"Life With Woody" 10 inspirational quotes than can improve yourself

It might take a little coffee or probably a few rounds of beer or any other booze you could get your hands on when it comes to relaxing after a hard day's work. Well, yeah I'm guilty about that one as well, unless I'm caught dead wearing a lampshade over my head after a few rounds of vodka… half-naked! Okay, bad example and I apologize to everyone reading this after getting nightmares about me in that state of drunken stupor.

Just don't ask how it happened, please.

But what's really interesting is that how do people go through the usual part of life when faced with vein-popping stress? I mean, the new age thing like Zen or yoga is one of the good things and it actually works. Is there room for the intellectual side of people who can actually smell the roses-in-a-can while on the move? It kind of had me thinking that there really must be something in this 'mind-over-matter' thing.

Humor is indeed the best medicine there is whenever you are. I mean anyone can pay good money to listen to a comedian just to make you wet your pants after laughing so hard. Despite of what's been happening, and to those who has gone though the ordeal, it's better to just laugh while facing the troubles with a clear mind than anger with a clouded vision. One of my favorite celebrities of all time may have to be Woody Allen. Now this is one guy who gives you the in-your-face bluntness that he pulls out with gusto, even without even trying. You can talk just about anything with a man, and he's bound to mock the subject and you'll end up laughing rather than being upset about it.

Woody Allen has this to say:

1. "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." It sounds good to me, I mean the practicality of all things does involve money but it doesn't have to take an arm and a leg to get it.

2. "I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government." 'Nuff said.

3. "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?" This happens to be one of the classic ones. I mean the issue about life's little problems isn't all that bad, until 'he' shows up.

Sure, relationships can get complicated, or does have its complications that probably any author about relationships is bound to discover it soon. We follow what our heart desires, unless you're talking about the heart as in the heart that pump blood throughout your body.

4. "Love is the answer, but while you're waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty interesting questions." And if you want more, just keep on asking!

5. "A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me, she said 'no'." It sounds, 'practical', I think.

And when it comes to everyday life, he really knows how to make the best out of every possible scenario, and it doesn't involve a lawsuit if he strikes a nerve.

6. "Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats." I never had a boat in my bathtub before. Just staring at it while soaking in hot water makes me seasick already.

7. "I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens." If it rains, it pours.

8. "I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." It could get worse when you're guzzling on beer… or mouthwash, and it happened to me once!

9. "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." At least he doesn't smite us with lightning, and I'm thankful for that.

And despite of what may happen to all of us in the next ten, twenty, or even thirty years, I guess we all have to see things in a different kind of light and not just perspective. I can't seem to imagine life without any piece of wisdom that could guide us. Whether we're religious or not, it takes more courage to accept your fears and learn how to deal with them is all that matters when it comes to even just getting along.

And to sum things up, here is the last nugget of wisdom to go by… however, whenever, and wherever we may be.

10. "The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have."

111 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIRECT MAIL RESPONSE

1. Mail to your customers more often. If you are now mailing

four times a year increase the frequency of your mailings to size

or eight times. If you increase your mailings by 25% you should

increase your sales by at least the same percentage.

2. Use a P.S. on every direct mail letter. The P.S.S is second in

importance only to the headline.

3. Don't forget to thank your customers for their orders by

enclosing a message with the orders...and enclose another

merchandise offer with the "thank you" message.

4. Vary your mailing format - use self-mailers, Lettergrams,

computer letters, envelope formats, catalogs...change your format

so that prospects don't get in the habit of recognizing your

mailing piece.

5. Ride on the coattails of current events (energy crisis,

elections,, cold winters, etc.) When inflation increases, have an

"inflation-cutting" special, etc.

6. Look for other products you can successfully sell to your

customers.

7. Include more offers in your mailing package than you already

are.. Study the mailings firms such as the Haband Company who

pack a volume of material into their envelopes and see if you can

adapt the idea to your own mailings.

8. Think about using simulated handwriting for emphasis in your

letters. Occasionally test a handwritten letter...particularly if

you're soliciting funds for charity.

9. Try an unusual format that you've never used before.

10. Test selective distribution to your list. Maybe only a

portion of your list should receive more mailings. Other mailings

should go to the entire list.

11. Stimulate off-season business by asking for it.. If you

normally have a summer slump have a special "summer sale" mailing

in the summer. You can boost your sales any time of the year you

need a boost through effective direct mail.

12. Word your offer differently - put a unique twist into it by

offering a baker's dozen instead of a regular dozen.. Or sell 110

instead of 100.

13. You can even add a smell to your envelopes. Check with your

envelope manufacturer about special inks that can be used to make

your envelope "smell" the way your product does.

14.. Change the size of your mailing package frequently to create

interest and appeal.

15. Test credit terms.. You'll find that Master Charge or Visa

Bank Americard will result in larger orders than cash terms.

16. Let people "peek" into your envelope with multiple windows

on the face and back.

17. Test buck slip routing for addressing...and use it to reach

multiple prospects.

18. Try using illustrated letterheads and test them against

conventional letterheads.

19. Put a simulated check into your mailings to emphasize a

discount..

20. Consider using stamps, coupons, early bonuses, etc.

21. Pack order starters - a special offer that will get a person

started on his order - into your catalog..

22. If you can sample your product, test including a sample in

your mailing..

23. Make more sophisticated use of your own list and the lists

you rent by looking for those segments of people in a list who

buy.. and forget the rest of them.

24. Test simulated telegrams. Mailgrams, other imitation formats

similar to the Mailgram.

25. Test a tiny letter with a tiny pencil accompanying it. Test a

jumbo letter in your envelope...maybe even mail it in a jumbo

envelope.

26. What is your "wastebasket readability factor" and what can

you do to get people to read your mailing piece when it is

sitting on somebody else's desk... or has already landed in

his/her waste basket?

27. Put a wraparound on your catalog. It gives you two covers

instead of one.

28. Test your catalog mailing and mailing dates.

29. Use teaser copy on your outer envelope and test its vs a

blind envelope.

30. Acknowledge orders promptly, and include additional sales

literature with your acknowledgement.

31. Periodically send a statement to your customer that shows

he's been missed - even if he doesn't owe you any money.

32. Follow up inquiries promptly and persistently. Make it easy

to buy from you by giving the inquirer a return envelope to send

his order back in.

33. Tie in with a timely topic (current events, special problems,

etc.).

34. Get to know your printers - not printer, printers. Every

direct marketer needs different types of printers with different

capabilities to come up with different printed pieces.

35. Test multiple premiums with your offer and give your prospect

a choice of the one (s) he prefers.

36. Put your letterman on your team - make your best selling

products sell most..

37. Remail your mailing to your best customers three or four

weeks later.. You'll do 60-75% as well on the second mailing as

you did on the first.

38. Look for creative new ways to increase catalog sales.

39. Remember the five basic rules - test, test, test, test, test.

40. Don't be afraid to run without a test if your gamble is

small.

41. Use good judgement in planning your direct mail and you won't

go wrong.

42. Use a bounce-back package enclosure to get an extra order.

43. State your guarantee in the strongest possible terms..and

state it often. 44. Spotlight your message on your envelope and

lead your reader inside.

44. Spotlight your sales points in your headline.

45. Start your message on your envelope and lead your reader

inside.

46. Feature last-minute merchandise on the back of your envelope

or on a separate flier enclosed in your package.

47. Offset delays in mail delivery by extending cutoff dates.

48. Cultivate customer with special savings, bonuses or premiums.

49. Use lightweight paper to save postage and allow you to put

more in your envelope.

50. Use a "Publisher's Letter" to give the prospects an extra

reason for buying.

51. Put distinctive differences in your catalog to add interest.

52. Check dimensions of your envelope to make sure they'll

conform to new postal requirements.

53. Stimulate action by featuring a time limit at the top of your

letter.

54. Show how merchandise solves problems and enhances the stature

of the user among his contempriaries.

55. Use a full-view envelopes to display attractive literature.

56. If buying your product spells numerous benefits, spell them

out by number for maximum impact.

57. Increase customer goodwill and purchases with advance notice

of sales.

58. Use stock photos for much less than the cost of making

original shots.

59. Cultivate customers with special catalog offers directed

exclusively to customers.

60. Use unusual techniques to get your customer to open your

envelope.

62. Dramatize big news by using a big format to present your

message.

63. Can you use the inside of your merchandise carton as part of

your media mix?

64. Increase the impact of your advertising with clip art- at

minimum expense.

65. Express appreciation to your customers for their past

business! And enclose some extra sell material with your thank

you message..

66. Use match-up and comparison tables to increase selection ease

and accuracy.

67. Offer premiums that are unusual.

68. Include smart-selling stuffers in envelopes, packages, etc.

70. Update your catalog with supplements or newsletters. 71. Use

a second letter in the package to increase the impact.

72. Use a second letter in the package to make a second offer...

73. Notify the customer if there is going to be a delay in

fulfillment - and include additional merchandise offers with the

notification.

74. Test post card deck mailing as an inexpensive method to get

leads/customers.

75. Put an unusual message on the outside of your envelope.

76. Put an alternative offer in the reply envelope to create

bonus sales.

77. Try a massive display of stamps on the outside of your

envelope to emphasize a fact.

78. Tray a 3-dimensional package for unusual effect.

79. Tray a pre-holiday mailing to invite a former customer back.

80. Try a customized response vehicle to get your customers to

respond.

81. Offer to provide specific benefits to the customers.

82. Offer potential gift lists to both customers and prospects.

83. Use customer gift lists as future mailing lists for your

prospecting..

84. Test selling your product by phone.

85. Use an in-watts line to get more orders.

86. Call on your business reply order by some other name! Such

as, trail order card.

87. Can psychographics help you build sales from neighbors of

your customers?

88. A double coupon in your package could double your response.

89. A reply envelope plus loose stamp might be more effective

than a B.R.E.

90. If a postcard can tell your story ...test it.

91. If a postcard's too small, step up to a self-mailer.

92. Follow-up your prospects inquiries promptly with hard sell

material.

93. Make the space on the inside of your mailing envelope work

for you by using it to sell your product.

94. Prove to your prospect that your free gifts are really free.

95. Combine promotion with your shipping and service information.

96. State your guarantee boldly, in strong words .. and repeat it

often.

97. Teat allowing mailer in your envelope and you in his..

98. Test simulated gram formats.

99. Develope a distinctive personality for your business.

100. Make a major anniversaries a plus factor in your promotion..

101. Have your reply envelope emphasize your prompt shipping

service..

102. Present outstanding testimonials in a big way for big

impact.

103. Never stop selling the advantages of direct marketing to

your customer.

104. Consider using special formats to make ordering easier.

105. Test different length trial periods.

106. Promote seasonal products in off-season times - and offer

alternatives.

107. Ask customers their opinion of a proposed new product.

108. Test the plastic record message in your mail formats.

109. Us e the negative to accentuate the positive.

110. Use simulated handwriting in your messages. And just like

every good direct mail package should offer something : a little

extra" to the prospect here is one more a total of 111 ideas - to

add to the list.

111. Use the telephone aggressively - both outgoing and incoming

- to stimulate business, customer activity and salesmen's

Ways To Improve Sales Through Your Website

Anyone who has been marketing online knows that the lifeblood of a business is the traffic of a site. More visitors equal more sales. However, here are some ways that you can tweak your sites with to improve sales without the need to get more visitors.

The first method is to weave in your personal touch in your sales message. Nobody wants to be sold to by a total stranger, but many people will buy what their close friends recommend to them. If you can convince your audience that you are a personal friend who has their best interest at heart, they will be convinced to buy your products. Remember to speak to an individual in your salesletter, not to your whole audience.

The second method is to publish testimonials and comments from your customers. A good idea would be to publish both good and bad comments; that way prospects will be really convinced that these testimonials are real. When prospects see testimonials on your website, they will have the confidence to buy from you because human beings follow the herd mentality; when others have bought and proven it authentic, they will jump on the bandwagon and buy too.

Use visual representations for the problems and solutions that your product offers. Not everyone will read your text copy from the head to the tail, but most people will pay attention to images on your website.

Offer quality bonuses to accompany the product. When you offer bonuses that complement your product, your prospects will feel it's a very good deal and it would be stupid to miss it. Be sure to state the monetary value of your bonuses so that people will be even more compelled to grab your good bargain.

Lastly, ask for the sale! Many people entice their prospects with the benefits of their product, sell to them with stories of how it has solved many problems, even offered killer bonuses but forget to ask for the sale. Give a clear instruction on how to buy your product (e.g. "click the button to buy now!").

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How Watching TV Can Help You Improve Your Beauty Knowledge

Are you interested in learning about beauty trends? If you are, you may have tried using the internet and you may even spent money on beauty books or beauty magazines, but have you ever thought about just turning your television on? If you have yet to take the television approach, you may want to think about doing so.

When it comes to learning more about popular beauty trends, there many individuals who wonder exactly how turning on the television can help. Well, if you are like many other Americans, there is a good chance that you have cable or satellite TV. If you do, this means that you often have access to a large number of channels. One or two of those channels may be referred to as beauty or fashion channels. These types of channels are where you may want to go to learn more about the latest in beauty or fashion tends. You may also find shows that help you learn how to properly apply your makeup and so forth.

In addition to television channels and shows that are devoted to fashion and beauty, you may also want to think about tuning into an entertainment show. Entertainments shows are shows that often cover the entertainment industry. It is not uncommon to find a popular celebrity being interviewed or shown on an entertainment show. As you likely already know, celebrities are often well known for their good tastes in fashion, as well as their beauty. By watching an entertainment show, you may able get a good look at some of you today’s hottest celebrities and the latest fashion and beauty trends they are sporting. In addition to traditional entertainment shows, you will also find that many news channels also have a small entertainment session.

It may even be a good idea to just sit down and start watching a television show or a movie, particularly one that is new or was just recently released. As it was previously mentioned, celebrities are often known for looking their best at all times, especially when they are on screen. If are looking for new ways to spice up your appearance, beauty wise, you may to examine some of the many fashions and beauty products that are shown your television screen. In a way, this won’t even seem like research to you. It is fun to watch TV and kind of amazing when you think about everything that you can learn from it.

In your search for beauty and fashion related programming, you will likely also come across infomercials. These are paid advertising slots. In addition to just selling a beauty product, many infomercials contain multiple product reviews and recommendations from others. While it is nice to find neat beauty products on your television screen, you need to remember that there are no guarantees. Infomercials are a great way to find and possibly buy beauty products, but they may not necessarily be the best at helping you understand the latest in today’s beauty trends.

As you can see, there are a number of different ways that you can use the television to help you learn more about beauty trends, as well as other beauty related issues. This is nice as television is likely something that you already have; therefore, no extra expenses need to be incurred. All you need to do is set aside a few minutes of your time, grab the remote and you should be good to go.

5 Ways Auto Navigation Systems and GPS Technology Improve Lives

Global positioning technology is used in most of today's GPS and auto navigation systems. The truth of the matter is that this technology while once reserved for the wealthy is now trickling into mainstream America. We are seeing this technology in cell phones in order to assist with 911 calls. We are seeing this technology in automobiles in order to track and possibly retrieve them if they are stolen. We are also seeing this technology used to help lost animals find their way back to the homes of their families. The truth of the matter is that there are many ways in which GPS technology is currently making our lives easier.

Below you will find a great number of uses for GPS and auto navigation system technology that currently exist. Even more amazing is the fact that new discoveries for these technologies are being made every day and over time there will be an even greater variety of methods to utilize this technology for the benefit of society.

1) Keep track of teens and children by using services such as uLocate Communications. This technology allows you to track members of your family by their cell phones. With the click of a button on your cell phone or simply tracking from home via the Internet you can find all members of your family that are carrying their cell phones. The benefits of this feature to your peace of mind alone are well worth the monthly subscription fee, which can be as low of $4 a month depending on which service you choose.

2) Keeping track of the elderly. This is especially useful if you have a loved one that suffers from Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. Technologies are improving continuously and will hopefully reach a point very soon where ID bracelets much like the medic alert bracelets will allow GPS tracking that is even more reliable for the elderly. The relief of knowing that you can find your loved one even if he or she has wondered off and forgotten how to get home is something that you really can't put a price tag on.

3) Lost pets. I mentioned this earlier but it is worth repeating. The technology exists to have your pets implanted with chips or even to have chips placed in collars that allow you to readily locate your precious pet without spending endless hours of searching and whistling. The real beauty of this is that you won't have to spend hours comforting sad children; you can take them to the computer and let them help you track Fido.

4) Finding shortcuts along your route to work, job interviews, important meetings, conventions, and personal appointments. This is great if you are running into a time crunch or worse need an alternate route as the result of a traffic jam or road closure.

5) GPS technology allows security and safety in many cars that utilize On Star technology as well. This technology cannot only track the location of your car but also be used to call for help in emergency situations. This device is activated by the push of a button and can even be used by small children in emergency situations.

There are many great ways that GPS and auto navigation systems and technology are being used each and every day to improve our lives and provide peace of mind. The methods mentioned above are simply icing on the cake.

Improve Usability of Your Website

Building Your Mailing List with Downloads

A mailing list is the lifeblood of your online business. The old adage "the money is in the list" cannot be true enough -- if you had a targeted list of prospects to contact each time you have a new product, you will be able to save a lot of effort by marketing it to your existing list of targeted prospects.

You can actually build up a targeted list of prospects that are interested in your products by offering a relevant download on your website. For example, let's take a look at a very good example -- apple.com. When you download the free iTunes and Quicktime software from their site, they will ask you to fill in an optional name and email form so that they can send you offers on songs that you can purchase via -- guess where -- iTunes!

In reality, you do not need to offer such a "heavyweight" download such as a full-feature software like iTunes. You can attract prospects equally well with some quality freebies such as a simple report, a free wallpaper, and so on. The important thing is that your download offers enough value for the prospect to be willing to give away his/her own email address to get it.

However, slapping together a simple download and putting a link on your website won't be enough to attract qualified prospects. You will have to do some homework in order for your lead-generating mechanism to work well for you.

First of all, you must place your download form prominently on your website. Preferably, dedicate a page to it and link to that page from every other page of your website. That way, there is no way your visitors cannot find the download page, and when they do, you'll get some of them converted into your prospects!

Also, you have to put a little effort into promoting your download. Explain and elaborate on the values of the download, and why your visitors should download it. You might think why would anyone want to pass on a freebie, but most of your visitors would be too lazy to take the effort to download it because most of their downloads just sit on the hard disk collecting virtual dust. It is hence important to show your visitors why they should download your freebie.

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Improve Your Sales with Auto Responder Improvements

Improve your marketing and sales with some auto responder Improvements. Try some of these:

1. Publish free reports to send via your auto responder. The reports should be related to your business or web site & contain info, ads and links to your sites. People love getting freebies.

2. Collect vital customer satisfaction information by publishing a survey to send via auto responder to those who sign up on your site in exchange for a free eBook, software or trial period at your membership site. This type of information will help you understand their needs, likes & dislikes better.

3. Instead of answering each customer question that is e-mailed to you, publish "Frequently Ask Questions" and make them available via auto responder to those who sign up. To save time and support headaches.

4. Instead of publishing all of your customer testimonials or endorsements on your website, publish only a few there. And set up an auto responder form that invites visitors to receive a complete list via your. Give them a power-packed list; it's more effective to include all of them.

Mix and match. Change your auto responder strategy to change your auto responder results!

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Improve Usability of Your Website

No matter how brilliant your website design is, if it is hard to reach the content of your site then your site is as useful as an empty shell. Here are some tips to improve the usability of your website to ensure it serves its functions optimally.

The first method is to make sure the typography of your content is suitable. If you have large blocks of text, make sure to use CSS to space out the lines accordingly. The longer a single line of text is, the greater the line-height of each line should be. Also, make sure the font size of your text is big enough to read easily. Some sites have 10-pixel-tall text in Verdana font; while that may look neat and tidy, you have to really strain your eyes to read the actual text.

Make it easy for visitors to find content that they want on your site. If you have thousands of articles on your site and a certain visitor wants to find one single article from that pile, you have to provide a feasible means to enable visitors to do that without hassle. Be it an SQL-driven database search engine or just a glossary or index of articles that you have, providing such a feature will make sure your visitors can use your site with ease.

Ensure that your site loads fast if you do not want to lose visitors. Most internet users will leave a website if it doesn't load completely within 15 seconds, so make sure the crème de la crème of your website is delivered to the visitors as soon as possible to retain their attention.

Last of all, test each and every link on your site before it goes online. There is nothing more effective in tarnishing your professional image than broken links, so be very careful about that.

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5 Ways To Improve Your Adsense Earnings

If webmasters want to monetize their websites, the great way to do it is through Adsense. There are lots of webmasters struggling hard to earn some good money a day through their sites. But then some of the “geniuses” of them are enjoying hundreds of dollars a day from Adsense ads on their websites. What makes these webmasters different from the other kind is that they are different and they think out of the box.

The ones who have been there and done it have quite some useful tips to help those who would want to venture into this field. Some of these tips have boosted quite a lot of earnings in the past and is continuously doing so.

Here are some 5 proven ways on how best to improve your Adsense earnings.

1. Concentrating on one format of Adsense ad. The one format that worked well for the majority is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This same format have the tendency to result in higher CTR, or the click-through rates. Why choose this format out of the many you can use? Basically because the ads will look like normal web links, and people, being used to clicking on them, click these types of links. They may or may not know they are clicking on your Adsense but as long as there are clicks, then it will all be for your advantage.

2. Create a custom palette for your ads. Choose a color that will go well with the background of your site. If your site has a white background, try to use white as the color of your ad border and background. The idea to patterning the colors is to make the Adsense look like it is part of the web pages. Again, This will result to more clicks from people visiting your site.

3. Remove the Adsense from the bottom pages of your site and put them at the top. Do not try to hide your Adsense. Put them in the place where people can see them quickly. You will be amazed how the difference between Adsense locations can make when you see your earnings.

4. Maintain links to relevant websites. If you think some sites are better off than the others, put your ads there and try to maintaining and managing them. If there is already lots of Adsense put into that certain site, put yours on top of all of them. That way visitor will see your ads first upon browsing into that site.

5. Try to automate the insertion of your Adsense code into the webpages using SSI (or server side included). Ask your web administrator if your server supports SSI or not. How do you do it? Just save your Adsense code in a text file, save it as “adsense text”, and upload it to the root directory of the web server. Then using SSI, call the code on other pages. This tip is a time saver especially for those who are using automatic page generators to generate pages on their website.

These are some of the tips that have worked well for some who want to generate hundreds and even thousands on their websites. It is important to know though that ads are displayed because it fits the interest of the people viewing them. So focusing on a specific topic should be your primary purpose because the displays will be especially targeted on a topic that persons will be viewing already.

Note also that there are many other Adsense sharing the same topic as you. It is best to think of making a good ad that will be somewhat different and unique than the ones already done. Every clickthrough that visitors make is a point for you so make every click count by making your Adsense something that people will definitely click on.

Tips given by those who have boosted their earnings are just guidelines they want to share with others. If they have somehow worked wonders to some, maybe it can work wonders for you too. Try them out into your ads and see the result it will bring.

If others have done it, there is nothing wrong trying it out for yourself.