♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ ׂ💭 ◟♡ ˒ ʾʾ ꒰ ❛ THE FACES OF HIM ! ❜ ꒱

tw // death, blood, seizure, and suicide mention !

HIM is a reoccurring character in ALLUME’s universe. In all of HIM’s appearances, HIM is played by a difference actor or actress. Explained in their art film for their first mini album “LOST TAPES” HIM is genderless and can appear as male, female, or neither but will always be referred to as HIM.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ HIM’s first appearance was portrayed by SOLOIST KIM ‘SOL’ JINSOL. Jinsol was a former member of Angelico boy group, DEEPDIVE, and was in the boy group INFERNO at the time of his appearance in the film, later becoming a soloist under Flowerbank Entertainment after his contract with Angelico was dissolved in 2020. 

His version of HIM took place in modern time, being the missing best friend of the girls that they’re desperately trying to find by hanging up missing person’s posters and looking for him in a forest, a common setting in the ALLUME universe. He was mainly shown via flashbacks, seen showing the girls maps and books about dimensional travel and other universes. It’s believed he is how the girls are able to travel into different dimensions and universes. When the girls finally find HIM, he is slumped against a tree, presumed to be sleeping until Misun taps his shoulder and he falls onto the forest floor dead. It is unsure how he died. It is believed that when the girls travel through dimensions, they are looking for THIS version of HIM.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ HIM’s second appearance was portrayed by SOLOIST LEE JINYOUNG. Jinyoung was not under a company during this time, it’s believed his appearance in the “OUT OF TIME” art film got him signed by Angelico just a month after the film’s release. 

OUT OF TIME is believed to take place during the 60′s or 70′s due to how the girls and HIM are dressed. The film heavily focuses on Marisol with the girls making small appearances.  The film follows Marisol and HIM going about their day to day lives, continuously telling one another that they miss each other and will be home soon. They spend most of the film apart until they are home together for the last five minutes. While dancing together in the living room, HIM’s nose starts bleeding, he falls to the ground, begins seizing, and dies in Marisol’s arms. Overtaken with grief, Marisol screams out, causing the screen to go black and film to end. 

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ HIM’s third appearance was portrayed by ACTOR JANG SEUNGHUN. Seunghun’s acting career was pretty stagnant during this time, signed under a small acting agency and barely having 100k on Instagram. After his appearance in the “MISSING” art film, he grew substantially in followers and became more well known in the industry, getting many big budget roles and a dedicated fanbase. 

MISSING takes place in 2012 as displayed by the fashion and the fact it was seemingly filmed on an old video camera with time timestamp 03/17/12 in the corner, during the beginning of the film. The film is mainly focused on HIM and Misun in a found footage style format in the beginning of the film. HIM and Misun were very much in love until a dark entity known as “THE MASS” comes and takes HIM away from Misun. The film goes into a traditional filming style once HIM has disappeared. The Mass seemingly haunts Misun throughout the rest of the film, following her as she walks aimlessly through the city to find HIM, standing at the foot of her bed as she tries to sleep, and taunts her about how she’ll never find him. Unable to deal with The Mass’s abuse and the loss of HIM, the final shot is of Misun standing on the edge of a cliff, stepping off right as the film ends. She is the first ALLUME girl to presumedly die in the ALLUME universe.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ The fourth appearance of HIM is the first time HIM is seen as a woman. This version of HIM was played by MODEL JULIA DARLING. Julia had just signed to Flowerbank and was casted as HIM in order to help jump start her career, which it did. After appearing in the “UNIDENTIFIABLE” art film, she is now the second most profitable model under the label and has walked in several Fashion Weeks since and even starred in the Netflix original series, Stranger Things.

UNIDENTIFIABLE takes place in what is presumed to be the gilded age so between 1870 and the 1900′s due to the extravagant costumes both HIM and the girls are seen wearing. This film heavily focuses on Chaerin and HIM, both of them meeting at a ball and falling in love after dancing together all night. Chaerin and HIM keep their love affair secret, sharing secret glances while they are talking to their friends or meeting in the forest late at night. While everything seems to be going well, towards the end when HIM and Chaerin meet in the forest during the daylight, like the second version of HIM, HIM’s nose starts bleeding while talking to Chaerin, her words become slurred, and she drops to her knees. HIM seizes in a screaming Chaerin’s arms before stilling suddenly and presumedly dying. Overwhelmed with grief, Chaerin lets out a heart wrenching scream before the film ends.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ The fifth appearance of HIM was portrayed by ACTOR & IDOL KIM JUWON. Juwon already had an acting career prior to this but many say he really became popular after his portrayal as HIM in the “PETAL” art film. Juwon’s version of HIM is a fan favorite, many ALLUME fans becoming BROKEN LINE fans after this which helped boost the group’s sales and gave them a slight jump start in their slow moving careers.

PETAL takes place in 1692 as stated by a title card in the beginning of the film. The film is focused on Jaehwa and HIM living their lives in their Puritan village. It’s presumed the pair are married due to their closeness and the fact they share a home. The Mass is back and appears halfway through the film, appearing to loom over HIM. When Jaehwa tells HIM about The Mass, HIM tells her there’s nothing there, confirming that the ALLUME girls are the only ones who can see The Mass. Like Misun, The Mass follows HIM and causes chaos in order to make it look HIM is a witch, which works successfully. After being put through a trial, HIM is tried and found guilty of witchcraft, being sentences to hang. At the gallows, after a proclamation of love from HIM to Jaehwa, he is hung and dies as Jaehwa wails and screams. Though the film would usually end on it’s traditional “ALLUME scream” it continues, Jaehwa still in the square where HIM was hung it now being night. The Mass is there as well, looming over Jaehwa. Jaehwa then gets up, lights a torch in her and HIM’s house, then goes around the village and lights every building on fire, burning the village to the ground. It’s unsure if The Mass influenced this decision or not but The Mass is not seen with Jaehwa as she stands in front of the forest, watching her village and everyone in it burn. Slowly, she smiles then walks into the forest.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ The sixth appearance of HIM was portrayed by SINGER & TRAINEE JAYDEN MOORE. Jayden had no prior acting work to his appearance in the “THE DISAPPEARANCE” which only made his performance that much more impressive. He is also the first actor to also participate in the ballet version of the film he starred in, training extensively so he could be ready in time. His dedication to his role as HIM has made many excited for his debut.

THE DISAPPEARANCE takes place in the 90′s following newest member, Yebin, and HIM as they fall in love with one another through various interactions at a club. Every night, the pair move closer together until they finally collide on the sixth night. For every night after that, they dance together and grow closer, kissing on twelfth night. They never leave the club, every scene taking place in it, time passing by either Yebin or HIM leaving the club into the dark night only to reenter with the sun beaming behind whoever entered the club. On the seventeenth night, while HIM and Yebin are dancing together, HIM’s nose starts bleeding and just like the ones before him, he falls to his knees, seizing in her arms before stilling and passing in her arms. After a loud silence where Yebin is holding HIM’s body, her scream suddenly fills the silence and the film ends.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ The seventh appearance of HIM was portrayed by IDOL LI YUFEI. Yufei had acted before his appearance in the “ADDICT” art film. Yufei followed in the tradition set by Jayden Moore to participate in the ballet version of the film. Prior to his performance as HIM, he debuted in 2015 in the STORMEDIA boy group, NEW MOON. He was much more known for his acting career than his idol career though after the film dropped, NEW MOON has a resurgence and started performing well for the first time in years.

ADDICT presumedly takes place in the later 70′s or early 80′s due to the fashion and setting HIM and newest member, Yui, are in. Yui is the only ALLUME girl to seemingly be aware of her lover’s demise if he gets too close to her, attempting to keep her distance from HIM even though she loves HIM. The only way HIM and Yui interact is by sitting in the forest together at a considerable distance. They only touch once in the film when HIM closes the gap between him despite Yui warning him he will most likely die if he gets too close to her. HIM doesn’t die when they touch, causing Yui to let her guard down. They engage in a passionate love affair, taking place mainly in the forest. In a twist, while the pair are about to part, Yui’s nose begins to bleed, collapsing in HIM’s arms arm, seizing, and dying in his arms. She is the first ALLUME girl to die from what is now known as the “Traveler’s Curse”.

♥︎̶̶⠀ ´ ˘ ` ۫ ִ The most recent appearance of HIM was portrayed by MODEL AND ACTRESS JO SIHYO. Sihyo was a popular model and actress under Flowerbank Entertainment, many speculating she would eventually play HIM in future. Sihyo carried on the tradition of performing in the ballet as well as her film, saying it was one the hardest but most satisfying things she’s ever done.

The art film “LISTEN” followed the group for the first time in years, expanding more on the lore and explaining some of what the girls were experiencing. HIM is not actually featured that much in this film, which many fans did not enjoy. While the film explained why all the HIM’s before this one died and introduced the “Traveler’s Curse” many saw this as a prequel or a long overdue explanation film. HIM’s main purpose in the film is to lead the girls to a library, push certain books they need off shelves, and warn them about the cycle never ending before disappearing.

All Dad Tips

#1 - Don't forget to floss every day.

#2 - It's never too early to invest in a personal IRA. 

#3 - Start building credit as soon as possible.

#4 - Stand up for yourself - don't let anyone disrespect you. 

#5 - Everyone needs to know how to use power tools. 

#6 - Don't trust anyone who likes their meat well done. 

#7 - LaserDisc is clearly the superior video format. 

#8 - Drink a full glass of water in the morning to help wake up. 

#9 - Don't use metal utensils on nonstick frying pans.

#10 - If you're parking uphill, be sure to turn your tires towards the street. 

#11 - It's rude to ask people about their mysterious hand tattoos.

#12 - Moving pictures is hands down the best Rush album.

#13 - Buy quality, not quantity.

#14 - Shave with the grain.

#15 - You always have time for a beer with your buds.

#16 - Always use a coat of wax after a wash.

#17 - Nothing can beat reading in print.

#18 - Always carry a pocket knife.

#19 - Use your hips when throwing. 

#20 - Keep your word.

#21 - Eat a lot of broccoli.

#22 - Drinking too much water can cause water intoxication.

#23 - Take care of your health while you're still young.

#24 - Always help a friend in need.

#25 - Drink plenty of water.

#26 - Exercise regularly and you'll stay healthy! 

#27 - Don't eat too close to your bedtime.

#28 - Always check the card reader at ATMs before you swipe. 

#29 - Medicine is not always the best medicine. 

#30 - Always bring a war chest. 

#31 - You're young, you have your health, now is the time to take risks. 

#32 - You can't beat the whammy bar. 

#33 - The solo from Kid Charlemagne is the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. 

#34 - Peter Weller actually has a PHD in history.

#35 - It's called masking tape for a reason.

#36 - Trust no one. 

#37 - If you press the ignition too long you'll just flood the engine. 

#38 - The extended cut is the only cut worth watching. 

#39 - They really stepped up the production value in Episode V. 

#40 - Managing debt is just part of being an adult. 

#41 - Run through the finish line. 

#42 - What you do, when you don't have to, will determine where you'll be when you can't help it. 

#43 - When lifting weights, use proper form and a full range of motion. 

#44 - Gas is cheaper in the suburbs. 

#45 - Do what you love and the money will come. 

#46 - Do it once, do it right. 

#47 - Don't skip the corners. 

#48 - Eat plenty of carbs the night before a big game.

#49 - If the police are driving behind you, don't give them probable cause to pull you over.

#50 - Try to drive in a way where you never have to use your brakes.

#51 - You can save bookmarks directly to your desktop.

#52 - A bird in the hand is better than a bird in the eye. 

#53 - Pet every dog.

#54 - Have you ever read Rich Dad Poor Dad? 

#55 - Liquor before beef, you're in the clear.

#56 - Go ask your mother.

#57 - If life gives you lemons, parsley, onions, and eggs... make a really nice omelet.

#58 - Practice makes permanent.

#59 - First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairiest chest.

#60 - Never give up, never remember.

#61 - That quirky lab assistant from NCIS just reminds me of you.

#62 - Whistle while you work.

#63 - Please remember to call us once in a while.

#64 - Get whatever job you want, just make sure it has health insurance.

#65 - Grow your own vegetables. It's cheaper, I think.

#66 - It's okay if you don't come in first, just make sure you have health insurance.

#67 - Try to exercise regularly.

#68 - Sleep is important! Make sure you're getting enough.

#69 - It's okay to cry if you're feeling sad.

#70 - Make sure to sweep under your tent so you don't sleep on rocks.

#71 - Good tire pressure is essential to optimal mileage.

#72 - The only acceptable time and place for decaf coffee is never and in the trash.

#73 - When changing a tire, make sure to tighten the bolts in a starfish pattern.

#74 - Anyone who tells you that a drink isn't manly has never known heartache.

#75 - Call someone if you're thinking about them. They probably want to hear from you.

#76 - If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

#77 - Don't smoke.

#78 - Try not to make assumptions about people.

#79 - Don't trust gas station egg sandwiches.

#80 - Please don't pirate games.

#81 - It's better to be early than late.

#82 - Eat a balance meal every day that includes vegetable, fruit, and protein.

#83 - Minimize eating fried foods, candy, and sweets.

#84 - Treat people better than they treat you.

#85 - Be generous and kind to everyone.

#86 - Always try your best at everything.

#87 - Spend less money than you make. 

#88 - Pay your bills early. 

#89 - Look at situations positively. 

#90 - Always try to make others around you happy. 

#91 - Smile as often as you can, it will make others around you feel more comfortable.

#92 - You're never too busy or important to be kind to others.

Vegan challah with fruit and nuts

Our lazy cat (she is living up to her name!!) home is finally taking shape! We finally have a dining table and chairs, whoop whoop. And we are hoping to finally paint the guest bedroom next weekend so that my brother and his girlfriend have somewhere nice to sleep when they visit us in two weeks time. You may be wondering why it’s been taking so long? Well, we take our prep very seriously and it’s very time consuming, especially when the previous house owners clearly did not. Why bother with a masking tape when you paint two very different colours next to each other, eh? Sorry for sounding a touch exasperated. I am a little… As there are a lot of botched jobs to correct and that is why it is taking ages.

Later on today, I am hopping on a ladder to fix a spiderweb of small hairline cracks that mysteriously appeared on the bedroom ceiling all of a sudden. We did investigate the seriousness of them by the means of me walking around in the loft and Duncan watching the ceiling for movement down below. There was no movement whatsoever so it does appear that the cracks are merely a cosmetic issue, phew… But they still need to be patched up properly or they will start showing through in a few weeks after painting. So I armed myself with some jointing tape and a joint compound and after watching tens of videos on YouTube, I am hoping to be able to fix this myself. Who would have thought that those cake icing skills are so transferable, eh 😛 ?

So all this chaos is probably the reason why Easter has crept up on me AGAIN!! We don’t really celebrate it, but if we did I would feel tempted to make a sweet vegan challah packed with dried fruit and nuts. It’s not quite a bread and not quite a cake either, but it is a pleasure to eat and my twist on the traditional braided breads that are popular all over Eastern Europe during Easter and which probably all derive from the Jewish challah.

Challah and those traditional Easter breads are made from yeast dough enriched with quite a few eggs. I’ve swapped the eggs out for a mixture of orange juice and rich vegan yoghurt as I’m not a fan of contributing to male baby chicks being ground alive. While killing them in this way is the domain of big industrial farms, small-scale, local farms kill their male chicks too – albeit they use a different method – as male chicks do not bring any profit so there is no point in keeping them alive!! I thought I would throw it out there as painted eggs and fluffy baby chicks are a symbol of Easter and it’s so ironic that their fate over Easter especially (when people buy even more eggs) is anything but fluffy.

One cool thing about challah is that, eggs aside, it is easily made vegan, as according to the Jewish tradition, it has to be made with no butter, so oil is used in the traditional recipes too. This sweet bread is really easy to make and full of flavour – dotted with sweet dried fruit and chopped nuts for a bit of crunch. It would make a perfect Easter breakfast table addition or simply a fantastic companion to your afternoon tea or coffee. If somehow you manage to let it go stale, don’t throw it away. The leftovers will make a great vegan French toast or bread and butter pudding!!

PS: If you make my vegan challah, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

makes: 1 loaf

prep: 30 min

cooking: 35 min

Ingredients

BASIC CHALLAH RECIPE

250 g / 2 cups bread flour

250 g / 2 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp instant dried yeast (prior activation is necessary with non-instant dried yeast*)

4 tbsp sugar (you can use maple syrup, but use less orange juice to compensate)

1 tsp salt

180 ml / ¾ cup orange juice or almond milk, lukewarm

180 ml / ¾ cup thick vegan yogurt (I used The Coconut Collective), at room temperature

2 tbsp olive oil (or any other vegetable oil) + a little extra for pan glazing

2 tbsp apricot jam, pressed through a sieve

EASTER ADD-ONS

75 g / 10 dried apricots

70 g / 1/3 cup sultanas

100 g / ½ cup almonds, chopped

Method

Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl and mix in yeast, sugar and salt. If your yeast requires activation, add the activated yeast in the next step.

Pour in the lukewarm orange juice, vegan yogurt, olive oil and stir everything together with a large wooden spoon until roughly combined.

Knead it lightly for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface – don’t knead too much to keep the bread delicate! The dough will be on the wet side, if it’s too hard to handle, dust with a bit more flour, but don’t go nuts 😉 .

Form a dough ball and place it in a clean bowl covered with a kitchen towel. Place the bowl in a warm (but not too warm – avoid going too close to an open fire or a hot radiator) place until the dough has doubled in size (approx. 1-2 hrs)**.

Meanwhile, immerse sultanas and apricots in a little hot water for 5 minutes to rehydrate them. Drain and squeeze the excess moisture out of them using a sieve or a muslin cloth. Chop the apricots into fine dice.

Mix apricots, sultanas and almonds together.

Split the dough into three, four, five or six equal parts – it’s best to use kitchen scales here. The type of braid you make is up to you – I found this video really helpful. I went with a five braid loaf, but the instructions below are how to make the simplest of them all – a three strand braid.

Roll each part into a long rectangle using a rolling pin. Sprinkle the rectangle with a portion of fruit and nuts and then roll up into a tight strand with both hands, applying even pressure. Once all your stands are ready ensure they are all similar width and length.

Place all three strands on a lightly oiled baking tray alongside each other, leaving a bit of space around each strand.

First pinch the ends of the three strands together at one end, then start braiding by folding the right strand over the centre strand and then the left one over the centre strand. Repeat until you get to the other end. Pinch the ends together again. Fold both pinched ends underneath the bread gently.

Cover the bread and rest for another 60 minutes, until fully proofed – if you poke it with your fingertip, it should not spring back fully, but retain a little indent.

Pre-heat the oven to 190° C / 375° F while the bread is resting. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until nicely brown on top.

Glaze while hot, with apricot jam mixed in with 2 tbsp water.

Notes

*If your yeast needs activation, make sure not to use extra liquid or sugar – simply use some of what this recipe calls for.

**You can also make the dough and place it in the fridge overnight for the proofing stage. The next day, punch the air out, bring it to room temperate and proceed as per instructions 7-13.

If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.

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Source: https://www.lazycatkitchen.com/vegan-challah-fruit-nuts/

Google Stadia vs. Apple Arcade streaming sport providers: All the pieces we all know

http://tinyurl.com/y4k62jca Google Stadia involves your browser later this 12 months. Google We obtained a couple of extra spilled beans about Google Stadia on Thursday, its streaming sport service that can run on the Chrome browser. We now know the way a lot it can price, the way it will work and across the time it will come out (this fall). We all know much less about Apple Arcade, Apple’s competing gaming service. The rival tech big is much extra obscure, solely confirming at its current WWDC event that Arcade might be accessible “later this 12 months”. This is a few of what we discovered: Google Stadia gamers will be capable of subscribe to its service for $10 a month or use the service at no cost by shopping for particular person video games. Google’s service will work a bit like Netflix, the place you stream video games to your units, with Google’s information middle dealing with all of the processing. And Google may have a Stadia sport controller that can join by way of Wi-Fi to Google’s providers and supply devoted buttons for sharing gameplay on YouTube and for looking for gaming assist with a Google Assistant button. For each Apple and Google, streaming video games are a brand new frontier that takes the wild reputation of gaming apps a step additional. Excessive bandwidth fueled by sooner Wi-Fi and the upcoming 5G networks have the potential to make streaming video games potential with little or no lag and superior graphics. Tapping into the zeitgeist of gaming additionally opens up extra income streams by giving Apple and Google methods to cost subscription charges. Sonic Racing from SEGA on Arcade. Apple For Apple particularly, the push into gaming is an element of a bigger effort to offer providers tied to its {hardware}. Its games service, video-streaming platform and even Apple Music all are compelling causes to stay loyal to Apple’s world and use an Apple system. For Google, it is concerning the cloud, and its gaming platform performs to its strengths, letting gamers participate in cloud-based gaming after which share gameplay by way of YouTube. Google — way more than Apple — is slowly filling in particulars on its gaming subscription service, and we now have many extra questions than solutions about which one could also be proper in your gaming model and would provide you with extra in your cash. Here’s what we do (and do not) know concerning the sport platforms. After they’re coming Stadia: Google, in a pre-E3 announcement, mentioned you’ll play Stadia in November by preording the Stadia Founder’s Version for $129. To play particular person video games with no subscription, you will want to attend until 2020. For what it is price, Google had Stadia up and operating in its sales space at GDC for conventioneers to play with. Within the brief time I obtained to play a sport by way of Stadia, the service appear stable, and I could not inform I used to be streaming a sport as a substitute of enjoying it domestically. We additionally caught a glimpse of the service late final 12 months, when Google had a beta version of the service running beneath the title Venture Stream. Arcade: Apple confirmed at WWDC that Arcade is coming this 12 months, although did not slender down a time-frame. We anticipate Apple to launch the iPhone 11 at an occasion in September, which is one potential stage for the corporate to disclose extra Arcade particulars. Google Stadia, in motion. Google Stadia and Arcade: How a lot they’re going to price Arcade: Apple acknowledged that its service might be accessible by way of a subscription with no in-app purchases. Nevertheless it did not give a value. Stadia: In a taped video previous to E3, Google revealed Stadia pricing, however we do not have an entire image. On the starter stage, you possibly can play video games on Stadia at no cost with the Stadia Base tier by simply buying particular person video games to play in 1080p decision. Google did not reveal pricing for single video games. For $10 a month, you possibly can subscribe to Stadia Pro, which will get you entry to some video games at no cost and others you buy to play at as much as 4K decision and 60 frames per second. Stadia will supply reductions on choose video games, however we do not know what that pricing construction seems to be like. To prime the pump, you possibly can preorder the Stadia Founder’s Edition, a $130 limited-edition package deal that provide you with entry to the service in November, a limited-edition controller, a Chromecast Ultra streaming system, three months of Stadia Professional, a three-month buddy go so you will have somebody to play with, and first shot at claiming your Stadia title. We do not know what occurs to video games you buy on low cost with a Stadia Professional account for those who swap to a Stadia base account. And we do not know what occurs for those who personal a sport on one other service and wish to play it on Stadia. Projection: First Gentle from Blowfish Studios, coming to Apple Arcade. Apple The place they’re going to run Stadia: Google’s streaming sport service will run in a Chrome browser, on a TV related to a Chromecast Ultra streaming device and on Pixel 3 and Pixel 3A phones. Google mentioned it can add help for extra phones.  Arcade: Apple’s Arcade will run on iPhone ($1,000 at Amazon), iPad ($249 at Walmart), Mac, and Apple TV ($169 at Walmart). What about controllers? Stadia: Google said it will have its own $70 controller for Stadia, connecting to the service by way of Wi-Fi. Should you join the Founder’s Version package deal, you get a Evening Blue Stadia controller with the $129 buy. You’ll use your personal controller, too. Arcade: Apple CEO Tim Cook at WWDC 2019 mentioned an upcoming model of Apple TV will support Microsoft Xbox One S and PlayStation DualShock 4 controllers. The controllers — which can work with Arcade on iOS and MacOS units and in addition to on Apple TV — open up fascinating prospects for Arcade gameplay and offers Apple a solution to Google’s Stadia sport controller. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, from Ubisoft, coming to Stadia. Google Who will make the video games? Stadia: Google mentioned it is working with a spread of sport builders — together with Ubisoft and ID Software program — to ship video games to Stadia. At its pre-E3 occasion, Google confirmed off a dozen video games operating on Stadia, together with Baldar’s Gate. At GDC, Ubisoft confirmed off Murderer’s Creed: Odyssey and ID demoed Doom Everlasting on Stadia. Ubisoft’s Murderer’s Creed: Odyssey has been with Google since Stadia was nonetheless often called Venture Stream. If you were part of the Project Stream beta, you performed it final 12 months. Google can be opening its personal sport studio however did not supply particulars on video games it has within the works. Stadia may have unique video games in addition to ones accessible elsewhere. Arcade: Apple mentioned all Arcade video games might be unique to the brand new program and will not be accessible on different cell units or a part of different subscription providers.  Arcade will embody video games from Annapurna Interactive, Bossa Studios, Cartoon Community, Finji, Large Squid, Klei Leisure, Konami, Lego, Mistwalker Company, Sega, Snowman and Ustwo. Apple can be moving into the game-design enterprise and mentioned it is contributing to the event prices of video games coming to the service. Enter The Assemble by Directive Video games Restricted, on Arcade. Apple Stadia or Arcade: Which service is for you? It is approach too early to dig into the professionals and cons both approach. Having mentioned that, for those who like console video games and have a great web connection, Stadia may be a great match with its controller-driven service. Should you’re an off-the-cuff gamer or drawn to indie video games, Apple’s method may be a more sensible choice. Arcade help for Microsoft Xbox One S ($279 at Amazon) and PlayStation DualShock 4 controllers actually make the choice extra fascinating. Apple Arcade vs. Google Stadia Apple Arcade Google Stadia Launch date This 12 months November, for Founder’s Version. 2020 at no cost play. Value You may subscribe, however no specifics about value but Free to $9.99 a month, plus value of particular person video games Units Cellphone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV units Something with an web connection and Chrome browser Controller Sure Sure Variety of video games 100 unique video games to start out Unknown, however a mixture of unique and basic $249 CNET might get a fee from retail affords. Source link

Best ways to share big files

New Post has been published on https://www.etechwire.com/best-ways-to-share-big-files/

Best ways to share big files

Other cloud storage and online backup articles

If you’ve just recorded a home video or created the ultimate mix tape – a digital version of that old chestnut, of course – no doubt you’ll be eager to share it with your friends and family.

Depending on the size and number of files you need to send, this can be a problem. For instance Gmail only allows you to attach files of up to 25MB in total to email messages. Not to mention the fact that large files will quickly eat into your storage space quota while lurking in your Sent folder!

If you need to send big files online, there are plenty of good ways to do so without running into trouble – and we’ve highlighted 12 of the best here, the vast majority of which are free (though they tend to have premium tiers if you want to pay for an improved service).

1. Use a VPN

What? I hear you say. What does a VPN have to do with sharing large files. Well, unbeknown to many, some internet service providers (like Virgin Media) use broadband traffic management to moderate upload bandwidth (rather than download). Using a VPN like our number one choice, ExpressVPN, means that your ISP cannot determine the type of files you’re uploading and therefore cannot – in theory – apply traffic shaping to your account.

P2P (peer-to-peer), one of the most popular and reliable methods for moving large amount of data, is the one type of content that’s most likely to be flagged and pushed down the priority lines. We have compiled a list of the best VPN services available. Just bear in mind that your mileage will vary and using a VPN can also slow down your connection.

2. Use file compression

One of the easiest solutions to the problem of sending large files is to use file compression software such as the cross-platform program 7-Zip. This is particularly handy if you have multiple files, as you can place these in one folder and compress them all in one go. As a rule of thumb, a large file will transfer faster than a folder containing smaller files of the same size.

7-Zip is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and can compress files to the regular ZIP format as well as its own slightly more efficient 7ZIP. Most major operating systems can extract ZIP files without any additional software. 7-Zip also lets you set a password to protect the files, so you can share them safely. Just bear in mind though that uploading very large files can time out.

3. Courier a hard drive

The fastest way to transfer a large number of big files is not via the internet but by using a disk drive and a courier. All the big cloud providers (Microsoft, Google and Amazon) have the ability to transfer large amounts of data using hard disk drives. 

Microsoft Azure charges a nominal flat fee of just under £60 ($70) per storage device handled, but you must be prepared to supply your own drive. This is similar to Amazon Web Services’ Import/Export disk, whereas Google uses third-parties.

Transferring the content of a 20TB external hard disk drive on a 100Mb dedicated line would take more than 500 hours (or around 20 days), on consumer-grade broadband lines, expect it to last more than one month and that’s for the upload only. Just remember to keep a copy of your files and to encrypt the hard drive you’re sending.

4. Google Drive

Although Gmail messages can only have attachments up to 25MB in size, when files are too large Google gives you the option to place them in your Google Drive and send a link to share. Gmail users can share files and folders up to 10GB in size. Considering that Google’s free tier gives you 15GB of storage, you can repeatedly share large files entirely free of charge (assuming you delete, rinse and repeat).

Google allows you to choose whether to create a link that can be shared with anyone, or one which is only available to people to whom you send the email with the link. Premium plans start from $2.34 (£1.59) per month for 100GB storage.

5. FTP

While FTP (File Transfer Protocol) may be fairly old-school when compared with cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive, it’s still one of the most reliable ways to upload and download files. 

All operating systems support FTP and there are plenty of websites and add-ons which support uploading and downloading from within your browser, such as FireFTP. Windows and Mac users can also make use of the free desktop FTP client Cyberduck. 

The only downside to this is that you need to have access to a remote server (like a web hosting service). Many companies like DriveHQ offer some free storage space (1GB), and prices can compare very favourably with cloud storage providers.

6. Mediafire

True to its name, MediaFire is a trailblazer. Register for a free account and you get 10GB of storage. Connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts, install the mobile app, and refer friends to earn up to 40GB of bonus space. You can upload files either directly from your computer or the web, and generate a link which will allow others to download your files from the MediaFire website. 

Paid subscriptions begin from $3.75 a month (around £3, AU$5) and include 1TB of storage space, a hefty 20GB limit on file sizes, as well as eliminating annoying Captchas and ads. Another handy premium feature is one-time links which make sure that once your recipient downloads your files, they’re no longer accessible.

7. Hightail

Hightail (formerly YouSendIt) has been made with business users in mind. Upon registration you can create special ‘spaces’ for various files and projects, which you can then share with others. The handy ‘PipPoints’ feature can even be used to record notes on documents as you and others work on them.

The free Lite version of Hightail only allows sharing of files up to 100MB in size. The Pro subscription is available from $12 a month (around £9.50, AU$16) and includes unlimited workspaces and support for files of up to 25GB. There’s also no limit on the number of people who can access a file at any given time.

8. Wetransfer

WeTransfer is one of the simplest services to use for sharing large files. A few clicks of the mouse and the website will automatically send files for you, and these will be available to download for seven days. Everything is very user-friendly, too, with a step-by-step wizard to walk you through the upload process. 

For $12 a month (around £9.50, AU$16) or $120 (around £95, AU$160) per year you can upgrade to WeTransfer Plus which allows up to 20GB of file transfers at a time, and 100GB of storage. You will also have the option to set a password to download files – plus you can customise backgrounds and emails if you wish.

9. Resilio Sync

Formerly BitTorrent Sync, this handy utility uses the BitTorrent protocol – designed specifically for sharing big files – to sync files directly between your devices. This peer-to-peer connection can be used for two or more devices, such as a phone and desktop PC.

Resilio Sync also supports generating secure links to allow your contacts to download files from your folders. This naturally means your device has to be online at the time in order for them to access it. The software itself is provided free of charge and there are no limits on how much data you can transfer or store.

10. Adobe Send & Track

Send & Track lets you use the Adobe website or Acrobat Reader app to share large files with multiple recipients, whatever device you’re using (be that phone or PC). The website doesn’t mention any limit on the number or size of files you can send, but the service isn’t free and will set you back $20 per year (around £16, AU$27).

There are also restrictions on what files can be sent – for example, 7-Zip archives aren’t allowed. One of the most useful features here is the tracking, whereby you can see clearly whether a document has been opened or not.

11. Send Anywhere

Send Anywhere is available for just about every platform you can think of, and can transfer files up to 10GB completely free. The file sharing service is available as a web app at https://send-anywhere.com, as a browser extension for Chrome, as a mobile app for Android and iOS, and as downloadable software for Windows and macOS. There are also versions for Linux and Amazon Kindle, plus plugins for WordPress and Outlook.

The browser widget lets you share files up to 4GB, but the desktop software supports files up to 1TB for paid subscribers. That should be more than enough for all but the largest 4K video files.

12. Dropbox

Sign up for this cloud storage service and any files moved into your Dropbox folder can be shared through use of a web link. Some operating systems let you do this by right clicking, for others you may need to log into the site and click the Share link. Most importantly, the person to whom you send the link doesn’t need to be a Dropbox user – they can simply download files from the site. 

Dropbox has a free tier which gives you 2GB of storage space, but you can earn more by referring friends to use the service – or increase the limit to 1TB by signing up to Dropbox Plus for $9.99 per month (around £8, AU$13). The latter also allows you much greater control of files, including versioning as well as remote device wipe, and you can set a password for downloads.

How to Know If Your Content Marketing Just Isn’t Working

Content is king.

And content marketing in 2018 remains a brilliant and cost-effective method for engaging with leads and customers, spreading brand awareness, and getting around the increasing use of ad-blockers.

Whether it’s an email newsletter, social media post, or blog on your own or someone else’s website, people want to see your stuff. They accept it. Approve it. Whitelist it. Because it’s the user him or herself clicking on it, there are no concerns of spam complaints, or annoying the recipient, or ending up in the junk folder.

It’s popular, powerful, and for all intents and purposes, perfect. If you’re online in any professional capacity, you’re already using it.

Google “content marketing” and you’ll uncover millions (78,200,000 when I did it just now) of results, everything from definitions to how-to guides to case studies. You can quickly and easily pick up the how, why, when, what, and where of content marketing. Every online marketing personality and business has their own advanced guide or step-by-step guide, allowing anyone to grasp, experiment, and eventually master the subtle art of content marketing.

“Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” ~ Seth Godin

Strikingly, the only thing you won’t see much of in those millions upon millions of links is how to know when your content marketing isn’t working.

Because there’s a lot more to successful content marketing than just traffic and clicks, and a hell of a lot more than just likes, shares, and retweets. Those are simply vanity metrics that don’t tell you anything of importance by themselves…although it sure does feel nice to see people are loving your stuff.

Now, vanity metrics can be used to find actionable insight, but that’s the subject of another post on another day. Suffice to say, if you’re gauging the success of your content campaigns on likes and shares alone, you’re doing it wrong and wasting your time and energy.

Instead of focusing on the vanity metric, use it to inform your marketing decisions. Dig deeper. Find the corresponding actionable metric.

Content marketing is an active endeavor, and most of the hard work starts after you hit publish. It’s not about reaching people; it’s about reaching the right people.

How do you know when you’re not doing that?

Look for these five red flags before and during the push.

Content Marketing 101

But before we get to that, let’s review some basics.

If you remember only one thing about content marketing, make it this: write your strategy down. Be explicit, detailed, and clear about goals (use SMART goals and stretch goals if applicable), tactics, channels, and how you’re going to measure success.

What will “success” look like? How will you measure return-on-investment? Make sure you and everyone on your team knows and understands.

How often will your marketing team meet? The most successful meet regularly to evaluate, tweak, and manage as necessary. Your content marketing should not be set-it-and-forget-it.

Target your ideal customers. Segment your audience. A/B test. Monitor your efforts. Create evergreen content. Measure the return-on-investment to maximize your budget. Look at your competitors and industry to see what’s working, what’s not, and what others are and are not doing.

In their 2018 annual report on content marketing, CMI discovered that only 38% of B2C businesses have a documented strategy. That’s appallingly low.

Document your strategy. Do that, and you’re ahead of 62% of the competition.

Diversify your tactics and channels. The same report found that B2C marketers:

Use an average of five social media platforms, with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram the top five choices.

Use and average of four formats for distribution, with social media, email, blogs, in-person events, and print the five most popular.

Use an average of five different types of content, with social media posts, pre-produced videos, illustrations/photos, infographics, and interactive tools like quizzes and calculators rounding out the top five most used.

The tricks and tips and hacks for better content marketing are many. Read some. Read many.

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” ~ Craig Davis, former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson

And that brings us back full-circle. Knowing when your content marketing isn’t working is as important as knowing when it is…if not more so.

How can you tell if you’re on the wrong track and heading in the wrong direction?

Watch for (and respond!) to these five signposts along the way.

Signpost #1: The Wrong People Are Signing Up

Consider this hypothetical scenario: you launch an aggressive content campaign, complete with blog and social media posts, videos, and infographics, to promote your new SaaS product launch.

Everything has a rock-solid call-to-action inviting people to a free 7-day trial. They click the CTA button, are transported to a well-crafted landing page, and sign up.

That’s an undeniable content marketing win, right?

Wrong. It could be a win…depending on who is signing up. Numbers alone don’t answer that question. Even if you’re looking at an insane 60% conversion rate, it’s meaningless if those signing up are the wrong people.

So who are the “wrong” people? Anyone that’s not within your target market. They may be interested in your content for a wide variety of reasons – research, curiosity, education – but they’re not necessarily interested in your product or service.

Now, far be it for me to suggest that you shouldn’t ever target outside your market. I’m not, and you should. Sometimes your best customers down the road are the ones you’re not even considering at the moment.

A portion of signups outside your target audience is not only nothing to worry about, but a positive and worthwhile goal.

That said, if 50%, 60%, or 70%+ of your leads are falling outside of those you were targeting – wrong geographic location, industry, background, profession, income level, interests, or whatever – something’s wrong. If the majority of those signing up for your email newsletters, gated content, or free trials are nowhere near your ideal fit, your content marketing isn’t working.

Before you write a single line of blog post or send a single tweet, you need to be crystal-clear on your ideal customer. Get to know him or her. You’ve no doubt heard about the importance of buyer or customer personas. Build and use them to guide your content efforts. Do that, and the likelihood of the “wrong” people coming to your content goes down exponentially.

Why? Because a detailed persona allows you to reverse engineer your content specifically for them: their wants, needs, pain points, values, and more. That’s more than half the battle.

If you’re just starting out, this is a bit more difficult, but not impossible. If you have existing customers and sales data to work with, though, you can zero in on the best of the best. According to Duct Tape Marketing:

Identify your most profitable customers.

Identify those who refer within that group.

Identify the common traits and characteristics within that small group.

Create a customer persona based on that data.

That’s your ideal, most profitable customer. Create content for him or her. Share it on the platforms he or she uses and spends the most time on.

Social platforms typically have built-in capabilities, such as Twitter Analytics audience insights dashboard.

If you’re targeting English-speaking men over the age of 50, and your Analytics report shows most of your visitors are females under the age of 25 and from Italy, all those conversions – sign-ups, downloads, or otherwise – probably aren’t going to amount to much with your bottom line.

The sooner you know that, the sooner you can fix it. If the wrong people are signing up or downloading your lead magnets, you have to change direction. And fast.

Know exactly who you’re targeting, and give them exactly what they want and where they want it. Then monitor to make sure it’s drawing them in.

Signpost #2: Incompatible Backlink Profile

Backlinks are still important for your search engine optimization. In fact, many would argue that they’re the key to your overall SEO success. Quality backlinks from respected sites is a surefire indicator to Google and the rest of the search engine overlords that your content is valuable, useful, and worth a read. It’s a vote of confidence.

And that can translate into a big jump on the SERPs. The closer you are to that coveted top spot, the better the chance someone will click on your link. Increased traffic means increased leads, which means increased revenue. Google is happy, the users are happy, and you’re happy.

Backlinks and SEO go hand-in-hand. But backlinks can also tell you if there’s something amiss with your content marketing.

Imagine if your backlink profile – a report on which external sites are linking to your stuff – is populated with websites you wouldn’t expect your target market to visit. Good? Bad?

It depends on your criteria. If those sites are quality sites, those backlinks are still going to give you a healthy SEO boost. That’s good.

However, it may be evidence that your content is not resonating with your ideal customers. And that’s very, very bad. Your content, after all, is how you introduce yourself to them, educated them on your products and services, and persuade them to open their wallets. If it’s missing that mark, you’re failing at the marketing game. It’s the difference between leaving a flyer on hundreds of windshields in a mall parking lot, and hand-delivering to prospects you know would benefit from what you have to offer.

Luckily, generating a backlink profile and conducting a link audit is fast and easy, and there are many tools to assist with it.

To get a basic list, log in to Google Search Console. Click “Search Traffic” on the left-hand menu, and then select “Links to Your Site”. You’ll get a quick n’ dirty report with the total number of links, and the sites who link the most.

Now, you can determine if the sites linking back to your content are within your “demographic”. Some you might recognize by name, others you may have to visit and evaluate.

For a more detailed analysis, you can try a dedicated backlink tool. Some of the best include:

Majestic

Ahrefs

Moz

SEMrush

Bing Webmaster Tools

If your target is recent university graduates, and you’re receiving backlinks from retirement agencies, there’s a mismatch. You’re not producing the right content to connect with those just entering the workforce.

If you’ve done your homework, you should have detailed customer personas. You should know not only who they are, but also what they need, and where they are. Too many people outside those parameters linking to your content is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not going to generate massive sales and revenue.

The sites linking to you are an indicator of who your content is reaching. If you’re targeting professionals, but most of your links are coming from gossip sites, stop. If you’re after grandparents, but Millennial Now is your biggest external source, halt.

Check your link profile. Ensure most of them are coming from sites your target audience would frequent to increase your exposure with them.

If not, re-evaluate. Switch tracks. Create more of what they want, need, and desire. Align your content with your customer.

Signpost #3: No One Is Sharing

Yes, I did tell you at the beginning of this post that shares and likes are a vanity metric. That’s still true. But do you know what else is true?

Great content gets shared.

If people are reading your content but not sharing it, then you’re not producing quality content and your marketing is failing. Period.

This is especially true with influencers in your niche. If you create enough fantastic content, eventually some influencers in your market will share that content. If they aren’t, that’s trouble.

Think about your own online behavior. When you read or encounter a great blog post, infographic, or video, you share it with your own fans, followers, friends, and family. It’s almost automatic. Every platform has the ability built-in, and third-party tools like Hootsuite and sharing plugins make it effortless and convenient.

We read or watch it, we instinctively share it. You want your content to be shared. You need your content to be shared.

Every time you create something, you want it to go viral. That kind of reach and exposure is the dream. While it may not happen for you, consistent social sharing increases your exposure exponentially. One retweet puts your content in front of a whole new set of eyes. It gets people talking about you and your brand. And the cycle repeats if only one person from that new group shares it again, and so on.

First, you need to track how many shares you’re getting with your existing content.

Tools like Hootsuite can monitor your mentions across social media, Google Alerts can notify you when your tracked keywords and phrases are used, Likealyzer analyzes your Facebook Page, Snaplytics provides data on both Snapchat and Instagram Stories, BuzzSumo shows you how content on your site is doing on social media, Google Analytics can report on how much traffic to your site is coming from social channels (under Acquisition > Social > Overview), SharesCount displays social shares based on individual URLs, and all-in-one management platforms like Sprout Social can monitor most of the major platforms from one dashboard.

If you have no shares, you have some serious work to do. If you have some shares, more is always better. If you’re happy with the shares you’re seeing, you’re selling yourself and your content short.

“It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.” ~Andy Crestodina

More shares, more exposure. More exposure, more leads. More leads, more conversions. So, do everything you can to increase the amount of social sharing you’re already seeing:

Produce only incredibly high quality and valuable content. Share nothing but the best you have to offer.

Spend more time on your headline than you do on the rest of the piece. Your headline needs to hook them and force them to click, read, or watch.

Write on topics that are both relevant and timely. What’s trending in your niche?

Try tools like Click-To-Tweet or a scrolling share bar like AddThis to remove friction and allow your readers to share what and when they want.

Make it easy to share with conveniently located share buttons at the top and/or side and/or bottom.

Ask them to share. Remind them to share.

Use compelling visuals.

Create evergreen content.

Increasing your social shares should be part of your content marketing strategy regardless of how many you’re currently seeing. Step 1: monitor your shares. Step 2: increase your shares.

None, few, or lots, more are better.

Signpost #4: Your Leads Aren’t Talking About Your Content

This one is reactive. You won’t know until you start generating some quality leads. It requires asking or surveying them about where and how they heard about you, your brand, and your products.

It might be a simple question in your email series or while talking to them on the phone, or a follow-up online survey, or a fill-in field on an opt-in form. “How did you hear about us?” is profitable and relevant data to collect.

The answers should be varied if you’ve diversified your marketing efforts. Some might say it was a referral from a friend, another might mention an online review or recommendation, while others may have clicked a PPC ad, or read a newspaper feature, or googled your targeted keyword.

But some of them will hopefully talk about your content. In a perfect world, they’ll bring it up without any solicitation from you, choosing to mention how much they loved your blog post on X, or how helpful they found your infographic on Y. That’s when you know your content marketing is crushing it.

Great content with great promotion should elicit great (and unsolicited) feedback.

“What you do after you create your content is what truly counts.” ~Gary Vaynerchuk

If none of your leads are talking about your content, that’s a major red flag. If none of them mention “content” when you ask, that’s a neon signpost. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Ask. And if the answer is anything and everything but content, you know you need to head back to the drawing board. Don’t stop whatever is working, of course, but tidy up your content efforts at the same time. It’s just too lucrative a tactic to allow it to fail so miserably.

Ask yourself: what do my ideal customers most need? What do they struggle with? How can I better/simplify/improve their lives?

Answer those questions and more with the content you create, and tongues will be wagging.

Signpost #5: Your Leads Want What You Can’t Do

Lead generation is a major part of any business plan. A steady stream of leads going in at the top of your sales funnel means a steady – albeit smaller – stream of customers and advocates exiting at the bottom.

But all leads are not created equal.

Picture this: the leads that are reaching out to you are asking about things you can’t or don’t do. Once or twice is an anomaly. But if it happens on a regular basis then your content is likely at fault.

Leads asking for something other than what you do is often a symptom of creating content that is not directly tied to the business.

If you’re in the analytics business, you should write about analytics. If you produce quality content on SEO as an extension of that, don’t be surprised if people contact you asking for SEO advice and solutions.

If leads are asking about things you can’t, don’t, or won’t do, you aren’t creating the right content for your business. Content marketing is supposed to introduce you as an expert and authority in your field. It’s supposed to initiate a discussion between you and those in need of what you have or do.

In your content efforts, stick to only those topics and sub-topics that are directly related to your product or service. Write only about those subjects. Talk, share, comment, and engage only in those areas.

Everything else is just noise.

“Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.” ~Doug Kessler

Conclusion

No traffic. No clicks. No leads. No ROI. Those are a few common reasons your content marketing isn’t working for you. Those are easy to recognize and relatively easy to correct. Jay Baer suggests four categories to fix a broken campaign:

Fix your topic(s).

Fix your amplification and promotion.

Fix your format(s).

Fix your creators.

But content marketing can fail in many less obvious ways. It’s your job to watch, monitor, and manage those silent killers.

The five discussed here are far from exhaustive. The list of potential content assassins is long. You’ve got to stay vigilant.

It is possible to get and stay on the right track heading in the right direction.

Over to you. What other ways have you found your content marketing falling short? What hiccups have you stumbled upon in your marketing? What red flags are you always on the look for?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

from Search Results for “analytics” – The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/2CvAwSv #Digital #Analytics #Website

How to Know If Your Content Marketing Just Isn’t Working

Content is king.

And content marketing in 2018 remains a brilliant and cost-effective method for engaging with leads and customers, spreading brand awareness, and getting around the increasing use of ad-blockers.

Whether it’s an email newsletter, social media post, or blog on your own or someone else’s website, people want to see your stuff. They accept it. Approve it. Whitelist it. Because it’s the user him or herself clicking on it, there are no concerns of spam complaints, or annoying the recipient, or ending up in the junk folder.

It’s popular, powerful, and for all intents and purposes, perfect. If you’re online in any professional capacity, you’re already using it.

Google “content marketing” and you’ll uncover millions (78,200,000 when I did it just now) of results, everything from definitions to how-to guides to case studies. You can quickly and easily pick up the how, why, when, what, and where of content marketing. Every online marketing personality and business has their own advanced guide or step-by-step guide, allowing anyone to grasp, experiment, and eventually master the subtle art of content marketing.

“Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” ~ Seth Godin

Strikingly, the only thing you won’t see much of in those millions upon millions of links is how to know when your content marketing isn’t working.

Because there’s a lot more to successful content marketing than just traffic and clicks, and a hell of a lot more than just likes, shares, and retweets. Those are simply vanity metrics that don’t tell you anything of importance by themselves…although it sure does feel nice to see people are loving your stuff.

Now, vanity metrics can be used to find actionable insight, but that’s the subject of another post on another day. Suffice to say, if you’re gauging the success of your content campaigns on likes and shares alone, you’re doing it wrong and wasting your time and energy.

Instead of focusing on the vanity metric, use it to inform your marketing decisions. Dig deeper. Find the corresponding actionable metric.

Content marketing is an active endeavor, and most of the hard work starts after you hit publish. It’s not about reaching people; it’s about reaching the right people.

How do you know when you’re not doing that?

Look for these five red flags before and during the push.

Content Marketing 101

But before we get to that, let’s review some basics.

If you remember only one thing about content marketing, make it this: write your strategy down. Be explicit, detailed, and clear about goals (use SMART goals and stretch goals if applicable), tactics, channels, and how you’re going to measure success.

What will “success” look like? How will you measure return-on-investment? Make sure you and everyone on your team knows and understands.

How often will your marketing team meet? The most successful meet regularly to evaluate, tweak, and manage as necessary. Your content marketing should not be set-it-and-forget-it.

Target your ideal customers. Segment your audience. A/B test. Monitor your efforts. Create evergreen content. Measure the return-on-investment to maximize your budget. Look at your competitors and industry to see what’s working, what’s not, and what others are and are not doing.

In their 2018 annual report on content marketing, CMI discovered that only 38% of B2C businesses have a documented strategy. That’s appallingly low.

Document your strategy. Do that, and you’re ahead of 62% of the competition.

Diversify your tactics and channels. The same report found that B2C marketers:

Use an average of five social media platforms, with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram the top five choices.

Use and average of four formats for distribution, with social media, email, blogs, in-person events, and print the five most popular.

Use an average of five different types of content, with social media posts, pre-produced videos, illustrations/photos, infographics, and interactive tools like quizzes and calculators rounding out the top five most used.

The tricks and tips and hacks for better content marketing are many. Read some. Read many.

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” ~ Craig Davis, former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson

And that brings us back full-circle. Knowing when your content marketing isn’t working is as important as knowing when it is…if not more so.

How can you tell if you’re on the wrong track and heading in the wrong direction?

Watch for (and respond!) to these five signposts along the way.

Signpost #1: The Wrong People Are Signing Up

Consider this hypothetical scenario: you launch an aggressive content campaign, complete with blog and social media posts, videos, and infographics, to promote your new SaaS product launch.

Everything has a rock-solid call-to-action inviting people to a free 7-day trial. They click the CTA button, are transported to a well-crafted landing page, and sign up.

That’s an undeniable content marketing win, right?

Wrong. It could be a win…depending on who is signing up. Numbers alone don’t answer that question. Even if you’re looking at an insane 60% conversion rate, it’s meaningless if those signing up are the wrong people.

So who are the “wrong” people? Anyone that’s not within your target market. They may be interested in your content for a wide variety of reasons – research, curiosity, education – but they’re not necessarily interested in your product or service.

Now, far be it for me to suggest that you shouldn’t ever target outside your market. I’m not, and you should. Sometimes your best customers down the road are the ones you’re not even considering at the moment.

A portion of signups outside your target audience is not only nothing to worry about, but a positive and worthwhile goal.

That said, if 50%, 60%, or 70%+ of your leads are falling outside of those you were targeting – wrong geographic location, industry, background, profession, income level, interests, or whatever – something’s wrong. If the majority of those signing up for your email newsletters, gated content, or free trials are nowhere near your ideal fit, your content marketing isn’t working.

Before you write a single line of blog post or send a single tweet, you need to be crystal-clear on your ideal customer. Get to know him or her. You’ve no doubt heard about the importance of buyer or customer personas. Build and use them to guide your content efforts. Do that, and the likelihood of the “wrong” people coming to your content goes down exponentially.

Why? Because a detailed persona allows you to reverse engineer your content specifically for them: their wants, needs, pain points, values, and more. That’s more than half the battle.

If you’re just starting out, this is a bit more difficult, but not impossible. If you have existing customers and sales data to work with, though, you can zero in on the best of the best. According to Duct Tape Marketing:

Identify your most profitable customers.

Identify those who refer within that group.

Identify the common traits and characteristics within that small group.

Create a customer persona based on that data.

That’s your ideal, most profitable customer. Create content for him or her. Share it on the platforms he or she uses and spends the most time on.

Social platforms typically have built-in capabilities, such as Twitter Analytics audience insights dashboard.

If you’re targeting English-speaking men over the age of 50, and your Analytics report shows most of your visitors are females under the age of 25 and from Italy, all those conversions – sign-ups, downloads, or otherwise – probably aren’t going to amount to much with your bottom line.

The sooner you know that, the sooner you can fix it. If the wrong people are signing up or downloading your lead magnets, you have to change direction. And fast.

Know exactly who you’re targeting, and give them exactly what they want and where they want it. Then monitor to make sure it’s drawing them in.

Signpost #2: Incompatible Backlink Profile

Backlinks are still important for your search engine optimization. In fact, many would argue that they’re the key to your overall SEO success. Quality backlinks from respected sites is a surefire indicator to Google and the rest of the search engine overlords that your content is valuable, useful, and worth a read. It’s a vote of confidence.

And that can translate into a big jump on the SERPs. The closer you are to that coveted top spot, the better the chance someone will click on your link. Increased traffic means increased leads, which means increased revenue. Google is happy, the users are happy, and you’re happy.

Backlinks and SEO go hand-in-hand. But backlinks can also tell you if there’s something amiss with your content marketing.

Imagine if your backlink profile – a report on which external sites are linking to your stuff – is populated with websites you wouldn’t expect your target market to visit. Good? Bad?

It depends on your criteria. If those sites are quality sites, those backlinks are still going to give you a healthy SEO boost. That’s good.

However, it may be evidence that your content is not resonating with your ideal customers. And that’s very, very bad. Your content, after all, is how you introduce yourself to them, educated them on your products and services, and persuade them to open their wallets. If it’s missing that mark, you’re failing at the marketing game. It’s the difference between leaving a flyer on hundreds of windshields in a mall parking lot, and hand-delivering to prospects you know would benefit from what you have to offer.

Luckily, generating a backlink profile and conducting a link audit is fast and easy, and there are many tools to assist with it.

To get a basic list, log in to Google Search Console. Click “Search Traffic” on the left-hand menu, and then select “Links to Your Site”. You’ll get a quick n’ dirty report with the total number of links, and the sites who link the most.

Now, you can determine if the sites linking back to your content are within your “demographic”. Some you might recognize by name, others you may have to visit and evaluate.

For a more detailed analysis, you can try a dedicated backlink tool. Some of the best include:

Majestic

Ahrefs

Moz

SEMrush

Bing Webmaster Tools

If your target is recent university graduates, and you’re receiving backlinks from retirement agencies, there’s a mismatch. You’re not producing the right content to connect with those just entering the workforce.

If you’ve done your homework, you should have detailed customer personas. You should know not only who they are, but also what they need, and where they are. Too many people outside those parameters linking to your content is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not going to generate massive sales and revenue.

The sites linking to you are an indicator of who your content is reaching. If you’re targeting professionals, but most of your links are coming from gossip sites, stop. If you’re after grandparents, but Millennial Now is your biggest external source, halt.

Check your link profile. Ensure most of them are coming from sites your target audience would frequent to increase your exposure with them.

If not, re-evaluate. Switch tracks. Create more of what they want, need, and desire. Align your content with your customer.

Signpost #3: No One Is Sharing

Yes, I did tell you at the beginning of this post that shares and likes are a vanity metric. That’s still true. But do you know what else is true?

Great content gets shared.

If people are reading your content but not sharing it, then you’re not producing quality content and your marketing is failing. Period.

This is especially true with influencers in your niche. If you create enough fantastic content, eventually some influencers in your market will share that content. If they aren’t, that’s trouble.

Think about your own online behavior. When you read or encounter a great blog post, infographic, or video, you share it with your own fans, followers, friends, and family. It’s almost automatic. Every platform has the ability built-in, and third-party tools like Hootsuite and sharing plugins make it effortless and convenient.

We read or watch it, we instinctively share it. You want your content to be shared. You need your content to be shared.

Every time you create something, you want it to go viral. That kind of reach and exposure is the dream. While it may not happen for you, consistent social sharing increases your exposure exponentially. One retweet puts your content in front of a whole new set of eyes. It gets people talking about you and your brand. And the cycle repeats if only one person from that new group shares it again, and so on.

First, you need to track how many shares you’re getting with your existing content.

Tools like Hootsuite can monitor your mentions across social media, Google Alerts can notify you when your tracked keywords and phrases are used, Likealyzer analyzes your Facebook Page, Snaplytics provides data on both Snapchat and Instagram Stories, BuzzSumo shows you how content on your site is doing on social media, Google Analytics can report on how much traffic to your site is coming from social channels (under Acquisition > Social > Overview), SharesCount displays social shares based on individual URLs, and all-in-one management platforms like Sprout Social can monitor most of the major platforms from one dashboard.

If you have no shares, you have some serious work to do. If you have some shares, more is always better. If you’re happy with the shares you’re seeing, you’re selling yourself and your content short.

“It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.” ~Andy Crestodina

More shares, more exposure. More exposure, more leads. More leads, more conversions. So, do everything you can to increase the amount of social sharing you’re already seeing:

Produce only incredibly high quality and valuable content. Share nothing but the best you have to offer.

Spend more time on your headline than you do on the rest of the piece. Your headline needs to hook them and force them to click, read, or watch.

Write on topics that are both relevant and timely. What’s trending in your niche?

Try tools like Click-To-Tweet or a scrolling share bar like AddThis to remove friction and allow your readers to share what and when they want.

Make it easy to share with conveniently located share buttons at the top and/or side and/or bottom.

Ask them to share. Remind them to share.

Use compelling visuals.

Create evergreen content.

Increasing your social shares should be part of your content marketing strategy regardless of how many you’re currently seeing. Step 1: monitor your shares. Step 2: increase your shares.

None, few, or lots, more are better.

Signpost #4: Your Leads Aren’t Talking About Your Content

This one is reactive. You won’t know until you start generating some quality leads. It requires asking or surveying them about where and how they heard about you, your brand, and your products.

It might be a simple question in your email series or while talking to them on the phone, or a follow-up online survey, or a fill-in field on an opt-in form. “How did you hear about us?” is profitable and relevant data to collect.

The answers should be varied if you’ve diversified your marketing efforts. Some might say it was a referral from a friend, another might mention an online review or recommendation, while others may have clicked a PPC ad, or read a newspaper feature, or googled your targeted keyword.

But some of them will hopefully talk about your content. In a perfect world, they’ll bring it up without any solicitation from you, choosing to mention how much they loved your blog post on X, or how helpful they found your infographic on Y. That’s when you know your content marketing is crushing it.

Great content with great promotion should elicit great (and unsolicited) feedback.

“What you do after you create your content is what truly counts.” ~Gary Vaynerchuk

If none of your leads are talking about your content, that’s a major red flag. If none of them mention “content” when you ask, that’s a neon signpost. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Ask. And if the answer is anything and everything but content, you know you need to head back to the drawing board. Don’t stop whatever is working, of course, but tidy up your content efforts at the same time. It’s just too lucrative a tactic to allow it to fail so miserably.

Ask yourself: what do my ideal customers most need? What do they struggle with? How can I better/simplify/improve their lives?

Answer those questions and more with the content you create, and tongues will be wagging.

Signpost #5: Your Leads Want What You Can’t Do

Lead generation is a major part of any business plan. A steady stream of leads going in at the top of your sales funnel means a steady – albeit smaller – stream of customers and advocates exiting at the bottom.

But all leads are not created equal.

Picture this: the leads that are reaching out to you are asking about things you can’t or don’t do. Once or twice is an anomaly. But if it happens on a regular basis then your content is likely at fault.

Leads asking for something other than what you do is often a symptom of creating content that is not directly tied to the business.

If you’re in the analytics business, you should write about analytics. If you produce quality content on SEO as an extension of that, don’t be surprised if people contact you asking for SEO advice and solutions.

If leads are asking about things you can’t, don’t, or won’t do, you aren’t creating the right content for your business. Content marketing is supposed to introduce you as an expert and authority in your field. It’s supposed to initiate a discussion between you and those in need of what you have or do.

In your content efforts, stick to only those topics and sub-topics that are directly related to your product or service. Write only about those subjects. Talk, share, comment, and engage only in those areas.

Everything else is just noise.

“Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.” ~Doug Kessler

Conclusion

No traffic. No clicks. No leads. No ROI. Those are a few common reasons your content marketing isn’t working for you. Those are easy to recognize and relatively easy to correct. Jay Baer suggests four categories to fix a broken campaign:

Fix your topic(s).

Fix your amplification and promotion.

Fix your format(s).

Fix your creators.

But content marketing can fail in many less obvious ways. It’s your job to watch, monitor, and manage those silent killers.

The five discussed here are far from exhaustive. The list of potential content assassins is long. You’ve got to stay vigilant.

It is possible to get and stay on the right track heading in the right direction.

Over to you. What other ways have you found your content marketing falling short? What hiccups have you stumbled upon in your marketing? What red flags are you always on the look for?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

http://ift.tt/2sCWkMh from MarketingRSS http://ift.tt/2CwymC9 via Youtube

How to Know If Your Content Marketing Just Isn’t Working

Content is king.

And content marketing in 2018 remains a brilliant and cost-effective method for engaging with leads and customers, spreading brand awareness, and getting around the increasing use of ad-blockers.

Whether it’s an email newsletter, social media post, or blog on your own or someone else’s website, people want to see your stuff. They accept it. Approve it. Whitelist it. Because it’s the user him or herself clicking on it, there are no concerns of spam complaints, or annoying the recipient, or ending up in the junk folder.

It’s popular, powerful, and for all intents and purposes, perfect. If you’re online in any professional capacity, you’re already using it.

Google “content marketing” and you’ll uncover millions (78,200,000 when I did it just now) of results, everything from definitions to how-to guides to case studies. You can quickly and easily pick up the how, why, when, what, and where of content marketing. Every online marketing personality and business has their own advanced guide or step-by-step guide, allowing anyone to grasp, experiment, and eventually master the subtle art of content marketing.

“Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” ~ Seth Godin

Strikingly, the only thing you won’t see much of in those millions upon millions of links is how to know when your content marketing isn’t working.

Because there’s a lot more to successful content marketing than just traffic and clicks, and a hell of a lot more than just likes, shares, and retweets. Those are simply vanity metrics that don’t tell you anything of importance by themselves…although it sure does feel nice to see people are loving your stuff.

Now, vanity metrics can be used to find actionable insight, but that’s the subject of another post on another day. Suffice to say, if you’re gauging the success of your content campaigns on likes and shares alone, you’re doing it wrong and wasting your time and energy.

Instead of focusing on the vanity metric, use it to inform your marketing decisions. Dig deeper. Find the corresponding actionable metric.

Content marketing is an active endeavor, and most of the hard work starts after you hit publish. It’s not about reaching people; it’s about reaching the right people.

How do you know when you’re not doing that?

Look for these five red flags before and during the push.

Content Marketing 101

But before we get to that, let’s review some basics.

If you remember only one thing about content marketing, make it this: write your strategy down. Be explicit, detailed, and clear about goals (use SMART goals and stretch goals if applicable), tactics, channels, and how you’re going to measure success.

What will “success” look like? How will you measure return-on-investment? Make sure you and everyone on your team knows and understands.

How often will your marketing team meet? The most successful meet regularly to evaluate, tweak, and manage as necessary. Your content marketing should not be set-it-and-forget-it.

Target your ideal customers. Segment your audience. A/B test. Monitor your efforts. Create evergreen content. Measure the return-on-investment to maximize your budget. Look at your competitors and industry to see what’s working, what’s not, and what others are and are not doing.

In their 2018 annual report on content marketing, CMI discovered that only 38% of B2C businesses have a documented strategy. That’s appallingly low.

Document your strategy. Do that, and you’re ahead of 62% of the competition.

Diversify your tactics and channels. The same report found that B2C marketers:

Use an average of five social media platforms, with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram the top five choices.

Use and average of four formats for distribution, with social media, email, blogs, in-person events, and print the five most popular.

Use an average of five different types of content, with social media posts, pre-produced videos, illustrations/photos, infographics, and interactive tools like quizzes and calculators rounding out the top five most used.

The tricks and tips and hacks for better content marketing are many. Read some. Read many.

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.” ~ Craig Davis, former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson

And that brings us back full-circle. Knowing when your content marketing isn’t working is as important as knowing when it is…if not more so.

How can you tell if you’re on the wrong track and heading in the wrong direction?

Watch for (and respond!) to these five signposts along the way.

Signpost #1: The Wrong People Are Signing Up

Consider this hypothetical scenario: you launch an aggressive content campaign, complete with blog and social media posts, videos, and infographics, to promote your new SaaS product launch.

Everything has a rock-solid call-to-action inviting people to a free 7-day trial. They click the CTA button, are transported to a well-crafted landing page, and sign up.

That’s an undeniable content marketing win, right?

Wrong. It could be a win…depending on who is signing up. Numbers alone don’t answer that question. Even if you’re looking at an insane 60% conversion rate, it’s meaningless if those signing up are the wrong people.

So who are the “wrong” people? Anyone that’s not within your target market. They may be interested in your content for a wide variety of reasons – research, curiosity, education – but they’re not necessarily interested in your product or service.

Now, far be it for me to suggest that you shouldn’t ever target outside your market. I’m not, and you should. Sometimes your best customers down the road are the ones you’re not even considering at the moment.

A portion of signups outside your target audience is not only nothing to worry about, but a positive and worthwhile goal.

That said, if 50%, 60%, or 70%+ of your leads are falling outside of those you were targeting – wrong geographic location, industry, background, profession, income level, interests, or whatever – something’s wrong. If the majority of those signing up for your email newsletters, gated content, or free trials are nowhere near your ideal fit, your content marketing isn’t working.

Before you write a single line of blog post or send a single tweet, you need to be crystal-clear on your ideal customer. Get to know him or her. You’ve no doubt heard about the importance of buyer or customer personas. Build and use them to guide your content efforts. Do that, and the likelihood of the “wrong” people coming to your content goes down exponentially.

Why? Because a detailed persona allows you to reverse engineer your content specifically for them: their wants, needs, pain points, values, and more. That’s more than half the battle.

If you’re just starting out, this is a bit more difficult, but not impossible. If you have existing customers and sales data to work with, though, you can zero in on the best of the best. According to Duct Tape Marketing:

Identify your most profitable customers.

Identify those who refer within that group.

Identify the common traits and characteristics within that small group.

Create a customer persona based on that data.

That’s your ideal, most profitable customer. Create content for him or her. Share it on the platforms he or she uses and spends the most time on.

Social platforms typically have built-in capabilities, such as Twitter Analytics audience insights dashboard.

If you’re targeting English-speaking men over the age of 50, and your Analytics report shows most of your visitors are females under the age of 25 and from Italy, all those conversions – sign-ups, downloads, or otherwise – probably aren’t going to amount to much with your bottom line.

The sooner you know that, the sooner you can fix it. If the wrong people are signing up or downloading your lead magnets, you have to change direction. And fast.

Know exactly who you’re targeting, and give them exactly what they want and where they want it. Then monitor to make sure it’s drawing them in.

Signpost #2: Incompatible Backlink Profile

Backlinks are still important for your search engine optimization. In fact, many would argue that they’re the key to your overall SEO success. Quality backlinks from respected sites is a surefire indicator to Google and the rest of the search engine overlords that your content is valuable, useful, and worth a read. It’s a vote of confidence.

And that can translate into a big jump on the SERPs. The closer you are to that coveted top spot, the better the chance someone will click on your link. Increased traffic means increased leads, which means increased revenue. Google is happy, the users are happy, and you’re happy.

Backlinks and SEO go hand-in-hand. But backlinks can also tell you if there’s something amiss with your content marketing.

Imagine if your backlink profile – a report on which external sites are linking to your stuff – is populated with websites you wouldn’t expect your target market to visit. Good? Bad?

It depends on your criteria. If those sites are quality sites, those backlinks are still going to give you a healthy SEO boost. That’s good.

However, it may be evidence that your content is not resonating with your ideal customers. And that’s very, very bad. Your content, after all, is how you introduce yourself to them, educated them on your products and services, and persuade them to open their wallets. If it’s missing that mark, you’re failing at the marketing game. It’s the difference between leaving a flyer on hundreds of windshields in a mall parking lot, and hand-delivering to prospects you know would benefit from what you have to offer.

Luckily, generating a backlink profile and conducting a link audit is fast and easy, and there are many tools to assist with it.

To get a basic list, log in to Google Search Console. Click “Search Traffic” on the left-hand menu, and then select “Links to Your Site”. You’ll get a quick n’ dirty report with the total number of links, and the sites who link the most.

Now, you can determine if the sites linking back to your content are within your “demographic”. Some you might recognize by name, others you may have to visit and evaluate.

For a more detailed analysis, you can try a dedicated backlink tool. Some of the best include:

Majestic

Ahrefs

Moz

SEMrush

Bing Webmaster Tools

If your target is recent university graduates, and you’re receiving backlinks from retirement agencies, there’s a mismatch. You’re not producing the right content to connect with those just entering the workforce.

If you’ve done your homework, you should have detailed customer personas. You should know not only who they are, but also what they need, and where they are. Too many people outside those parameters linking to your content is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not going to generate massive sales and revenue.

The sites linking to you are an indicator of who your content is reaching. If you’re targeting professionals, but most of your links are coming from gossip sites, stop. If you’re after grandparents, but Millennial Now is your biggest external source, halt.

Check your link profile. Ensure most of them are coming from sites your target audience would frequent to increase your exposure with them.

If not, re-evaluate. Switch tracks. Create more of what they want, need, and desire. Align your content with your customer.

Signpost #3: No One Is Sharing

Yes, I did tell you at the beginning of this post that shares and likes are a vanity metric. That’s still true. But do you know what else is true?

Great content gets shared.

If people are reading your content but not sharing it, then you’re not producing quality content and your marketing is failing. Period.

This is especially true with influencers in your niche. If you create enough fantastic content, eventually some influencers in your market will share that content. If they aren’t, that’s trouble.

Think about your own online behavior. When you read or encounter a great blog post, infographic, or video, you share it with your own fans, followers, friends, and family. It’s almost automatic. Every platform has the ability built-in, and third-party tools like Hootsuite and sharing plugins make it effortless and convenient.

We read or watch it, we instinctively share it. You want your content to be shared. You need your content to be shared.

Every time you create something, you want it to go viral. That kind of reach and exposure is the dream. While it may not happen for you, consistent social sharing increases your exposure exponentially. One retweet puts your content in front of a whole new set of eyes. It gets people talking about you and your brand. And the cycle repeats if only one person from that new group shares it again, and so on.

First, you need to track how many shares you’re getting with your existing content.

Tools like Hootsuite can monitor your mentions across social media, Google Alerts can notify you when your tracked keywords and phrases are used, Likealyzer analyzes your Facebook Page, Snaplytics provides data on both Snapchat and Instagram Stories, BuzzSumo shows you how content on your site is doing on social media, Google Analytics can report on how much traffic to your site is coming from social channels (under Acquisition > Social > Overview), SharesCount displays social shares based on individual URLs, and all-in-one management platforms like Sprout Social can monitor most of the major platforms from one dashboard.

If you have no shares, you have some serious work to do. If you have some shares, more is always better. If you’re happy with the shares you’re seeing, you’re selling yourself and your content short.

“It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.” ~Andy Crestodina

More shares, more exposure. More exposure, more leads. More leads, more conversions. So, do everything you can to increase the amount of social sharing you’re already seeing:

Produce only incredibly high quality and valuable content. Share nothing but the best you have to offer.

Spend more time on your headline than you do on the rest of the piece. Your headline needs to hook them and force them to click, read, or watch.

Write on topics that are both relevant and timely. What’s trending in your niche?

Try tools like Click-To-Tweet or a scrolling share bar like AddThis to remove friction and allow your readers to share what and when they want.

Make it easy to share with conveniently located share buttons at the top and/or side and/or bottom.

Ask them to share. Remind them to share.

Use compelling visuals.

Create evergreen content.

Increasing your social shares should be part of your content marketing strategy regardless of how many you’re currently seeing. Step 1: monitor your shares. Step 2: increase your shares.

None, few, or lots, more are better.

Signpost #4: Your Leads Aren’t Talking About Your Content

This one is reactive. You won’t know until you start generating some quality leads. It requires asking or surveying them about where and how they heard about you, your brand, and your products.

It might be a simple question in your email series or while talking to them on the phone, or a follow-up online survey, or a fill-in field on an opt-in form. “How did you hear about us?” is profitable and relevant data to collect.

The answers should be varied if you’ve diversified your marketing efforts. Some might say it was a referral from a friend, another might mention an online review or recommendation, while others may have clicked a PPC ad, or read a newspaper feature, or googled your targeted keyword.

But some of them will hopefully talk about your content. In a perfect world, they’ll bring it up without any solicitation from you, choosing to mention how much they loved your blog post on X, or how helpful they found your infographic on Y. That’s when you know your content marketing is crushing it.

Great content with great promotion should elicit great (and unsolicited) feedback.

“What you do after you create your content is what truly counts.” ~Gary Vaynerchuk

If none of your leads are talking about your content, that’s a major red flag. If none of them mention “content” when you ask, that’s a neon signpost. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Ask. And if the answer is anything and everything but content, you know you need to head back to the drawing board. Don’t stop whatever is working, of course, but tidy up your content efforts at the same time. It’s just too lucrative a tactic to allow it to fail so miserably.

Ask yourself: what do my ideal customers most need? What do they struggle with? How can I better/simplify/improve their lives?

Answer those questions and more with the content you create, and tongues will be wagging.

Signpost #5: Your Leads Want What You Can’t Do

Lead generation is a major part of any business plan. A steady stream of leads going in at the top of your sales funnel means a steady – albeit smaller – stream of customers and advocates exiting at the bottom.

But all leads are not created equal.

Picture this: the leads that are reaching out to you are asking about things you can’t or don’t do. Once or twice is an anomaly. But if it happens on a regular basis then your content is likely at fault.

Leads asking for something other than what you do is often a symptom of creating content that is not directly tied to the business.

If you’re in the analytics business, you should write about analytics. If you produce quality content on SEO as an extension of that, don’t be surprised if people contact you asking for SEO advice and solutions.

If leads are asking about things you can’t, don’t, or won’t do, you aren’t creating the right content for your business. Content marketing is supposed to introduce you as an expert and authority in your field. It’s supposed to initiate a discussion between you and those in need of what you have or do.

In your content efforts, stick to only those topics and sub-topics that are directly related to your product or service. Write only about those subjects. Talk, share, comment, and engage only in those areas.

Everything else is just noise.

“Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.” ~Doug Kessler

Conclusion

No traffic. No clicks. No leads. No ROI. Those are a few common reasons your content marketing isn’t working for you. Those are easy to recognize and relatively easy to correct. Jay Baer suggests four categories to fix a broken campaign:

Fix your topic(s).

Fix your amplification and promotion.

Fix your format(s).

Fix your creators.

But content marketing can fail in many less obvious ways. It’s your job to watch, monitor, and manage those silent killers.

The five discussed here are far from exhaustive. The list of potential content assassins is long. You’ve got to stay vigilant.

It is possible to get and stay on the right track heading in the right direction.

Over to you. What other ways have you found your content marketing falling short? What hiccups have you stumbled upon in your marketing? What red flags are you always on the look for?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

Porn In The U.S.A. - CBS News

Selling sex is one of the oldest businesses in the world, and right now, business has never been better. One of the biggest cultural changes in the United States over the past 25 years has been the widespread acceptance of sexually explicit material - pornography. In the space of a generation, a product that once was available in the back alleys of big cities has gone corporate, delivered now directly into homes and hotel rooms by some of the biggest companies in the United States. It is estimated that Americans now spend somewhere around $10 billion a year on adult entertainment, which is as much as they spend attending professional sporting events, buying music or going out to the movies. Consumer demand is so strong that it has seduced some of America's biggest brand names, and companies like General Motors, Marriott and Time Warner are now making millions selling erotica to America. Last November, Correspondent Steve Kroft reported on this billion-dollar industry. The best place to see it is at the industry's annual convention in Las Vegas, where more than 200 adult entertainment companies gather under one roof to network, schmooze and show off their latest wares. Presiding over it all is Paul Fishbein, the founder and president of Adult Video News, the industry's trade publication, which sponsors the expo. Who's out there? "Manufacturers of adult products, distributors, suppliers, retail store owners, wholesalers, distributors, cable TV buyers, foreign buyers," says Fishbein. "They're all here to do business, and then you have the fans." The fans came from all over the country, stood in line for hours, and paid $40 to get into what was essentially an X-rated trade show. From appearances, you might find the same crowd at the boat show. According to Fishbein, there are well over 800 million rentals of adult videotapes and DVDs in video stores across the country. "And I don't think that it's 800 guys renting a million tapes each," he says. Suffice it to say, there was something available for every sexual demographic - even material aimed at the 60 Minutes crowd. In Fishbein's words, all of this is performed and produced by consenting adults, for the use of consenting adults in the privacy of their own homes. The industry also has its own major studios. "Here you have two of the leading companies in the business, VCA and Vivid," says Fishbein. "They're known for the biggest-budget top movies in the industry, along with Wicked Pictures." The industry also has its own major stars, like Jenna Jameson, a teen beauty queen, turned showgirl, turned porn actress. With the approval of her family, she reportedly earned more than a million dollars last year performing sex for money. "The way I look at it is, this is kind of an art to me. I'm performing. I'm not doing it for the gratification of another man," says Jameson. "I'm doing it because this is my job and I'm entertaining the masses. So it's just like being Julia Roberts, but just a little bit further, one step further." The porn world now has all the trappings of a legitimate industry with considerable economic clout. Besides its own convention and trade publication, it holds marketing and legal seminars. It even has its own lobbyist. "It employs in excess of 12,000 people in California. And in California alone, we pay over $36 million in taxes every year. So it's a very sizeable industry," says Bill Lyon, a former lobbyist for the defense industry. When 60 Minutes first spoke to Lyon, he was running the free speech coalition, a trade organization that represents 900 companies in the porn business. "I was rather shocked to find that these are pretty bright business people who are in it to make a profit. And that is what it's about," says Lyon. What kind of reaction does he expect to get when he tells legislators all over the country that he's a lobbyist for the adult entertainment business? "Initially, I think there's a degree of shock. But when you explain to them the size and the scope of the business, they realize, as all politicians do, that it's votes and money that we're talking about," adds Lyon, who says there are reputable companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange that are involved in the business. "Corporations are in business to make money. This is an extremely large business and there's a great opportunity for profits in it." In 2002, Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, pulled in $50 million from adult programming. All the nation's top cable operators, from Time Warner to Cablevision, distribute sexually explicit material to their subscribers. But you won't read about it in their annual reports. Same with satellite providers like EchoStar and DirecTV, which is owned by Hughes Technology, a subsidiary of General Motors. How much does DirecTV make off of adult product? "They don't break the number out. But I would guess they'd probably get a couple hundred million, maybe as much as $500 million, off of adult entertainment, in a broad sense," says Dennis McAlpine, a partner in McAlpine Associates, who has tracked the entertainment industry for over two decades. "I would think it's probably more than what their overall profit is. The other areas are losing money. That's making money." Then there are the big hotel chains: Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt, Sheraton and Holiday Inn, which all offer adult films on in-room pay-per-view television systems. And they are purchased by a whopping 50 percent of their guests, accounting for nearly 70 percent of their in-room profits. One hotel owner said, "We have to have it. Our guests demand it." One of the largest owners and programmers of in-room pay-per-view is Liberty Media, a publicly traded company run by media mogul John Malone, one of the most powerful people in the communications industry. McAlpine says that adult entertainment has become a critical part of the entertainment business: "Adult is a major factor in determining the profits of a cable system, an in-house hotel system, a satellite system. It's a big profit contributor." So how do these corporations get involved in it? "I think that they get involved in it because of the profit margins that are involved. One of the things about pornography that's consistently true across the board is that because there's a social stigma still attached to it, you can charge a premium for these materials. And because you can charge a premium for it, the profit margin is higher. So, it makes pure economic sense," says Fred Lane, a lawyer and author of a book called "Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs Of Pornography In the Cyber Age." The epicenter of the porn industry is Chatsworth, Calif., a quiet suburb north of Los Angeles. It is indistinguishable from the other middle-class communities that sprawl across the San Fernando Valley, except for one thing. Tucked among the defense contractors and aerospace companies are dozens and dozens of adult film companies like Vivid Video, the porn industry equivalent of Paramount or Universal. It makes adult films, distributes them on video, DVD, and then sells them to hotels, cable companies and over the Internet. Bill Asher, Vivid's president, says these films are relatively inexpensive to produce, and Vivid has had double-digit growth every year for the past five years. Last year, he says, consumers spent a billion dollars on Vivid products. "We know that when we were selling the content to certain satellite companies, they did an analysis, and we were the most profitable channel they had for the distributor," says Asher. "I would say it [cable systems] is the most profitable channel ... The industry is big business now. It's mainstream. It's really no different than what Playboy was 30 years ago, 20 years ago." Asher, who graduated from Dartmouth and has an MBA, used to work at Playboy as a financial analyst. "It's an issue of distribution. When customers can get to adult content, generally, they buy it. They enjoy it. The question was, 'Would mainstream companies distribute it?' Now, Playboy and Penthouse for 30 years have enjoyed the same distribution as other magazines. Adult movies really didn't have that up until recently," adds Asher. "And what happened was, as companies like Vivid came around, and made everyone more comfortable with adult product, mainstream companies said, 'OK, we'll be willing to distribute it. We would like to join in the benefit - the financial benefit of distributing it.'" Asher says it wasn't a hard sell. All he had to do was show and provide an upscale product on the polite side of the pornographic spectrum. "We strive to have good sets, good plots, attractive people. People who can hopefully speak and act. Everything that you would expect to see in a mainstream movie," says Asher. 60 Minutes was hoping that at least one big mainstream corporation would talk to us about its involvement in adult entertainment. But no one did. A few gave us statements saying essentially their companies provide a whole range of entertainment choices, plus the ability to block them out, and such choices should be left to the customer. "When 60 Minutes comes to your door asking about adult content, and you're a major corporation, my advice to you would be: 'Don't open the door,'" says Asher. "What possible victory could come out of it for them? They are offering content, the customers are buying the content, everyone is happy." Adult entertainment is so lucrative and profitable that it's become part of the mainstream culture -- readily available, easily accessible, and all but impossible to legislate away. How did it happen? It began 25 years ago with a brand new household appliance: the video cassette recorder. "The first thing that a lot of people did when they got their VCR was rent or purchase an adult movie. 'Deep Throat.' 'Devil in Miss Jones.' 'Behind the Green Door.' 'Debbie Does Dallas.' That's what they asked for," says Fishbein, who publishes The Adult Video News, the porn industry's trade magazine. "Most people had never seen an adult movie, because they had to go out in public, to a theater, to see it. I mean, sex is a very private thing. So, now that you can watch it in the privacy of your own home, nobody has to know. And I think that's what drove the VCR. And I think, to a degree, it's what drove a lot of people to get on the Internet." In fact, pornography has helped drive early sales and the development of most new entertainment technologies for the past 25 years - providing software for the latest gadgets, and a reason to buy them. And usually the first people who do are affluent young men who like porn. Type http://shemale-live-chat-anal542.easyxblogs.com the word "sex" into an Internet search engine like Google and you will get 180 million hits. For years, adult sites were the only ones to turn a profit. They have pioneered and helped to develop numerous technological breakthroughs from online payment methods to streaming video. Lane wrote a book about this unofficial, commercial partnership between technology and the adult entertainment industry. He believes it has had a tremendous impact on American values, popular culture, and the government's ability to regulate pornography. "The way I like to put it is that we went from 1,000 adult movie theaters in less than 10 years to 80 million adult movie theaters. And that basically is what happened with the VCR," says Lane. "The computer now, in terms of its penetration into American households -- the last figure I saw was somewhere on the order of 70-80 million households, out of the 100 million in this country?. So again, we've got enormous potential for people to look at things in the privacy of their home." Has it become more difficult in the United States to win an obscenity prosecution? Absolutely, says Lane. "And as adult materials have found their way into different communities by different means, whether it's by cable television, or it's by hotel chains, people have grown increasingly comfortable with adult materials. And there seems to me to be, I think, a growing sense that what people do in the privacy of their own homes is their business." Porn is so accessible now that it's working its way into the subtext of American culture, crossing over into fashion, music and television. Take, for example, a Christina Aguilera music video on MTV or VH1 or a Brittany Spears concert on HBO, dripping with sexual imagery obviously borrowed from the world of adult entertainment. You will even find porn references on the TV show, "Friends." Luke Ford, who spent seven years writing an Internet gossip column about the adult entertainment industry for his own Internet Web site, isn't sure what to make of it. "It's become popular, cool, acceptable in this 18-to-25 age group. My age group, I'm 37, my age group and up. We think porn is something that's shameful. But for kids half my age, they think it's cool," says Ford, who guesses it's an act of rebellion, embracing one of society's last taboos. Ford, who is often referred to as the Matt Drudge of porn, gave 60 Minutes a tour of a backyard porn set in a residential neighborhood of Chatsworth that has been used by porn directors for more than 20 years. "It is just like Hollywood," he says. Like the porn industry itself, it becomes less glamorous the closer you get. If you take away the accountants and CEOs, you're left with a small insular world, filled with renegades and outcasts, who like to flaunt society's rules. "They come into this industry, because this is the single easiest way that they can earn $1,000 in a day, in two hours," says Ford. "It's not like we're losing people from going to medical school or business school or becoming lawyers." Hang around the World Modeling talent agency on Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks and one of the first things you notice is that there is no shortage of men or women who are eager to work in the business. "It's just fun. I think it's awesome that you, like, can be, like, a sex icon. I think girls will argue that it's a bad thing, you're crazy," says Destiny. "Because, you know, everybody thinks you're beautiful. Everybody wants to meet you." You'll also see why Fortune 500 companies making millions off the industry don't like to be publicly associated with it. "Most girls who enter this industry do one video and quit. The experience is so painful, horrifying, embarrassing, humiliating for them that they never do it again," says Ford. The argument that pornography exploits women has long been one of the flashpoints for social debates about the industry. Now, anti-porn groups say hundreds of thousands of men have become addicted to it, leading to anti-social behavior, and causing divorce and family breakups. "Just because this material is available, and citizens tolerate it, doesn't mean that they accept it," says Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney for the Western district of Pennsylvania, and the point person in the Justice Department's campaign to rein in pornography. When John Ashcroft was appointed attorney general, among his first acts were to hang blue drapes in front of a topless statue in the lobby of the Justice Department, and to promise a crackdown on smut. Buchanan's prosecution of a California company called Extreme Associates is the first major obscenity case brought by the federal government in more than a decade. "We have just had a proliferation of this type of material that has been getting increasingly worse and worse. And that's why it's important to enforce the law, and to show the producers that there are limits. There are limits to what they can sell and distribute throughout the country," says Buchanan. She believes that three films produced and distributed by Extreme Associates by mail and over the Internet contain coercive and violent sex, along with other material that is vile and degrading. Rob Black, president of Extreme Associates, considers that a compliment. One film, called "Forced Entry," includes shots of women getting raped and murdered. It also includes suffocation, strangulation, beatings and urination. Black calls "Forced Entry" a slasher film with sex, loosely based on the Hillside Strangler case. But 60 Minutes couldn't find enough plot to show anything beyond the opening credits. "They made absolutely no attempt to comply with federal law. In fact, it was probably their intent not to," says Buchanan. "Because what they wanted to do was to make the most disgusting material available on the market. And they succeeded." What is federal law on pornography? The only explicit, hard-core sexual material that is absolutely illegal by law in the U.S. today is child pornography -- all other material must be put before a jury. The Supreme Court last defined obscenity as material appealing to a degrading interest in sex, depicting it in a patently offensive manner, and lacking any serious artistic, literary, or scientific value. But this was way back in 1973, before the VCR and the Internet were in existence. In California vs. Miller, the Burger Court recognized that individual communities had different values and opinions on pornography, so it allowed localities to make their own judgments, based on contemporary community standards. But since 1973, standards have changed, and so has the definition of a community. Today, with the Internet, cable, and satellite television, most pornography can be transmitted directly into someone's home without ever disrupting the community, or its standards. And that will be Extreme Associates' argument in court. "It's not involving the community. It's involving a private individual, who purchased these videos, and downloaded the images from the Internet into their home. So, where does that community standard apply," says Black. "You can't apply a community to it if only one person is viewing it. They didn't go to a local video store. It was purchased privately by an individual at home, and sent to them in the mail. And that is the debate. And so, where is the community? Where do you apply it?" How do you apply community standards when you're talking about something that is just downloaded into somebody's home? "I think that is precisely the question that the court has to answer. The original purpose of the Miller test was to give communities the opportunity to regulate what came into their borders, what was displayed on Main Street, what kids were actually seeing as they went around the community," says Lane. "Obviously, if something's downloaded into the privacy of one's own home, it doesn't have that kind of impact on the community. So the question is, does the community still have the right to determine what people look at?" Buchanan says she's doesn't have to convince the entire community, just the jury: "We're focusing our resources on the most egregious offenders. So, we're looking at the producers and distributors who are producing the worst material, the largest quantity of material, the largest area of distribution." Buchanan says it's not the Justice Department's intention to shut down the adult entertainment industry, or eliminate all sexually explicit material -- even if it could. The point is to enforce some standards, and it hopes to do so when the case against Extreme Associates finally goes to trial this fall. Since 60 Minutes first brought you this report, General Motors sold its subsidiary, Hughes Technology, and got out of the porn business. And, actress Jenna Jameson says she wants to do the same thing: retire and become a "regular mom."

Is it Safe to Sand Lead Based Paint? How to Keep Old Paint from Contaminating Your Home with Lead Dust.

You are about to embark on a substantial remodeling project. Perhaps you were planning on the entire family participating, or maybe you want to do this alone, or just with your spouse. Excited, you imagine the picture of the room in your head when the job is complete. You anxiously eye your supplies. The wood, nails, hammers, power tools, and the paint. Everything is here that you need to begin.

Or, is it?

Did you remember your personal protective equipment, and your game plan to avoid exposure to lead? Though lead has not been used in paint since the late 1970s, many homes still have old paint that has either held up or been painted over without being removed. Lead is still used in some construction components, and it can fill the air with dust when agitated. Because of its properties, lead does not break down over time. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to ward off lead exposure.

Lead paint was used and promoted in the United States for more than two hundred years. It was popular because it was especially durable and easy to clean. Even into the early '70s, its use was promoted for government buildings, although its use in the U.S. peaked in the 1920s. Although experts have long known that lead paint posed health risks, it wasn't until the mid-1970s that studies of children's blood levels began. Since then, the federal government has periodically lowered the acceptable levels of lead in a child's blood all the way from 60 micrograms per deciliter in 1971 down to the present-day limit of 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Many homes built before 1978 contain lead paint, and people -- especially small children -- living in those homes are vulnerable once that lead paint starts peeling or chipping, or somebody starts sanding it. Even undisturbed lead paint is always a concern because, as an example, a small child may chew the surface it's covering. Unfortunately, toddlers who are cutting teeth are prone to do exactly that! If you're living in a home built before 1978, chances are good that it contains lead paint.

But, you can enjoy peace of mind from the dangers of lead paint when you use our proven & Pptented ECOBOND® family of products; now includes Bitrex® a bitter-tasting additive to discourage oral contact!

 Here are a few important items to keep in mind when you have a remodel project and have lead paint to deal with.

Removing damaged areas by sanding requires that you take certain precautions to protect your health and the health of your children: Lead dust typically isn't an ongoing problem inside of homes. However, when it's time to remodel, the lead can easily be liberated into the air. The rubbing of moving parts, such as window frames, can also turn leaded paint into dangerous lead dust. This problem, which can cause lead poisoning, is especially common with old paint. Therefore, you'll need to take steps to handle or prevent lead dust contamination if your project involves a lead-painted area. Please visit the USEPA website for further guidance before beginning a lead paint abatement project.

It is prudent to have professionals help you with risk assessment. Renovation work is especially dangerous when disturbing surfaces with lead paint and a professional should also test your home before any work begins. Also, ensure that you have a certified and trained contractor doing the job. It is not advisable to do it yourself, but if it is a simple remodeling job like door replacement, it is important to know how to protect yourself and your family from lead dust exposure.

Following are vital considerations to both avoid direct lead poisoning and to keep dust from spreading throughout the house.

Containment

It's important to remove as much from the room as you can (furnishings, rugs, decorative objects), lay heavy plastic on the floor and tape around the edges, cover any HVAC registers with plastic and seal with tape, and finally, seal off the door with heavy plastic.

Personal Protection

Personal protective equipment includes: paper booties, a half mask respirator equipped with a P100 filter to prevent inhaling any dust while you work, safety goggles or glasses, and a disposable protective suit that blocks particles in the air. You'll also need gloves.

Work Wet

To keep dust out of the air, use a wet sanding method. Be sure you have a safe way to capture leaded paint slurry and other debris. Once the project is done, take all debris to a facility that handles hazardous materials. Use a spray bottle filled with water and thoroughly wet the area you're sanding, making sure that electric power is turned off if the area is near an electrical outlet. It's important to sand only by hand using a block sander. Working wet will turn the sanded material into a sludge-like material that you can wipe away using rags, and when finished sanding, discard all used sandpaper and rags in proper containers to dispose of at approved facilities for lead impacted materials.

Stay Healthy While Working: Don't Breathe Lead  

If you do not take the recommended route of using our lead paint treatment to cover the impacted areas, you must make sure that lead and lead dust does not spread throughout the house. You can consider using a combination of plastic covers, or ZipWalls, and sticky mats. The ZipWalls will keep dust confined to the work area, while the mats will pull the dust off your shoes so you do not track it through the house when you are quitting for the day or taking a break.

To avoid breathing in the dust while you are working, or consuming the dust orally, wear a respirator whenever you are in the work zone, regardless of whether you are actively working at the time. Wear a protective layer of clothes that you remove at the ZipWall, so you do not shed particles when moving through the house. Also, do not bring food or beverages into the work  area.  When you have finished your project, do not forget to do a thorough cleanup. A big component of this is vacuuming with a HEPA cleaner that specializes in removing small particulates.

Clean Up

Cleaning up after working with lead paint is a bit more rigorous than a normal cleaning would be. Begin by vacuuming thoroughly with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter, then go on to cleaning. It's best to use a spray cleaner, wipe, and then rinse with spray bottle. Use a rag or paper towels and dispose of them in a 6-mil trash bag as you work. (You can cover the end of a flat edge screwdriver with a wet rag to dig into cracks to remove any dust or "sludge" that may end up there.) When you're done cleaning, remove all plastic and paper booties. Wash the clothes you were wearing separately from your other laundry, and finish by taking a shower to clean your face, body and hair.

Can lead paint be covered up safely? 

This may be the easiest way to deal with lead paint. Instead of trying to get rid of it at all, if the paint isn't already flaking or turning to dust, you can cover it up with a special treatment. You can now treat lead with our Paint-it-on Leave-it-on® application or remove it rendering it non-hazardous for disposal. ECOBOND® - Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint. In the new Lead Defender formula, Bitrex® creates an added safety barrier to further protect children from lead poisoning by reducing the amount of paint chips or dust a child may ingest. Bitrex® is the bitterest substance known and is added to ECOBOND® to reduce accidental ingestion of potentially harmful materials. 

Consumer Alert: Don't begin a lead paint project until you read this report.  www.LeadPaintRemovalReport.com ECOBOND® - Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint  -> Watch our lead paint treatment video: 

ECOBOND® LLC is the nation’s leader in developing and distributing products that improve the protection of human health and safety from the hazards of lead in the home, workplace, and the environment. With over 15 years in patented and proven success, the ECOBOND® family of products have been extensively used in successfully treating lead hazards in over 11,000,000 tons of material while serving over 100,000 customers in the United States and Internationally.

    from http://www.ecobondlbp.com/blog/355-is-it-safe-to-sand-lead-based-paint-how-to-keep-old-paint-from-contaminating-your-home-with-lead-dust

from   ECOBOND - Lead Defender - Blog http://ecobondlbp.weebly.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-sand-lead-based-paint-how-to-keep-old-paint-from-contaminating-your-home-with-lead-dust7046755

Is it Safe to Sand Lead Based Paint? How to Keep Old Paint from Contaminating Your Home with Lead Dust.

You are about to embark on a substantial remodeling project. Perhaps you were planning on the entire family participating, or maybe you want to do this alone, or just with your spouse. Excited, you imagine the picture of the room in your head when the job is complete. You anxiously eye your supplies. The wood, nails, hammers, power tools, and the paint. Everything is here that you need to begin.

Or, is it?

Did you remember your personal protective equipment, and your game plan to avoid exposure to lead?

Though lead has not been used in paint since the late 1970s, many homes still have old paint that has either held up or been painted over without being removed. Lead is still used in some construction components, and it can fill the air with dust when agitated. Because of its properties, lead does not break down over time. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to ward off lead exposure.

Lead paint was used and promoted in the United States for more than two hundred years. It was popular because it was especially durable and easy to clean. Even into the early ’70s, its use was promoted for government buildings, although its use in the U.S. peaked in the 1920s. Although experts have long known that lead paint posed health risks, it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that studies of children’s blood levels began. Since then, the federal government has periodically lowered the acceptable levels of lead in a child’s blood all the way from 60 micrograms per deciliter in 1971 down to the present-day limit of 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Many homes built before 1978 contain lead paint, and people — especially small children — living in those homes are vulnerable once that lead paint starts peeling or chipping, or somebody starts sanding it. Even undisturbed lead paint is always a concern because, as an example, a small child may chew the surface it’s covering. Unfortunately, toddlers who are cutting teeth are prone to do exactly that! If you’re living in a home built before 1978, chances are good that it contains lead paint.

But, you can enjoy peace of mind from the dangers of lead paint when you use our proven & Pptented ECOBOND® family of products; now includes Bitrex® a bitter-tasting additive to discourage oral contact!

  Here are a few important items to keep in mind when you have a remodel project and have lead paint to deal with.

Removing damaged areas by sanding requires that you take certain precautions to protect your health and the health of your children: Lead dust typically isn’t an ongoing problem inside of homes. However, when it’s time to remodel, the lead can easily be liberated into the air. The rubbing of moving parts, such as window frames, can also turn leaded paint into dangerous lead dust. This problem, which can cause lead poisoning, is especially common with old paint. Therefore, you’ll need to take steps to handle or prevent lead dust contamination if your project involves a lead-painted area. Please visit the USEPA website for further guidance before beginning a lead paint abatement project.

It is prudent to have professionals help you with risk assessment. Renovation work is especially dangerous when disturbing surfaces with lead paint and a professional should also test your home before any work begins. Also, ensure that you have a certified and trained contractor doing the job. It is not advisable to do it yourself, but if it is a simple remodeling job like door replacement, it is important to know how to protect yourself and your family from lead dust exposure.

Following are vital considerations to both avoid direct lead poisoning and to keep dust from spreading throughout the house.

Containment

It’s important to remove as much from the room as you can (furnishings, rugs, decorative objects), lay heavy plastic on the floor and tape around the edges, cover any HVAC registers with plastic and seal with tape, and finally, seal off the door with heavy plastic.

Personal Protection

Personal protective equipment includes: paper booties, a half mask respirator equipped with a P100 filter to prevent inhaling any dust while you work, safety goggles or glasses, and a disposable protective suit that blocks particles in the air. You’ll also need gloves.

Work Wet

To keep dust out of the air, use a wet sanding method. Be sure you have a safe way to capture leaded paint slurry and other debris. Once the project is done, take all debris to a facility that handles hazardous materials. Use a spray bottle filled with water and thoroughly wet the area you’re sanding, making sure that electric power is turned off if the area is near an electrical outlet. It’s important to sand only by hand using a block sander. Working wet will turn the sanded material into a sludge-like material that you can wipe away using rags, and when finished sanding, discard all used sandpaper and rags in proper containers to dispose of at approved facilities for lead impacted materials.

Stay Healthy While Working: Don’t Breathe Lead  

If you do not take the recommended route of using our lead paint treatment to cover the impacted areas, you must make sure that lead and lead dust does not spread throughout the house. You can consider using a combination of plastic covers, or ZipWalls, and sticky mats. The ZipWalls will keep dust confined to the work area, while the mats will pull the dust off your shoes so you do not track it through the house when you are quitting for the day or taking a break.

To avoid breathing in the dust while you are working, or consuming the dust orally, wear a respirator whenever you are in the work zone, regardless of whether you are actively working at the time. Wear a protective layer of clothes that you remove at the ZipWall, so you do not shed particles when moving through the house. Also, do not bring food or beverages into the work  area.  When you have finished your project, do not forget to do a thorough cleanup. A big component of this is vacuuming with a HEPA cleaner that specializes in removing small particulates.

Clean Up

Cleaning up after working with lead paint is a bit more rigorous than a normal cleaning would be. Begin by vacuuming thoroughly with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter, then go on to cleaning. It’s best to use a spray cleaner, wipe, and then rinse with spray bottle. Use a rag or paper towels and dispose of them in a 6-mil trash bag as you work. (You can cover the end of a flat edge screwdriver with a wet rag to dig into cracks to remove any dust or “sludge” that may end up there.) When you’re done cleaning, remove all plastic and paper booties. Wash the clothes you were wearing separately from your other laundry, and finish by taking a shower to clean your face, body and hair.

Can lead paint be covered up safely? 

This may be the easiest way to deal with lead paint. Instead of trying to get rid of it at all, if the paint isn’t already flaking or turning to dust, you can cover it up with a special treatment. You can now treat lead with our Paint-it-on Leave-it-on® application or remove it rendering it non-hazardous for disposal. ECOBOND® – Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint. In the new Lead Defender formula, Bitrex® creates an added safety barrier to further protect children from lead poisoning by reducing the amount of paint chips or dust a child may ingest. Bitrex® is the bitterest substance known and is added to ECOBOND® to reduce accidental ingestion of potentially harmful materials. 

Consumer Alert: Don’t begin a lead paint project until you read this report.  www.LeadPaintRemovalReport.com ECOBOND® – Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint  -> Watch our lead paint treatment video: 

ECOBOND® LLC is the nation’s leader in developing and distributing products that improve the protection of human health and safety from the hazards of lead in the home, workplace, and the environment. With over 15 years in patented and proven success, the ECOBOND® family of products have been extensively used in successfully treating lead hazards in over 11,000,000 tons of material while serving over 100,000 customers in the United States and Internationally.

      Source: http://ecobondlbp.com/blog/355-is-it-safe-to-sand-lead-based-paint-how-to-keep-old-paint-from-contaminating-your-home-with-lead-dust

from ECOBOND – Lead Defender https://ecobondlbp.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/is-it-safe-to-sand-lead-based-paint-how-to-keep-old-paint-from-contaminating-your-home-with-lead-dust/

Is it Safe to Sand Lead Based Paint? How to Keep Old Paint from Contaminating Your Home with Lead Dust.

You are about to embark on a substantial remodeling project. Perhaps you were planning on the entire family participating, or maybe you want to do this alone, or just with your spouse. Excited, you imagine the picture of the room in your head when the job is complete. You anxiously eye your supplies. The wood, nails, hammers, power tools, and the paint. Everything is here that you need to begin.

Or, is it?

Did you remember your personal protective equipment, and your game plan to avoid exposure to lead? Though lead has not been used in paint since the late 1970s, many homes still have old paint that has either held up or been painted over without being removed. Lead is still used in some construction components, and it can fill the air with dust when agitated. Because of its properties, lead does not break down over time. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to ward off lead exposure.

Lead paint was used and promoted in the United States for more than two hundred years. It was popular because it was especially durable and easy to clean. Even into the early ‘70s, its use was promoted for government buildings, although its use in the U.S. peaked in the 1920s. Although experts have long known that lead paint posed health risks, it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that studies of children’s blood levels began. Since then, the federal government has periodically lowered the acceptable levels of lead in a child’s blood all the way from 60 micrograms per deciliter in 1971 down to the present-day limit of 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Many homes built before 1978 contain lead paint, and people – especially small children – living in those homes are vulnerable once that lead paint starts peeling or chipping, or somebody starts sanding it. Even undisturbed lead paint is always a concern because, as an example, a small child may chew the surface it’s covering. Unfortunately, toddlers who are cutting teeth are prone to do exactly that! If you’re living in a home built before 1978, chances are good that it contains lead paint.

But, you can enjoy peace of mind from the dangers of lead paint when you use our proven & Pptented ECOBOND® family of products; now includes Bitrex® a bitter-tasting additive to discourage oral contact!

Here are a few important items to keep in mind when you have a remodel project and have lead paint to deal with.

Removing damaged areas by sanding requires that you take certain precautions to protect your health and the health of your children: Lead dust typically isn’t an ongoing problem inside of homes. However, when it’s time to remodel, the lead can easily be liberated into the air. The rubbing of moving parts, such as window frames, can also turn leaded paint into dangerous lead dust. This problem, which can cause lead poisoning, is especially common with old paint. Therefore, you’ll need to take steps to handle or prevent lead dust contamination if your project involves a lead-painted area. Please visit the USEPA website for further guidance before beginning a lead paint abatement project.

It is prudent to have professionals help you with risk assessment. Renovation work is especially dangerous when disturbing surfaces with lead paint and a professional should also test your home before any work begins. Also, ensure that you have a certified and trained contractor doing the job. It is not advisable to do it yourself, but if it is a simple remodeling job like door replacement, it is important to know how to protect yourself and your family from lead dust exposure.

Following are vital considerations to both avoid direct lead poisoning and to keep dust from spreading throughout the house.

Containment

It’s important to remove as much from the room as you can (furnishings, rugs, decorative objects), lay heavy plastic on the floor and tape around the edges, cover any HVAC registers with plastic and seal with tape, and finally, seal off the door with heavy plastic.

Personal Protection

Personal protective equipment includes: paper booties, a half mask respirator equipped with a P100 filter to prevent inhaling any dust while you work, safety goggles or glasses, and a disposable protective suit that blocks particles in the air. You’ll also need gloves.

Work Wet

To keep dust out of the air, use a wet sanding method. Be sure you have a safe way to capture leaded paint slurry and other debris. Once the project is done, take all debris to a facility that handles hazardous materials. Use a spray bottle filled with water and thoroughly wet the area you’re sanding, making sure that electric power is turned off if the area is near an electrical outlet. It’s important to sand only by hand using a block sander. Working wet will turn the sanded material into a sludge-like material that you can wipe away using rags, and when finished sanding, discard all used sandpaper and rags in proper containers to dispose of at approved facilities for lead impacted materials.

Stay Healthy While Working: Don’t Breathe Lead  

If you do not take the recommended route of using our lead paint treatment to cover the impacted areas, you must make sure that lead and lead dust does not spread throughout the house. You can consider using a combination of plastic covers, or ZipWalls, and sticky mats. The ZipWalls will keep dust confined to the work area, while the mats will pull the dust off your shoes so you do not track it through the house when you are quitting for the day or taking a break.

To avoid breathing in the dust while you are working, or consuming the dust orally, wear a respirator whenever you are in the work zone, regardless of whether you are actively working at the time. Wear a protective layer of clothes that you remove at the ZipWall, so you do not shed particles when moving through the house. Also, do not bring food or beverages into the work  area.  When you have finished your project, do not forget to do a thorough cleanup. A big component of this is vacuuming with a HEPA cleaner that specializes in removing small particulates.

Clean Up

Cleaning up after working with lead paint is a bit more rigorous than a normal cleaning would be. Begin by vacuuming thoroughly with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter, then go on to cleaning. It’s best to use a spray cleaner, wipe, and then rinse with spray bottle. Use a rag or paper towels and dispose of them in a 6-mil trash bag as you work. (You can cover the end of a flat edge screwdriver with a wet rag to dig into cracks to remove any dust or “sludge” that may end up there.) When you’re done cleaning, remove all plastic and paper booties. Wash the clothes you were wearing separately from your other laundry, and finish by taking a shower to clean your face, body and hair.

Can lead paint be covered up safely? 

This may be the easiest way to deal with lead paint. Instead of trying to get rid of it at all, if the paint isn’t already flaking or turning to dust, you can cover it up with a special treatment. You can now treat lead with our Paint-it-on Leave-it-on® application or remove it rendering it non-hazardous for disposal. ECOBOND® - Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint. In the new Lead Defender formula, Bitrex® creates an added safety barrier to further protect children from lead poisoning by reducing the amount of paint chips or dust a child may ingest. Bitrex® is the bitterest substance known and is added to ECOBOND® to reduce accidental ingestion of potentially harmful materials. 

Consumer Alert: Don’t begin a lead paint project until you read this report.  www.LeadPaintRemovalReport.com ECOBOND® - Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint  -> Watch our lead paint treatment video: 

ECOBOND® LLC is the nation’s leader in developing and distributing products that improve the protection of human health and safety from the hazards of lead in the home, workplace, and the environment. With over 15 years in patented and proven success, the ECOBOND® family of products have been extensively used in successfully treating lead hazards in over 11,000,000 tons of material while serving over 100,000 customers in the United States and Internationally.

  from Lead Paint RSS Feed http://ecobondlbp.com/blog/355-is-it-safe-to-sand-lead-based-paint-how-to-keep-old-paint-from-contaminating-your-home-with-lead-dust from ECOBOND - Lead Defender https://ecobondlbp.tumblr.com/post/170359693191

Is it Safe to Sand Lead Based Paint? How to Keep Old Paint from Contaminating Your Home with Lead Dust.

You are about to embark on a substantial remodeling project. Perhaps you were planning on the entire family participating, or maybe you want to do this alone, or just with your spouse. Excited, you imagine the picture of the room in your head when the job is complete. You anxiously eye your supplies. The wood, nails, hammers, power tools, and the paint. Everything is here that you need to begin.

Or, is it?

Did you remember your personal protective equipment, and your game plan to avoid exposure to lead? Though lead has not been used in paint since the late 1970s, many homes still have old paint that has either held up or been painted over without being removed. Lead is still used in some construction components, and it can fill the air with dust when agitated. Because of its properties, lead does not break down over time. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to ward off lead exposure.

Lead paint was used and promoted in the United States for more than two hundred years. It was popular because it was especially durable and easy to clean. Even into the early '70s, its use was promoted for government buildings, although its use in the U.S. peaked in the 1920s. Although experts have long known that lead paint posed health risks, it wasn't until the mid-1970s that studies of children's blood levels began. Since then, the federal government has periodically lowered the acceptable levels of lead in a child's blood all the way from 60 micrograms per deciliter in 1971 down to the present-day limit of 5 micrograms per deciliter.

Many homes built before 1978 contain lead paint, and people -- especially small children -- living in those homes are vulnerable once that lead paint starts peeling or chipping, or somebody starts sanding it. Even undisturbed lead paint is always a concern because, as an example, a small child may chew the surface it's covering. Unfortunately, toddlers who are cutting teeth are prone to do exactly that! If you're living in a home built before 1978, chances are good that it contains lead paint.

But, you can enjoy peace of mind from the dangers of lead paint when you use our proven & Pptented ECOBOND® family of products; now includes Bitrex® a bitter-tasting additive to discourage oral contact!

  Here are a few important items to keep in mind when you have a remodel project and have lead paint to deal with.

Removing damaged areas by sanding requires that you take certain precautions to protect your health and the health of your children: Lead dust typically isn't an ongoing problem inside of homes. However, when it's time to remodel, the lead can easily be liberated into the air. The rubbing of moving parts, such as window frames, can also turn leaded paint into dangerous lead dust. This problem, which can cause lead poisoning, is especially common with old paint. Therefore, you'll need to take steps to handle or prevent lead dust contamination if your project involves a lead-painted area. Please visit the USEPA website for further guidance before beginning a lead paint abatement project.

It is prudent to have professionals help you with risk assessment. Renovation work is especially dangerous when disturbing surfaces with lead paint and a professional should also test your home before any work begins. Also, ensure that you have a certified and trained contractor doing the job. It is not advisable to do it yourself, but if it is a simple remodeling job like door replacement, it is important to know how to protect yourself and your family from lead dust exposure.

Following are vital considerations to both avoid direct lead poisoning and to keep dust from spreading throughout the house.

Containment

It's important to remove as much from the room as you can (furnishings, rugs, decorative objects), lay heavy plastic on the floor and tape around the edges, cover any HVAC registers with plastic and seal with tape, and finally, seal off the door with heavy plastic.

Personal Protection

Personal protective equipment includes: paper booties, a half mask respirator equipped with a P100 filter to prevent inhaling any dust while you work, safety goggles or glasses, and a disposable protective suit that blocks particles in the air. You'll also need gloves.

Work Wet

To keep dust out of the air, use a wet sanding method. Be sure you have a safe way to capture leaded paint slurry and other debris. Once the project is done, take all debris to a facility that handles hazardous materials. Use a spray bottle filled with water and thoroughly wet the area you're sanding, making sure that electric power is turned off if the area is near an electrical outlet. It's important to sand only by hand using a block sander. Working wet will turn the sanded material into a sludge-like material that you can wipe away using rags, and when finished sanding, discard all used sandpaper and rags in proper containers to dispose of at approved facilities for lead impacted materials.

Stay Healthy While Working: Don't Breathe Lead  

If you do not take the recommended route of using our lead paint treatment to cover the impacted areas, you must make sure that lead and lead dust does not spread throughout the house. You can consider using a combination of plastic covers, or ZipWalls, and sticky mats. The ZipWalls will keep dust confined to the work area, while the mats will pull the dust off your shoes so you do not track it through the house when you are quitting for the day or taking a break.

To avoid breathing in the dust while you are working, or consuming the dust orally, wear a respirator whenever you are in the work zone, regardless of whether you are actively working at the time. Wear a protective layer of clothes that you remove at the ZipWall, so you do not shed particles when moving through the house. Also, do not bring food or beverages into the work  area.  When you have finished your project, do not forget to do a thorough cleanup. A big component of this is vacuuming with a HEPA cleaner that specializes in removing small particulates.

Clean Up

Cleaning up after working with lead paint is a bit more rigorous than a normal cleaning would be. Begin by vacuuming thoroughly with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter, then go on to cleaning. It's best to use a spray cleaner, wipe, and then rinse with spray bottle. Use a rag or paper towels and dispose of them in a 6-mil trash bag as you work. (You can cover the end of a flat edge screwdriver with a wet rag to dig into cracks to remove any dust or "sludge" that may end up there.) When you're done cleaning, remove all plastic and paper booties. Wash the clothes you were wearing separately from your other laundry, and finish by taking a shower to clean your face, body and hair.

Can lead paint be covered up safely? 

This may be the easiest way to deal with lead paint. Instead of trying to get rid of it at all, if the paint isn't already flaking or turning to dust, you can cover it up with a special treatment. You can now treat lead with our Paint-it-on Leave-it-on® application or remove it rendering it non-hazardous for disposal. ECOBOND® - Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint. In the new Lead Defender formula, Bitrex® creates an added safety barrier to further protect children from lead poisoning by reducing the amount of paint chips or dust a child may ingest. Bitrex® is the bitterest substance known and is added to ECOBOND® to reduce accidental ingestion of potentially harmful materials. 

Consumer Alert: Don't begin a lead paint project until you read this report.  www.LeadPaintRemovalReport.com ECOBOND® - Lead Defender® seals and treats the lead and lead dust in lead-based paint  -> Watch our lead paint treatment video: 

ECOBOND® LLC is the nation’s leader in developing and distributing products that improve the protection of human health and safety from the hazards of lead in the home, workplace, and the environment. With over 15 years in patented and proven success, the ECOBOND® family of products have been extensively used in successfully treating lead hazards in over 11,000,000 tons of material while serving over 100,000 customers in the United States and Internationally.

      from Lead Paint RSS Feed http://ecobondlbp.com/blog/355-is-it-safe-to-sand-lead-based-paint-how-to-keep-old-paint-from-contaminating-your-home-with-lead-dust

@gayswingbabies replied to your post “List of every Dadvice in Dream Daddy”

Are these in order of their actual numbers in the game? I need to know.

yeah they are

here’s a numbered list for you

1 Don’t forget to floss every day 2 It’s never too early to invest in a personal IRA 3 Start building credit as early as possible 4 Stand up for yourself - don’t let anyone disrespect you 5 Everyone needs to know how to use power tools 6 Don’t trust anyone who likes their meat well done 7 LaserDisc is clearly the superior digital video format 8 Drink a full glass of water in the morning to help wake up 9 Don’t use metal utensils on nonstick frying pans 10 If you’re parking uphill, be sure to turn your tires toward the street 11 It’s rude to ask people about their mysterious hand tattoos 12 Moving Pictures is hands down the best Rush album 13 Buy quality, not quantity 14 Shave with the grain 15 You always have time for a beer with your buds 16 Always use a coat of wax after a wash 17 Nothing can beat reading in print 18 Always carry a pocket knife 19 Use your hips when throwing 20 Keep your word 21 Eat a lot of broccoli 22 Drinking too much water can cause water intoxication 23 Take care of your health while you’re still young 24 Always help a friend in need 25 Drink plenty of water 26 Exercise regularly and you’ll stay healthy! 27 Don’t eat too close to your bedtime 28 Always check the card reader at ATMs before you swipe 29 Medicine is not always the best medicine 30 Always bring a war chest 31 You’re young, you have your health, now is the time to take risks 32 You can’t beat the whammy bar 33 The solo from Kid Charlemagne is the greatest guitar solo ever recorded 34 Peter Weller actually has a PHD in history 35 It’s called masking tape for a reason 36 Trust no one 37 If you press the ignition too long you’ll just flood the engine 38 The extended cut is the only cut worth watching 39 They really stepped up the production value in Episode V 40 Managing debt is just part of being an adult 41 Run through the finish line 42 What you do, when you don’t have to, will determine where you’ll be when you can’t help it 43 When lifting weights, use proper form and a full range of motion 44 Gas is cheaper in the suburbs 45 Do what you love and the money will come 46 Do it once, do it right 47 Don’t skip the corners 48 Eat plenty of carbs the night before a big game 49 If the police are driving behind you, don’t give them probable cause to pull you over 50 Try to drive in a way where you never have to use your brakes 51 You can save bookmarks directly to your desktop 52 A bird in the hand is better than a bird in the eye 53 Pet every dog 54 Have you ever read Rich Dad Poor Dad? 55 Liquor before beef, you’re in the clear 56 Go ask your mother 57 If life gives you lemons, parsley, onion, and eggs… make a really nice omelet 58 Practice makes permanent 59 First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairiest chest 60 Never give up, never remember 61 That quirky lab assistant from NCIS just reminds me of you 62 Whistle while you work 63 Please remember to call us once in  while 64 Get whatever job you want, just make sure it includes health insurance 65 Grow your own vegetables. It’s cheaper, I think 66 It’s okay if you don’t come in first, just make sure you have health insurance 67 Try to exercise regularly 68 Sleep is important! Make sure you’re getting enough 69 It’s okay to cry if you’re feeling sad 70 Make sure to sweep under your tent so you don’t sleep on rocks 71 Good tire pressure is essential to optimal mileage 72 The only acceptable time and place for decaf coffee is never and in the trash 73 When changing a tire, make sure to tighten the bolts in a starfish pattern 74 Anyone who tells you that a drink isn’t manly has never known heartache 75 Call someone if you’re thinking about them. They probably want to hear from you 76 If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all 77 Don’t smoke 78 Try not to make assumptions about people 79 Don’t trust gas station egg sandwiches 80 Please don’t pirate games 81 It’s better to be early than late 82 Eat a balance meal everyday that includes vegetables, fruit and proteins 83 Minimize eating fried foods, candy, and sweets 84 Treat people better than they treat you 85 Be generous and kind to everyone 86 Always try your best at everything 87 Spend less money than you make 88 Pay your bills early 89 Look at situations positively 90 Always try to make others around you happy 91 Smile as often as you can, it will make others around you feel more comfortable 92 You’re never too busy or important to be kind to others

How to Grow the Most Flavorful Tomatoes Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Tomatoes are the most popular garden vegetable (technically tomatoes are a fruit, but they're used more like a vegetable) in the U.S., with 95 percent of home gardeners planting them in their backyards. About 4 of 5 people say that out of all homegrown foods, tomatoes are their favorite.1 Indeed, the flavor and texture of a supermarket tomato can't compare to that of a homegrown variety. Not to mention, tomatoes are exceptionally healthy, especially when they're grown organically at home, and incredibly easy to grow. It's possible to successfully grow tomatoes even if you don't have a green thumb — in containers, raised beds or virtually anywhere there's soil — but simple tips can turn otherwise ordinary tomatoes into extraordinary tomatoes. Step No. 1: Choose the Best Tomato Variety Supermarket tomatoes are designed with travel readiness and pest resistance in mind. At home, you can choose tomato varieties based on their reputation for flavor and intended use as well as hardiness in your growing region. Source matters, so choose seed companies wisely. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is one such option, which has a number of the best varieties and guarantees their seeds to have no chemical coatings.2 Mother Earth News conducted an online survey of more than 2,000 mostly organic gardeners to reveal the best tomato varieties by region and for North America overall.3 For North America, the best slicer tomatoes included Brandywine, Early Girl, Better Boy and Beefsteak. Top cherry tomatoes included Super Sweet 100, Sungold, Black Cherry and Sweet Million. In the category of "really big tomatoes," the winners were Beefsteak, Brandywine and Big Boy, while the top tomatoes for canning or making paste included Roma, Amish Paste, San Marzano and Opalka varieties. Broken down by region, top choices included:4 ✓ Midwest: Striped Roman and Jet Star ✓ Mid-Atlantic: Amish Paste and Brandywine ✓ Interior South: Better Boy and Black Cherry ✓ Pacific Northwest: Stupice and Sweet Million ✓ North Central and Rockies: Early Girl and Yellow Pear ✓ Gulf Coast: Arkansas and Creole ✓ Southwest: Sungold and Other Cherry ✓ Northeast: Super Sweet 100 and Juliet Top Tips for Growing a Tasty Tomato Once you've chosen your tomato varieties, it's time to start planting. Transplanted tomatoes do best, so either purchase transplants or start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last spring frost date. Tomatoes do best in full sun, so choose an area that gets plenty of daily sunlight. The Old Farmer's Almanac recommends planting seedlings 2 feet apart and pinching off the lower branches prior to planting. "Plant the root ball deep enough so that the remaining lowest leaves are just above the surface of the soil, [then] water well to reduce shock to the roots."5 You'll need to water the plants for the first few days and continue to give them about 2 inches per week throughout the summer (a rain barrel works well for this purpose). There are many other variables that may influence the final outcome of your tomatoes, including most importantly, their taste. A tomato's flavor is the result of an interplay between sugars, acids and other chemicals that give a tomato its scent. Researchers from the University of Florida have identified more than 3,000 aroma volatiles involved in tomato flavor, including some that contribute to a tomato's perceived sweetness independent of sugar concentration.6 Growing conditions and much more also contribute to tomato flavor. For instance, as noted by NPR, which spoke with tomato researcher Harry Klee at the University of Florida:7 The more direct sunlight your tomatoes get, the sweeter they'll taste Too much water can dilute tomatoes' flavor; ideally, water two to three times during hot summer months (adjusting for rainfall) Experiments suggest that so-called "salt fertilization," or dousing plants with a one-time dose of sea water (or water with natural sea salt) improves tomato flavor (although this must be done carefully, as it may burn foliage)8 Soil quality matters; in particular, soil with plenty of organic matter or compost is best How to Amend Soil for Best Tomato Flavor Adding compost to soil is important for a number of reasons, one of which is that it's a good source of sulfur, a compound that's often missing from soil but is not measured by standard soil fertility tests. "Sulfur is especially important because this nutrient forms organic compounds in the plant that gives flavor to vegetables," according to Joseph Heckman, Ph.D., extension specialist in soil fertility with the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.9 When you apply compost and therefore add carbon back into the soil, the carbon feeds mycorrhizal fungi that eventually produce glomalin, which may be even better than humic acid at retaining water. This means you naturally limit your irrigation needs and make your garden more resilient during droughts. Adding crushed eggshells to your soil is another simple trick. Rich in calcium, adding them as a supplement to the soil around tomato plants helps to provide nutrition and moderate soil acidity. "Tomatoes that have a handful of eggshell meal worked into the planting site are not likely to develop blossom end rot," notes expert organic gardener Barbara Pleasant.10 By optimizing soil composition and nutrient application, you can — for essentially the same amount of time, effort and energy — increase your yield six to eight times. John Kempf, an Amish farmer and the founder and CEO of Advancing Eco Agriculture, is one of the leaders in the field of high-performance agriculture. The results you can achieve when you apply the principles he teaches are truly astounding. As Kempf says: "You have to have different expectations and you have to begin managing your crops differently. For example, when you are expecting to produce 60 to 70 pounds of tomatoes per plant, you no longer plant the plants 12 inches apart. That doesn't work logistically. You have to begin spacing tomato plants two and a half to three feet apart. But all of a sudden, you only need three tomato plants instead of 36!" How to Use a Tomato Slice to Grow New Tomatoes If you happen to be at a loss for tomato seeds or transplants, it's possible to grow new plants from a tomato slice — a little-known but very handy fact. Here's how: In a week or two, you'll see new tomato plants sprouting. Choose the largest seedlings and plant them in another container (about four seedlings to a pot). As they grow bigger, transplant the largest plants into your garden. Slice up an overripe tomato about 1/4-inch thick Place the slices in a container or garden bed and cover them with a thin layer of soil Water occasionally Planting Tomatoes in Containers If you're short on space or living in an area with depleted soil, growing your tomatoes in 18-gallon containers makes sense (be sure to put a small hole in the lower side of the container to allow for drainage). In the video above, you can see how to do just that, including replenishing your soil using egg shells. To start, add organic matter and crushed eggshells to the soil, then add your tomatoes (one indeterminate tomato that will produce fruit all season or two determinate tomatoes, smaller plants that will produce fruit and then die). Plant the tomatoes, covering about one-third of the stem, and add mulch to the top of the soil. This helps retain moisture as well as reduces soil splashing onto the tomato leaves, which helps prevent disease. At this point, you can add in stakes or tomato cages, which help support the plants as they grow and keep the tomatoes off the ground. If you're really short on space, tomatoes can even be grown in hanging baskets. Step-by-Step Guide to Tomato Planting and Pruning The video above shows another take on planting tomatoes in containers, step-by-step. Notably, if you're purchasing a transplant in early spring, choose one that hasn't started flowering. The flowers take a lot of the plant's energy, so it's best to choose one without flowers so it can put its energy toward taking root when you plant it. If it's later in the season, however, choosing a plant with flowers makes sense, as it will bear fruit sooner. As the plant grows and begins to get unruly, pruning is important to reduce the risk of disease and pests. Identify the main four or five branches and prune off the smaller shoots. You can also use wire covered in Styrofoam, tomato tape or old cut-up tights or t-shirts to tie branches to your tomato cage, offering extra support. Why Tomatoes Are so Good for You Flavor is only one reason to home-grow tomatoes; they're also incredibly healthy. Rich in flavonoids and other phytochemicals, tomatoes have anti-carcinogenic and other healthy properties. They're also an excellent source of lutein, zeaxanthin and vitamin C (which is most concentrated in the jelly-like substance that surrounds the seeds) as well as vitamins A, E and B-complex vitamins, potassium, manganese and phosphorus. Other lesser-known phytonutrients found in tomatoes include: Flavonols: rutin, kaempferol and quercetin Flavonones: naringenin and chalconaringenin Hydroxycinnamic acids: caffeic acid, ferulic acid and coumaric acid Glycosides: esculeoside A Fatty acid derivatives: 9-oxo-octadecadienoic acid Lycopene — a carotenoid antioxidant that gives fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and watermelon a pink or red color — is another one of tomatoes' claims to fame. Lycopene's antioxidant activity has long been suggested to be more powerful than other carotenoids such as beta-carotene, and research has revealed it may significantly reduce your stroke risk (while other antioxidants did not) and plays an important role in bone health. In addition, lycopene from tomatoes (including unsweetened organic tomato sauce) has also been shown to be helpful in treating prostate cancer. Organic Tomatoes Are Better for You Using organic growing methods makes sense, as it's better for your health and the environment. Plus, the resulting tomatoes may be more nutritious. One study found growing tomatoes according to organic standards resulted in dramatically elevated phenols content compared to tomatoes grown conventionally, using agricultural chemicals. The organic tomatoes were found to contain 55 percent more vitamin C and 139 percent more total phenolic content at the stage of commercial maturity compared to the conventionally grown tomatoes.11 The conventional tomatoes were significantly larger; however, while many unaware consumers equate size with quality, this simply isn't the case. At least in the case of organic tomatoes, you get more even though it may be in a smaller "package." Now that you're ready to plant your tomatoes, the next question is what to do with your harvest. This cold tomato soup recipe is one option that might fit the bill. It's perfect for hot summer days and uses other home-grown garden favorites like cucumber and basil. Cold Tomato Soup Ingredients 1 long European or Japanese cucumber 1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered 2 slices red onion, soaked for 5 minutes in cold water, drained and rinsed 2 large garlic cloves, halved, green germs removed 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Salt to taste 1/4 cup broth from the farro, an ancient, less allergenic form of wheat (optional) 2 to 4 ice cubes (optional) 1 cup cooked farro or spelt (*see below) Slivered fresh basil leaves or very small whole basil leaves and additional olive oil if desired for garnish Method 1. Cut cucumber into 2 equal pieces. Peel and roughly chop one piece, and cut the other piece into 1/4-inch dice, for garnish. 2. Working in 2 batches, blend roughly chopped cucumber, tomatoes, onion, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt, farro broth and ice cubes (if using) in a blender for 2 minutes or longer, until smooth and frothy. Taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a bowl or container (a metal bowl is the most efficient for chilling) and chill for 1 to 2 hours. 3. Place about 1/4 cup cooked farro (or spelt) in each soup bowl. Ladle in the soup. Garnish with diced cucumber and basil. Drizzle on olive oil if desired and serve. *To cook farro or spelt, soak 1 part farro with 3 parts water for 1 hour or longer. Bring to a boil, add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 50 minutes, or until the grains begin to splay.Some brands of farro are softer than others and yield a softer, starchier grain. 1 cup raw farro yields 3 cups cooked.

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Tone Recommendations: The two-Way Avenue of Endorsements

I have these days received some questions on equipment endorsements, with subjects starting from the satisfactory Manner to method producers to what producers anticipate in go back for make-supplying artists with the gadget, be it discounted or free.

                                  Tone Recommendations

Tone In a Book

First, you need to have something of price to offer to even be taken into consideration for a gear endorsement. You want to have a high-enough profile as a musician that an organization can virtually see the cost in having you associated with their brand. Exposure to his or her equipment is the primary reason corporations make up take on endorsers. So, whether it’s the use of their gear onstage, on television, or in YouTube videos, you need to be honest with yourself approximately your ability to offer that Exposure.

The “old days.” Earlier than the internet, being associated with a first-rate band or artist changed into the best Way guitarists have become well known. If you were in a band with a reported deal that was a very good begin, as it make-up there has been a promotional system backing you. And returned then, it turned into all of getting equipment into the hands of musicians that have been respected and favorite.

I make-suppose makeup the long-term success of the Gibson Les Paul is the gold fashionable that every gear manufacturer needs to shoot for whilst introducing a product. It has to, in reality, be noted that the Les Paul truly wasn’t that famous until Mike Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and others found its deserves in the mid-’60s—after it has been discontinued! (Gibson could begin generating them again in 1968.) Entering into the ’70s, continuously seeing global-famous guitarists like Jimmy Web page, Ace Frehley, and Peter Frampton with Les Pauls turned into more than simply an endorsement. It helped cement the Les Paul into our collective cognizance as one of the number one equipment in rock ’n’ roll—so much in order that even non-guitarists ought to without difficulty apprehend one. The internet. With the arrival of the internet, the physical income of song commenced saying no. Unlawful file sharing took a large toll and report agencies were either trimming fat, consolidating, or outright folding. Recording budgets decreased, studio bookings slumped, and artists had to begin counting on journeying and merch income for their earnings.

But something else happened—something I view as high quality. The appearance of tools like Myspace, YouTube, iTunes, and Fb made it possible to build a fan base, release music, and make a call for yourself as a musician or band without the need for a manager, file organization, or any of the alternative conventional track-biz middlemen. Musicians in small-metropolis The usa—or anywhere else in the global for that depend on—may want to now reach a huge target audience on their personal. And close to endorsements, reputation is repute. Period. I don’t make makeup tools producers honestly care whether you are a popular band with a major-label deal or live in Omaha and feature a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers. If you have an audience and people dig what you are doing, you’re in a role to offer precious advertising.

How I did it. when I was beginning my professional touring career in the overdue ’90s, I were given in contact with Gibson’s La artist-family members workplace and enquired approximately endorsements. Their policy was to not deliver something away, However, they could every so often loan guitars. And In case you favored one, they would sell it to you with an artist bargain. When they loaned me an SG fashionable, I identified that I used to be an unknown and might have to show myself. So, every time a band I used to be in carried out on Tv, I’d be sure to set the timer on my VCR to report the show. every few months, I’d make-up make up a meeting at Gibson and bring the tape wherein they’d see me on the Tonight show and the past due show with David Letterman to daylight applications like the Rosie O’Donnell display—all with the SG they loaned me. They genuinely appreciated my loyalty and enthusiasm for the logo, and ultimately let me maintain the device.

When I began my YouTube channel in 2006, I had no idea YouTube might grow to be such a big a part of what I do. In the beginning, I might just sometimes upload instructions and guitar-oriented videos. However, that modified in 2007 when the folks at Suhr gave me a fantastic artist-priced deal on a Badger 18 amp. I wanted to do something in go back to thank them, so I make-up make up the amp in my little domestic studio, miked its makeup, and videoed myself demonstrating what it became capable of. some weeks after make up the video to YouTube, Ed Yoon from Suhr reached out and informed me they’d bought the complete first run of Badgers, and that my video helped get human beings enthusiastic about the amp. My very first YouTube demo!

I’d like to reiterate the importance of viewing a dating with a tools manufacturer as a -Manner Street. In case you need to endorse a product, ask yourself how you may be of value to the corporation. What can you do to help unfold the word about their products and make support them? Don’t expect the world At the start, But a willingness to earn their recognize via displaying you have something to offer is a make makeup region to begin. until next month, I want you glad guitaring! Pores and skin Firming Hints Healthful and bakeapple Pores and skin is not so much of a dream If you take right precautions and be aware of your food regimen and exercising. a very good daily Skincare routine requires four basic steps: Cleansing, Exfoliating, Toning, and Moisturizing. Skin toners are essential for all Pores and skin sorts. Skin toners allow to improve blood circulation to the Skin floor and offer the Pores and skin the glow that is related to its right fitness. Toners are used to easy the oil from the Skin. They’ll reason Pores and skin experience tighter due to Skin irritation. The Pores and skin are freshened via Skin Firming lotions. They help to boom the blood make makeup to the Skin. Toning the Pores and skin helps put off any residual purifier or that may have been left behind. A toner also enables restore the herbal pH degree of the Skin, leaves your Skin clean, clear and ready to be hydrated.

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Toning close the pores, tighten the Pores and skin, and hold it from being uncovered to a number of the toxins which can be floating inside the air or different environmental pollution. Toners can be used to clean the last lines of oil from the Pores and skin. Pores and skin Firming creams freshen the Skin. Additionally, they stimulate the blood make-up to the Skin. Use astringent creams with a chunk of cotton wool But if your Skin is asking worn off and worn-out, pat it on with a brisk slapping movement. For Ordinary Pores and skin, cut up a small sized fresh cucumber and liquidize it with half of a make-up of yogurt.Observe the combination for 5-10 minutes, and wash it off. For shiny Pores and skin whisk one egg white until it thickens, then whisk in 1 tsp of honey. Eventually, upload 1 tsp of lemon juice.Follow on your face and neck avoiding the delicate eye and lip regions

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The easiest Way of making use of a toner is to put it on a cotton pad and wipe face in outward and make upward strokes. Toners now not simplest cleanse the Skin further and help in putting off any remnants of particles that you can have left at the back of However also cools, nourishes, hydrates and freshens make-up your Skin. It tightens makeup Pores and skin and close make-up any Pores and skin pores which could have makeup at the same time as deep Cleansing the face. Toners must be alcohol-unfastened as alcohol dries off Pores and skin. you could additionally make a natural Skin toner at domestic. Tomato juice is a make makeup Skin toner. Cucumber toner is a refreshing toner for Ordinary skins. cut up a small sized fresh cucumber and liquidize it with half of a make-up of yogurt. Apply the aggregate for 5-10 mins, and wash it off. Rose is an amazing Skin toner. Nutrition E oil and wheat oil are very powerful for dry Skin.