Promote Your Firm’s Services with Web Videos

Videos are a good tool to expose your company. For certain there are dozens and dozens of other marketing methods available from article writing to blogging, from press releases to podcasting. Nevertheless, nothing says “cool, connection, and creativity” like a professional video.

Each week more & more companies of all sizes are making short format videos about their offerings. They’re not only just putting them on their business websites, but They’re posting them to their blogs. To gain global twenty-four-seven exposure, commercial videos are being published to loads of video-sharing websites like that of You Tube & Google Video. And why not ? it is economical, easy to undertake, and can have a considerable impact, in some cases, on the traffic it drives to your companies website.

There are a lot more reasons why online videos are a useful way to advertise your company.

Short format videos enjoy an extensive distribution channel: Videos by their own nature are straightforward to “package” which makes them ideal to fit into a selection of different distribution channels. You can post them on your website or blog, if you want you can even put them onto your notebook and show them continually at an event. You can upload them to various online video-sharing social sites. You can burn them onto DVDs & give them away or sell them. You can even send them by email. Vidify provides clear strategic insight into managing online video as an effective part your video marketing mix.

Professional videos are a good way to advertise. As our sophistication with technology develops, so do the methods in which people like to interact with others. Most people are visually oriented meaning that is how they best understand and work with their world. This makes promotional videos the supreme business strategy to communicate with today’s public.

These are just a few of the many reasons why online videos might be a superb way to market your organisation’s services. Discover more about this topic to see how you may well leverage your precious time, recourses, & energy to talk with your target marketplace in a original & remarkable way.

January 31st, 2009

Wedding Budget Challenge

As you plan your wedding, the most important task you have is to set your wedding budget. Weddings are expensive events. The average cost of a wedding in the America is more than $20,000. The honeymoon is not calculated in the cost. Although $20,000 sounds like a lot of money for a one-day event, keep in mind that it is an average and a many weddings cost significantly more.

No wedding budget is ever too big. It is your budget not your imagination that sets the limits of what you can or can’t do on your wedding day. Formal weddings in hotel ballrooms or other trendy wedding reception venues will require a much bigger budget than a reception held at your parents house. Normally, formal weddings are more expensive because everything about them is expensive such as the food, music, etc.

The summer months are the most popular and most expensive months of the year to get married. Due to the high demand during the busy wedding season, hotels and other wedding reception venues can ask higher than usual prices. If you must have a summer wedding, expect to pay a premium.

The more guest you invite to the wedding, the more money you’ll spend. You have to calculate your food budget based on a per-head cost for food and liquor. The type of meal you serve your guest is limited by your budget. For instance, seated dinners are more expensive than a buffet style dinners.

Some locations are more expensive than others. Certain cities such as New York and Los Angeles can be expensive, but far away places can be just as pricey due to high travel costs and the lack of competition.

Don’t worry if your wedding budget doesn’t cover everything you can dream of. It may require compromises, scheduling changes, or simply begging for more money, but even with a small budget you can plan a beautiful wedding.

Developing the wedding budget is challenging, and the bride and groom should work on it together. If your parents are footing part of the expenses, you have to involve them in the process too. Traditionally, the bride’s family covers most of the expenses. Today, such tradition is not necessarily relevant. The bride and groom normally pay for most of the weddings.

January 26th, 2009

The Eleven Dimensions of Space/Time – Part II

Time as a dimension can be modeled as a plane surface enveloping or enclosing a tridimensional space, and thus, time is curved. This envelope represents the domain of time, but actual time lapse from an individual’s point of view is along the dimension, appearing as sequential movement. However, movement through time is, itself, multidimensional and not a simple “straight” line. It is the multidimensional aspect of time that enables perception of time moving “slowly” versus moving “quickly”; the closer conscious awareness is to the center, the more rapidly time appears to “flow”.

Transformation dimensions, of which time is one, are not like the groups of three dimensions that follow them. The transformation dimensions enable other dimensions to exist, but they, themselves, appear to exist outside the infrastructure of the dimensions they enable. Time as a dimension is longitudinal to the three spatial dimensions, and that means the measurement goes across dimensional realities, such as alternate universes. Time, therefore, can be thought of as a hyperdimension; that term is synonymous with the phrase, “transformation dimension”. What is conventionally accepted as the measurement of time is actually a measurement along dimensions five through seven within our space/time. We call such a measurement change over time. All measurements of time are actually measurements of change along one or more of the spatial dimensions, and the units of measurement used for spatial dimensions are equally useful for measurements of change over time. The movement of an hour hand around an analog clockface can be measured in centimeters or inches, for example. In fact, the analog clockface itself is a crude model of movement along the fifth dimension (movement of a line within a plane).

This concept is difficult to put into words, but it is quite clear once you understand the relationship between a transformation dimension and the three dimensions that follow it. For example, time itself cannot be measured within our space/time; the measuring of change over time is relative and dependent upon the existence of at least one following dimension. What we call seconds, minutes, and hours are symbols we use to indicate the rate of change along one or more spatial dimensions. If we could use those units to measure time without reference to any other dimension, we would be measuring time itself. But how do you know what a minute is without a clock or other spatial reference to guide you? To get a feel for this, try the mental exercise of attempting to measure time without resorting to the referencing of other dimensions; it cannot be done. This is because the units of measurement we use for time have meaning only when compared to a reference, such as the atomic clock, and inherent in that reference is the referencing of spatial dimensions. Relative to our space/time universe, actual time itself is static, or more accurately, is pure potentiality, but this characteristic enables dynamic movement within the following three dimensions.

True measurement of time could be in units of seconds, minutes, hours, or etc., along the dimension itself but this measurement would define a distance between alternate realities, not between points of movement in our space/time. (continued in Part 3)

LariAnn Garner has sought knowledge of the meaning of life since her teenage years, and lives that quest today. This quest has led her through exploration of different versions of Christianity as well as studies as wide-ranging as the Edgar Cayce material, Lobsang Rampa, the work of Robert A. Monroe and the Monroe Institute, the Bartholomew material, Ramana Maharshi, and much more.

Her first published book is Fractalic Awakening – A Seeker’s Guide, available at http://fractalicawakening.com

She lives with her family in south Florida, U.S.A.

January 26th, 2009

Demand Growing For RobosapienTM V2

Robo-enthusiasts are a-buzz with giddiness lately, not just from solder-smoke. The next generation of Robosapien, aptly named the Robosapien V2, is now available. But apparently it’s in very short supply in North America, and demand is growing with the holiday just around the corner.

So what’s the hubbub surrounding this second generation toy robot?

Autonomous Behavior Robosapien V2 was designed to pay attention to you very closely, whether you teach him to move his limbs to certain positions, activate a preset function, or program him from the remote control. But are you really interesting to warrant such attention all the time? Nope. Robosapien V2 is fully capable of taking in the environment around him and start doing his own thing.

For example, he may decide to explore his surroundings, identifying other humans and shaking their hands. Or, if you leave him alone in a room with a Robopet or Roboraptor, two robots, he can directly control himself (COOL!). You may come back to find him playing fetch with one of them using a brightly colored ball.

Way More Sapien At 24 inches tall, this next generation Robosapien not only looks more humanoid, but brings his predecessor’s fluid movement and biomechanical agility to a whole new level. The head can swivel on the neck, allowing him to recognize and track what’s going on around him in a way that closely matches a human’s. The flexible waist, with its three degrees of freedom, allows for very complex body movements such as bending, sitting, lying down, standing up, waving, and martial art maneuvers.

The Robosapien V2’s hands are truly an evolutionary next step, with fully articulated fingers that give him advanced grasping ability. This precision gripping enables him to grab a ball and throw it a fair distance or simply wave non-menacingly at your household pets in a friendly gesture. Should your pet not be appreciative of this charming display, the bi-pedal V2 can walk over to it in one of multiple gaits to ask what its problem is?

Advanced Awareness Robosapien V2 boasts a multi-sensory system unlike anything we’ve seen before, heightening the level of interactivity. His color recognition unit means he can visually recognize humans by their flesh tones, responding to movements. With a stereo sound detection system he can also hear and react to noise made by you, and really appreciate a ‘pull my finger’ joke.

He’ll also have great sense of his environment through infra red vision, allowing him to avoid obstacles, table edges, and highly annoyed cats. The remote control is supplied with a ‘laser’ that you can use to trace a path for him to follow with which a mischievous user could certainly use to lead him toward any ill-tempered pets, if so desired. Robosapien V2’s touch sensory system has also been highly developed, reacting to your handling of him along with a bump into anything.

Endless Possibilities The large group of robot hobbyists that grew so enamored with the first Robosapien version, both for its ease of programming and openness to modifications, will really go nuts for this generation. There are over 100 pre-programmed functions, 4 demonstration modes, and a myriad of ways to program him to do what you want.

Through world renowned roboticist Mark Tilden’s careful design, you can be sure the same attention has been given to keeping Robosapien V2 easily tinkerable. Surf the Internet to see what kind of mods people have been doing with the first one, and that should get you pretty excited with the possibilities to come.

January 25th, 2009

What Inspires Me as a Writer

Truthfully, I have not read many books, so I can not say they are my main source of inspiration. But there is one book that has probably influenced me the most, and that book is The Hobbit. Many might not understand the importance, or rather misunderstand. I can not explain this book in the slightest. It is well worth the read, I assure you that. Most people think that the beauty of it is that it shows how even the smallest of mans can be a great hero, but I see it deeper.

To me The Hobbit shows such a deep love of life that shall never be known. There is creativity in every passage, wonder in every sentence, and beauty in every word. The imagery, the feeling, the meanings, and the plot are forever intertwined as an endless tale of life, death, and mortality.

Fantasy, in my opinion, is more than the power of the imagination creating endless thoughts, but rather of a mind that understands life and the world so great that it can spread its beliefs into new worlds, new creatures, new beliefs. It’s like the releasing of beauty from one realm to another while not losing a drop of purity. When an author creates a new world, it is not only about escaping the world they live in, but rather spreading that world into new canvases of emptiness and void. It’s not just a creation of something new, but a rebirth of something old.

All this inspiration and all that I have learned is poured into my artwork and writing. It is my channel of release. I want to paint everything I see, draw everything I know, and write about everything I feel. I want to live everything I can see, taste, feel, and hear. I don’t want to watch life, I want to be it. I want to live in the arts, be painted in shades of truth, drawn in lines of passion, and sculpted with clay of innocence.

My art is my passion, my expression, and my knowledge. It is how my feelings, thoughts, and memories are recorded. It is more than an outlet, an escape; it is a calling, a release, a guide in life. Whether with words or design, my art is as much as a part of me as I am a part of my art.

My first passion in art was drawing. When I was little I would draw anything and everything. Of course it moved on to shading, and then painting, and now other medias. I really enjoy photography now. Art isn’t a hobby to me. A hobby is something you do to kill time. Art, to me, is something I do to make time. It’s a recording of moments and passages in my life. A few years back, maybe five or so, I took up poetry. It started off as just an experiment at first. Simple words rhyming as jokes in poems. But then I developed a skill of word use, of expression through imagery, of putting feeling and thought into phrases. It came from my love of music and lyrics, and developed into my collection of poetry as in my portfolio. My poetry is different, though. I don’t think many understand the meaning in my poems. I cover them up with fancy words, sweet sounds, and flowing phrases. And even if they do, they can’t feel what I can feel. They can’t understand its truth. So is the pain of being the writer, as many of you readers know.

I suppose I could mention love as one of my inspirations, though quite an odd one indeed. Love is a beautiful, powerful, and haunting thing. It can seal, heal, and break hearts. It can lift, lower, and bury spirits. Even so, I do not know well of it. I know the love of my friends, the love of my family, and the love of life, but I am still lacking the romantic love. I have no girlfriend or wife, but maybe someday. I suppose it’s this wanting to be complete, to feel that I deserve someone and someone deserves me that makes it an inspiration in my writing and artwork.

There isn’t much to say about love as an inspiration. You can’t describe it to someone who doesn’t know it, and to those who know it they don’t need it described. It isn’t really like another feeling, like being sad or happy or mad or scared. Love is a feeling of its own, set away from others. It can’t just disappear, or be overcome by another feeling. It is just something you know when you find it.

To me, nature is the most beautiful thing in the world and my greatest inspiration. It outshines all my other inspirations. It is also the only thing that a soul can rely on. It is constant and everlasting, changing and forming, spreading and growing, touching and reaching across boundaries of life. Not many people have a love for nature anymore; I do. It’s my life, my greatest inspiration, my greatest knowledge, my closest friend, my healing source, and my creator.

There is beauty in every creation of nature. They all possess such purity of life, such untouched desires and cores. They aren’t tainted with knowledge, with passion, with thoughts and feelings. They are simple forming with time. They are complex still, but they aren’t overflowing with it. They don’t worship themselves, but rather life. They know not of corruption they only know life.

Unfortunately, the truth is that nature creates mankind and mankind destroys it. A sad thought it is indeed. Nature is fuel, a source of life. It isn’t just for admiring, but it is also for honoring. We can honor some great God, fellow mortals as actors and athletes, as lovers and family, as friends and companions, but we can’t honor Nature? Even sadder if you ask me.

January 24th, 2009

Outsourcing – Another Variation

In this article we’re going to go over another form of outsourcing that is just as common a practice as sending jobs overseas.

It’s the hiring of contract workers.

This practice actually started many years ago back in the 70’s by large companies such as AT&T.

As a regular employee of a company you are entitled to and probably receive the following: health benefits, vacation time, sick time, pension plans, 401 K and a number of other perks. These perks cost the company money, lots of money. If a company is marginally profitable these perks greatly cut into their profit margin.

In order to increase profitability and reduce expenses companies hire what they call contractors or outside consultants. Why? Well, for starters, they don’t have to pay them as much, though in actuality they pay them more money to make the position more attractive. So the question is, how can these companies actually pay more money and still make this profitable?

The answer is because outsourced contractors are NOT employees of the company. That means they work for the contracting company whether it be Source EDP or one of the other big contractors in the United States. These employees are employees of the contracting company. The contracting company pays their salary, benefits, etc. The company using the outsourcing simply pays this company a fee, granted a hefty one, for the employee. BUT here is what they DON’T have to pay. Health benefits, vacation time, 401 K, pension and all the other goodies that go with a company when you’re an actual employee of the company. This saves the company a ton of money on each contractor. Multiply this out by 100,000 of these and you’re talking about saving millions of dollars.

Here is actually a real life example that was given to me from an associate of mine from a contracting situation from years ago during the AT&T divestiture.

Back in the early 80’s AT&T Information Systems had a building in Northern NJ with 10,000 employees. They needed an additional 2,000 to complete a project. Instead of hiring them outright they outsourced them.

Now, the positions paid $7 an hour to an actual employee. The outsourced pay was $18. so the additional cost for the 2,000 employees for the 1 year project was $45, 760,000. One would think this is total insanity. However, the amount of money they saved per person for health benefits, 401 K, pension and all the other things they had to pay into came to $54,912,000. A savings of almost $10,000,000 because they used outsourced employees rather than hire actual workers for the company. After the project was completed they hung onto the contractors and laid off over 2,000 of their regular employees, which was the first time in the history of AT&T that they had to do this.

As you can see, outsourcing saved the company millions of dollars. It also cost 2,000 people their jobs. 2,000 jobs weren’t created because they were using contractors instead. Remember, these contractors were already working for a company, a contracting company. So 2,000 people were now out on the street. Most of them went into, you guessed it, contracting.

It’s one of the biggest industries in the United States today.

Any wonder why?

——————————————————-
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Outsourcing
——————————————————-

January 23rd, 2009

Is it worth hiring a professional copywriter?

“Article writers wanted: I will pay $3.50 per article. Must be quality writing – no hobbyists!”

No, this isn’t a joke. It’s an actual job advert, posted on a website earlier this year. What’s more, there’s nothing particularly unusual about this advert. It seems that more and more often these days, people expect writers to work for free – or as close to free as it’s possible to get.

So what’s the catch? Well, professional copywriters won’t write for $3.50, which means that the only people who’ll respond to an advert like this will be very people the employer says he doesn’t want – hobbyists.

But what’s wrong with that? Why not go with a hobbyist – a non-professional writer? What can a professional copywriter give you that an amateur can’t?

Here’s what:

1. Time

Let’s think for a minute about how many $3.50 articles a writer would need to produce in order to make anything like a decent amount of money from it. Quite a few. Quite a few hundred, in fact. In order for it to be worth their while, then, the cheap article writer has to be churning them out at the rate of at least a few an hour. They’re not going to spend a lot of time on each article: what would be the point? Even if each article takes them an hour, they’re still earning less than minimum wage, so the article you receive isn’t going to be carefully researched and written: it’s going to be churned out in as little time as possible.

2. Quality

You may think quality doesn’t matter too much. If you’re commissioning articles for a website, you may be tempted to think that quantity is all that matters: the more pages of content and keywords you have, the better your chances of being ranked in the search engines, after all.

Think about why you want a good ranking though? Presumably you want your site to be well-ranked in order to receive more traffic and more sales. Your content, then, is there to lure in people, not search engines. And it’s a fact that most people arriving at a website full of badly-written content will just hit that back button right away.

3. Credibility

There’s no doubt that good quality writing lends credibility to your website or articles, while sloppy writing creates the impression that even you didn’t think your project was worth investing in, so no-one else should either.

4. Skill and Experience

Some people think that anyone who knows how to string a sentence together can call themselves a writer. Not so. A professional copywriter doesn’t just put words on the page: they know the right words to use to gain the reaction you’re looking for from your audience. It takes years of experience to know what works and what doesn’t in terms of website copy. Do you really think someone who’s spent years acquiring those skills will give them away for $3.50?

Of course, it’s up to you. If your main concern is adding content to your site for very little cost, go with the $3 article writers. But if you want to create a high quality website, with content which will pull in visitors and keep them coming back, it could be worth bringing in the professionals.

January 19th, 2009

How to Look Good in Wedding Photographs

The dress was beautiful, you got through the ceremony and reception without a hitch, but just when you thought your wedding was perfect, your pictures come back and you look awful. What can you do to make sure that your photos are as beautiful as the memories you have?

Here are some of the things you should consider:

- Never scrimp on your photographer. Nobody’s going to remember if your bouquets had daisies or rare, exotic orchids. But years from now, your great grand children will be looking at your wedding album. They’re not just souvenirs, they’re heirlooms. Spend on them.

- Avoid complicated hairstyles and veils. You’ll be walking around, too busy talking to guests to check the mirror. You don’t want your veil hanging to the side, or your bangs plastered to your face. Keep it simple and elegant. If you want a dramatic veil for your walk down the aisle, look for a style that allows you to detach part of it, leaving you with something less cumbersome at the reception.

- Buy or make a small clutch bag or pouch that matches your gown. It should carry blotting paper, pressed powder, lipstick and blush. Ask your maid of honor to keep it handy for you.

- Wear waterproof mascara. You will cry a lot. It’s guaranteed. Black mascara will run and leave unflattering raccoon eyes.

- Don’t wear heavy powder eyeshadow. Again, you will cry. You will also sweat from walking around in heavy makeup, a thick gown, and hundreds of guests milling around you. Powder smears and cakes, and ends up under your eyes.

- Don’t wear sheer lipstick. You’ll eat it off. Or if you do, wear a matte or semi-matte base and apply the sheer lipstick as a top coat. Be sure to blot well, or it’ll end up around your mouth or on your teeth.

- Don’t wear heavy shimmery makeup, unless it’s applied by a professional makeup artist. It doesn’t photograph well under less than perfect lighting conditions. If you do, apply only on the eyes.

- Bridal makeup should be soft and romantic, not harsh. Natural pinks are most flattering, and really make you look like a “blushing bride”. Avoid hard-edged contouring and dramatic browns, unless blended well and kept close to the eyeline. Even lipsticks should stick to the pinks and brownish pinks. Bright reds look too harsh worn against a white dress.

- You’ll need good foundation that lasts long but doesn’t cake. The trick is to apply moisturizer first and let it “set”. This will prime your skin. Apply a matte or cream foundation, then concealer. Dust powder foundation with a brush.

- Take good photographs right after the ceremony, when everyone’s make up is still intact. You should have solo shots, couple shots, and group photos with your entourage, friends, family members.

- Ask for a few black and white photographs. They always have a soft, romantic feel.

- If you’ll be having outdoor photographs, light is most flattering in the morning and at dusk. Avoid any outdoor shots from 11am to 2pm; everyone will just be squinting.

Lesley-Ann Graham runs WeddingTrix.com – a valuable wedding planning resource with articles, tips and advice to help you plan your perfect wedding. The Bride, Groom, Best Man, Bridesmaids and Groomsmen can find it all at http://www.WeddingTrix.com

January 19th, 2009

Presentation Skills: Become A Better and More Confident Speaker

Presentation skills are one of those assets that any employer would really like to have in an ideal employee.

Essentially, it’s the ability to get your point across to other people.

As a recruiter, I have to help prepare people for interviews where they are essentially presenting themselves in front of one or more interviewers. Once they get the job, they might have to regularly present in front of larger groups which only increases the stress and trepidation of presenting.

If you have trouble with presenting or feel that your presentation skills are an area of weakness, here are some tips to help you improve:

1. Practice certainly makes perfect. You won’t get better by thinking about it. You really need to practice speaking in front of other people whether it’s at work or in social settings. Look for any opportunity – work or social – to speak and gain confidence.

2. Look for opportunities to present topics that you like and feel comfortable discussing. Try to find opportunities outside work to present where you might feel less pressure to perform but will still allow you to practice in front of an audience.

3. Join a Toastmasters club or other organization that will help you improve your presentation skills and will give you the opportunity to speak publicly in front of other people trying to improve their skills and are in the same position you are.

4. Consider signing up for presentation skills training. Not only will you get to learn from someone who knows what they are doing, they will be able to focus on the areas you need help with most.

5. Think of your main strengths and try to incorporate them into your presentations. When appropriate, injecting your sense of humor and personality into presentations can help to build a rapport with your audience while making you more comfortable too. Essentially, try to be yourself when presenting and let your real personality come out.

6. Try not to place undue pressure on yourself before a big presentation. Prepare well in advance and avoid last minute changes that increase your stress. If you have properly prepared and know your topic well, convince yourself that this isn’t a big deal and that you have nothing to be scared of.

The more opportunities you have to apply your presentation skills, the quicker you’ll be able to improve them. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to being a skilled speak is nervousness. The more confident you are, the more comfortable you will be in front of an audience and the less likely you’ll be to have to read off of prepared notes.

Practice does make perfect but in cases where you still feel your skills are not improving fast enough, consider training with a professional.

Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur and professional recruiter. Carl has helped many job searchers find their dream career and would like to help clear up some of the job search myths that exist while helping people avoid common mistakes that cost them jobs.

Visit Carl’s website to separate yourself from other job searchers: http://www.find-your-dream-career.com

Ezine editors/Webmasters: Please feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your website. Please don’t change any of the content and please ensure that you include the above bio that shows my website URL. If you would like me to address any specific career topics in future articles, please let me know.

January 17th, 2009

Warm Lisbon Is HOT at Night

Lisbon is Portugal’s capital and the sunniest place in Europe. It is an ideal getaway place all round the year due to its good weather. The winters are less chilly than other places with the temperatures ranging between 8-16C making it an ideal place to visit when you want to keep away from the snow and dipping temperatures back home. The summers are hot though, with temperatures soaring during the noon.

Getting to Lisbon is very cost effective as there are many budget airlines that offer cheap airline tickets . You can also find cheap hotels in Lisbon that cater to travelers of every budget. If you travel off season you could get some amazing discounts at some of the otherwise costly hotels. If you have an internet connection at home, it would be a good idea to go online and look through the various hotels in Lisbon and pick one that suits your type of budget. You can look at the photographs and reviews of the hotels and see the facilities offered.

The city of Lisbon has many places to see and would keep you busy throughout the day without any dull moment. Traveling within the city is very easy as there are plenty of options such as electric trams, buses and even cable operated trams to make sure that you don’t have to worry going out on your own. You can enjoy exotic sea food and various delicacies of chicken while you sip your favorite drink. If you’re one of those who cannot resist shaking your body when the music is on, you have plenty of choice. This sleepy little city has some fantastic night clubs to end your day perfectly. Shopping, good food, clean sandy beaches, music and fun Lisbon has it all and more and will surely not disappoint you.

January 16th, 2009