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Are there better ones?

‘BAD WORDS’

They’re called ‘bad words’ for a reason. The reason being there are better more intelligent words to be used in their place. The trouble is some of us say these words in anger or frustration as they roll off the tip of our tongue. I think if given a moment to think about it, most of us would think of a better word to use.

Today in some circles it seems to be the cool thing of the day to speak fluent ‘obscenity’. The thing is, outside that circle of citizenry many people still feel shock, dismay and disgust upon hearing such discourse.

Let’s face it most of these words have been spoken for centuries. Movies and now TV have desensitized us to such dialogue and young people tend to emulate those whom they idolize and venerate. In some cases that means a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend or rock singer.

I think for the most part we don’t always give much thought to our speech. We speak the way we speak. To a point that’s a good thing. None of us aspire to be ‘phonies’. But, if we endeavor to improve our physical being, our health, and our position in life without appearing to be ‘ingenuine’, then it follows that we can also improve our speech and vocabulary.

You might think, words are words who cares, but words have ramifications, consequences and they make impressions on others. Our words leave these impressions on young minds, as well. I believe most of us want to be a positive influence on the young minds around us and a positive impression on those whom we meet in our lives.

I am put off by profane language and it tends to influence my opinion of people in a negative way. That said, I have been known to slip into such language in anger, but always regret it and feel I have let myself down. Old habits die hard, but they can be changed.

C.B. Swartz

TAKING CONTROL OF OUR HEALTH

The information, questions, and thoughts which are shared here, are meant to make us think. The purpose is to create an awareness of the actions of drugs that are chemicals going into our bodies.

We need to use common sense. We may have symptoms which are “inconvenient”. We want relief, but at what price. It is perfectly understandable to want relief.

When we make the appointment with our doctor, we expect that they will provide a prescription for a drug to take away those symptoms. We know we will get it. We expect it. We feel it is the right answer.

There seems to be a trend of a lack of support or willingness to look at interactions or simply side effects of drugs (any kind).

Side effects such as hypotension seems to go unnoticed, and it seems no one is willing to explore this seriously. Hypotension, or low blood pressure, can create some real problems.

Most doctors are focused on lowering our blood pressure readings. This is often quite necessary, but let’s look at this a little differently. In this article, you will see a thread of problems associated with low blood pressure, plus the discussion of possible chemical results.

This could be hypertensive drugs, and other treatments as well. However, there are several ways that you can be in control of your own health decisions.

Definitions, signs, and symptoms of low blood pressure or Hypotension may be described as a condition without actual numbers, an abnormal condition in which blood pressure is not adequate for normal perfusion and oxygenation of the tissue. Hypotension (blood pressure below normal): may be indicated by a systolic pressure lower than ninety, or a pressure 25 mmHg lower than usual.

Low blood pressure is an abnormal condition where the pressure of the blood against the walls of the blood vessels during and after each beat of the heart is much lower than usual. This can cause low blood pressure symptoms such as dizziness or lightheadedness.

When the blood pressure is too low, there is inadequate blood flow to all parts of your body, including the heart, brain, and other vital organs. A blood pressure level that is borderline low for one person may be normal for another.

The key factor is how the blood pressure changes from the normal condition. Most normal blood pressures fall in the range of 90/60 mm Hg to 130/80 mm Hg, but a notable change, even as little as 20 mm Hg, can cause problems for some people.

“Within limits, the lower our blood pressure reading is, the better. In most people blood pressure isn’t too low until it causes symptoms such as lightheadedness or fainting.

In certain conditions or disease states, blood pressure can become too low, as in these examples:

  • certain nervous system disorders (orthostatic hypotension, autonomic failure)
  • endocrine disorders (parathyroid disease)
  • heart attack and heart failure
  • prolonged bed rest
  • fainting (syncope) (SIN’ko-pe)
  • decreases in blood volume due to severe bleeding (hemorrhage) or dehydration
  • effects of certain drugs
  • severe infections (sepsis), shock

Some people with low blood pressure are in peak physical condition with strong cardiovascular systems and a reduced risk of heart attack and stroke. For these people, low blood pressure, rather than being a cause for concern, is a cause for celebration.

But low blood pressure can also signal an underlying problem, especially when it drops suddenly or is accompanied by signs and symptoms such as:

  • dizziness or lightheadedness
  • fainting (syncope)
  • lack of concentration
  • blurred vision
  • nausea
  • cold, clammy, pale skin
  • thirst
  • shallow breathing
  • fatigue
  • depression

Hypertension, or High Blood Pressure – Just as you need to know the definitions of “hypotension”, you also need to know the definition of “hypertension”. Then you can understand the difference.

The medical term or prefix, “hyper”, means “over”. And the prefix “hypo” means “under”. The “over” and “under” values or numbers have already been decided by the medical community. Here we simply want to see if the “under” reading might need to be looked at a bit more closely as having such a low reading might not be in your best interest.

Hypertension exists if the systolic pressure (top number) is 140 or higher or the diastolic pressure (bottom number) is 90 or higher. Optimal blood pressure is less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic.

 Prescription drugs are often the underlying cause for your symptoms.

Not so much as the direct cause, but that the effect of low blood pressure could be the cause of so many other problems. Any chemicals coming into the body is seen by the body as a foreigner: unwanted. Thus, they could be subjected to the protective mechanism you always have, your immune system.

The medical world is always looking for signs (visible to others), but if you are dizzy, no one else would know. You don’t show any signs.

This is what happens with low blood pressure. You feel awful: completely drained, weak, and have no energy, but you look very normal. Some people are pale and feel cool. The only “sign” you can show is a blood pressure reading.

We sometimes question our medications but are assured that there couldn’t possibly be a problem. This sense of security lasts for a short while: until the symptoms show up again.

This is when common sense is used. When something is not right (we understand our bodies better than anyone else), we know it.

Now you go to a different source as the first one has already told you there could be no problem. Most people know when they feel differently, know it hasn’t always been like that and know they don’t want to continue in the same way. The Internet has changed many things, among them how people get medical information

Obviously, the medical community wants us to understand conditions. It even creates web sites around these terms. Unfortunately, not all medical practitioners welcome this enlightened state of their patients.

Diplomacy should be used when presenting any Internet information to the doctor, but we should not let it stop us from researching worthy help for our body.

The terms “health” and “wellness” in our North American culture, tends to mean our health needing to be repaired, and our wellness as something holistic, suspicious, and to be avoided at all costs. So traditional drugs win out, repeatedly. Health should be health and illness should be illness.

Recognize that drugs are always chemicals. Our purpose for going to seek medical help is to change the state of our being. And that is what doctors are trained to do. They offer or prescribe drugs and offer and perform surgery. And that is all about repair and chemicals to create a change: the one we are seeking.

Understand that what we might be looking for in help for our headache can also have an overall body affect. When we take something like a headache pill, we will be changing the entire make up of our body. This is called side effects. We see them as maybe not happening at all or having negligible effects. But that is often not the case.

Blood pressure medications are a good example. The main course of treatment for high blood pressure includes a diuretic. A low salt diet is also prescribed. The purpose of the diuretic is to draw off fluid.

If we follow this, and DO NOT have high blood pressure, it could now lead to potential problems, like an (unwanted) reduced blood pressure

If there are multiple drug groups all vying for space and actions in our body. These drugs may be not as effective as hoped, all the while causing their own problems.

By law, negative side effects must be listed and available to the consumer. When we have a prescription filled, we must read any listed side effects (aka, adverse reactions). If we don’t like those, or if we feel we already have some of those from maybe something else, it is too late to return the product.

 We need to do our research for side effects before we buy it.

What is not so easily figured out is the interrelation of the drugs we are on. They would be called interactions.

If we use two or more drugs at the same time, the way our body processes each drug can change. When this happens, the risk of side effects from each drug increases and each drug may not work the way it should.

This is called a drug-drug interaction. Vitamins and herbal supplements can affect the way our body processes drugs too. Certain foods or drinks can also prevent our medicine from working the way it should or make side effects worse.

This is called a drug-food interaction. For example, if we’re taking a traditional NSAID, drinking alcohol can increase our risk of liver disease or stomach bleeding. Drug-drug interactions and drug-food interactions can be dangerous.

We should be certain that our doctor knows all the over the counter and prescription medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements that we are taking, and also, talk to our doctor before taking any new over the counter or prescription medicine or using a vitamin or herbal supplement.

If our body is relatively healthy, and we are taking one or two drugs, this may not present a problem.

Most healthy people do have good (adequate), relatively low blood pressure. A listed side effect of low blood pressure should make us stop and think.

We should be genuinely concerned if we are taking more than one drug: over the counter “OTC”, or prescription, or recreational.

Don’t forget all the nasal sprays, drops and ointments! These are simply chemicals of some sort. It is important how these chemicals act with our body.

Our blood pressure could be a little too low for us to function effectively for our lifestyle. The athletic community are very aware of how a low blood pressure and low pulse are affecting their overall capabilities.

A situation for concerns is the “isolated” use of these drugs.

One doctor prescribes a drug, for one condition, and pays no attention to other drugs prescribed by any other doctors. We would imagine that a pharmacist would check for and question interactions and usage, but that is not always the case. If it were, that would save a lot of heartache and problems.

We have access to the Internet to research our own condition, or other health questions we may have. We now have access to knowledge, definitions, and explanations that in the past, we got from our doctor.

They could control what we learned.

Not any longer. Now we can more easily look up hypotension for ourselves. We can explore thousands of pages or sites on diabetes. We can study all about cholesterol. We need to take control of our own health and become aware of possible drug interactions: of chemicals interaction with other chemicals prescribed. These could be causing possible side effects such as hypotension.

Many people are on preventative medications. It is almost as though these medications appear to be harmless and not to be considered. But they are used to create a certain chemical change in our body. And as drugs, they will also interact with other chemicals to create another result, such as Hypotension.

What good is a drug that takes a relatively long term to make a difference (on our cholesterol rating) when our blood pressure is so low that we can’t function today? Someone needs to exercise some common sense!

A doctor should take the time to look at the whole person in front of them who is “complaining” of dizziness, fatigue, vertigo, and are known to be on multiple drugs.

Would it not make sense to look for possible drug side effects or interactions?

In many cases, these are three of the most common side effects of drugs! We, as the patient in front of the doctor, are mentioning that we have this problem. Ironically or maybe naturally, we are now prescribed a drug to help deal with that effect!

And then for the traditional treatment (which it really isn’t) they prescribe more drugs such as diuretics and antihistamines that have these listed as side effects! Round and round we go!

Whose responsibility is it to check? It is ours.

No one checked before prescribing the drug(s) and no one took the time as the prescription was filled. We are the ones walking around with these effects. Does anyone other than we care much? I doubt it. So, let’s make it our responsibility.

Some things we can do right now to give ourselves some control over our fears.

  1. First discuss it with our pharmacist. They are trained in drugs and chemical interactions.
  2. Read the inserts in all the drugs we get.
  3. Believe them.

By law, any negative effects must be listed. These happen all the time. When we choose to take these chemicals, there will be affects good and bad. Bring in all drug slips and any OTC products. Herbal products are the basis of many drugs, so bring that information, also.

True supplements are food, and you wouldn’t mention foods normally. We shouldn’t confuse herbals and vitamins; they are not the same.

There is a lot of research and many books that can help with non-drug or chemical treatments. It might mean a change in diet, a bit more exercise, an avoidance of sugars, diet products, plus other things. We don’t need to join a gym if you can walk around our house, walk the stairs a bit more, or simply park further from the shopping center entrances.

Mild exercise is great to help us bring extra oxygen to our body! Walk two floors. It might take a bit extra time, but it feels good.

We should realize that we are in control, of our health, our decisions, our symptoms, and any actions we are prepared to take to deal with them and do our research and make informed decisions.

Lifestyle changes, including finding courage to ask questions, could make an amazing change in the state of our health!

Wake Up America!

Why is fascism considered right-wing?

Answer: Because the truth is inconvenient — for Democrats.

So much of our political language is oxymoronic gibberish crafted to intentionally obfuscate the true meaning of words; it is truly Orwellian. Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Nazism are all variants of authoritarian ideologies on the totalitarian end of the political spectrum, ie: Total government control — the shared goal of Leftists, Collectivists, Democrats.

Even if the Vladimir Lenin quote is spurious it is still spot on, because the only difference between Socialism and Communism is time & velocity: “The goal of Socialism is Communism.”(Note that Vlad didn’t try to obfuscate his intent with any nuanced adjectives.)

As Friedrich Hayek explained: “It is true of course, that in Germany before 1933, and in Italy before 1922, communists and Nazis or Fascists clashed more frequently with each other than with other parties. They competed for the support of the same type of mind and reserved for each other the hatred of the heretic. But their practice showed how closely they are related. To both, the real enemy, the man with whom they had nothing in common and whom they could not hope to convince, is the liberal of the old type. While to the Nazi the communist, and to the communist the Nazi, and to both the socialist, are potential recruits who are made of the right timber, although they have listened to false prophets, they both know that there can be no compromise between them and those who really believe in individual freedom.”—F.A. Hayek, (1899 – 1992), Economist, author: “The Road to Serfdom”

(Having lived through it all, he should know what he’s talking about.)

These days we often end up talking past each other because the contemporary definitions of so many words do not correspond with everyone else’s, nor do they reflect reality. For example, today’s American “Liberals” have nothing whatsoever to do with Classical Liberalism or Jeffersonian Liberalism. They redefine the language to suit their whims du jour and coin gibberish terms like “negative rights” and “democratic socialism” to conceal or deflect from their true intent and from the atrocities they are committing.

“When words lose their meaning, people lose their Freedom/Liberty/Lives.”–Confucius (The last word has been translated to all three variants.)

As Ayn Rand said (lest anyone try to parse differences where none really exist): “Fascism and communism are not two opposites, but two rival gangs fighting over the same territory . . . both are variants of statism, based on the collectivist principle that man is the rightless slave of the state.”

(She should know, she LIVED it!)

It’s evasive word play… Take it from the father of Fascism, Benito Mussolini: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”

(He should know, don’t ya think?)

All this is done intentionally to prevent people from realizing what’s happening and it only worsens with each successive generation. Blame it on our taxpayer funded government indoctrination centers, AKA: public education, pre-K through college; yes folks, we fund our own demise on multiple fronts.

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”–Pogo

The Orchestrated Division of America

The powers that be …

In idiomatic English, “the powers that be” is a phrase used to refer to those individuals or groups who collectively hold authority over a particular domain. The word “be” is the archaic alternative form of “are”; the singular equivalent, “the power that is,” is less commonly used.

When a society becomes acquiescent, it becomes subject to the control of the “powers that be”. A society which doesn’t ask questions of the governing body and blindly acquiesces to whatever they are commanded to do by said governing body, no matter how absurd they believe it to be; is fated to become slaves of that governing body.

America is meant to be a government of ‘we the people”. In the context of American constitutional law, the definition of republic refers specifically to a form of government in which elected individuals represent the citizen body and exercise power according to the rule of law under a constitution.

The Constitution of America has been corrupted over many years. America is no longer a government of ‘we the people”. While we’ve been playing our games, texting our friends, having our parties, and generally living life la vida loca, our power has been taken from us and we have become an acquiescent society. In all fairness I should add that we have also been struggling to earn a paycheck while our now more powerful government continues to take more and more of it through ridiculously high taxes.

As our government grows larger day by day, we remain quiet and submissive. We think because we vote we have a voice. Which of course is as it should be, but alas, that is not the reality. It’s meant to be the reality, but it isn’t. That too has been corrupted. “Corrupted how?” you ask. Through the nefarious deeds of corrupted politicians who lied to us while we were distracted living our lives. Politicians who have been bought by, “the powers that be”. Politicians who abused the power we entrusted to them. They no longer hear us. They no longer work for us. They work for the ‘powers that be’.

Who or what is the “powers that be”? Follow the money and you will find the “powers that be”. I’m talking about big money. Money that can buy anything and does. It won’t be obvious, which is why few people are aware of it. It happens in the background, very subtly. You won’t find their names, because they hide behind so called companies and corporations, making ‘donations’.   

For instance, George Soros never owned a single media outlet. In a tangled web of lofty-sounding foundations he created to “give to causes he wanted to influence,” Big Media in all its evil glory was born.

The Hungarian-born billionaire “has managed to insinuate himself and his money into the media culture, making connections with the nation’s top publishing organizations. He has direct ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets — including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN and ABC. Each one of those operations has employees, often high-level ones, on the boards of Soros-funded media operations.

Soros’ “gift” of $1.8 million to National Public Radio became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media.

The investigative reporting start-up ProPublica is a prime example of Soros’ targeted media campaigns. ProPublica, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure” — “progressive” the code for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. In case you wonder where that money comes from; the OSF. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, that have contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.

Gone are the days when reporters began their investigations with questions, not statements. When they set out to find the answers, not prove some assumed, deliberately trumped-up conclusion.

Since 2004 the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list of left-wing causes. Pick an issue and (Soros’) Open Society Foundations (OSF) likely fund the liberal position — pro-abortion, pro-illegal immigration, pro-national health care, pro-drug legalization, pro-Big Government, anti-Israel and, ultimately, anti-America. This is only one example of a billionaire using his wealth to control our media and other levels of our lives. Once you have more money than you know what to do with, the only thing left to want is power.

These people want to ‘divide and conquer’. That is one of their most consistent tactics. They use the bought media to stir up discontent between races, countries and religions. They pay domestic terrorists to infiltrate peaceful protests and cause chaos and destruction. They promote false calamities and turn brother against brother, friend against friend. They turn citizens against their protectors to promote anarchy. All the while they are working behind the scenes while their money pulls the strings of their puppets.

When it stops being about money; it starts being about power.

The only way to combat such people is in vast numbers of citizens working in unison to protect their freedoms. Before we can do that, we must awaken to the facts of what is happing around us. Do the research, be aware, recognize falsehoods, use discernment. Don’t believe everything bought, unscrupulous media and politicians tell you. In my opinion, it is time for the silent majority to come out of acquiescence and take action.

Overcome the division!

We need to look back and follow the example of our patriots and do whatever it takes to restore our country to the free nation of ‘WE THE PEOPLE’.  In the end, it may be our only hope.

Florida Coral Snakes

Florida Coral Snake and Look-a-Likes

Coral Snake (Highly venomous)

The coral snake has round eyes and face. These are physical characteristics associated with nonvenomous snakes, which makes identification difficult.

Not all snakes have the same color scheme, so it is important to be familiar with the snakes specific to your region. This snake is small in comparison to other venomous snakes in the United States. At its longest, an adult can measure around thirty inches. The colorful body is slender and lacks real variance in width. The head blends seamlessly into the body with no distinctive neck. The head of this species of coral snake is always black.

 You may notice that the mimic snakes have a red nose, and the Coral Snake has a black nose. That’s one way that people tell the difference, even without checking the order of the colored bands. Also, you will notice that the coral snake’s bands go all the way around its body, whereas the look alike coral snakes have different bellies, either faded or entirely white.

In Florida, the coral snake’s favorite time of day to be active and mobile is early mornings or late in the evenings when it is not so hot. Be cautious around shrubs, tall grass and areas surrounding water, such as canals, lakes and swamps. Coral snakes like landscaped areas and hiding in shrubs, under rocks, debris or anywhere shady. They roam year-round, but even more so in the spring during breeding season or when it has been raining and their holes get filled up with water.

  Red touch yellow, kill a fellow. If his nose is black, he’s bad for Jack 

People try to do that rhyme, but they mix it up or forget it, but it’s not reliable anyhow, because in some areas, the same species of snake might have different color patterns. Best to err on the side of caution! 

Scarlet King snake (won’t hurt you)

 Red touch black, friend of jack. (Again, best to err on the side of caution)

 Scarlet Kingsnakes and Florida Scarlets are snakes that look like coral snakes.

 Coral snakes and lookalikes such as the Scarlet Kingsnake are not common, and rarely seek conflict when they encounter humans, whether it’s a deadly species or one of the mimic snakes. 

SNAKE BEHAVIOR

A coral snake that is encountered will first try to slither away. If it is handled, or harassed, that is when the animal will bite. The same goes for the snakes that copy coral snake appearance. 

The coral snake bites and then holds on while the glands adjacent to its teeth secrete the venom. The longer the snake remains attached, the more venom that is absorbed. 

 There is no need to kill a Coral snake or it’s look-a-likes. The best way to get rid of types of snakes that look like coral snakes is to simply leave them alone. You can also use a snake trap to catch them – that’s one of the best ways to remove coral copycat snakes with red yellow and black band and stripes around the body.

HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Always wear protective gloves and shoes when working outdoors. Look before sitting, stepping or reaching near or around rocks and logs. Avoid placing hands in areas that are hidden or concealed. Use caution when cleaning up debris after natural disasters. Never attempt to catch, kill or handle a snake — even a dead snake can envenomate you.

Coral snake bites don’t usually have immediate signs or symptoms. People may not see swelling or feel pain, but four or five hours later, they may feel like their diaphragm is cut off and they can’t breathe. If bitten, you should seek help immediately, even if there are no symptoms.

Written by C.B. Swartz

Online Blogging Can Be Profitable

If your professional website is not producing the results you expect, perhaps you might consider linking with various other pages. The more pages that contain your links, the better ranking it will receive. The second aspect to be kept in mind is how often you update the content on your website. Frequently edited and updated sites receive higher ranking in search engines than those that are not.

Continually editing the content of your whole website may not be an option. What you can do is add a Blog to your website. A Blog will function as a forum for people to come to discuss your products/services.

It will create a platform, as well as become a journal where you can post updates about your operations and your website. An advantage is that the content on such blogs will not be restricted only to text, but pictures and videos can be posted, too.

Her are a few easy steps to take you through creating your own blog and things to look out for:

  • If you already have a professional website for your business, there are blog plugins which can be downloaded and added to your website. This would be the easiest way. As an alternative, you could Google ‘free blog creators. If someone is taking care of your website for you, discuss with them the possibility of adding a blog.
  • If you are not comfortable with web designing techniques, you need not worry. Creating your blog is not as complicated as designing a template for a website. There are blogging services who provide a wide range of templates from which you can choose the one most suited to your needs.
  • You must use discretion while blogging. Especially if you are incorporating your blog within your website or creating a blog to increase awareness of your product. You need to keep in mind that this is an open forum which is read by all and yours is a professional blog.
  • You do not want to say anything that may end up angering your clients. Politics and religion are the two most controversial themes, and therefore must ideally be avoided altogether. Make it clear to people who post to your blog that it is to be used for only business purposes. Diligently monitor your blog and control the content posted by others.
  • Your aim is indeed to increase the ranking of your site, so make sure to stay on topic. Discuss your products/services and ways your business is exceptional.
  • Also keep an eye on what other people write or say on their blogs. This can give you a general idea of what kind of responses those articles receive, and you can get valuable tips from them.

Blogging has come to be considered a highly effective marketing tool. You can easily create awareness of your product and get clients and customers to interact with each other. Not only customers, but those who are relatively new to your product get a platform to ask questions about it.

 Your website rankings increase because the blog is constantly being updated, commented on, and discussions are always taking place. Because of its sheer activity, the rankings improve, creating more awareness of the product.

The following are pointers for blogging about your product:

  • Never make the blog post unnecessarily long. It must be well written. Long posts tend to get tedious especially if they are not thought provoking enough.
  • Update regularly, keeping the posts short and to the point. Ideally, blog 3-7 times a week. This can be problematic in today’s busy world, but it helps to be concise and to prioritize.
  • Be entertaining where required, everyone can do with some lighthearted humor, without being derogatory. Positivity is a must.
  • You need not stick only to text. Video and photo blogging are interesting ways to share your thoughts.
  • Be yourself. Original content is much more interesting and compelling than borrowed subject matter and tired verbiage.

Adding a blog with which you may obtain feedback from your customers, while using the blog as an advertising tool is one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness, while providing relevant and useful content to your target audience. It is an inexpensive way for small businesses to drive traffic to their site, enhance inbound marketing efforts and attract more perspective customers.

Think about your business, your clients and customers. Focus on writing topics that will be of interest to them. Share insights into your business, introduce new products, promote your company culture or even use your blog as a platform to answer frequently asked questions. Blogging can sometimes be just as effective, if not more, in promoting your company than through advertisements.

The main goal with any website is to be ranked number one. Search engines are a powerful tool and are the most efficient and most important way that consumers find information online It is imperative to devise a plan of action to increase your ranking

Ranking of any website depends on a few factors. It would basically depend on the relevance of the article according to the key words used; the number of times that page has been linked and viewed, etc. These are quite easy to follow, and if these factors are carefully noted and investigated, the rankings of your website can increase considerably.

In summary, blogging is statistically proven to help businesses, provides a channel of communication with customers, offers insight into your audience, helps your business to compete and can improve your SEO.

Focus=Fulfillment eBook

A funny little self-help book full of obvious solutions.

Are you doing exactly what you want to do in your life today?
Have you attained every goal you ever set for yourself?

If you are undecided as to how to answer these questions and your answers to the questions asked in this book are NO, then this book could be helpful to you. Learn how to use Focus to reach Fulfillment.

 


HOW DO YOU START A BLOG?

 

A good question for which there are multiple answers. I will try to give the simplest one.


  1. Pick a subject for your blog.

The first thing is to of course pick a subject for your blog. There are several ways to do this. If you don’t have a business you want to blog about, then the next best thing is to blog about something near and dear to your heart. A hobby such as your favorite sport, cooking or travel if you do a lot. A life experience, for instance if you are a school teacher you could share some of your more interesting and sometimes humorous experiences with your students or even their parents. Make it all about you and your life experiences. Whatever you decide to blog, make it a subject you know something about.


  1. Choose your blog name.

Your blog name should grab attention and let your readers know what it is you’re blogging about. It should reflect the subject of your blog.  There should be several definitive words for the name to tell your readers what your subject is. For instance, if you’re blogging about sports, you don’t necessarily have to have the word ‘sports’ in your blog name. You could use words like athletics, fun games, etc. You could also pick words from specific sports. If you are writing a personal blog, then the name should be personal to you. If not your full name, then some variation of your name, such as, if your name is John C. Doe then your blog name could be John C. Doe, John Doe, J. C. Doe, Doe’s Blog, or All About Doe. You get the idea.

Once you’ve decided on a blog name, it’s time to choose your domain extension. It could be ‘.com’. It may be difficult to find a .com extension available, in which case you could use .net, .org or even .blog. When writing your blog name in front of an extension, you will write all lower-case letters without spaces between the words. For example: ‘allaboutdoe.blog’.

If you find your chosen name is already in use, then you can try using a different extension or make subtle changes in the wording of the name. For example, you could try ‘allaboutthedoe.blog”, adding the word ‘the’ or instead of .blog you could try .net. You can also add dashes: all-about-doe.com.


  1. Get online!

You must have a blog host to have a blog.

You may think it’s too difficult and technical, but if you can read you can do it. You’ll need hosting and blogging software.

Hosting is what makes your site visible on the web. A blog host is a company that stores all the files for your blog and delivers them to the user when they type in your blog name.

Take charge with industry-standard cPanel or Parallels® Plesk control panels, free 24/7 phone or online support and 99.9% uptime and money-back guarantees.

All Plans Include …

  • World-class data centers
  • Best-of-Breed routers, firewalls, and servers
  • FREE email addresses
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • One-click installation of free applications
  • Unlimited Monthly Bandwidth
  • Flexible, easy to use control panel (cPanel or Plesk)
  • 1 GB storage MySQL Linux databases
  • NO hidden fees
  • 24/7 security monitoring and DDoS protection

You will need software to build your blog.

I suggest you try WordPress.

I have been using WordPress for many years and I have built many websites using WordPress software. Built for tech-savvy designers and developers, WordPress lets you create gorgeous, content-rich websites with 1000s of free themes and plugins developed by the WordPress community. As a content management system (CMS), you can assign authors, manage permissions, even make changes across your entire site at once instead of one page at a time.

All Plans Include …

  • 1000s of themes and plugins
  • One-click migration tool
  • sFTP access to WordPress files
  • Nightly backups and one-click site restore
  • Redundant firewalls, malware scanning and DDoS protection
  • Daily backups & 1 click restore
  • Automatic WordPress Core Updates
  • Temporary website address
  • One-click SSL installation
  • Localized in 37 countries and 17 languages
  • Premium WordPress Hosting Platform
  • Award-winning 24/7 support
  • *99.9% uptime guarantee
  • *Money-back guarantee

If you have any questions about getting started blogging, contact me and I will be happy to answer any questions I can.

 

They Said No

So you failed to convert your lead …

 

With so many distractions and demands on everyone’s time, it doesn’t mean that your lead is no longer interested. It’s important to realize that a prospect’s silence doesn’t reflect badly on how you’ve handled the sales process thus far. If you notice this happening more frequently than you’d like, take some time to brush up on your questioning and closing skills.

When you reconnect with them don’t mention the fact that they haven’t gotten back to you in a while. Start every sales follow-up interaction as if from scratch, and they’ll be more inclined to reengage.

Consistently asking for closes throughout the sales process is a crucial factor to sales follow-up success. If a prospect was shying away from a particular close, they might be more inclined to reengage on a different one. And any way you get the conversation going again is a good thing.

Video follow-ups are one of the most unique ways to personally connect with a customer. It adds personality and they are much more likely to respond or interact. You can say and convey so much more through video.

Help your lead feel smart about the products you’re selling, so they’ll be empowered and ready to come see you in person. Include reference links inside your follow-up email that will assist your with their research — not just generic links back to your company website.

Personalize your correspondence by including their name in your emails, sending them information based on the pages visited on your website, or responding personally to an online inquiry instead of pushing canned responses.

Re-engage leads who abandon the website with direct mailers. With IP retargeting, you can identify an online shopper’s physical address and deliver a targeted mailer to their mailbox within days.

Include scheduling tools on your website so prospects can easily sign up . The less time they spend talking to a salesperson, the more likely your leads are to schedule a service.

In these days of technology and digital messaging, people will appreciate when a you take time to send them a hand-written thank you note after each interaction. Never underestimate the value of customer service and good, old-fashioned manners. Connecting on a personal level is the benchmark of any lead follow-up strategy.

Time is of the essence! People buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell. Be there when they’re ready. You need to follow up with prospects consistently and frequently for an extended period of time.