It? n?t hard t? r??k?n ?f kids indoor activities th?t children ??n g?t ?n w?th independently ?n a rainy day. Isn?t th?t wh?t computer games ?nd DVD?s ?r? f?r? B?t wh? n?t ??? a rainy day ?? ?n defense t? n?t d? ?n? work yourself, leave th? housework, turn ?ff th? TV ?nd computers f?r a wh?l? ?nd bring ???r household together f?r ??m? quality family tree entertainment? Here ?r? several fun rainy day activities f?r moms ?nd dads t? d? w?th th??r kids ?t home, guaranteed t? m?k? th? next rainy day a special one f?r ?ll th? family tree:
Baking. One ?f th? best kids indoor activities ?? t? bake colorful cakes together; particular t? ?l??? a smile ?n ???r children?s faces. U?? a basic cake recipe fr?m a cook book ?r th? internet ?nd l?t ???r children d? ?? much ?f th? measuring ?nd mixing ?? possible, cooking ?? supposed t? b? messy! Wh?n ???r cakes h??? cooled, spread w?th icing ?nd h??? fun decorating w?th pretty sweets, sprinkles ?nd edible glitter. Scrumptious!
Reading. Y?? know th?t t?l? book w?th loads ?f pages wh??h ??? keep putting ?ff reading t? ???r child b?????? ?t? ?? long ?nd w?ll take ages t? read? Well, today ?? th? perfect day t? read ?t. Snuggle up together ?n th? sofa ?nd ??? a different voice f?r each character t? m?k? ???r small one laugh. G? ?n, don?t b? shy ? ???r child w?ll l?k? ??? f?r ?t!
Dance routine. It? simple t? feel a bit lethargic ?n rainy days wh?n ??? ?r? stuck indoors. S? ?l??? ?n ???r dancing shoes ?nd collect th? family tree together ?n front ?f th? stereo f?r ?n energetic kids indoor activity th?t ?? sure t? b? f?nt??t?? family tree fun. Ch???? a well l???d song w?th a q???k beat th?t ??? ?ll know th? words t?. Th?n m?k? up ???r ?wn dance routine using a variety ?f simple moves th?t look ???l wh?n performed ?n sequence. Practice several times, th?n film ???r final performance ?nd post ?t ?n Y?? Tube!
Home cinema ?nd snacks. Aft?r exerting ?ll th?t energy, ??? m?ght want t? relax a small. Something ?l?? t? bring th? family tree together ?? m?k?ng a snug home cinema w?th beanbags, extra pillows, duvets ?nd blankets. M?k? ??m? popcorn, raid th? freezer f?r tubs ?f ice cream ?nd settle down t? watch a f?nt??t?? family tree movie together. Y?? m?? possibly even ?l??? ?n ???r pajamas ?r sweatpants t? ensure perfect comfort ?nd relaxation, whatever th? time ?f day.
Arts ?nd craft C?rt??nl? a top kids indoor activity b?????? ?ll children l?k? cutting, sticking ?nd m?k?ng. C?t pictures ?nd letters out ?f magazines, print ?ff ??m? fun family tree photos ?nd m?k? a h?g?, lucky collage t? hang ?n th? wall. Or design a special handmade card f?r Grandma, Daddy ?r a name ??? l?k?. Girls m?ght l?k? t? m?k? a tiara fr?m tinfoil, beads ?nd buttons; boys l?k? m?k?ng robots using cereal boxes ?nd cardboard rolls.
M?k? a fun t-shirt. H??? fun helping ???r kids add a stamp ?f individuality t? th??r clothes ?nd dust ?ff ???r sewing basket! Everyone h?? a plain t-shirt ?n th??r drawer, wh? n?t decorate ?t? Using pieces ?f colored ?nd patterned notes fr?m ancient unwanted clothes, ??? ??n ??t out letters ?nd sew ?n simple fabric pictures ?r flowers, wh??h completely transform ?nd add character t? ?n? t-shirt.
Charity. Spend ??m? charitable time ?n a rainy day collecting together ?ll those ancient toys, clothes th?t ?r? t?? small ?nd unwanted presents ??? keep meaning t? take t? th? charity shop ?r children?s home. Y??r ????ll?nt deed w?ll m?k? a name ?l?? very lucky ?nd being charitable a f?nt??t?? thing f?r ???r children t? become familiar w?th.
Board games ?nd card towers. Fun indoor games th?t don?t involve t?? much mess ?r creative energy! Board games really bring th? family tree together ?nd g?t people talking; ???r? household h?? a board game ?r two ?n th? cupboard ?r ?n th? top ridge, ?? dig th?m out f?r a bit ?f healthy competition ?nd chatter. Younger children ??n sometimes h??? ?n issue w?th losing ? ??th?r prepare f?r tantrums ?r ???t l?t th?m win! If ??? h??? a pack ?f cards, try building card towers, a simple kids indoor game wh??h keeps th?m focused wh?l? ??? ?l??? th? kettle ?n ?nd h??? a well-deserved br??k.
??LeBron James and Chris Bosh each finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem scored 16 apiece and the Miami Heat extended their home winning streak to 15 with a 106-85 win over the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA finals rematch on Thursday night.
Are you on Pinterest? ?This virtual pinboard is a lot of fun, and it?s a been great tool for tracking food trends. ?The Food & Drink category on Pinterest is one of the largest and food pins are re-pinned more than pins in any other category. Food lovers are an enthusiastic bunch. ?We like to share.
If you?re on Pinterest, I encourage you to follow me. ?I primarily pin recipes, including boards on whole grains, salads I want to try, tasty a.m. options, beans and legumes, cocktail nibbles and even a board dedicated solely to hummus, but you?ll also find a board featuring some of my nutrition articles, including posts from Nutrition Unplugged, along with clothes I covet and kitchens I love. ?If you check out my Pinterest profile, you?ll also see a shared board for Healthy Aperture, the online food photo gallery I created with fellow food and nutrition blogger Regan Jones. ?Many different bloggers are contributing to this board, which is dedicated to exposing what?s healthy on the web.
Pinterest is a treasure trove of content, and I find it extremely valuable to see what foods are gaining popularity. You can search for terms within Pinterest, or check out the Popular category to see what pins are getting repinned and ?liked? most often. ?Here are some of my observations of food trends based on Pinterest.
Kale has been called the new bacon. ?I don?t know about that, but I?m sure seeing lots of pins featuring this dark leafy green ? from crispy kale chips and creamy kale smoothies to raw, massaged, marinated and braised kale in salads, soups, pastas, entrees and more.
Quinoa is the hot grain on pinboards. ?I?m seeing quinoa in savory pilafs, sweet breakfast porridges, salads, muffins, vegetable patties, pancakes and even desserts.
Sweets are a favorite of pinners, and some of the most popular themes are salted caramel, nutella and red velvet. ? If anything, red velvet seems to be the new bacon. ?Beyond red velvet cakes, cake pops and cupcakes, I?ve seen red velvet pancakes, bread pudding, cheesecake, fudge, donuts, ice cream, crepes, popcorn and marshmallows. Where will it end?
Popsicles may be the new cupcakes. All sorts of frozen treats on a stick are showing up on Pinterest.
Food in jars seems to be big, and I?ve seen pins of layered salads, vegetables and desserts in jars. ?For parties, drinks in jars are a popular trend.
Buffalo chicken is going crazy. ?Pins include buffalo chicken dips, appetizer bites, grilled cheese, pasta, mac? and cheese, pizza and chowder. ?Who knew there was a buffalo chicken movement brewing?
Other pins that I?m seeing quite often include nut butters, pesto, kimchi, mini appetizers and desserts, and meatless entrees.
The Canon PowerShot A3400 IS ($179.99 direct) is a pocket camera that succeeds in having a responsive touch-screen LCD, but in a rare misstep for Canon, fails in most of its image gathering capabilities. Its lens is rather sharp, albeit extremely slow on the long end of its middling 5x zoom range, but the 16-megapixel camera is plagued by high image noise, even though it saps details from photos in a vain attempt to curtail it. The camera, which is also slow to start up and recycle between photos, doesn't come close to ousting one of Canon's better efforts, the PowerShot Elph 310 HS ($259.99, 4 stars) as our Editors' Choice for mid-range point-and-shoot cameras.
Design and Features The A3400 looks absolutely great from the outside. Its metal body is small and solid, and the camera can be had in red, silver, gold, and black finishes. It measures 2.2 by 3.7 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and weighs about 5 ounces, making it almost indistinguishable from the 8x (28-224mm f/3-5.9 equivalent) zoom PowerShot A4000 IS ($199.99, 3.5 stars). The A3400's 5x (28-140mm f/2.8-6.9) is a bit less ambitious?and it is about half an f-stop slower on the telephoto end. This means that the camera will need to use a longer shutter speed or higher ISO setting when zoomed all the way in than you would with the A4000.
Even though the camera is a touch-screen model, it also has the standard control buttons that you'd expect to find on a pocket shooter. This is rather nice, as it allows you to control the camera in a way in which you are comfortable. Canon has produced other touch cameras previously, notably the PowerShot Elph 510 HS ($349.99, 3.5 stars), which completely eliminated physical controls?it's my opinion that the hybrid approach is the more sensible way to go. That said, the A3400's 3-inch LCD is not the greatest in terms of resolution. It features only 230k dots, which is standard for a camera in this price range, but only about half as sharp as the 460k dot screens found on more expensive cameras.
The menu system is pretty intuitive. By default, the camera is set to Auto mode, but it's easy enough to change the shooting mode. When placed in Program mode you can touch the rear LCD to fire the shutter and use the touch display to adjust the Exposure Compensation to make a photo lighter or darker. It's also possible to disable the Touch Shutter and instead use the display to enable Touch Autofocus?just tap what you'd like to be in focus and the camera will do the rest. The rest of the menu works the same as it would on any other camera?hitting the Function button brings up an overlay menu from which you can adjust common shooting settings, but you'll need to use the physical controls to navigate through it?touch input isn't supported in this case.
Performance and Conclusions In terms of speed, the A3400 IS is a bit of a disappointment. The camera makes you wait 2.4 seconds after hitting the power button to take a photo, records a 0.4 second shutter lag, and makes you wait 1.4 seconds between photos. It barely outpaced the Samsung MV800 ($279.99, 2.5 stars), which takes 2.3 seconds to start, requires 1.6 seconds between shots, and delivers a 0.4 second shutter lag. If speed is a major concern, consider our Editors' Choice Canon Elph 310 HS?it wowed us with a 2 second start up, 0.45 second recycle time, and a 0.3 second shutter lag.
I used Imatest to measure the sharpness of the A3400's lens. It scored well?notching 1,891 lines per picture height, a bit better than the 1,800 lines that set the standard for a sharp photo. This is a good, but not outstanding, result. Another touch screen camera, the Samsung SH100 ($199.99, 3 stars), performed about the same?it notched a score of 1,876 lines.
I also tested the noise that is present in the images captured by the camera at its various ISO settings. The results were disappointing to say the least. At its base ISO of 100 the A3400 records just under 1.5 percent noise?any result above this number indicates that the photos from the camera are just a bit too noisy for general use. The number increases to 1.8 percent at ISO 200 and tops out at a staggering 2.6 percent at its highest sensitivity to light, ISO 1600. What's worse is that images shot at ISO 400 and above have a waxy look to them?all sense of fine detail and texture is gone?due to excessive noise reduction. It will be hard to get good photos from this camera even in bright light?I wouldn't recommend shooting it above ISO 200. The A4000 IS, which also suffers from some heavy-handed noise reduction, did just a little bit better here?it records clean images through ISO 800, and manages to capture a good bit of detail at ISO 400 and below.
The camera's video performance is also pretty disappointing. Footage is recorded in 720p25 HD resolution in QuickTime format. It looks fairly grainy, and the camera is limited to a digital zoom while recording?which saps quality the moment that you engage it. The A3400 supports standard SD, SDHC, and SDX memory cards, and features a mini USB port for computer connectivity.
Unless you are dead-set on a budget-priced touch-screen camera, it's best to avoid the A3400 IS. You don't even have to go that far to find an alternative?Canon's A4000 IS is just $20 more and gives you slightly better image quality and a more versatile 8x zoom lens. You could also consider a budget superzoom like the General Electric E1410SW ($159.99, 3.5 stars)?another camera that also has some limitations, but manages to make up for some of them with a 10x zoom lens and a low price. If you are really in the love with the idea of a touch screen, the Samsung SH100 is slightly better and only a little more expensive. You can also consider the touch screen Canon PowerShot Elph 510 HS, a much better camera, albeit one that is twice the price. Our Editors' Choice mid-range compacts the Canon PowerShot Elph 310 HS?a camera that is almost $100 more than this one, but is able to capture much nicer photos without having to put too much thought into restricting ISO settings.
More Digital Camera reviews: ??? Canon PowerShot A3400 IS ??? Sony Alpha 77 (SLT-A77VQ) ??? General Electric E1410SW ??? Canon PowerShot A4000 IS ??? Canon PowerShot Elph 110 HS ?? more
It is no secret that finding meaningful and well-paying employment is more challenging now than ever before. This is where a professional resume can make a huge difference in whether a person gets the job he wants or does not. Professional resumes show potential employers that you care enough to take that extra step. For the best possible results, consider hiring a resume writer who knows how to format these important documents properly and knows what information an employer wants to see.
An example of how you can get a professional resume at an affordable price is found at Resumes That Work. While there are hundreds of online resume writing services available, it is imperative that consumers work with companies that are experienced and knowledge about cover letters, resumes, and other pertinent information. When it comes to selection criteria, employers want to see high-quality resumes.
A poorly crafted resume can actually do more harm than good. This is just one of the reasons job seekers need to work with firms who know about addressing selection criteria and know how to present that information properly.
If you already have a resume, take a look at it and ask yourself these questions:
Are your resumes or cover letters long-winded? Have your current resumes and cover letters actually resulted in getting interviews? Are your resumes and cover letters concise and organized? Do your documents appear like professional resumes or do they look amateurish?
Effective resume writing is not only a skill set, but it is also something of a craft. Not everyone can produce cover letters and resumes that are concise and yet powerful enough to get the applicant into the interview phase.
This is when professional resume services should be called in for assistance. In general, a job candidate has one chance, and only one chance, to make a great impression, and that impression is often in the form of his or her resume and cover letter. With the stakes being so high, it is foolish to take chances with inferior resumes.
When searching for Professional Resume services, look for companies that can offer you access to professional level resume writers who have experience in this specialized field of writing. Look for firms that offer a full line of services such as cover letters, interview tips, and firms that understand the importance of addressing selection criteria for particular openings. Remember, the main goal of a well-crafted resume is to get to the interview phase. A resume, by itself, will rarely result in being offered the job straight-off. An experienced Resume Writer knows this secret and knows how to present the candidate in the best possible light with the goal of getting that job seeker into the interview.
If you, or someone you know, is actively seeking employment, consider working with an experienced resume writing service such as the one mentioned above. Get the best possible results and get them at an affordable price. Remember, your resume represents you in written form. Make the best impression possible! ?
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Ever wondered how much the interwebs contribute to the Uncle Sam's bottom line? Thanks to the Boston Consulting Group, now you don't have to, as it's estimated the net contributes a cool $684 billion is to the US gross domestic product. That's roughly 4.7 percent of US GDP, the same tranche as its effect on Japan's economy, but less than the 5.5, 7.3 and 8.3 percentages clocked in by China, South Korea and the United Kingdom, respectively. And per the report, the internet is just getting started, with future growth set to hit eight percent on average by 2016 for developed countries, and well north of 20 percent in booming economies like those of Argentina and India. Hit the source for the full report.
DIY Network is on a mission to find America?s Most Desperate Landscape. The go-to-destination for home improvement television is asking viewers to share evidence of their desperate landscapes with the Network in hopes of receiving a $25,000 yard makeover. Now through Monday, April 30, 2012, homeowners can upload photos and videos of their ugly front yards to DIYNetwork.com.
In this fifth annual challenge where ugly wins, the prize is a complete landscape makeover, courtesy of DIY Network expert host and licensed contractor Jason Cameron and his Desperate Landscapescrew. The winner will also appear on America?s Most Desperate Landscape, a one-hour special documenting the search and build, which premieres on DIY Network Wednesday, July 18 at 9 p.m. ET.
ABOUT DIY NETWORK DIY Network, from the makers of HGTV and Food Network, is the go-to destination for rip-up, knock-out home improvement television. One of the fastest growing digital networks and currently in more than 56 million homes, DIY Network?s programming covers a broad range of categories, including home improvement and landscaping. The network?s award-winning website, DIYNetwork.com, is a leader in the Nielsen Online Home and Garden category and features multiple resources, including thousands of do-it-yourself home improvement projects, expert advice, how-to videos and images, and user-friendly reference guides with step-by-step instructions.
Mayo Clinic researchers have trained mouse immune systems to eradicate skin cancer from within, using a genetic combination of human DNA from melanoma cells and a cousin of the rabies virus. The strategy, called cancer immunotherapy, uses a genetically engineered version of the vesicular stomatitis virus to deliver a broad spectrum of genes derived from melanoma cancer cells directly into tumors. In early studies, 60 percent of tumor-burdened mice were cured in fewer than three months and with minimal side effects. Results of the latest study appear this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
"We believe that this new technique will help us to identify a whole new set of genes that encode antigens that are important in stimulating the immune system to reject cancer. In particular, we have seen that several proteins need to be expressed together to generate the most effective rejection of the tumors in mice," says Richard Vile, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic researcher in the Department of Molecular Medicine and a coauthor of the study, along with Jose Pulido, M.D., a Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist and ocular oncologist.
Dr. Vile's success with melanoma adds to Mayo Clinic's growing portfolio of experimental cancer vaccines, which includes an active clinical trial of vesicular stomatitis vaccines for liver cancers. Future studies could include similar vaccines for more aggressive cancers, such as lung, brain and pancreatic.
"I do believe we can create vaccines that will knock them off one by one," Dr. Vile says. "By vaccinating against multiple proteins at once, we hope that we will be able to treat both the primary tumor and also protect against recurrence."
The immune system functions on a seek-and-destroy platform and has fine-tuned its capacity to identify viral invaders such as vesicular stomatitis virus. Part of the appeal of building cancer vaccines from the whole spectrum of tumor DNA is that tumors can adapt to the repeated attacks of a healthy immune system and display fewer antigens (or signposts) that the immune system can identify.
Cancers can learn to hide from a normal immune system, but appear unable to escape an immune system trained by the vesicular stomatitis virus with the wide range of DNA used in the library approach.
"Nobody knows how many antigens the immune system can really see on tumor cells," says Dr. Vile. "By expressing all of these proteins in highly immunogenic viruses, we increased their visibility to the immune system. The immune system now thinks it is being invaded by the viruses, which are expressing cancer-related antigens that should be eliminated."
Much immunotherapy research has slowed because of researchers' inability to isolate a sufficiently diverse collection of antigens in tumor cells. Tumors in these scenarios are able to mutate and reestablish themselves in spite of the body's immune system.
The study was a Mayo collaboration with professors Alan Melcher and Peter Selby at the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, U.K. They were also co-authors.
###
Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/news
Thanks to Mayo Clinic for this article.
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Continuing on my trail to promote data as a means of marketing, I turn to the Obama campaign. I know you?ve heard a lot from the Obama campaign, but I guess not as much about the data behind winning the campaign. Yes, the knocking on doors had its effect on the outcome, but did you know that over $500 million of the campaign budget came from online donations. That?s more than twice as much (152 million dollars) as came from offline donations. The video in this blog post explains some of how data was used in order to create a winning team for the Obama campaign.
I will extract some of the more interesting remarks made by?Dan Siroker below in this post, and highlight how this relates to your business.
1. Define success in terms of measurable metrics
First they break the ultimate goal ? ie. elected dude ? into stuff needed to be in place for that to happen. In terms of the US election, those sub goals were defined as:
Recruit volunteers
Register voters
Canvas door-to-door
Make phone calls
Raise money
All of which is needed if you are to win an election on US soil.?In terms of business, the ultimate goal might be a profit increase or an end year sales goal. In order for that to occur you need to:
Recruit great staff
Get leads to sign up for your services
Get retailers onboard
Make phone calls
Sell products
I think you get where I am going with that one. In the video, Dan focuses on the last one and tries to make some sense out of how they used data in order to win an election.
He starts out by showing a ?user funnel?. A user funnel is basically a behavior of your visitor to the website. This means, the way your user behaves, clicks, waits, returns to your website. Usually you put up a goal which you want him or her to complete before they leave. In the video the ultimate goal is for the visitor to donate money. But they realize that they might be better off getting people to sign up for the e-mail first and then get the donations secondly.
So the initial funnel is: Website visitor -> E-mail signup -> Raise money
What they realized early was that they had to come up with quantifiable success metrics that would then help them optimize the website for the purpose of getting as much money per visitor as possible. They used some key metrics including cost per click leading to the website and e-mail sign up rate that led to two final KPIs in order to measure the success:
$ per page view
The dollar per pageview was determined by looking at how much money a user was likely to donate given they had visited a specific page. Once they know this number, they are able to calculate how much they can spend in order to get a visitor to that specific page. This is much like you should be thinking of your different pages on your website. How much money does this page make me? Not ? how much money does my website make me.
You should think in terms of basket value. If a visitor has visited a specific page and you can determine that every visitor who visits that page either buys more or less from you, you can also determine what you are willing to pay ? with positive ROI ? to get a user to visit that page. Simple enough. Right?
$ per e-mail
This was virtually the same thing. But I will go through this second step a bit in more detail as he sort of runs it through a bit too fast in the presentation.
The number of recipients per e-mail
The opening rate of the e-mail times the click through rate
The conversion rate, ie. the people who donated from that e-mail click
Multiply that all together times the money they donated
2. Create a function for analysis purposes
Which gives you a rough amount of dollars per recipient. So, what this really means is the following example. Let?s say you have a send list of 100 000 recipients of which 20% open the e-mail. Of those, 50% click the link and of those 5% donate a total of 100 000 USD, we get the following formula.
RX*O*C*T=N
X = Dollars per e-mail
R = number of recipients
O = Opening rate
C = Click through rate
T = Transactions or number of conversions to donators
The importance of stating it as a function is that you are able to see how changes in one effect the rest of them. Here, you should really use regression analysis which you can really skip learning and simply use one available tool out there such as SPSS.
2 a. Analyzing the effects of changes in subscribers
Cause, think of it. Let?s say you only look at the send list subscribers and the outcome in USD. Let?s say you increase the number of subscribers only to realize your total donations remain the same. This means the dollar per user has really decreased. What you have to ask yourself is not only if you have the right subscribers, but if you are feeding them with the right types of messages.
So, although your send list grew, your messages do not make the income grow. Unless you look at it through all the steps you will be unable to make changes along the way necessary to increase your end game profits. It doesn?t matter how much you spend on getting more people to sign up unless you are able to figure out how to make more of them convert.
2 b. The case of the opening rate
Continuing with the example. Let?s say your opening rate has drastically decreased. Let?s say it has halved. If that is the problem, then perhaps your increase in subscribers might have effected your white list or delivery rate, or perhaps there is something wrong with the subject? All of which you need to analyze if you realize that it is the opening rate that has gone down.
Or perhaps it is the click through rate that has gone up or down. Or perhaps it is the conversion rate into donators that has gone sour. Either way you will know if you split each step of the user funnel into parts rather than looking at the nominal before and after.
2 c. The case of the bad subscriber
One interesting scenario occurs when you have improved your opening rate and your CTR, but you realize the visitors still aren?t converting into donating or paying customers. Or perhaps your donations even decrease. In this case you have to look at where the subscribers came from, what KIND of call to action you are using etc.
It is just like sourcing for the wrong kind of traffic from the search engines. You can get all the traffic in the world, but just because you rank number one for Britney Spears or Lady Gaga, doesn?t mean they will buy more of your kitchen hardware. Same goes for your e-mail campaigns. If they signed up thinking they would get images of pink zeebras ? something I would sign up for ? they are not very likely to buy your kitchen supplies either. Same thing goes for the ?free stuff? e-mail sign ups out there. Sign up and get free? whatever.
Although a lot more people might be inclined to sign up, they might be less valuable to you in the long run as they do not buy. So although your cost per conversion into subscriber has gone down, your net effect on profits has been severely hurt.
What I am really trying to say is that a lot of subscribers or traffic might not be what you want. You might actually want less subscribers, or traffic, that you pay considerably more for, because they make you more money. A lot of traffic or subscribers might actually cause you a negative ROI. I don?t know if I am making my point here, but I hope I am.
3. Focus on your weakest links
Once you have your analysis methodology setup Dan argues says you need to start focusing on your weakest links. When he started working with the Obama campaign, they had a very strong number of both visitors who donated as well as subscribers who donated. What they didn?t have was enough subscribers. Or moreover, the subscription rate was too low, meaning, out of every 100 visitors who came to the website, the conclusion was, more of them should sign up to the e-mail send list.
3 a. Don?t get fat, stay smart
In fat markets, usually in early stages, where competition is not fierce, vendors or retailers generally do not care about fixing the weakest links. They work with the stuff that makes them the most profits. Ie. the strongest end of the rope. They usually believe that it is where they are strong that they can make the most money. And perhaps they are right at the time being, but I have seen numerous occations where they end up crying in a corner as a result of it. Cause although the sweet taste of sugar might blind you from looking over your shoulder, you SHOULD know that were ever there are profits, competition will follow.
If you do not have your stuff in order, your weakest links will come to haunt you. (I really hope some of you readers out there know exactly what cases I am talking about? yepp? I hate to say ?I told you so???) One thing with digital is that it is never to late to change. If your competitors managed to move passed you, there is still room for you to retake your position.
So. In the video, Dan takes you through a series of multivariable tests they did on the website. They optimized for an increased subscription rate going from an 8.26% subscription rate on a page looking like this:
They started out by optimizing the text on the button as well as changing the image around. They had some videos in the campaign that you really have to watch the video inserted above in order to have a look at again. However, if you forward to about 18 minutes into the video this example should be there.
3 b. What to take away from the tests they did
The button saying ?Learn more? was victorious, for the media image, the family message did the best. One interesting thing is that every single video did worse than any of the images. Perhaps not a general conclusion to draw, but you should really think about where and when you insert your call to action in your video. Always think about the bottom third ? the space where you can insert a banner with a call to action in any video? just like YouTube does forcefully with a pop-in, so can you in your actual video ? and you need to remember to put a call to action there. Make it evident so that even the user who does not want to look to the end of the video, knows what to do next.
In the end, they increased their conversion rate by 40%. From 8.2% to 11.6%. Over time, think about what such improvements could do to your business.
3 c. Why epic content sometimes isn?t enough
So, as you can see from the example, the probably most compelling video gets NO traction what so ever with regards to conversion rate. You MUST realize that even the best of content put in the wrong context, makes absolutely no sense. When I discuss gut in one of my previous posts on data driven marketing I also discuss the fact that although your gut feels something you HAVE to be ready to capitulate to the mere facts of data.
Thus, you can make a really compelling video, but if it actually hurts your conversion rate as it pulls eyeballs from the goal you are trying to get your visitors to perform, then TAKE THAT SHIT DOWN, cause it is really shit if it doesn?t help you achieve your goals.
And YES that video might have been what made a person come to your website in the first place. But it might not be what makes your visitor convert. (Although you probably must work with maintaining scent so that they know that they?ve come to the right place.)
4. Never over-generalize
In the video, about 27 minutes in, there is a really great lesson to be learned which is Don?t over generalize. In modern digital marketing and analytics you can actually serve different content to different users depending upon their behavior. If you spend time doing this, which would cost you probably one tenth of your standard banner budget ? which is completely useless if you don?t do any of this ? you should be able to increase your profits significantly.
Here are some of the results from the video showing different users acting on different calls to action:
Thus, depending upon where and who you are as a visitor, you react differently to the messages being fed to you. Remember that this is a very simple example and that the sophistication in the way you decide to do it can be even greater. Let?s say you would run different calls to action on returning vs new visitors. What if you would do it for visitors who were returning and who had signed up for something previously. What if you could increase profits of a second purchased based on changed copy in a button fed to people making small initial purchases.
All of which is possible, but you have got to optimize for it.
5. Take advantage of circumstances
What he argues is simply that you should take advantage of all those small things that happen out there even though you haven?t planned for them. Moving away from big idea marketing you have to be able to make changes and move on circumstances that occur in your world. If an opportunity appears, just act upon it with a tactical movement.
Sometimes something that happens in your surroundings might effect you as well. If your competitor starts to run TV-ads, have a look and see if they bought the PPC matching the increased search volumes that come as a result. Perhaps they optimize their budgets for the day whilst their TV-spot run at night. You might be able to counter their offer with a really nice counter offer so that when someone search for the competitors product you put yours on top of the search engine with a cheaper price, a better delivery circumstance or simply? you?re there? whilst your competitor burnt all their money on creating the traffic and not taking care of it.
6. Question assumptions
Look at the example about 31:30 into the video above. This is basically asking you to think about your value proposition. One of the key drivers into making someone convert on your website is to offer them something that they want. I know this sounds extremely idiotic to say, but many of you still have trouble offering a customer anything at all, yet alone something they actually feel tempted to buy.
Change it around. Work towards an increased ROI rather than a number of sold items. Look at your costs and what brings you the best profits. Then question it all again and test it until you are blue and red from starting to doubt yourself to much.
Finally
I think this video is great! It is not good, but it is great. The only thing that concerns me is that there are a million people talking about the Obama campaign as something successful with regard to social media, but this video only has 7000 something views. That is shameful!! Now go ahead and share it as it should be seen.
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ATLANTA (AP) ? No presidential candidate worth his chauffeured SUV has reached his personal zenith without this: celebrities to vouch for them. They are the glam and glitter of political campaigns, sure to turn even jaded political operatives into fawning celeb watchers.
Nobody commands the nexus of stardom and politics more than President Barack Obama. Mocked by opponents during his 2008 campaign for being a celebrity himself, he draws from a broad assortment of personalities ? Hollywood liberals, NBA stars and more.
Friday offered a case in point. Obama was on his way to Atlanta to raise money with film producer Tyler Perry at a gala event featuring a performance by pop star Cee Lo Green. His just-released campaign biopic is narrated by actor Tom Hanks. On Thursday, a White House visit by Obama backer and Oscar winner George Clooney to meet with the president over conditions in Sudan drew a gaggle of press coverage.
Obama, though, has no monopoly on big names.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has campaigned with Jeff Foxworthy, the genial comedian with a repertoire of redneck jokes, convinced rocker-rapper Kid Rock to perform at a campaign rally and won supportive words from KISS lead singer Gene Simmons.
Newt Gingrich has action film star Chuck Norris in his corner. Rick Santorum has been endorsed by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, and Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, stars of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting," have made campaign appearances with him. Ron Paul has an eclectic list of shout outs from the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg, Oliver Stone, Juliette Lewis, Vince Vaughn, Joe Rogan, and Jesse Ventura.
Such proximity to stardom can reap big benefits for a politician. Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant who's had his brush with the stars working for Al Gore and Bill Clinton, says personalities help alter the typical, antiseptic look of a political event.
"These celebrities, one of the reasons they are celebrities, is they have a unique ability to connect with people," he said. "You're using them as a bridge to connect with their fans and their audiences."
For Obama, whose campaign so far has focused primarily on fundraising, celebrities such as Clooney, Will Smith, Magic Johnson and Antonio Banderas help attract the big-dollar givers. First lady Michelle Obama was fundraising Monday in New York with actor Robert De Niro at a TriBeCa Italian restaurant.
Obama fundraisers take place in glamorous places ? the rose petal-strewn pathway of Banderas' house in Los Angeles, the full-size indoor basketball court in the Orlando home of Dallas Mavericks star guard Vince Carter, or the sprawling grounds of television producer Brad Bell.
On Friday, Obama was on a furious fundraising pace, hitting five events in two cities in one day. At day's end, Obama will have participated in 108 fundraisers since last April when he filed for re-election last April with the Federal Election Commission. During the same period in 2004, President George W. Bush had attended 54 such events, according to CBS News' Mark Knoller, the unofficial but authoritative keeper of such statistics in the White House press corps.
Last month in Los Angeles, Obama had a star-studded evening ? a performance by Grammy-winning rock band Foo Fighters for about 1,000 supporters followed by a more intimate dinner featuring Clooney and actor Jim Belushi.
Friday's activities in Atlanta are similar, with a Cee Lo concert first at Tyler Perry Studios ? tickets range from $500 for general admission to $2,500 and $10,000 for VIP ? followed by a $35,800 per person dinner at Perry's house.
Republicans, in the midst of their primary contests, have turned to celebrities for validation with voters.
Norris recorded robocalls for Gingrich before last week's primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. Norris, active in Republican politics for many years, endorsed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary.
Santorum, who has scooped up endorsements from sports figures, has also tapped into a well-known band of reality TV stars. The Duggar family has fanned out across the country during the primary season to vouch for the former Pennsylvania senator. Josh Duggar, the oldest of 19 children, made the rounds Friday at a central Missouri rally for Santorum after previously doing the same in Iowa, Oklahoma, Georgia and many places in between.
"Our family is like the epitome of conservative values," Duggar said. "People connect to us in that way."
The entire family planned to assemble Saturday in Illinois to give Santorum a push ahead of that state's primary.
Some celebrities play down their onstage personas when traveling with candidates. Last Monday, Foxworthy, the Southern comedian, skipped the jokes when he campaigned with Romney in Mobile, Ala., telling audiences he had never bothered with politics before.
But it was Romney who riffed on Foxworthy's TV quiz show, "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Obama is clearly smarter than an elementary school pupil, Romney said, but he has pushed unwise policies on health care, energy development, spending and taxes.
"This president has done almost everything wrong," Romney said.
Stars, Lehane says, are a net benefit. But they can be loose cannons; they don't always subscribe or adhere to the campaign talking points. Lehane recalls Cher attracting a group of reporters at a campaign event for Gore in the fall of 2000 where she was advocating views about the Middle East at odds with the Gore campaign ticket.
"You always have to be a little bit careful when you're dealing with a celebrity," Lehane said., "First of all, they can be unscripted. Stuff that they can say and typically do that works in their space sometimes doesn't translate when the political prism is put over it. Sometimes you end up having to disassociate yourself form other aspects of that celebrity's life."
Consider Cee Lo, the pop star performing for 1,000 donors Friday at Tyler Perry Studios. Cee Lo has an expletive-filled hit song titled with an expletive that translates, in the cleaned up version, to "Forget You." Not exactly Obama's appeal for hope, or civility or of perseverance.
Asked about any incongruity between performer song and presidential message, White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama: "I know he's fan. I don't know about specific songs."
___
Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Brian Bakst, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.
Oil prices rose slightly to near $106 a barrel Friday after the U.S. denied reports it and the U.K. plan to release some their strategic crude reserves.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for April delivery was up 58 cents to $105.69 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 32 cents to settle at $105.11 per barrel in New York on Thursday.
In London, Brent crude for May delivery was up 82 cents at $123.42 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Oil briefly dropped near $104 per barrel Thursday after reports said the U.S. and Britain had agreed to release spare supplies of oil in an effort to drive fuel prices lower. However, White House press secretary Jay Carney said there was no plan to provide more crude to markets.
Some analysts downplayed how much a possible release of supplies would lower prices.
"The price impact should a release actually develop would be largely psychological," energy analyst Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report. "A shortage of crude or products does not currently exist within the U.S. and European product markets appear adequately supplied."
Oil prices have risen from $75 in October amid investor optimism an improving U.S. economy will boost crude demand. However, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that gasoline demand was down 7.2 percent from a year ago.
"Despite an array of pleasing economic data in recent weeks, the latest surge in the price of oil can hardly be justified from a fundamental standpoint," said Joerg Zeuner, chief economist at VP Bank. "The demand for crude remains relatively weak."
Speculation about the effects on oil supplies of the tensions between Western powers and Iran over Teheran' nuclear program continued to keep a floor under prices.
In other energy trading, heating oil was up 1.45 cents at $3.2370 per gallon and gasoline futures gained 0.65 cent at $3.2950 per gallon. Natural gas slid 1 cent to $2.268 per 1,000 cubic feet.
___
Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
Japanese Ryota Musha, 41, right, and Hisanori Kogure, 31, show off new iPad tablet computers they purchased, in Tokyo Friday, March 16, 2012. Sales of the third version of Apple's iPad began Friday morning in the country. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Japanese Ryota Musha, 41, right, and Hisanori Kogure, 31, show off new iPad tablet computers they purchased, in Tokyo Friday, March 16, 2012. Sales of the third version of Apple's iPad began Friday morning in the country. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Robert Smith exits an Apple retail store with a new iPad tablet, Friday, March 16, 2012, in Philadelphia. Stores along the East Coast have begun selling Apple's latest tablet computer. It's going on sale at 8 a.m. local time Friday in the U.S. and nine other countries. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
People gather outside an Apple retail store on Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York, Friday, March 16, 2012, as they wait for the 8 a.m. local time release of the new iPad tablet. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Furticella)
Lukas from Germany is the first to get the new iPad at the Apple store in a shopping mall in Oberhausen, western Germany, to get the new iPad at the Apple store, Friday, March 16, 2012. Apart the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the device goes on sale the same day in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Visitors try on new iPad tablet computers at an Apple store in Tokyo Friday, March 16, 2012. Sales of the third version of Apple's iPad began Friday morning in the country. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Apple's latest iPad drew die-hard fans to stores in the U.S. and nine other countries Friday, many of whom lined up for hours to be among the first to buy one.
The third version of the iPad went on sale there at 8 a.m. local time, with 25 other countries getting it a week later. The new model, at prices starting at $499 in the U.S., comes with a faster processor, a much sharper screen and an improved camera, though the changes aren't as big as the upgrade to the iPad 2.
"I don't think it's worth the price but I guess I'm a victim of society," Athena May, 21, said in Paris.
About 450 people lined up outside Apple's Ginza store in downtown Tokyo. Some had spent the night sleeping outside the store. In Madison, Wis., people brought reclining lawn chairs for naps, while a few played games on older iPads.
Dipak Varsani, 21, got in line in London at 1 a.m. Thursday local time and said he was drawn by the new device's better screen.
"You've got clearer movies and clearer games," he said. "I use it as a multimedia device."
In Hong Kong, a steady stream of buyers picked up their new devices at preset times at the city's sole Apple store after entering an online lottery.
The system, which required buyers to have local ID cards, also helped thwart visitors from mainland China ? Apple's fastest growing market ? who have a reputation for scooping up Apple gadgets to get them earlier and avoid sales tax at home. A release date in China has not yet been announced.
Kelvin Tsui, a 26-year-old hospital worker in Hong Kong, was allowed to buy two and planned to sell the second to make money.
Two years after the debut of the first iPad, the device's launch has become the second-biggest "gadget event" of the year, after the annual iPhone release. Customers could have ordered iPads ahead of time to arrive at home Friday, but many came out in person for the atmosphere.
"People always stop to talk to us," Harry Barrington-Mountford, 22, said in London. "I am exhausted though. I have only had about 45 minutes of sleep."
Christos Pavlides, 24, got to a downtown Philadelphia store at 10 p.m. Thursday and was the first in line. He already owns the two previous iPad models and several iPhones and figures the new iPad was next.
Despite competition from cheaper tablet computers such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire, the iPad remains the most popular tablet computer. Apple Inc. has sold more than 55 million iPads since its debut in 2010.
For some customers, standing in line was the only chance to get a new iPad on Friday. Apple quickly ran out of supplies it set aside for advance orders. The company was telling customers Thursday to expect a two- to three-week wait for orders placed through its online stores. Some buyers feared even longer waits.
___
Kelvin Chan contributed from Hong Kong and Robert Barr from London. Peter Svensson in New York, Sharon Chen in Singapore and Malcolm Foster in Tokyo, Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia, Thomas Adamson in Paris and Dinesh Ramde in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.
electronista 
Pinterest is a treasure trove of content, and I find it extremely valuable to see what foods are gaining popularity. You can search for terms within Pinterest, or check out the Popular category to see what pins are getting repinned and ?liked? most often. ?Here are some of my observations of food trends based on Pinterest.
DIY Network is on a mission to find America?s Most Desperate Landscape . The go-to-destination for home improvement television is asking viewers to share evidence of their desperate landscapes with the Network in hopes of receiving a $25,000 yard makeover. Now through Monday, April 30, 2012, homeowners can upload photos and videos of their ugly front yards to DIYNetwork.com.
