The funny thing about presenting and public speaking is that the majority of people will tell you they don't enjoy it and/or aren't very good at it. And yet regardless of who they are and what they do, most of the speaking they do on a day-to-day basis IS public speaking.
You see, mostly when we talk to ourselves we keep it as an internal dialogue that nobody else can hear. But whenever we open our mouths and actually make a noise in front of another person we're speaking in public – hence "public speaking". So why do so many people find it so scary?
I think it's the eyes. All those sets of eyes fixed on you..... BORING into you. It's unsettling. So would it be any easier if your audience was ignoring you and all looking the other way? What if they all dozed off so it WAS as if you were talking to yourself? (Have you ever been a Rotary after-dinner speaker?)
Whatever the reason, the fact is that before getting up to speak, even the most seasoned professional will have some butterflies, whether they choose to call the feeling nervousness or excitement doesn't really matter. Rest assured, we all experience it to some degree.
If I had one tip to pass on, if I was asked to tell you the most important lesson I've learnt over the years I've been presenting, it would have to be to stress the absolute necessity of being totally prepared.
Now this may sound obvious and I'm sure you've heard this before, possibly many times, and like a lot of important messages it tends to become diluted the more we hear it "Oh yes, I knew that, now what else?".
And yet, knowing this, some people will be outside in the car park seconds before they have to deliver their sales pitch scribbling it out on the back of a business card. I know, I've been there.
When I talk about being prepared, I mean you should know your talk off by heart. You should be able to give it verbatim, standing on your head, without even having to think about what comes next.
Now some of you may be thinking "Yes, but I don't work like that. I like to keep the spontaneity" or "Yes, but I want to tailor my talk to the occasion" or "Yes, but that would be boring because I'd just be on auto pilot."
But actually, that's not what happens. In effect, the opposite is true. When you know your talk by rote, it gives you the freedom to change it around, to add, to subtract without losing your direction. It's like driving from A to B. If your route is set from the outset and you know it well, you can safely veer off and browse in a few antique shops and have a pub lunch in a picturesque village off the beaten track and still get back to where you were to complete your journey. But, if you'd just set off in the general direction with no main route to which to return, you'd soon get lost if you were to be diverted and you'd have difficulty picking up that thread again.
You see, there are so many things out there that can throw the speaker, and lots of unexpected things can occur when you're dealing with the public. No matter how good you are, you will become distracted, so knowing your material to the nth degree is absolutely crucial.
If something happens that needs your attention, you'll have to stop and deal with it, but you can return to your talk with barely a glitch and appear calm, collected and hence the ultimate professional.
You see we all get nervous. We all stick our feet in our mouths sometimes. We don't ever operate in a hermetically sealed environment, especially when exposed to other humans. But prepare, prepare and over-prepare and not only will you enjoy the confidence of knowing that nothing can phase you because you know your material, but if you're forced off your chosen route for any reason you can return smoothly and appear to be the consummate professional speaker.
And after all, if you can't – or won't – speak about your business, who will?
Electronic mail is quick and easy but has not taken the place of regular mail (a.k.a. snail mail). And with mail service comes the need for envelopes. Envelopes are necessary to safely transport everything from personal correspondence to business proposals to wedding invitations to announcements and the like.
Envelopes come in a variety of different forms, styles and sizes. Just to name a few, there are commercial envelopes (think business size), window envelopes, open-end envelopes, self-sealing envelopes, remittance envelopes, booklet envelopes, square envelopes and so many more.
There are also specialty envelopes such as the ones used for greeting cards, wedding invitations, birthday/shower invitations etc. Depending on what type of correspondence you are sending, some items come with envelopes to match while others do not. It's always a good idea to shop around at a number of different places to find exactly what you require.
Envelopes come in different colors as well- practically every color of the rainbow if you look hard enough. While white is a standard color and considered the professional way to go, a great deal of packing envelopes with bubbles inside, are yellow. And holiday envelopes (such as for Christmas) can often be purchased at stationery stores in festive colors such as red or green.
When deciding on the most appropriate size and style for what you need to mail, take into account the shape and size of the item(s). Don't stuff the envelope to busting capacity. Always remember to leave enough room to comfortably seal the envelope. Allow each item some space to move around in!
A regular envelope is also referred to as a business size envelope. These are standard envelopes and are used on a regular basis by businesses and individuals alike. They can be broken down into two kinds- legal size and letter size envelopes. Incidentally there is a size of legal (business) envelope that is the most popular and that is the #10 envelope. This envelope's dimensions measure 4 1/8 x 9 1/2. This size of envelope is used so frequently because a piece of standard size paper, 8 1/2 x 11, when it is folded three ways slips effortlessly into a # 10 envelope.
There are also other sizes of business (also referred to as commercial) size envelopes as well. There is the # 11, #12 and #14. What happened to the # 13 envelope is anyone's guess. The measurements of each of the above envelope's are as follows: #11 (4 1/2 x 10 3/8), # 12 (4 3/4 x 11) and # 14 (5 x 11 1/2).
To describe three other types of envelopes briefly, square envelopes have no seams and therefore are often used to send items such as booklets, announcements about new businesses and promotional deals. As a rule this kind of envelope can be purchased in stock that is made with white wove and comes in two sizes, the 24-pound and the 28-pound. Another kind of envelope, called the A-series envelope is also a favorite of businesses and comes in 6 different styles, the A-2, A-6, A-7, A-8, A-long and the A-10.
These envelopes are very sophisticated looking and are available in three kinds of weights, 60, 70 and 80 pounds. Open-end envelopes, which also go by the name of catalog envelopes, are often used to mail items such as thicker booklets, pamphlets and magazines. They are good for items such as these for two reasons, they have a gummed flap and the flap opens on the side that is longer so bulky printed materials fit inside very easily.
In the very recent past, a friend of mine [Kate] was lucky enough to get her website listed (bookmarked) on Digg, a very popular social bookmark site. With her permission, I was given an excellent chance to overlook and analyze the traffic generated from these types of sites. Read on to discover the pro's and con's of social media site traffic, and how it could be utilised in your own website or online marketing efforts.
Firstly, it should be said that any sort of internet traffic, should not be considered useless. Visitors to your site should all be welcomed, as any visitor is a good thing. In saying that, however, it should be noted that traffic in all its greatness, is not created equally. Great differences become apparent when you start to analyze its source. The purpose of this article, is to take a much closer look at the traffic generated from social bookmarking, from the perspective of internet marketing.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 2 years, you'd notice a very big trend on the web--social bookmark and media websites have become "all that" on the web. Slashdot, Stumbleupon, Digg; any of these popular sites sound familiar?
This is where a lot of social bookmark traffic will originate from. In essence, these sites are driven and "controlled" by the users. Users or members choose which content they want to bookmark, and this will lead into viewing and discussing of said bookmarked content. Sites such as these are immensely popular, and flow traffic that the average website owner can only ever imagine having. Thats a lot of traffic, isn't it? But is it really useful?
All this traffic and hype must be a good thing, right? But is it really worth your time? Should you integrate active promotion to these types of social media websites? What about concentrating all your online marketing strategies on these types of sites? The question more at point is, what are the real pro's and con's of getting your website listed on the front page of sites like Stumbleupon or Digg?
As a website owner myself, I wanted answers, and I wanted them quickly. In addition, I wondered if utilising these sites could benefit me; i.e, could they help me generate more income online?
Recently, my friends listing on Digg enabled me to have a upclose look at these sites, and the effects they brought to a website owner. This was a chance for a first-hand, upclose study; I was not about to pass this up.
However, this didn't happen by chance. Kate took the action of placing the free "Addthis.com" bookmark to all her pages. You can also do this quite easily. Using this simple bookmark "button", you can start to attract these sites. However, be warned; a site featured on the front page of social media sites can almost instantly generate 100,000's of visitors to your website; this in essence is enough traffic that it may overload your server. Not good!
So be careful; active promotion to these social bookmark sites should only be taken upon if your servers or web hosting company can withstand the sudden influx of traffic.
With Kate's permission, I utilised Google Analytics and started to analyze these types of visitors and social bookmark traffic generated. Interestingly enough, some very important factors were realised. The Majority of this traffic will:
- Simply bounce back.
- Very few visitors will stay on your site; even for a short period of time.
- Very few visitors will actually go into the depths of your site.
- If you have a newsletter or similar, you'll notice that very few sign-up for these.
- If you utilise any type of marketing follow-ups, etc, very few will enter.
(In saying this, an unknown variable is the content of your site. Is it well written? Does it perform well? Is it useful or attractive to the visitor?)
Traffic from these sites does pose a very common problem, however; its temporary traffic, to say the least. The mass amount of traffic generated will usually only last a few days at most, that is, until your listing or bookmark is removed from the front page. Most of these visitors will rarely remain on your website for long, and the majority leave within seconds. In saying that, you may have a few sign-up's to your newsletter or Ezine, or visitors that explore your site. But keep in mind, this number will not be very high.
Social media site traffic can be likened to customers in the drive-thru sections of fast food restaurants; they come and go as quick as they came. The visitors will basically view your content, and before you know it, have already left, surfing back to the main site to venture onto the next item or listing. Social bookmark traffic will always behave differently, to a large extent, when compared to organic search engine traffic, or your newsletter traffic, for instance. Very differently.
Visitors from Kate's article posts will generally add up to 50 to a 100 new sign-ups a day; much different when compared to social bookmark traffic. In addition, readers and visitors to her articles are actually interested in her content, and therefore have been previously exposed to similiar content upon reaching her website. So in this case, there was no comparison.
The choice of traffic will always lay in the visitors generated from search engines, atleast when comparing to the traffic from social bookmarking sites. A question still remains, however-- is social bookmark traffic really all that useless?
Firstly, as previously mentioned, you need to remember that no traffic should be considered useless. Any type of visitor to your website should be counted as a good thing. Any website owner should realise that getting traffic and visitors to your website is a must; otherwise its game over.
When someone searches for a particular term in a search engine, and they end up at your website, this means that your visitor is there because you have what they're looking for. This type of traffic is essential to your website. Visitors like these are considered to be "targeted traffic"; that is, they're more likely to read your pitch-page, overlook your information, sign-up to a newsletter, or even buy a product. Additionally, they may also become repeat visitors. Traffic like this is ideal. These are the types of visitors you really want.
However, its not all bad news. Social media or bookmark sites do have a bright side.
How would you like the possibility of your website gaining exposure to millions of people? Sounds good, doesn't it? Even though you may not get sales, for instance, this traffic can assist in getting your websites name out there; branding it, creating a buzz.
If your website appeals to a more mass market, then you are even more in luck. Social bookmark traffic in this case can be an excellent source of traffic and visitors.
Social sites such as these also have another added bonus; gaining a link on high PR7 and PR8 websites, with high traffic flow, can't hurt your search engine rankings. After your website is featured on a social media site such as Digg, your link can also appear on a large number of secondary websites on the web, as much as 1000 or more. Much of this traffic will also be using the Firefox web browser, which is embedded with the Alexa toolbar-- what does this do for you? Your Alexa traffic rank will be improved. As much as 50% of the visitors hitting Kate's website we're running the Firefox browser.
Something worth pointing out, is that the traffic generated from Stumbleupon was much different. Longer stay durations were the common thing in this traffic, that is, this traffic behaved more like organic traffic. This could possibly be attributed to the fact that Stumbleupon is a higher quality site, and this was reflected from the higher quality of the visitors originating from there. This also made me come to the realisation that not all social media/bookmark traffic can be measured with the same stick. This experience also pointed me out to something important; the content featured on Kate's website is geared towards targeted visitors from search engines and articles, and is generally not suited to the mainstream net-surfer.
An idea to better take advantage of this type of traffic, is to gear your website and its content to more mainstream internet users. Whether or not this enables you to achieve a greater level of success, is largely dependant on what you offer and how it is offered. Another unknown variable, unfortunately.
In the near future, I hope to gain the chance to further study social bookmark traffic, and its long-term effects on websites. In specific, the effect it would have on keyword rankings and link popularity rankings in search engines; only then can I come to any type of real judgements. However, for now, my mind is being kept open, and the idea is being tossed up as to whether social media and bookmark traffic is actually worth the time or the effort. Is the time taken away from your usual day-to-day marketing efforts worth it?
Guess there is only one way to find out, really.
I have been writing professionally for more than two decades. I have worked as a professional writer and editor for newspapers, books and magazines for local, regional, and international audiences. My primary financial support has always been either professional writing (or editing) or the teaching of writing. In fact, my initial foray into writing for the Internet was not intended to be a profitable venture but rather a way to express myself when I made the transition to teaching writing full-time. I knew that after decades of writing daily that I would need that outlet. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my hobby could actually earn more than my professional ventures? That is why I encourage my students and my writer friends to explore Internet writing for fun and profit. There are three good reasons for writers to spend at least a sizable chunk of their writing time writing for the Internet.
First, and foremost, if you are a writer then you need an audience. If you are reading this article then you know there is a huge audience accessing their reading material via the Internet. Unlike the reading audience of traditional printed materials, the Internet-reading audience is growing exponentially. More and more people are forgoing traditional newspapers, magazines, and books to subscribe to ezines, web pages, blogs, and RSS feeds. If you can find your audience on the Internet, then that is a very good reason to write for the web.
Another good reason for writers to transition to the web is that is where the money is today. While money can be made through the traditional avenues of publishing books, selling articles, or working as a writer for hire it is getting more and more difficult for established, proven writers to make a living and extremely difficult for newcomers to break in at a livable wage. However writers can start up their own business fast and cheap or work for hire to learn the ropes and build up their nest egg. Trying to do either of those things in the traditional publishing world will not find success.
Finally, or third, there is a niche for everyone on the Internet. Most traditional publishing methods are limited to a specific region due to the cost of printing and distribution. However neither is a consideration on the Internet, so writers can reach audiences around the globe. This means that what may seem a rather small niche (of say people who collect dachsund sweaters) may well find their audience is hundreds, thousands, or even millions. That means there is a need for articles and publications for these folks. As an avid dachsund sweater collector yourself you are an ideal writer for any publications currently serving this niche and if there aren't any then you have a wide-open field to start your own.
These three simple reasons should be enough for any writer to consider writing for the web. The Internet is a great place to break in and get started as a professional writer and the Internet is an even better place for the established pro to profit.
Profitable article writing is one of the most necessary elements online when focusing on fabulous returns online and making more money online. Profitable article writing is writing and submitting informative articles with the intent to create traffic, adding revenue to the bottom line, that part being the most necessary. With profitable article writing and making more money online, it is necessary that you follow proven ways online and yet still find ways to creatively innovate repeatedly, once again looking for fabulous returns online.
Article writing is considered an old yet very effective method of marketing and advertising. A lot of marketers both new and professional have had a taste of writing articles as a tool to market and promote a product or a business. Most of these article writers have common tips and techniques to give and suggest on how can one be an effective article writer.
Here are the necessary ways to get to fabulous returns online with profitable article writing:
• For fabulous returns online in profitable article writing and making more money online, you have to focus intently on necessary elements online, and be able to brainstorm effectively to come up with creative solutions.
• For fabulous returns online in profitable article writing and making more money online, you have to prioritize effectively and to get first things first consistently and be able to leave the unnecessary things for last, if ever.
• For fabulous returns online in profitable article writing and making more money online, you have to look at the big picture and creating an action plan to make things happen. What kind of results are you looking for? Set a goal and determine what it will take, in solid action, to get there.
• For fabulous returns online in profitable article writing and making more money online, you have to write new articles everyday and maximize your relationship with them daily.
• Article writing is not about writing it with highly stated lexical words. Writing is never at all about the usage and employment of “highly educated” choice of words. In fact, it is always been suggested that when writing any document form, a writer must use conversational, ordinary, and easy to understand words and always stay away from using highly technical ones. So, loose your worries about using big words in writing.
• Article writing is all about writing from what your inner soul tells you to write. People who read your article material will have a way of knowing and sensing your sincerity to reach out to them. When you relay information to people, they will now if what you are doing is all a masqueraded drama. So, when you write, follow your heart and soul.
• Article writing is all about perfecting your craft. There is no such thing as perfect article the first time you write. Your skill of writing continues to evolve as you go on writing. Make sure that as you go on writing, you develop yourself towards becoming the best article writer there is.
• Article writing is learning from others. As a writer, one of your sources towards having a meaningful, well written article is from other people’s point of view. Learn to learn ideas from other people most especially those people who have earned reverence from other writers. They have the experience and the wit to share.
