Students Of Success

Divorce is certainly an emotional time for families. In fact, it ranks as one of the most stressful experiences in life. However, it is not only the adults who experience this stress. If the adults are parents, their children often suffer greatly. Their suffering can not be entirely eliminated. A certain amount of grief at the ‘death’ of their parents’ relationship is to be expected. Nevertheless, while the adults are going through typically arduous legal wrangling it is important for them to remember the needs of their children and put them first. Deciding to cooperate for their sake will help to protect the children’s emotional well being by maintaining their sense of security and need for unconditional love. Marital breakdown is difficult for everyone - especially children. There are several ways in which loving, responsible parents can cooperate for the good of their children. Even though the marriage may have broken down, the parental relationship is ’till death do us part’.

Child and youth counselors emphasize that children need lasting relationships with both parents. More often than not joint custody is granted because of this accepted understanding. Ideally, the relationship of the parents should be business-like and cooperative for the sake of the children. Children should not witness hostility between their parents and should not hear negative statements about either parent. It is recommended that parents commit to regularly scheduled meetings, in a neutral location for the purpose of discussing child-related issues. Education, medical, religious and moral issues that concern the children’s well- being need to be dealt with by both parents. If emotions prohibit calm conversation, there are often family justice counselors available in the community to facilitate these important meetings.

Children going through the divorce of their parents usually have many questions and worries. Compassionate responses are required and it certainly takes mature parents in order to put aside their own issues and help their children gain some understanding about a situation over which they have no control. Unfortunately, many children experience guilt and often blame themselves for the marital breakup of their parents. Counseling - whether group or individual - can be an effective way to lessen this destructive burden. The objectivity of the counselor may help the child open up and share his/her feelings. As children mature, their questions will differ so the issue of their parents’ divorce is never really over. A commitment on behalf of both parents to open communication with the children will reassure them greatly.

Divorce Attorney Jean Mahserjian makes it easier to make it through your divorce by providing you with the essential information you need to understand the divorce process. For more help and information on this topic, visit our site at: www.millenniumdivorce.com

When search engines pay website owners a percentage of the bid cost, you’re just looking for trouble. This is the problem with Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, especially with smaller named search engines. Many websites request or even pay there visitors to search a specific search engine and click on a result. This just sends advertisers fake leads and causes problems for the advertisers that paid for the keyword listing. Many PPC search engines offer webmasters up to 80% of the bid price. For example, let’s say I pay ‘Example Search Engine’ $1 for the keyword Viagra, they then pay webmasters $.80 per visitor they send that searches and clicks on a bided search term. You can see why PPC can be a problem.

Paid Inclusion offers a safer, less expensive form of search engine advertising. You pay one price to have your site listed in a specific search engine, often under a specific keyword. Your site will also be updated on the search engines data base more often then non paid sites. Paid Inclusion costs and average of $25 a year per URL submitted. Plus the cost goes down the more URL’s you submit at one time. PPC usually starts at $.01 per click being the cheapest bid per keyword, but you’d be lucky to find a keyword that low that would result in any clicks.

Something to be aware of when advertising on PPC search engines. Although you are paying for your site to be viewed in a search engine, many times your site will show up on other people websites. This is a common practice on both Google and Overture search engines. Advertisers have to opt out of this service if they only want to be shown in the search engine,. In my opinion, this will help reduce fraudulent clicks of your paid search term.

This isn’t to say every PPC search engine is bad. For example, Mamma.com offers a fixed price per website category. They then rotate all the websites in a category evenly. Websites big and small get their advertising site seen the same amount of time. Before spending money on a PPC search engine be sure to read how they protect advertisers against fraudulent clicks. This will help make sure you get more for your money.

If there was only a way to eliminate fraudulent clicks in PPC advertising. It would make using this method of search engine advertising well worth the extra costs. After all, you are getting targeted hits to your site by people searching for precise keywords.

About The Author

Kristian Pulz is the owner of http://www.Links2See.com an internet directory and http://www.barterNsave.com a direct partner of the First Barter Network. He can be reached at webmaster@links2see.com.

Good marketing positioning is like good lying. No, we’re not suggesting that you lie when creating your company and product positioning. Anything but, in fact. But, it’s remarkable how much the properties of good positioning resemble the properties of a good lie.

Like an effective lie, an effective positioning statement should be:

1. Believable. A lie that no one believes is rather pointless, isn’t it? Well, the same is true of your company or product’s positioning. If it’s not believable, then it’s useless. Ensure that the key elements of your positioning statement are rooted in truth, and that the assertions that you’re making about your company’s or product’s capabilities will pass the sniff test of a jaded observer who has seen it all before when it comes to the outlandish statements that a lot of software and information technology companies insist on making.

2. Consistent. A weak lie won’t stand up to scrutiny when judged on its consistency. Internal consistency – that is, ensuring that the various elements of the lie, or positioning statement, are not in direct conflict with one another - is very important to making sure that the listener won’t just turn off their eyes and ears to your message.

3. Simple. Remember being a kid and trying to tell a lie your Mom? You’d concocted a story so convoluted and complex that it was impossible to remember as you recounted it. A positioning statement is the same way. If it’s so complicated that even you and your sales reps can’t remember it, you’re guaranteed that your customers won’t either.

4. Compelling. What’s the point in telling someone something that isn’t interesting and doesn’t apply to them? If you’re taking the risk of lying, tell a lie that is at least somewhat captivating to the listener. In the case of your company or product’s positioning, it should mean something to your target audience. Which means you better have done your homework into their hot buttons beforehand. What’s important to them? What’s not? What benefits can they not do without? Find out, and ensure that your positioning hits those notes.

Keep these caveats in mind when it comes time to position or reposition your company or product, and we can assure you that your audience will sit up and take notice.

Ash Seha is a partner at The Launch Factory LLP, a consultancy specializing in marketing, sales, and product management strategy for software and IT companies. Their expertise, garnered from such IT highflyers as i2, webMethods, SAP, and Baan, is focused on breaking the growth bariers that stand between high-growth software and IT companies and their revenue and marketshare goals.

In today’s business environment, the online business has begun to play a major role and having a website for your business has become an issue of paramount importance. Not only having a website, but online business needs a marketing plan, a plan for the website itself and involves a lot of thought process. The very first thing a business needs is a website. The website should have its own business objectives and a clear cut long term goal. Website strategy should always be long term and not short term.

The online business planning and strategy implementation begins once you have a fully functional, professional looking and optimized website. Measuring your online business is no mean task. Due to latest trends in dynamic content, you may put up a different promotional or discounts or deals on a weekly, monthly or even hourly basis. A baseline measure is possible only when you measure your business during a quite month of no promotional and deals are put up. This will indicate the performance of your online business more accurately and help you plan ahead. Keeping tabs on all happenings at the site should be monitored.

Bringing visitors to your site is important. This is called traffic generation. But once the traffic arrives, it is your websites responsibility to make the visitor make a purchase. The number of purchases compared against the traffic is called the conversion rate. The conversion rate can only be bettered by your website through promotional, discounts or deals or any other way you think fit.

Traffic generation can be achieved by search engine optimization, the process through which your site can be edited or developed to rank higher in the search engine results, preferably in the first 10 or so. Use organic procedures for long term results.

Putting up forms when a visitor comes to your site may not be helpful, after all many of the visitors find this irritating and time consuming. Even if the visitor does fill in the form, it is not necessary that he makes a purchase.

Always make sure that the navigation through your website is simple and easy. The prices and product description pages should be easily accessible and clearly worded. Put yourself in the visitor’s shoes and imagine you are trying to buy something on the internet. What would you like to see in a website – Simplicity, Navigation, Pricing, Ease of Use, Testimonials, and Transparency? Make sure that your site fulfills these pre conditions.

If in doubt, get the
website assessed by a
web development and design or SEO professional. You will not repent the
advice.

Is America ready for Hillary Clinton as President of the United
States?

I, for one, am NOT, as I am sure many others are in agreement.
But then we have the shallow-minded intransigents, of whom fail
to deem beyond what they consider, their own indubitable
intellect. They are too busy looking within themselves to see
what is before them. Therefore, eagerly leaping onto the
Political jackass, they blindly err as a Steed…Or should we
say “Mare”.

I have nothing personally against Mrs. Clinton, other than I
have little respect for her. Although against Democratic
conviction, I am still unconvinced that she did not seek the
Senate seat in New York for use as a catapult into the
presidency. She was never satisfied behind the scenes telling
her husband how to run the nation, she wants to be the one
behind locked doors of the Oval office with her cigars.

I accept the rise in Mrs. Clinton’s approval rating in the
polls, even more so after the presidential election of which she
had refrained from running, that is as it should be. She had to
prove to New York and the nation of her pledge to serve a full
term and not a seek higher office. She kept a low profile during
the presidential election, although many democrat’s believe she
would have won her party’s nomination easily. No matter how
comfortable she is becoming with many of the Republican or the
Democratic party, if she had ran at that time, it is my belief
that would inevitably have been her down fall. It would have
destroyed the trust she had worked for and given proof to the
suspicions within our nation.

Undoubtedly, we all know why she wanted the seat in the New York
Senate, argue all you want, it is still visibly fact. No matter
how many of the male liberal, democrat and republican party’s
shout out her good deeds and honor, I don’t believe we are ready
for Hillary Clinton as President.

Pure silver is generally far too soft to be used for jewellery so is combined with other elements to improve its durability and colour. The most popular silver mix used for jewellery is Sterling Silver, which consists of 92.5% pure silver alloy with copper usually making up most of the other 7.5%. However, there is at least one company currently producing 925 (i.e. 92.5% silver or sterling silver) silver using a combination of different elements to help reduce tarnishing significantly. This is a new product though and unlikely to filter through to more mainstream silver jewellery for some time.

In the UK it’s illegal to actually call a product ‘silver’ unless it comprises of at least 92.5% pure silver, although unless the weight is greater than 7.78g silver goods do not require a hallmark by UK law. Indeed, on smaller items it is often uneconomic to have silver items hallmarked although many will carry a ‘925’ stamp usually applied abroad during the manufacturing process to indicate Sterling Silver.

Due to it’s very nature silver is prone to tarnishing with prolonged contact with the air or the chemicals found on the surface of many people’s skin. Tarnish can easily be removed by gentle polishing with a silver cloth or commercial silver dip available in most jewellers and supermarkets. However, these solutions are often unsuitable for silver jewellery inset with stone or composite jewellery so make sure to read the instructions properly before use.

Although some people will swear by more abrasive cleaners, even using something like toothpaste, this will usually simply dull the shine over time by leaving small scratches in the silver.

An alternative to occasional cleaning with specialist cleaners is simply a more regular cleaning in warm soapy water and a soft sponge or cloth. Once cleaned this way jewellery should be thoroughly dried.

Elizabeth Brodie is the owner of Silver Jewellery World an established online jewellery store from the UK specialising in quality designer silver jewellery.