5 Ways Your Website Is Boring Visitors Away

Is your website (yawn) boring visitors away?  If so, that’s not good news.  Still, you’ve come to the right place as we have a quick list of 5 things to watch out for.  We take a look at some common pitfalls that some sites fall into, and, more importantly, how to fix them.

The design of your website has a big impact on whether or not your readers will stick around for long.  Many people want their site to look professional, which is only natural, but there is a huge difference between looking professional and just looking like every other site online.

You want to instantly grab people’s attention when they find your site for the first time so that they will remember you in the future.  Some of that comes down to branding, but simple things like the colours you are using, the way in which your site is laid out, the font you use, your logo, etc.  It all has a big impact.
 Try asking people for a second opinion on the look of your website.
Ask them what they think makes your site stand out from others?What do they like (design wise) on your site?What don’t they like (design wise) about your site?Ask for suggestions on what they would change.

Also, take a look at some of your competitor sites and see what they are doing.  Which ones really stand out amongst the rest and ask yourself why that is.
 The vast majority of sites look fairly similar, so if you can come up with an idea to make yourself stand out from the crowd, that is a great thing.  You aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, just to add some sort of unique feature to your site that makes people remember you.
One thing that turns most people off almost instantly is when a writer/blogger only talks about him or herself.  It’s the same when you meet someone in real life and all they talk about is “me, me, me” – it’s annoying!

Readers are ultimately looking for information to help themselves, so try writing for them.
Think about the questions that they want answering?What problems would they want help with?How can you and your site help them?

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with using yourself as an example from time to time.  That can be a great way to help explain something, especially when you can prove something works by the fact that you have done it.  The issue is when you do it constantly, even when it doesn’t necessarily help explain anything.

Content needs to grab the reader’s attention in order for it to be engaging.  You can’t hope to do that if it is dull.
What is dull content though?
Well, one easy to spot cause is when you publish a big mass of text that isn’t formatted correctly.  Remember, you aren’t writing a novel, you are trying to engage with an audience that is always one click away from leaving your site for good.

Some simple tips that you can use are…

Break up your posts into easy to read paragraphs,Include headings and sub-headings for each section,Include images,Add videos where appropriate,Ask questions within your posts that you try to immediately answer,Add links.

For more tips on how to write more engaging content, check out my ‘9 Step Guide To Writing Quality Blog Posts’.

Not interacting with your readers only says one thing – you just don’t care!
If people have spent the time to leave a comment on one of your posts, asked you questions via social media or got in touch with you via email, it is only fair that you take the time to reply.  If anything, it’s in your best interest to do so.  You should be trying to encourage reader engagement on your site anyway as that helps to keep people coming back for more.

Now I don’t mean this in a ‘James Brown – Get On Up’ kind of way, more the fact that your site just feels exactly the same to everyone else’s.

We talked about bland web design previously, but here I’m more eluding to the way your site reads.  You need to put some personality into your writing and develop a way of talking to your readers.  Too often I find sites that seem like they have been written by corporate lawyers who seem intent on using the most complicated language that they can.  I think they feel it makes them look intelligent, but what they fail to see is that they are just alienating their audience.

Always keep in mind that you are trying to talk to your readers, not over them!
So there we have it, my top 5 ways that your website is boring and how you can fix that.  What things do you find really boring on websites that you visit?  What instantly makes you want to click away from a site?  We want to hear your opinions, so please leave your thoughts below in a comment.
Images by ‘mbshane’ [Source] & ‘Heinrich Klaffs’ [Source]

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Success….And What It Really Takes To Achieve It

So what does it really take to reach success? There are a lot of myths, the “he says”, “she says” out there but does anybody really have the answer? Success is subjective and has a different definition for each individual.

So let’s take a look through the ages at what is considered as “success”, and what is needed to reach a level of high achievement in various areas of our lives.

Geniuses Aren’t Born….. They’re Made

Books like The Da Vinci Curse by Leonardo Lospennato does a good job of summing up a problem of our time: that anyone striving to be a universal genius will inevitably fail. Because today, unlike in Da Vinci’s time, there’s so much competition out there in every field that only people who devote themselves to one subject are successful. Anyone who wants to be a professional high flyer, the “Father of the Year,” a star violinist, a globetrotter and an art connoisseur all at once should either rethink his priorities or feel satisfied about being incredibly mediocre in each of these fields. After all, it’s rare for a genius to be an all-rounder.

The secret trick: lots of practice and even more mistakes.

Alleged geniuses like Mozart, Goethe and Picasso are not famous the world over for their unique inborn gifts: they were simply lucky enough to be born with a certain amount of talent that they could then cultivate with a whole lot of hard work and dedication.
Anyone who wants to emulate a genius should take note of the fact that neither Mozart nor Einstein changed his profession every couple of years. One reason why Steve Jobs was so successful was that he put all his energy into one thing – and in the process sacrificed his chance of ever winning the “Father of the Year” award. It’s not to say that this path doesn’t have potholes, traffic and detours, but instead that only people who experiment without fear of failure and accept that they can learn from it are bound to produce great things.

Napoleon and the light bulb: getting rich by thinking?

Over 100 years ago, Napoleon Hill asked himself whether the success of outstanding personalities could be explained by a formula. Did they all use the same toothpaste? Did they all follow the same traveling priest? Hill’s answer, which he used as the basis for his book Think and Grow Rich, was far more rudimentary: for him, success and wealth were the consequence of having a clear goal and a burning desire to achieve it. And so, we can reinforce what we already knew about Mozart, Einstein and Jobs:

They all worked hard and were ready to accept mistakes and failures.

Even after more than 10,000 failed experiments, Thomas Edison was not discouraged from achieving his goal of inventing an electric light source. He was driven by the desire to make his dream a reality. After years of hard work, he finally succeeded with the invention of the light bulb. Writer Fannie Hurst’s story is similar: she had to cope with over 36 rejections before a single short story was published in a newspaper. Once that happened, her career as a successful novelist and playwright took off. Her burning desire was stronger than the frustration she felt about various rejections – and she was ultimately rewarded with success.

But all this raises a new question: if the path to success is so obvious, why are there so few people who take it?

Keeping all your options open is the road to mediocrity.

Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational talks broadly about why we human beings use our gift of rational thinking and decision-making so infrequently. Or, to give a concrete example, why we promise ourselves we’ll stop eating sweets so we can look good in a bathing suit, yet, as soon as we’ve filled our shopping carts with fruits and vegetables at the supermarket, we still break down and throw in a chocolate bar on our way to the cash register. Or why, once we’ve fulfilled our dream of having a Porsche, we want a Ferrari. Or, finally, why we put off making decisions and keep all other options open in the meantime, even if it means taking the road to mediocrity or, worse, to a state of constant dissatisfaction.

People are obsessed with keeping their options open, even when it hurts them in the long run. We humans try to keep our options open as much as possible: in our education, our careers and our choice of romantic partner. Some might say that, in an uncertain world, it makes sense to leave open as many avenues as possible, but not making a decision also carries consequences. A person indecisive between two career paths, say architecture and IT engineering, may not whole-heartedly pursue either, and hence end up a mediocre architect or programmer.

Which, in turn, raises the question of how to solve this dilemma. Although countless books have an answer to this question, at the moment we’d like to focus on one classic and one recent bestseller.

 

Efficiency vs. effectiveness: a small, but subtle difference.

Stephen R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleis a classic in the advice and productivity genre. Like Napoleon Hill, Covey investigated what it is that makes people who have made extraordinary achievements different from others. The book relies on mantras such as “first thing’s first” and “sharpen the saw,” i.e., it encourages readers to prioritize and keep themselves balanced. He argues that, in order to have enough time to do so, you have to understand the difference between efficiency and effectiveness:

Many people work towards meaningless goals
. They simply worry about being efficient rather than effective. Being efficient, i.e getting the maximum amount done in the shortest amount of time, is pointless if you don’t know why you’re doing it. Not knowing what’s really important to you and what you’re working towards is like climbing a ladder which is set against the wrong wall. To avoid this, it is important to first be clear about your long-term goals. To this end, it can be useful to ask yourself the Funeral-Questions:

What do I want people to say about me at my funeral? What sort of person do I want to be remembered as? What do I want to be remembered for?

Productive minimalism, or: why less is more
In just a few years, Babauta has become a guru of productive minimalism. Babauta – once an unhappy, overweight, chain-smoking “Jack of all trades, master of none” – is now a living paradigm of minimalism, practicing yoga, eating healthily, writing, and spending time with his family. His success speaks for itself, and happiness seems to literally ooze out of him. His advice sounds as simple as it does plausible:
Living without restrictions is like shopping without a credit limit. Because the only way we end up concentrating on what’s truly important is when we’re forced to budget. In short, budgeting helps us stop wasting time and energy on things that aren’t actually worth it. By consciously limiting ourselves, we create space for important things and get rid of the unimportant ones. For example, by not taking on unimportant projects, we give ourselves time to spend with our loved ones.
In summary, we recognize that people can only truly be geniuses or achieve success if they work hard and consciously choose certain options over others. Veering off the paths of mediocrity and taking drastic measures is worth it, as Ariely describes in his book Predictably Irrational:

In 210 BC, after the Chinese commander Xiang Yu had ferried his army across the Yangtze River, he set fire to his own ships. He did this to show his troops that retreat was not an option. In response, they fought so ferociously that they won nine battles consecutively.

Think about it, have you ever made such a gutsy, all-or-nothing decision or do you know someone who has?
If so, we’d love to hear about it in the comments. Your story just might inspire someone else to take action!

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The $340 Million Die Hard Entrepreneur “Gurbaksh Chahal” Shares His Advice For Success

I was fortunate enough to catch up with the $340 Million Silicon Valley Entrepreneur “Gurbaksh Chahal” this week to find out what it takes to succeed in life and in business.

Gurbaksh had sold 2 successful online advertising companies by the age of 25 for a total of $340 Million and is onto his 3rd and biggest company yet, RadiumOne. Gurbaksh will be launching RadiumOne in over 70 markets and is excited to announce that Australia is one of them.

Read on to find out what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur like Gurbaksh Chahal

Success Advice From A Die Hard Entrepreneur

Joel – The first company you created “Click Agents” was founded by you at the age of 16 and not long after that, it sold for $40 million. Nine years later you sold your second company “Blue Lithium” to Yahoo for $300 Million. Making close to half a billion dollars in the space of 9 years, can you tell us, is there some secret formula that we should know about?

Gurbaksh
– Well I think the secret formula comes down to success in general, and you’ve got to constantly keep an open mind, be creative, and don’t be afraid to re-invent yourself.
When I was 16 I didn’t really have a clue about business, so you could say “I got lucky
“, whatever that means. The second time around I learned what it was really like to be a CEO and I believe that both of these opportunities have prepared me for my current company, by every metric whether it’s revenue, size, opportunity, mission or geography, Radium One is the biggest of all of my endeavors.

Joel – Do you believe it when they say “Ignorance is bliss”? Do you feel that when you were younger that maybe you were a bit ignorant and that could be the reason why you didn’t see a lot of the obstacles ahead of you that some of the more experienced and older entrepreneurs would have been scared of?

Gurbaksh
– I wouldn’t say “Ignorant”, I think the thing that was probably my biggest virtue was that I didn’t know the meaning of failure. I think the older you get with the traditional message of schooling, or the methods of society, whether it’s family, friends or situational you end up trying to play it safe. At 16 I didn’t really know what I could lose. There is an essence of, when you are fearless, you become more creative, and the more fearless I became, the more creative I was.

Joel – What would you say has been one of the biggest fears you have ever faced and what did you do to overcome it?

Gurbaksh
– So here’s the thing, there is constant fear in business. You’ve got to have the stamina to realise that is the very path to success and you’ve got to be able to stomach it. There has been several times when I have put everything on the line and I have had to re-invent myself or I’ve had to hire a completely new leadership team and make significant product changes and all of those were betting the company on something. All of those are triumphs to success, so there’s no real path, success is never linear, it’s almost like a hockey stick. The more risk you take, the more of a U-Shape formula you should end up with.

Joel – I just came back from a holiday in “India“, I understand you were born there but grew up in San Francisco. One stand out thing that I noticed over there is that they are very committed to their traditions.

Do you still carry on any traditions from the motherland?

Joel – How do you balance your life? I find it a challenge at times to balance mine, and I only run a blog and a couple of other business ventures so I could only imagine that you would have your plates pretty full most days.

Gurbaksh
– From a cultural stand point and a family stand point I am Indian by heart, but at the same time I’m probably more spiritual at the end of the day, and that’s defined in the inner you and I think that defines who we are as people.
Living a life that has a greater purpose and living up to it is the ultimate degree that we should strive for.


Gurbaksh
– At the end of the day, you have to look at Success itself as a balance. There are a significant amount of things that you have to do to achieve happiness at the end of the day but you’ve got to have balance and there are a number of things that we need to do as Entrepreneurs to be successful but what is success at the end of the day? Is it your bank account? Or is it happiness? And I think that at the end of the day it’s happiness.

In an article I did for LinkedIn, I talked about Un-plugging yourself from the wired world. The importance of continued learning, giving back, less over thinking, being grateful for what you have, realising that relationships are everything in life, making peace with your past, being authentic and learning how to forgive.

Gurbaksh
– One of the key paths to technology is that it changes significantly and quickly. I have been blessed as I have stuck to my roots of advertising technology and I have been given the opportunity to re-shape it and create it 3 times around now and I think the key secret there is that you should stick to what you know.

I’m a very different entrepreneur than many others. I look at Elon Musk and think of him as a genius because he is that guy that can juggle many different things in many different industries, but I don’t think many of us can do that. Even when you look at the late Steve Jobs, he re-defined 8 different industries. I, on the other hand just stuck to my core which I think is kind of a testament were “If you can do everything that’s great, but if you can be really great at just one thing then that’s also not bad.
” I have looked at that as an opportunity and a blessing to continue to innovate.
Part of the key metrics to success in an enterprise is to know how far you are really willing to take it. Are you pushing the boundaries? You can’t make safe bets. Even today, 4 years into this, 300 employees worldwide, profitability, significant amount of revenue and so forth, the decisions I make as the CEO goes from choosing the color palette on the website, choosing the design of what the reporting looks like, down to what the product ends up becoming.
So you really have to:
Be someone who pays attention to detailBe creativeProblem solveAnd always be creative with the way you solve those problems.
Gurbaksh
– I think success is defined by understanding purpose. If you live a life of purpose then you’ll never be bored.
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Hussle online make 1000£ a day with this ebook

   

Article Marketing Exposed!

Of all the ways to make money online, article marketing is the easiest and best way for anybody to make their first dollar. The best part is that without spending anymore than the cost of a domain name you can create a passive income that can bring you money from an article that you wrote years ago.

Some things covered in this report:

* Picking a niche made easy

* Getting setup

* Writing your articles step by step

* Creating a resource box

And much more!

This brand new marketing ebook brings you powerful strategic marketing methods covering loads of seo tecniques that would rank your website, blog, videos etc. in search engines. AMX is an ebook helps you create a search engine friendly content to get higher ranking in site like google, yahoo, bing and other search engines. Onlline traffic is what websites crave for and the more online traffic the better your websites reputation would be with search engines, this ebook concentrates on how to achieve those goals.

Learn much more now with my ebook

   BUY NOW                    £2.99

                           

And in continue article i will describe other methods for Webmasters ( those who have a website) . ( use from google  adsense ). Probably the perspective that Any personal without having information and expertise to sit at home and make money online ! , It seems a little far fetched  !
You may have see such ads a bout this object in the newspaper or the Internet , Or by your Friend ,Might have thought that even a new spoof.

Article Marketing Exposed!
Of all the ways to make money online, article marketing is the easiest and best way for anybody to make their first dollar. The best part is that without spending anymore than the cost of a domain name you can create a passive income that can bring you money from an article that you wrote years ago.
Some things covered in this report:
* Picking a niche made easy
* Getting setup
* Writing your articles step by step
* Creating a resource box
And much more!

Read more at http://www.idplr.com/view-details/6-ebooks/article-marketing-exposed.html#gpWGeUjqBlpGWkbo.99

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Are You Poor Or living in Poverty? This Story Will Make You Smile & Motivate

This story is part of our Life-hacks series and this particular answer from Amit Banerjee on Quora caught my eyes and I couldn’t stop myself from sharing this with you. There are so many things that you can learn from this long and one of the best reply I can think of. It doesn’t matter what situation you are in, always remember you are the creator of your life.

Also read: After 1826 days of blogging, all I can say- Blogging is incredible


It feels suffocating.

I belong to a middle class family and had never seen “real” poverty during childhood. Yes, I had a Hercules bicycle. Yes I was given good education. Yes, I would go to Disney world once a year. Yes, my parents would take me to holidays. I had a TV video game and a huge collection of cartridges my mom bought for me, when I scored good marks.
Then I entered college. My sister’s marriage was planned, dad bought an apartment and had to pay my fees for engineering. All three events happened in quick succession and we were suddenly in debt.

Somehow, we got scammed and got ourselves chained in bank loans and poverty crept in. It was in such a rush that suddenly, I felt jumping from an airplane without any preparation and now you have to learn to fly as you fall. Or you’re dead.
There was this time range of 2 years (2008-2010) I had to fight poverty on my own. Here is what happened

- No money to pay college fees. Figure out a way to earn that thing yourself
- No money to pay for daily transport. Walk.
- No money for entertainment, movies or parties. Ask your friends for a smoke
- No money for anything except basic food.
- Worst, manage all the heckle of bank. They would send “bouncers” to my house to recover the EMI
 amount and I had to guard my mom. I was once beaten in my neighborhood in front of everyone for not being able to pay the EMI amount for couple of months. I had to sell furnitures, gold, what not.
I told my father its not worth pursuing my education, given the crisis condition. I should take up a job and raise money for the family. My father said – “Son, you can make money whenever you want but you won’t be able to learn later. This is a difficult time, don’t worry. I myself could not study further an had to take up a job at 18, so I can feed a family of 10 people, my brothers, sister, parents. I won’t let it happen with you. We will somehow manage it, just do your thing”

The year was 2008. My monthly expenses were 900-1500 Rs (this includes food) . My engineering fees was 7000 a month and my family is fighting debt. In Lakhs. Each month, the debt would increase because of that education fee. Imagine the condition of a 22 year old guy who has never seen poverty in his life, sitting with friends who would spend thousands on beer parties and live on their mercy.

I was literally beaten and broken because I had no idea how to generate money, while I am still a student.

I gave interviews in a BPO. Rejected.I gave interviews in part time jobs. Rejected.Applied for a teaching job. Rejected.Every door I knocked, I was rejected.Every relative/friend I asked for money, slammed the door.

There was a time in my life when I had just 10Rs in my pocket, just in case some emergency comes in and I have to make phone calls from a local telephone booth. I would walk in the streets for days because I didnt have enough money to afford a rickshaw. I would eat water when I am hungry and try to save as much as possible. I would work for hours in a data entry job and get paid Rs 1 for filling up forms, that way I earned Rs 80-100 a day. I saw my father giving up his scooter to save fuel costs. I saw my mom giving up family occasions. I saw my sister selling her jewelry. I would cry in the bathroom. Alone. For months.

When disaster comes, it comes with a battalion from all directions, all at once.

My girlfriend left me when I needed her the most. She said - ” You’re yourself in trouble, without a job, how will I present you infront of my family? “

I lost her. I loved her, she was the only thing that made me smile but I lost her. For money. (I know she loves me to this day, but she was helpless too. Its not her fault. Situation was against us. I respect her decision now.)

I have died many deaths in those two years but this was the hardest blow. Losing the love of your life because you dont have enough money. I remember our last meeting. It was raining and we were standing below an asbestos shed, enjoying an alpenliebe as that was the only thing I could buy for her.

This shit was so painful that I almost gave up on everything. Weird thoughts started hitting my mind.
Meanwhile, I got a Govt job which I did not like. I walked away. I was broke, beaten and pushed to the corner but I walked away. Somewhere in my heart I had hope. I knew that this is a bad phase which is not permanent. This too shall pass but I could not allow mediocrity to creep in. I had a dream and a temporary crisis is no excuse on giving up on your dreams and settle for mediocrity.

 Here is the resignation letter (some portions have been blurred for privacy)


They say you will get success when it is the only option you have.

I made up a website with 700 INR. Fuck, I did not have 700Rs to buy the domain name. I bought it again on debt. Here is a bill which is very close to my heart…..(it says Rs 275 in debt)

I didn’t succeed in the first go. I had ZERO technical knowledge on how to build a website. But that was not going to stop me because I don’t have any other option. My survival depends on this and I
have to do it, come what may.
My first website didn’t pick up, Account cancelled.I made up a second one. It didn’t work either. Account cancelled.I made up a third website. Failed. Account cancelled again,
Devastated, I gave it a fourth try. Countless hours spent in Googling, coding, writing and building it. I remember those days. I locked myself in a balcony and Googled all day long. Nights, days, weeks, toiled like a madman. I suffered from Jaundice and lost 14-20 Kgs. That was the time I realized what hard work means.
First month, I made $1.29. Second month, I made $8. Third month I made $21.
And then some more. And then some more. And then some more……… Learn how to motivate yourself for blogging when you are demotivated.
Worked like a dog on that and generated $40,000 in two years ( For the curious and those who doubt my story in comments – I didn’t raise it from a single website. Also, I did a good amount of freelancing. This is to ensure I have multiple ways of generating money online, should the main site crashes. The site did suffer a major blow but by that time I had solidified my basement.)
Here is a picture of my balcony, where I used to work on my website and other things (yes a CRT monitor and a broken laptop which college authorities had gifted me)

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.
Paid off the whole debt. Saved a bit.
Today, I work at LinkedIn. Its like a dream come true for me. (No I am not an MBA. No I am not an IITan. No I did not go to US to get a degree from an Ivy league university. No I did not get it through campus placement. No I did not make it through employee referral. I am just another average graduate from just another average engineering college. I just did one thing and did it well. Put my heart and soul into what I really wanted to do.)
But the lessons I have learned in those two years has helped me shape up my character and be a better person. Those were the longest and hardest 2 years I will never be able to forget. Also the most worthwhile time of my life so far.
I don’t waste money now. No show off. Yearly vacations – Yes. Weekend parties – No. No costly gadgets. Dont buy shit you don’t need. Don’t buy “branded” stuff just because every other clueless idiot is doing it. No. Don’t.
Lesson learned the hard way - Be grateful for what you have.
These days, my parents are looking a bride for me. When the girl’s father asks for my salary, I smile and say “I hope your daughter gets a wealthy guy. Because I know money matters. Every single rupee counts.”
When I return home in flight, a part of me cries. Not because I am spending money on travelling which can be done in train. I feel bad thinking someone in this planet needs this money to feed himself. And here I am, travelling in a jet to save time because I am short in leaves.
Lesson: Be kind, for everyone out there is fighting a hard battle.
Edit: Thanks for all the upvotes. Here I’m sharing the first cheque I received from my website. This was that day when I cried the most. I never encashed it. Whenever I am in trouble, I open my archive and see this cheque. This gives me all the strength I need

1. Lead a loan free life. Need a car? Wait, don’t jump into an EMI. Save and then buy the car. Avoid banks as much as possible. No credit cards, I don’t need cashback and other things. Want to study abroad? Don’t take huge educational loan. If at all you take loans, have something to fall back on. Money is fire, you gotta be careful. Save. Every month Pay Yourself First
2. Make mistakes. Fail, fail fast and make it public. Don’t drag it on. I wouldn’t have succeeded in this wild venture if I listened to people telling me I write shitty articles. In fact, all I wrote for the first year was pure garbage. But here is the thing. I didn’t stop. I kept pressing on because I had no time.
3. Do not be ashamed of your situation. I could have written it Anonymously, so that my Facebook friends never know how miser my life was. But No. I am not ashamed of the truth. Accept life as it is.
4. Do not compare your life with anyone.
I see a new trend, specially in Quora. People comparing their life with IITans and IIM graduates. As if, IITans don’t have any struggle in life. As if IIM graduates are the happiest people. Trust me, its a myth. They too have challenges, they too have problems in their life. Keeping the expectation of society because you’re an IITan or IIM graduate is no easy feat. The moment an interviewer sees the word IITan on a resume, he himself prepares the toughest questions. If you compare your life with someone else’s, you will not achieve peace.
5. Be very careful when success comes to you easily. It’s treacherous path to tread down. You must see failure before success, otherwise you will not know the value. Lets say you sit in a campus interview and clear it in one shot, take up the job and keep doing it for years, chances are high that you will regret – “Why I did not explore? What for?” Also, do not expect to get lucky everytime. You will be in trouble somewhere down the road, then what are you going to do?
6. Do something on your own. However small or big, doesn’t matter. Do something completely from scratch and learn how to sell that thing. This will teach you life lessons you will use for the rest of your life.
This will also give you huge confidence. I don’t have any fear in my mind. Fear of what? The worst that can happen is that I will lose my day job. So what? I have worked on my own for 3-4 years without any help and have overcomed a huge financial crisis on my own, without a job. So if I am in trouble again, I know how to make my way.
7. Do not make one disappointment the center of your life.
When some incident shatters all the plans, hopes and aspirations, people start considering that pain and hurt to be the center of their lives and continue to live their lives around it.When people start considering one obstacle, challenge or misery to be the center of their life, and stops the very momentum of life, they cannot become successful in life. Nor can they achieve happiness and contentment.
8. Help people as much as possible. My friend Soumen Halder was with me during that tough phase. We have had many fights. But he was there. When the storm had settled down at my end, he was going through a tough time. I paid back his favor, pulled him out and  secured his position at a startup I was working.
When I was in college, I had a friend Tanmay Ahmed who  separated from his girlfriend after a long 8 year relationship didn’t work out. Later, I found that he had lost purpose in his life. He used to sit everyday and cry like a kid. I decided to do something that would give him hope, reason and purpose.
I taught him how to blog and start an internet business. I gave him my web server, made him a website and showed him the way. Today, his website is doing good, he is self employed and happily married. Here is his website - A Tech Blog from Technology Geeks (he actually rose to be my competitor ;-).
9. Do not be obsessed with “perfection”. You don’t need a perfect solution. You need a solution which is “good enough”. Big things will happen from many small things. So lets say if you have 10 small things in your pocket, one of them will be big. You don’t know which one is your trump card.
Now this calls for a well deserved rant, take it with a grain of salt.

10. Failure is acceptable. Every single person fails. You know what’s not acceptable? NOT TRYING. I see most people giving up without even trying in the first place.
So you hate your job. What are you doing to find something you love? You dedicate so much for your girlfriend, you spend hours chatting in Facebook, you go to weekend parties and then on Monday morning, you are ready with your excuses. Stop pretending. Yes You, I am telling this to you. Stop being a hypocrite to yourself. Yes, I am angry and shouting because I know you’re not giving your 100%.
You keep feeding excuses to your brain everyday. Things like – “I don’t find time to do this. I don’t have 60%, I won’t be able to sit in some campus placement interview, I am a loser. She will leave me, my parents, he is lucky because he has an MBA, I don’t have a rich father, recession is coming, not many companies are hiring electrical engineers, everyone is shooting for IT companies. I must get some money to pursue MS from US, otherwise its impossible to succeed…..I am a girl and I cannot survive outside my home because of rising crime against women, I am this I am that….” FUCK..!
WTF dude? WTF are you thinking? You need a massive thrashing from life. Someone must tie you with a rope and beat you up like shit, then you will do it. You dumbass, stop telling yourself those imaginary lies. Stop cribbing over your misery. Stop crying over your weaknesses. JUST DO IT. You’re not a kid who cries over a fucking lollypop. Get off your ass…!!!!!
11. Life is hard. Remember that dialogue from Rang de Basanti,

“Gate ke is taraf hum life ko nachate hain, to dujji taraf life humko nachati hai”

I don’t care who you are and how much money you have, life will beat you down to your knees and keep you there if you let it. Be prepared. Value relationships, you will need them someday.
I got a few questions in my inbox – “If you succeeded in your website, why did you choose a job?”
Here is the thing I have learned from poverty, being broke, establishing a small business from scratch. Money is not everything in life. Neither is your job title. Nor is your MBA degree. Life is much more greater than these petty things. Life is all about the experiences you make. I could have sit at home and pursued my website, earn more money but I would miss out experiences which are far more valuable. 25-35 is that time of your life when you can explore and do whatever you want. If you give up your freedom for money, one day you may have to regret it. You’re going to die anyway, so the amount of money in your bank is useless. Make experiences, not wealth. Money is important and it matters but far more valuable is gaining experiences, inviting challenges, accepting how life unfolds. Live in different cities, work on small jobs, you will see the true color of life. You will never be able to realize this if you sit in your comfort zone. Get out of your comfort zone and do stuff you’re afraid to do, do things you want to do.
P.S: I still cry for her.
When you have empty pockets, you will need inspiration. Let me tell you, I am not the only guy out there. I am just average, there are people who have exceptional stories of their own. I know some of them personally, have met a few and have connected online since 4-5 years.
Here is a small list of entrepreneurs and technology bloggers I know whom you can refer for inspiration (in no particular order)
This list is endless and I can go on and on. More awesome people here: The Best Indian Bloggers
Editors Note: It doesn’t matter what stage you are in your life, stand up and think about how you can make it better. What ever is happening today is because of your actions in the past, and what will happen in the future is how you will act today.

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Why You Should Study Great Historical Men

There’s a common fallacy among the mainstream that success happens quickly

One reason why it looks this way is because success seems to happen almost instantly – like an explosion. Gangnam Style gaining a billion views on YouTube, What Does the Fox Say going viral, 13 things mentally strong people avoid being covered on Forbes, and so on.

These are recent online examples where success did happen almost instantly.

But what most people don’t think about is that these occurrences are not the rule – they are the exception. These examples are extremely rare. It’s just that they’re the ones you notice – just as you notice the big time lottery winner being shown on TV, but not the thousands of people who bought lottery tickets and drew blank.

We see a disproportionate amount of winners, while not seeing how many losers there are. This distorts our view and makes it seem like it’s easier to become successful that it really is.

Another example of the availability heuristic is that most people are more afraid of flying than they are of driving a car, because they think flying is riskier. But it’s not –it’s just that whenever a plane crashes or explodes, it’s newsworthy, which means that you’re much more likely to hear about it.

A little car accident on the other hand is not newsworthy. Car crashes happen every day, but you’re still a lot less likely to hear about them.

The Greatness of Julius Caesar?

By the exact same logic – because of the availability heuristic – many people get a distorted view of historic men, such as Julius Caesar.

They think: “Well, of course it was easy for Caesar – C’mon he was Caesar! He crossed the Rubicon, he came, he saw, and he conquered!”

Then they think: “But I’m no Caesar, I’m just little old me… How could I possibly do something remarkable like that?”

If they had studied Caesar more closely they would understand that it wasn’t necessarily easy for him. They would also understand that he spent years practicing public speaking, years networking with the right people, and years studying politics.

Caesar also borrowed enormous sums of money. He borrowed more money than he was statistically likely to ever make. He needed the money to pursue his political ambitions.

While Caesar did make that money back, many of his political peers did the same thing and were unable to repay their creditors. Some of these men resorted to suicide. But you don’t hear about that because history is written by winners.

Many things had to go right for Caesar to become the man he is now believed to have been. A lot of things could’ve gone wrong along the way – it’s just that they didn’t.

Caesar – just as Napoleon, Churchill, JFK, Mandela, and many others – has become an icon for something much greater. It’s easy to think that these men were chosen by destiny to succeed – heck, many of them even believed it themselves.

This is why you need to study great historic men – so that you to get a less distorted view about what really happened.

So that you can: 

Understand that before these men became iconized they were human beings just as you are. Figure out what they did that made them brilliant.

Understand just how many things had to fall in place for them to become the icons they are now regarded as. See how many losers there are for each historic winner.

Understand that they too went through many hardships, just as you do now. But they overcame these hardships by being creative and putting in a ton of effort.

Going Through Hardships

Julius Caesar

When Caesar was sixteen years old his father died, making him the new man of the family. At eighteen, Caesar was forced to divorce his wife Cornelia by the Roman dictator Sulla.

Caesar refused to obey the most powerful man in the Roman Empire and as a result had to go on the run with a bounty on his head equivalent to 100 yearly wages of a Legionnaire.

 Napoleon Bonaparte

Before Napoleon Bonaparte was acknowledged as a military genius at around age 20, he spent a considerable amount of time walking the streets aimlessly, dressed in shabby clothes. He even wrote a pathetic copy of the book The Sorrows of The Young Werther.  In Napoleon’s book the protagonist was a version of himself instead of Werther. The book ended with the young male protagonist – a French soldier – killing himself because he was unlucky in love.

Vincent van Gogh

For as long as he lived, Vincent van Gogh never achieved the recognition that he so desperately craved as an artist. His life story is one of the most tragic in history. He was so poor that he couldn’t even afford his own brushes and canvases, but repeatedly had to write letters asking his brother for money.  The same paintings that van Gogh then traded for a warm meal and a place to stay for the night are now traded for millions of dollars.

Van Gogh never saw much success during his short life, but he never stopped believing in his own abilities. He is the perfect example of a man whose life has become iconized and distorted after his death.

The young Winston Churchill sought out as many war zones as possible in pursuit of adventure. He risked his life over and over and survived only through coincidence and freakish luck. Thousands of other people died where he survived time and again.

Did Churchill learn his lesson, pack up, and go back home to safety?

No.
He kept it up until he was eventually captured as a POW and imprisoned in Pretoria.  When the rest of the British inmates chickened out, Churchill escaped by himself and nearly died from starvation in the process.

What’s the Point?

Do you see how strongly these men must have wanted to become successful?

Strong enough for them to risk their lives repeatedly.

Ask yourself:

What price are you willing to pay for being able to do what you want to do and become successful at it?

The Reason You Should Study Highly Successful People

Why should you take time out of your busy life to read about these remarkable men?

1. To learn more about them and understand how they overcame their shortcomings.

For example:

–Churchill lisped and was unable to spontaneously retort to political opponents. He had to write and practice every little thing he was going to say.  Do you see what a huge impediment this constitutes to a politician?

Yet Churchill overcame this by spending hours preparing  in advance the things he would say to his opponents in parliament.

If an opponent unexpectedly said something clever Churchill knew that he was screwed, so he had to try to anticipate everything that would come up – and practice a counter argument until he had it memorized.  He described this process as preparing ammunition, where some of the things he had prepared would work, and some wouldn’t.

2. To become inspired as result of teaching your mind that it is possible for one man to have a profound impact on the world.

By getting a clearer view of the lives of these historical men you get a much better understanding of what success means – and what it takes to accomplish it.

Studying these men teaches you that someone who aims his life at a very specific purpose – a man who fine-tunes his actions by consistently putting in that tiny bit of extra effort every day –is likely to become successful.


But here’s the thing:

Most people don’t even believe that they can do the things they’d like to do. So they’re rarely motivated to remain completely consistent.

The difference between these historically great men and average people lies in consistency and luck. They were fiercely consistent in practicing their skills, meeting influential people, and reading books every day for many years.

You can do nothing about luck, but consistency can be mastered.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” - Seneca

The next time you struggle with willpower or consistency – remind yourself of the following:

1.The availability heuristic is making it seem like success is easier, and happens more quickly, than it really does.

2.Some of the greatest men in history had it far worse than you do and they still managed to turn it around.
3.These men overcame their shortcomings by being more creative and more consistent than their peers. They stuck to their crafts day in and day out for many years.

And if that doesn’t help you there one more trick that you can use:

— View your current situation as if you were reading a biography written about yourself hundreds of years from now on.

Ask yourself many times daily:

What would that biography say?

Ludvig Sunström runs Start Gaining Momentum where he writes about practical self-development and gives no-nonsense tips for becoming more efficient and stepping up in life. He is also the author of Breaking out of Homeostasis , a book about claiming more control over your life by overcoming the brain's innate mechanism for staying the same. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter and Google+.
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Effective Ways Of Advertising Anything Free

Advertising or advertising methods is one of the most important thing for a business. Almost 99% of the sales come from advertising, the better your method of advertising is, the higher sales you will achieve. There are countless of average people online that make hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds online using the power of the web to promote there businesses or sell their skills.

There is nothing stopping you from making money online but your self, your skills and creativity could earn you a mansion and a private jet or just a comfortable living online one day. Believe in your self, there are thousands of people out there that started just like you and now they are making tons of cash.

Facebook

Facebook is a powerful tool for adverting online and they always have non stop traffic that could benefit you and the most wonderful thing about it its free. You can make a page for your business, blog or what ever your advertising and if you make it attractive enough people will follow your page and when u post on your page your followers will see your post on there page. I think facebook is one good way to get traffic to your advertisement,website, or blog etc. Facebook has 1.4 billion users.

youtube

One of the best way of reaching out to people is through videos and where else could it be better than youtube to grab peoples attention. Post videos about your niche, products or what ever your advertising you can make money from your videos too through adsense if you get enough viewers. this is youtubes statics

Viewership

• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube – that's almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than last year
• 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localised in 61 countries and across 61 languages
• According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults aged 18-34 than any cable network
• Millions of subscriptions happen each day. The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 3 times since last year, and the number of daily subscriptions is up more than 4 times since last year 

Craigslist 

This site is another traffic jam and its also free to post ads. Total number of local Craigslist sites is 700 and the number of countries that have a local Craigslist site is 70. The number of Craigslist daily queries worldwide is 50 million that shows you how much potential this website has for your adverting. Now this is going to blow your head off the amount of page views they get every month is 20billion, you can grab a piece of that for free.

Twitter

The number of people that have twitter is 645million or probably even more now which is another eye candy for marketers and other traffic hungry people. there are 190million unique visitors every month and has 115million active twitter users every month. This site is another useful source for traffic to your website or advertisement i recomend this if your trying to get some traffic.

Google+ 

Google+ is a new social networking site that is buzzing right now there are millions of people already using this site. This site has the potential to be the best social networking website just because its owned by google and its already a very powerful tool for traffic because there is well over 540 million users  "this was last years statistics"

With these 5 websites you can generate millions of traffic if they are used in the right way. These 5 websites are used by big super businesses, small businesses and people that want to reach out to to the masses of people. I hope you found interest in this post and it motivates you.

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