The Consumer Salon

This dating profile was tested on an online dating agency, and achieved a 40% response rate from the girls viewing the profile. A photograph was not included in the profile. A 40% rate of response from your profile really is incredible when you’re dealing with online dating agencies, and especially where a photograph has not been submitted! In my opinion, you need knowledge to create a profile that works and gives you responses, which can come from experience, as in my case, or from getting tips from articles such as this. It’s worth the time and the effort to create a good profile, because otherwise you are wasting your time, and possibly your money, on online dating sites!

The dating profile is as follows:

The tag line: “Isn’t it time you found a man of mystery?”

The description: “With interests in martial arts, dancing, clarinet playing and flying, you could do worse than to get to know this software engineer! Cool, suave and sophisticated are the watch words. Dubbed as the next Johnny English, er… James Bond by his friends, you’re sure not to go far wrong by clicking through lots of ads to send him a message! Be quick, because he’s sure to be snapped up soon by the millions of women here!”

Let’s analyse the profile in detail:

1. The tag line is the first thing people see on this particular dating site. You want to get them to click through and view your profile. There are probably more successful tag lines than this one, but you do want yours to tie in well with your profile if possible. It’s a little like search engines. If you are searching for information, and click through to a page that didn’t contain useful information for you, what did you do? You headed straight for the back button on your browser! This is what you don’t want your profile readers to do, if you can help it.

2. Note that I have not used the word “I” in the dating profile. Instead, I talk about myself in the third person, and I’ve used the word “you” a great deal more than will be seen in your average profile. Who is the one person you’re most interested in? It’s you. If you can factor the word “you” into your profile, it will help. The reader is asking the question, “What’s in it for me?” This also makes the profile more unusual.

3. The dating profile is short, snappy, and to-the-point. Nobody’s going to read an essay, however interesting you think you are! However, if you can make your profile compelling reading, it’s OK to make it longer. There are differences of opinion here, but my personal belief is that you should not reveal too much about yourself in your profile. If your profile contains all there is to know about you, what would be the point in somebody sending you a message to learn more?

4. I have listed some interests that girls would especially find interesting. With regards martial arts, the attraction is obvious. Girls like to know their man can take care of himself! Secondly, dancing. Plenty of girls really enjoy to dance, but it’s a skill that many men won’t pluck up the courage to try, or even admit to. I actually play a wide variety of musical instruments, including the keyboard, saxophone and drums, but I think the clarinet has the most romantic and warmest sound of all these instruments. Lots of people in my position may have chosen to write about the saxophone at this point. Finally, what girl could resist a date with a pilot? I haven’t actually stated that I am a pilot, although in actual fact, I am a trainee pilot, but I could equally well be someone who enjoys travelling a lot, which would also be very attractive.

5. Many girls are not interested in geeky software engineers, but I’ve written about my hobbies that show I’m a well-rounded person who has other interests besides programming. Also, software engineers do pull in a respectable amount of money. Girls are partly looking for someone who is financially secure, and this goes some way to showing that this is the case. Finally, by writing about something that may not appeal to girls that much, I’ve given some credence to the dating profile, and have essentially suggested that I’m telling the truth in it.

6. I have added some humour to the dating profile. In case you don’t know, Johnny English is a James Bond spoof film, where the main character, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a complete idiot! The part about clicking through lots of ads is specific to a UK dating agency where you can choose not to pay for the service if, instead, you view advertising emails that they send you, and visit the advertised websites. You earn credits by doing this, and once you have enough credits, you can send someone a message. Probably the most requested trait in personal ads is a good sense of humour.

7. I am lucky to be a skilled writer. There are no spelling mistakes or problems with grammar that I am aware of in the above dating profile. If you are not very good at writing, you can quite easily check for these by writing your profile in Word for Windows, and checking spelling and grammar. Even better would be to have someone who is good at writing look over your profile for you!

You have to think like an advertiser, but you also have to try to paint an honest picture of yourself, and your profile should be a mixture of these two elements. Think what makes you attractive; perhaps ask your friends; and then write about it! Put in some of the elements that I’ve used, such as humour, and you’re sure to get results!

David Thomas is a web publisher with a wide range of interests, including psychology and dating. He runs a web site that gives free dating advice, and you can even add your own comments to the articles. It’s a great place to learn!

“Blocking and Tackling” - A quick take a some eCommerce fundamentals

eCommerce can be VERY complex. To offer a world class customer experience, retailers must incorporate technologies and functionality that exceeds rising customer expectations.

On the flip side however, site fundamentals still play a very large role in converting visitors into customers. Many retailers surprisingly lose sight of these site basics and leave significant sales on the table. This brief examines 4 quick “fundamentals” every eCommerce manager cannot afford to lose sight of.

Think Fast

Speed has become less of a problem due to the penetration of broadband, but don’t forget that a significant number of people still shop by a dialup connection. When creating a site framework, designers and e-commerce teams should ensure that the site is developed with pages loading in less than 9 seconds (over a dial-up connection).

Our recommended page size is within 60-70k in bytes. At that amount, sites will likely load within the maximum wait time of 9 seconds. Online retailers should avoid flash at all costs within their transactional site. Flash’s artistic aspects may help you establish a brand presence – but it will likely lose potential customers before they have even searched within your store.

Image is important

Images are a very important aspect of selling online and are often neglected. All product images should be of the highest resolution possible, be much larger than the product page original, and have

multiple views. Dynamic imaging capabilities can improve the user experience to an even higher level by increasing interactivity (zoom & rotate). At a minimum – retailers should have at least two additional views outside of the product page image to help build emotion.

Be my guest

Shoppers do not like being forced to do anything, especially when they are ready to open their wallets. Forcing a shopper to register on your site before purchasing is a sure way to drive a portion of your traffic to your competitors. Too often, shoppers do not have the time or the inclination to fill out a lengthy form explaining what types of information they desire.

Always offer the ability to checkout as a guest. You will see less customer leakage within the checkout process and can still offer the option to register when the sale is completed.

Make sure it’s “above the fold”

Your homepage is the most important page within your eCommerce store. It sets the initial tone for the shopping experience and offers your best promotions and products to your visitors. Users typically visually scan a web page from top to bottom and then from left to right. All critical content and navigation options should be obvious to the shopper without having to scroll down. If you have your best promotions “below the fold” – you can bet that a large percentage of browsers are not scrolling down to see it.

If you really are not protecting yourself from criminals who surf the internet then you are really asking for trouble, so find the right about malware software and get started using it to protect your Pc and your personal information. However this last feature often comes as an obstacle for the parents.

However, this last feature often comes as an obstacle for the parents. They think that keylogging their children’ online activity equals to spying and that such harsh supervision in not required for their beloved ones. Well, even if your child is very smart and kind, he or she is still a child so there is still a threat that they can make a wrong choice. And the consequences may be horrible. There are online predators that try to gather information about children in various chat rooms to take hostile actions against them in the real life. Even though children who realize they should keep their private information really private, can reveal some bits of information to a predator, who will then stick the facts together and find out what he needs. Data loggers, key loggers are just a few programs which harvest info from your computer. Winclear is the only program created specially to auto remove such spywares. Every day computer users are haunted by stories of people falling victim to identity theft. That is why every computer owner needs winclear.

Protect With Winclear :Clearing Search Field History
However, just like a coin, the Internet has two sides. This cyber world can also be used by sexual predators, cheating spouses and unscrupulous employees to promulgate their illegal or malevolent activities. Thus, we ought to do something to help ensure that our children, employees and spouses only make use of the Internet positively. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. Thus the users have to stay well informed of the present definitions of spyware adware firewall malware and other antivirus programs. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers for the last 8 years.

Winclear:
Phishers are getting smarter. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer. There are no ‘best antivirus software’ simply because each PC and user’s activity is different. Protect your computer security by using Winclear! More about Winclear here: Erase Data.

A client shared something with me during a recent session that inspired me to write this e-zine. Her husband is a contractor and was working on a bathroom for one of his clients. They asked him to build a wall in a certain place, which he did. This left him only one place to install the shower and toilet. The problem that followed when the work was complete? The shower door would not open up all the way because the toilet stopped it and, there was no other place to put the toilet!

Needless to say, my client’s husband was horrified and his mind went off in a million directions. Thoughts, I might add, that weren’t serving him or allowing him to come up with a solution for this problem. The more he struggled for a solution, the worst he felt and the further away he was getting from any kind of answer.

When he got home, his wife (my client) and her friend, were in the kitchen chatting. He told them what had happened. Although my client did her best to console him and pointed out to him that they specifically wanted the wall to be put where it was, it did little to relieve his frustration. He was responsible and that was the bottom line. But, when the friend who was visiting asked one innocent but brilliant question, the clouds opened up and the sun came shining through.

“Why don’t you find a smaller toilet?”

What a concept! Why didn’t he think of that? I mean how simple can it get? Well, as Albert Einstein once said: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Every time you are looking for an answer to something, it is so natural to believe if you think about the problem until you’re blue in the face the answer will jump out at you. Herein lies the struggle, and where there is struggle, there are very little answers, if any.

With struggle comes emotions that don’t serve you. And it’s those exact emotions that disconnect you from receiving the answer more easily and quickly from your higher Self. When you let go of the struggle you free your mind and shift your emotions, opening you up to receive a solution that is absolutely perfect.

The answers are always available to you. You just have to get quiet enough internally to hear them and detach from the problem at hand. When the question was posed to my client’s husband, he immediately knew that was the right answer. He found the perfect size toilet easily and all the elements of the bathroom ended up fitting perfectly.

Next time you’re faced with a problem, remind yourself to let go of the struggle toward finding an answer. When something isn’t coming to you easily it’s a good indication you need to leave it alone and get your mind off of it completely. Build the trust that the sooner you do this, the quicker your answer will come.

Copyright 2005, Linda Salazar all rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety as long as all credits are included.

Linda Salazar
Certified Personal Life Coach, Author, Speaker
310-375-4800
Awaken The Genie Within®
Practical Strategies for Magical Results
www.awakenthegeniewithin.com
Linda@awakenthegeniewithin.com

So, this will be continued. The expectations are set!

The one dollar and twenty two cents net earnings ($ 1,22) was (way) below the expectations. And so the stock prices (GOOG: $ 393) fell back 9% today. Both stocks quote below the level of December when the live reporting began; GOOG (-5% from $ 415) and YHOO (-15% from almost $ 41).

These are however absolute returns. The stocks are setup in a race between, but there is no benchmark set for either of them. Lets park that for the next time and we can take the Nasdaq for it (current index: 2301). Also, in order to compare (the competition between) companies you need to analyse the difference in focus. (To be elaborated…)

There are two ways in which a growing company can grow even more and there is only one way in which a non-growing company can grow; the first by buying others and by autonomous growth. Buying other companies is an interesting growth strategy, because the company can leverage on the growth of the stock price.
For companies that nearly grow cannot use that possibility.

But what happens when you buy your own competitors? This is the topic of this live reporting. Most companies have a competitive attitude towards the market, to their environment. But what about the internal market; the market inside the company?

Think about a company that is growing on behalf of buying other companies; the competition. Once these companies are absorbed, they will only support the growth of the main (global) company if these new “satellites” are moved into the same strategic direction. If the companies continue to compete internally the net benefits will be less than the sum of the parts.

If you are ambitious to the challenge that the individual parts of your company cooperate rather than compete (and this holds for both companies that are taken over, as for internal departments), than you should use different management principles.

This could start for example by withdrawing some freedom the new satellites have experienced so far, in order to avoid cannibalism and to prosper future synergies.

Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account.

There are various things than an Inland Empire company can do in order to increase their value as a company. In an economy were houses are dropping in price, gas costs 4.50 per gallon, it is more and more important for a company to set them selves aside as being more valuable than there competitors. Value building is key to being able to charge what you want.

Lets take for instance a small chain of super markets, what can they do in order to increase their value? They could make sure that there location is clean looking. This begins on the level of cleaning up your grounds, making sure that the parking lot is swept regularly. Keep shopping carts out of the middle of the road, and keep solicitors away from the front door. These are all things that would help the shopping experience improve.

Also they could put some extra effort into the in store point of purchase displays. By having nice graphic design and marketing put into the marketing materials a small Inland Empire super market could easily look like the next Trade Joes or Ralphs, but have the appeal of a small town business.

In order to get this sort of branding to occur, it is important to hire a good Inland Empire Design Firm. There are quite a few in the Inland Empire, and which one you choose is entirely up to you, but make sure that they have the experience that you need to get the job done.

So go out, fix up your image with some good quality graphic design from a good quality firm, and you will be reaping the rewards of this booming Inland Empire economy

FDA confirms some antidepressants increase suicide risk in some children. In February of 2004, two advisory committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that the FDA warn practitioners about the possible risk of suicide potential associated with antidepressant treatment in children. The information was obtained from clinical trials of medications with children, expert witnesses on suicide research, testimony from families of suicide victims, as well as from those whose children had benefited from antidepressant medication.

At a second meeting last year, improvement on antidepressant study designs and monitoring for suicide risk was discussed. Now, federal officials are preparing stronger warnings giving some antidepressants to children after new analyses back a suspected link to suicidal thoughts and behavior. FDA and Columbia University psychiatric specialists have re-evaluated 25 studies involving more than 4,000 young people and eight antidepressants. When all the results were lumped together, young antidepressant users were about 1.8% times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or behaviors than patients given dummy pills. Risk varied widely from drug to drug and among studies of the same drug, but studies of Effexor showed particular risk.

At present, changes have been made in the labels for Effexor, Serzone,Wellbutrin, Celexa, Lexapro and Paxil indicating warnings which apply to both adults and children with major depressive disorder. The warnings recommend that patients be observed closely for clinical worsening and the emergence of suicidal ideation and behavior, particularly when they begin treatment and when the dose is changed. The warnings also advise families and caregivers of patients to be alert to those and other symptoms, including agitation and irritability, and to immediately let health care providers know about them.

Despite the warnings and possible risks, it should be noted that Major Depression is a serious mental illness which often responds favorably to medication, in both children and adults.

Debra S. Gorin, M.D. received her medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She has been in private practice as a Psychiatrist for the past sixteen years in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area. Dr. Gorin treats all types of stress-related, emotional and psychiatric problems of children, adolescents, and adults. She is also a trained hypnotherapist. Visit her website (http://www.doctorgorin.com) to view her growing library of psychiatric and health-related articles. Dr. Gorin’s weblog can be viewed at http://debragorinmd.blogspot.com She can be contacted at couchdoctor415@yahoo.com

The Christmas wrapping paper mountain keeps growing higher. Shining foil, patterned paper, bows large and small, ribbons of fiber and of fabric, torn cartons and Styrofoam packing shapes, are all stacking and spilling on one side of the living room. The children are shrieking with delight. They can not open the packages fast enough.

Suddenly the frenzy is over.

Christmas dinner or Christmas breakfast or a visit to the next house is on the menu. Hurry, hurry, hurry, the holiday so long awaited will pass so fast.

Toys are strewn everywhere. Several are already damaged.

A few were passionately hoped for. The rest are the product of worried parents, grandparents, friends and relations, who fled up and down the aisles, cramming shopping carts, asking themselves repeatedly, “Is it enough? Did I get them enough?”

——-

The pizza counter assistant from the local high school smiles at the customer as she rings up his charge. “That will be $14.05,” she says cheerfully. “Great,” says her customer. “Here’s fifteen dollars, and I’ll give you a nickel as well.” He watches in amazement as she begins to perspire in the air conditioning, struggling to figure out how much change she needs to give him. At last he gently leans over the counter. “The difference between $14.05 and $15.05 is one dollar, Miss. That’ll be just fine,” he whispers. He doesn’t want to embarrass her.

——

The young couple in the BMW dealership clearly wants the car. With the features they’ve chosen, the price tag will be $53,000. After the customer representative has done his paperwork, he pushes it across the desk to them.

“You just hold that car for us,” they tell him. “We’re going to refinance our condo and come back for it.” “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asks the rep? He knows from his conversations and the paperwork that their joint income is less than the cost of the car…

——-

Alot is being reported in the general media today about how the richest society in the world is financially illiterate. “We know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” says Bruce Bradshaw, a financial advisor whose firm is headquartered in a wealthy lakes area in Southeast Wisconsin. Just look at these three little stories. Don’t you know a story just like one of these? The savings rate in this nation is at minus zero. Children who have so much often actually appreciate very little. What a sharp contrast that is to another story that a friend of mine told me recently.

She was reading women’s correspondence from the late 1800’s. A teenager was writing to her aunt thanking her for her Christmas gifts, which meant the world to her. “Thank you for the orange and the hair ribbons,” she wrote. “They made me so very happy and I will never, ever forget this Christmas and your generosity.”

“That young woman understood the value of the gifts given,” said Mr. Bradshaw. “It is my opinion that we adults MUST, MUST teach the children we love the values of a well lived life…values that carry no pricetag.”

Simone Nathan

Author of “Going for Gold after 50: An Illustrated Guide to High Probability Investing for The Plus Years”. Discover how to put the investing odds greatly in your favor at http://www.goldafter50.com

Personal, spiritual, financial, healthful life planning http://www.dreamcatcherprogram.com

If you own a home, you know mortgage products have moved beyond the basic 30 year fixed option. Reverse mortgages are one such product and here is an overview.

An Overview of Reverse Mortgages

A typical mortgage is created when a lender provides you with a lump sum amount of cash to purchase real estate. In consideration of this, you agree to repay the mortgage on a monthly basis for a defined time period at a particular interest rate. The length of the repayment period and interest rate, whether fixed or adjustable, set the monthly payment amount.

A reverse mortgage works in a similar way, but backwards. It is a fact that the baby boomer generation is moving into their retirement years. A high percentage own homes with significant amounts of equity in them. The problem, of course, is equity is a fixed asset, to wit, you can’t see it in your bank account. Traditionally, the best way to turn this hard asset into cash was to sell the property and move down to something cheaper. You then pocketed the difference in the form of cash.

Many people, however, are attached to their homes. A good portion of your life, including raising a family, may have occurred in your home and it is emotionally difficult to sell it. On top of that, tax issues may take a bite out of the cash you receive. Throw in the pure misery of attempting to move all of your valuables that have been accumulating for 15 or 30 years and selling your home starts to look like a dubious option at best.

Lenders being the ultimate capitalist, they have come up with a solution for this problem. The reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage allows you to convert much of your equity into tax-free cash without having to take on a monthly payment obligation. You don’t have to sell the home, go through the moving process or make any monthly payments to a lender.

A reversed mortgage gets its name from the payment process. Unlike a traditional home loan, a reverse mortgage requires a lender to make payments to YOU! You can choose to receive the money as a monthly payment for the rest of your life, a lump sum payment or even as a credit line. Lump sums are not recommended since home equity is typically your biggest asset, one you should be very careful with.

The amount of a reverse mortgage is dependent on a number of factors. Your age, interest rates, the appraised value of the home, the equity in it and so on all are involved in determining your options.

For many people, reverse mortgage options are of great interest. The tax free aspect of the payments is certainly a benefit.

Richard A. Chapo is with BusinessTaxRecovery.com – providing information on taxes.

As a self employed individual you may run into problems when it comes to mortgages and mortgage lenders. Mortgage lenders like to verify income before approving loans. For the self employed, many mortgage lenders want to document two years of self employment income. The documentation requested is usually your self employment tax returns. Some lenders count the profit you claimed on your taxes as your average income. Some may use a portion of your deductions and write offs; other mortgage lenders may not count this as income.

If you don’t have two years of tax returns to document your income with you can find lenders who are willing to accept two years of bank statements to verify your income. The advantage of using bank statements is you can document a higher amount of cash flow than is evident on your tax returns.

If this is not an option for you there are lenders that will allow you to state your income on a low doc or no doc mortgage loan. This can be helpful for people who are paid on a commission basis or are recently self employed. This type of loan will put a heavy emphasis on your credit score and you may be charged a premium interest rate. Interest rates are still at historic lows and the market is extremely competitive; these factors can work in your favor if you take the time to research lenders and shop around for the best deal on your mortgage.

Louie Latour has twenty years of experience in the mortgage industry as a mortgage broker.

savannah mortgage refinance

He is the owner of Mortgages for Dummies, a mortgage help site devoted to saving homeowners money with a free guidebook “Five Things You Need to Know Before Refinancing a Mortgage.” Sign up for your free guide today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com