It’s easy to see why Oliver Stone puts up with being lied to in The Putin Interviews, Stone’s new four-part documentary. He needs Putin’s indulgence to make the series. The harder question is why Putin made so much time for Stone, given that Putin has a country to run. Stone does not have much to offer, and Putin cannot help but run rings around him for three of the four interviews.
Month: June 2017
A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Good Web Content That Can Sell For $100
Not so long ago, UX Myths posted an article which demonstrates that people are not too fond of web content reading. In fact, they only read around 20% of all the articles and there’s no guarantee that they actually read everything.
So, it seems kind of unfair that you have to spend hours picking the right keywords, writing and polishing texts only to have readers simply scan through your article.
This, however, should not bother you. As long as you create worthy content and find your audience, you will have no trouble having people that will read your articles. Moreover, you will be able to easily sell this content and make money from it.
Sounds fantastic, don’t you think?
We can almost see you asking us how can you sell your writing for at least $100. And it’s a good thing because we do have an answer.
So, meet this complete guide to good web content writing.
Content is the king
The question of whether your content is read or only scanned through relies heavily on how good the content is. Of course, the style, lists, and visual aids are vital. But, unless your content is interesting and engaging, you will not draw your readers’ attention.
What makes for good content?
According to Kissmetrics, high-quality content is:
- original
- actionable
- accurate
- engaging
- though-provoking
- diverse
- easy to read
It might sound a bit overwhelming and you might be forced to spend long hours polishing and changing your text. Well, you don’t have to do that. All you need to do is spend some time learning how to create content that will grab readers’ attention.
Identify the audience
Each one of your articles needs to target the correct audience. It’s the secret of successful writing.
Once you start writing some general articles that talk about everything and at the same time about nothing in particular, you won’t be able to sell it.
People will only want to buy content that is likely to bring them traffic and, as a result, revenue. And for that, it has to speak to a specific audience on specific topics.
So, before you grab a pen or hit the keys, make sure to create a clear picture of who your audience is. Think of why they would be listening to you, what they expect to hear, what pain they have and what solutions you can offer.
Go over each one of these statements if you want to reach them with your message – and voila! – your content will easily be in demand!
Follow the latest trends
You wouldn’t want to be left behind. So, try your best to understand the latest trends these days. Know what people expect to see and what channels you can use to reach out to new people.
For instance, you need to remember that 34% of all online users only read their emails through mobile devices, states the Impact. The same applies to the blog posts on social networks.
Therefore, if you want more people to read your content, you need to optimize it for mobile devices. This means that paragraphs and sentences need to be shorter, the font should be bigger and the formatting eye-catching.
Moreover, keep in mind that more people read content via social media. Posts on Facebook should not be long, must have catchy headlines and contain many visual aids.
All in all, follow the latest trends for better results!
See Also: How To Avoid A Content Crisis When Your Deadline Is Looming
Use the right copywriting techniques
Another important thing when it comes to content writing is to use proper copywriting techniques that can bring your writing to a whole new level.
Among common methods every copywriter must know include:
- using keywords
- having one main idea per section
- adding lists and bullet points
- using sub-headings
- writing short paragraphs, sentences, and words
- inserting links to reliable sources
You will be surprised to see what results such an approach can bring! If you follow these recommendations, that 79% of users that do not read the whole article will be more likely to finish your whole piece. So, why not try it?
Find a good site to sell your articles
Thanks to the latest trends, more and more people are willing to work from home. Thus, new sites for freelancers emerge. All you need to do is to find the one that fits your expectations.
We have gathered a list of good sites where you can start your career as a freelancer.
Remember that it is good to have a good and persuasive portfolio at first so that when asked about your experience, you would be able to present good examples of your writing.
To create a portfolio, you might offer your articles to bloggers who can post them in the “Guest posts” section of their sites. You can also start your own blog on any topic you are good at or start writing good informative posts on your page on Facebook.
Good websites to check out
- CollegeHumor – It’s not hard to guess what this site is looking for from their writers. Should you have relevant content, don’t hesitate to offer it to them.
- Love To Know – It is a perfect resource for writers focusing on the financial topics, fashion, beauty, technology, and many other subjects.
- Freelance Writing Gigs – This site offers you a list of openings for writers you can check out as well as helpful tips for the beginners.
- iWriter.com – This site has fixed rates for the articles. The problem with this is that once your writing is rejected, you get no money.
- Upwork – This is a place where both freelancers and clients meet. You can find the job you will enjoy here in no time.
- Tuts+ – If you are an experienced writer, you can write for this website as well.
The list can go on and on. You absolutely have all the chances to enter the niche and make your first $100 in the nearest time. Just learn how to write well or polish your skills – and get paid for the amazing content you are crafting.
See Also: 21 Must-Read Tips To Write Better Web Content
The post A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Good Web Content That Can Sell For $100 appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Dance of Life: Amelia Gray and “Isadora”
For the pioneering dancer Isadora Duncan (1878–1927), ideas about how the world should be were not abstract but woven into the bodily art for which she is still remembered. The boldness that defined her dancing, her personal life, her politics, and her sexuality all seem decidedly ahead of her time. In an article in The New Yorker from January 1927, Janet Flanner wrote, “A decade ago her art, animated by her extraordinary public personality, came as close to founding an esthetic renaissance as American morality would allow,” and Flanner later dubbed her “the last of the trilogy of great female personalities our century produced.”
Amelia Gray’s new novel, Isadora, is set over approximately two years of Duncan’s life. In a prologue, Gray writes, “April 1913: Isadora Duncan is at the height of her power.” That’s soon to change, though; an accident in Paris will claim the lives of her two children later that same month, causing her to sink into a severe depression and deepening fissures in her personal life. Duncan retreated into seclusion in Greece for a few years, attempting to recover from the aftermath of these events. Isadora, then, is the story of a figure grappling with an unimaginable loss, and how that affects the people closest to her.
As befitting a novel whose central character upended the aesthetics of her field, this novel also marks a seismic shift in tone for Gray, whose work up until now — three acclaimed collections of short stories, plus the award-nominated novel Threats — has eluded easy categorization and pushed firmly into the experimental realm. In the case of Isadora, readers will likely encounter a disorienting sensibility at work — but it’s less to do with perceptions of realities breaking down or the impossible being translated onto the page; instead, it’s a sense of personal collapse even as aspects of the world are being remade.
Gray is far from the first writer to translate Duncan’s life into prose. Over the last century, she has shown up in literary works by a host of notable figure, a phenomenon that began while she was still alive. John Dos Passos worked aspects of her life into his USA trilogy, while Aleister Crowley’s 1923 novel Moonchild, about two camps of warring musicians, included a fictionalized version of Duncan among its cast of characters. And Duncan herself contributed to the mythmaking via her posthumously published memoir, My Life. The version that was published then was edited due to concerns over some of the material contained therein; an unedited version was released by Liveright in 2012.
Writing in the London Review of Books in 2013, Laura Jacobs called My Life “a splendid book, an inspiring book, doors and windows and eyes and arms wide open to the world.” Though My Life may have some of its own issues with full veracity. In her review of the 2013 edition in the New York Review of Books, Joan Acocella wrote that Duncan’s working process for her memoir was somewhat contentious:
For six months she worked on the book, dictating, as a rule, and usually after a number of drinks. It is reported that her first typist could be heard saying, “Miss Duncan, you don’t mean to say this . . . you simply cannot.”
Feel free to insert your favorite commentary from the long and recent debate over the porous boundary between fiction and nonfiction here. Alternately: it may well be that dance was not the only artistic discipline in which Duncan was ahead of her time.
“I drew some dialogue from her autobiography,” Gray says about the writing of Isadora. She also acknowledges that My Life is considered to have taken some liberties with the truth, which appealed to her in terms of fictionalizing Duncan’s life. “It was a nod to the reality that she wanted to create, which was this fabulous dialogue and baroque exchanges between people, that no doubt did not actually happen,” Gray says. “It ended up being a collage or pastiche of reality. But it was important to me to have it be a jumping-off point rather than the whole stage.” In the acknowledgements for the novel, she also cites two works of nonfiction: Peter Kurth’s biography Isadora: A Sensational Life and Charles Emmerson’s 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War.
Gray first encountered Duncan’s life when working on an article about “It Girls” in history. “I read about how she insisted on living her own particular life, despite what was going on around her, and I was really fascinated by that,” she says. Her research process included everything from familiarizing herself with the political, social, and cultural climates of the early twentieth century to taking a couple of dance classes. (“[I] learned that it’s incredibly difficult.”) But for all that choosing to write about circa-1913 Isadora Duncan makes for an abundance of powerful emotional moments in the novel, it also allows for numerous moments of historical foreshadowing, as the First World War and the subsequent rise of fascism in Europe both loom in the background of numerous scenes.
As Gray tells it, the sense of encroaching political dread was something that echoed her process of writing the book. “I started writing the book right after Obama’s second term began,” she says. “I had the luxury of not thinking daily about politics. And I was very surprised to see that mirrored in history.” To Duncan and her peers, the imminent war would come as a terrible surprise; 1913 hardly felt like the eve of a conflagration. “The stuff you read about in history class was all happening, but people were optimistic and living their lives and enjoying new technology.” Their conversation was about “art galleries and shows and performances opening. It started to look pretty similar to today in a way that seems pretty obvious in hindsight.”
Part of the challenge for any novelist who puts an artist at the center of their work is the question of description. “Ballet,” Gray points out, “has a ton of beautiful terms, and you can visualize them.” In writing about Duncan. whose approach to dance turned away from ballet’s rigid forms, Gray also needed to find the right language to evoke Duncan’s theories and practices. She opted to describe it in terms of “natural movement than anyone can visualize: your toe making a half circle across the floor. Anyone can see that, and most can do that,” she says. “And even if one can’t, it’s a thing that’s felt rather than being academically understood.”
For Gray, there was also an affinity with Duncan’s particular philosophy of dance. “[S]he worked so hard to create what felt like natural movement, what seemed to the audience to be spontaneous natural movement, but had a lifetime of rehearsals and practice and effort behind it,” Gray says. “Which is the same thing as writing fiction. The goal is, it comes off invisibly, and the work takes years and years.”
While Isadora may seems like an aesthetic break from Gray’s past work, she doesn’t necessarily see it that way. “I like inhabiting voices, getting really close to how somebody might think,” she says. “That was an iteration of that, which I already do. It just happened to be in a totally different sense.” Fundamentally, she describes Isadora as “the story of grief, as apprehended through an incredibly self-centered character.”
Where will her next work take her? “I find that the artistic life moves in a duet with the real. I have been trying to come closer to my self, to operate in a more thoughtful sense in my life, and in a more meditative sense with my surroundings,” she says.
“I don’t know what kind of work will come out of that. I’m finding as I move through my thirties, there’s a patience with the work that I haven’t felt before, and a patience with not-knowing that is new to me. I’m just as curious as anyone, I guess.”
The Barnes & Noble Review http://ift.tt/2sPiE4d
Millimeter Interior Design Remodel a Private Residence in Silverstrand, Hong Kong
This beautiful house, located in Silverstrand, Hong Kong, is embedded into the mountains and has wonderful sea views. It has 300 square meters of construction, and was recently remodeled by the architectural firm Millimeter Interior Design. It had been inhabited by its present owners for 15 years, but they decided that it was time to give it a new face and make it more functional and adaptable to their current..
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Sometimes you just need to get away. Here’s a brilliant sunrise…
Sometimes you just need to get away. Here’s a brilliant sunrise from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Photo courtesy of Chris Militzer.
The Facebook Organic Growth Tactic that Everybody Forgets
There is always something new in online marketing. There always seems to be a new way to promote businesses better.
So, here is something new as well.
This is going to boost your organic reach on Facebook and boost credibility. It will promote positive and direct customer service, gain immediate trust, and increase transparency among your fans.
You will get the top position at Facebook professional services.
So, what is our secret sauce?
It’s Facebook reviews, a new (or not so new), but very effective growth hacking tactic.
Recent studies have shown that 88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Now, this is something that is just mind-blowing.
In the past, if you wanted to get an honest opinion about a product, you had to trust your salesperson. This practice, however, has proven unreliable on numerous occasions. So, you had to expand your trust circle and try to find a person who already bought that product to really know its quality.
This makes the hunt for a true recommendation in the offline world almost impossible or not that efficient. And now, since everything is available online, you don’t need to do that anymore.
Why? Well, guess where all your friends hang out and where you can check their opinion about a certain business?
That’s right, Facebook.
See Also: 4 Good Reasons For Marketing With Facebook
First, let’s get into consumer behavior and habits.
The data behind user recommendations and reviews
71% of people say that they trust Facebook reviews more than any other website. Business websites have 68% user trust while other online communities have 66% trust rating.
These data show that businesses need to focus on utilizing Facebook reviews as a primary tool for representing their trustworthiness. That’s right.
Facebook reviews, before Yelp and even Google.
Here are the reasons why:
- All of your friends are already on Facebook and you trust them the most.
- You can not delete a bad Facebook review so the reviews are relevant.
- There is an open and direct communication between the brand and the customer so you can see how a certain brand responds to questions, user demands, and even bad reviews.
So, use these things to your advantage.
Think about how much one happy customer can mean for your brand. Only one satisfied client can influence all of his friends and bring huge value to your business.
Furthermore, take a look at what is shown when a user opens a business on Facebook mobile. We used to see the likes of the page first.
But, they do not matter anymore. What matters now are the Facebook reviews.
In addition, here is another staggering fact.
According to a study, 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that has generated positive Facebook reviews. That is a huge number and it should leave you in no doubt whether or not you should activate and use Facebook reviews.
But, what about after your customer finds out about your business and makes a purchase?
Well, we hope you did make him/her satisfied since 66%of consumers will share their experience on Facebook. This includes their opinions, comments, and thoughts about how your brand interacted and helped them.
The customers will be your best advocates and promoters. There is no ad that will be better than this!
Activate Facebook reviews now
This is what you will need to do:
- Open your Facebook page and navigate to the “Settings” section.
- Click “Edit page”, find the Reviews tab and click “Add Tab”
That’s it! The Reviews tab will be visible on your Facebook Page and you can start accepting reviews from your Facebook fans.
Make sure your customers know that they can post a review on your Facebook page
Do not hide this option.
You’ll have to expose your company to the open Internet and accept the 5-star or 1-star review- no matter what.
So, tell your customers that they have the option. You want more reviews, just ask.
Believe me, satisfied customers will definitely respond and will write few nice words about your business. The dissatisfied are way quicker, though.
The best ways to promote this option is to add it on your website, alongside your social media buttons or, better, on your checkout or ‘thank you’ page.
If your business is offline, especially relevant are the reviews you will receive from customers that bought your product, went home, used it and came back to your Facebook page to post a review.
To make this process happen more smoothly, put some incentive for each purchase. Give your customers discounts for their next purchase or some incentives that will motivate them to happily write a review for you.
Be open and transparent
This is the best tip that I have. You will receive good and bad reviews. Everyone has them.
What matters the most is people seeing that you are caring and committed to giving the best customer support in the world. Keep in mind that this can be seen by everyone!
Imagine this scenario:
One customer gives you a 1-star rating for some reason. You respond, ask for more information and assist in making sure you fix the problem immediately.
What do you think is the ending of this scenario? Let me tell you.
The customer comes back, writes a new review or edits the 1 star one with a comment about the AMAZING help he received.
BOOM!
You might say that this is a bedtime story, but it’s not. It can be a wonderful, success story of your business. Just try it. It’s even better than someone giving you a 5-star rating right away.
If your customer is thinking about a product and he sees this, he will immediately know that he will be taken care of and that final doubt will be gone.
Do you need another tip for responding to a Facebook review?
You don’t have to respond from the Facebook page account. The company’s CEO can personally respond to the reviews. This gives an additional sense of stability, responsiveness and excellent customer support. Here is an example.
The Co-Founder responds with a “Thank You Card” to a customer review on the EmbedSocial official Facebook page. Cool, right?
Get better local SEO with Fаcebook reviews
If you think I am done explaining how rewarding Facebook reviews can be- well, I’m not. Here are 5 reasons why and how Facebook Reviews can greatly improve your SEO rating.
1. There is no marketing strategy for better SEO than consumer content! It will do wonders!
2. Customers provide an army of keywords, links, and titles that you actually need
3. Can’t find which long-tail keywords or specific phrases to use? Guess who knows? Your customers!
4. Reviews will boost your SMO (Social Media Optimization)
5. Negative reviews do NOT hurt your SEO rating. On the contrary, they can actually help!
See Also: The Future of SEO – Predictions and Premonitions That Will Dominate 2017
To sum up
Start using Facebook reviews today! It will help your customers, increase your Facebook reach, improve your SEO rank and, most importantly, improve your business!
The post The Facebook Organic Growth Tactic that Everybody Forgets appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Apartment Located in Moscow, Russia Designed by Alekseem Rozenbergom
This apartment, located in Moscow, Russia, consists of 131 square meters and was designed by the architect Alekseem Rozenbergom. It has a non- traditional design where the three main areas—the living room, dining room and kitchen—are combined. Black arches predominate in its design and give it a dynamic and very personal touch. Its design is characterized by a palette of gray and sober colors, in which the use of wood..
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Stunning Seaside Resort on the Balinese Island of Gili Trawangan
This beautiful villa welcomes its visitors with its comfortable and cozy interiors, its infinity of recreational activities, as well as its wonderful sea views. It is located on the Balinese island of Gili Trawangan, forming part of an archipelago of three small islands – Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air – located on the northwest coast of Lombok, Indonesia. It was built with the environment in mind, and the..
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Time to Break the Cocoon! 5 Great Tips For Finding Motivation
We have big dreams and we make bigger plans to fulfill them. But, as time passes, we tend to lose motivation and enthusiasm in working towards our dreams and passions. Eventually, we become more like a puppet who works from 9 to 5 just to make enough money for survival.
Does this sound like you? Are you simply existing and not living your life? Has life’s ups and downs taken away the spark from you?
It’s high-time to kick off the negativity and stress that have been controlling your life. It’s time to break the barriers, come out of the cocoon and win control over your life.
Pen down your discomforts and fears now
What is draining your motivation? Is it the next presentation that you have to deliver at work? Or the inability to get along with the others in the office?
Don’t let the fear of failure or anxiety of the future overpower you. Instead, face them with valor and courage.
However, before you can actually work on them, you’ll have to identify your fears. You’ll have to write down your anxieties, challenges and setbacks in life on a piece of paper. Another way is to draw a circle and write your comforts inside it. Your fears and discomforts, meanwhile, should be outside the circle. This will help you realize your actual position at work.
Once you do this process, you will become aware of your shortcomings and weak points. You’ll be able to address them and minimize their effects in your life.
See Also: How To Overcome Negative Emotions Using 5 Writing Techniques
Begin with baby steps
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, the greatest things in the world have been accomplished with small steps. In essence, this means you don’t have to do everything at once. All you need to do is to take the baby step right now!
Take this, for example:
If you have been thinking of going to the gym, then just make the commitment to fulfill it by tonight or tomorrow morning. Don’t overburden yourself with the thought that you have to go to the gym for the next three months. If you have fallen in the habit of procrastinating things at work, then take a pledge to complete today’s work. Don’t make a week’s schedule and lower your enthusiasm.
Start afresh and start small. Once you start taking small steps, you will find your momentum building up and things will start falling into place gradually. Taking a little step towards your goal is the first sign of success. It will take away the fear, sense of insecurity and anxiety in you.
Re-visit your interests and passions
If you are too tired of working in the same pattern, then it’s time to kick off the boredom.
Remember the day you started working in your current organization?
There must have been something that made the job exciting for you. With the right approach, you’ll be able to restore that motivation.
It’s time to revisit your diary where you have written your interests and passions about your work. Identify those moments that made you feel excited the most about your job. And find what kept your energy high during those days.
For some people, playing with the code is fun. For others, a traveling job is all they want. Whatever your passion is, take a moment and find it.
The purpose of recognizing your passion is just to make you aware that life has a greater purpose than a particular event or job. You can still achieve your dreams or excel at workplace no matter what stage of life you are in.
Don’t rest until you are done
The key to making the most of your day is to work and work a little more till you are dead tired. Often, people waste a little bit too much of time in planning and then analyzing it.
In order to come out of your comfort zone and kill your fears, you just need to stretch a little beyond your capabilities and continue to work until you reach your 100%.
But, remember, don’t be dishonest with yourself. You are well-aware of your own capability and strengths and you can definitely do wonders. But, you will have to be true to yourself and keep pushing your limits.
Meditate to realize your real potential
“No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation- Walter Bagehot”
Meditation is the way to increase productivity at work, rekindle that lost enthusiasm and keep yourself motivated. You cannot win outer battles at work with an agitated mind. Thus, meditation is the secret recipe to keep yourself motivated and happy. It will help you channel your energy towards a positive direction and boost your confidence.
Take some time to meditate for 15 to 20 minutes twice in a day and keep rolling and rocking.
See Also: Benefits Of Meditation: How You Can Change Your Life In 10 Minutes
Each of us has that positivity inside us which serves as the source of our great ideas and accomplishments in the world. All we need is to exert more effort in finding motivation so we can achieve our ultimate goals and passion in life.
The post Time to Break the Cocoon! 5 Great Tips For Finding Motivation appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
Sig Nordal 