What Bird Marks the Return of Spring – Our Delightful Red Breasted American Robin, of Course!

Posted on March 27, 2014 by savi0043

Often referred to as the Red Robin, this sociable beauty has become a part of most gardens in North America. What a wonderful way to start the day listening to the song of the robin at daybreak.

What Bird Marks the Return of Spring – Our Delightful Red Breasted American Robin, of Course!
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Mason]Jerry Mason

Often referred to as the Red Robin, this sociable beauty has become a part of most gardens in North America. What a wonderful way to start the day listening to the song of the robin at daybreak.

Robins were actually quite rare when settlers first came to the United States. Their relatives, the family of thrushes, all lived in the forests. However, the robin was a specialized bird and stayed near the clearings among the trees. As the settlers moved west, the robins joined them and became the ubiquitous symbol of the suburban backyard wildlife across the entire United States and Canada. Now most robins prefer the suburban lifestyle with the evenly manicured yards and openly spaced trees.

These birds eat different types of food depending on the time of day. Earthworms are their favorite food early in the day and prefer fruit later on. Because they forage for insects and worms mostly on lawns, they are vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. You can tempt them to dinner by placing fruit such as softened dried raisins on tray feeders or planting fruiting shrubs to attract more of them to your backyard garden. Have you ever seen a drunken robin? They love overripe fruit and will ingest it until they are staggering drunk!

As always, I must stress the importance of Water. Robins are never happier than when splashing, bathing and drinking in a birdbath. What a treat to watch! This is an absolute must year round so be sure to have a heated birdbath.

The nest is usually placed in the crotch of a tree or shrub. It is made of grasses, a middle layer of mud, and then lined with fine grasses. After breeding season, robins flock together and go to large communal roosts at night. This habit continues from fall through winter.

Birding enthusiast for many years. Website author of: [http://www.birdsdunrite.com] trying to promote awareness of birds in nature. Get FREE helpful hints about bird feeding at: [http://www.birdsdunrite.com/page/helpfulhints]

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Bird-Marks-the-Return-of-Spring—Our-Delightful-Red-Breasted-American-Robin,-of-Course!&id=929718] What Bird Marks the Return of Spring – Our Delightful Red Breasted American Robin, of Course!

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How to Create a “Spring Clean Your Life” Success Strategy

Posted on March 20, 2014 by savi0043

The cleaning of your home, garage, or work space is very important of course, because we all work better when we can focus on what we want and need to do instead of the fact that we can’t see the keyboard or find the mouse. But I would like to show you another must cleaning project for you this spring. The spring cleaning of your life, your inner cleaning, a way to review, adjust and move forward from what you have or haven’t gotten done from that good old New Years resolution.

How to Create a “Spring Clean Your Life” Success Strategy
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Brian_L_Slater]Brian L Slater

It’s that time of the year again, the sun is shining and the birds are beginning to sing the song of spring. To let you know that it is time for some spring cleaning.

The cleaning of your home, garage, or work space is very important of course, because we all work better when we can focus on what we want and need to do instead of the fact that we can’t see the keyboard or find the mouse. But I would like to show you another must cleaning project for you this spring. The spring cleaning of your life, your inner cleaning, a way to review, adjust and move forward from what you have or haven’t gotten done from that good old New Year’s resolution.

Spring is the perfect time to reflect on what we’ve done with our goals and dreams so far this year. It helps make any changes we need, gives a chance to congratulate ourselves for successes and get us focused for the summer months ahead that can tend to always lean more to the fun side, then the productive side. So we need a strategy for success to keep us on track and moving forward!

1. Get Clear on Your Spring Cleaning Checklist:

This is the corner stone of all self improvement, if we don’t know what we want, how can we know how to get it. So right now before you even read the next step do this:

– get a blank piece of paper and a pen.
– give yourself 3 minutes, that’s it, 3 minutes. Anyone can give that!!!
– write at the top of the page “spring clean my life”
– write down everything that pops in your head that you want to get cleaned out of your life this spring.
– don’t think to hard, just let the ideas flow onto the paper.

Awesome Job!!

2. Get a Calendar:

This idea is constantly overlooked and pushed to the side as not important or to much trouble. Please get that out of your mind and realize that we cannot remember everything and remain happy people. We must create a time line for goals and make them real by giving us a reasonable date of completion.

– take your top 3 spring cleaning wants from the previous list and give a time frame of completion on your calendar. Write “complete ______ by today!” in that date’s box.
– add your next top 2 spring cleaning wants and do the same. You now have 5 concrete goals for spring cleaning your life and that is a fantastic place to be.

3. Give Yourself Rewards:

Let’s face it, we all love to receive praise for things that we do. But many of us always look for it from someone else instead of just giving to ourselves. I would like to change this and make everyone feel just as happy about what they have accomplished whether or not anyone else knows it, or notices. This is gonna be fun.

– Again on your calendar, write down something you will do for yourself on a date after but near each one of your completed goals.

*(Do something that won’t hurt your future goals, so if losing weight is a goal, don’t reward yourself with a big meal, try instead a new outfit for the new you!)

4. Remember Your Success:

This step is probably the easiest yet I feel one of the most important. After you have completed your task and celebrated there is one more crucial thing to do to ensure future success. Share the experience.

– Write down in a journal, notebook or on your blog or anywhere you feel comfortable. Write down your experience, how it felt to follow through and give yourself a reward, let me say that again, give yourself a reward. How did it feel? What do you remember? Be specific and give it as much time as you need. Don’t forget this is fun and growing, not a chore.

– Share the experience with others. Tell your family, friends and co workers about it, even read them what you wrote if you like. Remember this is not bragging, you worked for this, this is sharing a success story and believe me they will be happy to hear it and maybe even be inspired themselves.

So get yourself in gear and catch the spring cleaning bug and get your goals set, get them on a time line of completion, reward yourself and remember the experience and share it with others. Have a great time with your spring clean, your life success strategy.

I’d love to hear your success story!

Contact me with questions or comments and to share your success story by visiting http://www.brianlslater.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Create-a-Spring-Clean-Your-Life-Success-Strategy&id=7640099] How to Create a “Spring Clean Your Life” Success Strategy

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7 Easy Steps to Successful Blogging

Posted on March 15, 2014 by savi0043

A blog is a blog, is a blog, right? Wrong! Back when I first began blogging I thought all blogs were the same too. But over the span of a few years I have learned that blogs are not all the same.

7 Easy Steps to Successful Blogging
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Eric_Dunbar]Eric Dunbar

Blogging is as much fun as it is easy, and once you start to blog it can almost be addicting. Just what is a blog? A blog is nothing more than a web log that describes an Internet website that is dedicated toward the distribution of news, commentary, opinion, or other content by individuals and/or organizations.

Within the last few years blogs have gained momentum and blogging has somewhat taken over the Internet. Today it is relatively easy to find a blog about any topic that you can imagine, and many others about topics that you can’t imagine.

Not everyone is a blogger for money. Believe it or not, there are some people who blog for the sheer pleasure of writing. But most bloggers are business owners, whom having discovered that blogging is an excellent way to promote their business, blog because of the benefits that blogging affords. If you are among those who maintain a blog as a means of promoting your business you probably already know that your blog lets your readers learn about your business and its unique branding, value, products and services.

A blog is a blog, is a blog, right? Wrong! Back when I first began blogging I thought all blogs were the same too. But over the span of a few years I have learned that blogs are not all the same. There are average blogs and then there are successful blogs. An average “blog” is nothing more than a website with a legitimate URL that occupies space on the Internet and is chock full of information that no one knows about. On the other hand a “successful blog” is an informative website that reaches a huge reader base, develops a following, and builds a certain level of credibility while gaining the respect of that following.

Successful blogging is not difficult to achieve and it can be very profitable too, that is if you adapt and follow certain guidelines. There are basically 7 easy steps to successful blogging. If you want to have a successful blog you should implement these steps. You will see your blog go from unnoticed to most popular in no time at all.

Create a niche

This is the beginning step to successful blogging. But what exactly is a niche? The Webster Online dictionary describes a niche as “A place of employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted.”

When creating your niche it should be something you enjoy. It doesn’t matter how lucrative a particular industry may be, if you are going to do a business in that industry, first and foremost, you must enjoy it. Your drive and motivation are determined by your happiness and contentedness and if you do not enjoy what you are doing you will not be motivated to continue doing it very long. Having a niche that you are excited about will insure that you will never be struggling for topics to write about and it will make your blogging experience a whole lot easier in the long run.

The success of your blog also depends on your knowledge level of the niche you have chosen. If you are unable to provide useful information that answers any questions your readers may have concerning your niche, you will soon lose credibility with them. Your niche should always be based on your knowledge, abilities and skills in order to achieve maximum success.

As long as an audience exists for you particular niche you can write and blog about it. If you present yourself well to your readers your blog can achieve longevity and even become one of the dominant forces within your niche. Just keep in mind that your niche can be about absolutely anything that you conceive; you can have a problem solving niche or a gossip niche, it doesn’t matter, just as long as you have reader approval.

Be unique

The second step to successful blogging depends on your ability to write unique content. People who read lots of material look for fresh new content in the words or topics they search, therefore, always be unique in your blog’s approach with respect to the articles you post. Writing unique content will also teach you a lot about branding yourself. This is why it is so important to develop your niche first. If your niche is something you like and know a lot about, writing unique content will be easy.

For example, your niche might be dogs, a fairly common topic today because a great majority of people has a dog. But your experience with dogs is unique and not like mine or anyone else’s. Therefore, no two people will write the same article about dogs, the same way.

In the beginning you may structure your articles and even your blog site after the pattern of another author or blogger, but as you grow, and if you continue to search for your brand in the confusion of your mind, soon your uniqueness will emerge. Just remember this one fact about being unique: unique content sells.

To help develop a level of uniqueness you should keep track of the keywords that are being searched on the Internet which will tell you how users are finding your website. When you write your blog titles it is a good idea to check to see whether or not they are SEO friendly and contain highly related keywords so that it will be easier for visitors to find your blog’s content.

Gain the respect of your readers

The third step to successful blogging is to gain the respect of your readers in your area of expertise. This is easily done by writing from personal experience rather than from research. People can generally sense whether or not you have experience in the area of your subject matter. Personal experience is unique and people looking for value and information will always gravitate toward it.

Write to your readers as if you know each one of them as a close personal friend. You would never tell a friend something that wasn’t true or mislead them in any way. Therefore, you should be very careful to thoroughly research everything you write on your blog before you release the information to your readers; remember, they are your friends and they are depending on your expertise, judgment and knowledge of the subject matter, and they trust that you are leading them in the right direction.

Grab the attention of your readers

This is the most difficult of the 7 steps to perform. You must grab the attention of your readers in the very first paragraph of your article. Writing is almost like listening to music. When you hear a song for the very first time you are very attentive. But if the song does not make you move, pat your foot, or give you something of value in the lyrics within the first few seconds of listening, then it is unlikely that you will want to listen to 3 minutes of a song that you don’t like.

Think of the articles that you post on your blog in the same way. You must command the attention of your readers within their first forty-five seconds of reading. If you do not, chances are will lose them and they may never return to your blog.

Post regularly

Here is where most bloggers get into trouble. They start a blog, write a couple of posts-on average two posts per week, for about three weeks, and when they don’t see traffic increase to their blogs they give up on blogging altogether.

If you are going to blog you must see it as a big responsibility and not as a hobby. Why? Whether you know it or not, people who visit your blog are depending on you to write and post something on your blog on a regular basis.

Your readers would like to know when they can expect new material from you. Regular posting is a part of the successful blogging routine that is so necessary to generate traffic to you blog. The way to get into the habit of regular posting is to develop a schedule. I like to refer to it as a content schedule.

If your goal is to attract loyal readers which will in turn generate steady traffic to your blog, you must create a content schedule. You have to determine how many days per week you will devote to your business of blogging. It doesn’t matter if it is two days or five days you must commit to it and be consistent. Your readers will soon notice your consistency and return to your blog on a regular basis, expecting fresh new content.

In order to achieve this you must set aside time to focus all of your efforts on your blog as if you were going to work, because in reality you are going to work for yourself and the success of your blog depends on this effort. As a result you will keep your readers updated to your niche activities and your website traffic will increase.

Market your blog site

Your level of success in blogging highly depends on the frequency at which you update the content on your blog. Your target should be to write at least one good quality article each day. Not that I did not say you should write at least on article each day, but at least one good quality article each day. It would be better if you produced two good quality articles per week than six articles per week that had no value to your readers.

If you post five good quality articles per week your blog will be more interesting and appealing to your readers and your blog will be their Online Newspaper. Your readers will actually look forward to reading your fresh article every morning while they drink their morning coffee.

Good blog marketing strategy involves optimizing the search engines correctly, better referred to as SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Search engines love blogs that deliver fresh content on a regular basis. The more information the search engine spiders can accumulate from your blog the higher you will move up in the search rankings.

To have a successful blogging site means that you must post fresh content on a daily basis, if possible or otherwise your popularity will plummet and your traffic level will drop off the chart. If this happens you are nearing the end of your blogging career.

Be persistent

It has been said that quitters never win, and winners never quit. This statement holds a lot of truth for bloggers. With the rapid growth of the Internet it is becoming more difficult to get noticed among all the cyber traffic and this can make it is so easy to become frustrated in blogging but if you quit you will never win. The ultimate step in successful blogging is that you be persistent.

You must constantly search for new ways to market your blog and there are lots of tools at your disposal. There is viral marketing, advertising, social bookmarking, networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and many other smaller sites like ISeeColor. You must submit your blog’s article content to the many hundreds of article directories on the Internet to help increase the traffic to your blog.

Regularly check your website’s statistics to get a better picture of who is looking at what area of your website and how often they are looking at it. You can do this by using tools like Google Webmasters and Google Analytics, two very important tools for research that will teach you how to optimize your website for better content use and conversion.

The bottom line here is simple: Be persistent and never quit. Because of the busy schedule that I once had in my life, it took me quite a while to comprehend the whole blogging and Internet perspective but I was persistent. Perhaps your schedule too, is a busy one and I am sure there are times when you feel like you are wasting your time, but you’re not.

There is nothing more rewarding than to know that you are providing something of value to someone who needs it. Blogging can afford you the vehicle to do this. So remember: If you never quit you will win; and once you win you will not want to quit.

Happy Successful Blogging.

Eric Dunbar is the owner and editor of Golden Entrepreneur [http://www.goldenentrepreneur.biz], where you will find online business tips, articles and great software tools to grow your online business. Eric Dunbar is also the author of THE FACE OF A DEMON, referred to by many as “The Recovering Addict’s Handbook”, and editor of X-JOURNAL Blog [http://www.blog.ericdunbar.com]

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?7-Easy-Steps-to-Successful-Blogging&id=4602886] 7 Easy Steps to Successful Blogging

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Spring into action today and enjoy the changing seasons!

Posted on March 10, 2014 by savi0043

Spring is a time of renewal. Winter is receding and daylight is expanding. What’s not to like?! It makes me want to “spring into action” and I feel ready to take on the world. How about you? What would be a positive way to shake off winter and embrace a new season? Maybe it’s time to renew your goals or try something new? Maybe it’s time to do a deep cleaning… of your home, your wardrobe, your budget? There are lots of ways to spring into action and celebrate renewal. Let’s explore a few ideas to get your engine started.How Can You Spring Into Action?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Margie_Beiswanger]Margie Beiswanger

Spring is a time of renewal. Winter is receding and daylight is expanding. What’s not to like?! It makes me want to “spring into action” and I feel ready to take on the world. How about you? What would be a positive way to shake off winter and embrace a new season? Maybe it’s time to renew your goals or try something new? Maybe it’s time to do a deep cleaning… of your home, your wardrobe, your budget? There are lots of ways to spring into action and celebrate renewal. Let’s explore a few ideas to get your engine started.

Spring into Action! Idea #1: Bring some joy into your life.

Let’s see, what has slipped over the winter months – Exercise? Meditation? Cooking healthy meals? Take a few moments to think about what’s gone by the wayside this winter – something that makes you feel good and that you’ve been missing – and then commit to bringing that joyful activity back into your day or week. Why not start today? Do some stretching exercises during a commercial break this evening, schedule a pedicure, put in a yoga DVD, take 5 minutes to meditate, or choose a healthy recipe (from that stack you’ve been adding to all winter) and put the ingredients on your grocery list. And then smile!

Spring into Action! Idea #2: Get organized.

If you’re like me, you’ve not only been stockpiling ideas from magazines like healthy recipes, but you’ve been creating a pile of clothes and other stuff that needs to go to charity. Or maybe your purse is a mess from all the winter supplies we carry around – lozenges, tissues, lip balm, etc. Take a deep breath. And then choose one thing. I’m not advocating a huge, tear-up-the-house-and-be-sorry-you-started-it project. Oh no, I want you to start small and be successful. Here’s my challenge to you: choose something small that you can organize today (it could be your purse, one kitchen cabinet, or a corner of your bedroom)… and go to it. Enjoy it! Relish the feeling of accomplishment.

Spring into Action! Idea #3: Buddy up and get outside.

Call a friend and make plans to get outside together. Go for a walk together and discuss ways to help each other “spring into action” and how you can provide support for each other’s plans. Or get together and do some spring planting. Soak up some sunshine, convert that vitamin D, get a lift to your spirit, and grow something beautiful for yourself, your family, your neighborhood, or your community. Make that call, send that email or text to someone you enjoy being with and celebrate the changing of the seasons today.

Spring into Action! Idea #4: Spring clean your thoughts.

Shake off those winter doldrums and those thoughts that weigh you down. When you find yourself thinking a repetitive negative thought, respond with an alternate thought that is believable and positive. For example, when I think “There’s not enough time to exercise today” I can respond to my thought with “Okay, but I’ve got 1 minute right now while I’m in my car, so I can do some ab crunches while I sit at this stop light.” Hey, I just turned around that negative thought, perked up my confidence, showed my brain that I DO have time to exercise today, and did something good for my body.

Small changes can have a BIG impact over time… give it a try.

My Challenge to YOU: Try something from my list or come up with your own “Spring into Action!” idea. Let me know what YOU do to spring into action. I love to hear all of your creative ideas and success stories!

Spring into action today and enjoy the changing seasons!

~Margie

I’m passionate about helping women discover a fulfilling life! I want to help you discover the answers within you that will help you enjoy your journey, get MORE out of your life, and achieve your goals. Are you ready to make the next phase of your life even better? You can begin designing your best life! Why not start today? Small changes can have a BIG impact… start with a tweak and watch it gain momentum. Let me show you how. Visit my website for all kinds of FREE resources – including a FREE workbook on GOALS – and to set up your complimentary consultation: http://www.FulfilledLifeDesign.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Can-You-Spring-Into-Action?&id=6039561] How Can You Spring Into Action?

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Seize The Opportunity! Its Snowing Money!

Posted on February 23, 2014 by savi0043

Salesmanship begins with belief that you can be profitable with a new idea. A good salesman is a true entrepreneur. He is a person who takes a risk every day and sees an opportunity when it presents itself.

Seize The Opportunity! Its Snowing Money!
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Wayne_J_Miller]Wayne J Miller

Another lesson from a lifetime of “making it happen”

Salesmanship begins with belief that you can be profitable with a new idea. A good salesman is a true entrepreneur. He is a person who takes a risk every day and sees an opportunity when it presents itself.

I used this little story, which is quite true, as part of my negotiations in buying my first business. I was bargaining with the seller to hold 90% of the purchase price in notes, and felt I needed to convince him that I was a born marketing genius.

It worked.

When I was about 14 or so, I realized that it was much easier to be a happy kid if I had some extra money in my pockets. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up in a fairly comfortable family, but both my parents were children of the great depression and they valued a buck as much as anyone. I certainly never lacked for anything, but I certainly wasn’t spoiled either. My Dad, especially, had a way of handling the inevitable requests for extra money: “What did you do to earn it?” He was a firm believer in service for reward and I learned a lot from him.

So I had these two buddies who had gotten the job at sextons at the local church. John was about 17 and his brother was about 16. John had just gotten his driver’s license and had managed to save enough money to get a car, so he really had better things to do on a Saturday night than prepare the church for Sunday School. I, on the other hand, could walk to the church, had little going on on Saturdays, and as I said, could always use the money.

I approached the two and asked if maybe I could help them out. And after several such discussions, they agreed to take me on. Our duties included polishing the floors, setting up the chairs, emptying the waste cans, cutting the grass and shoveling the snow (among others).

Now I lived in the Northeast, so we got some occasional big snows. The first time I saw heavy snow out the window I almost dreaded getting dressed, because the church had a really long walkway and two driveways. I thought I’d never be able to get my own house done, clear the church and still have time to make some extra money clearing the neighbors’ houses. I got out, cleared the front steps and sidewalk and headed over to the church.

The walkway was clear as could be and a low growl was coming from the driveways. I turned the corner and saw my buddy John with a gas-powered snow blower!

Remember, this is 1964 or thereabouts and these devices were not nearly as common as they are today. I ran up to John and said, “Where did this come from?”

He smiled a sly smile and said, “The church decided to buy it last spring after all that snow we had. Sure does make this job easy!”.

He grabbed a bar on the handle and snow started flying everywhere. And I watched as he finished the driveways in about 5 minutes. When he was done, he killed the power and took off his gloves.

I couldn’t wait to ask, “Do you think we could use it for a while?” “What for?” John wanted to know.

I laid out my plan in no time. John grinned like a Cheshire cat and then led me to the Rectory. “We gotta get permission first.”

The Pastor was very generous and allowed us to use the snowblower on one condition: we had to supply all our own gas and oil and return it full and ready to go for the next snowstorm.

John and I headed up the block. I told him to wait on the corner as I went up the stairs to ring the bell. At the first house, I presented myself in the best Horatio Alger style.

“Ma’am, would you like your walkway and driveway cleared?” I never said shoveled because that would be misleading. As a matter of full disclosure, I really never said cleared with a snowblower, either.

We would negotiate an agreed amount and usually in less than 15 minutes, we would be on to the next house. In 1964, we would average $75 to $100 and hour. Not bad for two high school kids.

The point of this story is to illustrate that seeing a need, finding a way to fill that need, using materials and equipment at hand, and doing some effective and attractive marketing are the components of a successful business transaction. Always were… always will be.

To this day, every time it snows and a young man rings my bell, I look up the block to see if he has a buddy waiting with a snowblower.

It hasn’t happened yet.

By Wayne Miller, author of Selling Smart: Lessons and Learnings from a Lifetime of Making It Happen

Visit Wayne Miller’s blog at [http://sellingsmart.org]http://sellingsmart.org.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Seize-The-Opportunity!-Its-Snowing-Money!&id=6849140] Seize The Opportunity! Its Snowing Money!

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