InCredits

“We’d like our dog to be the ring bearer,” she said and he nodded. “You want your dog to be the ring bearer?” I echoed in a wobbly voice. “Yes,” she said with a perfectly straight face. “It is because of the dog that we are together and we want him to be in the ceremony.” Inside my head I was hearing a voice screaming, “No. No. Not a dog in a wedding! No, that just won’t work.” But my mouth said calmly, “What kind of dog is it?” The groom responded calmly, “A Rottweiler.” (My life flashed before me along with the image of this big Rottweiler’s mouth around my throat as I tried to pronounce them husband and wife.)

As a wedding officiant it my strong – make that very strong – opinion that the wedding ceremony should be exactly what the couple wants. I put that on everything I send out and it is a major point when having the initial interview with couples. But a dog in the ceremony? Wasn’t that taking it a little too far?

Now I just say, “O.K. How do you intend to handle it?” You see, I have officiated two weddings with dogs as the ring bearer. I certainly don’t recommend it but it can be managed. (I don’t think a cat would ever get down the aisle and I don’t know about other animals’ ability to participate, but some dogs can do it).

In the instance of the Rottweiler, the groom attached a heart shaped red box securely to his collar and put the ring box inside. A tuxedoed friend walked the dog down the aisle just as it was time for the ring exchange. The dog seemed quite delighted about being the center of attention and sniffed everyone on his side of the aisle as he ambled down to his beloved bride and groom. His tale wagged like a giant windshield wiper and he gave the groom’s hand a big lick with his tongue. But he sat like a statue while they took the ring box out and gave it to the best man. The dog, with his attendant, then took their places beside the groomsmen for the remainder of the wedding and, like the gentleman he was, he walked out sedately with the rest of the wedding party in the processional.

So when the next couple wanted their dog, Turbo, in their ceremony I said “yes” without too much concern. If they believed Turbo could do it I was willing to work with them. But I had images of some giant Doberman racing down the aisle, teeth bared, aiming for someone’s leg. I didn’t meet the dog until the wedding (there was no rehearsal). He wasn’t as big as my cat and wiggled all over as he yapped down the aisle. But the couple loved it and the guests seemed quite amused. It went well.

While I certainly never recommend to couples that they make their pooch a part of the wedding party I am willing to work with them to make their wedding memorable and exactly they way they want it – dog and all.

Irene Conlan has a masters degree in nursing, a doctoral degree in metaphysics, is a certified hypnotherapist and an ordained minister. She practices holistic hypnotherapy and officiates at weddings in Scottsdale, Az and the Phoenix metropolitan area. Irene can be found at: http://www.thepowerzone.com (Hypnotherapy Downloads) http://www.yourscottsdalewedding.com (Scottsdale Weddings) http://your-scottsdale-wedding.com (Wedding Blog)

The FAQ page… a standard addition to almost any site. It usually lists questions customers ask on a regular basis, and the answers to those questions. But what befuddles me is that hardly any sites I’ve visited use this page as a sales tool.

Did you think of that? If not, you’re losing out on the use of some valuable real estate! FAQ pages are generally well-trafficked areas of your site. With just a few adjustments, your FAQ page could become one of your leading sources for sales conversions.

Let me give you a before and after version of one site I visited. I’ve changed some of the information so as not to promote (or embarrass) the site owner.

BEFORE

What is the source of the minerals used in your supplements?

We use all-natural minerals from sources such as limestone and dolomite. Nothing artificial.

[back to top]

What is the source of Vitamin C?

Ascorbic acid, which was originally gained by isolation from fruits and plants, is produced today by an industrial process. The basis for the industrial ascorbic acid synthesis is D-Glucose (grape sugar or corn sugar), one of the most common organic compounds in nature.

[back to top]

Informative? Yes. Does it answer the question? Yes. Does it contribute to making the sale? Not really.

Now, let’s change these two answers just a bit, add a link or two, and see how much more powerful they can become.

AFTER

What is the source of the minerals used in your supplements?

We use all-natural minerals from sources such as limestone and dolomite. These 100% natural minerals are then carefully processed under low heat to remove impurities and preserve quality. Many minerals are processed under high heat, which literally kills the beneficial elements of the mineral. Because of our devotion to producing quality vitamins and minerals, we take additional precautions that other manufacturers skip. To ensure you receive the most potent supplements possible, choose XYZ Vitamins.

[shop for minerals]
[back to top]

What is the source of Vitamin C?

Ascorbic acid, which was originally gained by isolation from fruits and plants, is produced today by an industrial process. The basis for the industrial ascorbic acid synthesis is D-Glucose (grape sugar or corn sugar), one of the most common organic compounds in nature.

XYZ Vitamins uses only organically-grown grapes and corn, and we extract our own D-Glucose to ensure the process remains 100% natural. No other manufacturer in the world has developed its own facility specifically to produce the highest quality of Vitamin C. We go the extra mile to ensure the vitamins and minerals you buy from XYZ Vitamins are the most beneficial for you and your family.

[shop for vitamins]
[back to top]

See the difference? The “before” versions JUST answer the questions. The “after” versions boost consumer confidence, promote unique qualities of the products, and offer easy-to-follow links to buy the products in question.

By using some imagination and salesmanship, you can turn your FAQ page into a highly productive tool that not only gives visitors the information they need, but also encourages more sales!

by Karon Thackston © 2006

Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com Be sure to also check out Karon’s latest e-report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

As we all know, this subject is something that we could all use a little education on no matter who you are.

If you want people to come to your website more than once then you necessity to repeat them, from time to time, that you live and give them the newest reports about what’s tainted and what’s been updated. One of the best ways to do this is to gather launch addresses and use them to generate a mailing list. But how do you gather these launch addresses and how do you launch out emails to so many people all at once?

Collecting the send Addresses.

Collecting launch addresses is easier than you might think. People on the web are worn to typing their launch addresses in a lot, and regularly have an launch address to use for this purpose. In most cases, if you ask for an launch address as a situation of accessing something interesting sounding people won’t truly mind generous it to you.

Going through the final part of this article, we will see just how important the subject can be to many people.

One way of liability this is to merely embrace a box on each page unobtrusive and not truly calling notice to itself that gives your visitors the choice to indicator up to your newsletter. rather counter-intuitively, it is regularly better to make mailing list sign-up wholly voluntary, as this means you will get a slighter list but it will only have the most enthusiastic people on it.

Basically, it’s a trade-off between forcing as many people as feasible to indicator up or just marketing to the most eager people. Your strategy should regularly be decisive by how many people you plot to launch out emails to and what kind of retort rate you appear to be getting.

What to Write in Your Mailing tilt Emails.

If you want people to read the emails you launch to them then they can’t just be the newest dull reports about your precise website features that no-one even cares about. You necessity to offer information and updates that are practical and germane to the part who’s ready to be cavity that email.

If you just write in corporate speak and don’t say something that’s ready to be practical to true people then your launch is ready to be ready straight into their refuse mail. You should take some time over your emails. Make them something that their recipients are ready to want to keep and submit to more than once often-updated, time-sensitive information is best, if you have access to it.

Apart from that, make sure to embrace links to the newest things on your website, as well as a few elder things that are still popular. If you market anything, you should work in a link, but don’t be too clear about it a good way of liability things is to embrace a tip or two with potential uses for a certain product (making them look like they are planned for people who already own the product), sparking the reader’s curiosity enough to click through and judge buying it.

The official Side.

Once you’ve got a mailing list and you’ve printed the first launch you want to launch to it, the next step is to set up the precise side of things. Just how do you think those emails are ready to get sent out? Surprisingly enough, you can just use a usual launch series like Outlook, if you paste all the launch addresses into it. If you do this, though, you necessity to make sure that you use the Bcc (blind carbon copy) meadow for the addresses, to duck transfer out a duplicate of the mailing list to everybody on it.

Alternatively, there are specialist programs you can get that are dedicated to hulk mail. Because spam is such a big industry, companies producing such programs lean to be cool stay away from something that advertises itself on the center of how many emails it can launch in a detailed but if you look around, you should be able to find something that meets your needs.

There are even web-based solutions that duck you having to settle any programs or launch any launch from your computer, avoiding the hazard that you might get blacklisted someway for transfer out too many emails in too brusque a time. If you can find a reasonably-priced one, then they’re regularly the model solution, allowing you to direct your lists directly and launch out emails easily. Make sure to do a few test runs with slighter figures of people before you commit yourself to anything, though.

No matter which way you look at it, having a firm understanding of this topic will benefit you, even if it is just slightly.

Using free spyware scan and removal programs you are able to detect spyware infections currently running on your computer. Once you have successfully found and removed the malicious spyware infections you best defense against future spyware invasions is to purchase anti-spyware software that will actively protect your computer from new spyware intrusions.

Finding one or more spyware programs that can detect and rid of harmful and invasive spyware is an important part of the maintenance on your computer. Spyware has become a prevalent threat to all computers, especially PCs and any others using Internet Explorer. The likelihood that your computer will not be infected with spyware is slim to none due to the multitude of methods spyware is capable of using to latch onto your system.

Originally used solely for advertising purposes spyware was designed to record your internet usage and online shopping habits so that companies could solicit you with ads they thought would interest you based on the information gathered from spyware being placed in your computer. Spyware continues to run silently on your computer most of the time but the information it records and sends back to intruders is much more private.

Passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers and other personal information can easily be found on your computer by spyware. Computer users often find spyware on their system as a result of them downloading game, music or other freeware programs. Spyware threats are so widespread now users can easily pick them up simply by visiting certain web sites, even if they have been designated secure.

Using one or more of the many free spyware removal programs is the initial step in guarding your computer and private information from spyware. After downloading the scanning tool check online for updates so your will be using the latest spyware definitions. Once you computer has been cleaned of current spyware infections it is best to purchase spyware software to provide your computer with maximum protection. These types of anti-spyware software can scan similar to anti-virus programs and they also provide “real-time” protection while your surf the internet.

Mitch Johnson is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for http://www.spyware-removal-made-easy.com/, a site that focuses exclusively on spyware removal software, as well as tips on how to prevent spyware from popping up on your computer. This site articles on has spyware guard, http://www.spyware-removal-made-easy.com/spyware_guard.htm as well as spyware scanner, http://www.spyware-removal-made-easy.com/spyware_scanner.htm

Having recently got back into wildlife photography after a long spell away I decided that the way forward must be the addition of my own website. I had worked as freelance wildlife photographer and illustrator during the 90’s however with the addition of a young family had to look at diversifying towards the graphic design industry to realistically look at earning a decent living. As any self-respecting wildlife photographer will tell you choosing it as a means of earning a living is very rarely as glamorous or as profitable as it’s portrayed.

The challenge now was to acquire a website, with my own skills very much aimed at the offline design and print industry looking at doing it myself seemed daunting therefore I began looking around at getting a professional design agency to create something to my requirements. What I was looking for was simple, a resource I could point customers and potential photo agents and libraries towards that would give them a profile of myself and to show off a handful of my best images and previous commissions, just like an online brochure. Additionally though I also wanted to be able to sell a selection of my photos online as I display some of my photos in and around my local area of South Somerset and often get orders for them particularly during the height of the tourist season. The buying online bit seemed to be the sticking point and increased the quotes I got from professional design agencies by a substantial amount.

Due to this I decided that I would have a go at the project myself however before I had properly got stuck into it a colleague pointed me in the direction of a template website company called Liquidsites which he recommended was the way forward as it was specifically targeted at small businesses and individuals who are looking at a simple and cheap website solution. Additionally it had the benefit of an online shopping system built into it. Having looked at Liquidsites it became very obvious that it ticked every box I needed and more. With a unique ‘reseller’ option available I have also been able to earn £150 every time I refer a successful buyer to it. Within just one weekend I had been able to put together a professional looking website and three months on and with a little advice from Sitemakers.com a search engine optimisation company in Somerset I received over 50 photo orders over the Christmas period.

This article was first published at http://www.wise-designs.com > where more than 200 useful articles and tutorials can be found

In these articles I’ll try to explain all there is to know about
META tags and their important role in any website.

META tags are extremely useful for your site as they help it get
listed in search engines, identify the creator of the page, what
HTML specs the site has, etc etc etc. Meta tags can even help to
avoid the page that has it being framed! These were just few
examples of the wide range of uses meta tags can have. Their
information most common uses are: by browsers to display the
site correctly; and by search engines spiders to better list
your site in their index. Read more to get to know them better
one by one, how to use them and in what search engines they are
recognized.

Where to put the META Tags?

Meta tags are always inserted within the
container. To get a better perspective how it is done you can
check the source code of any given web site! Usualy you can do
this by right clicking your mouse on the site and chose “View
Source Code”.

Categories of META tags

You’ll find two kinds of META tags available for use! The
HTTP-EQUIV and the normal (usual) META tags.

Let’s start with the nomal ones and let the HTTP-EQUIV for
later! Within the regular META tags let’s start with the most
importat ones for Search Engines indexing… the ones that are
considered the vital ones in order to achieve better results and
better rankings.

- Description Tag

Syntax:

This tag is used to provide search engines with a description of
the page they are indexing. If you analyse the results of any
search at Google or Yahoo you’ll notice that there’s the title
of the page in bold and a small description below! The title of
the page is take from the