The Powertool Shed

There you are busily typing away on your PC or your Laptop, and
all of a sudden the strangest thing happens. The screen goes
black, extinquished like a candle in the wind.

A message appears saying: “The file hal.dll is missing or
corrupt. Windows can not start.” Well you know that 95% of
computer glitches are solved by a simple reboot, so click…oops,
can’t click, no Windows. Ok then, you reset, and you think you
are sure to be OK when the reboot completes.

Wrong! The same error message appears “The file hal.dll is
missing or corrupt. Windows can not start.” How is it possible
for one measly file to kill your system?

DISASTER…What to do now? Phone your tech friend and ask his
advice. He tells you the bad news. You are obliged to re-install
Windows from the original disc! Oh My God! Will I lose all my
programs and data? Yes, you will have to re- install all your
programs. No your data may be safe, but only if you don’t have
to reformat your hard disc.

But, your friend asks, I hope you have all your backups.

DO YOU, because that is the key to saving your business. You
know that in today’s business world, 95% of your business
information is stored on your computer. This applies not only to
online businesses, but also to offline ones. In this paperless
society of ours, business people are printing less and less of
all their transactions.

Think hard. Where the heck did I hide my original Windows disc?
Really, are you organized enough that you can easily find your
original installation discs, along with the code numbers they
need to re-install.

You own some programs you downloaded off the Net, but they are
stored on your hard drive. Are they backed up? When is the last
time you backed up your data, the lifeblood of your business.

What backup system do you use? Do you use the old- fashioned
tape systems, or do you backup to CD or DVD? Whichever one you
use, the key is that your backups must be frequent enough to
keep you out of major trouble.

Program backups do not have to be constantly repeated like Data
does. Programs do not change, unless you downloaded an update.
Then your update must be saved on your hard drive, and also
backed up.

Data includes so many different things that it’s easy to forget
to back up some items. ‘My Documents’ contains much of the data,
but not nearly all. Do you know where your Favorite links are
stored? Where is your email that you saved? Along with your
email address book, Microsoft hides these files quite well.

It took me weeks to find, and then remember where they are
hidden in Documents and Settings. I never did find the email
settings, so have not saved those.

Bottom line: what should you back up, and how often?

Whatever media you use, you must have at least 2 current backups
of everything, and preferably 3. If you use CD or DVD, have you
ever noticed how some discs suddenly become unreadable, and for
no apparent reason. It happens oh too frequently.. I lose up to
15% this way. CDs have an expected shelf life of maybe 2 years.
Some will surely last longer, too many die prematurely.

Does that mean you should not use CDs or DVDs to back up? Of
course you should. It is the cheapest backup system I know
about. But you MUST have more than one copy. I prefer 3. The
proof of this comes when you save your business by being able to
start over because your backups are up to date.

Imagine if you lose all your programs and have to buy them over
again.

Imagine if you lose all your emails that have your registration
codes for the programs you bought online. And what about all the
sales and purchase data in your emails. What about your contact
list, your email lists, etc.

Imagine losing all your accounting data that you must have for
year-end tax reporting!

Enough said. Programs already backed up on 2 or 3 copies only
need to be updated by adding new programs you buy, and upgrades
that come out.

Data should be backed up based on the frequency of your
transactions. It could be daily, or every 2 or 3 days if your
business is in the early growth stage..

Without backups…your business may be dead in the water! Don’t
get careless. You may say I will save a disc or two by backing
up less often. Why? One CD-rom disc costs a buck. Big deal when
it means life or death for your business.

Why take chances. Can anyone predict when you will have a
problem, a computer crash, a new virus? Of course not. Don’t
live dangerously, this is not a thrill ride, it is your life.

Fred Farah copyright 2004

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For Graphic Print Design: All serious graphic designers know
that the industry standard for graphic design software is Adobe
Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXpress or Adobe InDesign.
If you are not familiar with these products here is a quick
overview. Adobe Photoshop is photographic image manipulation
software. Photoshop is where you will manipulate, clean up,
re-touch, or re-color all the bitmap photographic images for
your design project. Adobe Illustrator is vector art software
and you will use it to create vector images such as logos and
illustrations for you design project. QuarkXpress and Adobe
InDesign are graphic layout programs. This is where you will
literally combine all the pieces for a design project and lay
them out. You will add your text, manipulated Adobe Photoshop
images, and created Adobe Illustrator vectors images to this
program and layout the finished product, which may be a
brochure, flyer, etc.

For Graphic Web Design: Graphic web design has more options for
software. Web design is not quite as specific with their
software requirements as print design. As far as industry
standard, the industry has really left it up to the designer to
decide. I prefer to use Adobe Photoshop to create most of my
imagery and then use Adobe ImageReady (which comes with
Photoshop) to make my files optimized for the web and then use
Adobe GoLive for my web site layout. Adobe GoLive is a great
software product for designers who are not as skilled with HTML
coding because GoLive does the coding for you, but if you prefer
to do the coding yourself you are given the option of doing this
as well. Another fun software program for web design is
Macromedia Flash. Flash creates very fun animation and mini
movies that give your site movement, but is not recommended that
you design your entire site in Flash because of poor search
engine optimization. Macromedia also has a product called
DreamWeaver that is a web site creation and layout program.

Graphic design is a key element in communicating effectively with your audience; whether it is for a trade show or any other form of marketing communication. The tendency in trade show marketing is to say as much as possible in the time and space allowed during a trade show. Generally, you have 3-10 seconds to capture the attention of a trade show attendee. Companies often try to cram as much information into a 10×10 or 20×20 space as possible. From graphic images to text relating to the companies products and services companies put way too much information into their trade show displays.

So how do you speak to your audience so that they retain some of what you’ve said and even more importantly take action and buy? Below are a few ways to improve the visual performance of your trade show display.

1. Understand your goals with your display. Are you exhibiting to sell, for market awareness, client education, or other purposes? Communicate this purpose through the graphics and copy on your booth.
2. Have a central theme that can resonate with people in a short time.
3. Is there an emotional connection to what your company is about? If so, connecting with people on an emotional level has the greatest impact.

4. Keep your display and booth area clean. Less is definitely more here. Visual space on your display is a good thing. It allows your audience to absorb your message. Remember you have 3-10 seconds to attract them.

5. Any images or photography should be of the highest quality. Images used for brochures often cannot be used for trade show display graphics. 125 dpi at finished size is what we recommend to clients for crisp clean images.

6. Stick to one message. You can elaborate through conversation, follow up communication, literature, and your web site.
7. Pre-marketing your brand prior to the show helps as well. If you send attendees postcards, letters, or other communication before the show they naturally will be attracted to something they have seen before.

These are a few ways to target your message, get heard and seen by your audience, and generate the sort of response that puts you at trade shows in the first place. After your clean visual trade show display attracts people the rest is up to you and your staff to connect and sell.

If you would like more information on this topic or if you would like to suggest a topic for a future article, please contact Peter Winters at: peterwinters@presres.com
For over 10 years Mr. Winters has been consulting businesses on strategic planning, marketing, and public relations.

He is the owner of Exhibit Warehouse a Richmond Virginia-based trade show display and trade show exhibit fabrication company.

The usual complaint from companies is that Marketing simply does not
yield as expected. So much effort, time, and money goes into
campaigns, and yet the frustrations persist: Why aren’t sales up? Why
are we not growing? And the truth, sadly enough, is that no one can
really pinpoint what is working well, and what simply is not producing
anything (and costing the company!).

As with anything else, preparation is key. Without laying a foundation for
success, success will not magically appear.

Strategizing

Strategy comes first, allowing you to determine your goals and what
actions you will need to take accordingly. Once strategy is firmly in
place, you will have the language at your disposal for all
communications with your target audience.

Here are important areas to define:

1. Identify who you are, your values, what you stand for

2. Have a clear vision for where your company is headed, a mission
statement to live by

3. Be sure you understand your product and/or service well

4. Always know your audience inside and out

5. Dissect in great detail what the benefits of your product/service are

Note that going through this process is crucial whether you have been in
business for a day or for a decade! And it is important to review these
areas periodically, at least once a year. In doing so, you continually
have a good grasp of who you are and what your purpose is as a
company.

Your overall strategy unfolds from the above answers and statements.
Before diving into the gameplan, answer the following questions, which
will help define the direction you will take in the years to come:

1. Where do we want to be as a company in a year? What does it look
and feel like?

2. How about in five years?

3. Ten years?

Be detailed. Don’t hold back as you define every aspect of your
organization, and how you will interface with all those around you:
management, employees, clients, and vendors. The thought precedes
the event, therefore start by painting the picture, and its realization will
happen naturally.

The gameplan

This is the fun part, the actual gears of your money-making machine. I
recommend that you use a calendar approach, either via software, or
through a wall-sized calendar that everyone can write on and reference
easily.

The calendar becomes your week-by-week or month-by-month
roadmap for what you will be doing to reach your audiencethe
gameplan itself that will keep you focused on your goals. By knowing
what is coming up well in advance, you will be able to plan accordingly
and execute successfully.

The purchase rarely happens right away, and it is therefore crucial to
stay in touch with potential customers consistently over the long-term.
This will gradually convince them that you are the company of choice,
and allow them to overcome their fears and objections. Cutting through
the clutter of SPAM and regular mail, billboards, radio, and TVjust to
name a fewtakes time. You need to stand out and have something
useful to say.

To establish expertise and win audiences over, try these ideas:

1. A letter announcing an upcoming event. Hold a special event
(presentation, seminar) and make a big deal about it.

2. A follow-up call on the letter. This is different than cold-calling, as you
are specifically referencing this special event, of potential interest to that
targeted individual.

3. The actual event. Whether showcasing some product, covering some
aspect of investing, health-related mattersthis brings you face-to-face
with your audience, allowing for unparalleled interaction.

4. A document follow-up to that event. You might choose to make
available information from the event, for those who were not able to
attend. More educational material to draw them closer to you.

5. A case study or useful article that is mailed out. Not written about you,
but about a topic relating to your business or industry. The case study is
a powerful tool for discussing how you solved a customer’s problems,
and can include testimonials that are worth gold.

6. An email announcement. Something useful that you recommend that
could be of benefit to your audience. Only to those who have opted in, of
course.

Bottom line: do not bore or annoy your audience! Give them educational
and interesting materials without actually selling (the beauty and power
of successful Marketing). You will be educating them towards the time
when they choose to purchase from youand there is nothing like
working with a customer who already knows all about you and what you
do…

Josh Barinstein is President of Red Frog, Inc., the Portland, Oregon ad
agency that provides worry-free experiences and powerful results in the
areas of Marketing, Print design, Web/CD-ROM development, and
Video production.

Learn more at http://www.RedFrogInc.com or by calling 888-955-0550.

You have permission to distribute this article as long as all of the text
contained herein remains intact.

Charles Dickens was born in Portsea, England, in 1812. His
father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, stationed at
Portsmouth. Although his job was well paid, his father had a
weakness for spending money and spent much of his life in
chronic bankruptcy.

In 1824, when Charles was just 12 years old, his father was sent
to debtor’s jail. Charles Dickens was sent to a boarding house
and given a 12 hour-a-day job preparing bottles of shoe polish
in a blacking factory.

But Dickens’ fortunes improved: a sudden inheritance allowed his
father to pay off his debts and he sent Charles to school.

At age fifteen Charles was placed as a clerk in the office of an
attorney, a friend of his father’s. In his spare time he studied
hard to become a Parliamentary reporter.

At age nineteen he entered the parliamentary gallery as a
reporter for The Mirror. It was a well paid job and he soon
became known as one of the best shorthand reporters in London.

Dickens began writing fiction at age 21, under the nom de plume
of ‘Boz’. In 1836, when Dickens was 23, he began writing a
series of short stories (The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick
Club) which appeared in cheap monthly installments. By the age
of 24 he had become internationally famous.

Charles Dickens burst onto the literary scene at a unique moment
in English history

Until the end of the 18th century, England had been a mainly
rural society. But from the late 1700’s onwards, land holders
started forcing people off their land to make way for sheep
farming.

At the same time the Industrial Revolution was creating new
towns and cities with belching smoke stacks and factories that
needed workers - the English countryside was emptying and a new
urban working class was emerging.

The concentration of people in towns and cities created
something that had never existed before - a mass audience.
Newspapers, Magazines and Newsletters sprang up to cater for
this new and growing demand.

Books were being serialized in Newspapers and Magazines - those
who couldn’t afford to buy a book could read it in weekly
installments. Dickens wrote and published most of his novels in
this fashion - a chapter at a time.

Between 1837 and 1839, Dickens wrote three of his most famous
novels Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby.

In the first ten years of his writing career, the manic part of
Dickens’ manic depression had given him an endless source of
energy and inspiration, but now he began to succumb to
depression.

In the 1840’s he started to experience writer’s block. He would
spend days locked up in a room, unable to put words on paper. He
wrote: “Men have been chained to hideous walls and other strange
anchors but few have known such suffering and bitterness…as
those who have been bound to Pens.”

Dickens was an extremely energetic man and a compulsive
traveler. He traveled the length and breadth of England,
Scotland and Wales and also made frequent trips to France and
Italy. In 1842 he spent six months in America, where he was
given the kind of reception reserved for modern day rock stars.

In 1856 Dickens purchased a large residence in Kent, the kind of
house he had always dreamed of owning.

Although Dickens became wealthy, he never forgot his origins.
Throughout his life he visited the factories, the slums, the
jails and the poor houses. Indeed, his novels were a social
commentary on the appalling conditions of 19th century England.
He was well known for his generosity and received requests for
money wherever he went.

He is considered by many to have been a genius and the greatest
English writer of the 19th century.

When Dickens died in June 1870, he left an estate valued at over
$US6.5 million (2001 value).

As an owner, you know all the intimate details about what makes
your property so great. The challenge is in conveying those to
prospective renters. Vacation rental web sites help by providing
you with a custom web site for your property, and promoting it
to family vacationers around the globe. So what can you do to
leverage this worldwide exposure? Attractive and descriptive
photos can take a good property listing, and make it great. And
it is a lot easier than you think. So a picture really can be
‘worth a thousand words’, as they say. But how you create the
best impression for your property? Here are some tips from the
vacation rental property marketing experts at
GreatFamilyRentals.com:

1. Digital or film, either works Whether you use a traditional
film camera or a digital one does not really matter. Use what
you’re most comfortable with. Even single-use, disposable
cameras (with flash) can take reasonably good photos. Both
digital and film camera technologies are sufficient to capture
images extremely well. We recommend 400-speed film for the best
results from film cameras.

What matters far more is how the camera is used. Which brings us
to…

2. Interiors - Plan the setting Professional home photographers
spend hours creating the right look before snapping the first
picture. While we don’t recommend similar time devotion, a
little time making sure your property is presentable will pay
off. You will likely take your pictures between rental sessions,
after the property has been cleaned. Of course renters like
seeing everything neat and tidy, but we’ve noticed that
sometimes a less sterile view helps vacationers imagine
themselves in your property - and that’s what it’s all about.
Here are some ideas to make the interior of your property look
less like a hotel room, and more like a vacation home:

- Set the dining table for a meal, including wine glasses and
candlesticks - Put out some board games or books on the coffee
table - On your deck or patio, put a beach towel and a couple
of cold drinks next to those chaise lounges

All right, since you’re taking pictures, the drinks don’t really
have to be cold, but you get the idea. Of course your property
should be clean and neat, but making it appear more like it
probably does when occupied, helps show the potential of your
vacation rental.

Spend a few minutes choosing which rooms you wish to show.
Common areas, like living rooms and kitchens are important. You
might not think your kitchen is anything special, but that’s not
the point. Many vacationers like to see the kitchen’s layout,
even if they know what equipment it contains. Primary bedrooms
are important as well, as they allow renters to visualize their
sleeping arrangements.

If your property has anything out of the ordinary on the inside
(a complete home theater, for example), it’s a good idea to take
a photo of it as well (and don’t forget to include it in your
property description). For many properties, views to the outside
are important - so capture them, and at the best time of day.

Like any good Realtor would recommend, turn on all the lights
inside your property before taking your pictures. Set your flash
to automatic, so that it will fire whenever necessary. Set your
zoom on its widest setting and move back to position yourself to
capture as much of each room as possible.

3. Exteriors - Open your eyes You probably don’t think too much
about how your property and the surrounding area appear. You’ve
been in and out of your rental property hundreds of times. But
take a few minutes and decide what you’d like to show potential
renters - it could sometime make the difference between someone
booking, and passing. Showing which unit is yours in a multiple
unit building can be helpful. If your property is a house or
detached condominium, the exterior appearance and setting can be
a big selling point. Amenities specifically for your unit can be
worthwhile showing as well, such as swing sets, docks, saunas,
etc.

Aside from your particular property, there are probably other
reasons to book your vacation rental. So show them! Include a
photo of the beach your renters can use. Put one in showing how
close the chairlift is from your front door. Show the pool,
playground, fishing pond, hiking trails, etc. You may be
wondering, should I only show features that are for my guests
only, like a private pool? Of course you’ll want to include
these, but by all means you should include non-exclusive
amenities as well. Potential guests want to know what then can
do, where they can go, etc. The idea here is to give potential
renters a sense of the setting of your vacation rental property,
and the best things about the immediate area. All the more
reason to book their vacation with you!

4. Maps, floor plans, etc. Perhaps there some things about your
vacation rental property that you’d like to show prospective
renters, but you can’t take a picture of them. Does your
property have a unique or particularly expansive layout? In
addition to the description you write, there is a way to include
a floor plan in your listing. Just take a photo of it! Lay out
the floor plan on a table with good light. Try to position
yourself directly above the center of the floor plan, instead of
at an angle - that way it won’t be distorted. Sometimes standing
on a chair can help. Lastly, make sure you hold the camera very
still so that the image is not blurred when you press the
shutter.

5. Labeling your photos Here’s another opportunity to include
information about your vacation rental property. Don’t pass up
the opportunity to label your photos when you upload them! And
include some descriptive text. Which sounds better to you:
“Master bedroom” or “Spacious master bedroom with king bed and
Gulf view”? If the seasons affect the views your property
offers, like leaves on trees that block that mountain view in
the summer, or the sunset that’s only visible from the living
room window for part of the year, you should label your photos
appropriately. Such as: “Sunset view from balcony in August”.
Some might assume that these views exist throughout the year, so
it’s best to be explicit in this regard. Don’t forget to label
maps and floor plans, too, so prospective renters know what
they’re looking at. These are all opportunities to help get
inquiries and sell bookings for your vacation rental property,
so take advantage of them.

6. Processing issues Unfortunately, all film processing is not
the same. We prefer one or two day service from an off-site lab,
compared to typical one-hour results. While we’ve gotten
acceptable results from one-hour service at a drugstore, the
off-site labs provide more consistent photofinishing quality. If
you try one hour processing and aren’t happy, you can always
have a lab reprint your photos.

The most important criteria in picking pensions or investments to deposit your funds in, is their performance.

Many investors are disappointed in their pensions and investments performance, as the majority of fund mangers cannot even beat the index!

In recent years, this has led to a huge growth in index tracker funds.

Pensions and Investments can beat the Index!
Here is an outline of what you need to look for when seeking an advisory service with the potential to achieve an above average return on your pensions and investments while keeping drawdowns low.

Also outlined is a method that has actually returned over 20% annually.

Here are four tips on getting a better return on your pensions and investments.

Four Tips to Finding a Good Pensions and Investments Manager

1. Check the past performance of all the funds under management - you want to know what is the overall performance of the fund manager - i.e. make sure they’re not just showing you the good ones.

2. Look at the drawdowns, so you know the risk of the investment. You should also find out what their policy on money management is.

3. What are the fees?

How much do you pay and how does this impact on performance and drawdown.

Fees on your pensions and investment add up!

4. Does the manager have a conflict of interest?

Fund managers who not only make management fees, but also receive some of the dealing fees manage many pensions and investments. If this is the case, there is a conflict of interest, as they may trade to earn dealing fees, rather than concentrating purely on the investments performance.

W D Gann’s Amazing Method
One trading method that you should consider when seeking above average growth potential in pensions and investments are the methods of W D Gann.

$50 million in profits!
Gann was one of the most famous investors of all time amassing a fortune of $50 million dollars. He predicted the 1929 stock market crash for example a year in advance and then proceeded to buy the Dow’s lows in 1932!

Gann died in 1955, but his methods are still in use today by astute investors and traders worldwide.

Just like any good investment method, the techniques work on a wide variety of markets and aim to run the big profitable trends and liquidate losses quickly.

Your pensions and investments can benefit from this method of trading - it’s the basic logic upon which all successful trading occurs.

It’s Your Money!
So, invest it wisely. If you have a self-administered scheme, a sipp, a stock or commodity fund, make sure that when you pick a manager you pick the right one.

To learn more about using Gann methods to improve your pensions and investments performance please visit our web site: http://www.gann.co.uk

The California Council for Interior Design Certification declares a new and single certification examination for interior designers in california from 2009.
CCIDC board is hoping to replace the CCRE and the three national examinations with one certification examination, that will be available online, as well as at various examination sites across the state starting in 2009.
For nearly the past eight years, persons desiring to become a Certified Interior Designer had to take and obtain a passing grade on one of the three recognized national examinations; specifically the CQRID, the NCIDQ, or both parts of the NKBA, in addition to taking a supplemental California Codes and Regulations Examination, the CCRE. Until eight years ago, there was only one nationally recognized exam. In addition to examinations, Section 5800 of the Business & Professions Code outlined requirements for education and experience.

This examination change brings the California certification examination into accordance with Section 139 of the California Business and Professions Code, while also making it available to people that fall under the three categories of experience and education under the law, as well as including people with “experience only.”

Candidates and students will still need to meet all the other requirements, in addition to passing the examination, in order to become a Certified Interior Designer. CCIDC will continue to honor those who previously took one of the existing national examinations, by providing the current CCRE for an extended time frame to accommodate those who wish to take it.

Affiliate marketing is just one of a host of advertising opportunities for online industries. Whilst traditional off-line advertising such as sponsorship of events and individuals, magazines, newspapers, billboards and television or radio, produce results they are often very expensive. Whilst some industries or companies may choose to utilise some of these off-line options, most back this up with extensive online advertising, most notably that of affiliate marketing.

The affiliate-marketing program is a cleverly conceived advertising system, which utilises all of the capabilities made available by the Internet. Unlike traditional advertising where companies pay a subsidiary company money to advertise their brand in a bulk up front payment, affiliates work on a sort of reward or commission based level. Because of the way the industry is run there is no need for either the affiliate or the advertising site to pay money up front, which in turn benefits both parties. The fact that no money changes hands until a new client is generated, the onus is on the affiliate to provide results, which in turn benefits the site that has commissioned the advertising.

Many industries have utilised the affiliate style of advertising, but few have been as successful as that of online poker. By distributing advertisements throughout a plethora of sites, all at little or no cost the poker industry has been able to infiltrate a number of websites and therefore develop an increased awareness. Unlike many other online industries, the poker industry doesn’t really have a recognised off-line equivalent. The game of poker is largely played by professionals behind closed doors or in large casinos or between a group of friends around a table. Therefore it was far more necessary to promote not only the sites but also the notion of online poker as a powerful and exciting gambling medium.

Affiliates are rewarded by the poker sites with large percentages, sometimes up to around 35% of the money generated by players that join through the links on their sites. So with each player they can hope to earn a regular, if slightly small income. In order to increase this income the affiliate must promote not only the site, but also themselves in order to increase their site traffic. Because in the affiliate program nobody is guaranteed to go to an affiliate site, click the link and become a fully signed up member. In fact the percentages don’t really favour the affiliate. It is for this reason that so many affiliates have has to advertise their own whereabouts in order to gain visibility and hits, and then hopefully in turn earn some money. With affiliates becoming marketing machines looking to earn more money, the poker sites that they represent have been reaping the benefits by generating huge numbers of new clients. So with the affiliate industry earning more and the poker sites generating billions each year, it shows just how successful the system is at not only advertising but increasing the revenue of everybody associated with either industry.

Discover how to become a super Party Poker affiliate and generate a massive income with poker affiliate programs at http://www.epokeraffiliate.com/

If you’re having trouble getting your ad started — of if your ad is sort of lagging in numbers, and you want to revise it — then here’s a tip you can never go wrong following.

Check this out:

One of the best all-time quotes I ever heard was from a guy named Earl Nightingale (Of Nightingale Conant fame) in his video The Strangest Secret.

And the quote went something like this:

If you want to get ahead and succeed in life, just look around at what everyone else is doing, and do the exact opposite.

And guess what?

This is even more true when it comes to copywriting. Especially if your numbers are low and you’re in a crowded market.

In other words, if you see everyone writing their ads in a certain “style” — like, for example, the super-hyped up “how to get rich” ads use — then the best thing you can do is go in the exact opposite direction and tone everything down.

On the other hand, if everyone else is toning down their claims and rhetoric, then all you have to do is rev yours up.

The idea is to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Believe it or not, many times an ad’s problems are more a matter of not being noticed than anything else.

Bottom line: Whenever you’re stuck and not sure what the best way is to approach writing an ad, just look at what all your competition is doing and do the opposite.

Ben Settle is an expert copywriter and direct marketer. If you liked this article then check out Ben’s website at http://bensettle.com — and get your hands on over 500 pages of advertising ideas, strategies and tactics just like this one — as well as rare swipe file ads and hot marketing information not easily found anywhere else.