The negative effects of smoking are actually taking their toll and a growing number of people want to quit. Although non-smokers may believe that if a smoker wants to quit they can just quit, smokers know differently. You must comprehend that smoking is so addictive that for some people, quitting without help is impossible. You will see that in order to stop smoking many people have even had to be hypnotized, and there is still no guarantee that they will not go back. You will even find that many people who used to smoke belong to support groups to assist them to not go back to smoking. In this article we are going to be covering a few tips to help you break the addiction.
To begin with, you aren't addicted to smoking. Even though the habit of bringing your hand to your mouth is one thing that makes giving up smoking hard it's just a habit and habits can be broken. In fact, it is the nicotine within the cigarettes that make people want to smoke them. And because your brain is aware that it gets this nicotine from cigarettes, people just assume that they are addicted to smoking. One thing that can make giving up smoking easier is to grab a pack of nicotine gum or you could even use the patch to get the nicotine your body needs. Although this can help people to be successful when stopping smoking one thing you should understand is that if you really don't want to quit then they truly won't help that much.
Another thing that can help to curb the desire to smoke is toothpicks. This will help you to deal with the actual habit of bringing your hand to your mouth, while the nicotine may help curb the chemical urge. Although this is only a habit and can be broken a lot easier than the nicotine urge it is always good to have help with it. If you do a search on the internet you should be able to find cinnamon toothpicks. And when you desire a cigarette all you have to do is put a toothpick in your mouth instead. The main reason I recommend the flavored toothpicks is because for some reason the flavor helps to make the toothpick chewing less boring.
Another big thing that will help you to quit smoking is to find some type of motivation. One of the greatest motivators that people use advice on how to stop smoking is their families. I am certain you don't want to die before your time, leaving your partner or even children with out a parent figure. And when it comes to motivation you will find that your loved ones can be one of the best motivators.
Even using the suggestions above you may find that giving up smoking for you still seems impossible. If that is the case, and you actually want to quit, you should try seeing a hypnotist or a doctor. Hypnosis is one thing that could be very helpful and many individuals have successfully quit with this technique. And there's medication which a doctor can prescribe that will also be able to help you advice on how to stop smoking. Having said that, I would truly only recommend this as the final thing you try.
For more information, check out here: websites to stop smoking
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A Few Tips That Will Help You Quit Smoking
Monday, September 5, 2011
Beauty treatments, which are the most effective?
There are many ways a women can make herself feel more beautiful, however truth be told you already are probably beautiful, whether that be inside or outside. It is only recently that the government in the UK has tried to stop the craze of companies offering cosmetic surgery as a prize of competitions, and cosmetic surgery is the last step in trying to get yourself to look how you’d like, but what other means are there to making yourself feel more naturally beautiful?
Popular methods women undertake to make themselves feel prettier and to boost their self-esteem are to use self-tanning agents, try out new shower and skin rubs, use clay masks, use anti-ageing creams and also re design their wardrobe and dress younger than they really are. Other popular methods in the beauty industry which are popular include nail extensions, eyelash extensions, manicures, pedicures and hair extensions.
One of the most effective ways to draw attention to your face and eyes is to seek out professional eyelash extensions which can come in daily use and semi-permanent forms, as these cost effective beauty methods stay in for a number of weeks and are perfect for all occasions such as birthday parties, nights out and other occasions where you want that extra ‘wow factor’.
It is always important that whilst undergoing any treatment near very sensitive areas such as your eyes that the treatment is done professionally and by an experienced practitioner as not only will this allow for a better level of service and expertise, but it will also make you feel safer and the quality of the work carried out will be higher and last longer within a time frame.
As with all non-permanent beauty treatments it is important that you take in to consideration that any strenuous activities can cause treatments to fade much quicker than normal (swimming and excessive sweating / sports) will trigger your treatments to possibly end prematurely which is never good, however if you are going on holiday and swimming / excessive perspiration is unavoidable then you can always purchase some accessories which allow some treatments to last that little bit longer.
Overall there are a few treatments which will allow you to take full advantage of your appearance right now without the need for anything over drastic such as cosmetic surgery, and as noted above, nail extensions and eyelash extensions are very popular indeed.
Lyndon is a keen author and has a particular interest in the beauty industry. His latest projects surround kent eyelash extensions and beauty respectively.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
How to Get Blog Traffic That Sticks
One major priority of bloggers is getting traffic to their blogs but a lot of people make a great mistake nowadays, not because they don’t know how to get traffic but because they don’t know how to make their traffic stick. It doesn’t matter how many visitors you’re able to get to your blog there is no point in it if you’re unable to make them return.
While it is important to know that you can’t make 100% of the visitors to your blog stick you should also know that there are some things you can do to increase the likelihood of your blog visitors sticking.
Give Them What They Want
People are not visiting your blog for fun or because they want to make you happy but because they believe they can gain something from you. While it is possible for you to spend a lot of money on advertising your blog or to try several marketing strategies you can think of you should know that this won’t help you if your visitors don’t find anything valuable on your blog. The first step to making sure your blog visitors stick is by giving them what they want: this means you also have to know where they came from and why they’re reading your blog. If people are reading your blog because they want more information about home insurance you won’t have any luck giving them information about blogging and if people are visiting your blog in order to know about the latest fashion in town you won’t be able to make them stick by trying to teach them how to make money online.
Try to have a crystal clear understanding of what your readers want from your blog, if you aren’t sure about this you might want to survey them or even contact some of your major commenters to ask them what they’d like to be seeing more often on your blog. You will go really far if you can understand and meet the needs of your readers.
Get Them into a Funnel
Another sure fire way to make sure your blog visitors stick is by getting them into a funnel. This means you should try to know how they react to information and what is the best way they love to consume information. If your readers are tech savvy the best way to get them to continue to read your content might be by making them subscribe to your RSS feed and if you’re in the marketing niche or in a niche where people aren’t that tech savvy the best way to make sure your readers keep reading your content might be to make them subscribe to your email list.
Don’t rely on the thousands of daily visitors you’re getting because the source of that traffic may crumble: Google might stop sending you traffic one day and that big site that keeps sending you tons of visitors might one day stop, the only way to make sure you enjoy is by being in control. Start building a mailing list now and always ensure you do the best to make sure your readers always come back to your blog.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Jersey Shore Guide to Irresistible Personal Branding
The Jersey Shore is back and up to its old antics again.
My guess — you being a respectable content marketer who finds that sort of display crude, irresponsible and embarrassing — is that you’re not tuning in.
Hey, I hear you. But do you know who isn’t offended by it?
The 8.4 million people who tuned in to the season premiere last month, making it the network’s most-watched series episode ever.
Whether you’re a true fan of Snooki, or you credit her with single-handedly hammering that last nail completing the Decline of Western Civilization, it doesn’t matter.
The fact is that each member of The Jersey Shore cast has gone on to create a recognizable and profitable personal brand in the 14 months the show has been on the air.
Not too shabby. And tucked inside the show’s success are personal branding lessons that any marketer can benefit from. Even if you’re not spray-tanned to a disturbing shade of orange.
Get a pen and paper because personal branding school is in session, Jersey Shore style.
Lesson 1: Own your oddities
If there’s one marketing principle reinforced by The Jersey Shore it’s that your oddities are what make you watchable.
Five minutes into checking out what’s going on in Seaside Heights this season and you’ll notice that most of the Jersey Shore cast barely looks human. They’re walking Halloween costumes, tanned, oiled and gym’d to the max.
And it’s their oddness that makes them interesting and what drives millions of people to tune in each week.
In an earlier Copyblogger post on branding and belly dancing, I spoke about the importance of creating a character — one that allows you to show off a heightened version of yourself to attract the right people to what you’re selling.
You’re probably not 4’9″ and God knows the world doesn’t need another Snooki, but what’s kooky and stand-out about you?
Figure out what it is and how you can make it work to your advantage.
Identify it. Use it. Become it.
Lesson 2: Polarization is a good thing
It doesn’t matter if you’re big, little or fall somewhere in between. Most of us are afraid to be a polarizing figure by taking a hard stance.
Just look at what happened to Groupon after the Super Bowl.
We hold back from going too far left, too far right or too far in our own direction in fear that we’ll be isolating our audience. And I get that – because you very often will be. But that’s not a bad thing.
The Jersey Shore kids are good examples of that. You’re either appalled by their train wreck or you’re mesmerized by it. And that’s why it works.
A post on the OK Cupid blog last month touched on the same concept, bringing up the mathematics of beauty. Specifically, it showed how playing up what some people don’t like about you allows you to attract the people who will.
It’s why edgy Meaghan Fox is more attractive than wholesome Kristen Bell, or why guys with tattoos are rated better looking than the average prepster.
If you want to be memorable, create a contrast. Going the safe route and trying to be everything to everyone won’t win you fans, it’ll only bring in people who don’t have an opinion about you either way.
Those people aren’t going to buy your stuff, and they won’t remember your name in the morning.
Lesson 3: People want a little drama
Season 3 of The Jersey Shore came with one promise -– that it would be the most drama-filled season to date.
So far, it’s lived up to the hype, with cast members getting into scary physical altercations, getting arrested, and with sudden character exits. The drama keeps people hooked because everyone wants to see what’s going to happen next and who is going to do what to whom.
If you’re working to build your personal brand, I wouldn’t recommend going out and getting arrested tomorrow, but do look for ways to create a little spice.
Maybe it’s Groupon releasing controversial commercials or you deciding to take an unpopular stance on your blog.
Associating your brand with a splash of excitement will help keep it top of mind and always relevant.
Lesson 4: You’ve got to build your platform
It’s easy to hate on The Jersey Shore kids for what they represent, but at the end of the day, they’ve created a platform that extends far past the show.
Snooki is a New York Times Bestselling author (wrap your head around that).
“The Situation” is said to have made $5 million from appearances and products (including his own vodka line and garment bags).
Jenny aka “JWOWW” has a book and bronzer, Ronnie endorses a popular weight loss drug, Angelina has a music single, Sammi has a perfume, and Vinny and Pauly D both have clothing lines.
Not bad for 14 months in the spotlight.
Sure, it’s ridiculous, but they created it.
The personal brand you create means nothing if you don’t have a business model. If you’re spending an hour a day on Twitter talking to people without finding a way to bring them back to your site or direct them somewhere else to do something, you’re leaving money on the table and you’re wasting your time.
Decide what you want these channels to give you and then create a plan for how you’ll be accomplishing that.
While The Jersey Shore certainly isn’t doing our younger generations any cultural favors, they are giving smart marketers some branding lessons worth tuning in for.
And now you have an excuse for the next time you’re caught watching …
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Outsourcing: the Secret to Blogging Success
This guest post is by Mark Collier is the author of Link Building Mastery.
As an Internet entrepreneur, it’s easy to develop this sense of single mindedness—the if-I-can’t-do-it-no-one-can attitude. I call it RTODIY (refuse to outsource; do it yourself). Although the name does need a bit of work. Maybe I should outsource it…
The symptoms are: excessive DIY, penny pinching when you could outsource for little or nothing, and learning the basics of advanced theories in a vain attempt to save money.
RTODIY is also the major obstacle between your self-created job and a successful business that runs independent of you. As Keith Cunningham puts it, job is just an abbreviation for Just Over Broke.
Overcoming RTODIY
I have certainly done my fair share of RTODIYing, most recently with my experience in launching my relatively new website and writing and launching a new ebook.
I wrote all the content for my website myself and learned all I needed to know to create a website myself. While this is pretty common, this was only the beginning. I decided to write an ebook, and once it was finished, I knew I needed to create a sales landing page for my product.
Now for those who don’t know about landing pages, let me fill you in. Landing pages are designed to make all your ebook sales. Sure, promotion is crucial, and you need a great product, but without a great landing page, you’re wasting your time.
I recognized the value of a landing page and went about buying a template and customizing it, after, of course, I learned the basics of CSS.
This is what my landing page looked like:
That’s exactly what I expected would sell my $47 ebook! And I actually believed it would sell.
That was until I received the best business advice I have ever received from Glen Allsopp. I sent out an email to the 15 people I interviewed for the ebook, informing them of the new sales page. Glen said, “I hope you don’t take offence, but I really don’t think you’ll get a single sale with that landing page.”
And he was right. Not a single sale came from the first 300 people who visited the page.
So I decided to go and outsource—yes, I said outsource—the sales page design to a professional and the results were and are absolutely incredible:
What a turnaround! I certainly would be more likely to buy from a sales page that looked like this.
The results
When I talk about results, I mean money. While the orders certainly haven’t been unbelievable, they are far better than nothing, which is what my original page generated.
In the month since I launched the ebook—and I have no reputation or marketing budget—I have made seven sales. Okay, that’s not a mind blowing amount, but it’s $327 in sales, and the email sign up box has captured 120 email addresses.
I am more than happy with these results, having had no experience in launching a product, and no email subscriber list that I could promote the launch to. In fact, I didn’t even bother having a launch.
I expect sales to continue to grow, and my initial investment in that web designer to continue to pay off.
My learnings, your learnings
My reluctance to outsource to a professional web designer for $150 would have cost me $327 today, and what could be thousands in future earnings. I’ve learned that spending that extra bit up front distinguishes you from the competition, and is well worth the investment.
But I understand that not everyone will launch an eBook or create a sales page. So how can these learnings be applied to your blog, especially if you are a solo blogger?
If you find yourself doing all the work—and I literally mean all of it—you’re a class one RTODIYer, and you may need help. You need to learn the art of delegation and to commit to investing that extra bit into your blog that will come back and reward you many times over.
You need to stop acting like a one-person blog and starting acting like ProBlogger. After all, that’s how ProBlogger has been so successful: outsourcing and hiring (for free or otherwise) the best to do the work for them. Guest posts are just one example of that.
You wouldn’t have seen W.K Kelloggs out in the field growing the corn for his Corn Flakes, you wouldn’t see Michael Dell personally handling customer complaints against Dell, and you wouldn’t see Richard Branson micro-managing the 200 companies he has controlling stakes in.
All these great business people have committed to outsourcing. They have committed to investing in and trusting others, and ultimately they have overcome a human’s natural instinct to Refuse To Outsource and Do It Yourself.
That’s what your blog is, right? A business?
As a blogger, you should give up you RTODIY ways and move forward with your business in a more profitable direction. Trust in others and be prepared to invest in your blog, and you will reap the rewards. Here are a couple of ideas I know you’ll like:
- Open your site up for guest posts. It’s a great, free way to take the writing pressures off you, while retaining full editorial rights.
- Get a custom design made by a designer, or at least have a blog brand with logo and color scheme that’s consistent throughout your blog, Twitter, and Facebook page.
- If you really want to step up to the next level and be an outsourcing master, why not hire a part-time writer or regular columnist? You can pitch their work to the big names in your industry and get a lot of exposure from them.
The general rule of thumb is to try to outsource your weaknesses (my big one is design), and give yourself more time to focus on your strengths. To control of your RTODIY and your blog will only go from strength to strength.
Have you outsourced any part of your blog, or are you a RTODIYer? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments.
Mark Collier is the author of Link Building Mastery, the best ethical guide to link building available on the web. With 86 powerful link building strategies and 15 interviews with link building interviews, including an interview with Yaro Starak (the owner of this blog). You can join the ethical link building revolution now.
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The Easiest Way to Make Money Online
This is a post by contributing author Bamboo Forest.
I’ve been blogging for a couple years now and except for a few affiliate sales from ads, consulting is the only way I’ve made any money from blogging.
Ways to make money that might make you cry
If you told me that to make money I’d have to build websites, acquire thousands of emails for my list, have a hundred thousand monthly unique visitors for Google ads, or write an amazing eBook that must compete with the zillions of other eBooks already on the market, I’d cry.
I’m not saying you can’t use the above methods to make serious money. But these methods are some of the most difficult ones with the steepest competition.
There’s just got to be a better, more immediate way to make money from blogging.
And there is.
Method to make money that won’t make you cry
To be a consultant all you need is a website and a PayPal account.
I’ve recently become a consultant through a website called Email Life Coach. This site is an extension of one of my blogs.
People hire me to help them with their life issues.
I reasoned that there are zillions of life coaches out there, but how many email life coaches are there? After all, there are definitely people who don’t feel comfortable chatting on the phone but still want advice for their life. And I decided to fulfill that demand in a compelling and elegant way.
And while I haven’t gotten rich from this business yet, I’ve certainly made far more money than anything I’ve ever done online to date.
What kind of consultant you could become
For starters, there needs to be a demand for the kind of consulting work you want to begin. Other than that, the sky’s the limit.
You could consult others on how to improve their copy and tweak their site so they get more subscribers.
You could consult people regarding their relationship issues.
You could consult people on how to make it in Hollywood.
You could teach people Japanese.
The possibilities are endless and it’s up to you to find something that’s in demand that could gain you profit.
It goes without saying that your blog needs to be focused on the subject you’re going to consult on. Your blog will act as a funnel to your business.
What mediums you can use to consult
The number of mediums you can currently use is really exciting.
You could be as simple and low tech as I am and use email.
Or you could do something more sophisticated such as making a client a YouTube video or chatting with them online and using a camera so you both can see each other face to face.
There is even software available now where your client can see everything on your computer, which could work well for tutoring or teaching web design.
What’s required to consult successfully
While it’s really easy to start a consulting business, you can’t be mediocre at what you do and expect to get lots of customers or repeat business. Trying to do the aforementioned just isn’t honest when people are paying you money.
I don’t recommend you put a ‘Hire Me” on your blog until you feel completely confident that you can offer what your service will advertise.
For example, I read a book that I found particularly helpful multiple times before I started my Email Life Coaching service because I knew I needed to become more knowledgeable about personal-development before I could help people on a higher level.
How to set your price
I recommend that when you’re starting out you keep your rates low. The reason for this is twofold:
1. When starting out you have zero experience, and you’ll get better at consulting as you go. In the early stages you’re not qualified to ask for a higher fee.
2. Having a lower fee will help get your business rolling. Get enough business and do a good enough job and word of mouth will soon become your ally.
Why consulting is so enticing for potential customers
Because nothing beats the allure of personal attention.
For example, if you read an eBook, as amazing as it may be, it’s covering a subject as a whole and not being laser focused on your specific needs.
But when people hire a consultant they’re getting their exact concerns catered to.
You always hear A-List bloggers say that you need to solve people’s problems if you want your blog posts to go viral. Well, as a consultant, you’re in the business of doing nothing but solving people’s problems and in the most intimate way possible.
The down side of consulting
While consulting is the easiest way to make money, it’s not without challenge.
Daniel has already made the point that selling anything online is difficult and selling consulting is no exception.
Consulting is not the kind of profit model where you can make money in your sleep. On the contrary, with consulting, any money you make is the result of you working directly with a customer which is time consuming.
While you by no means need a popular blog to make money with consulting, you do need to have some kind of an audience. Having a strong presence in the search engines can also help you find clients. Additionally, consider having a YouTube channel to showcase your knowledge which can help you tap into an even greater audience and more potential customers.
Tips to help your consulting business thrive
Always give a money back guarantee. When offering a full money back guarantee you’re removing a huge barrier to entry. Potential customers will feel secure that if they hire you and aren’t satisfied with your service, they can easily get their money back.
Since I’ve launched my email life coaching service I haven’t had a single person ask for a refund. I doubt I would have had any business at all had I not offered a full money back guarantee.
Think about it… would you hire someone you’ve never worked with if you knew that even if you had a terrible experience you could never get your money back?
I wouldn’t.
It has been said in the business world that you make most of your money with repeat customers. It requires significant effort to find new customers, and much less effort to maintain the customers you already have.
You should reward repeat customers with a discount to promote repeat business.
Currently I charge 35 dollars for new clients and just 30 dollars for repeat clients for my month of change package.
If you’ve been trying for a long while to make money from blogging and haven’t seen much more than a few dollars trickle in, maybe it’s time to give consulting a try.
About the Author: Bamboo Forest is a professional Email Life Coach, helping people work on something in their life over the course of a month through email.
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The Ethics of Pay Per Post
Suppose you ask me to write something nice about your company. I do it and you give me a $10 bill. If I work for you, then it’s a paycheck. If I don’t work for you, then it’s Pay Per Post and that’s a whole different bowl of noodles. . . or is it?
If I disclose the fact that you paid me the money to write the post as required by the FTC, then I’m in good shape, right? But if I disclose the fact that you paid me, maybe the value of the post decreases because now people aren’t sure that I told the truth.
A few weeks ago, a mommy-blogger was outraged by a proposal from a marketing company that offered to pay her if she wrote nice things about a big name brand who was having an image problem. I can’t be any more specific about the incident because I’ve since found out that the the entire affair was drummed up by an industrious wannabe PR pro and was never sanctioned by the company. Still, it brings up an interesting point. How is asking a blogger to write something nice about a company for pay any different than offering a blogger a free product in return for a review?
You could say that a review requires an honest opinion, which could be good or bad. But what if I agree with the positive statements I’m asked to write? If I believe that, despite recent reports to the contrary, ABC Inc. makes the safest product in its category, is it wrong to say so and get paid? What if I write it and ABC pays me afterwards as a thank you, then do I have to disclose it?
Many years ago, I tried one of the Pay Per Post companies, wrote the required text and was quickly dinged by Google who dropped my page rank two points. I was devastated. If that happened today, I wouldn’t care. Page rank is passe. But I do care if people think I’m a shill, writing half-truths about window blinds in order to make $6.00. In the spirit of full disclosure, I do occasionally Tweet for pay but I’m selective about which offers I put through.
The question here is about drawing the line or if there even should be a line? It’s my blog and if you want to pay me to write something and I agree to do it, then are we all good?
KMart announced today that they’re looking for gamer bloggers to send to the E3 convention. It’s all expenses paid, travel, accommodations and entrance to the show and in return all they ask is that the bloggers write about the experience and post links to KMart’s gamer blog (who knew KMart was so big with gamers?). Is that the ultimate in Pay Per Post or what? A several thousand dollar trip to video game heaven? Sure beats a $10 Starbucks card as thanks, doesn’t it?
This is where you come in. What are your thoughts on Pay Per Post? Have you ever paid a blogger to write about your company? I’d like to hear about your experience and where you think companies should draw the line.
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