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Smokend Info Blog

Are the Fonts You’re Using on Your Website Unreadable and Costing You Clients?

Colin Wheildon, in his book “Type & Layout” waxes on about this or that font in body text. The findings of his research, however, are decisive. “Body type must be set in serif type if the designer [website owner] intends it to be read and understood. More than five times as many readers are likely to show good comprehension when a serif body type is used rather than a sans serif body type,” he reports.

You may be asking yourself at this point what’s the difference between serif and sans serif type.. To illustrate the difference, you might want to take a look at any large circulation newspaper. You’ll discover that sans serif type faces are frequently used in article headlines and sub-headlines; they are seldom used in the articles themselves.

More often than not you’ll see that serif type faces, like Times New Roman and Geogia are used for body text and for good reason. Serifs, those little footies that appear at the base of vertical letters like “l’s”, “k’s, and “t’s” facilitate the eye’s movement across the column, thereby, enabling the eye to capture groups of words at a glance.

In addition, the thick and thin elements of most serif faces aids the eye in distinguishing between the actual shapes of the characters; making letters more recognizable, and therefore words more readable.

By contrast, san serif types faces like Ariel and Verdana, tend to imped eye movement because the eye is forced to stop at each vertical character. The eye, instead of flowing across a line of type, shutters across the page. This is such a demanding task that readers frequently find themselves regressing – returning to the beginning of the sentence because the tedium of the reading process actually detracts from comprehension.

So should this be of concern to you?

If you are in the business of selling ideas, relying on content to convince your visitors to do business with you, then you might want to instruct your webmaster to convert large bodies of text to a browser compatible, serif type face like Times New Roman (Browser Proportional). If you’re a retailer, who is just trying to get visitors to click on short blurbs about a particular product, the change probably isn’t necessary because there isn’t much to comprehend.

Ron Scott, The PR Guru Guy, is an experienced journalist who specializes in internet public relations. He spends most of his time teaching entrepreneurs how to use internet press releases to promote their online businesses. Most of his clients’ releases get top Google placement in a week or less.

Two Beginner Witchcraft Spells For Money And Protection

Your first spell in any path of Witchcraft should be one of protection. There are two reasons for this. First, protection spells are very safe… even if you are inexperienced, no harm can come from casting a protection spell the “wrong way”…

The second reason is because most protection spells are relatively easy. I’ve given you one here, and also a simple money spell you can do too…

Beginner Spell #1 -Make a Piggy Bank Seed

This extremely simple spell is so easy it is almost funny. Don’t let that fool you though, it works very well to bring wealth into your life. My Grandmother had me do it as a child (it worked so well, I still have the same dollar bill in a piggy bank almost 30 years later).

This spell also works best in the evening, and in the protection of a Magick circle – at your altar.

You will need:

A piggy bank
A dollar bill, play money, or a piece of paper
Clove oil
Green or gold thread

Dab the four corners of the money, play money, or paper with clove oil. Fold the bill three times.

Wrapping towards you, wind the thread around the dollar bill. Tie it with three knots. Place this seed dollar in the piggy bank. The anointed dollar will act as seed money and will draw more money to it (and into your life).

Beginner Spell #2 – Dragon Protection

This spell will create energy of protection through your aura – giving your protection from bad luck, and bad energies.

This is best done after you have cast your Magick circle, in your sacred space around your altar.

You will need one white or purple candle to represent yourself and one black candle for the earth dragon.

Cast your magick circle. Stir the dragon of the element of the north (Earth). Light the earth dragon candle and chant these words:

“Earth dragon strong and true,
Send to me your magick new.
Egg of protection we shall see,
This is my will so mote it be.”

As you chant, envision energy moving from the dragon candle to the one that represents you. See the energy around your candle as green light in the shape of an egg.

When you feel this has been accomplished, light your candle from the dragon candle. See your magick happening and know you are protected. Snuff out your candle and put it in a safe place. Any time you need additional protection, light this magickally charged candle. Remember to snuff it out (don’t blow it out) and put it in a safe place.

Rose has been practicing different forms of Witchcraft for over 27 years. For more information on spells for witchcraft visit her site The Ask Rose Ariadne Witchcraft Site”

How To Choose A Good Web Host (When They All Look Alike)

Choosing a web host is never easy. There are just so many unknowns when it comes to finding a host. It’s hardly ever possible to walk into a web host’s office, look around, meet the owners, and get a feel for whether or not you’d like to do business with these people.

It’s important, though, that you bend over backwards to establish whether your prospective web host is a credible provider – or a fly by night artist.

The webmaster industry is awash with horror stories about signing up with a web hosting company, onlty to find out later that this ‘business’ is run by a 14 year old who lives at home.

For the most part, you’ll make your decision using whatever information you can find online.

Start out with the website of the web host you are considering.

Is it professionally designed and written? Typo’s and spelling errors may signal that this is a company ran by kids or amateurs.

Is the website easy to use? Is it designed with a view towards helping people? Are help materials available online? This should give you a flavor for whether the company is client oriented.

Where is the company located? Is there an address? Can you email them?

Look at the Terms of Service. Does your prospective web host clearly spell out what may be expected of them and what is expected of you? Every deal is different, but both parties should clearly know what the deal is.

Next, do a search for the company on Google. Are you finding any negative statements? Try different searching techniques, like typing the company name followed by the word “scam”, or by the words “poor support”.

Now, try emailing their customer support department. Do you get a fast reply? What about their sales department? Do they answer enquiries quickly? Let’s face it…if they won’t pay any attention to you when they’re trying to get your business, how much more will you be neglected after you sign up?

If you follow these simple suggestions, your chances of signing up with an excellent web host increase substantially.

John Pierce is the webmaster of cheapwebhostinginfo.com – cheapwebhostinginfo.com – and the Customer Service Manager for Gold Zero Web Hosting – goldzero.com

Do Over

One of the great cinematic moments I can think of is the scene in ‘City Slickers’ in which Billy Crystal’s character talks to his friend about how, when they were kids, if they were playing a game and something happened that they didn’t like, someone would yell, “Do over!” He then says, “That’s what this is. My life is a do-over.”

Previously, Crystal’s character had been a sullen, bored, depressed “working stiff.” He was turning forty, and although nothing in his life was particularly wrong, none of it was quite right. His wife and daughter loved him, and his job was adequate, but he felt no sense of purpose or meaning.

On his wife’s prompting, he takes a trip to a working ranch, where he and a few friends drive cattle across the Wyoming plains and, along the way, encounter hardships, challenges, and some very dangerous situations. He faces the challenges, commits to an outcome, and pays the price of success. In the end, he gets his life back. He regains a sense of purpose, enthusiasm, and energy. He falls in love with his life all over again. He gets to do it over.

There is nothing whatsoever stopping you from having your do-over. Nothing, that is, except the conviction that it can’t be done.

Your outer life need not change at all. In the movie, Billy Crystal’s character goes back to the same life he left behind. All that changes is his inner experience but that’s all that needs to change. When you change on the inside, everything around you changes as well.

For me, the journey has been remarkable: remarkably good and remarkably difficult. I’ve encountered an enormous amount of my own negativity and have walked down more blind alleys than I can count. I’ve made progress which I’ve quickly undone through pride or fear, and I’ve gotten stuck for what seemed like lifetimes in the quagmire of confusion. I’ve tried in vain to resolve the paradoxes that any thinking person is bound to face as he or she begins to ask questions.

Although they’re ultimately unsolvable, few of them really need to be solved. Part of the journey of a successful, intelligent person is the recognition that ambiguity is part of the game, and the ability to live with ambiguity is a prerequisite to contentment and happiness. Besides, as mentalist and philosopher Roderick Russell says, “Life isn’t a puzzle to be solved. It’s a mystery to be resolved.”

What I’m suggesting is that the road is not a straight one. Many believe that successful people got there with no effort or discouragement. That isn’t the case. Virtually everyone, no matter how successful, has faced despair and failure. You should expect that you will too.

That’s good news, though, because it’s probably not just the material rewards which you seek. You seek a better life. And part of a better life is the ability to tolerate, even celebrate adversity. When you shift your consciousness so that you’re able to welcome any experience that arises, you’ll reap rewards that you’ll feel on the inside much more deeply than any superficial pleasures available from gaining an external prize. I recommend that you embark on this journey of self-creation with an attitude of openness to whatever comes your way. By doing that, you’ll find it much easier to get back in the race whenever life puts up a hurdle, and you’ll have much more fun.

Take a mental inventory

Take an inventory of your life as it is right now. What works? What doesn’t work? How much of your discontent is generated by your outer circumstances? How much is just a feeling from within? Where would you like to see yourself a few years from now? Do you have a clear idea, or is it vague? Are you starting from scratch, ready to create a life from nothing? Or, are you stuck in a life you don’t like, ready for a do-over? Have you faced disappointment thus far? And, if not, are you willing to do so in the future if that’s what’s necessary to accomplish your ultimate goals? What do you perceive to be the primary factor holding you back? Is it an outer circumstance or an inner attitude? Is it a habit of not taking the necessary steps?

Throughout this process, your success will be proportional to your level of willingness to take responsibility for your life. To the extent that you place the focus of your problems and their solutions outside yourself, you will fail to see progress and will likely relapse into old, stuck ways. To the extent that you own your life, the good and the bad, the glowing and the repulsive, and that you fail to yield to the temptation to blame others for your misfortune, you will succeed and ultimately change the environment in which you live.

The journey is exciting and manifold. If you’re willing to make the effort, you will be rewarded. While I can’t promise you a life without pain or challenges, and while you’ll still have those days when things don’t seem so great, you can create your life exactly as you want it. That’s your birthright. Are you ready for it?

Steve Taubman - EzineArticles Expert Author

Dr. Steve Taubman is a hypnotist and physician, and the author of UnHypnosis: How to Wake Up, Start Over, and Create the Life You’re Meant to Live. His writings and teachings guide people in the use of tools of transformation, and bring esoteric spiritual principles down to earth. Learn more about UnHypnosis by visiting http://www.unhypnosis.com

Motivation

What is motivation?

Motivation is a force which drives character to overcome conflicts or is a set of forces that cause people to behave in a certain way.

Why Motivation?

I’ve specified answer for this in the start of the article, anyway we need to be motivated to consistently perform well at work, develop a better relationship with parents, siblings, friends, wife etc.

How can we be motivated?

I cannot answer to this question specifically because motivation differs from person to person. What motivates one person may only make another person angry. So, we have to understand what makes us motivated & do things that make us motivated. If you are a good reader read biographies of personalities who have made it big, watch our inspiring & motivating songs/movies. Always be optimistic, move with positive minded people.

You can make your hobbies in doing motivating things. I made a New Year resolution to collect 365 motivational quote for this year & I make it a point that I fid one new motivational quote a day. Wake up & read one motivating quote before even brushing your teeth. I wake up by read these quotes daily

a. Fortune favors the bold
b. Failure is not the end of road, but victory postponed
c. Success doesn’t come to you, you go it
d. The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces

This psychologically helps me to stay motivated the whole day.

Another important factor for motivation is to lead a disciplined life. Life discipline matters a lot for motivation, following things will help you to raise your energy & keeps you motivated,

1. Have a good Sleep – human body needs 6 hours of rest & that too in the night.
2. Eat at regular intervals – Don’t skip breakfast, lunch & dinner. Overeating leads to obesity & stress.
3. Humor – Humor is a best medicine to reduce stress & helps you to maintain you motivation.
4. Exercise – Regular exercise makes body & mind fit.
5. Stop Over Working – Over working makes mind tires & over long run brain stops working. It even affects your health.

All these 5 points helps you to reduce stress & improve motivation. Lots of inventions have happened when people where are exercise & on sleep. So when we reduce stress, automatically our motivation level goes up.

About the author: S.Anand Nataraj is a CEO of a reputed IT firm & his hobby is to write & collect articles on motivation. You can visit www.anandnataraj.com to read his collections.

What Google Can Teach You About Success

I just finished dinner and the segment was about to start so I went over to the TV.

The reporter was interviewing the 2 founders, they showed the company headquarters, and THEN they brought up something where I said BINGO.

Here’s what caught my attention.

For quite a few years I was going nowhere. I had all the ideas in the world, but never did anything with them.

I procrastinated (a ton).

Fear was holding me back.

I was scattered.

(This wasn’t a fun time in my life.)

But, THEN things began to change BECAUSE of this ONE SUCCESS Principle. And this is the same SUCCESS PRINCIPLE that has helped Google soar.

Paraphrasing 60 minutes (the TV Show) last night.

Google Founders:

“Everything we do we start in BETA (BETA means a test).

For all our projects, we just get it out there, get it going, where it’s at a ‘C’ level and then we get feedback on what people like, don’t like, and then we go from there.”

Here’s what Google was really saying and here’s the success principle that changed my life.

“YOU don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”

(Read this again.)

I used to wait until everything was perfect and fear stared at me and I didn’t move.

This was for many years.

But then I decided to JUST GET GOING.

Think about it this way.

In school, we get graded, A, B, C and D.

As a trader, investor or market maker, even when your trading ideas are at a ‘C’, you should still get it GOING!

Then, find out which trading strategy you like/dislike and improve it.

It sounds so simple, but most people have 10 pounds of cement holding their ideas hostage.

Successful entrepreneurs and traders get going!

It’s the only way to TRULY get wisdom and experience.

Ask yourself this question:

What have I been putting off, procrastinating about, that I can just get going today?

Are you currently trading the currency market but have yet to find a workable trading strategy?

Have you yet to even consider what this now in vogue market, the foreign exchange (FOREX) can do for your pocketbook?

THINK ABOUT THIS. What if you cud not only “get it going” but, thru 2 people who have *been-there-done-that*, could *get it right* almost immediately?

Thru Rapid Forex’s self-study manuals you can.

http://www.forextrading.isour.biz

Nigel Owen is a 36 yr old Englishman living in North Wales! Married with three children and a highly motivated individual who decided 3 years ago that he should retire at the age of 40. Through Network marketing and the internet he is working towards his goal.

His websites include:
http://makingmoney.isour.biz

http://www.forextrading.isour.biz

6 Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Search engine optimization is important for getting a higher ranking on search engines. Nevertheless, it is a tough job and can be costly if you hand it to search engine optimization companies to take care of your website for you.

Some large companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get their websites to rank higher in the large search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Of course, you can definitely choose to do it all by yourself – which is great by optimizing these 6 things on your website:

1. Title Tag The title tag is the most powerful on-site search engine optimization you have, so use it creatively. What you place in the title tag should only be exact keywords you used for the web page that you are trying to optimize. Every single web page should have its own title tag.

2. Alt Tag The Alt tag is the texts for a picture. When you roll-over your mouse onto a picture and it shows some texts, you’re seeing an alt tag. You should put your main keywords in the alt tags but don’t abuse it or you might be caught by the intelligent search engine indexing spiders and cause a big drop in your rankings instead.

3. Link Popularity Link popularity is the most important search engine optimization technique you should emphasize on. You need to request links constantly to increase your page rank as well as link popularity – you also increase traffic this way. Make sure you have the correct anchor text from your link partners.

When your website popularity increases, many people will want to exchange links with you. Make sure your potential link partners will not be having a website that competes with you, and never exchange links with link farms(websites with only links, without content).

4. Keyword Density This optimization factor is rather important. To improve your keyword density, you should use the appropriate keywords once in the title tag, once in the heading tag, once in bold text, and try to get a keyword density of more than 20% – of course, without resulting in your contents causing confusion just because it doesn’t sound right.

5. Website Design More and more people are getting onto the approach of using flash, movies, and that really cause index spiders(or robots) to frown as they don’t understand them. You need more contents which outweighs HTML, use less java scripts if you can choose not to.

6. Keywords Placing You should include one keyword each at the top and the bottom of your web page. Other than that, it is most advisable to include one of them at the first and last sentence of your content.

If you don’t have a H1 title, include one with your keyword inside. Index spiders tend to place quite a large emphasis on them.

Search engine optimization rules can change anytime and will result in the increase and dropping rank of your site, so never depend on it fully. If you need a steady traffic to your site, try to get more links to your site instead – it’s the safest way.

White Label Affiliate

Have you ever dream to own a dating website ?Are you looking for some extre money coming from your online skills? Do you like promote online? This is a site where you can create a variety of money getting internet sites instantly!Why not get a look at some of the websites you can use to begin earning true cash, from a singles dating website. Some of our top affiliates dating site are gaining up £10,000 per calendar month employing our jailer based website software program, you can be doing the same with minimal effort.Why not check out some of our top sites and see just how easy it is to earn thousands of pounds a month.When you signup to produce your own site, you can brand it in your own colours and use your own logotype thinking you can hold your corporate identity if you already have one, or prefer the colors which you think would most suit. Dating Website If adult dating is not suited for you, why not try a traditional dating web site where singles can meet each other on-line. With the big expand in online dating at the moment, this is your big chance to make the most of it.

Durom Cup Legal Issues Is Negative News

Numerous people who got durom acetabular cup used in their hip replacement operations are finding that there are negative effects that far surpass the regular expectations for recuperation. These poor people are experiencing a lot of needless pain sensation for lengthier time periods, expecting revision operations and increased medical costs, and losing revenue by being unable to work at their regular jobs. Although Zimmer Holdings, Inc. is claiming that that their hip replacement implant is in no way faulty and say it is not their fault for the faulth cup hip implants, several patients are filing lawsuits against them and receiving settlements.

In the month of October, 2008 Zimmer announced that it had set-aside $47.5 million to pay for claims they had received. Many docs are not positive that the hip device is is not the issue like the company has stated. In Point Of Fact, when Zimmer tendered online training to surgeons in order to teach them what was supposedly more correct methods for doing the implant surgical operation, approximately half of the MD’s declined to take part. Hence, the whole situation proceeds to be bothersome for all doctors involved, but none more than the hundreds of individuals who are needing a revision surgery due to the issues with their implant not staying tight in the socket.

These annoyed patients definitely merit some assistance and compensation which is the main reason product liability lawyers are suggesting and telling them to file lawsuits. hip implants recall has been paying some of these claims, too. Even So, even if the settlement they are being offered seems like a lot to them, in numerous cases patients are resolving too fast and with no provision or allowance put in place for repeat issues down the road. If they don’t hold off and wait, to find out what an actual case is worth, individuals might find themselves incurring alot more expenses out of their own funds when further complications return.

If your orthopedic doctor updates you with bad news that you will definitely have to undergo a revision operation to correct your Zimmer Durom hip replacement device, contact an attorney immediately.

As soon as lawyer realizes that you have a good case, be ready to wait in order to get the best settlement you can possibly get. Take the advice your attorney provides for you and do not rush the process including the restitution. You may end up losing a lot of money if you arent willing to be patient.

Is Fast Credit Repair Even Possible?

One of the worst financial nightmares is bad credit. People who have negative credit usually seek to get out of it by employing the services of an independent business. Even so, with the innumerable number of such businesses all offering their own array of services, it can get confusing to choose the most viable choice. And the fact that these agencies make it sound complicated does not contribute to the issue by a lot. Added to that is the problem of obtaining a loan with the current worldwide economic position; banks now ask for exceedingly high credit ratings prior to granting a loan on positive terms. If you happen to be one of those people whose bad credit has wrecked financial position, then fast credit repair is what you need. Keep in mind, that you are not required to have specialized knowledge on fast credit repair. You can get out of that depressing credit position without inevitably having to employ the services of an independant company and pay sky high service charges.

Consistent use of credit cards is one of the main reasons for bad credit. Avoid using a credit card where it’s not necessary. And if possible, try to arrange a monthly limit on your credit card, so you don’t end up spending more than your limit. This is one of the strategies used for fast credit repair and will help keep your credit card bills low. Furthermore, close any other unnecessary credit accounts. They may not incur you any significant expenses, their visual existence on your credit reports can hurt your total score. You’ll find out that fast credit repair is not really rocket science!

People generally tend to disregard the simple approaches to fast credit repair. They do not deal with the problem themselves. Instead, they engage expensive services. These services are no different. They go through the credit statements of the person and draw up a decision which is based on their findings. This task is not mind boggling, and something that can easily be achieved by the person himself. Thus, people are better off performing the simple tasks themselves, rather than paying expensive fees to get them done elsewhere. Since, at the end of the day, pulling yourself out of bad credit is something you need to accomplish yourself, and not the agency you’ve employed the services of.

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