depth resources to answer them. You can then go and give away a ton of value on forums and places like Quora (a question and answer site), and share an abbreviated version of the post and then link to the whole thing on your site.

By answering questions that are commonly asked about your industry you are increasing the likelihood of somebody stumbling across your site as well. For instance they Google “how to get more traffic to my website” and stumble across this blog post, or in your case perhaps – “how do I trim the hedges around evergreen tree,” or whatever your industry you’re in.

Doesn’t this mean they’ll just do it themselves and not hire me?

This is the biggest concern some clients I have seem to have when I suggest they give away as much value as they can in their blog post. But let’s say you refurbish furniture and offer ‘shabby chic dressers’, yes if you give away the a “how do I make a dresser ‘shabby chic’?” in-depth guide – some people will do it themselves, but you could likely rank very high for shabby chic dressers and offer the products you have for sale next to the guide.

If you have e-commerce on your site, the guide will help the product get more traffic by osmosis – especially if you are linking to it all over the guide.

This is the magic of giving away value and being OK with some people simply taking the value. Some people will also buy from you. This kind of SEO and content marketing is the art of giving – and then receiving later on down the line. Receiving traffic from people checking out and reading your guide: these people increase the ‘dwell time’ on your site and indicate to Google and other search algorithms that this is quality content (and thus a quality site.)

Why are questions so amazing?

Well it’s how we think sometimes when we’re on Google – and it’s where a lot of people expect they will get the most value… it’s a question. Remember ask Jeeves? Maybe many people just got use to asking questions to the internet!

Not to mention, the future of the web may be over voice controlled devices like the Google Home, and the Amazon Echo… so more natural ways of asking questions might be the norm of the future, rather than thinking of some long targeted term to put into Google.

Think of the kinds of questions people would ask and answer them.

2. Find ways to build links from around the web (preferably your niche, but anywhere is great) from high domain authority websites

Use the tool Mozbar and guest posting, creating profiles, and create content on these sites sharing value with people.

Guest Posting

There are tons of guides on how to get more guest posts around the web (and some write-ups on why guest posting is dead) though the first important thing to know is why you want to do it. Links from other websites to your website is a huge indicator that your website has something valuable. Guest posting allows you to include a link on a valuable piece of content on someone else’s website – in context links or ‘contextual links’ are considered in a different way then a profile link – or a footer link, etc.

Creating Profiles

Profile links are still useful, and it makes sense to create a profile and share information about yourself on as many industry related website as you can. Once again, the value here is not so somebody can stumble upon the link and go to your website and then become  a customer. The value is that each link is a tally mark in your favor in Google’s algorithm – and if you include a good amount of description, the link is more likely to be indexed.

Every possible way of getting link to your site

Yes… you can buy links – but buyer beware! You don’t want to buy a bunch of cheap links, and the only time I’ve ever seen people buy links and really make a difference for their site, the links were expensive.

So either you have to really offer value to high Domain Authority websites by creating original content, or you’d have to really spend a pretty penny to get those links – there’s really only a few low-hanging fruit options for links:

Local Listings

Using a company like Yext or similar you can get a ton of local directory listings all over the web. On local directories it’s crucial that your Name, Address, and Phone Number are the same on all of them. This is a kind of trust factor that your company is legitimate.

Press Releases

This has been used by SEO focused individuals for a long time to get links, but it also can be good to get into news listing via e-mail roundups/news – and thereby can actually earn you traffic and customers on that merit.

3. Spend time curating and develop a following on social media channels

From YouTube to Twitter and even Instagram and Snapchat. Always, always be sharing value – whether educating people or entertaining them. Give value, give value, give value, and then invite them back to your site to either buy or check out your in-depth resources.

Twitter

Twitter is wild, because if you don’t put in some elbow grease either entertaining, curating, or educating – you likely will get very little out it. That’s why so many people think Twitter is a waste of time. They put so little into sharing value and connecting with more people, that no-one follows them and thus no one interacts with their tweets. It simply takes time, but because you can share articles with people on Twitter, and even make offers occasionally (in between sharing massive value) and this way you can drive traffic and maybe even business! I’ve done 22k in business over Twitter in the past 6 months – so I know it’s real, but I also spent a lot of time building my account, by following people that might be interested in me and sharing lots of value on the platform.

Facebook

Facebook used to be a wonderful wild west for brands with just organic reach, but now you generally have to pay to play if you’re working from a company page. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t occasionally share very solid helpful deep articles on your personal page to reach your ‘base of power’ or friends and family – and that doesn’t mean you can’t simply boost content that helps you generate leads, and offers to people that are strongly likely to be interested. Pay to play kind of sucks yes, but no matter what – you’re paying for social advertising, you’re either paying with your time by trying to build a following through interesting content, or you’re boosting content and offers. One way or another – you pay.

Instagram

You can’t share clickable links on Instagram unless you’re paying for ads – but you could use short links like yoursite.com/epic or bit.ly/goodshit – so that people could use the link to quickly navigate to what you’re sharing. Instagram is super visual and people don’t generally go on their to read – so my tactics here would depend more on paid ads to solid free offers for lead gen.

Snapchat

The new kid on the block, but not super clear how to knock it out of the park for driving traffic on Snapchat. I’d suggest using this more to build your brand, share value, entertain and then drop in the occasional bad-ass piece of content link, or epic offers.

Youtube

Just including links in your Youtube videos is helpful for Google respecting your site more, but at it’s best you can create introductory content to lead people to the deeper content on your site – guides, giveaways, and courses. This isn’t the place generally for commercials, but rather finding out what people are looking for that relates to what you sell – how to’s, visual guides etc. and giving them that in hopes they might also use your products or services after soaking up the value.

  4. Do your best to engage other people on social media, youtube, forums and in blog comments

Not making it always about you – is the first step to promoting… you?

Sound counter-intuitive? It is, but that’s how humans work – we don’t love it when people just want to promote themselves, but if we pay attention to what people are doing besides us and really show them we’re paying attention, we earn the right to be heard. So yes, I’m saying comment on every blog around your niche, and share value in forums on topics you know a lot about.

Target 3-5 websites where you can actually get involved regularly first

This means – don’t spend a crazy amount of time trying to fling yourself wildly on to every single website community, but rather become a very familiar face on a few forums, groups or channels first. The reason for this, is you need to figure out what the customs are in these types of situations. If you blindly start connecting with everybody and everybody without doing research, you’ll find yourself getting grief from old-timers in these groups – who do no self-promotion and just help the community.

But you do have to have a strategy for how you’ll drive traffic in groups

So what I’m telling you is – we build up to sharing our links and content, but we don’t do it immediately. Find the people who you admire in these groups, and find the people who your content would actually help. If you’ve done the hard work of creating useful content that is targeted at your core demographic and their needs – then there will come a time (at least past the 6th content you’ve left in a group or forum) that you can share it!

If you’re motives are totally just self-promotion, and not being helpful – it will come off badly generally (unless you’ve observed the customs of the group, and that’s common.)

Youtube comments that entertain or add significant value

This is not generally to add a link to your site, but rather to lead people back to your channel if you are doing significant work on Youtube. Links are treated as spam though generally – so not necessarily the best place to do that kind of direct ‘marketing.’

  If you’re sensing a theme here, it’s all about sharing value. Skip this, and lose.

  5. Do things out in the real world and use your website as your anchor.

Things like hosting events, or going to industry events, volunteering, and sponsoring events and giving away prizes at said events. Create a scholarship, or participate in community programs. The internet doesn’t need to be your only way of drumming up business. And when you run out of new ways to get traffic to your site – you can always print a banner and fly it over the city with a prop plane… don’t give up, there will always be a competitor working to formulate a new idea for how to create more traffic than you.

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