About drinking Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

About drinking - Article Example The habit of drinking influences the way youth thinks about different aspects of life. Drinking also influences the youth’s perception of norms and values and the concept of good and bad. Excessive drinking becomes a habit of young adults when there is no one to stop them. Excessive drinking makes such adults cross the boundaries of ethics and moral. Drinking also creates a number of risks for the health of people. â€Å"Too much alcohol can lead to serious problems† (Zelman, 2005). Some of the widely observed risks are related to think abilities, liver’s functions, and hormonal changes. Drinking adversely affects the decision-making abilities of a young adult. Excessive drinking makes adults forget their moral and ethics. â€Å"Alcohol can activate a gene that has been linked to depression and other mental issues† (James, 2008). Excessive drinking not only create problems for the drinkers but also for the people whom they live with. Youth tends to be influenced easily by doing or watching any such thing, which inspires them. There are a number of causes of the rise of drinking habit in youth. Some of the major causes include influence caused by parents who are also habitual drinkers, escapism, problems in love life, and appreciation of the peers. â€Å"One of the common reasons why teenagers drink is because they have watched their parents rely on the bottle† (Lad, n.d.). When children grow up watching their parents drink, they also go for it because the behavior of parents puts a considerable effect on the minds of the children. â€Å"One of the causes of teenage drinking is that it soon becomes an addiction without youngsters realizing the negative effects† (Lad, n.d.). Many young people drink in order to escape from the hardships of life, such as, poor performance in school and college, problems in love life, and getting out of depression. Social influence is another major factor behind increase in the use of alcoholic

Managing Global Human Resources 1 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Global Human Resources 1 - Article Example This article helps in understanding the manner in which employees posted on international locations, must be dealt with and managed, so as to minimize the risk of failures. It fulfills the key objective of this course – that of management of global human resources, by explaining the need; and discussing the key approaches, and critical managerial functions in a comprehensive manner. It enriches and broadens the understanding of the readers, on critical aspects such as the right approach to hire and train the employees, establishing and maintaining labor relations, aspects related to remuneration, and most of all, the need to familiarize the employees’ families with the global culture and environment through appropriate training so as to avoid risk of failures and ensure a smooth functioning of the business and in the process establish harmonious inter-relations between the organizations and their employees. This article aims to analyze and discuss the contemporary global trends with regard to management of human resources especially in terms of the social responsibility of the global organizations towards people in general. It basically intends to bring to the fore, the issue of global public consciousness and the duties and responsibilities of giant multinational corporations operating beyond their respective national boundaries. Globalization has led to the expansion in scope of businesses as well as the manner in which it is managed. According to Palazzo and Scherer (2008) the regulatory systems which govern a nation have outgrown its own boundaries and has now expanded to the global corporations as well, which are operating in international locations. Such a drastic change in the role of business, calls for an equally significant change in the management practices of these corporations particularly in the

History Of Home Video Game Consoles

History Of Home Video Game Consoles Entertainment and technology have worked hand-in-hand on the path of progress since the beginning. Computer gaming has had an ever changing face ever since it was first introduced. We take a look at the predecessor of the heavily upgraded video consoles in the market today. A Video Game console is a device generally used for playing video games for non-commercial purposes. The video game console can be either an interactive computer or an electronic device. It produces a video display signal that is displayed using a display device (a television, monitor, etc.) to display a video game. The term video game console and is used to differentiate a machine designed for consumers to buy and use solely for playing video games from a personal computer, which has many other functions, or arcade machines, which are designed for video game businesses. The video game console requires a monitor, be it a television screen or a computer monitor, to display the images. The video game console is termed such to differentiate between arcade game machines, which are used for commercial purposes and personal computers, which offer many more features to the end-user. The first video game console was the brainchild of Ralph Baer of Sanders Associates. It was termed the Magnavox Odyssey and was released in 1972. Later, Atari came up with the extremely popular PONG games, which brought a flurry of Pong and Pong related games into the market. Apart from PONG, the other players in the market were Coleco Telstar and APF TV Fun. These consoles are known to be the first generation of video game consoles. The term videogame console was first used by Fairchild Systems for their Video Entertainment Systems (VES) in 1976. This was the first console to contain a programmable microprocessor. Soon, other manufacturers like RCA and Atari came up with microprocessor based video game consoles. These consoles are known as the second generation of videogame consoles. The Video Game console market faced its second and biggest crash in 1983. While the first crash in 1977 was mainly due to obsolete gaming consoles being sold at a loss-making price, the crash of 1983 had entirely different reasons behind it. In 1977, manufacturers of older, obsolete consoles sold their systems at a loss to clear stock, creating a glut in the market and causing Fairchild and RCA to abandon their game consoles. It was not until Atari released a conversion of the arcade hit Space Invaders in 1980 that the home console industry was completely revived. Many consumers bought an Atari just for Space Invaders. Its unprecedented success started the trend of console manufacturers trying to get exclusive rights to arcade titles, and the trend of advertisements for game consoles claiming to bring arcade experience home. Other companies released video game consoles of their own, throughout the early 1980s. Many of them were technically superior to Atari 2600. However Atari dominated the console market in the early 1980s. By 1983, the video game console market was in full bloom, and a number of companies had invested money and released either their own console games or consoles. Many of these were low on quality, high on advertising products which tried to bank on the popularity wave of video game consoles. One such game which gained massive unpopularity, and is often blamed (wrongly) for the video game crash of 1983 is E.T. The game was made with only six weeks of development time and tried to bank on two of the biggest booms at that time, E.T the movie and the video game console boom. It was full of programming bugs, improper and illogical programming and features and concepts which made the game unplayable. It has been dubbed as the worst video game of all time by many. This was critical in putting to an end the second generation of video game consoles. In 1983, Nintendo came up with the Famicom (Family Computer) or NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) series of games, which brought about a change in the video game console market. The NES series featured full colour, high resolution and longer games with detailed graphics. The game was bundled with a plastic Robot and a light gun. Like Space Invaders for the 2600, Nintendo found its breakout hit game in Super Mario Bros. Nintendos success revived the video game industry and new consoles were soon introduced in the following years to compete with the NES. The NESs massive success with Super Mario Bros, which heralded the return of video game consoles. This wrapped up the success of the third generation of video game consoles. Nintendo ran a tight ship as regards its NES system. It introduced a lockout system, which forced game manufacturers to go through Nintendo only for their games. Also, it allowed third party game manufacturers to make only five games per year for the NES. The fourth generation of video game consoles saw the release of Segas Master System and Segas Sega Mega Drive. The Sega Mega Drive was released on October 29, 1989, two years before the release of Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Sega extended the Mega Drive with the Mega CD/Sega CD, to provide increased storage space for multi-media based games that were then in vogue among the development community. Later Sega released the 32X, which added some of the polygon processing functionality common in the fifth-generation machines. However the peripheral was a commercial failure due to the lack of software support, with developers more keen to concentrate on more powerful machines, with a wider user base, such as Saturn that followed shortly after. The fifth generation video game consoles were feature-rich and had many other capabilities as compared to their previous counterparts. Chief among these was the Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. The other players in the market were 3DO and Atari. Atari Jaguar and the 3DO, both of these systems were much more powerful than SNES or Mega Drive. They were better at rendering polygons, could display more onscreen colours and the 3DO contained discs that contained far more information than cartridges and were cheaper to produce. Neither of these consoles were serious threat to Sega or Nintendo, though. It was not until Segas Saturn, Sonys Play station and the Nintendo 64 were released that fifth generation consoles started to become popular. The Saturn and PlayStation used CDs to store games, while the Nintendo 64 used cartridges. All three cost far less than the 3DO, and were easier to program than the Jaguar. The Saturn also had 2D sprite handling power on par with the Neo-Geo. The sixth generation of video game consoles saw updates and new releases. This generation saw a move towards Pc-like architectures in gaming consoles, as well as a shift towards using DVDs for game media. This brought games that were visually more appealing. Furthermore, this generation also saw experimentation with online console gaming and implementing both flash and hard drive storage for game storage. Sonys released the next version of the PlayStation, the PlayStation 2, while Nintendo and Microsoft fought competition with the GameCube and the Xbox respectively. Sega came up with the Dreamcast, but has since then stopped production. The Xbox heralded a new age in video game consoles, by being the first console to have a hard disk drive. It had many similarities to a low end computer. The features introduced in the seventh generation include the support of the new disc formats: Blu-Ray Disc, utilized by the PlayStation-3, and HD DVD supported by the Xbox 360. Another new technology is the use of motion as input, and IR tracking (as implemented in Wii). Microsoft kicked off the seventh generation with the release of the Xbox 306 in 2005. It featured processing power never before seen until Sony stroked back with its PlayStation 3 one year later. The software used on these dedicated computer systems has evolved amazingly from the simple rectangular blips used in Pong. Games today feature richly textured, full-colour graphics, awesome sound and complex interaction between player and system. The increased storage capacity of the cartridges and discs allows game developers to include incredibly detailed graphics and CD-quality soundtracks. Several of the video game systems have built-in special effects that add features like unique lighting or texture mapping in real-time. Each new generation of console hardware made use of the rapid development of processing technology. Newer machines could output a greater range of colours, more sprites, and introduced graphical technologies such as scaling and vector graphics.}

Teens and Sex - Teenage Sex :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Teenage Sex    Sexually active teenagers, in America, are a significant problem we must look at. A question that rings in the minds of teenagers everywhere is when to have sex. Our Catholic teachings, instruct us to wait until one is in a loving marriage to have sex. Not only is the church preaching abstinence, but now public schools are also teaching students on the advantages of abstinence. Premarital sex is a growing, and important issue. Premarital sex is usually the cause of sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy, and deep, emotions of regret.    Sexually transmitted diseases flourish in a society of premarital sex, where teens have many sex partners. A direct result of this, is STD's becoming more abundant among the population. One reason for the plague of STD's is the misuse of contraceptives by teens. Many teens believe that condoms, or the pill prohibit the spread of herpes, AIDS, or other diseases, but in fact, they do not stop the spread, and no where do the products state that they do stop the spread of STDs. Three million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases among teens are reported each year. Many teens that believe nothing is wrong in committing premarital sex have intercourse with many different teens through the ages of 15 and 19, and increase the chance of spreading sexually transmitted diseases each time. With sexual intercourse on the rise with high school students, and its acceptance among the public, even more teens are having sex now, to the point that every eleven seconds a teen has sex fo r their first time. Seventy percent of these students say they were socially pressured into having sex. If society has the power to pressuring teens to have sex, society ought to use that power to educate teems about the dangers of premarital sex.    Sex before marriage has also been one of the major causes of teen pregnancy. Teens often think that pregnancy just cannot happen to them, yet teen pregnancy grows each year, and shows no stop. Carelessness is the significant factor in teen pregnancy, whether the carelessness is in contraceptive use, or choosing of a partner. Teens just use different forms of contraceptives and birth control incorrectly.

Inferno Essay

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, are classifications of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct Christians how to avoid committing any sins. These sins are actually recognized as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. One of the 7 deadly sins that man can commit but should not commit is the lust. Lust comes with the things about human sexuality. It has something to do with being attached sexually with someone whether opposite or same gender. Lust in layman’s term is the very strong sexual desire or excessive sexual desire for someone. In Dante’s Inferno, all the women that we encountered there seems to be there because of their misconduct connected to sexuality. These people have committed sins that gradually show excessive love and desire for someone else and because of this, they are punished with eternal damnation. Lust is caused by excessive love or desire for someone, but lust and love is a two different thing. Lust is self-gratification without thought or consideration of your partner. You just use him or her to gratify your urge. And this is obviously wrong on any level because lust is not taking responsibility for your actions, nor in having any forethought as to the consequences. Meanwhile, love is a strong emotion. It is an intense feeling of deep affection for someone or something. In this case, we could say that lust really is a deadly sin because most of the time we say that it’s love that allows us to do that, but the truth is we just often times mistake lust as love. Here in Inferno, people who were overcome by lust were placed in the second circle which is the Carnal. In this specific circle, Dante has placed all those sinners who committed sins because of lust. Dante condemns these â€Å"carnal malefactors† for letting their appetites sway their reason. And as a punishment, these souls are blown back and forth by the terrible winds of a violent storm, without rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. In this circle, Dante has placed several known people who were able to commit sinful crimes because of excess love and desire and most of these known people are women. If you have noticed, most of the women, if not all, are sinners of the second circle. These women were able to commit adultery and too much sexual passion for their lovers. One good example for this is Francesca. Francesca was able to commit adultery against her husband when she had a relationship with his husband’s brother which is Paolo. Her husband which is Giovanni have caught them while they were in a room and Giovanni have killed them both. As a punishment for committing adultery, their punishment in the second circle was to be whirled and buffeted endlessly through the murky air (symbolizing the beclouding of their reason by passion) by a great gale (symbolizing their lust). Next in line is Semiramis. Semiramis is a legendary queen of Assyria who assumed full power at the death of her husband, Nimus. Same punishment was applied to her. Another known woman can also be found in the second circle. Dido she is the Queen and founder of Carthage. She had vowed to remain faithful to her husband, Sichaeus, but she fell in love with Aeneas. When Aeneas abandoned her she stabbed herself on a funeral that she had had prepared. Actually, if you will follow Dante’s system of punishment, Dido should be placed in the Seventh circle with the suicides. But the reason why she was placed in the second circle is because â€Å"she killed herself for love† and that makes her sing more acceptable. Next is Cleopatra who committed a very lustful relationship with his lover Antony. Cleopatra was actually known to be the â€Å"Queen of the Lust† during her time. Cleopatra took her own life to avoid capture by Octavian (the future emperor Augustus); Octavian had defeated Mark Antony, who was Cleopatra’s lover (she had previously been the lover of Julius Caesar). Finally, Helen can also be found in the second circle. We all know that Helen committed adultery against her husband and so because of this she was placed in the second circle still considering that she was only able to do such sin because of extreme love for Paris. On the other hand, it’s not only women that are capable of doing such crime but also men. There are several men who were also able to commit sins because they were overcome by lust namely, Paolo, Achilles, Paris and Tristan. Paolo eventually was the lover of Francesca who committed adultery against his brother Giovanni. Next, Achilles as we all know was a warrior/fighter. He was placed among this company because of his passion for Polyxena, the daughter of Priam. For love of her, he agreed to desert the Greeks and to join the Trojans, but when he went to the temple for the wedding he was killed by Paris. Next to Achilles is Paris who eventually had an affair with Helen who was the wife of Menelaus. They have committed adultery that actually caused the Trojan war. Lastly, Tristan, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and Iseult (Mark’s fiancee) became lovers after they mistakenly drank the magic potion intended for Mark and Iseult. Mark shoots Tristan with a poisoned arrow, according to one version of the story popular in Dante’s day, and the wounded man then clenches his lover so tightly that they die in one another’s arms. Generally, the stories and sins of these souls shares a common ground and that is â€Å"everything in the name of love. † Because of this, people commit sins that they thought are acceptable because there is an intervention of love. Moreover, I personally believe that sinners like them do not deserve to be in the second circle and receive the lightest punishment. Why so? Simply because no matter what you do, committing adultery and destroying the sacred thing of marriage or union is a sin. It is a sin not only ethically but most importantly it is a sin in the eyes of God. Destroying a sacred union is an awful sin and receiving such light punishment should not be. I feel that these souls should also be given a harder punishment since they have committed a very big sin. In conclusion to this, the second circle generally is a circle for those who sinned by excess of sexual passion. It is the most natural sin and the sin most nearly associated with love, so its punishment is the lightest of all to be found in hell proper. But I still believe that since man has given the will and choice, each one of us has the power to follow our wills and choose our choices as dictated by ourselves but of course with considering all the possible factors. We always have a choice, so these sinners could have chosen to commit it or not.

The Lost Symbol Prologue

House of the Temple 8:33 P.M. The secret is how to die. Since the beginning of time, the secret had always been how to die. The thirty-four-year-old initiate gazed down at the human skull cradled in his palms. The skull was hollow, like a bowl, filled with bloodred wine. Drink it, he told himself. You have nothing to fear. As was tradition, he had begun this journey adorned in the ritualistic garb of a medieval heretic being led to the gallows, his loose-fitting shirt gaping open to reveal his pale chest, his left pant leg rolled up to the knee, and his right sleeve rolled up to the elbow. Around his neck hung a heavy rope noose–a â€Å"cable-tow† as the brethren called it. Tonight, however, like the brethren bearing witness, he was dressed as a master. The assembly of brothers encircling him all were adorned in their full regalia of lambskin aprons, sashes, and white gloves. Around their necks hung ceremonial jewels that glistened like ghostly eyes in the muted light. Many of these men held powerful stations in life, and yet the initiate knew their worldly ranks meant nothing within these walls. Here all men were equals, sworn brothers sharing a mystical bond. As he surveyed the daunting assembly, the initiate wondered who on the outside would ever believe that this collection of men would assemble in one place . . . much less this place. The room looked like a holy sanctuary from the ancient world. The truth, however, was stranger still. I am just blocks away from the White House. This colossal edifice, located at 1733 Sixteenth Street NW in Washington, D.C., was a replica of a pre-Christian temple–the temple of King Mausolus, the original mausoleum . . . a place to be taken after death. Outside the main entrance, two seventeen-ton sphinxes guarded the bronze doors. The interior was an ornate labyrinth of ritualistic chambers, halls, sealed vaults, libraries, and even a hollow wall that held the remains of two human bodies. The initiate had been told every room in this building held a secret, and yet he knew no room held deeper secrets than the gigantic chamber in which he was currently kneeling with a skull cradled in his palms. The Temple Room. This room was a perfect square. And cavernous. The ceiling soared an astonishing one hundred feet overhead, supported by monolithic columns of green granite. A tiered gallery of dark Russian walnut seats with hand-tooled pigskin encircled the room. A thirty-three-foot-tall throne dominated the western wall, with a concealed pipe organ opposite it. The walls were a kaleidoscope of ancient symbols . . . Egyptian, Hebraic, astronomical, alchemical, and others yet unknown. Tonight, the Temple Room was lit by a series of precisely arranged candles. Their dim glow was aided only by a pale shaft of moonlight that filtered down through the expansive oculus in the ceiling and illuminated the room's most startling feature–an enormous altar hewn from a solid block of polished Belgian black marble, situated dead center of the square chamber. The secret is how to die, the initiate reminded himself. â€Å"It is time,† a voice whispered. The initiate let his gaze climb the distinguished white-robed figure standing before him. The Supreme Worshipful Master. The man, in his late fifties, was an American icon, well loved, robust, and incalculably wealthy. His once-dark hair was turning silver, and his famous visage reflected a lifetime of power and a vigorous intellect. â€Å"Take the oath,† the Worshipful Master said, his voice soft like falling snow. â€Å"Complete your journey.† The initiate's journey, like all such journeys, had begun at the first degree. On that night, in a ritual similar to this one, the Worshipful Master had blindfolded him with a velvet hoodwink and pressed a ceremonial dagger to his bare chest, demanding: â€Å"Do you seriously declare on your honor, uninfluenced by mercenary or any other unworthy motive, that you freely and voluntarily offer yourself as a candidate for the mysteries and privileges of this brotherhood?† â€Å"I do,† the initiate had lied. â€Å"Then let this be a sting to your consciousness,† the master had warned him, â€Å"as well as instant death should you ever betray the secrets to be imparted to you.† At the time, the initiate had felt no fear. They will never know my true purpose here. Tonight, however, he sensed a foreboding solemnity in the Temple Room, and his mind began replaying all the dire warnings he had been given on his journey, threats of terrible consequences if he ever shared the ancient secrets he was about to learn: Throat cut from ear to ear . . . tongue torn out by its roots . . . bowels taken out and burned . . . scattered to the four winds of heaven . . . heart plucked out and given to the beasts of the field– â€Å"Brother,† the gray-eyed master said, placing his left hand on the initiate's shoulder. â€Å"Take the final oath.† Steeling himself for the last step of his journey, the initiate shifted his muscular frame and turned his attention back to the skull cradled in his palms. The crimson wine looked almost black in the dim candlelight. The chamber had fallen deathly silent, and he could feel all of the witnesses watching him, waiting for him to take his final oath and join their elite ranks. Tonight, he thought, something is taking place within these walls that has never before occurred in the history of this brotherhood. Not once, in centuries. He knew it would be the spark . . . and it would give him unfathomable power. Energized, he drew a breath and spoke aloud the same words that countless men had spoken before him in countries all over the world. â€Å"May this wine I now drink become a deadly poison to me . . . should I ever knowingly or willfully violate my oath.† His words echoed in the hollow space. Then all was quiet. Steadying his hands, the initiate raised the skull to his mouth and felt his lips touch the dry bone. He closed his eyes and tipped the skull toward his mouth, drinking the wine in long, deep swallows. When the last drop was gone, he lowered the skull. For an instant, he thought he felt his lungs growing tight, and his heart began to pound wildly. My God, they know! Then, as quickly as it came, the feeling passed. A pleasant warmth began to stream through his body. The initiate exhaled, smiling inwardly as he gazed up at the unsuspecting gray-eyed man who had foolishly admitted him into this brotherhood's most secretive ranks. Soon you will lose everything you hold most dear.

The 5 Best Content Marketing Tips Youll Ever Read

The 5 Best Content Marketing Tips Youll Ever Read Just a few weeks ago, I was at a social media conference speaking about one of the more advanced topics of content marketing. All went well,  until I was done speaking. As I left the stage, I was immediately greeted by an audience member who had a both a complaint and a question. The complaint was that nothing I just said made any sense to her. She was new to  this stuff. My bad. The question, on the other hand, was pretty simple how do I get started? How do I make sure my content  marketing works, and doesnt just follow the fad? Great question, and one that you should be asking as well. Whenever I get this question, there are five  best  content marketing tips  that I quickly rattle off. This  business owner was eating them up, and I soon realized that this was good stuff. More people need to know about them,  I thought. So, here they are.  This is the stuff we all need to hear  every once and awhile. This is how to write a good blog and make sure your effort actually pays off. They are my best  content marketing tips. Heres  how to write a good blog and make sure your effort actually pays off. Tip #1 – You Need A Blog To Tell Your Story Step one, you need a blog. It doesnt really matter how big you are – you need one. While youre at it, you should make sure that its built on WordPress. It will give you he most flexibility down the road. In addition, you need to know why you need a blog. If you work in a company, you are going to need to justify this blog to someone eventually. If you are a small business owner, you are going to need to justify the time invested to  yourself because lets face it – youre it. Your time is your greatest asset. Every business has a story, and its up to you to make sure your story is told. One of the first things you learn in business is that people connect to people, not your brand or a faceless corporation. A blog can tell your story, share you expertise, and provide you with a human connection to your customers. In other words, you need this. One of the first things you learn in business is that people connect to people, not brands orIn addition, your blog is one of the keys to your social media awesomeness. I often refer to this as the hub and spoke model. The content that you create on your blog  (or  website) is the hub – its the place that will set the tone for your social media messaging. Use your blog content as your platform, and let the your social media content flow from there. Tip #2 – You Need An Email Marketing Program Social media. Social media. Social media. These days, its just about all you hear about. It is super important, but it may not be the most important part of your online marketing strategy. The reality is that email marketing still converts better than social media. And, it  is easier to do well. Heres what you need to do: Make sure there is a way for your readers to follow or subscribe  to your blog when they come visit. We cover several free plugins for collecting leads  here. Connect your blog to your email marketing program. As you post new content, make sure it is sent automatically to your audience. In addition, you can also send a summary email once a week, promoting your most recent content in a newsletter style format. This is exactly what we do with our own Content Marketing Update. Another more advanced option is to work your way toward  creating an  email marketing auto responder course. These courses are a great way to build your email list and gain trust with your audience. We will often reuse our own blog posts to create these useful tools. Take note, that you can also do this with a great ebook or free downloadable worksheet. The best part of the email marketing program is that you will create constant touch points with your audience. This is good for everyone. Your audience  will get helpful and interesting information, and you will constantly ensure that your content has an audience following along. This builds trust, and thats a win-win. Tip #3 – You Need To Know What Your Customers Actually Want To Hear From You One of the biggest struggles that marketers make is not understanding their audience. What does your audience really want to hear about? What can you say on your blog that will actually  resonate with them? There are a few strategies that we emphasize here at , including using data from Google Analytics  and something that we call  expanding your content core.   Lots of new businesses get started by spending a ton of time talking about their own business. This is a mistake. Yes, you need to tell your story, but not like that. Rather, you need to figure out what your audience wants to know. There are a few easy ways to make this happen. Talk to your receptionist. What are the questions your customers ask when they first call your office? The woman I spoke to at the conference ran a salon and massage company. For her, it might be finding out the questions that her attendants are being  asked time and time again. Theres know better way to discover what your customers want to hear than asking the people that know your customers the best. Try to figure out what they are searching for. 60% of purchases made by consumers now  start with a search on  Google.  Thats astounding.  Take advantage of this and address those searches with your own blog content using a keyword-based strategy. Watch what your current customers are saying on social media. Follow your customers on social media and pay close attention to what they are talking about.  You can use a tool like Mention to monitor broad topics and industry discussion effectively. This listening strategy can be an efficient way to learn. Ask them. Sometimes all you need to do is ask  your audience what you  could write about that would hold their  interest. Their ideas might surprise you. The bottom line is that you cant do effective online marketing without understanding your audience. Spend some time researching this before you get too far. Once you can easily compile your data into reader personas youve gone far enough. Tip #4 – You Need To Learn How To Write For The Web Researcher Jacob Neilson confirmed that readers are more likely to scan our content than they are to read every word. In order to make your content consumable, you need to make sure it is properly formatted for online use. There are many ways to make sure that your content is readable. Here are a few  you can implement right away. highlighted  keywords  (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others) meaningful  sub-headings  (not â€Å"clever† ones) bulleted  lists one idea  per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) the  inverted pyramid  style, starting with the conclusion half the word count  (or less) than conventional writing This is an important topic, as there are many other things to consider, such as mobile devices and outside distractions that happen when your audience is reading your content. For an in-depth look at getting your content read check out this recent post. Tip #5 – You   Need An Editorial Calendar I am a huge believer in setting goals, making a plan, and forcing yourself to stick with it. If you want your marketing to be any good, you are going to need to do  the same.  Often times, many marketers may take the more casual approach to blogging and social media scheduling – only posting when they have an idea, or at a moment of inspiration. This wont work. When you  leave your marketing up to chance, chances are it will never actually  happen. Thats why you need an editorial calendar.