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Advertising is all about telling your marketing story: a story that your audience can relate to, so that it builds confidence and credibility in your ability to deliver your product or service. A well-crafted business story invites your audience to open a dialogue with you, a line of communication that will ultimately lead to a customer and sale for you, and a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for your new client.

Effective marketing stories are about universal truths and primal needs; they provide a cathartic emotional experience for your audience. There is no point in spending a lot of monëy on advertising until you have identified that fundamental change your product or service provides to your audience.

Once you have isolated that hidden quality in what you do, you can then develop a video, audio, or print campaign that delivers your message in a memorable, meaningful manner that audiences will respond to.

There are only so many stories you can tell and the art of advertising, or corporate storytelling, is the ability to present that story in fresh new ways.

Where’s Your Product On The Hierarchy of Needs

A noted psychologist Abraham Maslow in his Hierarchy of Needs identified seven basic human motivations that guide peoples’ conduct: physical needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, and self-actualization needs.

Develop a marketing campaign consisting of stories that satisfy one of these motivational triggers and you have a campaign that your audience will respond to and consider relevant.

Physical Needs - “Dude With a Problem”

Before people can concern themselves with intellectual or spiritual matters, they must first satisfy their physical needs: water, food, shelter, and procreation. If individuals cannot satisfy these basic needs they have a problem, hence your marketing story can be delivered using the tried and true “Dude With A Problem” scenario.

If you are in the business of selling bottled water, packaged food, physical fitness, real estate, or vitamins you are supplying your audience with a solution to one of life’s most basic needs.

Safety Needs - “Monster In The House”

The need to be safe, to protect your family and yourself from harm, is fundamental to how people behave and what they deem important. The marketing of products and services that fulfill safety needs requires the audience understand the dangers that your product or service is designed to eliminate.

The “Monster In The House” scenario is your standard monster movie featuring some scary, frightening entity. This kind of scenario is based on our need to secure a safe and secure environment and life-style.

From a marketing perspective this approach is how you sell insurance, tires, health care products, alarm systems, or anything that protects you and yours from harm. Instead of some imaginary boogeyman or alien, your monster is disease, fire, accidents and crime.

If your product protects, then it can be sold by showing how it safeguards your audience from the “Monster In The House.”

Social Needs - “Buddy Love” & “Rights-of-Passage”

We are social animals, we live in communities, we förm family units, and we crave meaningful relationships with others. These types of basic needs are played out in scenarios that are commonly referred to as buddy and rights-of-passage movies.

If you run a dating service, nightclub, restaurant, or bar, or if you sell products like beer or wine that involve social gatherings and interaction, then you can use the buddy movie scenario to tell your story.

If you sell products that clear-up acne or solve other kinds of teen related problems relating to becoming an adult, then perhaps the rights-of-passage scenario is the story to tell.

Self-esteem Needs - “Fool Triumphant” & “Superhero”

We all need to feel good about ourselves. If you sell a product that allows people to overcome some insecurity then you have a sure-fire hit if you tell your story in a convincing, compelling fashion.

The “Fool Triumphant” scenario delivers the message that no matter what your short-comings you to can be a wínner. The “Superhero” tale tells the story of ordinary people who have been transformed into extraordinary achievers through some incident or action. In either case, if your product or service supplies that conversion from loser to wínner then that’s the story you want to tell.

Prime examples of businesses that could use these storytelling scenarios are exercise equipment suppliers, nutritional supplement companies, and self-help and motivational product and service businesses.

Cognitive Needs - Institution

The “Institution” scenario is the story of ‘Everyman’ versus ‘Big Brother:’ how we cope, or don’t cope, with the demands of a complex society where we are worn down by bureaucracy, incompetence, and arbitrary rules and red tape.

Dealing with Big Brother, the government, or large oligopoly businesses can be traumatic and in some cases seemingly impossible. Telling this story is the bread and butter issue for companies that provide solutions to dealing with ‘The Institution.’

Whatever the rules were yesterday you can be sure that they’ll be different tomorrow. The skills you learned in school or on the job are no longer in demand, no longer relevant, and no longer work. Whether you’re a homemaker, entrepreneur, accountant, or doctor, you have to keep pace with changing technology, and an ever increasing demand to know just about everything.

Knowing what you need to know in order to compete, comply, and to accomplish in a world dominated by remote, faceless institutions governed and managed by petty officials is a significant impediment to success.

As a result, products and services like private schools, self-help programs, and books and DVDs for self-confessed nincompoops can be sold by delivering a message that solves the “Institution” scenario.

Aesthetic Needs - “Out Of A Bottle”

Once we have satisfied our more basic needs, our desires move on to more aesthetic concerns. We all want to feel good and one of the best ways to feel good is to look good.

The “Out Of A Bottle” scenario provides the marketing message for cosmetic, beauty and health care products and services, weíght loss and exercise products and programs, or any aesthetic issue that can be resolved with a pill, potion, or patch.

Self-actualization - “Golden Fleece” & “WhyDunit”

In an affluent society the basic needs of most people are for the most part available, but affluence doesn’t mean happy. People need more than food, shelter, companionship, and a small waistline. They need to be the best they can be and they need to find some meaning in their lives.

The “Golden Fleece” scenario is about the search for personal recovery, while the “WhyDunit” story is about the search for insight and meaning. These approaches are similar, but one deals with personal salvation, while the other deals with more metaphysical concerns.

Self help and motivational businesses can deliver their messages using the “Golden Fleece” perspective, while religious and charitable institutions can deliver their message through the “WhyDunit” approach.

Conclusion

There is more monëy wasted on bad advertising than on any other business function. The reason is we try to apply rational, factual, and statistical criteria to a fundamentally emotional and psychological hierarchy of needs. Determine the appropriate need your product or services fulfills, apply a suitable storyline to its presentation, and your audience will sit-up and take notice.

About The Author
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, www.136words.com and www.sonicpersonality.com

Hollywood stars have millions of dollars in movie deals to motivate them to keep out of the kitchen - in addition to millions of dollars for nutritionists, personal trainers, private chefs and more.

Yet these healthy celebrities who value clean living and wholesome food are often genetically blessed (just like supermodels). Healthy values and doing everything “right” only maximizes their bodies’ potential. And who can blame them? If I were in that income bracket, I’d probably have that kind of help too!

The “behind the scenes” of the entertainment industry thins out those who do not fall into the above-mentioned health category. Obviously kept as hushed as possible, the hard party scene is well known for dramatic weight loss in a very undesirable way. And until these stars get caught by police or paparazzi, they often claim their thin figure is the result of hard work at the gym, combined with the latest “miracle diet” that they’ve been secretly paid to endorse.

You don’t read about the hangover that took three days to get over and that during that recovery period, they couldn’t stomach anything. Also, you don’t read about the cigarettes that curbs their appetite so they can skip meal after meal.

It’s a sneaky scene out there, and these bodies are defining society’s vision of the body beautiful.

If sales of tabloid magazines are anything to go by, millions of men and women around the globe compare their bodies to these images.

In my opinion, if you can embrace a healthy lifestyle with nutritious habits and daily exercise, it’s you that these drugged-out celebrities should be looking up to.

If all you have is will power, excellent time management and a dedication to work out daily as well as to stay nutritionally on track, then that in itself is an achievement.

So what if you don’t look like “them?” By the time we get out of our teens we’ve usually stopped beating ourselves up over not looking like a supermodel, so why spend your adult life wanting to look like someone who you have no idea what they’ve had to do to get there?

It’s normal for health buffs and people on a “shape up for summer” mission to overindulge on occasion: whether it be to down a carton of orange juice in a day; mindfully polish off a bag of animal crackers; or, have three servings of Special K (with chocolate sprinkles) cereal during your much-anticipated hour of television, simply because of the “it-all-fits-in-one-bowl-so it’s-only-one-serving” excuse.

The key is to make these indulgences rare.

The first step is to buy smaller bowls. The second step is to get a kitchen measuring scale and get real with your portion sizes. If your exercise load demands two or three servings, go for it. If it doesn’t, don’t.

The third step is write down every thing you eat for a month (including portion sizes). This can be a real eye-opener. Better yet, keep an online food diary such as www.fitday.com.

Cat Smiley is two-time Canadian Trainer of the Year and author of The Boot Camp Workout. For training information, visit

www.catsmiley.com

The average woman will gain between 25 and 30 pounds during her pregnancy, but how many women do you know that have gained upward of 50 pounds or even more? Keeping your weight gain in check can be difficult when you’re eating for two, but with the help of a personal trainer, you can ward off the inevitable excess baby weight.

Studies have shown that exercising throughout your pregnancy is not only good for your body, but good for your mind as well. Exercising makes you release endorphins which in turn can make you feel happier, and more stable. With the inevitable rapid moods changes and decreased energy that pregnant women experience, prenatal exercise can be very beneficial to both husband and wife! Prenatal exercise can also have a positive impact on the length of delivery and post partum weight loss. A woman who has more muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance will fare better in a labour room than one that does not. This is a true marathon event, and you want to be ready.

If you’re the type of woman who already likes to exercise and has a program in place with a trainer, there is no need to slow down just yet. With your physician’s approval you may continue your program until your body starts to slow you down. If you are not currently exercising and want to begin, you may also do so, but you need to be careful about going into it with your eyes open. Pregnancy is not a time for weight loss goals, but instead, healthy weight gain goals with the forward focus on post natal weight loss.

During pregnancy, there are many issues to be concerned about such as gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and lethargy. At the 2002 annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Dr. Tanya K. Sorensen stated that vigorous exercise during pregnancy appears to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia. Exercise can help keep all of these conditions from occurring, and utilizing a personal trainer can help you get the most benefit from your workout. Just as you would during your regular sessions, your trainer will modify exercises for you as she sees fit, and tailor a program to meet your specific needs. You and your trainer will decide what feels best for you at each stage of your pregnancy, and you will feel at ease exercising knowing you are doing exercises that are good for both you and your expanding belly.

Most non- pregnant women who exercise solo have a program in place that they vary infrequently due to lack of fitness knowledge and uncertainty about technique. More than ever, those things are important during pregnancy. You don’t want the same routine in the first trimester as in the third, and a trainer can help with that. The type of workout that you get with a personal trainer is so customized to your specific needs throughout your pregnancy that you don’t need to worry about doing an activity that might not be in your best interest. Proper technique and choice of exercises are most important during this crucial time since you could do more than just pull a muscle; you could effectively harm your baby.

Any questions or concerns you have about your program can be brought up and discussed with your trainer to make you feel completely confident that you are executing each exercise properly.

With the guidance of a personal fitness trainer, your prenatal workout should be worry-free, full of interesting exercises, and preparing your body for the biggest workout yet.

written by Nicole Palacios
Experienced certified fitness leader and personal trainer in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is the creator of Stroller Fitt. Her website is Perfectfit.ws

The homepage (the front page of your website) is where you and your company get to make a first impression and we all know what they say about first impressions. It’s the first place new visitors come and where old visitors come back. You must cater to both types of customers. There are a few things that are essential to your homepage and each is explained below.

Navigation

Navigation is the most important part of your homepage. It doesn’t matter what else is on your site, if the visitors can’t get there. On your homepage your visitors need to be able to reach every part of your site. Your links on your navigation bars should be the same on every page. Your visitor will then know how to get back to whatever page really interested him. When users cannot find what they want they simple look at another site. This is a fact. Your links on the navigation bars should also be simple (one or two words) but descriptive. Use text for navigation not buttons. Buttons look great but they take time to download and you don’t want your visitors to leave before they can see the whole page, do you?

Branding

Branding is another essential element for you homepage. I am sure that your small business has a logo and it’s pasted on everything you can find, to promote your business. Well, it should be posted in a predominate place on your website too. We all know that branding is words or a mark of a company (such as a logo) that shows the consumer the identity of the producer of the product/service. Showing your logo on your homepage reminds users exactly where they are.

Content

Last but not least is content. Content is also very important. You must remember to write your content like you are speaking to your visitor as it creates a better connection between your website and the visitor. Your homepage content must be fresh and interesting to make them want to read more of your site. You might create links to the inside of your site in the text. Also, you will want to include in layman’s terms exactly what you or your company does. You would be amazed how many websites you have to search to find out what their purpose is.

These things should get you started on building your homepage. There is one rule that I have learned. It is the KISS rule (Keep it Simple Student). Your homepage does not need to be flashy with all types of images, and flash design, or blinking. Most people like sites when they are simple and easy to understand. You must remember who your audience is. Therefore you need to speak in their language.

written by Alicia Harper
Professional website designer and internet marketing expert. She lives and works in Vancouver BC. Her company, Be Seen Web Design specializes in creating search engine friendly websites

Search Engine Optimization Copyrighting is known as writing for search engines. Basically it is a new type of writing, such as writing for the web. SEO copyrighting is writing content for a website that both makes sense to the reader and includes keywords to make the website pages rank well in the SERP (search engine results page ).This does not mean that you take the original copy from the website content and then just add a bunch of keywords in between wherever you like.

The idea behind SEO copyrighting is that search engines are looking for original content and you want pages that give you good rankings in the SERP. The way to achieve both of these is to have your pages created using SEO copyrighting.

What are the downfalls to SEO copyrighting?

One of the downfalls are that not all sites can be optimized using SEO copyrighting, especially those websites which may have many photos or images. If there is no text to work with then it is hard to optimize the web page. In order to use SEO copyrighting as a SEO technique, it needs to be applied to a website that contains text.

Another downfall would be that SEO copyrighting is incredibly time consuming and if you do not have the ability or the time to do it yourself then you would have to hire a professional which can get expensive, since each page can only target one or two search terms. If your website requires many keywords or very competitive keywords it could take many pages to get yourself first page results in Google. In any small or home based business it is imperative to keep costs low. It is possible to perform SEO copyright yourself, although you must first know about Search Engine Optimization.

What does this mean for me as a small business website owner?

It means if you would like to have SEO copyright as an additional optimization method (other than creating inbound links) and you do not have the time to learn SEO copyrighting yourself and it is not feasible for you to hire an expert then unfortunately you are at a disadvantage to those who have the means to have it done.

The good news is that it’s not the end of the world. You could always create your own SEO copy and then have your web designer or webmaster use that text on your website. Sometimes it might not be that big of a difference if you use SEO copyrighting or not, it depends on the keywords you are looking for. If your keywords are web design (which is a competitive keyword with 2,600,000,000 pages indexed by Google) or for pink purple monkey Mexico (there is 1,140,000 in Google). The second example might not need SEO copyrighting you might just need more inbound links to build your rankings.

written by Alicia Harper
Professional website designer and internet marketing expert. She lives and works in Vancouver BC. Her company, Be Seen Web Design specializes in creating search engine friendly websites.

You are a leader if someone is following you. This could be as simple as one person watching you and following your example and encouragement, to being a leader in your home, your community, your workplace or even your nation. Leadership can take many forms, but typically it often involves managing people- one of the most difficult of all tasks. It means coordinating and motivating the actions of others to achieve a common goal. A leader has to establish that goal, and gain the willing agreement of others to be governed by and work together towards that goal.

The style of leadership taken by any leader is usually predetermined by the personality and motivational values of that person. They are who they are, as a personality, and that has a strong influence on the way they lead and communicate with others.

The study of personality traits has been on going for centuries, and there is a great deal of agreement in the conclusions and findings of personality characteristics. In this article I am going to refer to the different types of personality in color form, adopts the categories applied by Linda Berens and Don Lowry.

Every personality type has particular talents and skills that lend themselves to good leadership. Any form of leadership however, is greatly enriched and enhanced if it is able to draw on the strengths and characteristics of the other styles.

A leader who has a strong Gold personality type is personally committed and dedicated to the goal. They work hard, and expect their team to do the same. They lead from a place of belief that the work is important, and has to be done right. Gold leaders value tradition- the ways of the past are proven ways, and so do not take well to new ideas unless they are well proven to have potential.

Leaders with a strong Blue personality are motivated by their commitment to the people involved, and a strong sense of community. They have a democratic style of management, valuing the input of employees and team workers. Blue leaders tend to see the big picture, and have the ability to inspire others with the vision.

The strong Green leadership style also sees the big picture as well as the complexity of detail. Green leaders excel in strategy. They bring intellect, ingenuity and design into the leadership role. They research and analyze facts and concepts, constantly looking for improvements for working smarter rather than harder. Facts and information are all important to the Green leader, and they pay little attention to the value of feelings and relationships.

Action is the focus of the Orange leader. Administration and organization exist to make action possible. They are great troubleshooters. The Orange leader leads by example, setting the standard to follow. Orange management style can be quite authoritarian and abrupt as they are impatient with opposition, and expect their directions to be followed. Above all Orange leaders welcome change believing that the old ways can always be improved on. A new project represents, adventure, a challenge and potential fun, all of which the Orange personality thrives on.

Every leader has a combination of all four personalities, but one will always be the stronger, more natural way to operate in. A leader’s style may also be a blend of their main strength, combined with their second strongest style. A wise leader will understand the strengths and weaknesses of their personal leadership style and use those team members with different styles to bring balance and greater efficiency in meeting the shared goal.

written by Barbara White
The founder of Beyond Better Development has a passion to inspire and equip others to experience more success in their life. She is a speaker and trainer in personal development and communication skills in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

What if you could have it all? 6 Steps to Living your Best Life Simply put, people want more out of life. The 80’s were a time of wanting more money, the 90’s more time and now it is more fulfillment. Statistics Canada (Sept., 2004) reported only 32.6% of Canadians surveyed report being very satisfied with life.

So, how does one achieve fulfillment while also juggling the responsibilities and demands of life; career, family, health, money, relationships, community, recreation and personal growth? This is a very important question as life is an integrated whole with each area interdependent on the other. As more people begin to understand that the true measure of success is the attainment of life balance, they may also gain awareness that true life balance means including everything you want in life, or having it all. The 6 keys to living your best life are:

1. Design your Ideal Life
Dare to imagine new possibilities - what do you really want? If you were to eliminate the ’shoulds’ and start owning who you are, being all of your best self, what would that look like? What is your personal definition of success? What do you love? What are you passionate about? Spend some time focusing your energy and getting clear on what you really want to create for yourself.

2. Visualize Success
Create a picture of a future you having achieved your ideal successful life. Fully associate with that vision, what do you see, what does it feel like, what are you saying to yourself? Make it as compelling as possible, make a collage to represent this vision.

3. Utilize the Law of Attraction
Everything in the universe is energy, start projecting the kind of energy you would like to see come your way. Knowing that success breeds success, start living ‘as if’ by creating success for yourself now in your attitude and outlook. Coming from a place of fulfillment and happiness, notice what shows up in your life. Make today your best day.

4. Practice Extreme Self Care>
Develop a strong relationship with SELF, tune into your intuition using meditation or journaling. Honour your needs, feel and express your emotions fully. Take great care of your mind, body and spirit.

5. Clear the Path to Success
What obstacles are in your way? Be honest with yourself about the beliefs you may have that continually limit you from getting what you want. What are you tolerating in life? When these things are handled, it increases your energy and clears a space for what you want to show up.

6. Ask for It!
When we ask for what we want, it inspires others and empowers us as humans to really go for it. Connect with people, share your dreams. Draw on the power of partnering and synergy by allowing others to support and help us. I read a very inspiring quote that says ‘The Question I am asked daily by the world; was that all you wanted?’ -Genine Lentine We only get one chance in life; this is not a dress rehearsal. The only limit to what you can have in your life is the size of your imagination, and the level of your commitment to making it happen. Self esteem is a familiar term that is used, but what exactly does it mean?

Self Esteem is actually a system of measurement. It is a way of measuring and describing how a person thinks and feels about themselves. It is a method that attempts to measure a person’s value or self worth. Self Esteem measures how people think about themselves in two different aspects . By using a combination of these two criteria enables a person to make a judgment about their unique value, or worth as a person. From this judgment a feeling of self esteem is usually formed. Here are the two criteria people commonly use to measure self esteem: How Lovable Am I?

Your self esteem is based on how lovable you think you are. How do you decide how lovable you are? This is usually determined by what you think other people think of you, and how much you think these other people care about you.

How Capable Are You? Your self esteem is measured by what you think about the things you ‘do’. This falls into two groups; your traits and behaviours. Traits refers to attributes such as patience, being brave, clean, organized, thrifty etc. Qualities that you believe are valuable and desirable in your life. Behaviours are more specific, for example, how fast you can run 100 metres, how well you can cook dinner, or add up numbers.

As you determine your self esteem to the degree that you consider yourself lovable and capable, it will inevitably be deeply rooted in your intrinsic belief in your uniqueness, value and worth as a person. It is also, clearly a subjective opinion and strongly influenced by your personal beliefs and values as well as the influence of your family, upbringing and other significant life events.

This process of measuring your value and worth as a person poses some interesting questions for consideration.

If I were to ask you to rate your level of self esteem today with a number between 1-10, with 1 being no self esteem, you see no value in your life and are seriously considering suicide, and 10 being thinking you are the greatest person in the whole world- What would your number be?

Supposing tomorrow, you had an argument with your best friend and they didn’t like you or want to speak to you ever again, would your number remain the same or be lower? If your self esteem is affected by your emotions, or the way you interact with people and how you perceive what they think of you then there is a fundamental problem. The problem is your self esteem will inevitably be unstable and easily affected by your feelings and perceptions which arise from your circumstances and the way people respond to you.

However your worth and value as a person, in reality, remains the same, irrespective of your emotions, circumstances and relationships. You are not any less of value as a person tomorrow than today or yesterday. One person’s reaction or opinion cannot change your value and worth as a person. Your emotions cannot change your value as a unique human being, any more than catching a cold or someone else having a bad day can devalue your worth. Your value as a person remains constant whether the sun is shining and you are having a great day, or there’s a storm outside and the events of the day are not going as well as you would like them to. Everyone has value and worth as a human being. We are all unique with different personalities, strengths and weaknesses, and each one of us have been created as lovable and capable people. I would like to suggest that our self esteem should not be based on our thoughts and perceptions of how we are treated or valued by other people, or by how well or badly we perform, whether to our personal standards or that of others. Rather our self esteem will grow from a deeper inner place as we discover and accept our uniqueness and value, and learn how to love and live life with purpose

written by Barbara White
The founder of Beyond Better Development has a passion to inspire and equip others to experience more success in their life. She is a speaker and trainer in personal development and communication skills in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

As a web designer, I get all kinds of requests for information other than web design, and as a web designer I’m not really suppose to be able to do things outside of the web design area. I believe there are a few misconceptions about what exactly a web designer does. In this article I am going to nail down exactly what a web designer is and what they should be able to do. First I’ll touch of the differences between a web designer and a web developer. A web designer is someone who creates the visual design and layout of a web page. A web developer is someone who does the behind-the-scenes programming of a website. For example a web developer creates the code for database websites.

Web designer’s definition:

They give business/organizations a web presence by building them a website. Web designers are professionals who organize information, create page layouts, while communicating the business’s information/opinions in a website. Web designers create another medium for the business to expand into. Creating a website enables the business to attract new customers, showcase its services/products, and to do business across countries (as opposed to one location).

What things do web designer’s do?

That’s a really good question. It is definitely hard to nail down what every designer must do in order to call themselves a web designer. A good web designer should be able to do both the design and the development, unfortunately for you the consumer, it doesn’t always work that way.

Your web designer must be able to perform the following:

• Understand and keep current will all new emerging technology
• Layout web pages using HTML, XHTML, XML , and other programming languages
• Program HTML (hand code), JavaScript and CSS
• Translate your ideas, needs and expectations into a web page
• Design navigation elements (such as navigation bars)
• Create graphics in Photoshop or any other professional imaging software
• Effectively participate in a web development team
• Have an understanding on how to create Flash (authoring software used to create animation programs)
• Understand and implement web standards
• Have an understanding of Search Engine Optimization
• Have a basic understanding of typography, graphics and color theory
• Understand needs of users and of usability testing
• Have ability to analyze a target market
• Understand cross browser problems and how to fix them

A great web designer also has knowledge of coding languages such as:

• C++
• Python
• Java
• JavaScript
• Cold fusion
• SQL
• PHP

Sometimes it might be difficult for a web designer to have all those different programming languages under their belt. It is like knowing English, French, Chinese and German. Quite complicated. The more languages they know the better. Well that should help you on your search for a good web designer!

written by Alicia Harper
Professional website designer and internet marketing expert. She lives and works in Vancouver BC. Her company, Be Seen Web Design specializes in creating search engine friendly websites.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is the talk around the net these days because of its many benefits. However many people are not really clear exactly what RSS is? Here is a definition of what RSS(Real Simple Syndication) “IS” in plain English for those of you who are NEW to it and for those of you who are still a little bit confused about it and its uses.

RSS is an Acronym. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”. RSS content is delivered through RSS feeds. These are simple files structured in a specific way. [A type of xml] The XML file is the format used for distributing YOUR news headlines via the Web, which is known as “Syndication”.

RSS files (which are also called RSS feeds or channels) simply contain a list of items. Usually, each item contains a title, summary, and a link to a URL. RSS files look a lot like HTML code. It is up to the user to use this information in any way that he wants.

“RSS” is simply a technology that distributes YOUR information (whatever it might be — ex. Articles, Special Offers, Product Reviews, Resource Announcements) by syndicating it across the net.

An RSS Feed is the way that your information or content can be delivered instantly to the desktop of a subscriber, by passing email and email filters.

This “Syndication” is where the TRUE power of RSS is unleashed, getting your message or information across the web in an INSTANT to websites, your subscribers and/or readers.

There are 2 main components of a RSS feed.
* Channel: A channel is the total collection of items you wish to highlight in your site. There is exactly one channel per RSS file.
* Item: Item is a single thing you wish to highlight from your site. There is at least one, but no more than 15 items per channel. But it is better to limit to 6 items per channel.

For example, you may create a RSS feed about all articles on your web site. That is, articles covering different topics in one RSS feed.

Then the channel will contain information about the feed (Read articles on various subjects), the location (web site address or URL) and a short description of the content you have written about.

There will be multiple items in the RSS Feed. Each item will have information about one article (the title, author, category, short description and the URL where the article may be found).

In general, anything that you publish frequently can be offered as an RSS feed.

Soon, you will find online retailers and other catalog companies also offering RSS feeds of their product range.

To increase your web presence, promote your online business, and increase web traffic you should invest in providing an RSS feed for your blog or website . In this way you will be able to distribute your information to a vast and fast-growing community of users, who are more interested in knowing about your topic. In general, people who write articles or publish newsletters benefit the most. Most blog software allows you to offer RSS feed of the blog posts. You can also offer your press releases through an RSS feed.

Once you have set up your RSS feed you need to submit it to the many RSS feed Directories and submission site available to increase your exposure. Good examples of these are FeedForAll and Technorati. Do a search for RSS submission sites in a search engine and you will find many places to gain great exposure for your RSS feeds.

It is important to submit your RSS feeds to as many submission sites as possible. To do this manually is quite time consuming and labour intensive. I would recommend automating this process investing in RSS submission software such as RSS Announcer.

It is worthwhile looking seriously at RSS technology as it is an impressive tool to use to significantly benefit you in your internet marketing and website exposure.

written by Barbara White
The founder of Beyond Better Development has a passion to inspire and equip others to experience more success in their life. She is a speaker and trainer in personal development and communication skills in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

What if you could have it all? 6 Steps to Living your Best Life Simply put, people want more out of life. The 80’s were a time of wanting more money, the 90’s more time and now it is more fulfillment. Statistics Canada (Sept., 2004) reported only 32.6% of Canadians surveyed report being very satisfied with life.

So, how does one achieve fulfillment while also juggling the responsibilities and demands of life; career, family, health, money, relationships, community, recreation and personal growth? This is a very important question as life is an integrated whole with each area interdependent on the other. As more people begin to understand that the true measure of success is the attainment of life balance, they may also gain awareness that true life balance means including everything you want in life, or having it all. The 6 keys to living your best life are:

1. Design your Ideal Life
Dare to imagine new possibilities - what do you really want? If you were to eliminate the ’shoulds’ and start owning who you are, being all of your best self, what would that look like? What is your personal definition of success? What do you love? What are you passionate about? Spend some time focusing your energy and getting clear on what you really want to create for yourself.

2. Visualize Success
Create a picture of a future you having achieved your ideal successful life. Fully associate with that vision, what do you see, what does it feel like, what are you saying to yourself? Make it as compelling as possible, make a collage to represent this vision.

3. Utilize the Law of Attraction
Everything in the universe is energy, start projecting the kind of energy you would like to see come your way. Knowing that success breeds success, start living ‘as if’ by creating success for yourself now in your attitude and outlook. Coming from a place of fulfillment and happiness, notice what shows up in your life. Make today your best day.

4. Practice Extreme Self Care
Develop a strong relationship with SELF, tune into your intuition using meditation or journaling. Honour your needs, feel and express your emotions fully. Take great care of your mind, body and spirit.

5. Clear the Path to Success
What obstacles are in your way? Be honest with yourself about the beliefs you may have that continually limit you from getting what you want. What are you tolerating in life? When these things are handled, it increases your energy and clears a space for what you want to show up. 6. Ask for It! When we ask for what we want, it inspires others and empowers us as humans to really go for it. Connect with people, share your dreams. Draw on the power of partnering and synergy by allowing others to support and help us. I read a very inspiring quote that says ‘The Question I am asked daily by the world; was that all you wanted?’ -Genine Lentine We only get one chance in life; this is not a dress rehearsal. The only limit to what you can have in your life is the size of your imagination, and the level of your commitment to making it happen.

written by Lisa Argue
Success Coach and president of Effective Focus Success Coaching in Vancouver, BC. Effectivefocus.com is her company’s website.