How A Blogger Can Overcome Writer’s Block

You have carefully planned everything in great detail. You even start to feel that tingle of excitement knowing where this blogging blue print will lead you to once the three months of posts are done. Then suddenly out of the blue it hits you. Your posts and updates come to a screeching halt. You can’t seem to be able to generate a decent post. Your great ideas have just vanished into thin air. Writing anything is a painful process of deleting and writing and staring at your computer screen all day.

Fortunately it can be treated. You just need to be careful not to panic. After all it is just a speed bump and not the solid-wall-blocking-the-road-ahead that it may feel like.

Read somebody else’s writing
The thing about writing is that you need to keep reading to keep writing. It is as simple as that. Sometimes a writer gets so engrossed and so busy that they stop reading anything but their own writing as they write and revise. In this kind of situation some form of writer’s block is inevitable. It may take a little longer for it to catch up with some writers but it is just a matter of time. The treatment in this case is simple. Stop writing and look for something to read that is totally unrelated to what you are currently writing. Experienced professional writers do this all the time and it works so that when they get back to their writing desks they are rejuvenated and the ideas and words are flowing again.

Get away from it all
A vast majority of highly successful people will always set aside a minimum of 24 hours every week to get away from their work and relax. Getting away means that not even your thoughts are allowed to wander back to your work. This is even more important to a writer. Writing is the kind of work that is so involving that if you do not have any scheduled breaks where you get away from it all, you are just asking for trouble. An effective cure for serious cases of writer’s block that have already set in is to take a few days off and create some distance between you and your writing. Relax and forget your writing for a day or two.

Watch a good movie
Admittedly not every writer has the luxury of being able to get away for a few days. Chances are that you have some deadline hanging over your head when you suddenly get hit by writer’s block. What do you do? Try finding an activity that will help you escape. I used to keep old episodes of the hit TV series 24 and whenever the creative juices would stop flowing I would stop and sit down to take in a few episodes of this thriller series. It was very effective in helping me escape very quickly. I would get engrossed and the adrenalin would start flowing and would still be flowing, albeit this time with ideas and words when I got back to my writing.

Do a list article
There are many different types of writers and there are also different types of writer’s block. There are writers who work best by letting the ideas flow out of them with minimal use of an outline. If you are this kind of writer and you hit a bad patch where flow stops and you run completely dry and can’t seem to put together the right words for even a single sentence then here is a remedy that could work. Temporarily change your ways and prepare detailed outlines for all the writing you do. This will keep you writing until the usual flow is restored.

Readers of your blog can be a great help
If your problem has a lot to do with ideas drying up then you can look to your readers for help. Go back to your reader’s comments. If your blog is new and you hardly have comments yet then a competitor’s blog will do. Read the comments and try to take notes as you get ideas. Read as many reader comments as you can because not every comment will give you ideas, although some will give you dozens of ideas. Don’t stop until you have more ideas than you can use in a week and then go back to your writing.

Take a nap
You have probably heard a lot about the power of sub conscience mind. Above everything else it solves problems and gives ingenious solutions. That is why we have the age old expression every time an important decision has to be made; “sleep on it.” You can be sure that it has survived the ages because it works. The thing about your sub conscience mind is that it operates best without the distractions of your active conscience which is usually filled with thoughts and intense pressure when you can’t write anymore. For many writers a short nap, sometimes called a power nap has always instantly cured their writer’s block. If you haven’t tried it yet, it could be the ideal solution staring at you in the face.

Try long hand writing away from your keyboard
I know a blogger who writes down all his posts with a pencil in long hand before he switches on his computer. As he does this his cell phone is switched off or on silent mode. This can actually get the creative juices flowing again. Hardly surprising when you realize the kind of distractions that a modern blogger tends to have as they sit down to do a post online. Writing the old fashioned way is how you learnt how to write in the first place and you are therefore wired to concentrate and have the creative juices and words flowing when you do your writing in this way.

Write something else
There is no need being stuck with just one post the whole day and stubbornly refusing to move on to something else until you are done. That’s not the way to deal with writer’s block. I have made this mistake many times in the past and looking back I realized that this always happened when I was writing something that did not quite excite me. We all have personal likes and dislikes and there are times as a blogger you need to write about something that you really don’t care about to bring out a point that is close to your heart. In these instances a little momentum gained from writing something on your pet topics can help a great deal to get through writer’s block for a particularly difficult article.

6 Common Mistakes New Website Owners Make

The Natives’ Curse

I did not realize just how much I had missed Dr. John Watson until he came to the door and beamed at me before taking my hat and coat.

“You were supposed to be back a week ago,” was his greeting.

I carefully lit my pipe even before sitting down.

“Didn’t lose any opportunities to poison yourself, I see,” he continued with his usual cynicism frequently displayed over the years about my smoking habit.

I finally sat down delighted to be back home and looked at him trying my utmost not to allow any expression on my face that would give away anything or give him any clues.

“Don’t tell me. Somehow on holiday out there in the African bush some case came up.”

I nodded back looking rather pleased with myself. “Very perceptive my dear Watson, very perceptive.”

“Golly, these cases do follow you around the world then don’t they? Who would have guessed that some minor case of burglary would have come up at some remote game lodge in Africa?”

“Not burglary my Dear Watson but suspected murder. I am hoping that you can work it out for me, as I did.”

I had punished the man enough and so I settled down to giving him the details of the strange murder in the most beautiful place I had ever been to in the heart of the African bush just days before my holiday was due to come to an end.

I have to admit that I had quite grown fond of John Adams, the chain smoking American who loved his beer and recounting tales of his encounters with the high and mighty including royalty. His hearty laugh at the end of almost all his tales was rather infectious.

And so when I came down for breakfast at the game lodge one morning and found him sprawled on the floor of the dining area dead and surrounded by shocked guests, I was more than a little distressed. His face was still twisted in pain and he was clearly foaming from his mouth his other hand still clutching desperately at his stomach.

“Poisoned. Poor fellow.” Watson interrupted me.

“Elementary my dear Watson, obviously so,” I responded.

Adams was on holiday with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Naturally I started by interviewing them.

His wife Rose was surprisingly young to be the wife of Adams in actual fact younger than his son’s wife.

She said she had come down for breakfast and found Adam’s son, Peter and his wife Lorna already halfway through their breakfast. She recalled her husband asked why they were so early and Peter said that they were going on some game drive.

Apparently Adams was in high spirits and sat down to sip his tea. A few minutes later he excused himself to go to the washroom. Rose did not think anything was amiss until he came out of the washroom and staggered as he walked back to the table. She found that strange since he had not taken any strong drink since waking up. He sat at the table obviously trying very hard to conceal his agony. But soon it must have gotten unbearable because he started clutching his stomach and moaning in pain. As luck would have it there was no doctor in the hotel, he had left the day before on some long game drive and had yet to return. Somebody suggested he be given some warm milk but before it could arrive from the kitchen he was on the floor. She watched helplessly as Adams died right there on the floor. It all happened so fast.

“I have not lived for years with Sherlock Holmes for nothing. In cases like this you need NOT look further than the spouse for your villain,” Watson piped out.

“Precisely, my dear Watson. But as I have always told you; 'I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty. Beware of the obvious which may not always be as obvious as you think.”

Further interrogation revealed that Rose (25) had married Adam (55) for his money. One would imagine that she was now going to come into immense financial wealth as his surviving widow.

I was already trying to work out how she had gotten the poison into his tea undetected and yet they had come down for breakfast together. At the time I told myself it was possible that this was the area I would have to focus my intellect for this simple open-and-shut-wife-murders-husband-for-his-money case. But I did not have all the facts. And neither did I want to get myself into the situation of twisting the facts to fit the theory.

Admittedly there was plenty I did not know at the time which would prove that such conclusions were presumptuous and possibly erroneously so..

Peter Adams was inconsolable and was still in tears as I interviewed him. He clearly loved his late father to bits. He told me that he had never understood what had come over him to marry Rose 30 years her junior and obviously a gold digger to everybody else but his father who adored her. He had come down to breakfast with his wife early when the tables were still being laid and did not notice anything unusual until his father started writhing in agony. No, he did not see Rose put anything into his tea but he was sure that she had to be responsible in some way for his father’s death.

Lorna corroborated her husband’s version of events but she added that she did not think Rose was capable of murder. Further interrogation unearthed the fact that she was a close friend of Rose, close enough for her to have clouded judgment over what she was capable or not capable of doing.

But I had not even finished interviewing Lorna when the manager a burly red head Mr Butler who had the hairiest hands you can imagine burst in and proclaimed that they had already caught the murderer.

He led me out of the main building into the servants’ quarters to show me a native waiter called Kimilu. They had already tied his hands and legs together with some rope and had sent word to the police constable who live about 50 miles away from the game reserve.

Apparently the day before Adams had complained about the waiters’ incompetence in always getting his orders mixed up. Mr Butler admitted that Kimilu was the best waiter on his small staff and that is why he had assumed that being from the American deep South Adams’ had a deep hatred for anybody dark skinned and this is what it was all about. He had seen this kind of thing on numerous occasions before and he always did the same thing. He told his valued visitors that the waiter had been sacked and they were simply kept out of site until the said guest departed.

Only that this particular case was different. Adams had violently slapped Kimilu so hard that the sheer force had floored the waiter and the usually humble waiter had lost it. He had stood up and angrily talked back at him in his native language which Adams did not understand. But Butler had lived in Africa for over two decades and he understood every word, his translation confirmed by other native workers who witnessed the drama. It was chilling to say the least.

“In our tribe a man is never ever slapped. Never, ever. You have hated and accused me for no reason. The sun shall not set tomorrow before you join your ancestors. Your death will be agonizing and you will writhe in pain on the very ground I have unjustly landed on when you hit me. Nobody shall be able to save you. Others shall watch in horror but it will not matter even if the white man gives you his best medicine and magic portion, you will die. This is what was proclaimed as justice for what you have done by my ancestors and my ancestors have never been proved wrong. If this does not come to pass, I myself will die before sunset tomorrow. My ancestors have spoken.”

Butler looked at me triumphantly before adding. “Kimilu comes from the Masai tribe. They are experts with plants and herbs. He must have gotten some herbs from the bush and somehow slipped it into Mr Adams’ tea. You will have noted that whatever killed Adams was potent because he died very quickly.”

It made sense. Neatly so. Except for one minor detail. What Kimilu had said sounded to me like some curse rather than a threat. My dear Watson the two are not the same thing. But then this was Africa and I am not familiar with Africa.

I asked Kimilu about the incident through a translator. He pointed out that Adams was already in a bad mood because he had been shouting even before he served him lunch with his son. The two were dining alone. He had no idea what the quarrel was about and he said he had heard Adams use the word “intestine” several times. Peter denied that he had argued with his father and added that they had certainly not discussed any “intestines.”

I asked Mr Butler where he was during breakfast and if he had noticed anything unusual. He said he was right there the whole time supervising breakfast and was busy mostly in the kitchen which is where he was when he had a commotion amongst his guests and rushed back to find Adams gasping his last breath on the floor.

Next I asked him if he could figure out how the poison had gotten into Adams’ tea with his son and daughter in-law seated at the table the whole time. To which he answered that he too was puzzled and would only speculate that it had been slipped into his cup in the kitchen and was so potent that all it needed was for somebody to pour out tea in the cup. He admitted that he had personally placed Mr Adams tea cup at his usual place on the table fearing that he would start another row if he discovered that it was a native who had prepared and set his tea cup.

“Any thoughts at this juncture Watson?”

“I would take a closer look at this Mr Butler and explore possible motives he may have to murder one of his own guests. There is plenty of mischief that happens out there in the African bush.”

“It didn’t make any sense to me my dear Watson. But I still checked. The game lodge is in excellent financial footing. Hardly surprising since it is so bloody expensive. I would not afford it on my own and as you know the holiday was a gift from one of my rather grateful clients. Now why on earth would Mr Butler spoil all that by murdering a wealthy client and giving himself the kind of publicity that will almost certainly keep away his treasured guests and threaten the financial stability he currently enjoys?”

“Then he must surely hold the key to the mystery. That key has to be the cup and the happenings in and around it shortly before Adams came down for breakfast.”

“I agree Watson. The key is the cup. But you will need to look elsewhere for the answers.”

But even as I was putting my thoughts together something else happened.

Peter Adams came to me accusing his step mother of the murder. He pointed out that he had discovered that she had gone to great lengths to contact the solicitors. They had gone into the nearest town on the following day with the car that took away Kimilu into police custody where Butler assured us the police would get the whole truth from the native using methods he would rather not talk about. Rose had gone into the post office and placed a long distance call to the solicitors to enquire about Mr Adams’ will. How would she when the body of her husband was hardly cold?

When I got to her she admitted that she had placed the call and had been told that it was not possible for her to get the information she wanted over the phone. That is not how wills were administered. Rose was frightened over what she had done but she uttered something that made plenty of sense although it did not exonerate her from the murder.

“Why would I kill my husband without knowing or being sure of the contents of his will? That wouldn’t be very clever would it?”

But what was even more interesting was a confession by Peter Adams that would have meant nothing to a lesser mind.

Alcohol is a clever detective’s best friend because it loosens the tongue considerably. All that one has to do is get as relaxed as possible with the subject and talk about anything and everything. Which is precisely what I did.

Peter talked rather bitterly about his childhood and ended up blurting out that he was not Adams’ biological son and had in fact been adopted when his mother got married to the American millionaire. He was only 4 years old then.

That statement my dear Watson burst the case wide open.

Peter was obviously very fond of Adams. I could tell that with certainty. And yet he talked about mistreatment from Adams during his early child hood. He talked about a macabre incident where he was sent out into the dark of the night to search for a key he had lost while playing in his tree house. He described the incident rather vividly evidence that it had stuck in his mind for years and had never left him. His mother had been distressed and he could hear her sob as an angry Mr Adams shoved him out into the night and locked the door knowing fully well that he was always terrified of the dark. He was trembling in fright as he tip toed to the tree house but somehow his mother’s helpless sobs had given him strength. With his heart still beating violently against his chest, he had desperately searched the tree house and had found the key. And over the years he had also found love for his brute of a father, or had he?

So who murdered my friend John Adams? Kimilu the native waiter out of blind rage? Rose his gold digger of a wife? Peter his loving step son or Lorna his daughter in law? Or perhaps Mr. Butler the owner/manager?

My lab would have been of considerable help in this case but being away in the middle of the bush in Africa I had no such luxury. It would have certainly helped to interview Kimilu the waiter further but the language barrier and a lack of understanding of the local culture were a major obstacle to my using my usual methods.

“It would be understandable if this were the only case you never go to solve,” Watson said. “But you say you solved the mystery. How did you do it may I ask?”

“A small detail Watson. It is always a small detail and it has to do with the alleged intestines.”

“Intestines?” Watson was puzzled. “What intestines?”

“Remember that this was a native who had presumably never been to school and had only learnt a English as a second language. In fact just enough English to enable him fulfill his duties as a waiter.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that you needed to look for a word similar to intestine.”

“Golly there are dozens of words similar in some way to the horrid word intestine.”

“Actually not many that are connected to this case. Actually I can only think of one.”

“Now what word may that be?”

“Patience my dear Watson. You have several more minutes to find the word as I finish my African tale.”

I worked it all out but needed to prove my theory. And so I interviewed Rose, Lorna and Peter separately one last time. That order was important because I believe I would have not got the same results had I started with Peter.

This is how the interviews went.

Rose;

“Rose, did Mr Adams leave a will?”

“I am not sure.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He always said he would never write a will and get murdered for it.”

“He said that?”

“Yes.”

“Why then did you call his solicitor to ask if there was a will?”

“Because everybody said he had secretly written a will but did not want anybody to know about it.”

Lorna;

“Lorna did your late father-in-law ever write a will?”

“No I don’t think he did. But I can’t be sure.”

“What is it that you forgot in the room on the morning that your father-in-law died?”

“Who told you about that?”

“Just answer the question, please.”

“It wasn’t me. It was Peter’s wallet.”

“So he went back to the room for it?”

“No, I did but it didn’t take me 2 minutes.”

Peter;

“Peter, why did you deny the fact that you had an argument with your father?”

“Because it is the truth.”

“Is it also the truth that was upset and used the word intestate a few times?”

“Who told you that?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yes, we may have discussed intestate in passing but I don’t quite remember.”

“You deliberately left your wallet in the room and then sent your wife to fetch it as you poured out his tea and poisoned it.”

“That’s not true.”

“I can prove it. I managed to get your fingerprints off that cup of tea. It was quite prominent.”

“That proves nothing… but wait a minute where did you get my fingerprints?”

“The drink we had together, remember.”

“You are an idiot Sherlock, and you can prove nothing because I am innocent.”

“That’s your opinion.”

We finally got a confession out of Peter. He had planned the whole thing knowing that he even if he made a mistake in the bush in Africa nobody would notice. And he would have gotten away with it had some generous client not paid for me to be on holiday at that game lodge.

Watson still had a puzzled look on his face. “I though you said you missed your lab and had no way of doing anything scientific? How did you get the fingerprints?”

Improvisation my dear Watson. Sticky tape and a little ink did just fine.”

Croatia Family Budget Holiday Of A Lifetime


Croatia is the kind of holiday destination that will take the breath away from all family members no matter how demanding and cynical they are. And the wonderful news doesn’t stop there because it is possible to have an unforgettable and yet very affordable low cost family holiday at this wonderful Mediterranean destination that everybody seems to be talking about these days. 

The crystal clear waters, amazing scenic coastline, and unforgettable blue vistas are all packaged in the more than a thousand islands. The vast unspoiled coastlines are a sharp contrast to most other crowded and over-built European destinations. The many medieval towns dotting the coastline add to the mystique and sheer beauty.

For older members of the family a camera will come in handy visiting the countless historical sites like Split built within the remains of the vast Roman palace of old or Dubrovnik and its’ ancient alleyways. Actually the whole Adriatic coast was once a Roman playground and many spectacular monuments can be viewed here. For instance there are no less than six amphitheatres, the only ones still standing in the entire whole world, which can be toured. The amphitheatre in Pula is a must see. Little wonder that Croatia is often dubbed the Mediterranean as it once was. All this is bound to be a lot of fun without having to worry too much about your family budget.

Beaches in Croatia are mostly fine pebbles or shingles instead of the usual sand and this is an activity that can be enjoyed by virtually all members of the family. Some of the best beaches can be found around Makarska. The island of Brac is also famous for its’ Zlatni Rat beach.

But by far the best way to see Croatia is by sailing and you can easily charter a yacht for this and fully take in the beauty and splendor of the islands and attractive fishing villages. 

Party animals will not feel out of place either. There is the island of Hvar which is reputed to be amongst the best party zones in the country. T serves both the high spenders and ordinary folks as well so one does not necessarily need to have a lot of money to enjoy their time here. You may even brush shoulders with some of the world’s most recognizable celebrities in some of the clubs and there must be a good reason why so many of them choose this destination to unwind.

If you would prefer a more modern and conventional night life then Makarska night clubs should be perfect. Here you will find delightful beach cocktail bars and many other bars. The place is also packed with great restaurants and so it can also be a great place for the entire family.

Then there is the fresh sea food that can be sampled and enjoyed here as well as along most of Croatian coastline. It is recommended that you wash down all the exotic cuisine with the quality Croatian wines that are world famous. The pleasant surprise will be the prices of the wines which are surprisingly low considering the quality.

Conclusion

Croatia is a unique land of contrasts because apart from the beaches, history and everything else most will be surprised to realize that the countryside in Croatia with rolling hills and breath-taking mountain scenery, waterfalls and lakes are some of the highlights of a holiday to Croatia that many take away with them.

6 Common Mistakes New Website Owners Make

There are some common but fatal mistakes that new website owners make all the time that doom them to eternal failure. These mistakes mean that no matter how hard they work on their websites, online businesses success will always be elusive. Even if they do all the other stuff perfectly, like getting the ideal web hosting plan.

a) Ignoring SEO

Over 80 per cent of the traffic most websites receive still comes directly from search results. It should therefore be pretty obvious that no website owner can afford to ignore optimizing their sites for search engines. Yet websites are still being launched every day where the owners have no idea how to optimize their sites so that prospects can find them more easily via leading search engines. It means that the person behind the website is paying no attention to the largest single source of hot qualified prospects for their new business and website. Most do not even bother to start with simple things like a simple research of the most popular keywords their prospects would use on search engines to find them and incorporating those keywords into their domain name where possible. Good SEO has the potential of giving any website huge results and exploding traffic to the point where your web hosting plan may suddenly become obsolete because of too much traffic.

b) Failing to harvest email addresses from their website traffic

Webmasters usually work very hard to generate traffic to their websites. Study after study has proved again and again that it takes several visits to a website before a prospect is ready to buy. Which means that if you do not have a system in place to harvest email addresses of visitors to your site then you have no way of keeping in touch with them so that when they are ready to purchase you are the first to come to mind? This is nothing short of leaving money on the table. Now why would anybody want all that work of getting visitors to their site to go to waste by not engaging in permission-based email marketing? This is a costly mistake that not only costs many new websites a small fortune in lost revenue but dramatically reduces their chances of ever making their sites financially viable and getting out of the situation where they have to keep digging into their pockets to finance their web hosting years after launching.

c) Having websites that are NOT mobile friendly

There has been a colossal growth in recent years of the number of people accessing the World Wide Web using mobile devices. In fact this figure of mobile users is set too surpass those who access the web through traditional means like Personal Computers by a huge margin in the next few years. Still many websites are NOT mobile friendly and cannot be accessed by mobile devices without the site being distorted. This is a glowingly common gaffe by many owners of new websites even as many web hosting plans are paying increasing attention to mobile traffic these days.

d) Failing to update their sites regularly

There are many good reasons to keep your website updated regularly. It gives your regular visitors a reason to come back again and again. It is also extremely important for SEO reasons. Sites that are regularly updated tend to rank better with search engines and therefore receive much more valuable traffic directly from search results. Why then would any webmaster want to make the mistake of failing to have a system in place that ensures their site is regularly updated?

e) Emphasizing web design over online marketing

Most folks believe that as long as their websites are very attractively designed they will be successful and will attract enough visitors and prospects who can then be turned into paying customers. This is NOT true and emphasizing web design (as important as it is) over the marketing of your site is a big mistake. That is why you see sites that are so “heavily” designed that they take way too long to load. This has a negative direct impact over visitors to the site who are bound to be impatient and will therefore seek information elsewhere. Also, search engines greatly emphasize user friendly issues like how fast your site loads when ranking sites in search results.

f) Failing to research on the competition

There is plenty that a new website can learn from scouting the competition. Indeed all the information you gather from such research will always be invaluable and extremely useful. Yet many owners of new websites have no idea what the competition are doing and more importantly why they are successful.

Conclusion

Avoiding these 6 common mistakes can make a huge difference to any website and will dramatically increase their chances of success.

How To Plan A Wedding Your Guests Will Love


Few would want their wedding to fit into the category of if-you-have-gone-to-one-wedding-you-have-seen them all. Rather what you want is something special and unique which your guests will love and talk about for years to come. To achieve this you must be careful to avoid all the common mistakes made in most weddings while getting as creative as you possibly can.

Your wedding needs to have personality

What’s the point of having a wedding that does not reflect your life nor personality? Why go for some one-size-fits-all wedding pulled out of somewhere? Lack of personality in a wedding will bore your guests, especially if they have been attending a few similar weddings recently. One of the ways this happens is when you let your friends take over everything especially the decision making process. While you will not be able to do it without their support, leaving all the decisions to them is like a corporation being run by committees of junior workers. The results will not be good. You are the CEO and you are the star of the show and this has to be reflected in your wedding to really delight your guests.

Choosing an appropriate theme is only a start and you will then have to customize it to your specifications.

Don’t start feeling overwhelmed in having a hand in every aspect of your wedding including the music, food, wedding decorations and so on. Just have a list with you and calmly work through it. And it certainly doesn't mean you doing everything just make the decisions and then delegate as much as possible.

This does not mean that you will not be welcoming ideas. Rather it means that even as you listen and implement the ones you like you will stay on course and headed in the direction already chosen.

First things first, the guest list

The way to get stressed out and end up leaving everything to your friends at some point is charging ahead with your plans without doing the absolute first thing you must do which is your guest list. Too often the pressure starts flooding in when you book a venue for 80 only to have your mother’s list come in later and change the whole thing to a 200 guest affair. Doing things before your guest list is finalized will always spell trouble. It also means a lot more work in adjustments and changes that would have been avoided in the first place. Also remember that whose coming will dictate many decisions and numerous small details that go into the planning.

Set aside time to talk to your spouse about the details

Set aside a night to go out to dinner somewhere to talk about the wedding. Cover all the different parts of the wedding and come out with a pretty good idea of his interests and preferences in the numerous seemingly small harmless details that could end up ruining everything.

To retain your sanity do also make a firm rule to set aside at least one day every week as a wedding-free day where you do not talk about anything that has to do with your wedding. It is a necessary breather that can do wonders to your ability to generate ideas and solve hitches and problems in the planning of your upcoming wedding.

location, location, location

The location you choose will impact directly on the atmosphere of the entire event. So there is nothing wrong with the search taking much longer than you had anticipated. Talk about it with your spouse so that one of you does not end up irritated and edgy over the fact that you have turned down too many excellent locations. You need to find something that is just right for what you have in mind. It also needs to be easily accessible to your guests with the right amenities for the elderly and kids as well.

Be ruthless with time allocation

Yes, it is your special day but the best planned event will not be much fun for your guests if it drags endlessly on and on. Remember that we live in times when attention spans are even lower so ensure that your well laid plans are not ruined by some speeches that went on for too long.

Is your budget realistic?

It is okay to have great ideas but they have to be within your agreed on budget. Sticking to it will help you keep out pressure and stress from your wedding planning. Avoid the big temptation to go overboard because there is no point starting your new life already heavily in debt.

Have a solid back-up plan if it is an outdoors wedding

No matter how closely you follow the weather reports until the big day, Mother Nature is always capable of springing up last minute surprises. And so if you have an outdoors wedding in mind just make sure that you have an extremely solid back up plan and alternative if the skies unexpectedly release a downpour.

Never ever run out of food

Cut down on your budget everywhere else but be extremely wary of skimping on food and entertainment because those are the two things people will always remember about any wedding. And that does not mean it has to cost an absolute fortune, just get creative because there are many dishes that will be memorable but needn’t cost too much. You can even cut down the guest list if necessary and have a cash bar but ensure that the food will delight your guests. 

Don’t drink too much

The temptation can be huge to overdo things but just remember that there are few things that will put off your guests more than the newly weds being drunk. Besides you want to clearly remember every moment of this very special day.

What You Must Know Before Getting Solar Panels For Your Home

There are many good reasons to get solar panels for your home. For starters everybody is talking about going green. Solar energy is clean renewable energy and has zero greenhouse-gas emissions. You can be sure that it will play an increasingly important role in powering homes in the years to come. Then there is the benefit of at the very least reducing your monthly power bill if you are going to use solar partially. Or you can even eliminate all your current power costs if you choose to use solar as your only source of energy to power your home.

However it is important to note that there are a number of issues you must consider before you go for solar energy for your home. Solar panels generally use photovoltaic cells to transform sunlight into electricity. Simple technology but it has always been pretty expensive. Admittedly over the years the costs have come down and current tax credits in the US can bring down the costs even further. Still the reality is that it will take many years for you to recover the costs in terms of energy savings on your electric bill.

New developments

These days you will find companies across the country that are renting out solar panels. All you need is a monthly rental fee to keep the solar panels on your roof with no upfront charge or deposit. The company renting them out retains ownership and maintains the panels. This means that the huge initial investment required to set up a solar system has been eliminated and this changes the situation considerably.

Will your home take solar panels?

It is also important to ensure that the roof of your home (where you will install the panels) gets direct sunlight most of the day without any major obstacles like trees or buildings. The idea is to maximize the number of hours that your solar panels are exposed to the sun which will maximize on the efficiency of your solar system. Remember that maximum efficiency will mean that you have to spend less on fewer panels to get the energy you need.

How many solar panels will you need?

So the next question is how many solar panels you will need. The panels come in various sizes but your calculation will be based on the total area of solar cells you need to generate the energy you require in your home. Good quality solar panels will tend to give approximately 100 milliwatts per square inch. Assuming that your home is somewhere where you can get at least 6 hours of sunlight on your solar panel that will be a total of 600 milliwatts produced daily.

Next you will have to figure out how much power you need in your house. If you want to totally replace your current electricity supply with solar then the electric company invoices will show you what you have used and you can then use these numbers to calculate precisely how many panels you will need on your rooftop to generate the power you require.

Conclusion

Solar energy makes plenty of sense, but a more practical approach would be to start off partially powering your house with solar and then gradually build it up from there. Not only will this help you familiarize yourself with how it works but it will also be a lot easier on your pocket gradually getting solar panels for your home.

How To Approach A Woman And Take Her Home



Men who get it and understand the right approach do it with ease all the time and will attract virtually any woman they are interested in. Fortunately what that simply means is that when you finally get it you too will be able to approach any woman (especially those who seem to be way out of your reach) and take her home.

It is much simpler than you think. All you need to do is to master the “inner” game and the “outer” game. The inner game is all about you and the confidence you are able to generate in yourself. Remember that it always shows and has a huge impact on your results with the ladies. The outer game is about knowing exactly what to say and do when you are around women.

You can master both very quickly right here;


Stop being nice

One major problem most folks have is that they just can’t get over that sissy stuff of being nice to a lady. How can a woman even begin to like you when you are NOT being nice to her, they wonder? It just doesn’t make sense.

Well the truth is that it just doesn’t work.

Being the perfect gentleman is boring and a big turn off to women. Being cocky and fun is a big turn on. It is as simple as that and it works every time. So decide what you want for yourself Mr nice guy. The just-friends-boring guy or the man who really excites women.

From the bar or party straight to the bedroom

You are cocky. You tease and are funny and are really hitting it off with this girl that you have just met. Your objective is to take her home to your bed right away. Here is a powerful technique that works like magic.

Do not focus on the bedroom. If you do and ask her to go home with you right away chances are that you are going to meet with some major resistance.

Instead focus on taking tiny little steps at a time all leading in the direction you want to go. Just make sure you are constantly talking things to the next step and then the next. For instance when you have met and hit it off with a woman quickly move to the next step and treat her like you are already out on a date. Then lead her to another part of the club or bar (next step). Remember that when you physically lead a woman somewhere else other than where you are it is a very powerful thing that will always help your cause.

The key here is that the woman should always feel that things are developing naturally and she is not being rushed or forced into anything. The right way to make this happen is to move forward a step at a time. After leading her to the dance floor or other part of the bar you can suggest that there is this other place you are going to for a drink and if she would like to join you. That will be yet another step leading closer and seamlessly to the bedroom.

Getting out of the just-friends rut

Many men often find themselves in that situation where they like this girl and are eager to move her from the “just-friends” category into something much more serious. Or to take the relationship to the next level.

Sadly they do all the wrong things. They pester the lady with calls and emails and act like the perfect gentlemen. That is precisely how to remain good friends and nothing else for life because if you behave in this way it is highly unlikely that the woman will feel any attraction for you.

Instead the right approach is to NOT call or communicate with her for a couple of days. Then suddenly call her and invite her to hang out with you. Do not look at her too much or cling to her. Instead lean back a lot, tease her and generally tell her that she has completely blown her chances with you. The idea here is to reverse the roles and get her to do the chasing.

Understandably the big problem with most men is that we want what we can’t seem to have. And so the temptation will be to cling to her and try everything you can think of to move things forward. STOP!! Relax and move on to other women. This is the right approach rather than coming across as being too desperate and needy to any woman. It just isn’t attractive at all. Always remember that it is a huge turn off and you will never attract them that way.

Women are most attracted to players

Many men just can’t get themselves to believe the fact that because a woman knows you date many other women chances are pretty high she will get very attracted to you. Most men are sure women hate and avoid such men. NOT true. Women tend to get very attracted to players.

It certainly doesn’t seem to make much sense but you will always be a lot more attractive to women when it is clear that a lot of other women want you. Again we are back to that very basic principle of Mr nice guy always being a huge turn off to women.

Change your online profile and see what happens

Try changing your online profile at the dating service you use. Make it short and funny and see what happens.

The very same techniques also work online where how you come across to women is very important. Needy, serious, desperate men will never turn on women. Funny, cocky and seemingly hard to get will always score again and again.

When a woman tells you I like you so much I don’t want to lose you as a friend…

If you ever get told this by a woman or any of the other numerous variations then it can only mean one thing. That the good lady does NOT feel any attraction to you and is unlikely to ever do so. It means that you are insistent on doing all the wrong things that make sense to you but turns off women. Being the perfect gentleman and a Mr nice guy.

The end result is that you have come across as some needy desperate guy whom women will want to avoid.

Unless you start doing the things which don’t make sense but spark chemistry this is the kind of relationship that will go nowhere.

Conclusion

The principles and techniques here are universal and will work anywhere because they address human nature. They will always help you approach women, meet and date them so that you end up with more women in your life than you will ever have time for.

See also;

Subtle Animal Instinct Signs That A Woman Wants To Have Sex With You

Men Who Pick Women At Will Use These Techniques

10 seduction secrets used by the pros

The Marketing Power Of Mobile Infographic And Video

Mobile infographic is terribly important to any online business because text will never compete with visual representation. How can it when it is said that the human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text?

Clearly anybody who continues to ignore infographics or allow it to remain in the back burner is losing out big time. And it has gotten even worse for the unconverted in recent times because mobile traffic dominates the web and continues to grow steeply. Visual representation is even more critical on mobile devices. People on the go can hardly be expected to always digest text but they will gladly take in infographics and video.

It is therefore a no-brainer to conclude that entrepreneurs who focus their marketing around infographics and video will reap big time rewards and an enviable return on their investment. The present and future belongs to them.

Transforming your content into infographics

Infographics is simply graphic visual representation of information. The idea is to simplify complex information into a graphic that can be taken in and quickly digested by your audience. Ultimately they should be able to take it all in and grasp the idea in seconds. This is why excellent examples of effective infographics that work the way they are supossed to are road signs. A driver focused on controlling their car at high speed passes such a sign in seconds but instantly takes in, grasps and understands the message.

This is an apt example because the messages and status updates on social media are mostly glimpsed at high speed on the go using mobile devices. Mostly you will have just a few seconds, usually much less, to make an impression and attract interest. Which makes text increasingly ineffective.

Mobile infographic is different

It is not enough to use existing infographic. You need to ask yourself the critical question of how your infographic looks like on mobile devices. Indeed you need to design your infographic with mobile devices in mind. How does it load? If there is any text on it, is it readable or tiny text that is just a blur on mobile?

But even more important is where your infographics directs traffic. Traditionally it has been mostly to websites and blogs and lots of text. As we have already seen this is highly impractical on all the different mobile gadgets that folks access the web and social media with these days.

And this is why powerful and effective online marketing will always be the one that combines infographics and video for maximum effect.

Using memorable images and graphics in infographic messages on popular social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter is something you need to start doing right away if you are not already doing it. Do not expect everything you create to go viral right away instead take the time to measure your results and while making the necessary adjustments so that you learn how best to use the tool for your marketing.

Enter Instagram and Vine

It is now not too difficult to understand why Instagram and Vine have been such a sensation at the same time that mobile is taking over the web. Video sharing is an important feature in both. 

Like infographics video is visual and its’ power has never been in dispute. For instance artists and musicians have always known what video does to their music sales (the birth of MTV was no accident). They have always known that their videos create an impact and emotional link with their audience which ultimately drives the sales of their music, usually through the roof in ways that would have been impossible without the video.

It is imperative to understand Vine and Instagram before we can explore the infographics techniques to be used to promote videos on these platforms.

Vine Videos are very brief (not more than 6 seconds) The idea here for online marketers is to engage their target audience. Instagram on the other hand allows longer videos (up to 15 seconds). It has proved to be very powerful in attracting user-generated content. Instagram belongs to Facebook and the social media giant thrives on “Likes” and comments so even valuable conversations can take place with prospects and customers. Contests have also been a huge success using this application. 

Secrets to successful use of infographics on mobile

a) The power of comparison

6 seconds may appear be too short but taking the time to review some of the popular videos posted on Vine will change your mind. Besides there is nothing stopping you from spreading your marketing message over several videos. Here is an extremely potent technique you can use with your infographs to direct your audience to two of your videos.

Historically comparisons in marketing have always been successful in attracting new customers to all kinds of products. For instance weight loss products have frequently portrayed a person before and after using their products. Infographics linking to two Vine or Instagram videos showing the situation before and after the use of a product can be a great way to get your marketing message across.

Any selling message showing comparisons is bound to work especially if it is something simple and easily absorbed on mobile devices.

b) Humor

Humor is tricky and numerous online marketing gurus have always been wary of using it. But this does not change the fact that it is indeed powerful. Sample the following. When you catch your prospects on their mobile devices busy going about their daily business, there is no guarantee what kind of mood you will find them in. Mood is terribly important and can make all the difference in how your message is received and the possible response. Good humor can instantly change your prospects’ mood in your favor and position you perfectly to receive a positive reception and response.

c) Emotional link

The emotional link with prospects and customers is something that artists and musicians have cashed in on to sell their music for a very long time now. It works, sometimes beyond expectations. Using infographics that already previews this powerful feature before your prospects get to the actual video can be a good way of commanding attention and response from prospects.

Conclusion

The combination of infographics and video on mobile is undoubtedly a winning one and just the kind of thing that should be fully taken advantage of by every online marketer.