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nickblaine · 5 years

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season 3 script summaries (nick)

first of all - special thanks to reddit user cablab123 and @dystopiandramaqueen for making phonecalls to the writer’s guild that resulted in them getting the season 3 scripts from the studios this soon 💖 we have these because of you!

just to clarify, these notes are about nick scenes only. am i biased? yes. will i go back and read the rest? i don’t know. i didn’t like this season, so i don’t have much energy for it. but i did read the other cut scenes which i will summarize in another post later. this one is about nick.

reminder that anything i put in quotes is direct phrasing from the scripts. however there are copyright laws in place, which is why i can't provide copies or photos. edited to add: because i’ve seen some doubts about my authenticity, click here for proof.

i do accept questions, but i will only respond if i have an answer. i may come back and respond eventually if i find the answer on a future library trip.

possible spoiler warning: there are 2 cut scenes in here which may or may not be considered spoilery if they use them in season 4. the cut scene from 3x12 in particular could be a big indicator of what’s to come next season.

finally - please do not share this post without my permission, and thank you in advance for respecting my wishes.

3x01

nick has fred trapped in the room. after serena says, “we should give her more time to get away,” and leaves, fred turns to nick and accuses him of having so little respect for their family that he would involve them in his crimes. nick straight up tells fred, “I did it for her. For June.” it says fred knew this but hearing it shakes him up. this is the catalyst for their open disdain for each other from now on.

there was more to nick & june’s argument that we didn’t see, which showed june regretting staying in gilead. after she says “don’t you think i know that?” she breaks down and admits: “I fucked up. I fucked it all up. I should’ve gone. I’m a fucking idiot. But I couldn’t leave her here, I couldn’t leave her behind.” nick feels deep sympathy for her after this confession, and they let go of their anger and share an embrace. i’m real mad this got cut, it showed a lot of june’s vulnerable side.

after the house fire, nick is leaving and: “June searches for something to say. Goodbye? I’m sorry?” but she can’t because they’re in public. originally he said “Take care” and she settled on “Bless you.” (personally, i think i like the onscreen version better.)

3x03

there was lots of nick “finding this exchange excruciating” during the commander meeting at the lawrence house. he just wanted to help june the whole time joseph is tormenting her. they are “desperate to communicate” throughout this scene. also, joseph was carefully observing nick, june and fred the whole time. they never explain why, but june seems to think he’s just amused by it all.

when nick came back to visit that night, he and beth share a sweet moment at the back door. nick asks her if she’s okay. beth tells him she’s scared shitless. he comforts her with a hug, during which she jokes, “You look ridiculous in that get-up,” and nick says, “I know.” (i love beth and nick’s friendship... i wish they didn’t throw away the opportunity to show it this season.)

when nick goes upstairs, his and june’s conversation was written to be a lot less cold than it is in the final cut. june immediately goes to nick for comfort when he comes to her room. “She needs him desperately. She needs his help.” but the news of his deployment shakes her. they are both described as infuriated by their situation, and “drowning in their own futility.” when june opens the door and invites nick back in, they share a kiss and “wrap themselves around each other. For the last time.” 😭 then june closes* and locks the door (to juxtapose her old bedroom with the door that never locked.) *still disappointed by that closed door? see here!

3x05

in luke’s tape, june is scripted to say, “You met him. He helped me to survive. I was in love with him." the description of luke’s emotions here say he feels stunned as well as “relief that Nichole isn’t the product of rape... and yet, June found love. She moved on.”

3x06

when nick and june reunite in DC... nick was spicy during that prayer scene 🔥 june could feel him trying not to look at her. and this line killed me: “His fingers trail, just barely, over June’s hip. Across her bare fingers. On June, feeling his hand.”

nick and june’s kiss in the snow did not have much description. just lots of natural chemistry on max and lizzie’s part. also, they were supposed to share one more kiss after nick agreed to meet with the swiss. speaking of...

NICK. MET. WITH. THE. SWISS. people can stop claiming he ditched his daughter now. the script makes it clear. nick walks into the room with mattias and meets lena and sofia before the scene cuts. we don’t get to see what they talk about, but he tried to do the right thing for holly per june’s wishes, against his better judgement.

no further explanation for why the swiss don’t want to work with nick. when lena tells june she can’t work with nick, all it says is that june’s “association with Nick has left her somehow tainted.”

june feels “betrayed” by learning that nick was a soldier in the crusade, and continues to throughout the season. though the script never explains why she feels so betrayed by something that she has done herself (killing innocent people under orders) or why she is so quick to believe serena joy when she is familiar with her manipulation. her thoughts in that scene are described as she is “absorbing the fact that Nick was a terrorist.” take that as you will. however, the following scenes clarify exactly what he did...

THE TRAIN SCENE: there’s a very important line describing how nick really feels about being a commander: “The troops salute him. Nick returns the salute, hating all the choices that led him here.”

immediately following that line is a cut NICK FLASHBACK! here’s the summary: nick was in DC during the coup. he was on guard duty. yep, big bad terrorist war criminal nick blaine was a glorified security guard. in this scene, nick and a young soldier named trevor are guarding an empty basement stairwell in the capitol building during the coup. trevor is complaining that they are “mall cops” while “everyone gets to actually do something,” meanwhile nick is described as “looking sick.” then there is an explosion in the stairwell, followed by a brief shootout where trevor is killed. nick shoots back “out of instinct” and it’s revealed he’s killed a capitol security guard and a bureaucrat.

immediately after the flashback is the cut shot of nick (above) looking sadly out the window, remembering those choices that led him here.

it’s worth noting that the flashback scene contrasts starkly with serena’s words just prior, which were scripted as: “He served Gilead. He believed in something greater than himself. He was a soldier in the crusade. We wouldn’t be here without him.” so it seems pretty clear they are setting this up to be misjudgment on june’s part.

the shot of nick looking sadly out the window was supposed to be followed by a parallel shot of june looking sadly out the window of the winslow house, reflecting on her meeting with nick the night before. 😢

3x10

just wanted to note here that despite june feeling “betrayed” by nick since 3x06, when fred suggests transferring her to DC she actually considers it could be a good idea because she would be “closer to Nichole. And maybe even Nick.” so he is not absent from her thoughts.

3x12

warning: the following scene may be spoilery for season 4??

thank god, we were right about a cut scene in this episode. there was exactly one (1) nick in chicago scene, and it took place immediately after luke punches fred. and just like max said, it confirms nick has been one step ahead all along.

in this scene, nick is observing the war in chicago and talking with his “lead commander” (pictured in the promo still above.) the lead commander tells him that they are being transferred to lake huron to put pressure on toronto in lieu of waterford’s capture and winslow going missing.

nick - hiding his shock at this news - carefully presses for more info. the lead commander doesn’t have anymore to say about waterford, but he laments the fact that this means he’s not going to get his weekend leave and that his daughter will be disappointed. his daughter’s name? agnes. that’s right, the big reveal of this scene is that nick is now working directly under commander mackenzie, and it is no coincidence. the scene ends on nick, “watching [mackenzie] walk away, wheels already turning.”

guys... this means NICK IS GOING AFTER HANNAH!

this must be what max was referring to when he said that everyone is in an interesting position for season 4 in this interview. so much for him being irrelevant to june’s story just because he’s a dude, i guess. 🤷‍♀️

there was also a whole bombing action sequence in this scene including fighter jets, it sounded very extra and VFX-intensive. nick and commander mackenzie are watching it all go down from a distance while they talk.

i can’t say for sure why these scenes were cut, but the producers served up 3 different sets of excuses, some of which don’t line up with what was written (e.g. “strictly june’s perspective” ...sure 🙄) so it’s safe to say that whatever led to them cutting these scenes out, we will probably never know for sure. but i do know they were filmed and the decision was made post-production, we have evidence of that.

additional observations:

there is still no real explanation for why or how nick got promoted to commander, and i don’t think they ever will. it appears to me that it was just another contrived plot point so they have a reason to send a low-status driver into war.

while i am glad they softened the extent of nick’s involvement in the coup, it also makes it harder to understand why he said he was “due” a promotion to commander when his contributions to gilead are so relatively insignificant. again, we may never know.

there were several cut voiceovers of june praying to god throughout the season, and despite calling holly mainly by “nichole” in dialogue, she only referred to her as holly in her prayers. so her real name is still holly. i will die on this hill.

commander mackenzie mentions to nick that the move has been hard on hannah but the script does not clarify where they have moved to. hannah and mrs. mackenzie are presumably far from the great lakes region because nick’s response is, “May God bring you home to her soon.”

can we talk about how nick has an active plan for hannah? and how he never gave up on his promise from 2x03? and that while june has lost all hope of seeing her daughter again, she has no idea how close nick is? and that this is sounding a lot like one of my fics? hire me already bruce. these are things i think about A Lot

lake huron means nick is going back home to MICHIGAN so rebel commander blaine is back on the menu boys

nick in the script is - as always - a bit more rough and forward than what we see onscreen. max has a talent for softening nick’s interactions with june and showing respect with his body language, while maintaining the intensity between them. i also cannot praise enough how much he makes out of little to no script direction and minimal dialogue.

that sweet, sweet vindication of confirming yet again that nick is worth a lot more than viewers (and june) give him credit for. i only hope his value in this story isn’t realized too late.

(gif credit: @splitscreen, @outlassed & me)

#the handmaid's tale #nick x june #osblaine #june x nick #nick blaine #june osborne #tht scripts #tht meta

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thestarlitcrossroads · 6 years

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Grimoire: The Sacred Grammar of Magick

Or how to add a little something extra to your GriMORE (heh)

Puns aside, lets begin...

Firstly, what is a Grimoire?

"The derivation of 'grimoire' is not entirely certain. In the early nineteeth century it was suggested that it came from the Italian 'rimario', a book of rhymes or Bible verses. It more likely derives from the French word 'grammaire', which originally referred to a work written in Latin. By the eighteenth century it was being widely used in France to refer to magic books..."

- Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books

A book of magic spells and invocations. Origin- Mid 19th century: French, alteration of grammaire ‘grammar’.

-Oxford English Dictionary

Despite its original derivation not being certain, it is known that the most common modern association is with the French word ‘grammaire’. It was during the 18th and 19th centuries that France allowed a way for Grimoires to become more available to the general public with the use of Bibliothèque bleue (blue library). This wider publication also increased the interest in occultism among the British following the publication of Francis Barrett's The Magus in the early 19th century, the term entered the English language in reference to books of magic( Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books).

It was because of these various factors that the word ‘Grimoire’ began to be used as a more general reference of magical books and texts, vs what it had been before as a word describing magical texts that were typically written in Latin.

And in the more modern sense, grimoire is certainly a word used to describe any book of magic.

That all said, there are certainly many magical books and texts that are similar to grimoires or that could easily be labelled as grimoires; however, not all magical books are grimoires.

Per Owen Davies, a grimoires is “...being based on the conjuration of spirits, the power of words, or the ritual creation of magical objects.”

A VERY Brief History

The history of grimoires can be laid out in the following: Ancient period, Medieval period, Early Modern (with a special note for the 18th and 19th century), and modern day.

The Ancient period constitutes as pre the Fall of the Roman empire.. It was during this long time frame that European Grimoires took great inspiration from. Specifically, it was the ancient civilizations that surrounded the Mediterranean and middle east, and countries within the middle east. Particularly, the religious traditions of various pagan practices, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were some of the greatest influences on Medieval European grimoires.

The Medieval period marked the period of what folks would label as the “classical” grimoires. Despite the rise of Christianity and the Church attempting to stomp out all pagan worship, it was never able to mark a clear line between religious worship and magical working, “ The use of such books on magic continued. In Christianised Europe, the Church divided books of magic into two kinds: those that dealt with "natural magic" and those that dealt in "demonic magic,” (Davies, Owen (2009) Grimoires: A History of Magic Books).

In the Early Modern period, grimoires had become more common place and known within society. The Renaissance had fueled the increase interest and pursuit of Medieval grimoires, as well as a rise of interest in Hermeticism, Judaic Mysticism, and the occult.

And with the rise and improvement of printing in Europe, which soon resulted in mass printing, allowed for more exposure towards the general populace.

Particularly during the 18th and 19th century, grimoires had become mass produced and widely available across western Europe (especially within France).

Due to this increase of interested in folklore, mysticims, and the occult, many historians took an interest in magic and in grimoires. Many even went on to publish snippets of grimoires within their own history books.

In the late 19th century, many famous grimoires (such as the Key of Solomon) were reclaimed by various magical groups, the OTO and Golden Dawn being some famous examples.

In Modern Day, we find that access to many ancient and more recent grimoires are far easier to access, than they ever have been before.

One can easily log into sites (such as sacred-texts.com) and view a number of different grimoires and magical texts for free. And even before the internet, many books and texts could be found in the local library or purchased.

This has resulted in the rise of many new magical groups, traditions, and societies (even the resurrection of old ones). There are many modern day grimoires that have become quite popular and influential to the magical scene, pulling from both historical information as well as new found knowledge and experience: such as Azoetia and The Dragon Book of Essex.

Here is a generalized interactive timeline of grimoires throughout the centuries

Famous Grimoires

There are dozens and dozens of grimoires out there (here have a list), way too many to mention all in one post. So instead, I will briefly talk about some of the more famous, influential, and well known ones. So please, do forgive me if I leave out a few important ones.

The Keys Of Solomon (Greater and Lesser)

Perhaps one of the most influential and well known grimoires, The Key of Solomon is a 16th century grimoire which gives a thorough description of the process of summoning a spirit, with chapters on the various supplies the magician will require, and the tasks they must perform. -X

The Lesser Key is one of the best-known grimoires, primarily for the first section, the Goetia, which features charming descriptions of the 72 demons conjured by Solomon, along with illustrations of their sigils, and the tools required for summoning. -X

Unlike the Key of Solomon, the Lesser key contains content from multiple different books.

The original texts having been written in Latin, these are truly is the idea of what a grimoires is in every sense. Their influence is widespread both historically and magically speaking. Find yourself in a group with a random bunch of occultists, and you’ll easily find a dozen pulling from these books.

Petit Albert

Le Petit Albert is an French grimoire that has gained some degree of fame or infamy. It lists a number of spells for results such as dental health and invisibility. -X

Though not quite as famous or influential compared to some grimiores. Petit Albert still had a large mark on the modern development of the grimoires and folklore of magic. It included instructions on making a Hand of Glorey.

But most of all, it marked a historical importance of the mass print. It was one of the first widely available grimoires in France.

The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses

This grimoire is an important text of folk magic from the German tradition. It was first published by Johann Scheible in Germany in 1849, and in New York in 1880, although versions circulated in Western Europe in pamphlet form as early as the 18th century. -X

The Sixth and Seventh books of Moses had a particular influence in both Europe as well as America, used within Appalachian and Pennsylvanian Dutch magical practices. They even circulated within Scandinavia and Central Europe and were at times referred to as “Black Bibles.” Though with this one, I have not seen a valid source given, aside from “Versions of this work circulated throughout Scandinavia and Central Europe. In Sweden and Finland these books are compiled and published under the titles Den Svarta Bibeln and Musta Raamattu, respectively, meaning "The Black Bible". found on various sites like Wikipedia.

The Magus

Francis Barret's The Magus is a compilation of magic, alchemy, and accounts of historical magical adepts, which copies extensively from Agrippa's The Books of Occult Philosophy, The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, and the Heptameron.

It is a foundation text of the occult revival, and is thought to have influenced the work of later occultists such as Eliphas Levi. -X

If Petit Albert marked the moment of cheap mass producing, The Magus marked the moment that grimoires were beginning to be translated into English and later being mass produced.

The Book of Shadows

Not necessarily a single specific grimoire or text, the Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals specific towards Wicca, a religious tradition of Witchcraft and Paganism.

I assume that a lot of people’s first interaction with a grimoire or mention of one is via a Book of Shadows. Today, Wicca, and its related traditions, are a lot of folks’ first step into the magical and occult communities.

Despite its name, a Book of Shadows is exactly the same as a Grimiore. Doreen Valiented stated in “The Rebirth of Witchcraft” that most likely Gardner adopted the term for his Witches' grimoire (The Book of Shadows) from an article found in The Occult Observer V1 N3 1949.

Applying this knowledge to your own Grimoire

So you know a thing or two about Grimoires, what now?

You can create your own of course.

How? I see this appear all over the place online, as well as get asked occasionally by folks in person.

At the end of the day, a Grimoire is a magical book containing information about a person’s personal practice. It can even be an instructional guide if desired.

Its looks how you want it to be, it contains what you want and need, and it acts for whatever purposes you need.

That said, this doesn’t help a lot when a person has no idea what to do or what to put in it. So, I will provide some more ample advice.

1. - Look towards other grimoires for inspiration and reference

A number of historical grimoires already do this, so why not you? Look at how these grimoires are organized. What do they contain? How are they framed?

As an example, lets take a look at the Lesser Key of Solomon

Opening invocation

Initiation

Definitions

Lists of Spirits (the 72 demons)

magical seals

specific rites

You might include an opening charm or invocation at the beginning of your Grimoire. In certain books, such as Long Lost Friends, the tome begins with a written charm of protection for the carrier of the book. Others might include a written hex or curse to ward unwanted readers.

You might include such rites as an initiation (if you have one), specific rituals of importance (such as a rite of banishment or cleansing), etc.

A page of reference for definitions and specific might also be helpful. Lets say you reference a recipe for oil often, but don’t want to write it down every time. You can have a page that has it once, then reference that other times.

Next, you might want to list specific about spirits and various entities. I’d suggest straying away from ones that tend to be common knowledge. Stick more to personalized things that you want to remember and can’t find from a quick google search.

Magical seals can include anything from privately created ones, or even well known ones. These can act as a reference for future use, or even as physically written charms in their own right. The Grimoire is not only a book of magic, it is a magical book.

2. - Decide how it will be written

Are you going to write it in a more factual and straight forward practical piece? Is it going to act as a teacher’s manual? Is it going to be vague and hard to read, so that only the writer can understand it? Is it going to be written as a story (Such as the Black Pullet)? Is it going to consist mostly of art and only a little bit of text?

Think about how it will be laid out on the paper. There is more ways to write a grimoire than simply a book of charms and spells.

3. - Avoid putting in common knowledge

Don’t put in something that you can easily search for online. Put in things that are personal to you, things you won’t find online (or at least easily), things that are secret.

In my experience, I found that I got disappointed with old magical journals that held a bunch of stuff, but all that knowledge I could easily find on my phone or in one of my books. It left me feeling unsatisfied and I often gave up finishing the journal completely.

When I started to put more personalized things, more secret things, things you couldn’t find anywhere else, I felt satisfied. The same could be said of others.

4. - Don’t worry about organization

A lot of the old historical grimoires were a strange conglomeration of information, lore, and art. They have no real rhyme or reason behind how they were organized (or maybe they did haha).

Don’t worry too much about being exact and perfect with your organization. I find that if I worry too much about that I will never end up writing anything down.

Get it down first. You can later reorganize by re-writing it, taking out the pages and putting them into a 3 ring binder, rebinding the book with a new order, or copying the pages and organizing them into a PDF or a separate copy.

Just get it down.

5. - Its for you. Make sure its useful

Having a grimoire is fun and wonderful, but if its not useful for you it will never get finished/used. Make sure you’re writing it for yourself.

I sometimes find it helpful to imagine that I will pass it down to my children or a student. How useful would they find it?

6. - Make it an act of magic

A grimoire is a book of magic, but it is also a magical book. Make the act of writing it magical. Make it apart of your ritual and practice. Infuse it with your power and desire. It’ll help make things easier.

Use it for automatic writing, use it for trance art. Allow your tradition to fuel its creation.

The Grimoire cultus and magical art is something that will easily continue onward throughout modern time, even with the push towards digitization. Its built from hundreds and hundreds of years of lore and reference. And, I imagine it will continue to grow as more people are creating their own, both for public use and private study.

For further reading on Grimoires, I would suggest the following

Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Daives Owen

https://www.grimoire.org/

http://www.sacred-texts.com

#witchcraft #occult #grimoire #magical text #traditional witchcraft

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ancientbrit · 4 years

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Natter #3 6/24/2020

So, on Saturday morning, I took part of my breakfast (yogurt) from our backup fridge in the garage, but when I put the first spoonful in my mouth I noticed that it was warm. Strange that. So I checked the backup fridge and found that everything in it was warm. The freezer contents - weren't.This was a disaster as I had been to QFC a couple of days previously buying frozen and fresh foods including four half-gallons of milk. Jean had been out the day after for the first time in 12 weeks and part of her haul was more milk and ice cream. I imagine that the excitement of being out again at last and back to her old stamping grounds overcame memory. So here we were rushing around trying to save what we could by rearranging everything in the kitchen fridge and then trying to close the door.The old fridge was possibly down on refrigerant and I was a bit annoyed for a brief moment until I remembered when we bought it. It was when we lived at the 'old house' way back in 1970 and it was already a year old when we got it! My word - 50 years old. I should have remembered as it's color is 'Harvest Gold' which hasn't been seen on store shelves in donkeys ages. I tend not to date things by color though, as modern colors mean little to me - 'Taupe' for instance means less than nothing. My lexicon runs in terms of the spectrum. But forgetting it's date made me think back to those 'Old House days' and what we were about then - those days and other old days that preceded that time. My memory of 'then' is perfectly clear - it seems just like it was yesterday even though I know how long ago it actually was. So many friends and relatives who are no longer around to share those times with, One of the things that have remained constant is our phone number. Of course, then we had an exchange name - Adams 2, which has now been transmuted to numbers - 232, and I think doing this has lost the feeling of romance that it seemed to have for me. When I was a kid many of our dairy and grocery items were delivered to the door by horse-drawn carts - very few people or businesses had a sufficiently high priority during the war to have a petrol ration. Mum had joined the "Co-op" for convenience and of course, there was the benefit of a bonus payout at year's end. I loved these horses and would meet them outside and feed them apples, carrots and whatever else I had to hand. Still firmly in my mind is the Co-op number I had to recite to the driver when we had milk or groceries delivered - 157376. Being horses, they would leave proof of their passage along the road and my Dad would pay me a shilling per bucket full of 'Golden Apples' as my Dad referred to this natural function It seemed like it was too demeaning a job for a full-grown adult and using his term was sort of distancing himself from the unpleasantness. It used to embarrass me a bit too, but you couldn't argue with the reward. it was all grist to the mill, and it did do the roses a power of good. In 1956, I had been out of the RAF for a year and had also just recently returned home from a very long sojourn in hospital, and my Dad was persuaded, against his will, to have a phone installed. Phones were not then usual to find in most houses and my Dad's reluctance was based on the very real belief that his company could too easily find him at inconvenient times. I told him that it was an absolute necessity in that day and age and so at last it was installed. Our phone number was Fairlands 4725 and as I said, I remember the old exchanges with affection. Others in our neighborhood were Derwent and Vigilant and my favorite Aunt had the best I always felt - Silverthorn - lovely. The Fairlands exchange was essential to me as when I was discharged from the hospital I had left behind a lovely German nurse with whom I had developed special feelings. When I had become sufficiently fit to allow me to leave the hospital and walk around the grounds, I used to collect any outgoing mail from other patients who were still confined to bed and take it some distance up the road, through the snow to a mailbox. Just to make sure I would be okay, Irmgard, for such was her name, would accompany me and we would find a need to indulge in long hugs and exchange lip locks - just to keep the cold at bay you understand? Shared bodily warmth is a great way to defeat the weather! Later, returning to the hospital, which had been a big old private house standing in its own grounds, we would split up at the circular drive with a last goodnight kiss. Irmgard would go round to the kitchen door and I would go the other way to the front door. Knowing that our companion runs were our secret, I was surprised to find the youngish Matron just inside the door. With a twinkle in her eye, she asked if it was cold out and I acknowledged that it was. She told me that I should be careful that I didn't get chapped lips, but then added that lipstick was a sovereign remedy - and departed with a grin. So much for secrecy! Irmgard's phone exchange name at the hospital was Coombe Wood - not exactly what might be termed 'romantic' but association made it so. Our association was quite intense and a forthcoming proposal, whilst welcomed, was at that time impossible for Irmgard to accept. Her sister was soon to marry, another Englishman and they would be returning to England to live after their honeymoon. She would not leave her parents alone just like that. She had been sent to England for a couple of years to improve her English and was soon to return home to Bad Canstatt, just outside Stuttgart. As I was about to return to my studies we were parted and unlikely to meet again any time soon. So our contacts were limited to letters and very rare and expensive phone calls and so the Canstatt exchange also lives brightly in my memory. Unfortunately, long-distance relations tend to strain circumstances and over time our contacts became less and less, Sometime later I reached a point where I was able to take a trip to the Continent. I wrote to Irmgard to tell her that at last I was able to come over to see her, not being really sure of my reception as I hadn't written for ages. Within days I had a reply and although she was totally delighted that I was coming she told me that she had become engaged. I couldn't really blame her as I had been very lax, but she wanted me to come and meet her family when I arrived. She was really very good and took me all over the city and ended at her parents' home in the evening to a party for her sister and new husband, just returned from their honeymoon on Lake Constance. It was a really nice evening and I got on very well with her parents, but of course, I didn't like her fiance at all! After all this, although I had been given her brother-in-law's name and address back home I was never able to contact him. I would love to have kept up to know how her life proceeded. I still have her framed portrait photograph she sent me when she had first returned home, inscribed "Zur stehten Erinnerung" Deine Irmgard. I have been occupying some of my evenings on the computer lately sorting and printing out the Natters that Jo & Tom, Carin and Janet have been good enough to get to me. As they all seem to have been listed well out of order I am busy trying to see what I have and what might yet still be missing. The job has been compounded by the difficulty I have experienced in opening the Flash Drive. Sometimes it allows me to zip along, opening files, but then will stop and nothing will work. Next day I try again and I am off to the races again. But I am getting there slowly and tonight (Monday) I completed taking off hard copies. Now I can sort through, putting them in chronological order and see what I shall see. Much more later, but there seems to be nothing before 2012 so I guess that was when I started. As I mentioned last Natter I have been attacking Lily of the Valley and I am almost finished - at least with what was visible. Along the way, I have also removed Sword ferns, Cedar seedlings five feet high and Jasmine. The Jasmine was an insignificant rooted cutting, from where, I have no recollection. It had been placed in a pot on the ground and had been overgrown by all sorts of stuff and over the last year had gone nuts. It was to be used at the Plant Sale and now there are five separate plants threatening to strangle you on the approach to the greenhouse so of course, they have to go. The final gap in my deer-proof fencing was completed a week ago but I forgot to mention it to the deer and my hostas have now been browsed off on three separate occasions. As soon as it looks like there might be leaves on “Empress Woo” that might be reaching terminal size, they disappear and I am beginning to think that I will have to curtail totally growing the items they obviously consider their personal snack bar. 'Doesn't really leave much selection but at least, so far, my cardiocrinums don't feature on their menu. 'Have to be grateful for small mercies I suppose. One good thing has come out of this. My neighbor (ex MG Jill) who has allowed me to use three raised beds to grow veg, has been getting worried that I might fall from the area where the raised beds live - on a raised part of the garden with a six-foot-high rock wall as it's western boundary. She sees me stepping back to admire my work and then bailing out over the edge. So she is having a large bed prepared at the bottom of the wall, which will be enclosed by a deer-proof cage. It will also benefit from the heat held by the rock wall - all sorts of interesting possibilities there. She is a good friend. So next year we might actually be able to eat something we have grown once more. 'Haven't been able to do that for the last four years now, except for Onions and Garlic! Got started on removing existing plants today so we might have the new bed up and running before too long with any luck. I think it was the hardest day's work I have done for ages and I had to have a nap in the afternoon, but I couldn't tell whether that was because I had two early start days or the sheer grind of lifting heavy plants.You have likely realised that I am just stumbling along here so I will finish and get to bed.

You fearless and weary leader.Gordon

PS Jill had a change of mind just following this and the bed we cleared was ordered replanted - and not with veggies or fruit either. Got to find another place - perhaps a PeaPatch again?

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wickedbananas · 6 years

Text

Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts

Posted by DarrenKingman

Link reclamation: Tools, tools everywhere

Every link builder, over time, starts to narrow down their favorite tactics and techniques. Link reclamation is pretty much my numero-uno. In my experience, it’s one of the best ROI activities we can use for gaining links particularly to the homepage, simply because the hard work — the "mention" (in whatever form that is) — is already there. That mention could be of your brand, an influencer who works there, or a tagline from a piece of content you’ve produced, whether it’s an image asset, video, etc. That’s the hard part. But with it done, and after a little hunting and vetting the right mentions, you’re just left with the outreach.

Aside from the effort-to-return ratio, there are various other benefits to link reclamation:

It’s something you can start right away without assets

It’s a low risk/low investment form of link building

Nearly all brands have unlinked mentions, but big brands tend to have the most and therefore see the biggest routine returns

If you’re doing this for clients, they get to see an instant return on their investment

Link reclamation isn’t a new tactic, but it is becoming more complex and tool providers are out there helping us to optimize our efforts. In this post, I’m going to talk a little about those tools and how to apply them to speed up and scale your link reclamation.

Finding mentions

Firstly, we want to find mentions. No point getting too fancy at this stage, so we just head over to trusty Google and search for the range of mentions we’re working on.

As I described earlier, these mentions can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so I would generally treat each type of mention that I’m looking for as a separate project. For example, if Moz were the site I was working on, I would look for mentions of the brand and create that as one "project," then look for mentions of Followerwonk and treat that as another, and so on. The reasons why will become clear later on!

So, we head to the almighty Google and start our searches.

To help speed things up it’s best to expand your search result to gather as many URLs as you can in as few clicks as possible. Using Google’s Search Settings, you can quickly max out your SERPs to one hundred results, or you can install a plugin like GInfinity, which allows you to infinitely scroll through the results and grab as many as you can before your hand cramps up.

Now we want to start copying as many of these results as possible into an Excel sheet, or wherever it is you’ll be working from. Clicking each one and copying/pasting is hell, so another tool to quickly install for Chrome is Linkclump. With this one, you’ll be able to right click, drag, and copy as many URLs as you want.

Linkclump Pro Tip: To ensure you don’t copy the page titles and cache data from a SERP, head over to your Linkclump settings by right-clicking the extension icon and selecting "options." Then, edit your actions to include "URLs only" and "copied to clipboard." This will make the next part of the process much easier!

Filtering your URL list

Now we’ve got a bunch of URLs, we want to do a little filtering, so we know a) the DA of these domains as a proxy metric to qualify mentions, and b) whether or not they already link to us.

How you do this bit will depend on which platforms you have access to. I would recommend using BuzzStream as it combines a few of the future processes in one place, but URL Profiler can also be used before transferring your list over to some alternative tools.

Using BuzzStream

If you’re going down this road, BuzzStream can pretty much handle the filtering for you once you’ve uploaded your list of URLs. The system will crawl through the URLs and use their API to display Domain Authority, as well as tell you if the page already links to you or not.

The first thing you’ll want to do is create a "project" for each type of mention you’re sourcing. As I mentioned earlier this could be "brand mentions," "creative content," "founder mentions," etc.

When adding your "New Project," be sure to include the domain URL for the site you’re building links to, as shown below. BuzzStream will then go through and crawl your list of URLs and flag any that are already linking to you, so you can filter them out.

Next, we need to get your list of URLs imported. In the Websites view, use Add Websites and select "Add from List of URLs":

The next steps are really easy: Upload your list of URLs, then ensure you select "Websites and Links" because we want BuzzStream to retrieve the link data for us.

Once you’ve added them, BuzzStream will work through the list and start displaying all the relevant data for you to filter through in the Link Monitoring tab. You can then sort by: link status (after hitting "Check Backlinks" and having added your URL), DA, and relationship stage to see if you/a colleague have ever been in touch with the writer (especially useful if you/your team uses BuzzStream for outreach like we do at Builtvisible).

Using URL Profiler

If you’re using URL Profiler, firstly, make sure you’ve set up URL Profiler to work with your Moz API. You don’t need a paid Moz account to do this, but having one will give you more than 500 checks per day on the URLs you and the team are pushing through.

Then, take the list of URLs you’ve copied using Linkclump from the SERPs (I’ve just copied the top 10 from the news vertical for "moz.com" as my search), then paste the URLs in the list. You’ll need to select "Moz" in the Domain Level Data section (see screenshot) and also fill out the "Domain to Check" with your preferred URL string (I’ve put "Moz.com" to capture any links to secure, non-secure, alternative subdomains and deeper level URLs).

Once you’ve set URL Profiler running, you’ll get a pretty intimidating spreadsheet, which can simply be cut right down to the columns: URL, Target URL and Domain Mozscape Domain Authority. Filter out any rows that have returned a value in the Target URL column (essentially filtering out any that found an HREF link to your domain), and any remaining rows with a DA lower than your benchmark for links (if you work with one).

And there’s my list of URLs that we now know:

1) don’t have any links to our target domain,

2) have a reference to the domain we’re working on, and

3) boast a DA above 40.

Qualify your list

Now that you’ve got a list of URLs that fit your criteria, we need to do a little manual qualification. But, we’re going to use some trusty tools to make it easy for us!

The key insight we’re looking for during our qualification is if the mention is in a natural linking element of the page. It’s important to avoid contacting sites where the mention is only in the title, as they’ll never place the link. We particularly want placements in the body copy as these are natural link locations and so increase the likelihood of your efforts leading somewhere.

So from my list of URLs, I’ll copy the list and head over to URLopener.com (now bought by 10bestseo.com presumably because it’s such an awesome tool) and paste in my list before asking it to open all the URLs for me:

Now, one by one, I can quickly scan the URLs and look for mentions in the right places (i.e. is the mention in the copy, is it in the headline, or is it used anywhere else where a link might not look natural?).

When we see something like this (below), we’re making sure to add this URL to our final outreach list:

However, when we see this (again, below), we’re probably stripping the URL out of our list as there’s very little chance the author/webmaster will add a link in such a prominent and unusual part of the page:

The idea is to finish up with a list of unlinked mentions in spots where a link would fit naturally for the publisher. We don’t want to get in touch with everyone, with mentions all over the place, as it can harm your future relationships. Link building needs to make sense, and not just for Google. If you’re working in a niche that mentions your client, you likely want not only to get a link but also build a relationship with this writer — it could lead to 5 links further down the line.

Getting email addresses

Now that you’ve got a list of URLs that all feature your brand/client, and you’ve qualified this list to ensure they are all unlinked and have mentions in places that make sense for a link, we need to do the most time-consuming part: finding email addresses.

To continue expanding our spreadsheet, we’re going to need to know the contact details of the writer or webmaster to request our link from. To continue our theme of efficiency, we just want to get the two most important details: email address and first name.

Getting the first name is usually pretty straightforward and there’s not really a need to automate this. However, finding email addresses could be an entirely separate article in itself, so I’ll be brief and get to the point. Read this, and here’s a summary of places to look and the tools I use:

Author page

Author’s personal website

Author’s Twitter profile

Rapportive & Email Permutator

Allmytweets

Journalisted.com

Mail Tester

More recently, we’ve been also using Skrapp.io. It’s a LinkedIn extension (like Hunter.io) that installs a "Find Email" button on LinkedIn with a percentage of accuracy. This can often be used with Mail Tester to discover if the suggested email address provided is working or not.

It’s likely to be a combination of these tools that helps you navigate finding a contact’s email address. Once we have it, we need to get in touch — at scale!

Pro Tip: When using Allmytweets, if you’re finding that searches for "email" or "contact" aren’t working, try "dot." Usually journalists don’t put their full email address on public profiles in a scrapeable format, so they use "me@gmail [dot] com" to get around it.

Making contact

So, because this is all about making the process efficient, I’m not going to repeat or try to build on the other already useful articles that provide templates for outreach (there is one below, but that’s just as an example!). However, I am going to show you how to scale your outreach and follow-ups.

Mail merges

If you and your team aren’t set in your ways with a particular paid tool, your best bet for optimizing scale is going to be a mail merge. There are a number of them out there, and honestly, they are all fairly similar with either varying levels of free emails per day before you have to pay, or they charge from the get-go. However, for the costs we’re talking about and the time it saves, building a business case to either convince yourself (freelancers) or your finance department (everyone else!) will be a walk in the park.

I’ve been a fan of Contact Monkey for some time, mainly for tracking open rates, but their mail merge product is also part of the $10-a-month package. It’s a great deal. However, if you’re after something a bit more specific, YAMM is free to a point (for personal Gmail accounts) and can send up to 50 emails a day.

You’ll likely need to work through the process with the whatever tool you pick but, using your spreadsheet, you’ll be able to specify which fields you want the mail merge to select from, and it’ll insert each element into the email.

For link reclamation, this is really as personable as you need to get — no lengthy paragraphs on how much you loved [insert article related to my infographic] or how long you’ve been following them on Twitter, just a good old to the point email:

Hi [first name], I recently found a mention of a company I work with in one of your articles. Here’s the article:[insert URL] Where you’ve mentioned our company, Moz, would you be able to provide a link back to the domain Moz.com, in case users would like to know more about us? Many thanks, Darren.

If using BuzzStream

Although BuzzStream’s mail merge options are pretty similar to the process above, the best "above and beyond" feature that BuzzStream has is that you can schedule in follow up emails as well. So, if you didn’t hear back the first time, after a week or so their software will automatically do a little follow-up, which in my experience, often leads to the best results.

When you’re ready to start sending emails, select the project you’ve set up. In the "Websites" section, select "Outreach." Here, you can set up a sequence, which will send your initial email as well as customized follow-ups.

Using the same extremely brief template as above, I’ve inserted my dynamic fields to pull in from my data set and set up two follow up emails due to send if I don’t hear back within the next 4 days (BuzzStream hooks up with my email through Outlook and can monitor if I receive an email from this person or not).

Each project can now use templates set up for the type of mention you’re following up. By using pre-set templates, you can create one for brand mention, influencers, or creative projects to further save you time. Good times.

I really hope this has been useful for beginners and seasoned link reclamation pros alike. If you have any other tools you use that people may find useful or have any questions, please do let us know below.

Thanks everyone!

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rwbyremnants · 7 years

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THIS CHAPTER: White Rose: exhibitionism, more implied. Bumbleby: fellatio, anal fingering, scissoring, nipple-play, coming inside. (a little unrealistic lol)

=Chapter 24

The itchy need for satisfaction was filling Blake as she strode through the halls, stomach clenched. She needed Yang. In fact, she needed Yang immediately.

The image of Ruby trying to force her ruffly skirt to hide her second erection of the day refused to leave her mind. Pushing down her skirt, feeling the air against the skin... how mortified Ruby had looked when she first refused to give them back, then how dully embarrassed she was once she accepted her fate. Maybe they weren't lovers and never would be, but they had enjoyed a brief diversion during their shared lesson - one that left Blake gasping for more. Really, she had been intending to take Ruby up on the offer to finish her off until she pointed out that Yang probably wanted that privilege – and also mentioned she was very eager to show Weiss what she had learned.

Which any fool could see if they looked at the front of her skirt, of course.

But Yang was not in the gym or the locker room. That was where she normally would be. Several text messages went unanswered. Finally, out of desperation, Blake called Weiss.

"What on earth do you want? I'm trying to finish my homework."

"Do you know where Yang is? Are you in the room, is she there with you?"

"No, she isn't, and you might have actually come to this room and checked. What laziness is... oh, hello there, Ruby. Have you seen Yang?"

Gulping, Blake reached her hand toward the screen. "Sorry, I gotta go! Thanks!"

"Where did your panties g- WHOA, are you already completely hard?! Is this from walking down the hall this way? Ruby Rose, what kind of pervert are you turning int-"

Blake cut the call short before she could hear any more. Yes, she had been intimate with both Ruby and Weiss at separate points, but that still didn't make her comfortable with the idea of listening to their first few moments of foreplay. Instead, she decided to continue her search.

Nearly another hour brought her to the kitchens behind the cafeteria. By now, it was past midnight. She didn't really expect to find Yang there at all, but she was running out of ideas and getting frustrated with texting nobody. Just as she was about to leave, she heard the clattering of a pan.

"Hello?" she called out, pacing further inside. "Anybody in here?"

No answer. Only more clattering of pans, and then of plates. If some one wasn't in here, some thing was. And it became further evident when a large bowl fell on the floor, spinning on its axis for a short moment before it inevitably stopped all movements. And just by that, one of the cupboard drawers was open. The culprit must be inside.

"Uhhh..." Eyes narrowed, Blake approached said cupboard very carefully, wishing she had Gambol Shroud with her. A butcher knife from one of the nearby tables would have to do. Snatching it up, she began to pace toward the cupboard.

But before she could get too close, the culprit poked its head out. The tiny black-and-red beast sniffed the air. Right away, it realised it wasn't alone, despite its terrible vision. And rather than await its demise, it made a sudden dash for it, heading straight toward the huge fridges.

"Oh, no you don't!" Rearing up, she hurled the knife toward the vermin. If it didn't deviate from its current course, this move would cleanly sever its head.

But it did. With a quick jolt to the right, it instead made a break for the back room, known to be where the fresh produce was kept. But instead, there was another trap waiting. As soon as it ran into the room, a bowl fell straight on top of it, followed by a very familiar brown boot to keep it in trapped.

Yang's boot.

"FINALLY! Dust almighty you were a pain in the ASS."

Blinking in surprise, Blake straightened from her battle stance, hands on her hips. "Oh! So it was you in here!" Pacing forward a few feet, she glanced between her battle partner's face and the bowl. "What are you doing?"

"Oh! Hey!" Yang smiled to her partner. It was obvious now why she couldn't hear her, she was wearing a rather large pair of headphones. Which she immediately pulled down to her neck instead.

"I thought I sent you a message about me getting detention? ...Or did I forget... I forgot. Oops."

"You did forget," Blake sighed with a slight smile. The music was still blaring out of the headphones, and she resisted the temptation to tap her boot along with the tempo. "I guess it's no big deal, though. What did you get detention for?"

"Copying Nora's homework. When... She let me, but Goodwitch isn't exactly gonna let me get away with it." Although, keeping her boot firmly in place, she rattled the bowl slightly. "I was told to get rid of this little creep, but to be fair he's so smart, I'm almost tempted to keep 'im."

One of Blake's eyebrows hiked slightly. "You don't think that would be a little... strange? Having a Pox as a pet? They're not like actual animals, you know. Grimm only exist to feed upon innocence, to destroy."

"Yeah but… pet," Yang joked, although she agreed entirely. It was a silly option. "I'll get rid of him later."

"Why wait? Just flip the bowl and step on it." No response. "Because... this is what we do, remember? Huntresses. We hunt Grimm. And exterminate them. So they don't kill us."

"But he's a widdle baby Pox who is so very clever yes he is yes he is!" Yang made a cutesy voice at that remark, looking to Blake with wide puppy eyes. But when there was no response, she sighed. "Look, we're on that camping trip soon, right? I'll set him free in the Emerald Forest. I'd doubt a Pox is gonna harm anyone, even first years in initiation."

"We don't know that," Blake said, but her voice was uncertain. Of course it was unlikely that a single Pox would ever be of much consequence. In truth, she was simply too horny to care at the moment.

Speaking of which... "So, was that your entire detention? Catching that little guy?"

"Yeah, that's what I mean; I thought it was easy, but it took me three hours!" She rattled the bowl once again to tease the creature beneath, hearing a rather shrill squeak when doing so. Although, that was a point. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Of course, she had been all prepared to tell Yang, but for some reason the way she asked paired with the completely-unrelated topic of a moment ago made her blush and stammer, "N-nothing, I guess I just missed you."

"Missed me?" Yang tilted her head. They'd been seeing each other rather often as of late, but it was still rather adorable to hear it. "Hey, I missed you, too. I'm sorry for forgetting to tell you."

Now Blake was faced with a moral dilemma. Should she tell Yang what she had been up to with her sister? Should she tell her now or later, if indeed she chose to do so? After all, the purpose of the whole endeavour was to learn how best to please her partner when she had male anatomy - and though it had turned her on no end, she didn't actually wind up climaxing herself. Was it really such a bad thing?

"It's okay," she began hesitantly. "So... I have kind of a personal question."

Personal could mean anything. It could mean she wanted the blonde to look at something, or could even be her way of asking Yang to get her alone. Either situation worked well. "Hmmm? What's up?"

"Do you... what I mean is, have you taken Dust recently?" Of course, what she really meant was "are you currently in possession of a cock," but it didn't seem the most appropriate way to ask.

Blinking a few times, Yang wondered how to answer that. She hadn't taken it recently, per se, but neither had she taken an antidote, either. "You mean have I still got a dick?"

"Y-yes." Clearing her throat, Blake stared down at her boots to avoid Yang's gaze. "And I have a follow-up question... how do you hide it in those shorts?!"

The question made Yang chuckle all the more, as she placed a hand on her hip, deliberately parting her legs slightly more to tease her. "Depends who's teasing me; sometimes I just can't."

Of course, looking directly for it while that stance was maintained, the slight outline of a bulge could more easily be seen. One that her body responded to in multiple ways - and the mild disgust was far outweighed by her desire to explore, to have her urges sated.

No. She would not let herself become a slave to the phallus, especially when she typically preferred something else. "R-right. I'm hungry. Are you hungry? How about some ice cream?"

"Hungry? I caught you dinner, kitty, right here!" She gestured downward. Of course, a cat pun.

"Y-Yang!" she gasped, affronted. "That's... do you really want me to…" And, of course, it still sounded as if she were talking about the Pox, when she really had mistaken her partner's comment to be in reference to "devouring" her pending arousal. The way she was currently feeling, she would do it if asked.

"Maybe... you want me to pour a little sauce on it? Make this into a real meal? We are in the kitchens, after all."

"... Wait you actually would eat it? I thought me wanting to keep it as a pet was weird." Then she looked at Blake closer, tilting her head. Blake was completely red all over. Was that sweat on her forehead? "Are... You okay?"

The rushing in her ears had made the Faunus miss the bit about keeping it as a pet - which would have made her laugh. Instead, she merely turned, wiping the sweat away as she began to sort through bottles. "Hmm... I wonder what might go with it... ah, here we are. Just the thing."

When she got closer to Yang, it became apparent that she was holding a bottle of chocolate sauce. Her steps were quite purposeful, even if the blush to her skin made her seem as if she were having some sort of fit. What on Remnant was wrong with her teammate? She actually was going to go through with this and eat the captured Pox? And with chocolate sauce, no less?! Was it even safe to eat Grimm?

Back straightening, she looked worried for her friend. "What's the matter with you? You look like you're frying!"

"I'll be better once I've had... something to eat." Licking her lips, her breath was heavy as she pressed a hand gently against Yang's firm abdominal muscles, head tilting in to press her lips against a smooth neck. Oh, but she tasted divine. Yang always did, every part of her.

"W-wha…" Finally, Yang caught on; she wasn't referring to the Pox, after all. Whilst she was slightly disappointed Blake didn't get the cat joke, she was far more relieved that she wasn't actually going to eat the Grimm in that bowl under her boot.

Nearly panting already, Blake's hand began to slide down to the front of her shorts - not quite there yet, just in the general area. "Can you... put something on top of the bowl? Keep it trapped there?"

"U-uh... Something heavy, something heavy…" But there wasn't really much. It was only fresh greens within this particular room, none heavy enough to actually keep the beast in here. Unless she put the lid on the bowl. Tupperware was rather resistant, right?

"The lid, the lid is by the door."

In seconds, Blake had used her catlike speed to race across the room, snatch up the lid and race back to Yang's side. Kneeling down, she pushed it up to the edge of the bowl and glanced up at her partner, entire body tense.

"Ready - one, two, THREE!"

On three, Yang removed her foot, allowing Blake to life the bowl enough to slide the lid beneath. Thankfully, the small creature didn't put up much of a fight, and only could be heard scuttling back and forth over the bowl lid as Blake clicked it firmly in place. One living Pox, captured.

"Phew... I think we did that well. Let's call him 'Remmie'."

"Remmie?" Blake snorted, very slightly distracted as she placed the bowl on one of the countertops, then placed a large bundle of greens on top to hopefully hold it down. "Where'd you come up with that?"

She shrugged. "Rat, kitchen. Reminds me of that film Ruby and I used to watch when we were little. The one with a rat Faunus who wants to be a cook? I think that was his name." But then she smirked again, wiggling her finger to beckon her back over. "Now that he's restrained, however…"

With a seductive nod, Blake stalked right back over to her and took her lips without another second of hesitation. Oh, they felt and tasted so good! Her hand fisted in a mass of golden locks, not tugging but not being especially gentle either.

Right away the blonde was pushed up against the shelves. Her lips were being roughly kissed and hair was lightly pulled; Blake was on fire today! Either she was in heat, or something had to happen to get her this pent up. No need to ask now and ruin everything. Instead, she went to roll her tongue against hers, lapping the flavours she could get. Her Faunus girlfriend tasted amazing.

When she felt the tongue against her own, Blake felt a flash of intense guilt that almost made her pull away; Yang wasn't tasting only Blake in that kiss. Then again, she and Ruby had once shared Weiss while they were all in the same room; they had obviously both been intimate with her one after the other on different occasions. Their... emissions had probably mingled before. Maybe Yang didn't care as long as it wasn't direct contact.

Still, she decided it was wiser to pull away and press her mouth against the valley of Yang's cleavage, lapping at the faint traces of sweat on her skin.

Still in a daze from such a rough kiss, Yang stared at the woman as she began to kiss on her chest, quickly lowering her hands to undo the short brown jacket while she was at work. Blake was eager, a little bit too much. "Easy there, tiger." She stroked a finger across the back of her ears, giving one a light scratch.

Moaning from the little feline nickname and the attention to her ears, the hand still holding the bottle of sauce reached up so she could run her thumb over the soft peak through her shirt. Yang was not cold and not aroused... not yet, anyway.

"But I need you," Blake bleated as her face slid down the tube top to the bottom hem, pushing her lips against the taut abs as she continued to speak in a low, primal tone. "I need to devour you... it's so hot, and I'm so..."

"You're so...?" But when she noticed the cap was off the bottle of chocolate sauce, it was obvious Blake really needed this. She needed Yang turned on, as soon as possible. "You really are in heat, aren't you? You could'a just said, I'd have skipped this detention." And then to tease even further, she ran a hand across her cheek, smirking widely. "I'd have had you ride me all day instead..."

That last sentence shot through to Blake's core. Oh, how she would have loved that. Pressing her face into Yang's center, she felt the gentle give of a flaccid cock held at bay by spandex. It was beautiful. She was so desperate to be pleasured to release that even just feeling that through a layer of fabric was almost too much.

"Mine," she moaned quietly as she released Yang's hair to leave light scratches on her lower back as she scrabbled to tug the back of her shorts downward. "All mine..."

"Hah- AH! Ah..."

The light scratches only caused Yang to moan out louder, reaching her hands onto the shelf to support herself as she remained perfectly still. Last time, Blake wasn't really keen on this organ at all, and now it seemed she couldn't get enough of it! Not that she could complain; at the rate Blake was stroking her, kissing her, she was going to be aroused very soon.

Deciding to help further, Yang continued her filthy conversation, looking down for her exact reaction. "Y-yeah... I can see it now. Maybe not a ride... But maybe I could have waited for you and kept you in after lesson. Coulda bent you over the desk..."

"Yeah?" Blake asked as the waistband was finally low enough in front to reveal a dusting of blonde hairs. It was low enough in back to unveil buttocks, of course, and her other hand raised up to press the cold bottle against the firm flesh. God, was there a part of Yang's body that she didn't exercise to peak efficiency?

"Tell me what you would do," she groaned against the growing organ. Now it was a question of whether it would peek over the edge of the shorts on its own or if Blake would pull it down first. "With me over the desk..."

The question was answered when Yang had to force herself to think about that image. Imagining herself take Blake in such a manner was making her arousal grow by the second, making it peep out of her underwear by it's own accord. Hard, always rock hard.

"I would have a hand full of your hair... My other would be keeping your hands still... And I'd be pounding away, over and over."

"Keeping my hands still?" Blake asked, eyes drawn to the head emerging from its restraints. Oh, it looked even better than Ruby's - not as "cute", but larger and more rigid. When she had started thinking about these aspects of an erection as being "better" or "cuter", she had no idea, but it couldn't be questioned now.

"Is that what you would do to me?" she went on as her hand continued to tug downward, her face already in place to catch the length along her soft face once it bounced free. Immediately, the strong scent of arousal rolled over her. She must have been one sick woman to hunger for it as deeply as she was, but she held herself back, staring up at the two prominent mounds that almost entirely eclipsed Yang's face. "Grab my hair and force yourself into me, over and over? You... could still do that. Right now. Right like we are."

"I... You wouldn't mind that? In your mouth?" But when Blake shook her head slowly, she looked down to her with large wide eyes. Blake had been scared of this, scared of penises in general. And now she was offering for Yang to take her mouth as she would if it were a wet pussy. Was she going crazy?

But Yang wanted it. She wanted it so much. She couldn't resist such a demand, and one hand dove into her hair, holding a large amount of it into her tight grip. "Alrighty then, tiger. Lap away."

A tiny squeal happened when she was grabbed, but Blake showed no other sign of displeasure. After a few deep breaths, she began in a soft, throaty voice, "Well... I can't promise I'll be perfect at this, but God do I hope I am." Her hand reached around to the front and pulled the shorts down to fully reveal Yang's package, but even as she did so her lips were already pressing against the smooth head.

"H'oh!" On reflex, Yang leant forward, unable to help herself as she grasped into the hair tighter. This was fantastic, and was about to become even better. "Y-you sure?!"

"AH!" Blake half-screamed at the strain on her scalp. It was such a strangely satisfying pain, and she only felt more aroused from its presence. "Just... just let me..."

Stomach in knots, she brought her other hand around and immediately poured a generous drizzling of chocolate all over the hard length in front of her nose. The blonde's eyes shot open once more, and she was forced to let the woman's hair go for a moment. As much as she enjoyed the sensation of having a liquid being squeezed all over it, it was very...

"Cold! C-cold!"

"Yeah?" Blake breathed, already being driven absolutely wild by the mingling scents of heady arousal and decadent cocoa. Her carnal hunger increased exponentially, but she forced herself to merely breathe along the surface, allowing the scent to roll over her, to tingle on her taste buds as her mouth hung open like an animal. "You... don't like the cold syrup? Want me to warm it up?"

"Y-yes... Yes please…" But realising this sudden desperation to make herself warm again wasn't exactly going to turn her girlfriend on. Or more, keep her turned on. So the blonde reached her hand back into her hair again, trying her best to resist quivering when she added, "Show me what that mouth can do..."

Licking her lips, Blake set to doing exactly that. Nothing could have held her back after hearing such a thing from her lover. Immediately, her mouth stretched wide and took half of the entire shaft, slowly drawing back so as to more smear the chocolate than devour it, her tongue endlessly teasing the underside as she went.

"Oooohhh…" Yang found herself beginning to slide down the shelves very slightly, her legs beginning to quiver with joy. Once more, she was able to enjoy that sensation of being licked there, of having a whole mouth around her. This time, maybe without the teeth. Although this was different, Blake knew exactly where to lick. And where to apply the pressure. It was incredible! "Holy Shi- mmm, wow!"

A smile curled up the corners of Blake's mouth. It was working. Yang was enjoying this, it was actually working! Not wanting to waste any time, she very slowly began to move her head up and down around the length, moving her tongue as she did so and bringing her lips to about halfway down every time. That would do for now. Oh, how much more pleasurable the chocolate made everything! Even though she loved doing this for her partner, she loved doing it with an improved flavour even more.

Where did Blake learn this? And more importantly, if she learnt this, what else did she know? Were the current movements of her mouth her limit in these actions? Either way, Yang was curious to find out, but she was even more curious as to how much Blake wanted to be taken herself...

"Hmm... Will you... Want me to get you, when you're done? Huh? Pin you down... Keep touching you till you scream..."

"Mmhmmm!" was all Blake could answer for the time being. She was far too busy taking so much of Yang into her mouth, raising her fingers to press very lightly against the soft sack underneath. There was more skin to it than there had been to Ruby's, although it felt as if the orbs inside might be smaller. Her handling was too delicate for her to make a proper estimation, and she would have it no other way.

Her first instinct was the same as Ruby's, to instantly call "Gently!" out to her. But there was no need; Blake WAS gentle with her, very gentle. And although she much preferred contact to her length then to the orbs below, it was speeding along the process of things, helping her relax more.

"D-damn... Blake, you're so good at this!"

Pride flared up in her chest. Not just that she was doing the job, but doing it well - that was more than she could have asked for! Turns out her "training session" was a worthwhile effort after all. Her teasing fingers reached further back to the soft perineum between her sex and her rear entrance, pushing gently inward to the taut muscle that supported the erection. There was something deeply gratifying about finding that, and Blake moaned against the skin of her lover yet again.

Yang's eyes snapped wide open again, making her spread her legs even further apart so Blake could access that part of her more easily. It was beyond her control, but that feeling was incredible! And she only wanted more of it to continue whilst Blake paid attention to her length. But if this kept up, she would climax pretty soon!

But said actions were re-awakening a craving that had been building since she and Weiss had their encounter. For someone to enter into her while she was biologically male. What if someone was to poke there? No, she was too aroused. It wouldn't be fair for her to finish twice and not even finish Blake once.

However, the spreading of the legs was more of a red flag than Yang probably intended. As she continued to bob up and down on the length, she watched the thighs twitching, how much Yang was opening up. Did Yang want… that? Could Blake give that to her, could she stomach it? Nobody had ever touched her there, and she didn't think she wanted anyone to, either. However, if Yang really wanted it...

Perhaps just a test run. As her mouth began to slip three-quarters of the way down Yang's girth, feeling more of it in her throat than just purely in her mouth, she trailed her hand another inch further back, feeling the skin grow more and more taut.

As more of her length was being accepted into her mouth, Yang's head was just spinning. Over and over again she continuously moaned as a tongue moved over her length, on the underside, everywhere. Blake was incredibly skilled, so much she would have thought she had practice on many partners. Her arousal filled mind did nothing to stop Blake going further. In fact, so far she didn't notice it.

Not until the finger was just resting against her opening. The skin was slick and tight, and vaguely moist from their recent "activity”. Blake couldn't believe she was actually touching another person in that area! Of course, she also couldn't believe she had a male organ thrusting into her mouth over and over, but then again it was hard to feel so shocked twice in one day.

And then Yang could feel where her finger was. The position opened up even more desire for her to be entered there, for her to want someone pounding into it with their own phallus. Was she losing her mind? But Blake's fingers were enough for now, and as they stroked the ever so sensitive skin there, she found herself moaning out rather loudly.

Apparently, it really did something for the bruiser, to feel a teasing there. Blake would have to remember that. For now, it was simply enough for her to continue going down on her girth as she prodded gently at the tightly-closed orifice.

Although... it was beginning to open. As it flexed and twitched, Blake got the distinct impression that an area she would never have thought to enter before was actively trying to let her in now. Even as she sped up her movements to match Yang's moans, she felt the fingertip actually sinking past the outer defenses. A mingling excitement and dread welled up in her. Would this be a good thing, or a huge mistake?

Yang was calling out so loudly, legs quivering without any signs of stopping; how could it be? She needed this, just as much as Blake needed her. Even as she felt herself starting to open a little, she attempted to back her rear against the finger trying to prod her, encouraging more to enter her.

But it might not be long until that was too late, as she could feel her stomach tighten. "B-Blake... I'm c-close!"

Something about the disbelief in the words made her mind focus on them. She was surprised by the suddenness of this climax - surprised, and maybe even disappointed. What did they both want? Blake thought she might want to be mounted... and that Yang might want to be mounted, too, despite her current biology. What should they do?

"Hey," she gasped as she withdrew Yang from her mouth completely, stroking furiously with the free hand as she took a break to breathe. "Do... I m-mean, what do you want me to do for you? This? Or... this?" To punctuate her last word, her finger pushed in very slightly, wriggling in the process.

"Hah… Hah…" Sweat was already dripping down her face. It was all too much to think about. What did she want now? If she had another person here, she could have both. But for now… the offer of being entered was so inviting. Especially as she backed herself against the finger again.

"I think... I want you inside."

Blake felt a strange thrill run through herself at that admission. She really wanted more of this strange act? Plus, she seemed highly ashamed of admitting it; that somehow made it that much hotter. Even if she hadn't said as much, her body was screaming it to the heavens with the firm cheeks pressing up against her wandering hand.

So she let it. Her hand held still as Yang backed onto it, pushing the single digit deeper and deeper inside. Warmth was in there, warmth and soft, vulnerable skin, and as much as she hated to admit it, the sensation of gliding her finger back and forth as she moved it was undeniably pleasant. Just feeling this part of her lover that would have otherwise gone unexplored brought yet more heat to the inside of her own legs. With or without Yang's help, she'd be finishing after this was over. Very soon after.

"Mmhh," Blake moaned as she swirled her tongue around the head again. "You... really love this, don't you? I c-can finish you off this way, if that's what you need..."

More eager sounds poured forth from the blonde's mouth. Blake was inside! Blake was finally satisfying her weird craving to have her ass invaded. Just the invasion she needed after that encounter that teased the area so much… Yes. That was what she needed to finish. Blake may had only just learnt how to treat the phallus properly, but now Yang really wanted attention to that amazing new area discovered.

"Yes, please do it, d-don't stop..."

"Okay!" she gasped eagerly - but she wasn't about to let her newfound knowledge fall by the wayside. As the finger waggled back and forth, again she took Yang's cock into her mouth, allowing the bucking hips to drive it deeper with every apex. Within mere seconds, she could feel blonde hairs against her lip. She was taking it all, every pulsating inch, and managing that while Yang made such unholy noises from being penetrated. There had never been anything more fantastic.

"Ah! AH! Holy shit... Holy Shit!" she couldn't help but begin to call out over and over, grasping Blake's hair once again to steady herself as she thrust into the woman's mouth and throat over and over. The finger pushing into her rear made things even worse, especially as it was brushing against the overly sensitive gland in there.

And then the climax came. Grasping Blake's head tightly, she couldn't help but deliver one last firm thrust into her mouth. Such a movement caused her to gasp, and forced the thick white liquid from her sex to come out, all of which was in the Faunus's mouth.

Which surprised Blake with the sheer amount pouring forth into her. Yes, Ruby had also done this, but perhaps the younger sister had been holding back out of some kind of reticence to actually climax in her presence. Yang had no such reservations, and loosed shot after thick shot into her throat. This time, Blake felt a gag reflex kick in, but she managed to force it down and swallow everything, though her eyes did begin to water.

'I did it,' she thought with mingling horror and pride. 'Never thought I would do this to one of these, but I did, and I made her come! M-maybe there's no reason for me to be scared of these, I guess... as long as it's attached to somebody as kickass as my Yang.'

The possessiveness of that last thought did frighten her a bit, but she shrugged it off as she began to swirl her well-coated tongue over the hot skin. Curiosity to see how Yang would react kept her from stopping just yet.

"Hah... Ah... B-Blake? I f-finished…" But the tongue wasn't stopping. She was continuing to lick her phallus all over, hitting the same spot again and again in her rear. Even when she tried to pull herself back, Blake held her in place...

What was this rigid little mass inside of Yang? It was soft on the outside of course, but just beneath it was a firm, defiant something, roughly the size and shape of a walnut. The problem was, while Yang was moving her hips backward, it more gave the impression that she wanted Blake to keep going with her finger than communicating that it was time for her to exit the mouth.

"B-Blake! S-Sto-aa-aaaaah!!" But as the finger pushed against her prostate once more, it was sending yet more pleasure through her. This was ridiculous! Could she come yet again?

However, the tongue gliding over her length made things clear. She couldn't. After this long, it was aching and in slight pain. She found herself having to tug the Faunus girl's hair back, drawing herself out of her mouth.

Worry shot through Blake when she was yanked away from her duties - and it was all she could do to hold her finger still instead of pulling it out too fast. Still pressing very gently against her new toy, she asked, "Do you... want me to stop this, too?" It was an earnest question, not a tease. Maybe Yang couldn't tell, but she was still grinding backward against the exploring digit.

Finally managing to catch her breath back again, Yang closed her eyes, only able to nod frantically as she attempted to bring herself away from the digit. Of course, to no avail. Her subconscious only wanted it too much.

This really was interesting. Yang loved the feeling. Not just thought it was "okay", but she craved more, even after a male orgasm - even with her sex clearly no longer aroused! She couldn't let this go quite yet. Stroking against the knot of pleasure faster than ever, she left a little kiss on the top of the slick length.

"I'll stop... right after you tell me what this is like. What you're feeling. Clearly you like it, so... so explain it to me."

Biting her lip firmly, Yang closed her eyes tight, attempting as best she could not to let Blake see how easy it was to have her under her thumb. Or more, under her finger. But she had to, for the sake of keeping her sanity; she had to give up and tell her.

"I-It's... You're in me, where I sh-shouldn't be entered… plus, that thing… whatever it is, that thing feels s-so good!!!"

So this was the way to bring Yang Xiao Long entirely under control: explore her hind opening. That information would have to be closely guarded... but she could make use of it herself now and again.

"Are you sure you... want me to stop?" Blake panted with unmistakeable heat, finger slowing in its endeavours. "I can just do this for you if it still feels good. We could..." Only now did she feel shy - partly because she was about to propose the very arrangement she and Ruby had tried mere hours ago. "You could work on me while I work on you, maybe? But I'll still pull out if you want, I just... love seeing you enjoying yourself."

Yang was somewhat torn. She wanted this to continue, she also wanted to take Blake. It would be rather difficult to do both without a particular toy for that sort of thing. Of course, she could always use her fingers... They could finger one another this way. If they were to lay on the ground, they could find decent positions also. What was there to lose?

"You know something? You're insatiable," she had to say with a grin, but finally agreeing. "Let's do it."

"Really?!" she burst out in disbelief. Then she cleared her throat and said, "Alright, you... if you move very slowly, we should be able to do this without me having to pull out of you."

For the time being, her finger's movements ceased as she tried to hold her hand perfectly still, looking up at Yang expectantly. This only continued to feel more and more dirty, but they were both enjoying themselves. What was the real harm?

Yang felt the same way. Even despite finishing already, she wanted this. And she wanted Blake to finish, as well; from how she looked, she'd been wanting this for too long. So, to keep her from waiting, she very gently began to kneel, pulling Blake with her at the same pace. This was the awkward part... But once they were down, only pleasure awaited them.

Once they were both kneeling, Blake seized an opportunity to dart in for a very hard kiss, semen-slicked lips grinding on lips, slightly-damp hand grasping at her neck. She was holding her body slightly away, but it was only so her pristine white shorts wouldn't come into contact with her partner's length.

Suddenly Yang was back out of control again. She had no option but to shift herself to hold her length away from her beloved partner. It was soaking wet, no wonder she wanted it away! Although when she felt Blake's tongue mingle against hers, she struggled to overcome the urge to pull away or gag. This was her own juices being exchanged in a kiss. And although the sensation wasn't… unpleasant , it wasn't exactly something she would ask for willingly.

And Blake felt it, of course - the hesitance to kiss her. Unsure of the reason but trying her best not to panic over what might be nothing, she drew back and whispered, "You okay?"

"Y-yeah…" Although that was also hesitant. Although she was able to swallow Weiss's easily, and if she ever took the Dust, Blake's also; there was something about tasting her own that made her cringe. Made her feel sick. "M-maybe we shouldn't right now? I mean, I love kissing you, b-but..."

"Ohhhhhh," she breathed when she understood what Yang was referencing at last. "Because I have- yeah, that makes sense." And the she noticed the hips pushing back into her hand even more and she smirked. "Boy, either you're trying really hard not to get stains on my clothing, or you just really like my finger!"

"B-bit of both... Shut up!" She couldn't help but giggle again, but a firm thrust to her rear end soon shut her up, and coaxed out a soft sigh from her.

It also reminded her... Blake had been waiting for something. Trailing her hand down the woman's body slowly, she eventually placed the palm of her hand in between her legs, cupping the softness found there.

"Hmm... Just nice for the taking..."

The instant she was touched there, a guttural noise of pure need burst out of the Faunus's throat. God, she had almost forgotten how much her body needed this! It had only been pushed up against her body for a few seconds, and already she was rocking gently against the gloved palm, swaying visibly.

"You... oh, Yang... mmmhhHHHHHhh..."

"Wow... Are you SURE you ain't in heat?" she asked, but when no response was received, she continued to rub firmly against the soft skin under her clothes. She really didn't want to stain those, they were probably wet enough. "Maybe we should take these off, huh?"

Doing her best to keep the hand in Yang's rear from moving too much, she reached back with the other and began to unzip her shorts without any further discussion. There was no reason to delay in her heat-addled mind. Speaking of which... maybe she was in heat again. It would be unusual so soon, but all this constant stimulation could bring it on, in theory. Either way, she soon was down to her panties, the shorts lying on one of the nearby counters.

"Good girl... You don't mind these getting a little wet, do you?" She asked this as she pushed her hips forward, which in turn, pushed up her sex against Blake's panties. Soaked in Blake's saliva, and now getting a thin coating of whatever liquids Blake's arousal was making , she could already begin to feel herself getting harder again.

Amazed that Yang could recover so quickly, Blake began to grind her own hips forward - only to find her arm trapped between them. How could they do this? Was it physically possible?

"Can you... step over my arm?" she panted hotly. "S-so I'm reaching around from behind you, I... if we can do it, I want you to..." But she couldn't force herself to finish the sentence. It was too vulgar.

But Yang wanted to hear it. Not only was she interested in the instruction, but she wanted to hear Blake say the words.

"Don't be shy..." She smirked, leaning in closely. "I... want you to take me... while I take you." Looking down and away, it was all she could do to not actually stand up and flee the room. Cheeks red as fire, Yang stared at the woman below. She wanted to be taken, at long last she wanted to be taken by a male phallus. She had certainly come a long way.

But, there was a problem. "H-how is that gonna be possible?"

Blake's face was also glowing with both shame and excitement at what she had admitted to desiring, but she did her best to distract herself from that by examining their bodies. "If... you step over my arm and then lay on top of me, maybe... could I still reach, or is that not possible?"

"I-it might, but that sounds overly complicated. Look, let, try this." And then she made sure to lay herself on the floor, shifting herself back slowly to give Blake some room, being careful to not disturb the finger inside her opening. Raising her leg, she placed it on top of Blake's shoulder, whilst using her spare hand to then hold her phallus straight, to allow Blake to get into position.

Scissoring. How much more gay could this get?

"Ow," Blake grunted when the boot clomped onto her shoulder. Plus her arm was cramping from having to be this extended! But then she was distracted by the sight before her: a mostly-erect glistening sex pointed straight at her while a finger stayed deep inside of her rear. It was both shameful and beautiful. Swallowing thickly, she reached down and began to remove her panties for the second time that day.

"Is... does it feel much different than with a strap-on?" she asked baldly, unable to use more decorum than that in the moment.

"Heh, um... I've never tried the strap-on on myself... But it seems the same," Yang admitted, finding herself looking down slightly as Blake also prepared to get into position. This was going to be difficult, but if done right it would pay off well. Especially if Yang was in such a submissive state.

Now that she was laid bare, Blake felt her cat-ears attempting to pin themselves back. Yang could see all of her, would be able to watch as she was slowly entered by a thick, wet arousal. It would be completely degrading with anyone else in her opinion. So, to distract herself from that prospect...

"Have you ever taken one in here?" she asked as her finger began to prod the knot of nerves inside Yang. "Real or fake?"

Had it been anyone else, and had the finger not been present, Yang would have answered rather abruptly. Had it been a casual romp like she used to with men she'd meet, she would have probably delivered a slap across the face for asking such a question. But now, the submissive Yang was powerless to deliver any other answer.

"No." She groaned, keeping her sex straight so Blake could slide on easily. "No... Not yet."

Another thing to file away for future contemplation; Yang was an "anal virgin" in a manner of speaking. The heavy-lidded look in the blonde's features, the way her cheeks burned red and her breath came in shaky gasps... it was the lowest she had ever seen her brought. Blake could probably do anything in the world to her right now. Maybe she wouldn't abuse that position... but she could have a teensy bit of fun with it.

"You know," Blake went on as she stroked Yang's inner spot, "I really like the way your chest moves when we're doing things. Really wish I could see it right now..."

So Blake wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of having her phallus go inside her yet. Not until she got what she wanted. "You... Want my top off, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." With a slight shrug of the shoulder that wasn't working on Yang's behind, she muttered, "N-not that you have to just because it's what I want, that's not how I meant it at all..."

As her behind was prodded even further, she was becoming undone once again. Blake had her wrapped around her little finger. Giving into the demand, she quickly reached up to her top, pulling it over her shoulders and tossing it aside. And from there, she then went to unclasp her bra, soon throwing that aside as well. Anything to get her more of what she needed.

"Oooh," Blake said aloud at seeing the large, smooth mounds bounce free of their trappings. Maybe it was obscene of her to admit it, even to herself, but she was both envious of them and glad that she had easy access to being allowed to see and play. In the spirit of that...

It wasn't easy, but Blake was able to lean in and press her mouth against one erect nipple, taking care not to thrust her hand too hard as she reoriented her body. The thick arousal was now pressing up against her short dark pubic hairs, and the slick wetness of it only spurred her to work even harder at the skin under her mouth.

Humming contently, and leaning her head right back in pleasure, Yang simply allowed Blake to take over. Such actions were indeed bringing memories back of her first few encounters, how nervous she was, how she allowed men to take the lead. She was allowing Blake to do the same, to pleasure her body in all different ways. And she was powerless to stop it. All she could to was whisper her name.

Hearing that word on Yang's lips was such an aphrodisiac! Little by little, her hips began to move until she was grinding against Yang's thigh, feeling the arousal brush through her hairs. Truth be told, she could probably easily finish in this manner... but she decided that probably wouldn't be fair to either of them.

"Are you ready?" she breathed, looking up with wide eyes at Yang from below her breast, a near-feral light of lust in them. "Do... do you need me?"

Driven wild by desire, and a craving for the unknown, Yang sighed contently, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to relax herself as much as possible. This would be intense. "I need you… only you."

The nearly-naked body of her lover called to Blake so much that she couldn't take it another moment. Reluctantly pulling away from the soft, inviting chest, she pulled back to a sitting position and hiked the leg yet higher.

"You know... there's something cute about your soft little balls from this angle," she breathed with a slight chuckle.

Right away she wanted to cover them, or cover her face. Anything to escape the embarrassment. Why couldn't Blake just begin without this teasing torture? Unable to help herself, she felt her sex throbbing slightly against the woman's skin. She was eager to be inside.

"P-please?"

Sensing that her comment might have been too far, Blake swallowed and reached down to brush over them lightly with her other hand. "I m-mean, they're so large, and strong! Just like your cock!"

Admittedly, Yang appreciated the comments from the Faunus. Weiss only ever insulted her male sex, told her it wasn't as good as hers. Yes, it was to make their play more intense; but it did slightly harm her confidence when she possessed this form. But Blake was making her feel good, making her feel pretty even with said object. It was a feeling better than any sex she could get.

Indeed, Blake's comment had not been intended as "emasculating", even though Yang was not a man. She thought the gentle shape of her sack was appealing, like a dessert or a small animal. Her phrasing had simply come off as insulting. But perhaps her subsequent words and actions had helped enough to mend the damage.

"And... I've never had anything that big in my mouth," she continued as she tugged the shaft forward, aiming it in her own direction. "So hard and perfect..."

Biting her lip, Yang completely relaxed herself, bracing for what was to come. She could only hope that Blake was to satisfy her at last, like she was waiting for. "T-then let me take you…"

"Yes, please. I... I want you to have my virginity." Already mortified that she had said such a thing, Blake decided to push the head up against her slick entrance to end their talk. "Ohhhh..."

"Aaaah," Yang sighed in unison, placing both of her hands on Blake's hips to hold her steady. That was a point she hadn't considered; Blake was a virgin. She had the strap-on inside her, but to a real phallus, she was a virgin. This was her very first time.

And Yang was to share this moment with her.

Slowly, carefully, the thick flesh was beginning to slide inside of her. There was no need for teasing or further foreplay; she was already dripping wet in a literal sense by now. There were tiny rivulets of damp all over Yang's inner thigh. The satisfaction at feeling her lover begin to enter her body could not be described, but it was on a deeper level than anything she'd felt before.

"Mmmm, Yang, you're so... it’s huge..."

"You're so… warm ." She was. The inner walls of Blake Belladonna were warm and wet, silken. She felt good in them. Was it strange to say, safe within her. But the feeling of pleasure was far too overwhelming for her to dwell on it, and as more of her entered, she began to let out yet another moan.

"Oh, I- oh, OHHHHH!!" The half-moan, half-scream was unavoidable when Yang pushed all the way into her - or more precisely, when she pushed Yang all the way into her. The blonde was in no position to do much with that finger where it was. Blake was just scarcely able to keep it in there with her legs almost in the way, by draping the one over Yang's waist and stretching out the other as far as she could get it. Which was fairly far, given her catlike grace. This was too much. It was everything.

Only able to speak through rather fierce sounding grunts and snarls, Yang gradually pushed herself against the finger once again, attempting to push more of it inside her. Perhaps it wasn't what she should be focusing on, especially when Blake was taking her virginity with Yang's length right before her; but how could she help it? This was all too good!

Feeling the hips grinding back against her hand, Blake redoubled her grip on Yang's rear end and forced the finger as deep as she could possibly go. Yes, part of her regretted that the union of their sexes could not wholly inhabit center stage, but she didn't mind prodding that vulnerable part inside of Yang a single bit.

"You... Yang, is this good for you?! Do you love this?!"

She could only nod, growling away once more as the finger penetrated her even deeper. The muscles of her backside were tightening against her finger to keep her there, as were those in her stomach. Not now... Not when Blake was so close!

"I-I'm… gonna... Ah…!"

Really? Again, this soon after the last one? It seemed Blake had discovered a lethal combination of stimulations - ones that were guaranteed to cause Yang to climax. Maybe, if she pushed hard enough for it, she could bring about three of them in a row. On the other hand, that might just be greedy, or impossible, or harmful to her partner. Not worth trying today.

Therefore, she slowed down her prodding in the rear and sped up her hips, feeling the mass shift inside of her. It was everything she had imagined and nothing she had dreaded, which was such a relief to her that she started laughing, light and high and laced with moans.

The finger slowing down was such a relief. Although she enjoyed the sensation of the prodding and stroking of that gland, it felt all too much for her. Perhaps they would explore that area more in the future – maybe with a strap-on, or either Blake or Weiss having taken the Dust.

But her partner's laugh was contagious! When was the last time she saw Blake smile like that, or laugh that loudly? The dance, probably. Either way, it made the blonde grin, and even start to laugh and moan as well. "O-okay… I admit... You're good! S-so good..."

"It is good! It's... it's you, no matter how we do it!" And with no more than that, Blake began to throw herself down onto Yang's sex with reckless abandon, faster and faster until her head began to swim, her legs and arm trembling with the effort of keeping everything going. Her own orgasm was within reach; it had been building for hours, after all.

"I... I'm gonna finish! Are you?!"

With a few more moans, and using the hands on her hips to pull her onto her sex over and over, Yang’s climax was at hand once again. She really couldn't get enough. "Yes! Yes I am! Th-throw yourself at me, make me feel it!!!"

"Yeah! Yeah, you'll feel it!" But she didn't mean what Yang meant. Once she already felt Yang's movements begin to get more erratic and the cock throbbing inside her, once she felt her own flesh crying out for sweet release, she began attacking the thick knot of nerves inside of Yang anew, going at it for all she was worth. This was going to be the mother of all climaxes.

"W-WHOA! Blake, Blake!!! BLAAAYAAAAAH!" Stroking that gland once more was all too much! She needed release again, and she needed it while she was inside Blake, and Blake was inside her.

Then it came. Once again, she found muscles tightening and quivering all over, and felt the thick, hot seed pouring out of her and into her lover as she thrust away on top. Her only hope was that Blake also got the release she needed, and deserved.

Which she did. Never before had Blake felt an orgasm quite like this, one borne of such a prolonged denial that it resulted in an explosion of pure ecstasy. Feeling the object deep inside her actually throbbing of its own accord somehow only increased her pleasure instead of detracting from it as she would have expected. Even feeling the soft mass inside Yang helped heighten her joy.

Finally, what felt like hours later, her movements ceased and she lay there in front of Yang, back crooked slightly so her hand remained inside. "Ohhhh... oh, wow..."

Yang was lost for words. Literally, in the case of her panting loudly and finally laying herself back. But once more, she felt that finger right against the gland within. This time, she meant it. "O-okay... I'm done now... Jesus Blake, you know how to wear a girl out."

"Yeah, I... found your... 'on' button..." She chuckled slightly, which soon set off a cough - probably something to do with her throat being dry as a bone. "You... is it really that good? In there? I mean, you can... tell me honestly now that we... already... you know."

"Hnnn... C-could do with it out now." After two orgasms in quick succession, the frantic movement caused by the cough caused her to feel rather sore in two different areas, and was rather uncomfortable. "While I love it, it can be too much..."

"Sorry!" Not sure what the problem was, Blake elected to withdraw both her finger and Yang's cock in the same moment, pulling both out at a steady pace. "NnhhhAH!"

With the finger exiting so quickly, she groaned rather loudly. Which only went on longer as she felt her thick sex withdrawing from her. Until at last, she was free.

Lying back and staring at the lighting rigs high above her, the Faunus took stock of her life. That had been one wild experience, but at the same time, it was mostly normal, save for where that finger had wound up. Even if Yang didn't have an artificially-created phallus at the moment, the position they had been in would have worked - at least, according to most of the reading she had done on the subject of lesbian sex.

"You... okay?" she finally gasped at Yang.

Mind clouded with pleasure, and thanks to her exhaustion; Yang had to take a moment to herself just to pant and regain her energy. Thank goodness she was on the floor to do that, and didn't have to keep herself on the bowl. After such time, she moved her leg off the Faunus's shoulder.

"Yeah... God, that was tiring, though."

"A good tiring?" Blake tried to roll her head to one side so as to look at Yang, but couldn't quite manage it. "Was... everything good? Was I good?" Maybe that was a bit selfish of her to ask right after, but Blake needed to ask.

"Good? Holy shit, you were amazing ." She grinned again, sitting herself back up and scooting her self back over to her to her clothes. As much as she wanted to remain naked for Blake, she wouldn't risk getting yet another detention.

And Blake eagerly watched her body move. Without the heady arousal clouding her judgement, now it was purely the aesthetics of her partner, every generous curve and stretch of smooth skin. The slight bounce of muscled flesh with every step and turn - even including her softening member, which wouldn't have been a pleasant sight to her before today. It was like watching a goddess come to the mortal plane.

"So are you," she finally answered in a husky voice, fully aware that she used present tense instead of past. She wasn't referring to only the sex anymore.

The compliment made the blonde smile, and brought more heat to her cheeks. How could she have ever questioned her feelings for Blake before all this? Blake was a wonderful partner, a fantastic lover, and all in all, a great girlfriend. And although she enjoyed time with Weiss as well, she truly adored Blake. Maybe they did need another conversation about this.

"Sssso!" Blake grunted as she sat up, head spinning for just a moment until she took a few breaths. "Whew! I mean... should we go get a cage for the Pox if you really want to set it free in the forest?"

Truth be told, she nearly forgot about little 'Remmie', who was probably still trying to get out of the bowl in the kitchen. Starting to chuckle, she slid on her underwear, then her shorts. "Yeah... Would probably be a good idea."

"Awwww," Blake sighed as she pushed herself to standing - and then found her legs were shaking. Yang had literally made her weak in the knees! "I'm gonna miss looking at your butt."

"Gonna miss looking at yours as well." She winked, then quickly snapping her bra back on to 'restrain the ladies', they'd certainly been bouncing for long enough. But noticing Blake was quivering so badly made her grin even more. Seemed the Faunus girl really did enjoy being handled rough. "I think we'll have to do this again."

"Y-yeah," Blake laughed, only slightly nervous at a thought that would have terrified her a few days ago. "I mean, either with the real thing or that strap-on toy of yours." As she pulled her panties and shorts back up into place, she tried to sound very casual with her next question. "Do you still have that?"

"The strap-on? Of course. Hey, that needs a name, too. I'm thinking something like ‘The Viking…’" She winked again, at last fully dressing herself as she paced toward the kitchen, wanting to check on her new "friend".

The brunette's fingers slipped off one of her zippers. "The Viking?! Seriously?" But she found herself laughing as she paced toward the sink to wash one of her hands that happened to need more attention than the other. Much as she loved Yang, this was one way in which she had no desire to remain “dirty”. "What about... 'Yang Xiao Schlong'?"

"Oooh, you're good," she chuckled, delivering a playful slap to her lover's rear. And then her attention was back to the bowl, which didn't seem to have moved from its spot. Either the beast was asleep, or the bowl was no match for its scurrying. "How are we gonna sneak him outta here?"

Still giggling from the slap - and feeling a very mild resurgence of arousal that she chose to ignore - Blake thought about that as she dried her hand. "Well... if we can get it back to the room, I'm sure Ruby could loan us that backpack she put that mutt of yours in."

"Hey, Zwei isn't a mutt! He's one hundred percent pure breed of Awesome." But that was a good plan, so long as the beast didn't manage to bite through the material. "Yeah, sounds alright. I think Weiss will crap herself, though. What if we kept it in one of our lockers? That way, it could make it all the way to the camping trip."

"Maybe we shouldn't let the heiress know about it; would save us some stressful conversation." Then she offered her elbow to the blonde. "Ready? Or do you want to get a snack before we go?"

"…Ice cream sandwich." Before even explaining that to her, she quickly paced toward the freezer, very quickly taking two of the packets before she rushed back to her partner, and linking her arm with hers. "I'm ready now, milady."

"Okay," Blake laughed quietly as they moved toward the door, heart bursting with affection for her battle partner. "And thanks for getting me one, too."

"Oh... one for you. Right." Yang turned to go back to the freezer.

#she wants the dust #bumbleby #bumbleby smut #rwby smut #rwbyremnants #nsfw-Text

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avoidtheratracenow-blog · 5 years

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How To Promote Clickfunnels As An Affiliate!!

To make money as a Clickfunnels affiliate, all you need is a good offer and the right training for both you and your referrals. And, with a bit of luck (or by reading this article) you’ll find someone who already has both and will let you leverage their own tools.

Out of all the affiliate programs and networks out there, it might surprise you to learn that Clickfunnels is considered by the experts as the most profitable of them all.

This software has dominated the market in record time thanks to its network of affiliates and its focus on providing them with tools and training to promote it.

Thousands of affiliate marketers have made millions through Clickfunnels alone.

And you can very easily become one of them. Would you like to know how?

In this post, I’m not only going to show you exactly how to promote this software, but I’ll give you access to a done for you affiliate funnel with which you can start earning commissions in only a couple of days.

If you’re already a Clickfunnels expert and only want a copy of the funnel, scroll down slightly!

A Brief Overview of Clickfunnels

Clickfunnels was created by Russell Brunson to simplify the act of building sales funnels, which before this software required a lot of technical expertise, coding, design, copyrighting, etc.

Russell became a master of sales funnels after he created a potato gun funnel in his youth. He has since helped a lot of big names, including Tony Robbins launch products profitably from day one by mastering this technique.

He successfully created a platform that allows anyone with little to no skill to create a highly profitable sales funnel in no time.

Russell’s approach to sales funnels is a process he calls “Funnel Hacking”. This consists of finding an existing profitable funnel in your industry and copying it. Building a funnel this way with Clickfunnels takes only a few hours and has led to the incorporation of the “share a funnel” link.

With this, you can copy a funnel with the click of a button. This is how you can just click and download this amazing self-promoting funnel I’m sharing with you and start getting paid even if you’ve never used this software before.

Click to Access Free Funnel + Free Training

Russell teaches all about Funnel Hacking and more in his book “Dotcom Secrets”, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to build a successful business online.

But you’re not here to learn to build funnels, you’re here to make money promoting the software, which amazingly is also Clickfunnel’s biggest weapon.

The Rise and Domination of Clickfunnels Through Affiliate Marketing

Clickfunnels became the fastest growing SaaS (Software as a Service) company ever, amounting to 100s of millions in revenue in less than 3 years through the power of its affiliates.

Russell was the first to understand that by creating raving fans he’d be able to dominate the market without spending millions on advertising. He managed to beat all existing competition without any outside investment, which he calls “cheating”.

It should now be easy to understand why all of Russell’s efforts are aimed at having the best affiliate marketers promoting his software, how clever a tactic that is, and how that benefits you.

He then built the best tools and training around Clickfunnels in order to support them.

As much so that there is a training program with 3 of Russell’s experts called “The One Funnel Away Challenge” opening almost every month for only $100 which pays 100% commission to affiliates.

No. There’s no profit for the company there… except for the extra Clickfunnels fans (paying customers) they get, which is their final goal.

How Much Does it Pay and How Does it Work?

Alright, so Clickfunnels has two types of memberships:

Basic Clickfunnels for $97/month

Full Etison Suite for $297/month

And you get paid 40% of those recurring membership fees!

Which means that for any referral that hires Clickfunnels for $97 / month, you’ll get paid $38.80 for as long as that person remains a member.

But that’s not all…

Most Clickfunnels users buy lots of extra products, such as training or extra services for their business, which are promoted to them by CF and you get paid your 40% for every single purchase they make.

For example, there’s another software called FunnelScripts, which generates automatic sales copy for your funnel pages. Most business owners don’t like to write copy, and honestly, it’s almost impossible to do it better than the experts behind Clickfunnels.

For these reasons, this extra service attracts a lot of people who choose to pay an additional $497 / year. That’s another $198.80 / year for you at no extra work or cost or work…

Similarly, if a referral of yours eventually upgrades from the Basic account to the Full Etison Suite, your commission will go up from $38.80 to $118.80.

The Etison Suite provides some extraordinary features for advanced users, in-house email service specialized in sales funnels (actionetics), and your own affiliate center, where people can become your affiliates and promote your products / courses, etc (backpack).

I personally don’t use these features at the moment. For email marketing my favorite tool is GetResponse.

Feel free to read my GetResponse review here and learn why.

The Sticky Cookie and The Master Funnels

What’s a sticky cookie and why should you care?

A cookie is simply information saved by your browser about your visit.

Once someone uses a referral link of yours to one of Clickfunnel’s products, they’ll be “cookied” to you for 6 months.

Once a “cookied” referral makes a purchase, all other purchases will be also attributed to you.

As you can imagine, Clickfunnels experts are the top sales funnel builders in the World.

Good for them… and for YOU!!!

Once you get a referral through the door, which you can do for as low as a Free book where they only pay shipping, they’ll be sent through CF’s master funnels (including email funnels).

If in any of these, your referral buys one of their products or starts using the software, that’s your commission too!

Clickfunnels is an incredible software and once you get to know it and use it, start watching some of Russell’s videos and entering the Funnel Hacker’s community, you’ll surely feel like you’re a part of something important and will want to stay for life.

Your job as an affiliate is to bring the person in, enough to fall in love with the software and its perks, and of course the mission. Then, you’ll make passive commissions forever!

Tier 2 Commissions and Affiliate Incentives

I didn’t mention this before but Clickfunnels also pays a 2nd tier commission of 5%.

Another genius move of Russell Brunson’s inspired in Network Marketing.

With this in mind, you have an extra incentive to help your referrals succeed, and when they succeed they stick around, and you continue to get those monthly commissions. This leads to that extra reward of 5% for everything your referral promotes successfully!

But the most famous incentive and what attracts most amount affiliates is the Dream Car.

Once you refer 100 new Clickfunnels users, they’ll pay you up to $500 per month of your dream car lease (this can also be your current car payment), and this goes up to $1000 once you reach the 200 mark.

All of this, of course, on top of your affiliate commissions, which with 100 referrals would be at least (likely more) $3,880 / month.

The Two Comma Club Award

After he saw a marketer make over $1,000,000 in a day, Russell got inspired to start thinking big and growing his company.

This became such an important milestone for him that he decided to create the Two Comma Club Award for Clickfunnels users. This means that for every funnel that produces over $1,000,000, the creator of that funnel will receive an award.

I’ll let you listen to the story told by Russell himself, it’s inspiring!

How Can YOU Win a Dream Car and Join the Two Comma Club?

To become a Clickfunnels affiliate, all you have to do is create a free trial account.

Promoting Clickfunnels is actually easy. They give you most of the tools you need, trainings, etc.

But in order to become a Super Affiliate, win prizes like the Dream Car and make an incredible passive income, you need to go one or two steps further than just promoting it.

You see, Clickfunnels is a software and as easy as it might be to use, it still has a learning curve. And building profitable funnels is not that straight forward.

What most, if not all, Super Affiliates do is help their referrals learn to use the software. They create courses and support and most of the times give them away for free. Once they become highly successful, they make better courses and start selling them.

If you’d like to see how they do this, have a look at this free training from one of Clickfunnels’ top affiliates, and amazing coach (the best I know), Frank Hatchet.

CLICK FOR ACCESS TO FREE TRAINING + FREE FUNNEL

A Done-for-You Clickfunnels Promotion Funnel and Step-by-Step Formula

Since I started learning about digital marketing and how easy it can be to succeed online by following the right path, I became inspired to help others avoid the mistakes I made and started creating and leveraging tools to help people like you acquire financial freedom through online entrepreneurship.

After years of hard work and learning the ins and outs of affiliate marketing, I created a system that could be leveraged to build any business online and start earning in as little as a few days without any previous experience or knowledge.

A marketer called Frank Hatchet has now built an even easier system which I am giving you access to. This is the easiest and fastest way ever to start promoting Clickfunnels.

This done-for-you funnel will not only promote Clickfunnels for you but will show you how to find the people who are interested in using and promoting it themselves.

You can have this set up in as little as 30 minutes following the video tutorials included and start getting your own referrals with no extra work in the next couple of days.

But keep in mind what I mentioned earlier, promoting Clickfunnels is not profitable unless your referrals receive the support they need and have a good reason to continue using it.

What better reason than them becoming affiliates themselves? That’s what happens when you use your copy of this funnel.

You will then gain access to my community of honest entrepreneurs and my free training to help you build and grow your affiliate business to levels you haven’t even dreamed of.

You can also send your referrals to this community to help them learn and grow their own businesses or create your own community.

If you’re ready to become a Clickfunnels Super Affiliate, grab this FREE funnel right now and don’t hesitate to ask for help anytime. You’ll find all the support you need when you join our community (access inside).

CLICK TO GET YOUR DONE FOR YOU FUNNEL NOW!

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vicekings · 8 years

Text

Blind Eye Blaze

Brynden/Ben fic i promised lol. ~1750 words, nothing really explicit about it.

if you’ve got eye issues and struggle with reading it on my theme, here’s a link to the google doc copy of it

dunno if im gonna put it on ao3 yet we’ll see.

note: bryn’s just gonna be referred to as the Playa for most of the fic, but it is 100% bryn lol. takes place during sr1 after Ben is rescued from the VK coup and up until the boat explosion.

The “Playa’s” apartment was comfortable, if not exactly homey. It was quiet most of the time, with the owner absent and Ben left alone. It felt much more like an abandoned military outpost than an apartment. The place felt… empty.

Ben vaguely wondered how the Playa trusted him purely on Julius’s word (if he even did trust him, really) enough to leave him alone in the apartment. Trusted him enough to let Ben take his bed and sleep on the couch instead, at least. Trusted him not to leave, as the lock on the door had been broken long before Ben took up residency and remained broken even now. The Playa didn't have much in the apartment worth stealing, he supposed.

He supposed, and didn't complain. The Playa made him breakfast. The Playa made sure the bathroom door locked. The Playa gave him his space. The Playa brought back takeout and didn't interrupt him.

He was good.

“The best friend I've had in long damn while.” Ben had said over lukewarm chicken fried rice one evening.

“And I don't even know your goddamn name.”

The Playa smirked and cocked his head aside, silver eyes twinkling in the dim light. As per usual, he offered no reply. He poked at his food.

---

Ben found the Playa’s leftovers in the fridge the next morning; barely touched. The styrofoam box sat right beside the almost-empty bottle of scotch. On the shelf above sat Ben’s lunch, with a note from the playa in deceptively elegant script, asking him to put the clothes in the wash and letting him know that the “lift” was out. There was money on the counter for Ben to buy pizza with. If he wanted delivery, he'd have to go downstairs and pick it up.

Judging from the increasing cracks in the windows and the Playa’s already proven cooking proficiency, Ben figured the money could be better used on other things.

He bought pizza anyways. They shared it over the last dregs of scotch and shitty beer.

“If you didn't waste cash on pizza and booze, you might be able to afford to fix those windows.” Ben said casually, just barely watching the shitty hallmark movie on the old box TV.

The Playa snorted.

The woman in the movie grew visibly angry. “This is not a home!” She snapped. “This is not my home!” Her fiery red hair was whipped around by the fierce winds of winter.

Ben didn't quite know why, but he chuckled. The Playa did too.

“Her dye job is almost as bad as yours.” Ben laughed.

Something sparked in the Playa's eyes. It almost looked like fear. The glimmer of it lasted a breath, then left as fast as it had come. Had Ben been looking, he might've noticed. When he finally did look up, the Playa had pulled his hood up over his greasy black locks. Ben stomped down the whim to ask him when the last time he had showered was.

---

The Playa showered the next day, though Ben suspected he wouldn't have if not for the sudden and overwhelming smell of gasoline and rotting fish that lingered on him and his clothing. When the playa emerged from the bathroom, wrapped only in a towel, his greasy black hair had changed back to a blood red. So blood red that Ben had felt a brief moment of panic smack into him like a train at the sight of it. Only when the Playa shook out his shaggy mop of hair did Ben feel his heart rate drift back to normal.

“You'll need a new dye kit.” Ben observed.

The Playa glanced up at him with the eyes of a kicked puppy and then nodded cautiously.

“Relax, Lisbeth Salander. I won't tell anyone your dirty little secret.” Ben chuckled.

The Playa cracked a smile, and pointed towards the first aid kit on the counter. Ben handed it over, noticing the gash on the Playa’s stomach for the first time as he did so.

---

If Julius was going to send Ben to the doghouse for weeks over a little bullet wound, then of course it made sense he'd send the Playa back too for the knife wound. Ben never considered that the Playa might've made the choice on his own. This was, after all, the man who had taken on a daredevil mission to save a gang leader with only a motorbike and a handgun. He had to be advised once in awhile.

While the Playa was in the bathroom re-dyeing his hair, his cell phone lit up with a text.

Julius: Where are you?

Five minutes later, the Playa’s cell phone rang. Ben picked up.

“He's recovering, Jules. Give him a day. Yeah, knife wound, I think. He's fine. I'll let him know you called.”

This was also the man who had thrown him on Johnny Gat’s desk and successfully patched him up on his own, no hospital required. Perhaps he didn't need advice after all.

---

Ben's newest friendship was built on beer and shitty Hallmark movies. He supposed there were worse ways to make friends. He supposed that spicing things up and watching melodramatic hospital shows with his new friend counted as developing their relationship. For two days while the Playa rested, that’s all the two of them did.

That's all Ben did.

The Playa read, mostly when Ben was asleep. Ben wasn't sure the Playa slept at all, but then again Ben wasn't sure about much when it came to the Playa. What he did know was that when he woke up, the bookmark had gotten closer to the end of the novel.

When the Playa left again, his copy of Dorian Gray was tucked neatly on the DVD shelf filled mostly with other tattered books.

---

Ben woke up shaking. He hadn't done that in a long time. As he caught his breath, the warm hand against his back almost made him lose it again.

The Playa looked him with concern in his eyes. “We can start tomorrow.” He said, in the gravelly tone that was rarely heard and barely sounded right on his tongue. “You've healed up enough.”

“What about you?” Ben asked, still shuddering.

Snorting, the Playa shrugged. He offered up the glass of water from the end table.

---

On the last night Ben spent at the Playa’s apartment, they had homemade pasta and cheap boxed wine. Ben went to bed early, only feeling slightly guilty that he had displaced the Playa from his bed for three weeks.

With the sound of spraying water from the shower came the rise of a soft voice. At 2:01 in the morning, unable to sleep and sparking with nerves, Ben pondered the irony of a man who never spoke but sounded like an absolute angel when he sang.

---

Standing at the shattered glass and looking down, Ben felt a sigh settle in his soul. With Tanya fell his empire. With his car Kingdom Come burned.

The Playa placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. Ben always forgot how tall he was until the Playa stood directly behind him, at perfect height for Ben to tuck his head against his collarbone. Ben stepped away, and fished his keys from his pocket.

“I don't have much use for it now. Get her patched up, send her to the dump, I don't really give a damn.” Ben shrugged. “Thanks, Playa. For everything.”

“I'll get her fixed.” The Playa replied, the gravelly wrong-voice dropped and replaced with a distinctly smoother and much more Irish voice.

“And it’s Brynden. The name.”

Ben paused until the silence between them became as awkward as a middle school dance.

“... What the fuck kind of name is Brynden?”

The Playa’s silver eyes glinted with the reflection of the fire. He offered a grin. “‘S my name.” He said.

“... Oh.”

“And-” the Pl- Brynden dug into his jean pockets and pulled out his own key. “Something in return. In case you ever need to lay low again. Don't be a stranger.”

Ben cocked his head aside. “So now you get the lock fixed?”

Brynden shrugged. “Until it breaks again. Best of luck to ya, Mr King. It was a pleasure.”

He trotted off into the night, carrying himself much more regally than usually.

---

No one else knew his name. The papers called him a gang member. The ladies at the coffee shop called him “a handsome devil, likely not so much though after that.” Ben called him Brynden, and Brynden was as good as dead.

Ben choked on his coffee and spat it out against the paper. He had to toss it out and nab a new one. A new one confirming he hadn't been seeing things. There on the front cover, a story that froze Ben to the core.

Alderman Hughes Dead In Tragic Boat Accident. Full story on page 4.

Brynden was a second thought, a barely mentioned nobody who died and was in critical care in the Stilwater Prison. He was the probable perpetrator, caught in his own plot.

But his grainy little picture, said to have come from a “friend” showed unmistakable silver eyes and a trademark horrendous dye job.

Ben threw the newspaper in the nearest trash bin.

---

The Playa's apartment sat as still as it had in all the time Ben had stayed there; the eerie quiet of the rooms even more noticeable with the lack of the Playa’s presence.

The lack of Brynden’s presence.

Ben exhaled shakily and sat back on the worn leather couch. He shook his head and took in the empty living room, ran his eyes over the box TV and the cracks in the walls and the books-

One was missing from the shelf. The others had slipped down in its absence. Ben found the missing text in the kitchenette, bookmarked and already gathering dust.

On the bookmarked page, a passage from a poem was highlighted in neon yellow.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on that sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

#my fics #my writing #kate writes #brynben #brynden stark #benjamin king #sr brynden #sr #saints row #sr1

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samuelpboswell · 5 years

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Less Is More: Time to Cut Content Bloat & Create Content Connections

When it comes to the craft of writing, my favorite luminary is the late William Zinsser. His book, On Writing Well, is — in my opinion — the definitive work covering its stated subject. On Writing Well is an essential read for anyone who wants to elevate their prose. Zinsser’s primary focal area is word economy. “Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly,” he implores. “Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work?” That last question is especially pertinent to B2B marketing writers. The reader should always be our top concern when penning copy, but in this case, the stakes are even higher. Attention is at a premium with business professionals, so wasted words are especially costly. Content bloat leads to audience abandonment.

via GIPHY In the spirit of Mr. Zinsser, we’re offering up tips on trimming down your writing to make it more punchy and concise. And to do so, we’ll curate advice from top wordsmiths in the marketing game, with a key emphasis on overcoming the most prevalent pitfalls for today’s content creators.

3 Keys to Concise and Compelling B2B Marketing Copy

Rigid formats, giant blocks of text, and unnecessary filler words are banes of succinct writing. Here are some pointers from the experts on conquering them.

#1 - Nix Stringent Word Counts

So many writers are at the mercy of word counts, and it’s a tragedy. We’re told we need to produce at least 1,500 words, so we inject a bunch of unnecessary filler to get there. Does this serve our audience in any way? Hell no. The conundrum is that numerous studies show higher word counts correlating with higher SERP placements. However, this is misguided thinking. Long-form content is fantastic and it’s certainly part of our mix here at TopRank Marketing, but it needs to be valuable. Don’t take my word for it; here’s what Rand Fishkin — co-founder of Moz, and one of the planet’s top authorities on SEO — has to say: “700 more words will not help you reach your goals any more than 7 more words. Create content that helps people. Do it efficiently. Never write an ultimate guide where a single image could more powerfully convey the same value. Trust me; your audience and your bottom line will thank you.” [bctt tweet="700 more words will not help you reach your goals any more than 7 more words. Create content that helps people. Do it efficiently. @randfish" username="toprank"] According to SEMrush’s hierarchy of ranking factors, content length falls below time on site, pages per session, bounce rate, and backlinks in SEO importance. In other words, if excessive wordiness is turning readers away, the number doesn’t really matter all that much. Delivering a quality experience is vastly more valuable. To see what high-performing short-form content looks like in action, check out these examples from IFL Science, courtesy of BuzzSumo.

#2 - Use Every Bit of Space Intentionally

It might not be a writer’s first instinct, but visualization is a helpful practice. Take a step back and look at your content — how it really appears on the page. Are you making the best use of your digital real estate? Ann Handley suggests we take a page from the lead character in Charlotte’s Web, who she says might be the best content marketer in the world: “Think of how Charlotte was able to save a life with just [a few] words,” Handley said during a session at Content Marketing World a couple years back, as relayed by our own Caitlin Burgess. “How can we use our words more intentionally? How can we make a difference?” [bctt tweet="How can we use our words more intentionally? How can we make a difference? @annhandley @MarketingProfs" username="toprank"] Think of each page on the worldwide web as a finite spider web. You only have so much space, and so much thread, to get your points across. Make it count. You might not be saving the life of a radiant pig, but you will be more likely to delight and connect with your audience.

#3 - Banish Buzzword Banality

To celebrate the NCAA Tournament earlier this year, our friends and clients at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions* put together a lighthearted marketing madness bracket, calling out the most overused jargon in the profession. If you find yourself leaning too heavily on any terms listed there, you might want to rethink. It’s not just marketing buzzwords that drag down our copy, though. Content Marketing Institute (CMI)* recently published a rundown of 25 words and phrases to avoid. “Stuffing your sentences and paragraphs with filler and fluff — words and phrases that add zero meaning to what you’re trying to say — is the opposite of clear writing,” author Julia McCoy writes. Many of the items she includes are extremely common, and the types you’re likely to summon out of sheer habit and routine. For instance:

In order to

Really

That

Then

Just

They seem harmless on the surface, barely taking up space. But this is exactly what makes them so insidious. Most often, you can make the exact same point while deleting these words, and you’ll provide a much more crisp and efficient experience for the person on the other end. Here’s an example: In order to write great copy, you’ll really want to avoid using words that you don’t need. If your goal is to be efficient, then it’s just the best choice. We can pare that down to: To write great copy, you’ll want to avoid using words you don’t need. If your goal is to be efficient, it’s the best choice. Six words removed, zero substance lost. Over the long haul, you’ll save readers a lot of time — and keep them more engaged — by adhering to this mindset.

Writing Well (Usually) Means Writing Less

To be clear, long-form writing isn’t always unnecessarily drawn out. In many cases, exploring the full breadth of a subject requires it. Recently I wrote about the example of Backlinko’s Brian Dean, who puts together massive power pages spanning thousands of words. These posts rank and perform so well not because of their word counts, but because of what those words accomplish: they comprehensively break down important topics and provide credibility-building best-answer content for his audience. If you scan through one of these pages, you’ll find the copy is actually quite sparse in its arrangement, divvied into small chunks and broken up by plenty of visuals.

The Final Word

Forget word counts — maximum or minimum. Write as much as it takes to deliver a satisfying best answer, and no more.

Be mindful of space on the page. Keeping in mind that a majority of users don’t make it very far into online articles, consider leading with your most critical points, or even offering a brief summary atop each new piece of content.

And before you hit publish, challenge yourself to delete every single word throughout that isn’t tied to a specific, tangible purpose. You might even consider printing out the jargon lists from LinkedIn and CMI as references for your cleaning.

The three guiding principles above might sound simple, but they don’t come naturally to even the most seasoned writers. And overthinking word economy during the drafting process can badly hamper creativity and productivity. Focus first on getting your thoughts on the page, clearly and coherently. Later, you can go back and — as Zinsser puts it — prune ruthlessly. “Writing is hard work,” says Zinsser. “A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.” Indeed it is. But in the immortal words of Jeff Bezos, “You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” You also earn trust, authority, and — ultimately — business. So, grab your shears and let’s get to work. Pruning and optimizing your content can happen post-launch, too. Check out our piece on why refreshing existing content is great for your audience and results. * Disclosure: LinkedIn and CMI are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post Less Is More: Time to Cut Content Bloat & Create Content Connections appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/05/writing-concise-compelling-b2b-content/

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oblivionspeakk · 6 years

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Never Mess With SEO 2019 And Here's The Reasons Why

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Stop thinking in terms associated with SEO vs. content marketing” plus start exploring how well these people perform together. (Give it a try tone of voice search using OK Google through your cell phone and inquire "What Is BlowFish SEO" ) When all remains as it will be, Google will read out loud just about all about my company in the short to the point method, These cards are formatted in order to fit the screen of your own cell with no scrolling upward or down. Although SEO is really the time-consuming process but believes me personally, if you work well along with dedication and trendy techniques, the particular combined results of on-page plus off-page SEO holds you upon the top with rank #1 for a specific search outcome. Fairly lately, I've seen a resurgence associated with on-page SEO factors making the difference searching engine rankings. Search engine marketing (SEO) will be the process of influencing the online visibility of the particular website or a web web page in a web search motor 's unpaid results—often known because "natural", " organic ", or even "earned" results. Seo (SEO) is a procedure of improving positions in natural (non-paid) search results searching motors. Additional SEO ranking factors include: available URLs, domain age (older is usually usually better), page speed, cellular friendliness, business information, and specialized SEO. Your own search engine optimization strategy can become divided into two different classes: on-page SEO and off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. While you familiarize yourself with this local community, you will inevitably stumble your own way onto the websites associated with SEO Gurus” selling courses that will teach you SEO for hundreds of dollars. Expert SEO writers can also make use of modifiers and keyword variations in order to further optimize the content. Inside a lot associated with cases, this happens as the consequence of non-ethical SEO particularly buying and selling links which usually could get you up the particular Google ‘adder' quickly. Content is definitely key but content alone is definitely no longer king; content, circumstance, and relevance will drive overall performance of content and digital marketing and advertising, and SEO is part yet not full parcel. Ultimate WordPress SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Guide for Beginners (Step simply by Step) — 28% of sites on the internet use Wp. SEO is frequently abused as a blanket term intended for digital marketing. This particular means that SEOs spend the lot of time working upon getting links in a procedure called link building Link-building techniques can range from simply asking for a link to writing the guest post - and presently there are many others. Basically, SEO plans the keywords that will are to be delivered plus content provides them. So, when you are considering about applying SEO in the particular broad sense, you need in order to channelize its technical specifications by means of content marketing. In 2019, you can wager that White Hat SEO can have separated itself even more from Black Hat SEO, plus that above all else, offering quality content will be the particular most important factor for companies ranking in search. The outcomes are not instant, you can use the time on attempting other Internet marketing techniques whilst SEO would go to function. The third major SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking signal is Google's synthetic intelligence search ranking algorithm. Sometimes SEO is definitely simply a matter of producing sure your site is organised in a way that lookup engines like google understand. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION involves a number of changes towards the HTML of person Web pages to attain a higher search engine ranking. As a result associated with technological advancement, SEO is in order to undergo more drastic changes, plus the two latest technologies that will are expected to influence SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION to some very great degree are AI (Artificial Intelligence) plus Voice Search.

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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TALLAHASSEE – In a move that has been reported to federal prosecutors, a Democratic party official directed staffers and volunteers to share altered election forms with voters a day after the midterm election that left two major races too close to call.

The altered forms surfaced in Broward, Santa Rosa, Citrus and Okaloosa counties, and were referred to federal investigators as possible election fraud, as Florida counties complete a required recount in the races for governor and the U.S. Senate.

But the USA TODAY Network obtained a Nov. 7 email from Jennifer Kim, the party’s central Florida deputy field director, that shows Florida Democrats were organizing a broader, statewide effort beyond those counties to give voters the altered forms.

The form is an affidavit – known as a “cure affidavit” – to fix signature problems on absentee ballots. The unaltered affidavits instruct the voter that it must be mailed in time for election supervisors to get it by 5 p.m. on Nov. 5. Democratic party leaders provided staffers with copies that had been modified to include an inaccurate Nov. 8 deadline.

(View the unaltered form here.)

One Palm Beach Democrat said in an interview the idea was to have voters fix and submit as many absentee ballots as possible with the altered forms in hopes of later including them in vote totals if a judge ruled such ballots were allowed.

U.S. Chief Judge Mark Walker ruled Thursday that voters should have until Saturday to correct signatures on ballots, a move that could open the door for these ballots returned with altered forms to be counted. Gov. Rick Scott, who leads Nelson by less than 13,000 votes in the recount, will appeal the ruling, his campaign said shortly after the judge issued the order.

The Democratic Party email was sent before U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and his party allies filed a series of lawsuits challenging some voting rules that applied during the election, claiming they disenfranchised voters.

The recount began 5 p.m. Saturday in Palm Beach County. Mary Helen Moore, [email protected]

A recount is also underway in the race state agriculture commissioner.

Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Penalosa did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment about the use of the altered forms.

The party compiled a list of voters across the state who had their vote-by-mail ballots ruled ineligible because of signature problems.

“These are people that submitted VBMs before Election Day and did not sign them properly,” wrote Kim, who also served as deputy training director, in the Nov. 7 email to party staffers and volunteers.

It is not clear how many altered forms were sent across the state, but Kim’s email outlined a step-by-step process for volunteers and staffers to follow in order to get as many voters as possible to submit the altered form three days after the deadline.

“The voters MUST print out the form and sign it by hand,” Kim wrote in the email that attached copies of the altered forms in both English and Spanish. The email also included a sheet with the contact information of all election supervisors in the state.

Among those Democrats on Kim’s email was Joe Walters of Brandon, listed by the Nelson campaign as a recount contact.

Kim was clear that staffers should target people who submitted absentee vote-by-mail ballots before Election Day and did not sign them properly. Her email subject line said “VBM signature cure instructions” and labeled the list of voters to be contacted as “VBM signature chases.”

That same day, however, state Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo wrote on a private Facebook page that efforts to fix ballots should be focused on provisional ballots, which were handled separately with a Nov. 8 deadline for voters to fix any issues.

“Hi all. Once again, to clarify: the activity taking place today is for provisional ballots. Not absentee ballots,” Rizzo’s note read.

Provisional ballots do not need to be corrected to be accepted by a county’s canvassing board, but voters can provide additional information to help resolve any outstanding issues. They also use a separate state form for voters to complete when filing a provisional ballot.

Kim’s email instructed staff and volunteers to contact voters about their signature problems on the absentee ballots, to complete the form on the phone with the voter and to email the completed form to the voter.

The voter was instructed to print the form and to sign it. Kim’s email instructed the party workers to tell voters to deliver the signed form to their local election office.

Kim told staffers that voters should reply back to them after they delivered the forms at the party’s email, [email protected]. That email was also included in documents Florida election officials referred to federal prosecutors in connection to the altered forms received by Broward and the other three counties.

The recounting of Senate and gubernatorial ballots is underway in Florida’s second most-populous county after it fixed problems with its machines. (Nov. 11) AP

“If needed (party) staff or volunteer should go pick up their affidavit and deliver it for them if they are not able to deliver by 5 p.m. Thursday. (Each office should identify a runner that can do this.),” her email states.

“We will also follow with a tracking system for people who we send affidavits,” Kim told staffers.

Pam Keith, a Palm Beach County Democrat, came under fire Wednesday after Republicans circulated a screenshot of a Nov. 7 deleted tweet she sent to about 22,000 of her Twitter followers, encouraging people to submit forms to fix their absentee ballots two days after the state-mandated deadline.

She then directed people to email Katharine Priegues, a field organizer with the Florida Democratic Party, with the subject line “I want to help” for instructions on what to do.

Keith told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida that she was aware the deadline to submit those forms had expired, even though she was telling them there was still time to fix their absentee ballots.

“I was trying to show that if given notice, voters would try to fix their ballots,” Keith said. “I was putting the word out because I was anticipating a challenge of that deadline (in court).”

Keith knew that because the deadline had passed, it was almost guaranteed forms submitted by voters on Nov. 8 would be rejected by election supervisors, who were under “no obligation to accept the affidavits.”

“But better to have evidence in hand,” Keith said.

That evidence would be a record of emails sent by voters who wanted to fix their absentee ballots but couldn’t do so because they couldn’t meet the state-imposed deadline.

She said she doesn’t consider what she was doing election fraud.

“It is not fraud to try and correct something. There’s nothing fraudulent about that,” she said.

After Walker’s ruling to allow voters more time to fix signature problems on absentee ballots, Keith said the actions that she and other Democrats took to help voters with the altered forms were justified.

“The deadline wasn’t ‘wrong,’ per se. It was functionally meaningless and arbitrary,” Keith said. “Most people never get notice, and many ballots weren’t even looked at until the deadline had passed.”

The Department of State, which oversees elections, raised concerns about the altered forms, arguing that making changes to state forms is a criminal offense in Florida. The forms were forwarded on Friday to federal prosecutors.

Federal law defines election fraud to include preventing voters from participating in a federal election “through such tactics as disseminating false information” about the race, as outlined in an Oct. 25 letter to Florida’s state department by Assistant U.S. Attorney Harry C. Wallace in Miami.

Wallace, who is handling federal election complaints in Florida, declined to comment Wednesday when contacted about an investigation into the altered forms.

“Making or using an altered form is a criminal offense under Florida law,” wrote Bradley McVay, the state department’s lawyer, when he referred the altered forms circulated in Broward and three other counties to federal prosecutors.

“More fundamentally, altering a form in a manner that provides the incorrect date for a voter to cure a defect (or an incorrect method as it related to provisional ballots) imposes a burden on the voter significant enough to frustrate the voter’s ability to vote,” he said.

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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onlinemarketingcourses · 6 years

Text

How to Make Extraordinary Amounts of Money with Google Adsense

WHAT IS ADSENSE AND HOW CAN I MAKE MONEY FROM IT?

Before looking at AdSense, I feel that it is necessary to give a brief description of pay per click advertising. The biggest and most powerful ppc system is called Google AdWords.

AdWords

You will have seen AdWords in action before. They are those little text ads that appear down the right hand side of Google’s search results. They are an amazingly powerful method of advertising. The ads you see are 100% related to the keywords that you type into a search. This means, that as an AdWords advertiser you are capable of displaying your ads in front of an audience that is already interested in your products or services. Never before have businesses been able to conduct their advertising in such a highly targeted manner.

If your internet company rented holiday properties in Spain for example, you could set up your AdWords ads to appear ONLY when someone typed in keywords like “Spanish, Spain, holiday, rental, villas, apartments, properties etc.”

Of course, this all comes at a price. As an advertiser, you have to pay Google every time somebody clicks on one of your ads. Not knowing how to cost their system, the geniuses at Google came up with the idea of letting their advertisers bid against each other for the value of their chosen keywords.

This means, that if I wanted my ad to be displayed the most often when someone types the key phrase “Spanish holidays” into Google, I would have to out bid the advertiser who currently comes top of the list for this key phrase.

The Internet has matured as a result of ppc advertising. The embarrassing days of the Dot Coms are well and truly behind us. The value of online businesses can now be measured because ppc advertising is a dynamic system that reflects real-world supply and demand.

With ppc advertising, Google has enabled small online businesses to flourish, whilst making tens of billions for themselves.

AdSense

With their follow up program AdSense, Google created an opportunity for everybody to get a share in this lucrative market.

AdSense is an extension of the AdWords program that allows any website owner to place AdWords ads on their site. However, the difference in this system lies in the fact that the ads displayed come not from search phrases, but from the content of your site.

As an AdSense user, Google gives you a piece of JavaScript that has your unique id embedded within it. This enables them to track the performance of the ads on your site. You simply paste this code into the html of your website.

Then, when someone views your site, the JavaScript automatically fetches ads from the Google server and places them on your page. Google does this with its advanced content recognition technology. This technology is so clever, that it knows which country you are viewing a site from. It then places country specific ads accordingly. For example, if you had a site about fly-fishing, people viewing your site in Australia would see ads for Australian fishing tackle retailers, and in the USA people would see ads for American retailers.

When someone clicks on one of your ads, Google charges the advertiser. Google then takes a cut of the money and gives the rest to you. Although Google won’t disclose any details about their payout ratio, it is rumored that they take 32% and you get 68%.

Before you start thinking: why don’t I just click on my ads all day long and make loads of money? Google has thought of this and takes click fraud very seriously. They want their advertising system to work. They can tell if you have been committing click fraud and will bar you from AdSense FOR EVER!

Making serious money

99% of AdSense users make next to nothing. They stick the code onto their website and sit back. When the money doesn’t appear they think the system is useless. This is good for us, because those in the know can make extraordinary amounts of legitimate, Google approved money.

• The key lies in finding a niche market and creating a content rich, topical site within this market. You then fill the content of your site with high paying keywords.

• Next, through good search engine optimization and advanced inbound linking strategies, you build a high and constant flow of traffic to your site.

• Then, only after you have taken steps one and two, do you place the AdSense code into your site. You add the JavaScript whilst employing certain techniques that make the ads look more attractive. This will encourage more of your website’s visitors to click on the ads.

This strategy, coupled with careful tracking of ad performance, will guarantee that you are making serious amounts of money with Google AdSense.

If you want to be amongst the 1% of high earners make sure that you follow The AdSense Mint course step-by-step!

Visit [https://ift.tt/2vL4v8m] to get the free copy of The AdSense Mint Course

NN Online Marketing Courses

Reference source : How to Make Extraordinary Amounts of Money with Google Adsense Home NN Online Marketing Courses

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tainghekhongdaycomvn · 6 years

Text

Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts

Posted by DarrenKingman

Link reclamation: Tools, tools everywhere

Aside from the effort-to-return ratio, there are various other benefits to link reclamation:

It’s something you can start right away without assets

It’s a low risk/low investment form of link building

Nearly all brands have unlinked mentions, but big brands tend to have the most and therefore see the biggest routine returns

If you’re doing this for clients, they get to see an instant return on their investment

Finding mentions

Firstly, we want to find mentions. No point getting too fancy at this stage, so we just head over to trusty Google and search for the range of mentions we’re working on.

So, we head to the almighty Google and start our searches.

Filtering your URL list

Now we’ve got a bunch of URLs, we want to do a little filtering, so we know a) the DA of these domains as a proxy metric to qualify mentions, and b) whether or not they already link to us.

Using BuzzStream

Next, we need to get your list of URLs imported. In the Websites view, use Add Websites and select "Add from List of URLs":

The next steps are really easy: Upload your list of URLs, then ensure you select "Websites and Links" because we want BuzzStream to retrieve the link data for us.

Using URL Profiler

And there’s my list of URLs that we now know:

1) don’t have any links to our target domain,

2) have a reference to the domain we’re working on, and

3) boast a DA above 40.

Qualify your list

Now that you’ve got a list of URLs that fit your criteria, we need to do a little manual qualification. But, we’re going to use some trusty tools to make it easy for us!

When we see something like this (below), we’re making sure to add this URL to our final outreach list:

Getting email addresses

Author page

Author’s personal website

Author’s Twitter profile

Rapportive & Email Permutator

Allmytweets

Journalisted.com

Mail Tester

It’s likely to be a combination of these tools that helps you navigate finding a contact’s email address. Once we have it, we need to get in touch — at scale!

Making contact

Mail merges

If using BuzzStream

Thanks everyone!

bạn xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mXjlRS Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts https://ift.tt/2JMNfUX xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts https://ift.tt/2JMNfUX xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts https://ift.tt/2JMNfUX xem thêm tại: https://ift.tt/2mb4VST để biết thêm về địa chỉ bán tai nghe không dây giá rẻ Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts https://ift.tt/2JMNfUX Bạn có thể xem thêm địa chỉ mua tai nghe không dây tại đây https://ift.tt/2mb4VST

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tracisimpson · 6 years

Text

Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts

Posted by DarrenKingman

Link reclamation: Tools, tools everywhere

Aside from the effort-to-return ratio, there are various other benefits to link reclamation:

It’s something you can start right away without assets

It’s a low risk/low investment form of link building

Nearly all brands have unlinked mentions, but big brands tend to have the most and therefore see the biggest routine returns

If you’re doing this for clients, they get to see an instant return on their investment

Finding mentions

Firstly, we want to find mentions. No point getting too fancy at this stage, so we just head over to trusty Google and search for the range of mentions we’re working on.

So, we head to the almighty Google and start our searches.

Filtering your URL list

Now we’ve got a bunch of URLs, we want to do a little filtering, so we know a) the DA of these domains as a proxy metric to qualify mentions, and b) whether or not they already link to us.

Using BuzzStream

Next, we need to get your list of URLs imported. In the Websites view, use Add Websites and select "Add from List of URLs":

The next steps are really easy: Upload your list of URLs, then ensure you select "Websites and Links" because we want BuzzStream to retrieve the link data for us.

Using URL Profiler

And there’s my list of URLs that we now know:

1) don’t have any links to our target domain,

2) have a reference to the domain we’re working on, and

3) boast a DA above 40.

Qualify your list

Now that you’ve got a list of URLs that fit your criteria, we need to do a little manual qualification. But, we’re going to use some trusty tools to make it easy for us!

When we see something like this (below), we’re making sure to add this URL to our final outreach list:

Getting email addresses

Author page

Author’s personal website

Author’s Twitter profile

Rapportive & Email Permutator

Allmytweets

Journalisted.com

Mail Tester

It’s likely to be a combination of these tools that helps you navigate finding a contact’s email address. Once we have it, we need to get in touch — at scale!

Making contact

Mail merges

If using BuzzStream

Thanks everyone!

#The Moz Blog Blogger

0 notes

lawrenceseitz22 · 6 years

Text

Efficient Link Reclamation: How to Speed Up & Scale Your Efforts

Posted by DarrenKingman

Link reclamation: Tools, tools everywhere

Aside from the effort-to-return ratio, there are various other benefits to link reclamation:

It’s something you can start right away without assets

It’s a low risk/low investment form of link building

Nearly all brands have unlinked mentions, but big brands tend to have the most and therefore see the biggest routine returns

If you’re doing this for clients, they get to see an instant return on their investment

Finding mentions

Firstly, we want to find mentions. No point getting too fancy at this stage, so we just head over to trusty Google and search for the range of mentions we’re working on.

So, we head to the almighty Google and start our searches.

Filtering your URL list

Now we’ve got a bunch of URLs, we want to do a little filtering, so we know a) the DA of these domains as a proxy metric to qualify mentions, and b) whether or not they already link to us.

Using BuzzStream

Next, we need to get your list of URLs imported. In the Websites view, use Add Websites and select "Add from List of URLs":

The next steps are really easy: Upload your list of URLs, then ensure you select "Websites and Links" because we want BuzzStream to retrieve the link data for us.

Using URL Profiler

And there’s my list of URLs that we now know:

1) don’t have any links to our target domain,

2) have a reference to the domain we’re working on, and

3) boast a DA above 40.

Qualify your list

Now that you’ve got a list of URLs that fit your criteria, we need to do a little manual qualification. But, we’re going to use some trusty tools to make it easy for us!

When we see something like this (below), we’re making sure to add this URL to our final outreach list:

Getting email addresses

Author page

Author’s personal website

Author’s Twitter profile

Rapportive & Email Permutator

Allmytweets

Journalisted.com

Mail Tester

It’s likely to be a combination of these tools that helps you navigate finding a contact’s email address. Once we have it, we need to get in touch — at scale!

Making contact

Mail merges

If using BuzzStream

Thanks everyone!

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2I9i1tM via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes