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Approximately 1.5 million users are struggling with methamphetamine addiction. A lot of them have been told to kick meth, but quitting meth is no easy task. Meth is ingested by most users to wake them up. It’s legally used as treatment for obesity, which is also the reason why numerous teenagers that are prone to anorexia nervosa might also use and abuse the substance.

What makes meth so popular, though, is the fact that it’s simple to concoct in the comforts of one’s home. Among banned drugs sold around the country, crank is also among the cheapest. The typical effects of ice are easy to spot: when shot intravenously, the user feels a rush of euphoria for about three or so minutes. When ingested by mouth, or snorted, the rush is the same but more subtle and longer lasting.

Crank is cheap, but since the feeling of being “high” is short lived, users need to take in more of the substance to maintain the momentum of the rush. It’s also very easy for the body to become immune to the high that meth gives. This is the primary reason why most drug users suffer from clinical complications caused by the drug.

If you are addicted to meth should you go to meth detox?

If you or a family member are addicted to ice, you might want to think about getting ahold of a treatment center and going into meth detox today. Nowadays, methamphetamine dependence is the worst illegal drug problems in the Unite States. Aside from the horrible side effects of ice on the user, it has been described as the primary cause of a number of deaths and a world wide issue that can not be ignored.

Difficulties associated with meth detox

Meth addiction is challenging to treat because the withdrawal symptoms can be just as painful as its adverse effects on the user. Many methamphetamine users who go to rehab eventually go back to the habit because stopping suddenly makes them feel depressed, tired, irritable and panicked.

Detox from meth at home can be done with the guidance of a doctor. As a matter of fact, the support of the family is essential because a major chunk of the total treatment process involves home meth detox.

A tremendous percentage of the methamphetamine user’s rehabilitation lies on his/her mentality. As the friend of a methamphetamine user, you have the duty to to hope that the user will quit meth as soon as possible. Hopefully, s/he stops using before its too late and severe brain damage has been done because of the drug abuse.

I’m one of those people that always wanted a website, but had no clue as to using the internet. I could check my email and that was about it. I never heard of ISP, FTP or all those other “words”.

When I discovered that I had the website making program Microsoft FrontPages I was determined to learn something about html. Then when I discovered I could earn some money by having a website I wanted to start yesterday! And here I am, still don’t know hardly anything, but I’m running a website! So believe me when I say, “if I can, you can!”

Here are some basics to get you going:

1.) Pick a topic. Decide what you want your site to be about. Be sure to choose something that is very interesting to you so that you keep your site new and exciting and your visitors returning. Research, research, research! Get a lot of information for your visitors to read. Add a lot of content to your site, not just link exchanges. Search engines (like yahoo and google) love content.

2.) Get web hosting and a domain name. The host is who holds your site on the internet and your domain name is www. What you want it to say .com. You can get free hosting, but these usually are not good for making money. They typically post their own ads and will not let you post any. But, if you’re looking for a free hsot to start with, I would check out Bravenet. They have a ton of freebies that you can use like web templates, visitor counters, chat rooms, guestbooks and a lot more. For inexpensive web hosting and domain names, I like 1&1. I purchased my domain name and web hosting from them for $4.99 a month!

3.) Design your site. This is the fun stuff (if you’re the creative type). You may either do it yourself or you could pay a professional to do it. If you don’t know any html then you can purchase a program like Microsoft FrontPages or Dreamweaver and do it yourself. These programs make designing a website a snap! You can also find free web templates out there which have the basic design, you just have to add the words.

4.) Get affiliates for your site. Now this is where the “make money” part comes in. Being an affiliate means that you are helping companies to sell their products. Typically they will either pay you a commission on a sale of their product or by a click on their link. Be sure to choose affiliates that coincide with your topic. Some great places to go for affiliates are Google AdSense, Commission Junction and Click Bank.

5.) Start Advertising. Add your sites url (the link to your site) to all of your signatures. Tell everyone you can about your new site; family, friends, coworkerseveryone! Add a link to your site in all of your emails. A good site to check out is www.MomPack.com You can find many other moms on there looking to help you advertise.

6.) Start Making Money!!

For more tips like these, visit us at www.MomOnABudget.com

Jennifer is the owner of http://www.MomOnABudget.com. MomOnABudget is an excellent resource for money saving tips, work at home ideas, how to decorate on a budget and so much more.

All sentient beings reside in these three realms of the universe. We exist in the realm of human beings. The deities exist in the realm of spiritual world and the suffering souls in the realm of the underworld which is Hell. The realms of spiritual world and underworld are intangible and invisible to us.

Human beings were born in the realm of spiritual world as deities because of their benevolent or righteous deeds while as humans on earth. They will exist for a certain period of time because they are not immortal yet. They are not fully enlightened beings and still have to travel in the cycle of birth and death just like us when their ‘life’ comes to an end. There is no suffering there and deities just enjoy their lives for a few hundred years until it is time for their rebirth as humans again.

The most unfortunate realm is the realm of the underworld for deceased people who during their lifetime have committed various sins. They are either waiting for the next incarnation or suffering various punishments for the wrongs they had done in the previous lives. All religions believe in this realm and there is no mercy for the sinful souls there. The punishments are real and once the punishments are over, the suffering souls will be reborn as animals, human beings or even deities. This depends on the good deeds or merits that they have done on earth during their previous lives beside the bad deeds which they have settled through punishments.

The main problems found in the current education system are emphasis on materialism, individualism and consumerism. Little effort is made to teach the students the values of life. If you were to listen to the conversations between students, what you can hear most of the time includes moneymaking, fun on the beaches, sailing, fishing, partying, internet surfing and games, and so on. Parents expect their children to score top marks and tuition classes to achieve that expectation. The future goals are to make a lot of money in order to enjoy their life to the fullest. They have lost the most important part of education – The values and real purpose and meaning of life. Can we see a whole family living together nowadays after the kids have grown up? Very rare! How many grown up kids want to live with their aged parents?

When individualism is prevailing, family members tend to look upon each other as merely some other individuals and they don’t fit into each other’s life or they have enough of each other’s company. Many just simply break up and dump each other relentlessly. No wonder in this modern society, the distance between people is getting further and are becoming more and more indifferent to each other. For a brother to care for another brother is rare. If you have a good family relationship like the olden days, it must be the guidance from your parents and not the education system.

It is right at this particular moment that Tao is descended to the world to save all those with the right affinity and foundation to continue their Tao cultivation regardless of race or religion. Tao of Heaven is not a religion and why I use the word ‘continue’ is that we are not here to start our cultivation from this life, we have already cultivated ourselves for many past lives. It is a continuation of whatever stage that we have left behind and to see through it in this lifetime.

On the other hand, Tao is descended to this world particularly at this moment when turmoil and disasters are prevailing almost everywhere. Nuclear threat to end the world is no longer a mere talk but a reality because the amount of nuclear bombs in hand can turn the world upside down and kill every living being on earth. Other serious threats are man-made for example global warming and the ozone hole – the side effect of modern science and technology and all kinds of sins done by human beings.

In Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu described bluntly how different people with different foundations could respond to Tao in chapter 41:

“The superior cultivator hears of Tao and practises it diligently. The average cultivator hears of Tao and gives it thought now and again. The foolish cultivator hears of Tao and laughs aloud. If there were no laughter, Tao would not be what it is.”

Many modern people cannot help but think, “BBQ is good, the excitement and fun on the beach is good, parties are good, big houses are good, fancy cars are good, wine and dine are good, womanizing is fun,” and so on. This prevents the mind from being tranquil or peaceful and always looking for ways to earn money to have them. I can see the reason why certain people immediately burst into laughter when the subject of Tao was brought up to them. They will say, man has gone up to the moon, and you are still talking about this! In the Bible, Jesus gave some similar advice, “Do not throw pearls in front of pigs. They will only trample them underfoot.” (Matthew 7:6).

This is the saying of my Heavenly Teacher JiGong:

“I, your teacher, have taken on the heavy responsibility of the Universal Transformation of The Three Groups of Beings directed by Lao Mu (God). The teacher has thousands and ten thousands of disciples. Yet, among these thousands and ten thousands of disciples, each has his own different karma (fate), and each is under the control of his own karmic powers.

Disciples, you should know that the very day you wish to step into the Door of Enlightenment, the teacher must first make clear with your karmic-powers (creditors from past lives). I must take on the responsibility of making sure that you pay your debts (by transferring your merits to them). Hence, I hope that after you have realized the Truth thoroughly, you really must make contributions and build your virtues.”

Three Groups of Beings (San Cao) – Refer to three groups of sentient living beings inhabiting the Three Zones of the Universe: [1] Spiritual beings of various paradises [2] Human beings and other living creatures of the under-heaven or human world and [3] Souls and ghosts of the underworld (including hell).

Author: T.A Chew

T.A Chew was told that this is the time of the great salvation of mankind. The living beings of the three worlds or realms can be saved back to the Heavenly World. The Buddhist term for the three worlds is ’samsara’ and the Heavenly world is the void where all of us came from. He longs to go back home and to do so, he has to share with others that this is the Truth. Website: http://www.white-sun.com

Some individuals do not recognize how essential a debt settlement company can be to their future financial security. Utilizing a debt settlement company to restore bad credit can touch many different areas of life and create better opportunities in the future once your bad credit has been repaired. Using a debt settlement company can help a person establish great credit faster and go a long way towards helping them attain the things that they require in life.

In most examples, using a debt relief company can better your chances for getting authorized for some other loan in the future. Having the opportunity to aquire additional loans can come in very handy when trying to buy a new car or home. Having your debt relief company fix your poor credit will help you to get okayed by the credit card company or lender that you have chosen to work with.

People that have utilized a debt relief company will usually get lower interest rates for credit cards and loans when compared to a person that suffers poor credit and negative marks on their credit report. Credit card companies look at the individual as a low risk customer when they have used a debt relief company to help. This provides the credit card company with the alternative to provide the person a lower rate because they think that they will recieve their payments on time. Aquiring a lower interest rate can save you loads of money over the years of your loan.

What can you say to paint the picture to your prospects and create the right persuasive emotion in your presentation? Analyze your stories. Are you stores vivid? Can you audience taste, feel, touch, and identify with your story? Do you use silence in your presentations? Should you? Where should you implement a good pregnant pause?

A utilities company, trying to sell customers the advantages of home insulation, sent auditors to visit homeowners and point out the ways they were wasting energy. The auditors provided the homeowners with suggestions on how they could save money if they were willing to improve the energy inefficiencies. In spite of the clear financial benefits over the long term, only 15 percent of the audited homeowners actually went ahead and paid for the corrections. After seeking advice from two psychologists on how they could better sell the advantages of home insulation, the utility company decided to change its tactics (technique) by describing the inefficiencies more vividly. With the next audits, homeowners were told that the seemingly minute cracks here and there were collectively equivalent to a gaping hole the size of a basketball. This time, 61 percent of the homeowners agreed to the improvements!

Complete this imagination exercise with me: Pretend you are standing in a beautiful, sunny kitchen. You reach across the counter and grab a bright, juicy orange. You can feel it is heavy with sweet, ripe juice. You can smell the delicious orange scent as you rub the oil of the skin on your hand. Reaching for a knife, you slice the orange and begin to peel back the skin. The aroma only becomes stronger as you tear the sections apart. One of the sections drips bright, sticky orange juice over your finger. You raise this juicy section to your lips and take a bite. As your teeth sink into the orange, you feel the juice burst out and swish around your teeth and tongue. The juice is incredibly sweet! You savor it a moment, cradling a puddle on your tongue before swallowing.
Did your mouth water? Almost everyone’s does. The extraordinary thing is that if I had simply instructed you to produce saliva, you couldn’t have done it. The vivid picturing technique works far better than the command because your mind cannot distinguish between what is imagined and what is real.

A Master Persuader has the ability to paint a picture with his words. The prospect will be able to see, hear, feel, and experience exactly what he is talking about. The prospect becomes part of the message and can more fully understand how the product or service will change their life. As a Master Persuader you stimulate your prospects’ senses by using words that activate their mind. You present your message through positive emotions because the positive thoughts of the audience will color their perception of what you want them to do.

We can all say, “I walked on the beach,” but that’s not half as effective as saying, “The sun was up and shining brightly on the warm sand. I took off my shoes and felt the soft sand between my toes. The seagulls floated lazily across the ocean sky. The waves soothed my soul as they rhythmically crashed against the shore. I could taste the salt of the breeze on my tongue.” I think you can feel the difference between the two. Words activate all that we do. The words we use can make you physically ill, emotionally drained, hungry, and even salivate. They can especially make you buy!

When you find yourself in a situation where you really need people on your side, use words that are going to create strong mental images. Attorney Gerry Spence once said, “Don’t say he suffered pain. Tell me what it felt like to have a broken leg with the bone sticking out through the flesh. Tell me how it was! Make me see it! Make me feel it!” Words are more powerful when they have strong emotional connotations. You want your words to be clear and credible, but they will have greater impact if they also strike an emotional chord within your audience. You can avoid being melodramatic or sensational by being sure that your words truly reflect the circumstances and that they can always be backed up.

Sometimes the right word is no word. On occasion we need to remain silent and let the other person talk. We have heard in sales that the first one to talk after the close loses. After the persuasion process and the final decision is ready to be made, make your proposal and shut up. The silence is nerve-wracking, but it’s a critical time to let the prospect make the decision without you rambling on and on about the product or service.

How often have you noticed a sales rep overselling a product? You were ready to make the purchase by handing over your credit card. The sales rep felt you needed to know everything about the product and he started to fill you in. This caused doubt to creep into your mind and you ended up leaving, telling the salesman you would think about it. When someone has been persuaded and convinced, there is no reason to say any more. Strike when the iron is hot!

More communication is not necessarily better persuasion. In fact, the less you talk, the smarter people think you are. The more you say, the more common and less in control you appear. Many individuals try to impress people with what they know by flaunting all their wisdom, but usually this strategy is just a turn-off.

Conclusion

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. It is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.

Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale! Take your test now at http://www.prewealth.com/iq

Kurt Mortensen teaches over a hundred techniques to give you the ability to effectively work with every customer that walks in your door. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others. Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis.

Bill Brooks of The Brooks Group wrote an article several years ago about his organization’s research into sales performance. Bill’s research partner analyzed 178 top sales performers from the United States and another 450 from Germany who, as he stated, “…were at the very peak of their game.” These top sales professional were analyzed in two key areas behavioral style (personality) and core values. Here’s what the Brooks Group researchers learned about sales success:

A sales or service industry professional’s personality has little or nothing to do with his or her sales success levels. The Brooks research found that there was a broad spread of personalities and sales styles across the groups of sales professionals assessed and that “personality characteristics pegged to success” was not a factor in the sales success equation. In truth, the successful sales performer’s personalities varied as much as the products or services that they sold! However, in assessing each sales professional, 78 percent of these top performers all shared the same basic value and that this core value was the key to a sales professional’s consistent sales success. What was the value? Across two distinct cultures and a diverse group of industries the core value driving top sellers was their keen interest in making a lot of money!

What does this research mean to a sales or service industry professional?

1. Personality and style are not nearly as important to your sales or business development success as your core values.

2. If you are not motivated by “financial gain,” it doesn’t mean you will fail at sales. However, it does mean that you only have about a 22 percent chance that you will become a top sales producer.

3. If you’re not motivated by making money, as 78 percent of the top sales producers in the study, you will most likely always be an average or below average sales producer.

4. To be a top producer you need to work for an organization that gives you the opportunity to earn as much money as possible. The “opportunity” to make money helps to stimulate this vital core value and give you the driving force needed to succeed at selling.

5. You must understand that motivation to reach the top comes from withinfrom your values. Your core values are part of your internal “operating system,” that makes you who you really are.

6. You really need to find out what “turns you on” and then go for it. You see, there are hundreds of interests that are important to people with core values other than working toward high economic gain.

Top sales professionals and service industry “rainmakers” earn a lot of money. But as Bill Brooks says, “They also want to earn a lot of money. It fuels their self worth and sense of well being. It’s how they measure their success.” However, I have observed in my coaching sessions with the top producers that they have additional values that complement their drive to earn money. Most of them are also driven to solve a prospect, customer or client’s problems and to meet the needs of those they sell, doing something to deserve the money they are driven to earn.

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications, Inc. Menlo Park, California. He has also authored a Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides.

Virden assists clients through a unique personal coaching (telephone)program. He has taught at the Center For Professional Development, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas and the School Of Entrepreneurship, Marriott School Of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. You can contact Virden at Virden@TheSellingEdge.com or learn more about him at http://www.TheSellingEdge.com.

Winter is just around the corner (except if you live in Australia or New Zealand). As you already know winter is the time for the sales fiesta on the internet.

Yes online business starts booming with bumper to bumper traffic on the e-freeways. Characterized by a lack of good parking spots, loads of enthusiastic first timers and a renewed vitality and surge of life pulsating and throbbing it`s way along the e-super highway.

Are you ready to meet this challenge head on and harvest your share of this super bonanza?

Yes… if you have an interest in a better financial flow you had better get set ready and go! 1. Tweak up your website for a better visitor to sales conversion ratio – check your headlines, sales letter, ultimate selling proposition – Does it deliver your most wanted response?

2. Plan out a marketing strategy:

- What`s the bait you are going to use?

- How are you going to make the hungry fish to bite?

- Where will you get a strong steady flow of targeted traffic?

- How will you time and manage your advertising to maintain a synergistic flow of traffic without aggravating your web host?

- Which advertising mediums you plan on using (ezines, guaranteed visitors, viral techniques, site blasts, articles…)?

3. Get set and ready to push into full gear at a moments notice – Start placing the orders for your advertising or at least shortlist the ad services you plan to use. Remember it will be a busy time for every one, with a rush to meet deadlines, blood pressures surging, tempers flaring… so better get in the line up well ahead to avoid any pitfalls.

Also Remember you only need a good sales page, irresistible bait and a strong gushing tributary to direct a heavy flood of potential shoppers from the main stream to your shop.

Just make your shop as magnetic as possible and get as many `tourists` to go through it as you can.

Let’s face it; the line from A Field of Dreams isn’t the whole truth. There’s more to getting people to come to something than simply building it. Someone built the old run down historical mansion, but hardly anyone visits it (except maybe people you wouldn’t want to run into). People want to find a place online that caters to them, specifically. They want it to be pleasant on the eyes, up-to-date, simple to understand and easy to get around in. But, this isn’t an area where everyone succeeds. And sadly, some of the reasons for failure seem small, almost minute. Below are six website design disasters and simple steps that you can take to avoid them.

1. Sloppy Copy. Despite what you may have read in the latest free e-Book, you can’t just place any words on a page to trick you customers to spend fistfuls of cash on your site. One of the primary reasons people are cruising the net is to find information, and not just the same information over and over and over.

Solution: Your content should be unique, interesting and error free. Anything less will leave your visitors looking for fulfillment elsewhere. There are many opportunities online to find good content and sometimes you can manage to find unique copy at low prices. Or maybe you can work out a trade deal with a freelance writer; you offer free advertising space in exchange for their articles. Try not to use free content from a mass produced website simply because there are probably a lot of other places online where you can find the exact same words. You’ve got to give your visitors something special, something unique that they can’t find anywhere else. Otherwise they will – find it somewhere else.

2. Not Taking Advantage of META-tags. We all know that meta-tags are important, but sometimes we fail to take full advantage of what they have to offer. As important as they are to web designers as free promotion, meta-tags are just as important to potential visitors.

You may have just the product, membership club, newsletter or information that I’m looking for. But if I can’t find you, we can’t ever begin a commercial (or any other kind of) exchange. Since most people come across websites using a search engine, fully optimizing your title and meta-tag keywords will ensure the beginning of a match made in heaven.

Solution: When creating your title and coming up with possible keywords; make sure that you are thinking more like a customer than a website designer. Your title is important because it is the first thing that potential visitors will see when your results show in the search engine. It should be short, compelling and descriptive.

Your description Meta-tags should reiterate what your title has said, but using a new approach and a few more words. Try to limit yourself to a description that is less than 125 characters so that the entire description can be read, instead of being interrupted mid-thought by limited space. For added benefits, try to include a question in your first line of the description, one that the viewer was probably asking themselves before initiating the search. Use this same approach when coming up with your list of keywords. When you’ve come up with your list, go over each one asking yourself, “Is this a keyword used by someone who is a potential customer?” If the answer is no, then don’t include them, you’ll be wasting your time.

3. Outdate Information, Broken Links, and “Under Construction”. There is nothing more frustrating than sifting through out-dated websites when you’re in search of current information. Or clicking on a link that you hope leads to the answer to your question, only to discover that “This Page Cannot Be Displayed” or that the domain name is for sale.

Only slightly less annoying are messages informing you that the page is currently under construction or is “Coming Soon”. If it’s not here yet, don’t waste your visitor’s time leading them down dead ends.

Solution: Schedule at least a day a month scouring your website for outdated information and broken links. You can also include a link on your website that allows visitors to report broken links or outdated information. As far as “Under Construction” messages, instead announce to your visitors any upcoming changes or additions to your website. They’ll be glad to know it without getting their hopes up, clicking a link to much sought after information, and being told it isn’t available yet.

4. Hard to Find Contact Information. It’s hard to understand why any website would fail to make it easy for visitors to get in touch with the people who run it. Offering this simple bit of information will:
a. Encourage people to ask for permission before using your content &/or graphics on their own sites.
b. Make it easier for people to contact you for promotional reasons. For example, someone may desire to interview you, initiate a contract or simply make an important business contact that you may need in the future.
c. Provide people with ways to reach you and your company while they are offline. You can provide them with ways to reach you by telephone, snail mail or possibly even to stop and tour your facilities.

Solution: Simply add a “Contact Us” page and link to your website. Be sure to include pertinent email addresses, phone numbers, names, mailing addresses and (if necessary) driving directions.

5. Not Changing the Color of a Visited Link. While this may not seem like such a big deal, it’s one that has been bugging website traffic for many years. You can take that on the authority of Dr. Jakob Nielsen, the man who’s been called the “guru of Web page usability” by the New York Times.

The purpose of changing link colors is to give your site visitors an idea of where they’ve already been and where they have yet to venture. This is especially important if you have a large site with new pages being added to it often.

Solution: The HTML code is simple: Inside the body tag, add the “vlink” tag and the color code or color name. The code for blue visited link text would look like this:
or

Replace the code or color name with the color you want. There, you’re done. It’s that simple.

6. Failing to Use Your Website to Emphasize Your U.S.P. Your U.S.P., or Unique Selling Point, is that one (or more than one) thing that your company does do, or doesn’t do; has or doesn’t have, that separates your from the competition. It’s the thing that, in the long term, a person comes back for.

This is tied in closely with another Web Design no-no: not offering any information about your company’s products, services, employees, etc. This is YOUR Website. Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn. Because, really, who else is going to do it?

Solution: Whether it means you need to sit down and better identify your target market, or maybe try to discover new ways to market to them, try to look at your website with eyes undimmed by cancelled orders, constant interruptions, or other distractions. Take the time to look at your website as a customer would, as a tool. Ask yourself, “If I was a customer, why would I be here?” As you come across these answers, make note of them, and any others that they may suggest.

Create an about us page, offering news updates, press releases, employee of the month biographies, etc. In the long run, customers always appreciate transparency. And I’ll let you into a little secret: they don’t mind being led around. If fact, they rely upon.

You’ll notice that I didn’t mention anything about the command. Or flashing, moving, or magically glittering icon trailers. Or sites hosted on free servers. That’s because most people have already beat those subjects black and blue. But, that doesn’t mean that you should disregard them. They aren’t Capri pants, sneaking back into style. For about the safest bet, just consider the Golden Rule; if it would give you a headache, make you shake your head in frustration, cause you to get up and walk away from the computer or any other negative reactions – just say no! Exercise a little restraint. Better yet, if you’re not a professional, consider hiring one. When it comes to customer satisfaction, an experienced web design specialist can make or break your business.

About the author:

Could your website use some fresh, custom content, but you don’t have the extra money to pay for it? Well, Jennifer Gibbs (a 5 star freelance professional from South Georgia) is more than happy to provide your site with original, tailored and EXCLUSIVE content in exchange for free products, services or membership access. For more information send your request (along with your website URL) to: arimark@friendlycity.net.

If you are one of those who wonder how people come up with the cool looking sepia tone prints that you admire so much. If you are doubling up with jealousy over a sepia tone, here, we will give you tips on how you could achieve this sepia tone, too. Ready up your Photoshop software program, your PC and prepare to have fun with sepia! It’s time that they envy you, too.

First of all it is important for you to choose images that have some darks and lights – it doesn’t matter how colorful they are. Many images could go along with sepia tone, so you won’t take forever finding an image. You can even have a black and white image. However, if you start with images that are in CMYK, there’s no need to convert them to RGB. If you’re going to use them for the web, then convert them to RGB by clicking IMAGE-MODE-RGB. Take the image size down to 72 dpi with about 4 inches in height. Do this by the commands, (IMAGE-IMAGE SIZE). If your image is for print, though, a much higher resolution is needed for it. The dpi needed can be checked with your printer.

You’ll see how big your image is by making sure you are at 100%. Whether you are using the image for the web or planning to print it, make sure that you are aware of the size you have it set at. Scale the size down or repair a choppy image by using the ZOOM TOOL-Hit Z on the keyboard – hold down your ALT key. On a Mac, open apple key to toggle back and forth between zoom in and out). You’ll see your image smoothing out as you manipulate these commands. We dearly hope that it would work for you!

When you have found the ideal size you want for your images, we go on to the fun part! Begin working on the color first for it is easier and adjust your lights and darks.

Change the Hues of your image by IMAGE-ADJUST-HUE/SATURATION. Check the box that says colorize and preview or check it by default. It’s your choice if you like to adjust the top bar to the color you want for your image, or just type in numbers. Saturation is how much of the hue you chose will be used on your image. For adjusting lightness, the lightness slider does the trick. Try not to go crazy over this last bar (lightness).

Then, adjust the darks and lights. Even if you think your image is already so great and you wouldn’t want to mess it up try this – select IMAGE-ADJUST-LEVELS. Three sliders will appear – the first will make your image lighter, another will make it darker, and the last one adjusts the midtones. Adjust on these sliders depending on the image you use. Once you’re done, hit CONTROL-Z or EDIT-UNDO MOVE to see your image before the adjustments. It will switch back to the original image. If you hit CTRL-Z or EDIT-UNDO MOVE again, it will toggle back to the image with the level adjustment you just applied. If you like to have fun, go over it again and again! Just don’t blame us if you get bored!

And we haven’t told you that you can do different types of hues? So, we’re telling you now! If you’ll be doing this types of images for the web the great thing is that you can save them as a GIF and they will look wonderful. File sizes will not be a problem since you are using lesser colors! Good luck with your sepia!

Lala C. Ballatan is a 26 year-old Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a non-government organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion — mysteries, horrors, psycho-thrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns — imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.graphicdesignsunlimited.com

When you encounter a poker player who is regularly betting a significantly larger amount than the standard three to four times the big blind, you are in a position to extract a lot of money from him over the long run, if you play against him effectively relative to your position. In a full ring game, a very simple strategy can be employed from any position – wait for a premium pocket pair, call his bet pre-flop and call his continuation bet or raise it. However, in a shorthanded game, a different type of play can be applied.

In a 6-max game, if you are in position against a maniac who overbets, you can play large pocket pairs, as well as large suited cards or two face fards, and play them profitably by just calling his preflop raise and calling on the flop on average one in every four times. Play large hands against him aggressively, and if he folds to raises, switch to a normal tight aggressive game with a larger hand range.

In a full ring game, a poker player like this will go broke very quickly, and if you can be lucky enough to be the first one to pick up a strong preflop hand against him, you will likely stack him, or set him up for a session where he will lose a lot of money back to the entire table. Never shy away from a situation where you can make a lot more than you can lose, and in this case, if you get coolered and lose a few buyins, it is warranted, as this player could potentially leak off a large amount of money. Online poker is synonymous with random steaming players who overbet and throw away money, so finding one like this is a dream situation. Be patient, play tight and evaluate post-flop situations where you could get all your money in with a good chance to win.