Media Relations: How We Landed the Wall Street Journals Front Page – Marketing
Media Relations: How We Landed the Wall Street Journals Front Page
Brad Phillips
Media relations is a great profession.
On good days, I earn my living speaking to and learning from knowledgeable experts who ask for help in raising the profile of their cause through the media. In the past few years, I
Make a Grand Entrance of Your Front Door – Home
Make a Grand Entrance of Your Front Door
Debbie Rodgers
You may find it difficult to believe that the days will start getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere in just four short weeks. You can find yourself this time of year coming home on dreary days, or welcoming evening visitors in the dark. Its neither safe nor inviting. But good lighting at your front entrance gives a warm and secure welcome to any who enter.
Mention outdoor lighting at this time of year and many people think of strings of lights. But why not go for a more elegant look that will continue to be appealing throughout the winter ahead
First, decide what areas it is important for you to light. For your own late arrivals, that may be the front steps and the lock. Youll want to be sure visitors can see the house number, which door they should approach, and perhaps the pathway leading to the steps.
The biggest outdoor lighting mistake is to use a bulb with a wattage that is too high. Bright lights actually create glare, making the surrounding area look darker. Remember, house surfaces reflect back light and so does the snow. Light "layering" -- soft lighting from several sources -- results in a subtle and inviting overall effect.
Install low wattage lights under the gables and eaves of your porch or overhang and direct the lights down, softly illuminating the general area. Let your architecture guide you. If youre using extension cords, rather than hard-wired fixtures, be sure to hide the cords.
Your second layer of light can be used to highlight such features as your house number, the steps or an interesting architectural feature, such as a piece of gingerbread gable. Again, use low wattage bulbs and aim the fixture directly onto these areas. Dont overdo accent lighting. If you install a timer on these first two layers of light, you can welcome yourself home at the end of a hard day.
The last layer of light youll want to use is the one that will actually attract the eye of your visitors - because it will be directly seen and will appear to be the brightest source. This can be an electric fixture with a soft yellow bulb or candles in hurricane lamp globes on sconces on either side of your door. For extra allure, install small mirrors on the wall behind the sconces and spread the warmth! If you would rather keep your lighting all overhead, try wrapping a grapevine chandelier with tiny white lights on a battery operated pack and hanging this from a hook in your porch ceiling.
For special occasions, you may want to light up the walkway. Winter is a great time to use candles outside because the snow is a built-in fire extinguisher. If you have concrete or brick steps, arrange some candles on the stairs too. To protect the candle flames from the wind, use purchased luminaries or shiny metal buckets. If the snow is deep enough, simply scoop out holes slightly deeper than the height of the candle and insert it in the snow. The flame will glow through the snow, providing a subtle and beautiful effect.
So, think subtle but warm. The best winter lighting scheme is neither too elaborate nor too skimpy. Well-designed exterior lighting effects speak glowingly of those who live there. Make a grand entrance at your house this winter!
About The Author
Debbie Rodgers owns and operates Paradise Porch, and is dedicated to helping people create outdoor living spaces that nurture and enrich them. Visit her on the web at www.paradiseporch.com and get a free report on
How to put your offer in front of enough people to make money on the net – Affiliate Programs
How to put your offer in front of enough people to make money on the net
Christopher Kyalo
Whatever it is that you are selling online, there is a simple truth. You will need to get your offer in front of enough people to be able to make a single sale. Once you know your conversion rate that is how many people you need to put the message in front of to make a single sale it is simple enough to calculate how many people need to see your message for you to achieve the kind of sales and profits you want to make with that particular online product or service.
That’s how simple an online business can be. Forget all those complex, confusing pieces of advice flying at you from all directions on the net. Just get back to the basics. If you do not have your numbers correct, youll go nowhere.
A business venture starts with the setting of goals. What do you want to achieve How much money do you want to generate What kind of profit do you want When you answer that question, all the rest of your business plans will fall into place.
This applies to affiliate programs and it is easy to see why so many people spend time joining them and getting frustrated, when all they need to do is find a way of making this simple calculation. Most good affiliate programs will show you the number of hits you are achieving and how many you are converting into actual sales.
One of the most effective ways of going about getting your offer in front of as many people as possible, online is by posting informative, useful articles on subjects related to your offer. You then direct this captive audience to your web site or where ever your offer message is. Articles and not ads work best online and that is simply because the world wide web is an information medium.
This all sounds neat and easy to do except that you will need to write quite a number of articles to start seeing the results.
But as with everything else in life, there is an easier way of doing things. A way of ensuring that your single article or two is put in front of enough people to make the impact you need to start generating sales.
Why not use a site that is already generating 1.5 billion page views each month A site that will not have any problem with you posting personal information about what you do and how to reach you, neatly and conveniently directing some of this huge traffic to your article or offer information.
You may have guessed the site I am talking about Ebay.com of course.
I found Brian McGregors ebook "The Ebay Formula extremely useful in helping me understand how to use Ebay to drive my traffic and profits. Of Course there is serious money to be made from auctions or by selling something with a fixed price from Ebay, but that is not the topic of this article. The point I want to make here is that you can use the About Me page to put all sorts of information, even if you are not selling anything.
You can get a copy of "The Ebay formula" from the following link:-
http://www.workwinners.com/ezGaffurl.phpoffer=ckyalo&pid=19
About The Author
Christopher Kyalo is a writer/marketing expert who makes money online only by posting free articles. Get his free course at bizboom@freeautobot.com and visit his blog http://big-online-story.blogspot.com. He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com.
strongwallafrica@yahoo.com