Why We Procrastinate

Friday, 19 February 2010 10:31

Why We Procrastinate

“There's nothing to match curling up with a good book when there's a repair job to be done around the house.” - Joe Ryan

DON’T READ THIS…unless you have a tendency to put things off. If you are inhuman and promptly do every task and assignment you need to, no matter how tiresome, tedious, boring, or gross it may be, then by all means, stop reading now. You are wasting your time. However, if you are like the vast majority of people in the world, then this article may be for you.

Growing up I can remember how hard it was for my mom to get me to put out the trash. It wasn’t a challenging job, it didn’t take more than 5 minutes from start to finish, yet it would take hours of her asking, cajoling, and eventually haranguing and threatening me before I would finally take out the trash. I suppose part of that was a battle of wills, some of it was me being a self-centered jerk, and a lot of it was just a consuming desire to put off as long as possible anything I didn’t want to do.

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Effective Writing for the Web

Friday, 12 February 2010 01:51

Effective Writing

For Blogs, Emails, Websites and Newsletters

Introduction - The Wild West

Writing for the Internet is writing in a world where almost anything is acceptable. Every rule is subject to new interpretation. Accepted protocol and guidelines are often discarded.

Some writers have stated that web writing is to the development of modern English as the Wild West was to the development of benevolent civil society.

Within this changing world, writing for the Internet requires specific skill sets that must be utilized to access the mass media potential of the internet. There are several key issues that must be addressed to magnify this enormous potential.

Key Issues

Reading text on computer displays and mobile devices causes eye strain. Add to this the fast pace of contemporary living as well as information overload and you can understand why web readers gravitate to a "less-is-more" delivery.

Web writers need to modulate how they deliver information and accommodate these constraints. Simply put, success online follows the mantra: shortcut, shortcut,  shortcut.

Falling Writing Standards

At the same time, writing standards are falling worldwide. By using correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, terminology, usage, etc., your writing will stand above the vast majority.

Thirty years ago, being correct merely made your writing the same as everyone else. Can your writing become more powerful by rising above declining world standards and stand out - be judged superior by comparison - absolutely!

Here are the six building blocks of effective Web writing in order of delivery.

The acronym is ATHPPE:

Attract Tease Hold Power Positive Edit

1 - ATTRACT within 3 seconds

2 - TEASE with what your target visitors are searching for

3 - HOLD with leads, visually short text and bites

4 - POWER write

5- POSITIVE phrases

6- EDIT for correct, clear, and concise writing.

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Educational Travel Is Making a Difference

Friday, 17 October 2008 11:36

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me, and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand forever.”  Confucius

Student’s understanding of history is being enhanced by teachers who are making the study of history more exciting, interesting, and engaging.   After all, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Foreign Languages, and English curricula require a lab component in which students practice concepts learned in the classroom.  History’s laboratory is America!

Educational Travel has given teachers the opportunity to expand the classroom and provide a hands-on learning environment to the students.  By visiting battlefields, landmarks, and historical attractions found in every state in our country, students can experience first hand the events that shaped our Nation. Travel is making a difference.

Professional Educational Travel Tours are making this possible.  From the historic monuments of Washington DC, to the adobe walls of The Alamo in San Antonio; from the vast wilderness of Yosemite to the magical wonder of Disney; from the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest to the swampy marshes in Everglades National Park, FL.  Your itinerary is custom designed to meet your educational needs and budget.  The lessons taught will be remembered for a lifetime!

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Internet Marketing with Audio and Video on Your Site

Tuesday, 14 October 2008 18:23

By Aimee Iarussi, President & CEO of Gifts.com, LLC
September 2008 for Lewisville-Flower Mound Business Journal

In today’s Internet, you have to be fast and be ahead of the game. You have to be quick with content and with up to date information for your audience. Information on your site should catch the interest of your visitors. And most of all, keep your visitors coming back for more. Once your visitors come to your site, we have to have ways to keep them busy and make it easy for them to stay on your site. There are three types of visitors – auditory, visual and kinesthetic.

For those who likes to read, great. Put more content on your site for them to read. For those who like to listen more than read, have audio recordings on your site. or those who are visual, perfect; have video clips on your site.

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