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#its about ATONEMENT. its about GROWTH. its about IT NEVER BEING TOO LATE.
doctorweebmd · 23 days
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coming out of my baldurs gate 3 delirium (aka i am working a night shift and can't physically play it. at work.) to say that horikoshi. horikoshi when i GET YOU. you are NOT leaving izuku with no quirk and no arms. i am in your walls
#bnha spoilers#also. more evidence that horikoshi read zero-sum game#like come on the twins thing the izuku losing his quirk thing the losing his arm thing the shiggy getting decay from afo thing#TELL ME THE TRUTH HORIKOSHI. DID YOU READ MY FANFIC.#i'm joking of course. he's just done a really good job of foreshadowing through the series. its a marker of an amazing author#and i know that izuku probably won't lose both his arms and his quirk. i fully expect it to be a happy ending in some way shape or form#this is a sixteen year old boy who sacrificed EVERYTHING. more than he ever had to give#and he had less than a year. LESS THAN A YEAR.#sorry i'm already crying thinking about the scene of him holding shigaraki's hand even though it will decay him........#izuku who knows better than ANYONE what shigaraki's power can do.... reaching out to him. caring more about others than about himself.#he's just. he's so good. he's SO GOOD. he deserves the world#tbh i feel like eri HAS to be involved at this point. she's the deus ex machina in all this#that or overhaul#both of their abilities can at least physically restructure izuku's body#it would actually be a very interesting redemption point for overhaul.......#i mean WHY ELSE RESCUE HIM. and why give him THE SAME FUCKING INJURY#what a powerful thing it would be to have eri give overhaul his arms back#and overhaul learning about goodness and forgiveness from this girl he's done nothing but abuse and torture#and saves izuku........#its about ATONEMENT. its about GROWTH. its about IT NEVER BEING TOO LATE.#AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE YOU MY HERO ACADEMIA#... ok. i'm normal. its fine.#on another note#i loved the ending to my first bg3 run which i think i finished Tuesday/Wednesday. i cried.#IMMEDIATELY started a durge run where i'm playing a male human bard instead of the female half-wood elf ranger#i was like 'haha. i'll make a character based on hisoka from hxh! i'm gonna be SOOOO evil! >:))#and guess who still isn't good at being big evil. ME. at worst i'm probably chaotic neutral.#its wild i'm already finding SO MANY new scenes i missed on the first playthrough even though i'm making a lot of the same choices#so it still feels super fun and fresh. more so now because i kind of know the characters and the mechanics better#my current playthrough i'm with lae'zel shadowheart and asterion with no intention of switching out
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We Need to Talk about Encanto (rant)
First off, I loved this movie. The music slaps, the story is beautiful, the art--holy shit. But I’ve been noticing unfortunately, some really huge misunderstandings between people’s views of characters on the movie or how its portrayed. I’ve seen a lot of the Latinx/Hispanic community rightfully voicing their issues with people hijacking this movie’s meaning. I’m not part of the Latinx/Hispanic community, but I’m more than willing to echo these complaints and concerns because it needs to be said.
Overall, Encanto is a character based story. It is a generational trauma story. A bunch of people saw themselves in different characters and are using the characters to express their own family issues online and that's absolutely great. And that transcends backgrounds easily which only adds to how good a movie this is. 
But mostly, I’ve been hearing issues with the queer community (specifically white queer people) framing the healing and growth as “coming out” and that’s been seen to overshadow the more intended meaning. Isabella’s differently colored dress is one of the biggest arguing points I’ve seen like “oh she was secretly gay the whole time and that's why she didn’t want to marry the suave guy (I totally blanked on his name)”was her authenticity coming through not...queerness. Anyone who was the golden child knows about the authenticity issue. She didn’t want to marry the man because she didn’t like the man like that. And it’s not really far-fetched to say Isa might’ve known how Dolores felt about him and didn’t want to do that to her cousin. It was very clear Abuela and dude’s mom was the one setting the two of them up, they were “perfect” it made sense. Isa probably felt like her hands were tied because she had to keep up a facade of perfection because it pleased Abuela. 
And I’m saying this as a queer/gay person myself; not everything rainbow is specifically gay! Isa’s colors were messy because she had to learn how to be herself and sometimes being yourself is not pretty or organized. She’s learning rawness, hence the mess of colors. Beautiful in its own way but not conventionally pretty. Also, do you really want to associate imperfection with gay? I thought we as a whole were trying to move past that. Because I swear the same people who are stomping up and down about this being gay and that being gay, would break down if yet another fuckng movie protrayed being gay as being imperfect or bad. 
Another thing I’ve seen along with the Latinx/Hispanic community is a lot of sexualization of characters in the movie which...stop. That community has more than enough issues with fetishization. Do not tack on more. Camillo is 15. And I state that cause it seems like he gets the worst of it. He’s a child. Enough. Bruno is at least an adult. And cool, people simp over Bruno a bit, whatever. I’ve seen some cute him and reader fics and shit. People simp over Luisa and she’s a young adult. Big strong lady attracts the wlw community, I get it. Attraction is one thing and that’s fine, but I’ve seen some fetishizing shit and no matter how “good” your intentions are, fetishizing is dehumanization at its core. And none of it is subtle. 
I’d speak more on Abuela and the skewed view she’s been given but...I haven’t seen enough of that to properly go on about it. I just want to say this is a villainless movie. Abuela has done wrong, yes, but she also makes steps to atone for that and a lot of it is her own unaddressed trauma. Is it an excuse to how she was acting? No. But that’s like...the point...of the movie!!?! It’s gonna start and end with her because Mirabel is the one who opens that opportunity to get everything aired out, she’s getting the family to start over. That includes Abuela. Which is nice in my opinion because it shows you’re never too late/too old to start making changes too. 
And I’d encourage the Latinx/Hispanic community to correct me if I’m wrong about things here, cause at the end of the day, this is your movie, your representation. You should feel inclined to speak on it and your grievances are more than valid. I truly do hope it does spark more chances for more Latinx/Hispanic based movies. 
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TLDR: People need to stop oversexualizing characters, especially Camillo, leave Abuela alone, not everything rainbow is gay or a coming out take and most importantly, listen to the Latinx/Hispanic community about discourse like this on Encanto. Listen to the people a movie reps, ffs.
Also yes, a lot of the issues  I’ve seen were on tiktok but it still needs addressing.
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piccolina-mina · 3 years
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A better person would do this without a shield, but cowardice keeps me from that. Private messages mean this stay in private but the ridicule and other things have always been in the open. An apology should be too. I am seeing some ugly things regarding the Tyler situation. The interview still bothers me. Casual fandom racism is bothering me. The attacks on great people are bothering me. It should have bothered me before. My apology is long overdue because 1/2
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I haven't been around or on here very much lately. Life gets in the way sometimes. A lot has been happening, and I also took some time to sit with this too because I didn't know how to respond.
I truly don't know how to respond still.
I appreciate this message. I have no way of truly knowing for certain, but it does feel genuine to me. It feels and reads sincere. This may be the first real, direct acknowledgment of the crap myself and Witch, and so so many others have dealt with over the years of being part of this fandom.
I honestly never expected anything like an apology, so I'm trusting that it is genuine, and this isn't some kind of joke.
You're not telling me things I didn't already suspect or know, but in a really twisted way the confirmation that some of us, myself included, were essentially blackballed, or what have you, by parts of the fandom or discussed so negatively is validating.
As you can imagine, my entire experience in the RNM fandom has consisted of being gaslit, so yeah, thanks for bringing the subtext to black and white text.
I felt it. I always felt that. Witch did too.
It was hurtful, in general and saddening and maddening too. Despite all of it, the biggest blows were watching others affected by it. Or knowing that people we befriended or cared about caught flack just for associating with us over something as trivial as a fictional show.
Which prompts me to acknowledge my friends and acquaintances in this fandom who withstood crap just for being lumped in with us, to their detriment. 💙
You cannot find Witch because she left fandom. And no, I'm not talking about the RNM fandom specifically, I'm talking about the fandom world in its entirety.
She wasn't driven out of a fandom. She was driven out of all fandoms. Because it is and was exhausting. Crazy, right? Like when I think about that....
And she wasn't the only one. I've met some great people in this fandom, and I've lost many of them because of the toxicity of it.
We were not exaggerating when we said it never felt like a safe space within it.
I'm not saying this to you to make you feel bad, I'm just telling you that this is the reality.
I could comprise a list of all the people who have experienced the worst of this fandom, but it would take too long. And most of them ARE women of color.
I could get on another soapbox about this. I can go on another diatribe, but I don't have it in me anymore.
It is awful that the ugliness and nastiness persists. I still see and hear about it sometimes. It breaks my heart and enrages me now the same way it did then.
No one deserves that. No one. I've always maintained this.
The fandom thrives on toxicity and drama, so it's no real surprise that it's eating itself alive. I certainly empathize with anyone on the receiving end of it.
It will never not suck or sting that if more people were willing to stop the bullying and ugliness when it started, maybe it wouldn't still exist like this.
Because it shouldn't take for it to happen to people you like or care about before you see the light. But life doesn't work that way, humans don't. We're all flawed. I get that.
So better late than never.
It's never comfortable facing things like this. I assure you, it wasn't comfortable discussing things like fandom racism and misogyny so often. If was very uncomfortable speaking about it. It was more uncomfortable experiencing it.
But I like to think that if we can get past that discomfort, it can be worth it in the end specifically when it comes to open-dialogue.
That's all I, many of us, ever wanted in the first place. That and the chance to enjoy the show, the fandom, the characters, and the relationships and the space like any and everyone else.
These messages -- I am completely, utterly caught off guard. But I also would not have felt right not acknowledging them.
So, I appreciate this. I appreciate your sincerity. I appreciate your apology.
I appreciate that you're doing some self-reflection. I appreciate the acknowledgment and the growth, the IDK, amends, atonement, or olive branch.
It's unfortunate that these situations are still happening and that others are getting harrassed still, but I am glad to hear that you've learned something amid all of this.
Take care. Be well. Stay safe. ✌
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nathenlindgren · 3 years
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Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, making it difficult to stay afloat, especially for startup business owners during trying times like what we are going through right now. With the influx of COVID-19 worldwide, many businesses that were severely affected are now out of business. ‍ The ones believed as temporary closures became permanent shutdowns delivering a gut punch to business owners across various ranges of industries. Despite the reopening to new normal, thousands of small businesses are still struggling to get their heads above water. ‍ On the flip side, e-Commerce businesses have been turbo-charged by the pandemic. Coronavirus restrictions forced people to stay at home and avoid leaving their houses unless absolutely necessary. With more consumers needing to physically distance and local stores changing their in-store operations due to daunting COVID-19 case counts, the option to shop online became the best alternative to many.
Turn your dry pipeline into a well of golden opportunity
Pandemic has changed the way people shop and accelerated the digital world’s shift where business interactions and transactions are done online. The compulsory measure to arrest the virus caused the most significant change to online shopping. ‍ But our difficult circumstance goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining. The strict stay-at-home combined with physical distancing orders led many people to shy away from physical stores, sweeping more virtual and e-Commerce businesses off their feet. ‍ If you have the right mindset, you can see a dry pipeline as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to innovate, restructure, shift priorities and take advantage of the new trends of commercial opportunities brought on by the unprecedented times. That’s right.
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According to recent surveys, retail e-Commerce sales soared to an all-time high during the global pandemic. The challenging situation we are in right now is perhaps the MOST ironic. Do you agree?
A dry sales pipeline compels businesses to perform into exploration mode, try new things, and accelerate the learning curve. So, despite the economic fallout, COVID-19 helped drive e-Commerce sales up to 97% compared to the pre-pandemic season. 
This enormous growth of e-Commerce means competition, which means that e-Commerce companies struggle to get new clients because of too much rivalry online. Sounds like you?
GET A FREE AUDIT TO CHECK WHAT’S HOLDING YOUR WEBSITE BACK FROM ITS POTENTIAL TO GET RANKED AND NOTICED.
Supercharge your e-Commerce site search to get more traffic
So as COVID-19 spikes and restrictions remain uncertain, today is the perfect time to jumpstart boosting your e-Commerce business. If you think your company doesn’t need SEO, think again! As the pandemic continues to reshape our world, many consumers turn to e-Commerce to purchase the items they need and become accustomed to the convenience of shopping from home.
The dramatic shift from in-store shopping to massive buying online is expected to have lasting effects on the consumers’ shopping preferences, even when things go back to a pre-COVID-19 way of life. The prediction is that online shopping is here to stay even when the pandemic is over. So, grab the chance to get discovered by your potential customers and dominate your niche.
Don’t just launch your e-Commerce store; leave it sitting online and wait for orders to come through. Sorry not sorry – this is not how it works. Flow in orders and sales won’t come unless you get the word out there and let the people know about what you are offering. Letting your website die in the vine and not doing anything is like throwing your money away since no one will see this website of yours. Your website is not getting any leads that you needed to scale your business.
In the digital era, setting your e-Commerce website is the easiest part of the process. The difficult step is how to get attention and convert the leads into loyal customers. We offer e-Commerce marketing services to maximize reach and transform your shop into a retail store’s powerhouse.
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Step up in your SEO game. Why not?
First, let us make a recap. Website optimization through SEO strategies is the game-changer for ranking high on Google, capturing new leads, and increasing your revenue in the future. If your brand has high visibility online, it fuels more sales for your business.
After e-Commerce store launching is completed, don’t sit back yet. Instead, invest your efforts into turning your website into a lead magnet and acquire more customers straight from your website. Even a pandemic can’t slow down your e-Commerce business if you have the right SEO in place.
To reiterate, taking your business online is totally different from creating a website. Every effort we make to improve our website’s performance leads to revenue in some way.
So, if you want to leverage your business, keep this in mind:
Your e-Commerce website becomes the marketplace where customers learn about your products and services and make pre-purchase decisions. The customers also carry out commercial transactions like buying or selling on the platform itself.
SEO is a non-negotiable strategy for an effective e-Commerce marketing
The pandemic has turned several businesses upside down. If your e-Commerce store was hit hard by this Coronavirus outbreak and has experienced a massive decline in traffic and conversion, it’s time to do the work. Yes, you heard it right!
Don’t wait for things to get better before you put in the work. While everything is slow, it is the perfect time to restructure, which includes improving your SEO and utilizing digital marketing platforms to skyrocket your sales, outrank your competitors, and get back on track when the pandemic is over.
Sounds good? Here’s how to get started:
Declutter your website pages. Remove irrelevant pages that were created without a strategy, including those that got obsolete over time. Although Google indexed them, they don’t matter to your business anymore. So better delete the non-essentials – having less is more. ‍
Only publish high-quality content. It was once a fad that producing heaps of content was the key to rank. But things have changed. The rule of thumb is to go for quality over quantity. Today, Google is more focused on the VALUE you are providing to the online readers. So, when publishing content, keep posting less but highly informative and keyword-rich articles. Then, you are good to go! ‍
Utilize other platforms like Amazon and App stores. Explore other websites that your audience is searching and don’t just restrict your efforts to rank in Google alone. Look beyond and seize every opportunity you have. The goal here is to maximize your online visibility to get found by an impending flood of virtual customers. ‍
Level up your website’s on-page SEO. On-page SEO is the key to improving your brand visibility, achieving a surge in organic traffic, and whatnot. On-page SEO is done by optimizing and adding keywords to the individual page on your website. If done correctly, it has the potential to improve your website rankings in Google and reach your target audience over time. ‍
Improve visitor’s dwelling time by creating engaging content.‍ Dwelling time is the amount of time users spend on your website before they go back to check out other results in the search engine. Adding high value, quality, informative and engaging content will increase your chances of converting visitors into potential customers and avoid leaving before they get to your website. ‍
Switch your website to Google’s mobile-first index.‍ To simplify, Google prioritizes indexing sites that are mobile-first indexing compatible. As Google adapts to the growing use of mobile worldwide, Google bots prioritize crawling and indexing sites with compatibility with mobile-first indexing and mobile SEO in general. ‍
Amp up your technical SEO. The main goal here is to optimize the primary infrastructure of your website. Technical SEO has nothing to do with your content. The most simplified definition of the process requires Speed, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), and JavaScript, to name a few. Improving your technical SEO allows the search engines to access, crawl, interpret and index your website without any problems.
Fill your sales pipeline with warm leads
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As Google rankings increasingly become tougher, it is important to understand what your audience likes and preferences as a whole. Since most people now are spending most of their time on their smartphones, it is good to invest your efforts in identifying the suitable medium to engage and nurture relationships with your visitors and create content that adds value to them.
Take note that shoppers are spending more hours researching the items they want to buy online. If they highly consider your product, they will temporarily add them to the cart and buy it later. According to surveys, it takes about two weeks before they make the purchase decision.
As part of the sales process, newly found leads need warming up before they are ripe for conversion. The content you add to your website attracts potential customers. You can keep them engaged by giving them steam of quality content that will keep them coming back and increase their genuine interest as they move closer to making buying decisions. Most potential buyers are not only are searching online for the products they want to buy online but are also looking for answers to their questions.
Yes, it’s true. Almost all the customers have curious queries, so create content that is engaging and informative. Strive to satisfy their curiosity and meet them at every level of their research – from product discovery, comparisons with other products, and reviews from previous clients.
Aside from getting a paying customer when you add value to your audience journey, you will also get a fresh ranking boost from Google. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. So don’t settle for mediocre content; go for quality content that will help you stand out, pull visitors into your funnel, warm them as prospects, and eventually, fill your pipeline with qualified hot leads.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TAILORED SOLUTIONS TO SCALE YOUR E-COMMERCE WEBSITE UP. BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH US NOW!
Final words
SEO is a critical need by e-Commerce businesses nowadays. There is no other way to move forward your e-Commerce business faster and get better ROI than optimizing your website. As an e-Commerce digital marketing agency, we will get the results for you while you focus on your business. Choosing your e-Commerce digital marketing agency is a matter of life and death. It could help you succeed or fail in your SEO campaigns. So choose wisely. Your choice in hiring the right e-Commerce SEO agency matters because it either catapults your e-Commerce store to brilliant new levels of success or pulls your business a giant step backward.
Partner with ePropel, and guaranteed, your business is in good hands. We have what it takes to help your business grow. We will unleash your e-Commerce to its full potential allowing your website to get more traffic, exponentially increase your revenue and gain more repeat businesses online. So whether you want to increase your profit or get your brand out there, ePropel’s e-Commerce marketing services will help achieve your business’s goals to succeed within a target audience.
ePropel is an SEO agency that helps companies to accelerate their website’s organic visitors through our proven 3-step system. Our team has more than 20 years of experience and are driven to deliver exceptional results for our clients.
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khentkawes · 5 years
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Tony Stark’s overlooked superpower: his self-awareness and the rare ability to admit, honestly and without justification, when he is wrong… and then work towards becoming a better person.
So there’s a lot of “discourse” (or whatever you want to call it) over Tony Stark and whether he takes responsibility for his mistakes. Antis say he needs to step up and take responsibility; the rest of us say that Tony does take responsibility consistently, even when he probably doesn’t need to or when someone else is equally responsible. But the comment from @i-want-to-bethlieve on this post a while back got me thinking (hope you don’t mind me tagging you–didn’t want to derail the original post, but also totally crediting you for getting my brain rolling on this), with the comment that all the characters make mistakes, but only Tony’s mistakes are brought up in the narrative…and Tony clearly can and does take responsibility for his mistakes–in fact, no one else does it more often or more consistently than he does. And even those characters who do express guilt over their mistakes, they don’t fully own them, don’t fully accept the blame, and the narrative doesn’t show them putting in the hard work to atone.
When I first started seriously watching the MCU (right after Thor Ragnarok came out–before that I’d only seen Avengers and Thor…yeah, I was a late-comer to the MCU), I used to say that Tony’s superpower was his ability to admit that he was wrong.  And I stand by that.
Seriously, Tony’s ability to repeatedly say, “I was wrong” without justifying his mistakes is a superpower! Because people don’t think about how much strength it takes to admit that you are wrong. Most people can’t do it, even with small things. Don’t believe me? Think about it, seriously think about it in your daily life. You’ll probably realize that it is incredibly rare for any of us to simply say, “I was wrong” without immediately following it with “but I didn’t mean to…” or “but I did it because…” Even simply saying, “I’m sorry” is hard for most people. That’s why people often give halfhearted apologies that are half defensive. “I’m sorry you were hurt, but I didn’t mean it the way you took it!” We’ve all heard or said variations on that. Most of us rationalize and justify and excuse our mistakes, even in the rare instances when we do admit them. And in everyday situations, people will argue over stupid things because they simply don’t want to admit “I was wrong.” People are stubborn that way.
But Tony admits fault and takes responsibility for his actions in pretty much every single movie! He admits he’s wrong immediately when he returns from Afghanistan, without hesitation or rationalization. Let’s break it down:
“I saw young Americans killed by the weapons I had designed to defend them.” [Admission that his previous understanding of the situation was wrong. He thought he was doing good, but was blinded to all of the harm his weapons had done.]
“I realized I had become part of a system with zero accountability.” [Admission that he was part of the problem.]
“And that is why, effective immediately, I will be shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International.” [Immediately takes steps to correct his mistakes.]
No rationalization. No, “but I thought I was doing the right thing” or “I was just following in my dad’s footsteps” or “other people make weapons too” or “lots of people told me I was doing good!” All of those things are true. But Tony doesn’t use them to rationalize or justify his actions. He doesn’t make excuses or get defensive. He also doesn’t hesitate to begin correcting his mistakes. He shuts down the weapons division. He begins looking into other options. He beings building Iron Man suits to channel his technology into new and better ways to protect people. And then he personally uses the Iron Man suit to liberate and defend Gulmira when it is clear that he hasn’t done enough to stop the destruction his weapons caused.
But that’s just in the first movie, you say? After that he makes more mistakes. Sure, because he’s a human being, and being human is hard. We all make mistakes and personal growth is not linear. There’s backsliding and missteps along the way. But Tony still, consistently, admits when he is wrong and accepts blame when appropriate (and sometimes even when it’s not. The boy has developed a guilt complex now, okay?).
So what about Iron Man 2. Okay, Tony’s apologies and admissions of responsibility are subtler here, but they do happen.
Rhodey: Look, I’m sorry, okay.
Tony: Don’t be.
Rhodey: No, I should have trusted you more.
Tony: I’m the one who put you in this position. Forget it.
Rhodey: No, it’s your fault. I just wanted to say I’m sorry.
Tony: Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear.
Tony does not dispute that it was his fault. He admits that he put Rhodey in an impossible position. He wants to hear the apology, but he also takes full responsibility for his part in their fight (btw, kudos to them both, since this is a great example of a mature friendship where both admit fault, apologize, and still care about each other, moving forward without holding any grudges at all). And later to Pepper: “Don’t be mad. I will formally apologize when I’m not fending off a Hammer-oid attack.” So Tony knows that he did handle things poorly and he does need to apologize. And later he implicitly takes responsibility for everything with Pepper, admitting that she would be totally justified in quitting: “You deserve better; you’ve taken such good care of me. I’ve been in a tough spot and you got me through it.”
Then we get Iron Man 3, which is all about Tony admitting when he screws up. Repeatedly. From almost scene one on.
Tony to Pepper: “Hey, I admit it! My fault! Sorry. I’m a piping hot mess.” He takes full responsibility for ruining date night, even though Pepper herself was late for date night.
Tony calling Pepper from Tennessee: “Pepper, it’s me. I’ve got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time. So first off, I’m so sorry I put you in harm’s way. That was selfish and stupid and it won’t happen again. Also it’s Christmas time…the rabbit’s too big. Done. Sorry. And I’m sorry in advance because…I can’t come home yet.” He apologizes for like…everything, but crucially he avoids one of the most common mistakes people make when apologizing: most people apologize for hurting someone but not for their actual actions. But not Tony. He takes responsibility for his selfish, thoughtless, and reckless actions and admits that he was wrong for all of it, promising to do better in the future. Again, no justifications or excuses, just genuine repentance.
And what about CA:CW? “Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong.” And right after this, Tony admits that he and Sam don’t know each other very well. Unlike with Pepper and Rhodey, who Tony trusts because of their long-standing relationships, Tony does not have any reason to believe that Sam will forgive him; admitting he’s wrong to someone who already dislikes him takes an extra measure of vulnerability, but Tony doesn’t even hesitate (I will ignore Sam’s petty “that’s a first” retort because, well, Sam doesn’t know Tony well enough to realize that he has misjudged Tony). Tony had plenty of rational reasons to think that Bucky was responsible for the bombing and everything else, but he doesn’t bring those up as justification for his (again, completely rational) mistaken interpretation of events. He just admits he was wrong and then says he wants to help Steve; he wants to do what he can to fix his mistake. When he gets to Siberia, he says, “maybe your story’s not so crazy.” Basically, he again admits that he was wrong to discount Steve’s concerns and Bucky’s story about other super-soldiers (even though he only doubted it because all evidence pointed against it and because Steve didn’t tell him until the absolute last second possible, which made it look like a last minute excuse for Steve’s actions).
Even before all of that, Tony takes full responsibility for Ultron (“Ultron–my fault”)…even though plenty of other people share responsibility for that: Bruce for helping create it, Wanda for manipulating Tony in the hopes he would “self-destruct” and for actively working with Ultron to enable his destruction, and Thanos who (presumably) programed the mind stone (since the narrative heavily implies that Tony/Bruce failed to create a functional AI and the mind stone actually put the pieces in place on its own, and Thanos implicitly takes credit for the events of the entire movie in the end-credits scene). But yeah. Only Tony admits his share of the blame for Ultron, and by extension, for Sokovia.
All of this just shows that Tony is honest and self-aware, and strong enough as a person to admit his mistakes and face them head on, rather than justifying, excusing, rationalizing, or denying. We don’t really get that from the other heroes: not Bruce, Steve, Thor, Wanda, Sam, Dr. Strange, or even Nick freaking Fury (who, I would argue, has made a fuck ton of mistakes). The closest we get is Bucky admitting “I’m not sure that I’m worth all of this,” Bruce agonizing over the destruction that Hulk causes, Clint’s confession to Natasha that he might not deserve her sacrifice, and Natasha’s comments about “red in her ledger.” But even then, most of those are more examples of self-loathing (in often unhealthy ways) rather than truly admitting fault and taking responsibility for one’s actions in a mature way. Only Natasha really takes responsibility for her actions, as her work with SHIELD and the Avengers is her attempt to do good out of a desire for atonement (the writing for Nat was often pretty poor, so we don’t see this part of her character development very clearly–it’s alluded to repeatedly, but never developed in detail).
The other Avengers do express regrets, but they struggle to take that next step of fully taking responsibility, admitting to other people they are wrong, and doing what they can to correct their mistakes. Sure, Wanda and Steve both felt bad after what happened in Lagos. They both said (privately) they felt like they were at fault. But they weren’t willing to own that and do something about it. In front of everyone else, they offer excuses or say that it’s just the cost of the job...or they don’t admit any fault at all. I don’t necessarily blame them. I probably would do the same. It would have been monumentally hard to come out in a press conference and admit that they made a mistake (though that didn’t stop Tony from doing exactly that way back in Iron Man). But that moment in Civil War is the only time the other Avengers discuss mistakes or blame–and it leads to nothing. Steve struggles with this later too…He always has some justification or explanation for his mistakes, like in his apology letter to Tony. And the “liar” scene in Endgame is further proof. That was the one time when Tony said,  “no, this wasn’t my fault. Not this time. It was yours.” And Steve isn’t able to be vulnerable and honestly admit, out loud, that yeah, he was wrong and it was his fault that the Avengers weren’t together. Steve starts to get defensive because he feels personally attacked (which, to be fair, he was). Tony mentions that Thanos is the exact reason he said they needed a suit of armor around the world and Steve says (one of his few lines), “yeah, and how’d that work out?” This is a classic deflection, an act of self-defense when someone feels attacked so they try to shift blame to the other person. We all do this in reality; it’s a natural tendency, although not a very emotionally mature reaction. After that, Steve shuts up, and I do interpret this as him internally feeling guilty about his actions because I think he knows he made mistakes and would do things differently if he had the chance to go back. But again, he doesn’t or can’t say out loud that he was wrong. And look, if we’re all honest, most of us would be like Steve…we might feel bad but we wouldn’t admit, out loud, that we were wrong. We’d rationalize or get defensive–it’s a very human reaction.
But it’s heroic to admit you are wrong and take responsibility for it. That’s not natural and it’s not easy, but it’s a skill the world desperately needs–maybe now more than ever. It’s also the only true path towards emotional growth and spiritual maturity. Robert Downey Jr. recently described the pre-Iron Man Tony Stark as “spiritually dead,” and I think any journey towards spiritual growth (or whatever you want to call it) has to begin with being 100% honest and self-aware and taking full responsibility for your own mistakes. Tony Stark does that, and he does it more fully and more consistently than any other MCU hero. He’s not perfect–but he knows that, and even more importantly, he admits it out loud, repeatedly. It’s an overlooked superpower because most people don’t really want to emulate this: people want to be respected and have super strength, but admitting you’re wrong? That doesn’t sound cool; that’s not a superpower most people want…which is why many of the other heroes don’t do it. Many of them are wish-fulfillment heroes, not three-dimensional characters who are human and flawed. Tony is the epitome of human and flawed…and he knows it. Ironically, that’s also what makes him heroic.
Yes, Tony’s mind and his heart are his superpowers, like a lot of people have said before, but let’s not neglect his capacity for reflection, for self-evaluation, for honest contrition, and the ability to admit when he is wrong and work towards righting that wrong. Those are all superpowers too.
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jeanettetweeks · 3 years
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Get More Customers Organically For Your eCommerce Store
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Why do you need a game plan for your online marketing?
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The global market is continually expanding and innovating. If you don’t keep up with your competitors, you will be missing out on huge sales, let alone you lose in the game. Relying on the traditional forms of advertising and marketing products will not cut it or beat your competitors, especially in a very aggressive market with low customer spending.
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While you are not boosting your website’s visibility, your competitors are keeping the competition on their toes. So, if your potential and existing customers find them online, they will likely turn to your competitors instead of you as the go-to source for their needs. Thus, you miss the opportunity to pull in more customers and reach a large audience.
As you can see, digital marketing is relatively inexpensive and very doable, so there is no reason why e-Commerce businesses couldn’t stay in front of people and stand out from the crowd. No matter how new or small, your business can avoid being overlooked by the vast marketplace. Here’s the good news, at ePropel, we offer a suite of e-Commerce marketing services that make using e-Commerce marketing simple but on point and delivers results.
Take advantage of our online marketing strategies geared toward building your brand awareness, increased website traffic, targeted reach, leads, conversions, or even repeat purchases so that you could achieve your business growth goals. With a coordinated marketing strategy, your company will surely maximize the impact of your e-Commerce marketing efforts!
FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN GET MORE CLIENTS AND REACH YOUR TARGET MARKET THROUGH SEO. WATCH THE FREE TRAINING VIDEO HERE.
Again, don’t rest on your laurels. It’s time to take massive action!
As a business owner, it is common for you to spin the wheels and lose focus. And as the business continues to grow, the demands to be met become increasingly high. Without noticing, it presents you with ever more complex challenges at a near-relentless pace, losing your control and grip on the business. Add in your personal and family needs; things could spiral down quickly, and it’s easy to constantly feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. ‍
With overwhelming things going on in the business, unknowingly, the day has gone by, and you missed priming the pump that improves cash flow. Remember that generating MORE sales or getting more people walking through your door are the lifeblood of your business. At the end of the day, the main thing that matters is, how many sales are you making?
If you want your business to realize its full potential without getting overwhelmed, take this advice seriously: do things that truly matter to your business, and don’t wait for your feelings to change to take action. Whether you like it or not, your e-Commerce success depends upon the successful marketing strategies you have poured into your business to gain traction in a crowded online marketplace.
If wearing multiple hats at your job hurts your efficiency, decreases your focus, and undermines your productivity as the company’s primary decision-maker – it’s about time to stop trying to do it all by yourself. Simple. If you do the SEO legwork yourself, you need to learn the process and pay for tool subscriptions. In addition, to get it done right, you need to invest in training and courses. Too much on your plate already, and confused about what to do first. Consider outsourcing your marketing – this is perhaps the best decision. This way, you can give your undivided attention to more important things to run your business more powerfully.
Do you want an e-Commerce marketing going and need help from experts?
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Prioritize Keywords That Gets You Results
Identify what your prospects are searching for on Google and embed these keywords into the right areas of your website that you can consistently get qualified leads on a regular basis.
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Optimize Your Website to Increase Visibility
With over 200 optimization factors, we identify the top factors that are turning your visitors away and what would increase searchability on your website. We then implement these on your website on so that it helps your store to rank on Google for more keywords
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Quality Link Building To Accelerate Your Growth
Without high-quality and relevant backlinks, it’s almost impossible to get to the 1st page of Google for the most competitive keywords in your niche, so it’s very important to match your eCommerce store with the most relevant and high quality backlink opportunities to achieve 1st page Google results.
Without SEO, your website is not found by searchers, and your efforts will be for nothing. Remember, most e-Commerce traffic comes from Google, and because of this, implementing cohesive e-Commerce marketing strategies will help you get found, get noticed, and attract new leads.
Investing in SEO and digital marketing is a long-term investment. We believe that building our partnership with you is crucial to making our working relationship as smooth sailing as possible. We understand that you are busy running your business. Don’t worry; we’ve got this!
We will take your business marketing off your plate and help you get into the “​feels right” zone quickly to skyrocket your sales. We’ve got your back, and you can count on us, through thick and thin. We have everything tracked with advanced analytics on your site, showing all aspects of your business, resulting in a more effective and faster decision-making process and ensuring that all campaigns perform at peak potential. We will also send you a detailed regular SEO report that summarizes all necessary SEO metrics you need to know about your business.
Everything you need to know about e-Commerce marketing
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With many marketing operations now taking place online, it can be tough to decide which e-Commerce marketing strategy is most useful for your business. So before we dive into much detail about the endless options for marketing your product, it is essential to understand that e-Commerce marketing and digital marketing are both inclusive.
Similarly, e-Commerce marketers can use all digital channels to promote their products, attract visitors to their website, facilitate purchases online and grow their business. While SEO results take time to be reflected on search engines, it offers long-term value. So, keep going!
At ePropel we help business owners improve their store and monitor their progress. We will help you implement clear, actionable, prioritized ground-breaking SEO strategies to improve your website performance.
Scan your website with possible SEO issues. No obligation is required.
AVAIL NOW FOR OUR FREE SITE AUDIT TO CHECK YOUR WEBSITE’S SEO SCORE.
Patience is a virtue even in SEO…
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As an e-Commerce agency, we have been doing SEO for a long time; the most common client question is, “How long before we are #1 in Google?” We get that.
Here is the harsh truth, there is no such thing as instant SEO results. But once rankings are achieved, it is not easy to fall off Google’s SERP. So how long does it take for results to start kicking in? It takes 4-6 months to see the results and experience an increase in organic traffic to be accurate. ‍
Although most companies want fast and quick results, SEO cannot take effect overnight. It just doesn’t happen like that – SEO doesn’t work instantly. However, if website optimization is built on a right and solid foundation, it should continue to bring relevant organic results not long after the website is optimized.
When it comes to populating the first page in Google, the bottom line is that patience is a virtue. Google is getting smarter recently, and it takes considerable time to prove to Google that your website is worth it. If you successfully make it to the first page, pat yourself on the back. This achievement means that Google has finally found your website credible and valuable.
So, kudos to your dedication and hard work. Allow us to be the first one to say, “Congratulations, all of your SEO efforts have finally paid off!” The main takeaway here is that the work will gradually produce BIG results if the SEO foundation is solid and done right. SEO is a daunting task, but it is a slow but sure process. So trust the process!
Now, let’s talk about the ins and outs of digital marketing
Nowadays, digital marketers use different platforms to generate noise towards their products or services. Let’s face it. Competition among small businesses is fierce. In fact, we frequently witness an uprising every now and then. With that said, digital marketing has never been more relevant and vital for companies to get their business found and thrive online.
A lot of e-Commerce companies are now investing so much effort in telling about their brands or showing off their products in the hope of bringing awareness and attracting more buyers online without spending so much money on advertisements. These are made possible because of the digital marketing strategies they implement on their own.
As the competition online gets more rigid, more and more business owners have difficulty keeping up with competitors. Add in the fact that digital marketing continues to evolve every single day.
This scenario is quite challenging for many businesses to take advantage of the marketing channels available, especially if entrepreneurs are not clear on their starting point and where their company is headed within a given timeframe – it can seem scary, intimidating, and confusing. Add it, for businesses with limited time and resources on hand – it’s often difficult to take advantage of digital marketing channels, which leads to neglect and not taking action to leverage and stay ahead of the curve.
So why does digital marketing matter to your business?
The reasons are simple and clear. To make it easier to understand, let us break them down into tiny bits and pieces.
IT DOESN’T NEED A CONSIDERABLE INVESTMENT
e-Commerce marketing won’t break the bank to implement the strategies. If you are new to digital marketing, find suitable channels that work for your business.
IT EFFECTIVELY INCREASES THE CONVERSION RATE
Although e-Commerce marketing doesn’t promise fast results after optimizing the website, it can easily convert subscribers and leads into high-paying customers and repeat clients when done right.
INCREASES YOUR RETURN ON INVESTMENT
As you get higher conversion rates, it will impact the revenue positively, make more money, and increase your profit margin.
DEFINES AND CLASSIFIES YOUR TARGET MARKET
In business, you need to understand who your target customers are. Speak directly to your ideal target market that can resonate with what you are offering, and in time, your efforts will pay dividends.
BUILDS AND STRENGTHENS YOUR BRAND
Having a brand is not enough. It needs to be promoted and instilled in your potential customer’s minds, which means getting your brand in front of them and winning their trust to increase your credibility. The greater brand awareness your business has, the higher the chances to convert website visitors into paying customers.
SHARE QUALITY CONTENT ABOUT THE COMPANY ACROSS DIFFERENT PLATFORMS
SEO and digital marketing involve the optimization of your content. Creating content and sharing them on different digital media platforms make you look like an industry expert. Being so is an advantage because it will give you an instant upper hand on competitors.
Ready, set, let’s go!
Set realistic long-term goals for the business.
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Break down long-term goals into actionable steps.
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Keep your new and existing customers happy.
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Set realistic long-term goals for the business. ‍ Goals are your stepping stones for an expected end result. A company without goals will have no sense of direction, no defined purpose, and nothing to strive for. When it comes to marketing, setting goals serves as its backbone. Set your marketing goals based on the company’s overall corporate goals and objectives.
Pandemic lockdown is a blessing in disguise to small businesses…
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, making it difficult to stay afloat, especially for startup business owners during trying times like what we are going through right now. With the influx of COVID-19 worldwide, many businesses that were severely affected are now out of business.
The ones believed as temporary closures became permanent shutdowns delivering a gut punch to business owners across various ranges of industries. Despite the reopening to new normal, thousands of small businesses are still struggling to get their heads above water.
On the flip side, e-Commerce businesses have been turbo-charged by the pandemic. Coronavirus restrictions forced people to stay at home and avoid leaving their houses unless absolutely necessary. With more consumers needing to physically distance and local stores changing their in-store operations due to daunting COVID-19 case counts, the option to shop online became the best alternative to many.
Turn your dry pipeline into a well of golden opportunity
Pandemic has changed the way people shop and accelerated the digital world’s shift where business interactions and transactions are done online. The compulsory measure to arrest the virus caused the most significant change to online shopping.
But our difficult circumstance goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining. The strict stay-at-home combined with physical distancing orders led many people to shy away from physical stores, sweeping more virtual and e-Commerce businesses off their feet.
If you have the right mindset, you can see a dry pipeline as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to innovate, restructure, shift priorities and take advantage of the new trends of commercial opportunities brought on by the unprecedented times. That’s right.
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According to recent surveys, retail e-Commerce sales soared to an all-time high during the global pandemic. The challenging situation we are in right now is perhaps the MOST ironic. Do you agree?
A dry sales pipeline compels businesses to perform into exploration mode, try new things, and accelerate the learning curve. So, despite the economic fallout, COVID-19 helped drive e-Commerce sales up to 97% compared to the pre-pandemic season.
This enormous growth of e-Commerce means competition, which means that e-Commerce companies struggle to get new clients because of too much rivalry online. Sounds like you?
GET A FREE AUDIT TO CHECK WHAT’S HOLDING YOUR WEBSITE BACK FROM ITS POTENTIAL TO GET RANKED AND NOTICED.
Supercharge your e-Commerce site search to get more traffic
So as COVID-19 spikes and restrictions remain uncertain, today is the perfect time to jumpstart boosting your e-Commerce business. If you think your company doesn’t need SEO, think again! As the pandemic continues to reshape our world, many consumers turn to e-Commerce to purchase the items they need and become accustomed to the convenience of shopping from home.
The dramatic shift from in-store shopping to massive buying online is expected to have lasting effects on the consumers’ shopping preferences, even when things go back to a pre-COVID-19 way of life. The prediction is that online shopping is here to stay even when the pandemic is over. So, grab the chance to get discovered by your potential customers and dominate your niche.
Don’t just launch your e-Commerce store; leave it sitting online and wait for orders to come through. Sorry not sorry – this is not how it works. Flow in orders and sales won’t come unless you get the word out there and let the people know about what you are offering. Letting your website die in the vine and not doing anything is like throwing your money away since no one will see this website of yours. Your website is not getting any leads that you needed to scale your business.
In the digital era, setting your e-Commerce website is the easiest part of the process. The difficult step is how to get attention and convert the leads into loyal customers. We offer e-Commerce marketing services to maximize reach and transform your shop into a retail store’s powerhouse.
GET IN TOUCH WITH US TO SEE HOW YOU CAN SKYROCKET YOUR E-COMMERCE BUSINESS GROWTH AMID TIGHT COMPETITION.
Step up in your SEO game. Why not?
First, let us make a recap. Website optimization through SEO strategies is the game-changer for ranking high on Google, capturing new leads, and increasing your revenue in the future. If your brand has high visibility online, it fuels more sales for your business.
After e-Commerce store launching is completed, don’t sit back yet. Instead, invest your efforts into turning your website into a lead magnet and acquire more customers straight from your website. Even a pandemic can’t slow down your e-Commerce business if you have the right SEO in place.
To reiterate, taking your business online is totally different from creating a website. Every effort we make to improve our website’s performance leads to revenue in some way.
So, if you want to leverage your business, keep this in mind:
Your e-Commerce website becomes the marketplace where customers learn about your products and services and make pre-purchase decisions. The customers also carry out commercial transactions like buying or selling on the platform itself.
SEO is a non-negotiable strategy for an effective e-Commerce marketing
The pandemic has turned several businesses upside down. If your e-Commerce store was hit hard by this Coronavirus outbreak and has experienced a massive decline in traffic and conversion, it’s time to do the work. Yes, you heard it right!
Don’t wait for things to get better before you put in the work. While everything is slow, it is the perfect time to restructure, which includes improving your SEO and utilizing digital marketing platforms to skyrocket your sales, outrank your competitors, and get back on track when the pandemic is over.
Sounds good? Here’s how to get started:
Declutter your website pages. Remove irrelevant pages that were created without a strategy, including those that got obsolete over time. Although Google indexed them, they don’t matter to your business anymore. So better delete the non-essentials – having less is more. ‍
Only publish high-quality content. It was once a fad that producing heaps of content was the key to rank. But things have changed. The rule of thumb is to go for quality over quantity. Today, Google is more focused on the VALUE you are providing to the online readers. So, when publishing content, keep posting less but highly informative and keyword-rich articles. Then, you are good to go! ‍
Utilize other platforms like Amazon and App stores. Explore other websites that your audience is searching and don’t just restrict your efforts to rank in Google alone. Look beyond and seize every opportunity you have. The goal here is to maximize your online visibility to get found by an impending flood of virtual customers. ‍
Level up your website’s on-page SEO. On-page SEO is the key to improving your brand visibility, achieving a surge in organic traffic, and whatnot. On-page SEO is done by optimizing and adding keywords to the individual page on your website. If done correctly, it has the potential to improve your website rankings in Google and reach your target audience over time. ‍
Improve visitor’s dwelling time by creating engaging content.‍ Dwelling time is the amount of time users spend on your website before they go back to check out other results in the search engine. Adding high value, quality, informative and engaging content will increase your chances of converting visitors into potential customers and avoid leaving before they get to your website. ‍
Switch your website to Google’s mobile-first index.‍ To simplify, Google prioritizes indexing sites that are mobile-first indexing compatible. As Google adapts to the growing use of mobile worldwide, Google bots prioritize crawling and indexing sites with compatibility with mobile-first indexing and mobile SEO in general. ‍
Amp up your technical SEO. The main goal here is to optimize the primary infrastructure of your website. Technical SEO has nothing to do with your content. The most simplified definition of the process requires Speed, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), and JavaScript, to name a few. Improving your technical SEO allows the search engines to access, crawl, interpret and index your website without any problems.
Fill your sales pipeline with warm leads
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As Google rankings increasingly become tougher, it is important to understand what your audience likes and preferences as a whole. Since most people now are spending most of their time on their smartphones, it is good to invest your efforts in identifying the suitable medium to engage and nurture relationships with your visitors and create content that adds value to them.
Take note that shoppers are spending more hours researching the items they want to buy online. If they highly consider your product, they will temporarily add them to the cart and buy it later. According to surveys, it takes about two weeks before they make the purchase decision.
As part of the sales process, newly found leads need warming up before they are ripe for conversion. The content you add to your website attracts potential customers. You can keep them engaged by giving them steam of quality content that will keep them coming back and increase their genuine interest as they move closer to making buying decisions. Most potential buyers are not only are searching online for the products they want to buy online but are also looking for answers to their questions.
Yes, it’s true. Almost all the customers have curious queries, so create content that is engaging and informative. Strive to satisfy their curiosity and meet them at every level of their research – from product discovery, comparisons with other products, and reviews from previous clients.
Aside from getting a paying customer when you add value to your audience journey, you will also get a fresh ranking boost from Google. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. So don’t settle for mediocre content; go for quality content that will help you stand out, pull visitors into your funnel, warm them as prospects, and eventually, fill your pipeline with qualified hot leads.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TAILORED SOLUTIONS TO SCALE YOUR E-COMMERCE WEBSITE UP. BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH US NOW!
Final words
SEO is a critical need by e-Commerce businesses nowadays. There is no other way to move forward your e-Commerce business faster and get better ROI than optimizing your website. As an e-Commerce digital marketing agency, we will get the results for you while you focus on your business. Choosing your e-Commerce digital marketing agency is a matter of life and death. It could help you succeed or fail in your SEO campaigns. So choose wisely. Your choice in hiring the right e-Commerce SEO agency matters because it either catapults your e-Commerce store to brilliant new levels of success or pulls your business a giant step backward.
Partner with ePropel, and guaranteed, your business is in good hands. We have what it takes to help your business grow. We will unleash your e-Commerce to its full potential allowing your website to get more traffic, exponentially increase your revenue and gain more repeat businesses online. So whether you want to increase your profit or get your brand out there, ePropel’s e-Commerce marketing services will help achieve your business’s goals to succeed within a target audience.
ePropel is an SEO agency that helps companies to accelerate their website’s organic visitors through our proven 3-step system. Our team has more than 20 years of experience and are driven to deliver exceptional results for our clients.
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epropel · 3 years
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Get More Customers Organically For Your eCommerce Store
With 43% of all e-commerce traffic coming from Google search, e-commerce stores who capitalize on this will benefit from increased profits and consistent organic customers for years to come.
Find out how you can attract more of your ideal customers on the top of Google Search results without paid ads with our 3-step SEO system.
Take a minute to schedule a time below to see if you are a good fit to at least double your organic website leads through our 3 step system.
I WANT TO GROW MY ORGANIC LEADS
Our Clients Have Massively Increased Their Sales Through Our SEO Services
Our team have helped companies ranging from emerging eCommerce stores to large companies like Capital One to be found at the top of Google through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Through this, we helped them to get more qualified leads and more sales while achieving a big return on their investment.
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Two Spoons
Hannah from Two Spoons already had a strong social media presence before working with us, with over 115,000 followers on Instagram and growing her followers fast. However despite this growth, her website leads was not growing fast enough.
Through working with us, we helped Two Spoons to grow from 2,000 organic visitors per month to 10,000 organic visitors per month!
Alpha Crowd Control
Allan from Alpha Crowd Control has been running his business for more than 15 years. When traditional marketing channels stopped working and his paid ads didn’t bring a good return, he struggled to find new customers…
Through our 3-step system, we TRIPLED his business’ organic website leads which helped to create a 50% increase in his annual revenue!
E-Commerce Digital Marketing Agency
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Having a functional e-commerce store or website is not an end-all and be-all. In a constantly changing digital and competitive business landscape nowadays, most e-commerce merchants worldwide turn to SEO and digital marketing agencies to help build their brands and grow their customer base. Because of this, marketing business online has become increasingly important in any company’s success. 
Promoting your e-commerce store by utilizing SEO strategies and different digital marketing platforms offers immense value. Still, it is NOT a small and easy feat. Since SEO rankings take time to improve after optimizing the website, it is a truly daunting task to find the needle you are looking for in the enormous haystack of information that search engines return. For this reason, more and more entrepreneurs are now relying on outside help to achieve organic growth.
Are you thinking about hiring an e-Commerce digital marketing agency?
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Choosing the best e-Commerce digital marketing agency will help you save time, headaches, and a massive amount of money. The goal of hiring an e-Commerce digital agency is to increase your website’s visibility and ultimately provide a quick return on your investment.
Before we go further, here’s a heads-up! Reaching the top of search engine rankings doesn’t happen overnight. Because of this, it takes several months to realize that you hired the wrong e-Commerce agency, and you end up facing damaging effects to your website’s online presence in search engine results. Too late to atone for your bad decisions.
If you are looking for honest SEO services with guaranteed results, then you came to the RIGHT place!
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Compared to other e-Commerce marketing agencies, we offer you a stress-free, fast and rewarding experience! Our main goal of helping you set up an e-Commerce digital marketing system is to create new
e-Commerce revenue streams that initially seem too complicated to leverage. We suggest that if you want the best results in your ROI, focus on the valuable metrics that matter.
ePropel is an e-Commerce digital marketing agency that offers guaranteed e-Commerce digital marketing services that will help your business dominate your market’s search engine rankings. We follow a 3-step system to grow your e-Commerce business based on fundamental strategies and best SEO and digital marketing practices. Our guaranteed SEO system has a proven track record in assisting small to medium-sized companies to sell to a global audience online.
Our main goal is to help you attract your ideal customers without paying hefty fees for paid ads. As your SEO partner, we will strive to help you get to the top results on Google and get organic traffic from the top 10 search result positions.
We now live in a different world, and as technology advances, Google is also advancing its requirements. We diversify, and with the latest developments in Google algorithm, it’s hard to keep up with the new marketing trend at an enterprise level.
‍  LEARN HOW TO GET 10X MORE CUSTOMERS AND INCREASE YOUR ROI WITH EPROPEL’S 3-STEP SYSTEM.
We provide all the e-Commerce digital marketing services that your company needs to get results!
Our full-service SEO and e-Commerce digital marketing packages are designed for your business to rule the web and replace a dozen solutions with one suite to improve and leverage in all areas of your marketing. As our valued client, you will enjoy the following services:
Execution of effective e-Commerce digital marketing strategies
We will conduct an in-depth review and audit of your website to determine the necessary SEO strategies that will give your store the much-needed boost in its online presence. We will also execute effective e-Commerce SEO strategies customized to your business to make your online store more visible on the search engine results pages.
Perform website optimization strategies
Payments works seamlessly with any Salesforce application or data model, be it your out of the box Sales Cloud or custom application.
Help you design a custom, mobile-friendly site that makes purchasing your product be a breeze as possible
Payments works seamlessly with any Salesforce application or data model, be it your out of the box Sales Cloud or custom application.
EXCLUSIVE BONUS: WATCH OUR FREE TRAINING VIDEO TO BOOST YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS QUICKLY.
WHAT MAKES OUR E-COMMERCE AGENCY DIFFERENT?
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Our connection with our customers is at the heart of what we do, as we believe building a solid client relationship is the foundation for growth. Trust and values come FIRST to us, and we don’t act in self-interest. We continually strive to build a lasting and meaningful relationship with our clients founded by transparency and honesty. ‍
With all that said, we take time to hear your goals and where you want to be in the future, so we have a FULL understanding of what your company wants to accomplish in e-Commerce marketing and ensure you are well-supported throughout the process. ‍ Everything we do comes from the perspective of a business owner. We walk our talk, and we are 100% dedicated to serving you. We will treat your company as our own and look out for your business’s best interest as a whole. And as your SEO and digital marketing partner, you are NEVER alone in your game. We are in this together! ‍ Simply put, we genuinely care about your business, and we are passionate about bringing noticeable results building your competitive advantage. Our SEO solutions and digital marketing system in place are driven towards making an indelible impact with significant change on your company’s revenue growth and, eventually, help your business succeed in this competitive digital age.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EPROPEL DIFFERENCE. WE GIVE YOU A HANDS-OFF SOLUTION IN GETTING CONSISTENT SALES AND LEADS.
SO, LET’S KICK THINGS OFF WITH THE HELP OF OUR CERTIFIED DIGITAL MARKETING EXPERTS!
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Take note that highly effective e-Commerce marketing is a make or break necessity for many e-Commerce companies. Today, a plethora of e-Commerce businesses credit online marketing for achieving an increase in their ROI and their generation of more sales. ‍ When it comes to e-Commerce digital marketing, finding the RIGHT e-Commerce marketing agency or partner can help you tap into this rapidly growing sales channel and keep your business prepared for the future! ‍ That said, if you are looking for a dedicated digital marketing team passionate about taking your business to the next level, our integrated digital marketing strategies will be perfect for you! ‍
Make ePropel and our team your trusted e-Commerce marketing agency. Our e-Commerce digital marketing services go unmatched, providing your business with the best value possible and helping your e-Commerce store get ahead in today’s very competitive online business world. We will develop a customized internet marketing package to meet your business KPIs and revenue growth goals. ‍ With our team of experienced SEO and digital experts and a growing number of satisfied customers, ePropel becomes the trusted choice for e-Commerce companies looking to drive revenue, generate sales, set up an effective conversion strategy, and ultimately, get good leads aboard. ‍ PARTNER WITH EPROPEL NOW, AND TOGETHER, WE WILL GROW YOUR BUSINESS!
WHY DO YOU NEED A GAME PLAN FOR YOUR ONLINE MARKETING?
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The global market is continually expanding and innovating. If you don’t keep up with your competitors, you will be missing out on huge sales, let alone you lose in the game. Relying on the traditional forms of advertising and marketing products will not cut it or beat your competitors, especially in a very aggressive market with low customer spending. ‍ With nearly all marketing efforts being performed now online, it is tough to draw customer’s attention to your business. Even more challenging is deciding between the various types of digital marketing people use today that will potentially market your business. If you continue to rest on your laurels in a world of business that’s highly competitive, sooner or later, a new competition lurks around the corner, and you are in a deadly trap.
HERE’S A WAKE-UP CALL TO E-COMMERCE BUSINESS OWNERS
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While you are not boosting your website’s visibility, your competitors are keeping the competition on their toes. So, if your potential and existing customers find them online, they will likely turn to your competitors instead of you as the go-to source for their needs. Thus, you miss the opportunity to pull in more customers and reach a large audience.
As you can see, digital marketing is relatively inexpensive and very doable, so there is no reason why e-Commerce businesses couldn’t stay in front of people and stand out from the crowd. No matter how new or small, your business can avoid being overlooked by the vast marketplace. Here’s the good news, at ePropel, we offer a suite of e-Commerce marketing services that make using e-Commerce marketing simple but on point and delivers results.
Take advantage of our online marketing strategies geared toward building your brand awareness, increased website traffic, targeted reach, leads, conversions, or even repeat purchases so that you could achieve your business growth goals. With a coordinated marketing strategy, your company will surely maximize the impact of your e-Commerce marketing efforts!
‍FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN GET MORE CLIENTS AND REACH YOUR TARGET MARKET THROUGH SEO. WATCH THE FREE TRAINING VIDEO HERE.
AGAIN, DON’T REST ON YOUR LAURELS. IT’S TIME TO TAKE MASSIVE ACTION!
As a business owner, it is common for you to spin the wheels and lose focus. And as the business continues to grow, the demands to be met become increasingly high.  Without noticing, it presents you with ever more complex challenges at a near-relentless pace, losing your control and grip on the business. Add in your personal and family needs; things could spiral down quickly, and it’s easy to constantly feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. ‍ With overwhelming things going on in the business, unknowingly, the day has gone by, and you missed priming the pump that improves cash flow. Remember that generating MORE sales or getting more people walking through your door are the lifeblood of your business. At the end of the day, the main thing that matters is, how many sales are you making? ‍ If you want your business to realize its full potential without getting overwhelmed, take this advice seriously: do things that truly matter to your business, and don’t wait for your feelings to change to take action. Whether you like it or not, your e-Commerce success depends upon the successful marketing strategies you have poured into your business to gain traction in a crowded online marketplace. ‍ If wearing multiple hats at your job hurts your efficiency, decreases your focus, and undermines your productivity as the company’s primary decision-maker – it’s about time to stop trying to do it all by yourself. Simple. If you do the SEO legwork yourself, you need to learn the process and pay for tool subscriptions. In addition, to get it done right, you need to invest in training and courses. Too much on your plate already, and confused about what to do first. Consider outsourcing your marketing – this is perhaps the best decision. This way, you can give your undivided attention to more important things to run your business more powerfully.
DO YOU WANT AN E-COMMERCE MARKETING GOING AND NEED HELP FROM EXPERTS?
No worries, we’ve got you covered! We at ePropel will help you create a plan, strategize, and implement it into your business. We will make things happen for you and deliver maximum SEO results that propel your business to grow.
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Prioritize Keywords That Gets You Results
Identify what your prospects are searching for on Google and embed these keywords into the right areas of your website that you can consistently get qualified leads on a regular basis.
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Optimize Your Website to Increase Visibility
With over 200 optimization factors, we identify the top factors that are turning your visitors away and what would increase searchability on your website. We then implement these on your website on so that it helps your store to rank on Google for more keywords
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Quality Link Building To Accelerate Your Growth
Without high-quality and relevant backlinks, it’s almost impossible to get to the 1st page of Google for the most competitive keywords in your niche, so it’s very important to match your eCommerce store with the most relevant and high quality backlink opportunities to achieve 1st page Google results.
Without SEO, your website is not found by searchers, and your efforts will be for nothing. Remember, most e-Commerce traffic comes from Google, and because of this, implementing cohesive e-Commerce marketing strategies will help you get found, get noticed, and attract new leads. ‍ Investing in SEO and digital marketing is a long-term investment.  We believe that building our partnership with you is crucial to making our working relationship as smooth sailing as possible. We understand that you are busy running your business. Don’t worry; we’ve got this!
We will take your business marketing off your plate and help you get into the “​feels right” zone quickly to skyrocket your sales. We’ve got your back, and you can count on us, through thick and thin. We have everything tracked with advanced analytics on your site, showing all aspects of your business, resulting in a more effective and faster decision-making process and ensuring that all campaigns perform at peak potential. We will also send you a detailed regular SEO report that summarizes all necessary SEO metrics you need to know about your business.
Everything you need to know about e-Commerce marketing
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With many marketing operations now taking place online, it can be tough to decide which e-Commerce marketing strategy is most useful for your business. So before we dive into much detail about the endless options for marketing your product, it is essential to understand that e-Commerce marketing and digital marketing are both inclusive. ‍ Similarly, e-Commerce marketers can use all digital channels to promote their products, attract visitors to their website, facilitate purchases online and grow their business. While SEO results take time to be reflected on search engines, it offers long-term value. So, keep going! ‍ At ePropel we help business owners improve their store and monitor their progress. We will help you implement clear, actionable, prioritized ground-breaking SEO strategies to improve your website performance.
Scan your website with possible SEO issues. No obligation is required.
AVAIL NOW FOR OUR FREE SITE AUDIT TO CHECK YOUR WEBSITE’S SEO SCORE.
Patience is a virtue even in SEO…
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As an e-Commerce agency, we have been doing SEO for a long time; the most common client question is, “How long before we are #1 in Google?” We get that. ‍ Here is the harsh truth, there is no such thing as instant SEO results. But once rankings are achieved, it is not easy to fall off Google’s SERP. So how long does it take for results to start kicking in? It takes 4-6 months to see the results and experience an increase in organic traffic to be accurate. ‍ Although most companies want fast and quick results, SEO cannot take effect overnight. It just doesn’t happen like that – SEO doesn’t work instantly. However, if website optimization is built on a right and solid foundation, it should continue to bring relevant organic results not long after the website is optimized. ‍ When it comes to populating the first page in Google, the bottom line is that patience is a virtue. Google is getting smarter recently, and it takes considerable time to prove to Google that your website is worth it. If you successfully make it to the first page, pat yourself on the back. This achievement means that Google has finally found your website credible and valuable. ‍ So, kudos to your dedication and hard work. Allow us to be the first one to say, “Congratulations, all of your SEO efforts have finally paid off!” The main takeaway here is that the work will gradually produce BIG results if the SEO foundation is solid and done right.  SEO is a daunting task, but it is a slow but sure process. So trust the process!
Now, let’s talk about the ins and outs of digital marketing
Nowadays, digital marketers use different platforms to generate noise towards their products or services. Let’s face it. Competition among small businesses is fierce. In fact, we frequently witness an uprising every now and then. With that said, digital marketing has never been more relevant and vital for companies to get their business found and thrive online. ‍ A lot of e-Commerce companies are now investing so much effort in telling about their brands or showing off their products in the hope of bringing awareness and attracting more buyers online without spending so much money on advertisements. These are made possible because of the digital marketing strategies they implement on their own. ‍ As the competition online gets more rigid, more and more business owners have difficulty keeping up with competitors. Add in the fact that digital marketing continues to evolve every single day. ‍ This scenario is quite challenging for many businesses to take advantage of the marketing channels available, especially if entrepreneurs are not clear on their starting point and where their company is headed within a given timeframe – it can seem scary, intimidating, and confusing.
Add it, for businesses with limited time and resources on hand – it’s often difficult to take advantage of digital marketing channels, which leads to neglect and not taking action to leverage and stay ahead of the curve.
So why does digital marketing matter to your business?
IT DOESN’T NEED A CONSIDERABLE INVESTMENT
e-Commerce marketing won’t break the bank to implement the strategies. If you are new to digital marketing, find suitable channels that work for your business.
IT EFFECTIVELY INCREASES THE CONVERSION RATE
Although e-Commerce marketing doesn’t promise fast results after optimizing the website, it can easily convert subscribers and leads into high-paying customers and repeat clients when done right.
INCREASES YOUR RETURN ON INVESTMENT ‍
As you get higher conversion rates, it will impact the revenue positively, make more money, and increase your profit margin.
DEFINES AND CLASSIFIES YOUR TARGET MARKET
In business, you need to understand who your target customers are. Speak directly to your ideal target market that can resonate with what you are offering, and in time, your efforts will pay dividends.
BUILDS AND STRENGTHENS YOUR BRAND
Having a brand is not enough. It needs to be promoted and instilled in your potential customer’s minds, which means getting your brand in front of them and winning their trust to increase your credibility. The greater brand awareness your business has, the higher the chances to convert website visitors into paying customers.
SHARE QUALITY CONTENT ABOUT THE COMPANY ACROSS DIFFERENT PLATFORMS
SEO and digital marketing involve the optimization of your content. Creating content and sharing them on different digital media platforms make you look like an industry expert. Being so is an advantage because it will give you an instant upper hand on competitors.
Ready, set, let’s go!
If you don’t have an SEO and digital marketing system in place, what are you waiting for? Now that you know the ins and outs of e-Commerce marketing, let’s discuss how you can build a successful business strategy for your online store.
Set realistic long-term goals for the business.
Break down long-term goals into actionable steps.
Keep your new and existing customers happy.
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Set realistic long-term goals for the business. ‍ Goals are your stepping stones for an expected end result. A company without goals will have no sense of direction, no defined purpose, and nothing to strive for. When it comes to marketing, setting goals serves as its backbone. Set your marketing goals based on the company’s overall corporate goals and objectives.
Pandemic lockdown is a blessing in disguise to small businesses…
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, making it difficult to stay afloat, especially for startup business owners during trying times like what we are going through right now. With the influx of COVID-19 worldwide, many businesses that were severely affected are now out of business. ‍ The ones believed as temporary closures became permanent shutdowns delivering a gut punch to business owners across various ranges of industries. Despite the reopening to new normal, thousands of small businesses are still struggling to get their heads above water. ‍ On the flip side, e-Commerce businesses have been turbo-charged by the pandemic. Coronavirus restrictions forced people to stay at home and avoid leaving their houses unless absolutely necessary. With more consumers needing to physically distance and local stores changing their in-store operations due to daunting COVID-19 case counts, the option to shop online became the best alternative to many.
Turn your dry pipeline into a well of golden opportunity
Pandemic has changed the way people shop and accelerated the digital world’s shift where business interactions and transactions are done online. The compulsory measure to arrest the virus caused the most significant change to online shopping. ‍ But our difficult circumstance goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining. The strict stay-at-home combined with physical distancing orders led many people to shy away from physical stores, sweeping more virtual and e-Commerce businesses off their feet. ‍ If you have the right mindset, you can see a dry pipeline as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to innovate, restructure, shift priorities and take advantage of the new trends of commercial opportunities brought on by the unprecedented times. That’s right.
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According to recent surveys, retail e-Commerce sales soared to an all-time high during the global pandemic. The challenging situation we are in right now is perhaps the MOST ironic. Do you agree? A dry sales pipeline compels businesses to perform into exploration mode, try new things, and accelerate the learning curve. So, despite the economic fallout, COVID-19 helped drive e-Commerce sales up to 97% compared to the pre-pandemic season. ‍ This enormous growth of e-Commerce means competition, which means that e-Commerce companies struggle to get new clients because of too much rivalry online. Sounds like you?
‍GET A FREE AUDIT TO CHECK WHAT’S HOLDING YOUR WEBSITE BACK FROM ITS POTENTIAL TO GET RANKED AND NOTICED.
Supercharge your e-Commerce site search to get more traffic
So as COVID-19 spikes and restrictions remain uncertain, today is the perfect time to jumpstart boosting your e-Commerce business. If you think your company doesn’t need SEO, think again! As the pandemic continues to reshape our world, many consumers turn to e-Commerce to purchase the items they need and become accustomed to the convenience of shopping from home. ‍ The dramatic shift from in-store shopping to massive buying online is expected to have lasting effects on the consumers’ shopping preferences, even when things go back to a pre-COVID-19 way of life. The prediction is that online shopping is here to stay even when the pandemic is over. So, grab the chance to get discovered by your potential customers and dominate your niche. ‍ Don’t just launch your e-Commerce store; leave it sitting online and wait for orders to come through. Sorry not sorry – this is not how it works. Flow in orders and sales won’t come unless you get the word out there and let the people know about what you are offering. Letting your website die in the vine and not doing anything is like throwing your money away since no one will see this website of yours. Your website is not getting any leads that you needed to scale your business. ‍ In the digital era, setting your e-Commerce website is the easiest part of the process. The difficult step is how to get attention and convert the leads into loyal customers. We offer e-Commerce marketing services to maximize reach and transform your shop into a retail store’s powerhouse.
GET IN TOUCH WITH US TO SEE HOW YOU CAN SKYROCKET YOUR E-COMMERCE BUSINESS GROWTH AMID TIGHT COMPETITION.
Step up in your SEO game. Why not?
First, let us make a recap. Website optimization through SEO strategies is the game-changer for ranking high on Google, capturing new leads, and increasing your revenue in the future. If your brand has high visibility online, it fuels more sales for your business. ‍ After e-Commerce store launching is completed, don’t sit back yet. Instead, invest your efforts into turning your website into a lead magnet and acquire more customers straight from your website. Even a pandemic can’t slow down your e-Commerce business if you have the right SEO in place. To reiterate, taking your business online is totally different from creating a website. Every effort we make to improve our website’s performance leads to revenue in some way.
So, if you want to leverage your business, keep this in mind:
Your e-Commerce website becomes the marketplace where customers learn about your products and services and make pre-purchase decisions. The customers also carry out commercial transactions like buying or selling on the platform itself.
SEO is a non-negotiable strategy for an effective e-Commerce marketing
The pandemic has turned several businesses upside down. If your e-Commerce store was hit hard by this Coronavirus outbreak and has experienced a massive decline in traffic and conversion, it’s time to do the work. Yes, you heard it right! ‍ Don’t wait for things to get better before you put in the work. While everything is slow, it is the perfect time to restructure, which includes improving your SEO and utilizing digital marketing platforms to skyrocket your sales, outrank your competitors, and get back on track when the pandemic is over. Sounds good? Here’s how to get started:
Declutter your website pages. Remove irrelevant pages that were created without a strategy, including those that got obsolete over time. Although Google indexed them, they don’t matter to your business anymore. So better delete the non-essentials – having less is more. ‍
Only publish high-quality content. It was once a fad that producing heaps of content was the key to rank. But things have changed. The rule of thumb is to go for quality over quantity. Today, Google is more focused on the VALUE you are providing to the online readers. So, when publishing content, keep posting less but highly informative and keyword-rich articles. Then, you are good to go! ‍
Utilize other platforms like Amazon and App stores. Explore other websites that your audience is searching and don’t just restrict your efforts to rank in Google alone. Look beyond and seize every opportunity you have. The goal here is to maximize your online visibility to get found by an impending flood of virtual customers. ‍
Level up your website’s on-page SEO. On-page SEO is the key to improving your brand visibility, achieving a surge in organic traffic, and whatnot. On-page SEO is done by optimizing and adding keywords to the individual page on your website. If done correctly, it has the potential to improve your website rankings in Google and reach your target audience over time. ‍
Improve visitor’s dwelling time by creating engaging content.‍Dwelling time is the amount of time users spend on your website before they go back to check out other results in the search engine. Adding high value, quality, informative and engaging content will increase your chances of converting visitors into potential customers and avoid leaving before they get to your website. ‍
Switch your website to Google’s mobile-first index.‍To simplify, Google prioritizes indexing sites that are mobile-first indexing compatible. As Google adapts to the growing use of mobile worldwide, Google bots prioritize crawling and indexing sites with compatibility with mobile-first indexing and mobile SEO in general. ‍
Amp up your technical SEO. The main goal here is to optimize the primary infrastructure of your website. Technical SEO has nothing to do with your content. The most simplified definition of the process requires Speed, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), and JavaScript, to name a few. Improving your technical SEO allows the search engines to access, crawl, interpret and index your website without any problems.
Fill your sales pipeline with warm leads
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As Google rankings increasingly become tougher, it is important to understand what your audience likes and preferences as a whole. Since most people now are spending most of their time on their smartphones, it is good to invest your efforts in identifying the suitable medium to engage and nurture relationships with your visitors and create content that adds value to them.
Take note that shoppers are spending more hours researching the items they want to buy online. If they highly consider your product, they will temporarily add them to the cart and buy it later. According to surveys, it takes about two weeks before they make the purchase decision.
As part of the sales process, newly found leads need warming up before they are ripe for conversion. The content you add to your website attracts potential customers. You can keep them engaged by giving them steam of quality content that will keep them coming back and increase their genuine interest as they move closer to making buying decisions. Most potential buyers are not only are searching online for the products they want to buy online but are also looking for answers to their questions.
  Yes, it’s true. Almost all the customers have curious queries, so create content that is engaging and informative. Strive to satisfy their curiosity and meet them at every level of their research – from product discovery, comparisons with other products, and reviews from previous clients.
  Aside from getting a paying customer when you add value to your audience journey, you will also get a fresh ranking boost from Google. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. So don’t settle for mediocre content; go for quality content that will help you stand out, pull visitors into your funnel, warm them as prospects, and eventually, fill your pipeline with qualified hot leads.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TAILORED SOLUTIONS TO SCALE YOUR E-COMMERCE WEBSITE UP. BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH US NOW!
Final words
SEO is a critical need by e-Commerce businesses nowadays. There is no other way to move forward your e-Commerce business faster and get better ROI than optimizing your website. As an e-Commerce digital marketing agency, we will get the results for you while you focus on your business. Choosing your e-Commerce digital marketing agency is a matter of life and death. It could help you succeed or fail in your SEO campaigns. So choose wisely. Your choice in hiring the right e-Commerce SEO agency matters because it either catapults your e-Commerce store to brilliant new levels of success or pulls your business a giant step backward. ‍ Partner with ePropel, and guaranteed, your business is in good hands. We have what it takes to help your business grow. We will unleash your e-Commerce to its full potential allowing your website to get more traffic, exponentially increase your revenue and gain more repeat businesses online. So whether you want to increase your profit or get your brand out there, ePropel’s e-Commerce marketing services will help achieve your business’s goals to succeed within a target audience.
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Are you turning evil?:
Long writing thing about Zorro talking to Quinn about his emotions and actions. Noting more then that.
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Diego was worried about the growth that Quinn has been doing so far. Yes he has put him self more out there, but things like feelings and what he thought of others he has hanged out with as of late. Now that worried him. So he decided to have a talk with him. “Nino...I’m going to ask you some questions so answer them the best you can, and if you don’t have the answer to them, then say pass, alright?” He waited for him to respond. Quinn just nodded and Diego just asked the questions all at once.  “How do you feel as a whole?” “Dose death scare you?” “How do you feel about people who do bad things?” “And what do you think love means to you?”
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Quinn was a bit confused by the topic but answered them honestly. “I feel empty? I do feel fear, and am scared of death as well as others threatening me, but...the best I can describe my feelings in my head and heart is like a crumpled up paper. It’s just all over the place, and no matter how hard I try to flatten it out it will still have imperfections.” He  thought about the 3 question for a bit, how dose he feel about people who do bad things?...Yes. that’s the answer, Quinn just looked up at him and said very straight faced this,  “Things like bad and good or not that simple to answer about. To me I can see others doing bad things in the past and even a bit now, but still trying to do good now. It’s wrong to keep attacking them for things that don’t matter anymore. It’s wrong to say they will not be forgiven for there actions while they try to atone. That type of actions don’t help anyone but prove that your own selfish way of the idea of it is right with out looking at both sides of it. So what do I feel about them? I feel relaxed around them like any other person. I just feel more comfortable around them more so then others.”  The love topic again. It’s always about love with him. Why dose he care so much? For once...Quinn doesn’t have a answer to this one but words came out of his mouth in the end anyway about it. “Love from what I heard is when you care about someone with your whole being, and they care about you to the same level. Romantic or not that’s what it is...But I don’t understand it one bit. I care for others, would die for them, but I don’t love them. I don’t think I can love...”
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He listened and his expression changed. He was trying to figure him out. But more questions came again from his answers. “Is that why you care so much for Moriarty? Do you understand the difference between right and wrong? You do know he might kill you one day, because just like sherlock said, Moriarty was never good to begin with. So knowing this why are you placing all this trust in him?”
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He sighed. right he doesn’t know. Might as well tell him. “I died in the past. No a different me died. I woke up when the was close to Shinjuku opening up. I summoned servants who stood by my side, but the moment Shinjuku came I tried summoning again. He didn’t have a name so I just called him my Dear archer for that time being. I couldn’t go to Shinjuku, due to still being stuck in Fuyuki. I didn’t make it far there. I didn’t even meet caster, and I died in my room with Moriarty there watching me die in my sleep. It was painless, but I knew I caused him so much pain from him. So when I woke up here. With you, and everything that happen after that point. And later down the line finding out is real name and what he has done...My feelings didn’t change. Because of those feelings of him with me in the end and finally being here with us I realized that i forgive him. And i hope he doesn’t remember what I did to him in the past. I don’t want that weighting down on him. As for the other question, I do know the answer of right and wrong. But knowing all the wrong someone did I will still trust them, because i know they will not kill me.. ”
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This was getting really uneasy with him. He’s not showing any emotions. Time to ask for the final question. Because this could make or brake him in what his master’s answer would be. It was a horrible question but one that he needed to know. “How do you feel about killing others? How did it feel when you killed your mom and see your dad die?”
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Wait what? Why dose he want to know my feelings on that. It’s clear to see it effects him. Why would he ask such a thing? He opened his mouth and very slowly said what he wanted, “I don’t want to...I don’t want to kill anyone. And...I felt...nothing. I cried. I feel sad, but I think they are normal human reactions to do. But...the feeling of emptiness always hovers above me. So I feel nothing.” Quinn’s been avoiding that for a long time. He didn’t want anyone to know that part about him ever, and when he said that Diego’s whole self changed in that moment.
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“I see...I see...“ He was shaking. Quinn was confused did he say something wrong? He only spoke the truth. And Diego did something horrible. He tried to open the lock to Quinn’s aging elixirs to try to brake them. “You don’t need these anymore! They make you sick. Nino, I had a feeling. A strong feeling, but this aging elixir has effects...Effects your mother never wanted you to know. From talking to you I can see that now. You are good in nature. That has never changed about you, but this...This is causing you to null your feelings of death and even other emotions after a while. it causes you to feel nothing for people later down the line...I don’t want to know what the other effects might do to you, but we need to stop this now! This aging elixir is going to make you become a killer one day. Give me the key to the lock. We need to-wait...Did you take one not to long ago? We need to get it out of you. Come here-” 
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Quinn was scared. Stop taking them? No! No. No. He can’t be his real self yet. Get way from me. Don’t touch me. Get away from them! where words echoing his head. He pushed him and yelled. For once yelled at someone. With fear in his heart he did something to keep the elixir safe. “I’m taking them. You are not stopping me. It’s too late. I took one before you came into my room, and you can’t get it out. Once its in the body it’s done. And as for that key. You will never get it-” Quinn did used a command seal on him. and said, “By command seal you will not take my key away from me. By second command seal you will not try to stop me from taking them, and finally using my last seal these commands will not be removed if you brake the pact with me. I’m sorry I had to do this...You are not taking these away from me. I need them. I need them to be loved. You are not taking that away from me!” 
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him-e · 6 years
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It bothers me people complaining about Luke in tlj, I know int the ot he's this hopeful hero and I know the character is iconic but you can't expect Luke to be the same before and after rotj, I mean, Vader death and redemption affected him, becoming a master affected him, Ben and the rise of the first order affected him. If they have put a Luke that was the same than in ep iv it wouldn't be realistic, Luke has grown, it's not the same 19 years old boy
Sometimes growth weighs you down, instead than lifting you up. Also, I feel like this sort of (not really) antiheroic-anticlimatic approach is just par for the course with the setup for this new trilogy. The OT’s curtains closed on such a finite, unequivocal happy ending that a sequel trilogy couldn’t be anything but disruptive of this happiness and fulfillment not only on a galactic scale, but on a personal level too. (after all, the “star wars” in star wars are all but a backdrop to this huge familial drama, aren’t they?)
You have what’s basically a carbon copy of the old Empire on the rise, and this happens despite the fact that our heroes have been in charge of the galaxy for all these years. So what went wrong this time? Because, obviously, something DID go wrong. And this time you no longer have the Jedi Order or the corrupted Republic of the prequels to blame. By signing up to the entire premise that kickstarts TFA, you must know you’re going to be faced with some hard truths, uncomfortable truths about your heroes, sooner or later.
and like, I’m a major Kylo/Ben stan and even I don’t think that Luke’s misstep destroys his characterization. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t devastating from Ben’s perspective, because it was—waking up to your uncle and most powerful jedi in the galaxy hovering on you with his lightsaber ignited because he’s afraid of you? TERRIFYING. Twice as traumatizing if you consider that Ben’s parents (from his perspective) gave up on him and passed him off to Luke, so the moment when Luke, the last person entrusted with his *soul*, no longer thinks he can be saved, is the moment when Ben just stops fighting and lets his shadow loose (and for god’s sake, I can’t stop thinking about this, it’s haunting me. when did this account become so deep).
But on Luke’s part, it’s just human. A human error. 
And to be clear I think there’s a fundamental difference between the joyous, abstract idea that “everyone can be saved”—and getting to actually save in a blaze of glory, age 24, your absentee murderous father whom you have never spent more than 3 hours in total with—versus living every day, every hour of your life with someone who is practically your own child and pouring in him all your love and your wisdom AND YET. The darkness continues to only grow and grow in this kid, and it seems that whatever worked on your father isn’t working on him for some reason and maybe you’ve grown old and the Light has dimmed in you and maybe you were wrong and some people are just too dark to be saved and maybe…. Luke doesn’t outright say it, but I think these thoughts were the dark side tugging at him without he realizing it. Not Snoke, just Luke’s own dark side that has always been there. It tugged and tugged until something snapped. And you know the rest.
So what is that destroys Luke’s character? This one moment in which he thought he could save a million lives by killing one à la Stannis (or, like any parent of a problematic child knows, has a fleeting “I wish you were never born” thought and instantly regrets it)? The fact that he didn’t try to fix it immediately later? The fact that maybe he felt so ashamed and guilty and devastated that he had to literally cancel himself from existence, not even telling Leia? (he still can’t tell the truth to Rey, a perfect stranger who has almost no dog in this fight, six years later, so it’s clearly something that ripped him apart)
Oh, okay, Luke isn’t hopeful anymore. And? I will always scoff at the idea that once people subscribe to a happy, bright, optimistic version of yourself, you are forever obligated to perform that character even if it doesn’t represent the real you anymore, and you’re not allowed to show your scars. Life has a tendency to break you. Especially as you grow old.
But what prevents it from being a bleak narrative is that Luke actually has his own [ redemption ] arc in this movie and reacts. He reacts because Rey makes him react, she violently calls him out on his apathetic bullshit and leaves with so much of his old stubborn hopefulness that it reminded of who he STILL is (so much for *Rey only revolves around Kylo*—Rey is MUCH more proactive and assertive of her own agency in this film than in TFA, where she just reacted to what happened to her. In this movie? She’s deliberately the catalyst for MANY things. She actively makes choices. On her own). 
It’s like he suddenly wakes up.And what he does is going to confront Kylo, who is entirely his demon, his own Frankenstein’s monster, created by his hubris (so much of TLJ is about hubris and its natural consequence, failure), and ask Ben forgiveness. This is truly the most heroic thing to do, for someone who spent years wrapped up in his own guilt and unable to process it and believing the only way to atone was to die like a hermit. I was actually surprised they gave the climatic Jedi vs Sith lightsaber battle to Luke (I was expecting Rey), and I’m still shaking for how beautiful and poignant that scene is. “See you around, kid”.
That’s a lot like Obi Wan in ANH but also… much more complex than Obi Wan in ANH. While Obi Wan was guilty of seeing the darkness too late, Luke is guilty of being hyperaware (perhaps, it’s precisely Anakin & Obi Wan’s cautionary tale that made him paranoid about Ben’s darkness, effectively turning his legitimate concerns into a self fulfilled prophecy). In the end, the stakes of Luke’s sacrifice are even higher than they were for Obi Wan in the OT, because a) that’s literally all that’s left of the Resistance that he’s dying to save, and b) we know that the root of Ben’s wrath is precisely his relationship with his family and specifically with Luke. Luke who failed Ben so BAD because it was a relationship that involved trust, parental care, and power imbalance. Luke who still loves Ben so much. Luke who was probably (at some point) Ben’s one true hero, even more than Han. We already have the backstory at this point in a way that we didn’t when we saw Vader strike Obi Wan down—but Ben/Luke is much more visceral, much more painfully the decisive factor in Kylo Ren’s villain origin story than Obikin ever was in the creation of Darth Vader. So the last duel is emotionally charged in a way that the OT’s Vader/Obi Wan one wasn’t, because we have taken young Luke’s place in watching his mentor (and hero) sacrifice himself for him (for us) and it’s much clearer that he’s also sacrificing himself for the villain, too.
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lunalockser · 7 years
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Little Do You Know
Link to FF.net version
Link to AO3
Summary: “Little do you know how I’m breaking while you fall asleep”,“Little do you know all my mistakes are slowly drowning me” songfic based on Little Do You Know by Alex and Sierra
Note: Hey Puddins. I wrote this little gem out of the blue and I hope you enjoy. I was just listening to this song then next thing I knew I was typing. Enjoy.This story is based on “Little Do You Know” by Alex and Sierra.
Juvia
Gray
Both
Little do you know
How I’m breaking while you fall asleep
Little do you know
I’m still haunted by the memories
Little do you know
I’m trying to pick myself up piece by piece
Little do you know
I need a little more time
Juvia sat in her bed looking out the window. Raindrops slowly leaked from the clouds, mimicking the tears dripping from her eyes. The night air was cold, but she wasn’t sure if that came from the outside, her sad heart, or the sleeping ice mage next to her. After all her months of struggling, she should be happy with Gray being with her. But despite her blossoming relationship, she was still battling with his betrayal from Avatar. Her nightmares still came every night, and they were always the same.
Waking up in that house and finding herself alone again. His face joining everyone else who she grouped together. Those who had left her. All of them, standing together, complaining about the one thing they resented most, her.
Her face grew wetter as she choked back sobs. No matter how much she tried to pretend that it was okay, no matter how much she tried to move on from the bitterness, it would never change the fact that he had left her. He had confirmed her worst fear; that he was just like everyone else. He did the one thing that Juvia had been afraid of, he left her rejected. All the progress Juvia had made suddenly vanished. No matter how far she had come, she would always be the woman desperately mortified of being abandoned. Maybe in a few years, she could be the person she wanted to be, but for now, she was just Juvia, the Rainwoman.
She could never find the words to tell Gray this though, and she tried to love him, she realized he was trying. But right now she couldn’t go back to the old way of loving him, her wounds were just too fresh, even months after the war with Alvarez had ended. So, for now, she just cried in the night, while he slept soundly next to her.
Underneath it all, I’m held captive by the hole inside
I’ve been holding back for the fear that you might change your mind
I’m ready to forgive you but forgetting is a harder fight
Little do you know
I need a little more time
Every day was a war for Juvia. She managed to keep herself mostly occupied with restoring the town and odd jobs, and she managed to keep her smile on throughout the day, but still, her anxieties nagged at her constantly. Never was there a moment that the pressure on her chest lifted. It took everything she had not to crumble. Whenever she turned her back, she still had the irrational sense that the others were scorning her, were wishing, like everyone else had in her past, that she would go away, and plotting their move to leave her.
As often as she felt she was evolving from those terrors, they still held her. She wanted to fully accept everyone’s promises, Gray’s promise that they loved her and would stay with her, but she still felt the impending doom of their departure.
But she couldn’t tell Gray this. If he thought there was no chance of her forgiving him, then he might give up on trying, and Juvia wanted to try. She wanted to try to love him fully.
Not to say that she hadn’t forgiven her beloved. No, she understood how his mind worked, and she knew that it was just a Gray Fullbuster move. But none of the rationalizings, none of the forgiveness could make her forget how bitter and hollow it felt to wake up lonely in that house. Nothing could remove the cold feel of the rain against her skin, or numb the pain her throat endured as she screamed into the night, wondering where her Gray-sama had gone. No, forgetting would take a lot longer.
I’ll wait, I’ll wait
I love you like you’ve never felt the pain,
I’ll wait
I promise you don’t have to be afraid,
I’ll wait
The love is here and here to stay
So lay your head on me
Gray laid quietly in their bed, listening to his love sob next to him. He wanted to sit up and pull her into his arms, but he recognized she wasn’t ready. Rushing her was the last thing he wanted to do. After everything he’s put her through, being patient was the least he could give her. He wished she would come talk to him, but he understood her hesitations. He just had to wait for her to reopen up to him, and then he would be able to show her how much he loved her.
He would be the man she spent so long waiting for, would be the one to make all her years of loneliness and desolation disappear. He would be the one to love her so much she forgot all the pain she’s ever felt. The man just wanted to grab her and let her know that she didn’t have to be anxious to talk to him, he was here to stay this time. His love for her only grew every day, and this time, he would rather die than leave her again.
Little do you know
I know you’re hurting while I’m sound asleep
Little do you know
All my mistakes are slowly drowning me
Little do you know
I’m trying to make it better piece by piece
Little do you know
I, I love you ‘til the sun dies
The ice mage saw that she would stay awake late into the night crying, and it had been going on since they had returned to Magnolia after the guild reformed. She would always do it late into the night so that no one would be awake for the rain, and by morning she had vented out enough for it to die down.
The pain Gray felt over knowing that he had done this to her was deafening. Even as he tried to make everything right, he recognized it would never be enough. He had done the worst thing possible to Juvia, left her deserted. He had overestimated her growth, had lied to himself in a vain attempt of justification, had tried to tell himself that she would be fine. In the back of his mind, he had known that it was bullshit though. He didn’t have any justification at all, he had been selfish. He had at one point tried to argue with himself that it was an idiot trait of Fairy Tail men, but even that couldn’t hold. He was even more of a bastard than Gajeel, at least he never broke anyone mentally. Gray was an asshole, and he hated himself for that. He doubted he could ever amend his offenses, ever heal the wounds, but he would try. For her. Because even if he couldn’t ever atone, even if her curse came back and Magnolia never got another sunny day; he would love her.
Oh wait, just wait
I love you like I’ve never felt the pain,
Just wait
I love you like I’ve never been afraid,
Just wait
Our love is here and here to stay
So lay your head on me
As the rain began to drizzle away, Juvia welcomed the quiet. She knew that these moments were difficult, but given time, something would blossom. Juvia could only look forward to the day she would wake up without any hesitations, and though it would take years or even decades, Juvia had hope.
Hope for a time when her heart would come out of its timid shell and all the pain of her past would no longer hinder her love. None of the ex-boyfriends, the family, and the supposed friends who she had been abandoned by would matter because she would wake up every morning knowing that Fairy Tail would never leave her. Her love for Gray would only grow stronger. It just needed time.
Listening to the silence, Gray could feel Juvia’s heartbeat ease to a normal pace, signaling she was done with her emotional release session for the night. When she laid down next to him, he brought her closer into his arms, playing it off as though he were still sleeping. He knew that she didn’t want him to know her nightly strife just yet, and he respected that wish, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t want to help her. He could only wait for her to be ready.
Once she gave him the ok, he was prepared to go through hell for her forgiveness, to make peace with his faults. He would fight to create a place where nothing from his past would get to them. Losing his parents, losing Ur, and his emotional constipation would no longer cripple his decisions. He would build a new life, a life where he could hold onto Juvia and never let her go. They would be each other’s strength. It just needed time.
I’ll wait (I’ll wait), I’ll wait (I’ll wait)
I love you like you’ve never felt the pain,
I’ll wait (I’ll wait)
I promise you don’t have to be afraid,
I’ll wait
The love is here and here to stay
So lay your head on me
Lay your head on me
So lay your head on me
Juvia nestled into her lover’s chest for the night, hoping to get some sleep. Feeling the cool press of his skin. She knew that no matter what endeavors lay ahead of her; she would face them with this man. Their love could stand it, and no matter what horrors she would face, she had Gray, and Gajeel and all her friends to help her through it.
Gray inhaled the scent of his girlfriend’s hair, letting her overwhelm his dreams. He would be here when she was ready to talk, and whatever she decided to do, he would help her. Nothing could tear them apart, and he had everything to look forward to.
'Cause little do you know
I, I love you 'til the sun dies
“I love you” they whispered to each other in their dreams.
Notes:
So there you go. I had to write this since, in my opinion(and that of my sister), Mashima made Juvia forgive Gray WAY too easy. This should hold you guys off until I’m done with my multi-chaptered story. I don’t want to publish it until it’s done because I write sporadically and would hate to leave you guys hangin. So please bare with me.
See you guys next time Puddins
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akria23 · 7 years
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TGD Articles #1
The reason I love The Get Down is not just because its about a part of my own people’s history in this genre of music…but because it’s a metaphorical speak in the image of many artist that’s lived that life coming from a colored, poor, and seemingly broken land. The cultures that represented in this show – they’ve always been at the pinnacle of all the big art forms. Often times that history was erased replaced with the face of someone else, the credit is given to those it didn’t belong to and even when correct credit is given the tale is spun to make it negative – our form of dance was something violent, dangerous or not a real form / our music was/is degrading at best and tasteless at worst / our art was never art just unnecessary incoherent scribbles used only to mark ownership and ruin what was once perfect. Time and time we’re shown that the lighter the flesh the easier the content is to swallow but TGD isn’t about that harsh reality. In fact, these young men and women are to focus on their own moment trying to breathe some life into their own dreams that there's no room for that story. So what happens is we get this ultimate focus on this representation, on this reality that I think isn’t shined on enough for people like these. You have real artist who’ve lived through similar events as these, whose history match. These too are our stories, and TGD remembers that, they remind of that, they teach that to those who hadn’t known.
I’ve been doing this thing lately where I’ve been feeling this need to describe everything by one word and one word only. The only rule was that the word had to not only speak for the entirety of the piece but that it must also trickle down to having more than the one meaning. Sometimes this is difficult…this time it was simple.
Freedom.  
The word has found its place within the story. Its grown so much its become an entity of its own, it’s presence refusing to be ignored, it has weaved its way through characters and threaded itself to the spine of the storyline. Its more than the star gazing and the bird metaphors, it’s the hard lyric dropped on the backbeat and the spray from the can that paints every one of Dizzee’s mottos. Each character’s struggle is one marked by a quest of the word.
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Mylene seeks absolution from her Father and his church. Like many of the characters, she desires to use her talent to transcend her from the gutters of rags to riches and class. To be raw, Mylene sole drive is for control, of both her own form and mind and through that her own message in her art. She is the one most driven by this need for the boys have total autonomy over what they perform and how it's performed, and while the girls may do back lib for her and therefore have not much say they are still free in form of body and decisions. We watch her transition from her father’s control, trying to fit her dream inside his reality, to trying to fit that same dream inside someone else’s who wanted her for her sex appeal.  In both cases, she was told what to think, feel and how to act. Her only purpose was to achieve theirs. It's only when the first chains are truly broken (with her father’s death) do we see her take a stand and start of this different path. We know this path is one of fruition because, in the scene where she finds herself at the party (this scene also mirrors with another character’s awakening), she's lost in herself, singing her way – carefree and just for the art. It is this moment that gets her the deal of a lifetime. Through Mylene we see many other characters in search for some form of freedom – including her mother whose wants to escape the marriage she's bound herself to, her ‘uncle’ who's made a life of trying to free others from poverty, and a broken city – and Jackie a drug addicted musician who finds himself lost in the biggest musical block until she frees him with creativity and inspiration.
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Unlike Mylene, Zeke doesn’t know he's in need of being free. To be fair his prison is, in part, one of his own making.   Yes, his family and teacher put pressure on his to succeed their way…but he doubled that by trying to add Shaolin and the Kipling brothers to his track. There's nothing wrong with trying to succeed but you can’t walk to paths at once and that’s what Zeke finds himself trying to do and often finds himself taking steps backward instead of forward. He stretched himself thin instead of giving his all to one route. Maybe that’s why his story is heavy with guilt and sorrow because his goal was to make too many people happy – someone was destined to be let down – and if part 2 was any marker, that person is shown to be Shao, the brother who he's never really put his full trust in. Through Zeke we are shown sometimes we have too many options and refusing to make a choice can cause us just as much as making no choice, but also that our decision that can come with a duality. Zeke was free to choose…although I don’t know if his choice was all it was cut out to be. Zeke was inspiring though and with that came those who wanted that to shade them, such as Ra-Ra who latched onto this group because he saw the potential and hoped that his brain would be enough to lead them down the right path to creating a kingdom of their own.
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Shaolin had the story of no choice. Shao lived in a mindset of survival and in that mindset all your decisions are fronted with that goal. His body was even more out of his control than Mylene’s, Fat Annie made sure of that from a young age. Even though he’s a jack of all trades (art, music, dance), even though deep down he's always hoped and has finessed his talents in wait of an opportunity, Shao never believed he would actually find a path to escape the world Annie had built for him. Leaving always meant ending back there. This is why he was enamored of Zeke – he was an opportunity, he was a promise of things Shao never had (a family, a partner, a bond) he was the road to freedom. He not only made him see, but he made him believe (this is also why I don’t like Zeke – Shao was always all the way in, damaging himself further, but Zeke always held a part of himself out knowing he had more than one route). When he gripped onto this idea, he couldn’t let it go, even if it meant getting his hands dirty. He was willing to steal, beg, borrow, and in one case assault for this thing. Because if he could do all those things to survive in a world he didn’t want to be in, what was stopping him from doing them when the destination was something he actually wanted? The sad thing about Shao’s story is it presented the reality of placing your trust in someone and having them drop your ass. Hope – it was so close and he knew it was gonna work. Growth-excusing the world he lived in and the things he had to do, to standing up and saying no. Devastation-having the foundation pulled from under his feet with the realization that having something and losing it may just be worse than never having had it at all. Reversion- of all the things he’d once known, the life he once lived, the thoughts he once had. Freedom is an illusion when life keeps proving that you deserve no such thing. And that ties in with Boo, he thinks he has no real tools to leave that place. The city has its claws in him, feeding off his anger and hardheadedness that keeps him in the belief that those like him and Shao were meant to be left behind and hardened for that life. Those who think they don’t deserve to be free succumb to their prisons.
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Let me be frank – Dizzee’s story is my favorite in every way possible…including this one. If Shao’s storyline thus far has been about the manifestation of freedom letting you down, then Diz’s is about that manifestation being the best thing that allows you to soar high. Free/freedom is a theme we see surrounding Dizz a lot. This is in part to his sexuality and in part to his rebellious artistry. He himself has atoned himself more freedom in one than in the other. Dizz is fearless and driven in the face of art. His train quotes usually as such ‘Forget safety, be notorious’. He goes all the way into a dangerous neighborhood just to see Shao’s new work. He added his own work to one of Shao’s trains and even went to a gang territory for another one of his own creations. His art presents not only his thoughts and beliefs but allows him to freely hide in plain sight though his write line and alter ego Rumi. He’s the only character whose freedom is always at the stake of being stolen (though his art being a crime) while also seeking a different form of freedom (both his sexuality and the legacy of his art). Dizzee’s story is like a caterpillar going through metamorphosis – when the audience first meets him we don’t realize his sexuality is on the table. It isn’t until we’re introduced to Thor that even becomes clear. Thor is interested upon first meeting when he hears exactly who Dizzee is and his explanation of Rumi. Thor immediately understands the representation of Rumi. He’s the first character to see the genius in Diz instead of weird because he’s the first to actually see him fully for what he is and understand his metaphors. Thor is actually the element that’s pushing Diz’s transition. We get a lot of signs of Freedom when Thor is around – when they exchange books Thor tells him to make it the craziest, nastiest, freest, most revolutionary piece he’s ever made – Thor has a train quote that goes ‘You have wings, Learn to fly’ – before Thor ask him to go to the club he ask Dizz ‘Doesn’t Rumi wanna rise from some Alien ashes, be a phoenix, find a new form? Set the alien in the top hat free bro, introduce him to the world’. This is forthcoming to Thor’s own form (the phoenix – one reborn) already settled and free in his own sexuality, the bird standing for both freedom and rebirth (which is a point diz is at during his last scene). I do think that Thor feels because he’s able to see Diz/Rumi so translucently that others will/can too. You see this when he invites him to the club and tells him not to worry they’ll let him in. – In the club scene, it's as though Dizz is actually leaving one world entering a new world, all the while with Thor leading Dizz forward with a guiding hand. This sense is deepened by the fact that the audio is cut and what we hear as they are in this new place is Thor’s joy (laughter) at sharing this new world with Dizz. He tells Dizz that “this is where free people come to be free, just birds singing in bird voices and doing bird things (basically free people doing free people shit)’”. When Dizz gives Thor the Set Me Free album and tells him that it made him think of him it makes sense because that’s the route Dizz has been on since meeting Thor. It is easy to see that Thor is his first male romantic action given his hesitant nature when Thor was first flirting with him on the train – he remained stoic until he did the turn with a La revolution before exiting. But Dizz is also a full steam ahead kind of guy once he decides to do something. We get another one of those scenes in the club. Because everything was so new Dizz is contained and awestruck but after the kiss and the first note of Come Set Me Free, all those walls fall and we see Dizzee in his most pure form.
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This theme, of course, follows into part 2 as Thor is literally locked up and Dizz has shut down in his own way. This season also focuses on Dizz standing up for his place and himself. He’s no longer letting comments slide by, choosing instead to confront them head on. When Thor gets out we get this intricate scene that while drug induced, allows us free entree into Dizz’s mind where Thor is concerned. Love, art, protection and of course free as we’re reminded of Rumi’s destination. Some fans take the Boo-Dizz conversation to mean that Boo secretly knows about Dizz’s sexuality…I didn’t take it that way at all. When Boo says – remember when I used to know all your friends it was a reminder that Dizz like the rest of the characters was still locked in a box. There's a reason Ra says..yo that’s my brother in the face of Thor whose trying to help. None of Dizz’s family knows Thor. It’s the same reason he tells Boo no when he ask if he could come along to see Thor. So even while he's at the point of not apologizing for being an alien he’s not yet a phoenix. When we see Dizz again, he's at his happiest. He and Thor are shacked up in what I refer to as Paint Palace, isolating themselves from the outside world like they’re on a honeymoon and drawing their truth on every surface they can. As I’ve said in my other post, this is one of my favorite scenes – because everyone should be allowed to experience that kind of freedom. Dizzee is in a safe space, doing something he loves, surrounded by positivity and with someone who inspires this safe feeling. He doesn’t have to hide, doesn’t have to speak in half-truths nor outright lie. Thor doesn’t judge him, and although he’s his guide he doesn’t push or force him to move faster than his own pace will allow. The reason Thor is presented smiling and happy when Dizzee is lost in his art is because he is both enamored and in full support of Dizz during these moments because they’re when Dizz is at his most real. Thizzee does not overtly mention their feelings because the real message loses its meaning that way. You see all the other relationships/friendships in the show and they all tell each other their every feeling but when it comes time to put up…someone is often left hurt, disappointed and jaded.  Dizz is aware of all those feelings – love, protection, freedom – not because Thor says them, but because he shows through action. Thor is Dizzee’s manifestation of freedom and through he found himself on the path to accepting himself and freeing the sides of himself that others didn’t understand. Dizz is learning to fight for himself as much as he’s willing to fight for his art. Thor teaches him that Viva la revolution has space in other portions of his life. And that’s where we leave Dizz, transforming himself into something new…
Sometimes freedom is the fight for control, sometimes it’s the need to make a decision, sometimes it’s a manifestation, and other times it’s learning to accept yourself. The show made sure to sprinkle it in every character (even those I didn’t mention). As I said at the start, it was the floor the genre of music and art was built upon. Neither got much respect but still, artist used it as their route to escape whatever struggles they needed to overcome and the greatly exhibits that. These characters want to be kings and queens, they want to make their own mark on the world, leave behind their own legacy. They fight, love, and sometimes lose. They learn to learn to understand one aspect of one another they probably thought they would never see. That's what's so freeing about TGD, what makes it so damn good.
youtube
Video belongs to Anna on YT! This post was in part inspired by said video. The gifs are as credited.
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henry33tan · 6 years
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Piano Teachers and Pedaling
In the cosmos of pedaling, where the “soul of the piano” is explored, I asked a few teachers about when and how they introduce students to the use of the sustaining or damper pedal.
Definition of Terms: https://www.pianocub.com/blog/3-piano-pedal-techniques-you-need-to-know
Legato/Syncopated Pedal
“In legato pedaling, the sustain pedal is pressed down after a note or chord has been played but before it has been released. It’s called legato pedaling because the pedal is used as a way to connect notes together and create the illusion of smooth playing. This technique is also called syncopated pedaling.”
The Direct Pedal
“In the direct pedal, the sustain pedal is depressed at the same moment the keys are struck. This is useful for accenting a sharp attack or giving a big chord some extra resonance.”
The Preliminary Pedal
“The pedal is pressed down before the first notes of a piece or section. This allows the piano to be at its most resonant when the keys are struck and creates a full, deep, and beautiful sound.”
***
Irina Morozova
I introduce pedal when students are ready. Usually it doesn’t happen until the second or even third year (with kids). I give them simple exercises for direct and late (syncopated) pedal and explain the difference. Pedaling is an extremely difficult subject to write about: It’s too complicated and subtle. But when students are ready to pedal, I expect them to do it perfectly so we work very hard on it, using more and more complex pedal tricks.
Rami Bar-Niv
I introduce pedaling when we get to repertoire that requires it and when the student can reach the pedal comfortably. I don’t use pedal extenders for small kids. I prefer that the student is first well-grounded in playing without the pedal.
When I teach the use of the pedal, I start with syncopated pedaling as “default” and later move on to various pedal techniques and uses as they are deemed necessary and required by the music.
I never mention the concept that pedal is used for legato playing even though it can help with legato at times. I view the pedal as enhancement and enrichment of the sound and as an aid in phrasing. The use of the pedal depends not only on the music that’s being played but also on the piano it’s being played on and the room it’s being played in.
***
Seymour Bernstein presents his views on pedaling with compelling demonstrations of actual exercises he enlists in the early years of study, continuing with a more complex mentoring/development of pedal techniques as students advance.
In vimeo format, Bernstein explains and demonstrates the history of the right pedal.
Seymour’s Introduction
We learn two startling facts: 1) Hairpins, (cresc. and decresc. markings), beginning with Beethoven, mean tempo fluctuations, and 2) In my opinion, the asterisks, following Chopin’s pedal indications, mean nothing at all. Along the way, I reveal important information concerning interpretation, all coupled with PowerPoint slides which show the points under discussion. It’s a must for all teachers and serious pianists.
vimeo
***
In his book, The Art of Piano Fingering, Rami Bar-Niv explores finger pedaling as a technique applied to the same measures of Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor (LH) that Bernstein referenced in his video trailer. Bar-Niv, then further probes the same work.
Bar-Niv: The tool of finger pedaling can be very helpful when playing without using the sustain pedal or when pedaling needs to be cleared if some extra resonance and overtones are still desired. It can also be very effective when we wish to bring out some extra-hidden voices/melodies in the music.
***
Kirsten: From my teaching perspective, the world of pedaling is filled with complexity. Mentoring students about how to use the pedal as an enhancement of musical lines, fleshing out colors and nuances the pianoforte affords, is an incremental journey. Attentive listening should be at its center, supported by technical and physical approaches that best realize what is an imagined sound image. The process of assimilating various dimensions of pedaling may take years of exposure to varied repertoire. And what might work for a Chopin composition in sound imagery terms, will not necessarily carry over to a Debussy Prelude. It’s our job as teachers to help sort through the varied tonal and atonal vocabularies of composers as we explore their works. By experimenting with pedaling options and exchanging ideas back and forth with our pupils we foster mutual musical growth. ***
Links:
Irina Morozova https://www.newschool.edu/mannes/faculty-az/?id=4e6a-4932-4d77-3d3d
Rami Bar-Niv Author The Art of Piano Fingering https://www.amazon.com/dp/1479285277/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
Rami’s Rhapsody Piano Camp for Adults of all piano-playing levels in San Francisco, April 22-28, 2018. http://rami.ybarniv.com/?page_id=198 ====================== http://ramisrhapsody.tripod.com/ Piano camp for adults, all levels, beginners to piano teachers. Utica, NY. June and October. http://pianofingering.tripod.com/
Seymour Bernstein http://seymourbernstein.com
from Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten) https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/piano-teachers-and-pedaling/
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lunalockser · 7 years
Link
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Fandom: fairy tail
Ships: Gruvia
Characters: Juvia, Gray
Link to FF.net version
Summary: "Little do you know how I'm breaking while you fall asleep","Little do you know all my mistakes are slowly drowning me" songfic based on Little Do You Know by Alex and Sierra
Note: Hey Puddins. I wrote this little gem out of the blue and I hope you enjoy. I was just listening to this song then next thing I knew I was typing. Enjoy.This story is based off of “Little Do You Know” by Alex and Sierra.
Juvia
Gray
Both
Little do you know
How I'm breaking while you fall asleep
Little do you know
I'm still haunted by the memories
Little do you know
I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece
Little do you know
I need a little more time
Juvia sat in her bed looking out the window. Raindrops slowly leaked from the clouds, mimicking the tears dripping from her eyes. The night air was cold, but she wasn’t sure if that came from the outside, her sad heart, or the sleeping ice mage next to her. After all her months of struggling, she should be happy with Gray being with her. But despite her blossoming relationship, she was still battling with his betrayal from Avatar. Her nightmares still came every night, and they were always the same.
Waking up in that house and finding herself alone again. His face joining everyone else who she grouped together. Those who had left her. All of them, standing together, complaining about the one thing they resented most, her.
Her face grew wetter as she choked back sobs. No matter how much she tried to pretend that it was okay, no matter how much she tried to move on from the bitterness, it would never change the fact that he had left her. He had confirmed her worst fear; that he was just like everyone else. He did the one thing that Juvia had been afraid of, he left her rejected. All the progress Juvia had made suddenly vanished. No matter how far she had come, she would always be the woman desperately mortified of being abandoned. Maybe in a few years, she could be the person she wanted to be, but for now, she was just Juvia, the Rainwoman.
She could never find the words to tell Gray this though, and she tried to love him, she realized he was trying. But right now she couldn’t go back to the old way of loving him, her wounds were just too fresh, even months after the war with Alvarez had ended. So for now she just cried in the night, while he slept soundly next to her.
Underneath it all I'm held captive by the hole inside
I've been holding back for the fear that you might change your mind
I'm ready to forgive you but forgetting is a harder fight
Little do you know
I need a little more time
Every day was a war for Juvia. She managed to keep herself mostly occupied with restoring the town and odd jobs, and she managed to keep her smile on throughout the day, but still, her anxieties nagged at her constantly. Never was there a moment that the pressure on her chest lifted. It took everything she had not to crumble. Whenever she turned her back, she still had the irrational sense that the others were scorning her, were wishing, like everyone else had in her past, that she would go away, and plotting their move to leave her.
As often as she felt she was evolving from those terrors, they still held her. She wanted to fully accept everyone’s promises, Gray’s promise that they loved her and would stay by her, but she still felt the impending doom of their departure.
But she couldn’t tell Gray this. If he thought there was no chance of her forgiving him, then he might give up on trying, and Juvia wanted to try. She wanted to try to love him fully.
Not to say that she hadn’t forgiven her beloved. No, she understood how his mind worked, and she knew that it was just a Gray Fullbuster move. But none of the rationalizing, none of the forgiveness could make her forget how bitter and hollow it felt to wake up lonely in that house. Nothing could remove the cold feel of the rain against her skin, or numb the pain her throat endured as she screamed into the night, wondering where her Gray-sama had gone. No, forgetting would take a lot longer.
I'll wait, I'll wait
I love you like you've never felt the pain,
I'll wait
I promise you don't have to be afraid,
I'll wait
The love is here and here to stay
So lay your head on me
Gray laid quietly in their bed, listening to his love sob next to him. He wanted to sit up and pull her into his arms, but he recognized she wasn’t ready. Rushing her was the last thing he wanted to do. After everything he’s put her through, being patient was the least he could give her. He wished she would come talk to him, but he understood her hesitations. He just had to wait for her to reopen up to him, and then he would be able to show her how much he loved her.
He would be the man she spent so long waiting for, would be the one to make all her years of loneliness and desolation disappear. He would be the one to love her so much she forgot all the pain she’s ever felt. The man just wanted to grab her and let her know that she didn’t have to be anxious to talk to him, he was here to stay this time. His love for her only grew every day, and this time, he would rather die than leave her again.
Little do you know
I know you're hurting while I'm sound asleep
Little do you know
All my mistakes are slowly drowning me
Little do you know
I'm trying to make it better piece by piece
Little do you know
I, I love you 'til the sun dies
The ice mage saw that she would stay awake late into the night crying, and it had been going on since they had returned to Magnolia after the guild reformed. She would always do it late into the night so that no one would be awake for the rain, and by morning she had vented out enough for it to die down.
The pain Gray felt over knowing that he had done this to her was deafening. Even as he tried to make everything right, he recognized it would never be enough. He had done the worst thing possible to Juvia, left her deserted. He had overestimated her growth, had lied to himself in a vain attempt of justification, had tried to tell himself that she would be fine. In the back of his mind, he had known that it was bullshit though. He didn’t have any justification at all, he had been selfish. He had at one point tried to argue with himself that it was an idiot trait of Fairy Tail men, but even that couldn’t hold. He was even more of a bastard than Gajeel, at least he never broke anyone mentally. Gray was an asshole, and he hated himself for that. He doubted he could ever amend his offenses, ever heal the wounds, but he would try. For her. Because even if he couldn’t ever atone, even if her curse came back and Magnolia never got another sunny day; he would love her.
Oh wait, just wait
I love you like I've never felt the pain,
Just wait
I love you like I've never been afraid,
Just wait
Our love is here and here to stay
So lay your head on me
As the rain began to drizzle away, Juvia welcomed the quiet. She knew that these moments were difficult, but given time, something would blossom. Juvia could only look forward to the day she would wake up without any hesitations, and though it would take years or even decades, Juvia had hope.
Hope for a time when her heart would come out of its timid shell and all the pain of her past would no longer hinder her love. None of the ex-boyfriends, the family, and the supposed friends who she had been abandoned by would matter because she would wake up every morning knowing that Fairy Tail would never leave her. Her love for Gray would only grow stronger. It just needed time.
Listening to the silence, Gray could feel Juvia’s heartbeat ease to a normal pace, signaling she was done with her emotional release session for the night. When she laid down next to him, he brought her closer into his arms, playing it off as though he were still sleeping. He knew that she didn’t want him to know her nightly strife just yet, and he respected that wish, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t want to help her. He could only wait for her to be ready.
Once she gave him the ok, he was prepared to go through hell for her forgiveness, to make peace with his faults. He would fight to create a place where nothing from his past would get to them. Losing his parents, losing Ur, and his emotional constipation would no longer cripple his decisions. He would build a new life, a life where he could hold onto Juvia and never let her go. They would be each other’s strength. It just needed time.
I'll wait (I'll wait), I'll wait (I'll wait)
I love you like you've never felt the pain,
I'll wait (I'll wait)
I promise you don't have to be afraid,
I'll wait
The love is here and here to stay
So lay your head on me
Lay your head on me
So lay your head on me
Juvia nestled into her lover’s chest for the night, hoping to get some sleep. Feeling the cool press of his skin. She knew that no matter what endeavors lay ahead of her; she would face them with this man. Their love could stand it, and no matter what horrors she would face, she had Gray, and Gajeel and all her friends to help her through it.
Gray inhaled the scent of his girlfriend’s hair, letting her overwhelm his dreams. He would be here when she was ready to talk, and whatever she decided to do, he would help her. Nothing could tear them apart, and he had everything to look forward to.
'Cause little do you know
I, I love you 'til the sun dies
“I love you” they whispered to each other in their dreams.
Notes:
So there you go. I had to write this since, in my opinion(and that of my sister), Mashima made Juvia forgive Gray WAY too easy. This should hold you guys off until I’m done with my multi-chaptered story. I don’t want to publish it until it's done because I write sporadically and would hate to leave you guys hangin. So please bare with me.
See you guys next time Puddins
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