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silver-wield · 4 years

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Nobody asked for this one, but I said I was gonna do it anyway. Barret and Cloud's friendship development.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna make a mile long post. I'm just gonna hit on the key moments, but I think these two deserve a bit of spotlight.

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis)

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog)

Tifa character analysis

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then)

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti)

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis

Cloti reunion analysis

The Promise Analysis

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response)

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read)

Cloti action touching

Aerti friendship analysis

Cloti body language chapter 3

Cloti healthy disagreement

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15)

Clerith playground scene

Cloti body language plate fall

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

I'm not recapping the whole game lol

Chapter 1: Barret isn't impressed one bit with Cloud. Watching back their early interactions and I keep noticing this sad look on Cloud's face when he's excluded. But then, I'm also like “Well you pushed them away first”. But I also wanna hug him.

Yeah, so Barret isn't impressed and he's outright hostile, calling Cloud names and antagonising him. He even shoots at Cloud and then raises his gun to take out a security bot. This man doesn't like Cloud and isn't afraid to show it.

You gotta remember, Barret is 6'5 and built like a brick shit house and has a machine gun on his arm. He's not someone to mess with. Taking that in, Cloud's dismissiveness is pretty impressive. I mean he's almost a foot shorter than Barret, after all, and his sword probably weighs more than him lol

Perhaps by the end of the chapter – after Cloud saves Jessie – Barret might have thawed a tiny bit towards him, but he's still mistrusting and doesn't like him.

Chapter 2 and there's not a lot of interaction between them. Barret does actually agree with Cloud when he says “what's done is done” in reference to the destruction. This shows Barret is pragmatic and not against Cloud himself, just his role. After that, Cloud's alone for the rest of the chapter until the above screen when he leaps into the cargo carriage of the train and Barret says, “You had me worried for a minute.”

He looks caught out when the others all look at him because he's been a total dick to Cloud throughout the mission, but this shows he cares about his team, even if he doesn't like everyone on it. Showing concern for his people is the trait of a leader and if the game were showcased differently we could assume that Barret is our leading man.

“The folks down here don't have the luxury of choice, you know.”

Still in chapter 2 and this is such a great moment between Cloud and Barret! There's no arguing, just Barret giving Cloud a different perspective that's not the badass merc “Idc” one he's showcasing. You can see once the conversation is over that Cloud grows introspective, so Barret's words clearly resonated with him. This looks like another marker on Cloud's chart of going from a douchebag to a decent human being. He thinks about how things are for other people. Later, Marle tells him to consider others feelings, too. To listen. I'm loving all these small moments that come together to build a clearer of picture of Cloud's development.

Barret actually removes his sunglasses – why is he wearing them at night? – to meet Cloud's eye. This is a gesture that shows his sincerity and belief in his words. He's not just blustering for the sake of it. He cares about the people and the planet.

Chapter 3 and we don't see Barret until near the end. He's back to being snappy with Cloud – understandable since he's being a dick going on about money.

(aside: can I just squee at Cloud smiling at Tifa through this whole bit. He's such a dork)

And when we see Barret again he's very professional and courteous. There's no emotion in his tone and his words are very formal. He could be talking to anybody. His head dips as he's speaking, in an effort to lower himself more to Cloud's physical level. On an emotional one, he's making himself non-threatening. This isn’t a confrontation is what he’s putting out.

Cloud doesn't look happy at the dismissal and something we know about him is his desire for acceptance, so this probably hurts, although he acts otherwise.

We're up to chapter 5 and this is a turning point between Cloud and Barret's budding friendship. Barret's in battle dialogue makes it clear he's trying to show off in front of Cloud, who's dismissive still. There's a lot of back and forth between them in the kind of guy banter that suggests they kind of respect each other, but they also just have to put up with each other.

The above screen is the second before Cloud says to Barret that he's better than that in response to his arguing with the Shinra manager. Barret seems surprised Cloud even tries with him, but what's more telling is this expression from Cloud shows he gave it some thought before speaking. He considered the right words to address Barret which shows he's thought about the kind of reaction Barret could have. He took in Barret’s words from chapter 2 and Marle’s from chapter 3. This is called character development!

Chapter and Cloud throws some shade and Barret blusters lol

Tbf Barret's grown a lot less hostile since chapter 1. He's not as combative to Cloud, nor is he maliciously insulting him anymore. They've entered a stage of snarky banter, which we all know is one of the big steps on the road to friendship lol

Clearly Barret being able to see Cloud in action and rely on him in battle – not to mention Tifa's enduring good opinion – are starting to colour his own opinion.

(Tifa actually rears back when Barret waves his arm around in this bit lol)

Barret looking to Cloud for back up here. I mean, they're all in the shit, but this is interesting that he's looking to Cloud for that reassurance they're gonna continue kicking ass. The fact Cloud agrees without even the tiniest disagreement is probably the first time they're genuinely on the same page through their own choice.

Let the friendship begin!

Now, I bet you're thinking I picked this one to showcase cloti, well you're wrong. This is an example of how Barret's mellowed towards Cloud from his chapter 1 hostility to now. Cloud disagrees with him and instead of getting pissed that his leader decision is overruled, he lets it go.This could be a moment of contention between them, but they’ve both grown enough over the game to get to the point that not everything between them is a fight.

Now, maybe Barret's saying this because he thinks Cloud is about to die, but that seems selfish and like he's saying it to make himself feel better after being a douchebag, and for a selfless man like Barret I just don't buy it. He's genuinely regretful of his past actions and this is the point between the two of them that they can start again and actually become proper friends.

There's no time for much of a guy reunion between them when Barret does see Cloud again all the way over in chapter 12 -- that’s a long ass time apart for Barret to think about how he treated Cloud -- and we kind of brush past Barret's feelings because the plate collapse takes priority.

After that, Barret is much nicer to Cloud, trying to get his praise in battle and being a proper support to him. There's still that snarky banter between them, but the hostile edge has gone. We see a culmination of their friendship development during the stairs climbing sequence. Where before their banter had a hard edge and combative nature to it, this is very friendly and full of jokes and warmth. Barret has definitely softened towards Cloud and considers him a real friend. You can't fake that shit.

Conclusion

Yeah, I kinda cut this short and didn't do the latter half of the game, but that's because it's much more clear than this early development. Focusing on the small interactions between them that built a gradual friendship, it took a huge shock to get Barret to reassess his opinion of Cloud and him dropping from the reactor, going missing and then showing up to save the day covered it. It was like he got a reset and from that he dropped his prejudiced preconceived ideas about Cloud and opened up to him more. Because there’s such a huge gap between the time Barret sees Cloud again, it’s easy to miss the middle part of their friendship. The part where it goes from dislike to like. It’s easy to remember Barret hating Cloud and then see them being a team after chapter 12 because those moments stick in your mind more. It’s the transition that gets lost.

I love their development and how they become friends. It's not the kind of friendship that Barret shows with Red. Those two are bros the instant they met. Cloud and Barret's relationship is more complicated because of Cloud's role and identity. It takes Barret a long time to see past that persona, especially when he's only got evidence of that to go on – unlike Tifa. Once he does, he gives Cloud his full support and trust.

I, for one, can’t wait to see how they go forward in Barret’s arc.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake analysis #Barret wallace #Cloud strife #friendship is the best ship

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sincerelymarinette · 5 years

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A Recorded Life - Miraculous Ladybug (1/50)

Words: 1493 Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her friends are in their final year of Lycee (High School), and they are all 18 years old. Marinette has a very busy life between trying to graduate from school, help in her parent's bakery, and protect France. On top of it all, she is also a very popular YouTuber who creates fashion videos and vlogs. As her popularity increases, she has more to deal with, including how her fans react to everything in her recorded life. Author’s Note: omg. I had this idea from a headcanon I created a few months back and I haven’t really stopped thinking about it. I also didn’t really think I was ever going to post it, but why not give it a shot to see if people like it. This is the first part, so it is really a big introduction to how everything works in this lil AU. If I post more, it does get less introductory and becomes more of a story haha. I have a few more parts written, but it is nowhere near done! Let me know if you would like to see more :)

Will also be posted on Ao3 and Wattpad within the next few days, depending on timing.

NOTE: Canon from season 3 does not apply in this story unless stated otherwise, as this is being written at the time of season 3 being released.

NOTE 2: the chapters are mostly titled like YouTube videos would be. Except for the chapters where a video is not recorded/talked about, so if they look weird, they're supposed to look like YouTube titles!

Are We More Like Ladybug or Chat Noir?

---

"Hey guys, I'm Marinette!" She began the video. "And welcome back to my second channel. You may notice the person sitting next to me..." Marinette gestured. "Alya's back. Like she is in almost every video over here."

Alya smiled and waved. "Hey, guys! Guess what I convinced her to do today," Alya winked. "Well, you probably read the title. We're quizzing to see if we're more like Ladybug or Chat Noir."

"Which I don't totally understand because do we actually know them?" Marinette asked, hoping she wouldn't get Ladybug.

Alya rolled her eyes. "So, if you're from a different country, or have never seen the news, or never even watched a video without me in it, Ladybug and Chat Noir are the superheroes and protectors of Paris. They protect us from the villain Hawkmoth, trying to collect their powers and take over the world. Or something. We only know he wants their powers, we don't know why," Alya shrugged. "But forget about Hawkmoth! Let's take the quiz."

Marinette giggled at her excitement. "Alya runs a blog that follows all things Ladybug and Chat Noir. I'll leave a link on her face, and in the description," Marinette reminded. "First question?"

"When confronted with an Akuma, what do you do? Punch it without a second thought, run away screaming, come up with a plan, or make a pun?" Alya asked. "Wait, I can't tell which one would be Chat Noir?"

Marinette glared at the camera. "He would make a pun," She said, getting a confused look from Alya. "Remember when I had to work with him for the Evillistrator? And when he ran up to me after Puppeteer turned you back into Lady Wifi? Oh my god, the puns!" She groaned. "I would probably," Marinette stopped for a second. She didn't know if she should tell her initial instinct, or try to stay away from the Ladybug answers. "Probably run away screaming."

Alya cocked an eyebrow. "You'd probably come up with a plan to take the Akuma out, Mari, be honest here," Alya said and clicked the one she didn't choose.

"Now, if your best friend was in danger, would you: let someone else save them, find a way to save them yourself, record it for the internet- okay, that one would probably be me if it were anyone but you- call for help, or work with your partner to get them out," Alya asked. "Speaking of, where were you when the Pharaoh tried to sacrifice me to the Egyptian gods?"

Marinette's jaw dropped. "Hey! I told you, I got caught in a time slow bubble. It was terrible!" Marinette defended herself, but little did she know she actually did save her best friend. "Considering Nino would probably be there too, since you really only get in danger when tracking down Ladybug and Chat Noir, we would have to work together to save you,"

"That's fair."

The questions continued and Alya kept calling Marinette out whenever she answered incorrectly. "You got Ladybug; I knew you were more like her!" Alya said.

"Why do you say that? I'm clumsy, and stutter sometimes, and I'm just not like her," Marinette shrugged. "I'm not even like Chat Noir. His confidence is insane, and I'm nowhere near that."

Alya put the phone down. "Girl, you sell yourself short. You're the class president; you stand up for people, you're creative. Those all sound like Ladybug things, don't they?" She raised her eyebrow. "I think that's all we have for today, right, Mari?"

"Yeah, thanks for watching! Other social media and information in the description, see you in the next video!" Marinette ended the video.

She edited out the part where Alya gave her reasons why she was like Ladybug. She cut it off at "Girl; you sell yourself short." Marinette watched the video she was editing for what the hold have been the fiftieth time, to make everything was done right or wasn't dull, but she had to postpone the editing. She set her main channel video to upload, and transformed into her alter ego to meet Chat Noir.

Marinette had a small, contained YouTube channel for a few years. It was popular, thanks to her incredible talent and young age, people enjoyed watching!

"Hey, Chat," Ladybug called when she saw him on the roof, sitting down and laughing. Even though they had been partners for two years, and now older, she still got a little nervous when starting patrol.

"Hey, Bug!" Chat Noir said. "You know Marinette, right? That girl you had me watch over because of an Akuma about a year ago?"

Ladybug nodded. "Yeah...why?"

"She has the best YouTube channel."

Marinette was flattered, but also confused. Chat Noir watched her YouTube? "She's...pretty cool," Ladybug walked closer and sat next to him. "I didn't think you would be one to be interested in a designer."

"Oh yeah, she's so talented! And her videos are great. I love watching the sped up designs and watching them all come together," He gushed. "But her second channel is just as good. It's more relaxed, and I guess you could say her main channel is the more professional side, but the second channel is where she does a bunch of videos with her friends. And look at this one!" Chat Noir showed her his baton, which was somehow connected to YouTube. Marinette recognized the video, as it was one of her most popular. It was the video Nino suggested when he asked "What's in your sketchbook? I've never seen everything, and I'm really curious."

And of course, Alya thought it would make for a perfect video.

Alya was behind the camera when Marinette recorded it, making some comments that would add to the comedic point. "Look, she said this one was inspired by me!" He paused the video and pointed to the design Marinette spent way longer on than she'd admit.

"That's awesome, Chat!" Ladybug said, a smile plastered on her face. She only wished she could thank him formally for all this gratitude, but she couldn't reveal herself. "When I see her next, I'll relay your love."

A smile flashed across Chat Noir's face, and he closed his baton. "Don't worry, milady, my heart beats for only you."

"Charming," She smirked. "Let's go; I've got a thing to do after patrol!" She said and swung her yo-yo. Chat Noir chuckled, but followed anyway.

---

Marinette edited her video until she was sure it was perfect. Even if it was for her second, less popular channel, she wasn't going to put out less than quality content.

Since she got home at nearly midnight after patrol, and edited for an hour and a half, she was exhausted.

Marinette, about to fall asleep at her computer (which she has done before), clicked the YouTube shortcut and set her video to process (and hopefully upload) while she slept.

She was expecting to wake up to her alarm, or the sun hitting her eyes, or her mom yelling that she was late for school. Instead, Tikki was screaming and jumping in an attempt to get her up.

"Something's outside!" She said, pointing to the window. Marinette was hoping it would be morning, but it was still dark.

"Shh," She told the Kwami and slowly got out of bed. Marinette peaked out of the window, not seeing anything. Deciding it was safe, she walked up the ladder and opened the hatch. "Is someone out here?"

It was cold, and Marinette was only in her pajamas, so she wrapped her arms around herself to try to warm up. "I swear...if she woke me up because it was wind, or a bird-" Marinette stopped her mumbling when she heard something move. "Hello? Please, it's too late for this. I'm too tired to kick ass-"

"Please don't call the cops," The black figure landed in front of her.

"Chat Noir? It's the middle of the night! What are you doing here?" Marinette whisper yelled.

Chat Noir looked down at the ground. "I was patrolling with Ladybug about an hour ago, and I didn't want to go home, so I was just walking. I saw something strange in the window and decided to take a look. It was bright red and seemed to be glowing- I thought it was something that wanted to-"

"It was probably just my...cat," Marinette said. "Yeah, he heard something outside and nudged me. His collar is red and reflects some of the lights I have in my room so it wouldn't surprise me if that's what you saw," Marinette nodded, hoping her lie would go unnoticed.

Chat Noir nodded and stepped up to the ledge. "Well, as long as you're safe," He said. "I should be off," He got ready to jump away. "Oh, I don't know if Ladybug told you, Marinette, but I love your videos," He flashed a smile and jumped away.

"Thank you!" She called after him, unsure of if he heard her.

---

Let me know if you would like to see the second part!

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #ml #mlb #fanfic #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #Nino lahiffe #ladybug #chat noir #fanfcition #lilly writes

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fallingin-like · 4 years

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november 29

baltimore blues by @spanglebangle [requested by @foxsoulcourt and @sig66]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

you’ve probably already read this fic, but in case you haven’t, it’s an amazing exploration of andrew’s perspective on the binghamton riot and baltimore. this fic has fantastic scenes with introspection and is just so impressive to read.

i remember reading this fic for the first time, shortly after having finished the books. i was hesitant to turn to fanfics because i enjoyed the books and nora’s extra content so much and didn’t want to move on, but more than that i was desperate for more content. like most people, i think i was looking for andrew’s perspective on the baltimore scenes. you did an amazing job at capturing it and the moments around it.

parts that stood out to me:

the idea that andrew’s body is tired after a game too. he does spend a lot of time not trying and the rest of the time using a lot of natural talent, but it’s exciting to me (and definitely exciting to neil) to see the evidence that he’s putting so much effort into exy

”he felt pummelled and worn out but despite it all, there was a tiny fizz under his skin. it was something like satisfaction to have denied the other team their goals and having made them curse and yell in frustration, a pleasant bit of spite he could chew on all day” this whole section is such a great vocalization of andrew’s thoughts, and it’s wonderful to see andrew slowly… finding satisfaction from playing, even if it’s based out of spite.

ooh i love the shower routine description, the post that you linked didn’t work for me, but a lot of it was the execution of it, i love the way that you really show trust, but the fact that andrew still carries his trauma with him and still struggles. recovery is a long road and it’s important that this is portrayed

andrew swapping his armbands is interesting to me, i guess i would have imagined he just bring his clean pair with his towel so that he can change it in the stall. with this though, i think it demonstrates the bit of trust, too. even if he makes the switch subtly, i think he wouldn’t do that if he weren’t as comfortable with the foxes

”he’d let andrew ask whatever, demand whatever, and would deliver it if it tore him to pieces” oh this is so beautiful

”it figured, that andrew would meet somebody who finally understood the full weight of a real promise, but would be too apt to take it like a martyr at any opportunity… and yet, being trusted to ask anyway… it put an itch under his skin, an uneasiness and yearning and odd kind of contentment that bothered him endlessly” i think this is the perfect example of a description of andrew’s true feelings about neil. it’s not as simple as liking him or being attracted to him and just saying that he hated him instead. this is a wash of emotions, unfamiliar and at times overwhelming and it kind of feels like a lack of control, which is what andrew really hates

”it felt wrong to demand answers when they might be freely given, if only andrew was patient enough” this whole paragraph is gold!! this is exactly why i think that neil and andrew both work so well together. they know when to push and pull and when to leave the other person alone.

a whole paragraph on andrew thinking about neil’s affinity with languages? what a mood, i love polyglot!neil. what a perfect request of andrew, something that he thinks neil would enjoy and something that would cause them to become closer, both because they would spend time learning it together and it gives them the privacy to communicate in front of the team

”a pair of campus police edged their way into the crowded room… actual professionals, then” NOOOOOOOOOOO I HATE THAT ANDREW EVEN SEEMS TO TRUST THEM A LITTLE BIT THIS IS TERRIBLE KNOWING WHAT THIS MEANS EVEN THOUGH I KNOW IT’LL TURN OUT ALRIGHT.

oh no, andrew repressing his feelings ;-;

really interesting to see how you write the riot, there’s not that much included in the books, so it’s always fascinating to me to see what andrew does, who he goes to first, what the rest of the foxes are doing, and how he gets that bruise by his eye. and, of course, the realisation that neil’s not around. i like that you have them know right away, while the riot’s still happening

”he wended through corridors and broke locks to see if neil had scarpered for safety in the heat of the moment and found somewhere quiet to hole up and lick his wounds” ooo i like this sentence a lot

andrew holding on to the keys?? ahhh it’s so much

okay okay okay. non-verbal andrew is something that i really like having included, the confusion, not understanding what people were saying to him, it really immerses me into the fic, i can’t stop reading and i find it really special that i can’t wait to find out what happens, even though i already know that neil is okay, that they find him.

the switch to have andrew speak again is so good, how difficult it is to separate him from kevin, the way that andrew can’t hide his emotion this time

”he knelt and picked up the phone and keys as gently as he could, feeling appalled he’d let them go for even a second” this is such a soft moment amidst the churning, sharpness of andrew’s anger

”andrew found himself hauled away again like a child having a tantrum and plonked outside the bus” lol cute!!

andrew losing time? yeah

”it hit him around ten that he was grieving” ANDREW NO THAT’S SO SAD HOW DARE YOU BREAK MY HEART LIKE THIS

”apparently neil’s refusing to talk to them until he sees your ugly mugs again” LOL so affectionate

andrew finally being able to sleep is so good

love that andrew is keeping the keys and phone with him all the time!!!

yes, another wymack lecture would be good any other time than this coach!

it’s always interesting to see how different authors/artists interpret the wounds that neil received. i think that, as gruesome as yours are, they seem something most similar to what i expected. burns that are a mess, and many of then, completely destroying that side of his face. i can’t imagine lola stopping at one or two of them and moving on to his arms

”they were a mirror image of crushed glass and barbed wire on high walls” yes!! this whole paragraph!!! so amazing

”andrew wanted to hate the spark of amusement and almost relief in his chest, at seeing neil be the unapologetic firebrand and fierce instigator that had snagged andrew’s attention over and over again this year, even battered and injured and shaken” your word choice is so great here, the way that you built this sentence i can’t even describe how much i like it

”it often was, andrew thought distractedly. it had taken so little to stop tilda” andrew is probably the only fox that truly understands wanting a parent dead

”he listened attentively to the story neil gave the interviewers, but everyone else’s voices slurred and mumbed together in a confusing, exhausting mess.” i love the way that you describe andrew being overwhelmed by everything. his one focal point is, and always has been, neil and keeping him safe.

”’stop it,’ andrew commanded, because he couldn’t bear the thought of neil’s hands being permanently damaged” oh it’s so interesting hearing how you interpreted this

”he leaned back against andrew’s side. it was more soothing than andrew wanted it to be” this is so soft!

”before starting the engine, he took the cigarette lighter from his dashboard and tossed it calmly out the window and into a trash can” yes! even more significant because andrew probably actually used the cigarette lighter previously

”he drove his pack back to the campus roads” andrew calls them his pack!! that is so cute

”being yanked out of the closet so violently had never been his plan, but it seemed oddly fitting for the general pattern of his life” i’ve spend a long time reading fanfics instead of the actual series so i forgot for a moment that before this, nobody knew andrew was gay. and the last part, oh. it really sucks that so many things that people learn about him are not his choice.

andrew stopping himself from the spiraling thoughts, taking breaths and calling bee? amazing, wonderful, for once andrew is a good example to others

foxpile!!!

agh, andrew exposing himself to be close to neil, so good

”at the very least, if any hitmen tried to come in they’d trop all over the foxes lying there and wake everyone up” LOL

”he knew his own strength was largely in the physical - he’d walled off his emotions and shut down his mind long ago instead of learning better coping mechanisms. neil’s strength was in his head, in his fiery heart and acid tongue and fierce determination to live as much as he could in what little time he could gouge from the world” THIS IS AMAZING, the wording and everything, just so so wonderful

”hello, hello, you’re here, i was grieving you but you’re alive, hello, things haven’t changed so much, hello…” oh i love this

i like the checking that andrew does, i liked seeing how you describe his constant reassurance that what he’s doing is okay

”he was wanting and planning and… hoping” andrew :”)

your characterization of andrew is amazing to read, how you captured his the contrast between his thoughts and emotions that he hid with the reactions that he allowed through. did you find it challenging? i can imagine there must have been pressure because readers have seen some of these scenes from another perspective, so there’s not as much flexibility with his actions or the dialogue

your descriptions of everything were wonderful and reflected what i imagine andrew to be like. his rationalization behind his actions and how he reacted to fear after so long of repressing his emotions. i’m glad that this was one of the first fics i read for the fandom, being exposed to this high quality content definitely helped draw me in. thank you so much for writing this!

#baltimore blues #aftg fic review #raelle writes

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clarencenicholsonata · 3 years

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Here's What to Post on Instagram: 24 Top Post Ideas & Examples

Wondering what to post on Instagram?

Wondering if there's a post template that is guaranteed to be a winner?

You're not alone, though, unfortunately Instagram marketing isn't as easy as pushing a "win" button.

There are, however, a few tried-and-true strategies which other businesses continually tap to find reasonably reliable success.

This article will give you 24 examples of what you should post on Instagram.

Before we get started, one best practice to keep an eye out for in these Instagram posts:

Your Instagram posts should do one of four things: Inspire, Educate, Entertain or Reveal.

See if you can find any which break from the mold...

What to Post on Instagram #1: Behind the Scenes

On Instagram, nobody wants to read your blog articles or learn about how you can address their consumer needs. In fact, unless you do it creatively, even a product launch is difficult to pull off with any success.

Instagram users want to see your personality. They want to see who you are as a company. They want to put a face to the name, so to speak.

Showing behind-the-scenes at your company is a great way to showcase your personality, as Microsoft shows us below:

What to Post on Instagram #2: Current Events

A great way to increase Instagram engagement is to tap into what people are already thinking about.

This can be anything…

TGIF or "Boo, Monday!" - style posts

Well-known holidays (Christmas, Father's Day)

Lesser-known holidays (National Dog Day, National Hot Dog Day)

Events or conferences relevant to your target market (SXSW, ComicCon, E3, Content Marketing World, etc)

World events (big movie premier, for instance)

Tapping into what people are already thinking about is a great way to boost Instagram engagement, as Forever21 has done with Father's Day below:

What to Post on Instagram #3: Co-Campaign

You don't have to be Vans and Nintendo (the example below) to make a co-campaign work. All you need is to contact the social media marketer for a brand you love and pitch a creative co-campaign.

Remember to only target those businesses with whom you share a target market. There's no point in increasing engagement with Justin Bieber's fans if you own a auto-shop in Delaware.

This example from Vans shows that they recognized a similar target market who it would be valuable for them to reach (and trade reach with):

For a walkthrough on how you can create a co-campaign or promotion with another business, check out our article, "A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How We Generated 1,263 New Leads (With a Little Help from Our Friends)."

What to Post on Instagram #4: Funny Content

A post idea which really hits home with the "entertainment" requirement I mentioned before is funny content - an opportunity for your business to get creative and make something which makes your Fans (and prospective fans) smile.

This example, from Vitamin Water, uses humor to appeal to their prospective fans and customers, effectively exposing a common social media trope:

What to Post on Instagram #5: Hashtag Contest

Contests, especially hashtag contests, make it easy for Instagram users to engage with your brand, and they incentivize them to do so.

Users submit their photo to your contest by adding a photo to Instagram and then tagging it with a campaign-specific hashtag.

This example from Starbucks also taps into a best practice - a long-running, draw-a-week structure:

For more on running an hashtag contest on Instagram, check out our walkthrough, "Instagram Hashtag Contests: Examples and Best Practices for Marketers."

What to Post on Instagram #6: High-Quality Images

It should go without saying, but somehow it doesn't.

I still see brands (brands!) posting low-quality images on Instagram and then wondering why they don't have great engagement.

Get a better camera (or buy a better phone). High-quality images will soon pay it off with social media engagement and traffic to your website. And even if they don't, at least you'll be taken seriously on the platform.

This example from high-end cotton candy company BonPuf shows how beautiful a photo of your product can be if you put it in the right framework and use the right filter:

We've put together a great list of the top Instagram marketing tools if you want to check it out.

What to Post on Instagram #7: Influencer Content

Influencer marketing can boost your business' reach exponentially, as there are some Instagram users out there with more reach than any business.

You can pay for that reach, for sure (many influencers take cash for a share or endorsement) but you can also approach influencers with a strategy in mind.

My recommendation? Make it far better on their end, at least in the beginning, than it is for you.

And also, don't (and I mean "don't"!) approach an influencer whose fans aren't related to what you sell. As I said above, what's the point of getting 1,000,000 Beliebers to see your website if you sell car insurance?

This example, from Converse, taps into the celebrity of Maisie Williams (from Game of Thrones) to appeal to their target market:

For more on the impact of influencer marketing on Instagram, check out our article "How Influencer Marketing on Instagram Became a $1B Market (Infographic)."

What to Post on Instagram #8: Campaign Hashtags

A good campaign hashtag allows your Fans to see the content they want quickly, easily, and in one place. It makes the Instagram more easily and accurately searchable.

If you're releasing a new product, consider attaching a hashtag to it with every post you use to promote it. People will soon identify which campaign they're most interested in (and making their lives easier is never a bad thing).

This example, from Forever21, places their beauty product line as somewhat independent from the rest of what they sell:

What to Post on Instagram #9: Instagram Giveaway

If you don't have the energy or time to run an Instagram hashtag contest, you can always run a simple Instagram giveaway and promote within a post.

Just link to your giveaway's page within your website in your Instagram bio and tell Fans how they can enter for a chance to win.

Here's an example of an Instagram giveaway from LoveSuja juice:

Here's another example from BonPuf cotton candy:

What to Post on Instagram #10: Lifestyle Content

Instagram users want from your brand the same thing they want from any other Instagram user - an insight into their life and how awesome it is.

And that's great, because that kind of content is also super helpful with driving trust with prospective customers. The person that knows you is far more likely to buy from you.

Here's an example of an "insight into the life of a brand" (lifestyle) Instagram post, from Google:

What to Post on Instagram #11: Pets

There's not a whole lot to say here, honestly. People love pets, and if your business can find a way to incorporate them into your Instagram presence, do it. And then do it again, and then consistently forever.

Pets/mascots show that your business is hip, fun, modern, and has an awesome personality. And those are characteristics of businesses that people want to buy from.

Here's an example of a Pet-based Instagram post from social media management tool Hootusite:

What to Post on Instagram #12: Polls

This used to be one of my leading post recommendations on Facebook, but since they cracked down on asking for Likes or Shares, Poll posts have fallen in popularity.

And that's why I'm excited to see them coming up on Instagram. People love to categorize themselves. They love to feel part of a community. And polls give them that.

There's a coffee shop by my apartment, and they have two tip jars on their countertop. They have that cool blackboard paint on them, and every day the barista writes a poll on each - things like "TIp for Superman," and "Tip for Spiderman."

I asked her, once, if she's gotten more tips since she added the tip jars. "Hands down," she said. "Not even a competition."

Here's an example of a poll post from MTV's Instagram profile:

What to Post on Instagram #13: Product-Focused Content

Every once in a while you need to be more than just a pet-posting pollster. You need to remember that Instagram is also a place where you can showcase your products and encourage people to buy them.

This is especially true if you're a retailer (and your products are attractive).

Just remember you can't link to your products within the post copy itself, so remind people that the "shop link is in bio" - and continually update that link so it sends people to your product landing page.

Alternatively, try out Instagram Stories, as those do enable users to swipe up to navigate to a linked page.

This example from Forever21 combines a well-framed, professional photo with a great outfit and an @mentioned model (all best practice):

What to Post on Instagram #14: Seasonal Content

Tapping into what people are already thinking about goes beyond holidays and current events. A great way to connect with Instagram users is to appeal to their enthusiasm (or lack thereof) of the seasons.

Ben & Jerry's taps into seasonal posts fairly regularly, including this post they did to recognize the beginning of Spring:

What to Post on Instagram #15: Story Content

Story posts are a bit of a challenge, and more effectively done by utilizing video, but they're a powerful strategy.

People love to hear stories, and we're far more able to remember what we hear if it's told in story format.

For instance, when Groove tested the addition of a story to their article, they saw a 300% increase in time-on-page.

It's just as powerful on social media.

This post example, from Tesla Motors, taps into story to drive engagement on Instagram:

What to Post on Instagram #16: Posts with Style

"Style" is a pretty generic term, I get that. But it's accurate.

Anything you can do to stand out from the rest of the Instagram news feed should (at least) be tested. Creativity and style are the best ways to do that.

For instance, ditch the photo and go with a graphic created just for Instagram. Or ditch the graphic entirely and post a quote on a white background. Or just post an awesome image with no caption whatsoever. Who knows?

The goal here is to test what works for your audience, and to stand out from the rest of the brands publishing on Instagram in that minute of that day.

This example, from Adidas, taps into their own style, using a graphic instead of a picture of the shoes they're promoting:

What to Post on Instagram #17: Appreciation

Whether it's congratulating your employee on her new baby, one of your customers on a successful campaign, or your Fans for reaching a particularly exciting threshold, Instagram users love to celebrate with you.

They love to be a part of something happy, and showing appreciation for something awesome allows them to do just that.

This example, from BMW, is probably one of the more typical posts which show appreciation. What can your brand come up with to celebrate?

What to Post on Instagram #18: Trending Hashtags

Just as it's a best practice to tap into what people are already thinking about with current events, holidays and the seasons, it's also essential that you examine what hashtags are currently trending. This allows you jump onto an already runaway train and take it to the bank.

But don't force it. BeatsbyDre (the example below) identified the #MarchMadness hashtag as being relevant to their brand and target market. If you're a spa and hotel in Singapore, #MarchMadness may not be relevant to your Fans (at all) and trying to make it so will just get people confused and, possibly, annoyed.

Here's the example of a post by BeatsbyDre which includes a trending hashtag:

What to Post on Instagram #19: User-Generated Content

Just like people love celebrating holidays or achievements, they also love celebrating each other.

Create an Instagram post which features user generated content to tap into the network of the person you're featuring. UGC also shows you have a relationship with your Fans and customers and drives trust.

Here's an example from Canadian outdoor outfitter MEC:

What to Post on Instagram #20: Video

If you have the ability, creating video posts on Instagram is a definite Yes.

But if you don't have a studio, audio equipment and extreme sportswoman to fly off a jump on a motorcycle, consider Instagram Stories or a casual-style, candid video.

Take your smartphone and turn the selfie video feature on. Show an unboxing of your new product, an interview with your CEO or a weekly interview with your product and marketing teams about what they're working on and why.

Top Tip: If you want to, upload your Instagram videos to Facebook as well, to double your Reach.

Here's a more professional example of video posts from Redbull:

What to Post on Instagram #21: Inspirational Content

People love to be inspired on social media. It's why so many Twitter posts are Elon Musk quotes. But more than the fact that people like seeing an inspirational post, people like sharing an inspirational post.

Instagram (and social media users in general) want to be the people who inspire others. Make it easy for them by identifying inspirational quotes relevant to them and making it easy to share. Even to the extent of prompting them to do it in the post caption.

Here's an example of an inspirational post from social media management tool Postplanner:

What To Post On Instagram #22: Tutorial

Tutorials make great Instagram content because they’re a great way to engage with your audience and help establish you as an authority in your field. If you’re not sure what kind of tutorial your Instagram followers would enjoy, consider asking your followers for ideas. A good idea for a tutorial is something that you can teach your audience quickly and easily.

If your Instagram content is centered around beautify, for example, posting a hair tutorial that shows your audience how to achieve a certain hairstyle is a simple idea if you’ve run out of other things to post like @hair2pearl have done below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hair Video for you every day! (@hair2pearl)

What To Post On Instagram #23: Flatlay Your Bag

If you want to give your audience some insight into the personality that exists behind the scenes of your brand, a fun way is to take all the items that are in your handbag and arrange them neatly and shoot them from above. Not only does this make for visually interesting Instagram content, but it also lets your followers know a little bit about who you are as a person.

Here’s an example from the fashion page @simplystyledby_veronica:

What To Post On Instagram #24: Your Outfit Of The Day

People love using their Instagram feed as inspiration for outfits. Take advantage of the fact by sharing what you’re wearing with your followers. When it comes Instagram content ideas, the #OOTD (outfit of the day) is a great way to show your followers your style and sense of fashion.

For the design & fashion page @americanstyle they went one step further and didn’t just post one outfit, but a whole week’s worth!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by American Style (@americanstyle)

Related Content:

How to Get More Real Likes on Instagram: 45 Easy & Powerful Tips

How to Market on Instagram: 30 Ideas, Tips & Examples

How to Start a Bomb Fitness Instagram Account (With Examples)

30 Best Instagram Business Tools to Help You Create Better Content

25 Awesome Instagram Reels Ideas For Small Businesses

Wrapping it Up

Hopefully this article has given you a few ideas about what to post on Instagram.

A few of the top to focus on…

High-quality images

Current event/seasonal content

User-generated content

Creative/stylized posts

Polls

Pets/Cute posts

If you have any questions about what to post on Instagram, don't hesitate to reach out in the comment section below!

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sunmediamarketing · 3 years

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Here’s How To Boost Your Online Presence in 2021

Let’s first understand what an online presence is. Suppose, you searched for a certain brand product to purchase and found that the site focused on providing the top three search results, which included the website itself, the product webpage, and the product review page. Doing further research of that brand, you found its Wikipedia page, social media pages, as well as its presence on other e-commerce sites. This shows that the brand has got a wider online presence on every possible digital platform.

On the other hand, as per Adaptive Marketing, about 97% of buyers depend on the internet to find their needs. This fact is, however, further intensified by the current pandemic.

So, be it an offline business or online store, an active internet presence not only pertains to increasing e-commerce growth but also the local businesses alike.

However, as the internet advances with time, the definition of online presence also evolves. In this information-dense guide, you will get a vivid idea of:

the definition of an online presence and its importance

5 proven strategies to accelerate your online presence

By the time you finish reading, you will be all set to fix the nooks and crannies of your online business.

What defines an online presence?

First of all, understand that online existence and online presence, both are different things. Having an online existence is not enough to determine an active online presence.

While your existence may bring you on the map, an online presence brings more visibility, value, and increases your business awareness.

So, it is your online presence that goes a layer deeper into showcasing your entire business scenario, according to:

You: The measures you take to produce your business’ internet content

The internet: Where your website stands in social media algorithms and search engine results

The public: How people consider your online business, what they are say about it, how often they are get engaged with it

An online presence is an ultimate desideratum for your eCommerce plan.

But, before heading to the tactics of how to boost online presence, let’s justify the bold stated above.

Why is online presence so important in 2021?

The better the visibility of your business to your online target audience, the greater success in increasing awareness and building your brand reputation. But, other than that, here are some more benefits that online presence brings you:

Get Recognized: An active online presence eases the task for the potential traffic, who didn’t know your business existed, to discover and explore you, both when they aren’t and are looking for services/products you offer.

Be found as an authentic and authorized business: Consumers greatly depend on a number of data sources of a dedicated website before buying their product. If your business site lacks in providing its necessary information across these sources, you will be overlooked both by consumers and search engines.

Round-the-clock Business Marketing: Having a strong online presence helps people find, learn, and get engaged with, contacting you whenever they want, regardless of what device they use or where they stand in the buyer journey.

Reduce Expense: All the online marketing platforms bring you data about what’s working well and what went wrong, so that you accordingly spend only on the necessities.

Close More Deals: It takes time for any business to go through several encounters before it can finally convert leads into customers. Being a prominent business on multiple digital channels creates more scopes to expedite those lead conversions.

Earn Google’s Loyalty: Google considers more than your website to determine its ranking in search results. In essence, Google checks out all your assets (social media channels, webpages, etc.) across the internet database and how steady or dependable those are.

Make Buyer’s Journey A Cakewalk: Around 63% of buying journeys begin online. Through online presence, you can make your business compatible with cross-device paths for the consumers in their customership journey.

Each of your online business identities act as an asset, giving more value to one another when in concert than on its own.

Ways to Boost Online Presence in 2021

We will directly move to the factors that can influence your business’ online presence in 2021.

How to boost online presence through a website?

Regardless of whether or not people discover your business on social media, via direct email, friend, ad, or through listings, etc., their primary interest will be checking your website.

Making a direct call to the business seems less appealing than quick browsing of the website on their terms to gather his/her desired information.

That’s the reason why 56% of consumers didn’t consider businesses that don’t have their website. Well, that’s the statistical survey from 2017. The percentage has increased exponentially, especially considering this pandemic.

That being said, here is how to make substantial online presence through a website:

Create a modern and engaging website

Consumers these days come with greater expectations to check a website. So, if your business site doesn’t fulfill this point, you are already losing the race. About 75% of consumers determine a brand’s credibility by checking its website design, its loading time, multiple-device interface accessibility, and more.

And, truly speaking, it is better to hire a digital marketing expert to help set up your website. It will save you time, plus the risks of experiencing frequent glitches will subside when dealt by a professional.

Building a lead-generating business site that both looks and functions just how you wanted, without losing hours behind it, is worth spending on a website expert.

How can SEO accelerate your online presence?

Only a small percentage of not more than 49% of SMEs invest in SEO. In fact, about 18% of these businesses don’t target SEO in their marketing plan.

But, if done right, SEO is the best and free strategy to bring your website on the first page of the search engine results.

Here’s how to do that:

Conduct SEO including all the latest updates

Pursue the tried and proven ways that include quality content development based on targeted keywords, image optimization, and backlink creations. Improvise the core web vitals, keeping those aligned with the update of your webpage experience.

Google uses mobile-first indexing to index and rank every website accordingly. So, make sure to keep your site content above all possible mobile errors.

Apply schema markup to come up with rich snippets appearing below your website header in the SERP, such as your site’s home page or main navigation page, ratings, etc.

Rank your local business at the top in organic listings by prioritizing local SEO. The pandemic has already strengthened the support for local businesses, which can be further reinforced with local seo.

Though SEO is a time-taking process to get increased online presence, in the end, it is the gift that continues giving.

How content and video creation through targeted terms and topics can boost online presence?

Developing consumer’s search-specific business blogs and video contents can increase your online presence to a notable extent. For that, the first thing you have to do is optimize the core content pages of your business site for keywords. Your goal is to keep the content highly search-relevant, containing the essentials the consumers are looking for.

Here is how:

Focus on a keyword theme per blog post and include it in the content title, image name, subheadings, alt text, and meta description

Your every blog posting should adhere to the relevant terms and topics that can be individually optimized to rank for that particular keyword. Include more H2s in your content to increase appearances in “People also ask“.

That way, your site gets multiple opportunities to show up in search results of your targeted audiences, at any stage of their customership journey.

However, remember that frequent appearance in the first-page doesn’t only mean stronger online presence. It also influences the chances of attracting more leads to your conversion-optimized website and increases credibility. In fact, a web-business with blogs receives 55% more traffic than the businesses without blogs.

Use precise sentences and frequent bullets to be featured in snippets. Appearance of your business blog in featured snippets also increases your online presence.

Plus, blogging is the best way to demonstrate your expertise and create your brand personality in front of its visitors, which alongside act as a reputation component of your web presence.

Now coming to video content creation, almost every video marketing stat considers it a value-driven medium to accelerate business growth through online presence.

So, here are the two things to focus on:

Leverage the benefits of video contents to effectuate more shares and views

(i) Create an account on YouTube to upload your business videos, which you can also embed into your website’s business blogs to drive traffic to your YouTube channel.

(ii) You can follow the same strategy for your other social media channels, like Instagram. Facebook, etc. Social media video posts get more shares and attention than the text and image contents.

Moreover, people remember 95% of the facts that they learn through videos than through text reading. So, video contents contribute a major part in increasing your online presence.

How can social media presence benefit your online presence?

Social media is a necessary part of web marketing in this generation. In fact, as per 2021 stat, about 50.64% of the global population are actively using social media platforms. So, undoubtedly, it is a key tool to find and reach your intended customer target at a quicker pace.

Build your business page on social media to showcase your company services and products

Your posts should contain value that could drive followers to your page. The post content should relate to what visitors like or are looking for.

For example, if you have an online medicine website, then build your brand awareness targeting those people who are following your competitors’ pages. Post discounts, free delivery, and more that you have to offer which others don’t.

Nowadays, having Twitter and Facebook pages has become quite common for any website. So, failing to maintain the same for your website might build a sense of doubt among the visitors, no matter how cool your website looks or how truly genuine it is.

Potential customers look for the social media presence while researching any website to judge its genuineness and know how it served others earlier.

How can online advertising intensify your online presence?

PPC advertising on search engines and social media advertising are what most businesses use to grab their intended traffic within a short span. Plus, if your product/service ad appears at the top in SERP, it will spread your brand awareness, increasing your web visibility.

Here is how to improve your online visibility through ads:

(i) Target multiple search engines PPC ads like Google ads, Bing ads, and Yahoo ads.

(ii) Similarly, you can run ad campaigns on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. which are popular for their effective advertising options.

Decide what content you want to promote through online ads. Also, check which platform would bring better results to that ad (i.e. which platform has the right audience for your ad).

Looking for assistance to maximize online visibility of your maiden business website? Sun Media Marketing offers the above range of services and more to keep your business ahead through increased web presence.

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sybilejl353918 · 4 years

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List Developing - Develop A Huge List With Viral Link Builders

Promote your Face/Featured Product by presenting it in an impressive and interest-grabbing manner. Show them on numerous webpages like recommendation, item critiques, clearance GSA verified list areas, coupons and highlighted goods sections. Signing up for e-mail or web site provides for issues like free luxury holidays, totally free High Definition Tv's, free gift cards, computers, sweepstakes, cash creating offers, etc can rapidly get your e-mail inbox filled up. Not only can you get a great deal of spam from these "free" provides, you can also start getting a great deal of spam e-mail from other spam GSA Search Engine Ranker verified list when the proprietor of this list sells your name to other spammers. If you have experience in your market you might find a GSA verified list of methods you assisted a consumer that could curiosity other people. Achievement is most likely if you can ignite emotion, whether it be astonishment or laughter. Get people fired up about something and the ball will begin rolling. Also, publishers arrive to post directories that are looking for GSA verified list materials that they can swipe and publish on their personal web sites. That's the arrangement - that as long as they depart your signature box intact, with your links, then they can use it on their own websites. What are the expenses? You can bid by way of SMS which expenses one.fifty furthermore operator costs but no prepayment is required. If you bid on-line you have to buy bid packages which price between .seventy five and one.30 each depending on which bid package deal you buy. You can established up autobids to enable to transfer absent from the Pc. Before you know it, other individuals that share your passion and interest (in your topic area) will uncover your blog, see your amazing freebie provide and feel the uncontrollable urge to subscribe to your publication. Another very essential region of search engine optimization is called "anchor textual content optimization". Utilizing the right phrases on your links will assist increase the relevance of your webpages and those it references. Since a text link usually follows some descriptive textual content about what the user can expect to discover, it's a good candidate for optimization. Steer clear of using non descriptive words like "click right here" for linking. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, functionally talking, nevertheless you're dropping out on an chance to increase web page relevance. why not location a keyword of the ensuing page in the anchor textual content. Rankings are also established by the quantity and high quality of links pointing to your internet page. Usually speaking, if you have more incoming links than your rivals you'll out rank them in the search engines. A higher-quality link from a website or directory carries much more weight than a link from a new web site. For example if your web site is listed in the Yahoo listing it will immediately receive good rankings. Say you need to go the grocery store and purchase some apples, corn, milk, bread, but you're truly pressed for time and you don't want to really create a list you have to have about with you. Don't be concerned. You don't have to create a list. You can just remember it if you use the Chain Method it can help you remember any list. Make the process simple for the purchaser to employ you. Don't just connect GSA verified list sample paperwork which the buyer has to download and open up every 1. This process is so slow. Rather edit related samples into one document for the purchaser and highlight why it's relevant to their short. Keep in mind to name the file attachment so that it is simple for the purchaser to keep monitor of. For example: T_Nuttall_sample. Don't refer the buyer back to your portfolio. As a purchaser I discover this so annoying and others should too. You want to make it simple for the purchaser to select you. Unless it's a 1-on-1 offer then don't do it. Numerous sponsors will try and use this method and eventually move the buck when the rubber fulfills the street, and then attempt and blame it on their sponsor. Believe about it, why are they prepared to train you on how to marketplace when they on their own are as well busy trying to recruit new members. Doesn't make feeling. Sixth step is to consider help of professional solutions. This way also you can get a good list of intrigued individuals. This route should be opted when you are extremely aware of the services supplier as there is no examining of the list. In the above illustrations they are following info about you, be it passwords, credit score cards, social safety figures, something that can determine you - and that which they can use to profit from you. Every time you produce content use 1 or all of these seven list building opportunities to grow your list. If you do this frequently and consistently you'll develop a large list that reaps numerous benefits. Craigslist isn't taking this frivolously, they've tried a number of gimmicks including telephone verification submitting in some classes that demands a callback phone number with a password that's either despatched utilizing voice or an SMS concept. And they'll only allow 1 account for each phone quantity, spammers have reacted to this utilizing premade telephone verified accounts would promote between three and 7 bucks every. Spammers have also attempted utilizing number portability services such as "Digits Grand Central". Most of those are now becoming blocked by Craigslist.

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janschreiner · 4 years

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Dr. Jess O-Reilly Plays 20 Questions with SHA!

“You’re the ultimate expert in your own sexuality and pleasure.”

The Sexual Health Alliance (SHA) is centered around providing Provocative Dialogue and Radical Collaboration. What would radical collaboration look like for you?

To me, radical collaboration involves sharing my business and working with industry peers who don’t have the same opportunities and privilege as I do. This might involve referring out services to folks who are better qualified to speak on specific issues (e.g. Black sexuality, sex for people with disabilities). It also involves sharing resources, insights and experiences for low/no cost to those in financial need. And at times, it involves sharing the financial profits on specific projects (e.g. collaborating on products like books, video courses and speaking engagements).

As a prominent sexuality professional, you have made a wonderful career as a sex educator. What would you recommend to young educators or therapists wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for the support of your peers and potential mentors. Many of us want to help and if you’re very specific with your request (e.g. Can I pick your brain? is too broad, but Could you look over this introductory paragraph of my book proposal? is more manageable), you’ll probably receive a positive reply.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

I’m rereading Life and Death in Shanghai.

What’s the most important thing you talk about with your clients?

Custom-designing their relationships. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and you can make almost any arrangement work if you’re not burdened by social pressure.

What are the top 3 items on your bucket list?

1. I’d like to build an affordable housing building in my hometown of Toronto and see if we can grow the project to be sustainable; eventually, I’d like to continue to build additional units.

2. I’d like to adopt a child.

3. I want to live to be 100+.

One of our goals is to provide all therapists and healthcare providers with high quality sexuality training because they often receive little to no education in sexual health. What is the most important piece about sex that you want all providers to know? What would you want them to incorporate into their practice?

I’d like every professional to understand that our personal sex and relationship lenses can be completely irrelevant to our clients/patients’ lived experience. This doesn’t mean that our work isn’t shaped by personal experience, but simply that we need to be aware of our own biases and limits. And we need to be more aware of our layers of privilege related to race, gender, income, education, ability, nation of birth, relationship status, social status and professional roles.

What are your top 2 books that have influenced you and why?

Give and Take by Adam Grant. This was an affirming read, as he shares stories and data suggesting that good people do finish first in life and in business.

Our Bodies, Ourselves. I read this many, many years ago when I was in school and it offered such an important perspective on so many different topics. I know they’ve updated it since then and I’ve been meaning to go back to it and read the new version, so thanks for the reminder!

What is bad advice you have heard other people in our field give?

I still hear professionals talk about other cultures and countries as though they’re monoliths that they understand because they worked with clients from a specific culture or they lived in a place for a few months or years. If you’re not a part of a group or culture, elevate the voice of someone from that group instead of speaking for or about them. Nothing about us without us.

Who is your sexual role model?

That’s a great question! I’m not sure I know enough about anyone else’s sex life to call them a role model. Marla Renee Stewart is a general role model — personally and professionally — and I believe she has very happy relationships — sexual and otherwise.

SHA utilizes social media to reach our members as well as to find new sexuality content and research, how do you think social media has influenced our culture’s sexuality?

I’m so thankful for the reach and impact of social media. Putting the power of broadcast into individual hands (instead of allowing it to rest in the hands of a few corporations) has shifted and broadened the content we consume. Accounts like @SexPositiveFamilies, for example, disseminate essential information that mainstream (old) media would never have touched. Research shows that digital consumption and connections can foster digital empathy, galvanize support, create feelings of belonging and build community. Of course, social media is still owned by a few corporations and we don’t have access to how they disseminate our posts, so we have to be mindful that new media also has its limitations.

Our team finds podcasts, youtube and other social media platforms sometimes more educational and useful than traditional models. Do you think social media should have a place in formal training, and if so, how much?

There are accounts that offer high-quality, evidence-based information and there are also powerful accounts that provide misinformation. I think it’s important to analyze media (including social media) in all training and examine messages and biases. Part of all learning processes involves developing and tuning our critical thinking skills and I believe that we can certainly use social media as both a lens and subject.

What made you create your Happily ever after approach to working with couples?

I work primarily with folks who run or own businesses. They’re passionate about their work and they claim that their family is the most important aspect of their lives, but they don’t always act like it. Our Marriage As a Business approach involves applying business practices and acumen to intimate relationships. This might entail hosting board meetings (relationship check-ins), building a support team (e.g. therapists and babysitters), respecting timelines (e.g. showing up to dinner on time), planning ahead (e.g. carving out time weeks, months or even a year in advance).

As a Canadian born, Chinese-Jamaican and Irish by descent person, what has been the most challenging aspect of working in this field?

My gender, appearance and (perceived) ethnicity provide me with both privilege and challenges. As a woman talking about a sensitive topic in the public eye, I draw considerable criticism, harassment and personal attacks — on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, my website contact form and even on LinkedIn. I ignore most of it, but sometimes it does feel like death by a thousand paper cuts. Luckily, I have a lot of support too. And I love life and I’m lucky in so many ways, so I try not to expend my energy on the harassment.

Where is your next dream vacation?

I’m not sure. I have a big birthday coming up in February and I’m deciding between Tuscany, Japan and Jamaica. Help me choose!

What are 2 of the most important things you do everyday?

If I’m home, my partner makes me a decaf macchiato or cortado in a small double-wall glass, which I try to take the time to enjoy without reading, working or scrolling. The glassware and all the details add to my enjoyment; he weighs the beans, grinds them with a beautiful manual grinder, pulls the shots at the right pace and warms the milk to the perfect temperature. It sounds pretentious, but I don’t care, because it’s delicious.

I don’t have many rituals, because I’m on the road most of the time and everything is always changing. But I do make time to enjoy myself wherever I go — even if I only have a few hours in a new city or country, I try to walk to a local third-wave coffee shop or market to get a pulse on local life. If I have time for lunch, I always treat myself to something delicious. Food is my love language and working in the food industry is a part of my family background.

What’s your favorite place you’ve traveling to for you job and why?

It’s hard to pick a favorite place, but Istanbul certainly stands out as a highlight. The people are always so warm and gracious. The rich culture, history and architecture overwhelm me. And the food is so delicious and varied. I hope to return again soon.

What’s the most challenging aspect of being in business with your partner, Brandon? (They are married)

Me. I’m the most challenging aspect. He’s much easier to work with.

We don’t work together full-time. He helps out to co-host the podcast, but he has his own unrelated business that keeps him very busy.

The most challenging aspect relates to my travel schedule. I love travel and I love flying and dealing with the unpredictability of new surroundings, but I do miss being physically together. This was a challenge for several years, but he travels with me far more often now, as he has more flexibility with his business.

What’s your favorite story to tell?

I’m a storyteller. As they say, a story doesn’t have to be true to be good. Ha!

But here’s a true one:

On a flight from Denver to Albuquerque a few years ago, a guy threw up all over me as the plane landed. Instead of just vomiting, he tried to keep it in his cheeks and so the trajectory changed and it sprayed everywhere — all over me and in the hair of the couple in front of us. People were dry heaving all around us and I was just hoping that no one else would vomit. I remember thinking that if one more person vomits, the whole plane is going to become a vomit comet. I don’t know why I picked that story, but it just popped into my head.

If you want something sexuality-related:

One time I was at a sex club and two people high fived on the bed next to us while exclaiming, “Oh yeah. This is so hot! And it’s a great workout, so we can skip the gym tomorrow!”. This was their dirty talk and it got them all riled up, but it killed the vibe for me and some of the others in close proximity.

Another time, as lady who was 7+ months pregnant stopped me and asked if I could help her figure out a good position for DP (double penetration) given her big belly. This was a time when I was reminded that they definitely don’t teach you everything you need to know in school.

Your bio says you like airplane turbulence! Can you tell us more about why you like it?

I just love airplanes — I love flying in them, talking about them, reading about them. And I like the physical thrill of a little turbulence — especially in a bigger plane. I will reroute to fly on a cool plane (e.g. the 787-9) and I hope to train as a pilot someday.

Being trained in sex & disabilities, can you give us some tips on why discussing disability is important?

All sexual health education needs to be inclusive and this includes talking about sex as it relates to race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, relationship arrangement, income, and disability. I facilitated sessions on sex and disability early on in my career and now I’ve learned that I should pass the mic and advocate for paying opportunities for fellow sexologists who have disabilities. There are many qualified folks who simply don’t get the same paid opportunities as I do because of ableism.

When we leave folks with disabilities out of the conversation, we reinforce inaccurate stereotypes and put them at greater risk, as sexual health education produces positive health outcomes regardless of whether or not you have a disability.

What's an important take away from your new book The New Sex Bible?

Do what feels good for you. Don’t worry about what the experts or your friends have to say. You’re the ultimate expert in your own sexuality and pleasure.

About Dr. Jess

Jess O’Reilly began working as a sexuality counsellor in 2001 and she has never looked back! Her PhD studies involved the development of training programs in sex education for teachers and her education and undergraduate degrees focused on equity and sexual diversity.

Her training includes courses in counselling skills, healthy relationships, resolving sexual concerns, sex education, clinical sexology, sexual development, sex and disability, group therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Alongside her academic and television credits, Dr. Jess is also an accomplished author with three best-selling titles. Her latest, The New Sex Bible, has received rave reviews from professionals and clients alike and her first book Hot Sex Tips,Tricks and Licks is in its fourth print! Look for her monthly column in Post City or catch her on Tuesday mornings on Global TV’s The Morning Show, Wednesdays on 102.1 The Edge and Saturdays on PlayboyTV.

Dr. Jess’ work experience includes contracts with school boards, social services agencies, community health organizations and private corporations. A sought-after speaker, her sessions always attract a full-house at conferences and entertainment events alike.

Check out more about Dr. Jess!

Follow Dr. Jess on Twitter & Instagram

Dr. Jess O-Reilly Plays 20 Questions with SHA! published first on https://spanishflyhealth.tumblr.com/

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cvolx · 5 years

Text

Paul Ferns, Best SEO Expert in Karachi, Pakistan

I want you, to take a good look at the terms below and tell me what do you see. SEO Karachi, SEO Pakistan, SEO services in Karachi, SEO agency Karachi, SEO agency in Karachi, best SEO company in Karachi, best SEO company in Pakistan, top SEO companies in Pakistan. Right, you guessed it. SEO is the acronym that stands out the most in addition to other words connected to it. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and is one of the most important processes for a website’s or businesses’ success and failure. What you have read above, are keywords that people type on Google, in order to discover what they’re looking for. And as I’m crazy about SEO and consider my name out there among other search engine optimization experts, I have decided to use similar keywords to explain where I’m getting at and what I’m trying to tell you. A little bit about me I’m writing (yea ok, typing, whatever), after a really long time. I used to be a web content writer once upon a time and that is how my digital “guru” career actually took off. I started way back in early 2015. I had recently resigned from my job in Dubai, and came back to Pakistan in December 2014. One fine lady, who is now also a long time friend gave me a chance at writing. I had read her blog and added her on FB (that was not the time when sending a friend request was considered harassment 😄). We chatted a few weeks and she found my English up to the mark for writing web content. I worked the first week for free and she corrected my tone and structure a few times. After that, she started paying me Rs. 0.5 per word. My happiness knew no bounds when I got my first deposit from her. I had actually made money off the internet. Wow! After that, it was an uphill battle trying to find work and marketing my writing skill. While being a writer I kept coming across terms like SEO, PPC, HTML, WordPress, hosting, content etc. Search engine optimization was booming here and I wanted to become an SEO expert in Karachi. I decided to start exploring these other skills as well. By the end of 2015, my writing rate increased to Rs. 1.0 per word and I was well into my journey of learning about SEO, digital marketing and web development. I also signed up to Fiverr and went to a level one seller in a few months. SEO was also one of my gigs offered in addition to content writing but I was still far from being an SEO expert in Pakistan. By the end of 2016, I had increased my content writing rates to Rs. 2 per word and had also landed a few web development projects. In the start of 2017 I actually registered my freelance digital agency as I wanted to offer the best SEO services in Pakistan and thought that I would appear more professional, and I was right. I regularly get work from clients in Dubai, US, UK, and Pakistan. Last year, one of Karachi's leading agencies signed me up as a sub-contractor, but this was for translation projects and not because I was running an upcoming SEO company in Karachi, in case you’re thinking that. By the end of 2018, my writing rates went up to Rs. 5 per word and I have been getting quality work this way. As of 2019, I have only been managing the work with my Canadian partner a team of 5 freelancers and we work with SEO, web development, graphics design, and social media management. I figure there comes a time when you think you can stop doing the actual work and manage things and this brings a great movie quote to mind (can’t remember the movie now). "The art of good business is being a good middleman." Being an SEO consultant in Pakistan, has its perks and if you are an seo service provider company in Karachi, even better. Karachi is a sprawling metropolis, housing around 200 million people from all over the country and all walks of life. Why the SEO craze? SEO solutions are the way forward for the digital world. Any brick or mortar establishment which aims to make their presence known online will have to settle for a great SEO campaign. If you happen to be a startup or a small scale business in Pakistan, it is likely that you will invest in expert seo services being offered by the best seo company in Pakistan. Mind you, top notch SEO charges in Pakistan are high and it is wise to be really sure before opting for SEO. SEO helps your business website rank higher in search results thereby enabling you to bring in more traffic and ultimately drive more conversions. Whether you are an SEO expert in usa or offer the best SEO services in UAE or you’re the best SEO agency in Pakistan, one thing is certain. You are optimizing your customers’ businesses so they get more traffic to their sites and hence, convert more leads into sales. SEO involves technical SEO where onsite SEO and offsite SEO, both matters equally. Onsite deals with how user-friendly is your website or webpage to the search engine. Are the keywords in order? Is the alt-text in the image proper? Is the content length desirable etc.? Offsite SEO steps even further, by enabling you to market that webpage, blog or even your overall brand on noticeable forums, platforms, social media and you name it! At CVOLX, one of the top seo companies in Pakistan, , we make sure we provide you with the best in best SEO in Pakistan. We can safely say, you will not find any better digital marketing services than our’s, as we are the best locally and have left our footprint globally as well. We will strategize your SEO campaign based on the size of your business as well the project or product hand because every brand’s need varies. We know that, and we strive hard to tailor our planning and execution according to your needs. CVOLX is professional SEO company in Pakistan, and has been in the business for over a decade now. In that time, we have learned by doing, our team has expanded, and our services have multiplied. Speaking of services let us fill you in on a little about our services that we offer you - our clients. Why is search engine optimization (SEO) SEO important? Search engine optimization is the way forward as everything today is becoming digital. In this day and age where every brick and mortar establishment is seeking to maintain their presence online, expert SEO services and techniques can come in real handy. The idea is to rank your business in the top 5 of any search engine results page aka (SERP). For that to happen, your website or webpage must appear at top position on (mainly) Google and Bing. At CVOLX, we help you with technical SEO practices so that search engines crawl your website effortlessly and present it to your target customers. Onsite SEO and offsite SEO are both imperative to rankings. The former will make your website search engine friendly, and the latter focuses on promotional activities to further push your business website in the online sphere. How can CVOLX SEO Services company help? SEO is not a cakewalk. It requires careful planning and timing for a campaign to be successful. Any brand or company that relies on SEO cannot simply expect results overnight. CVOLX is one of the top search engine optimization firms for small and large companies, and is well versed in the domain of ranking in Google and related services. Our SEO agency services explained SEO is not only concerned with managing your brand’s presence organically in an online world rather it is a bundle of services which supports one another. Let us take detailed look at some of these aspects. Social media The importance of social media cannot be denied. Today Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ among other social media networks are helping brands multiply their revenues and enhance user engagement. Moreover, when you engage socially with your desired audience, you are embedding an element of trust in their hearts and minds. Say Twitter, replying to a tweet from an annoyed customer can do wonders for your brand in addition to ranking organically. Email (marketing) Email is another domain. When the visitors sign up on your website, it is your duty to offer them something valuable. Asking for their email simply and not providing them anything useful is rude. That is where email marketing steps in. when a user registers on your website, in order to drive conversion, offer him a free ebook pertaining to your niche or a newsletter filling him on the latest developments in the industry. This way he does not feel left out and eventually tries out what you have to offer. Content (marketing) At every point in time, you will notice that good content is a must. No matter which channel you employ, be it social media or email, well crafted content will only bring you results. In other words, good copy is what will make your endeavours worthwhile. This can be understood in the way that when you read a tweet or view an instagram post, you notice how engaging the text is or what does the caption state beneath it, that captures your attention. This is equally true for Facebook posts as well as LinkedIn. Brands and influencers alike, leverage content to the maximum to gain followers and customers or else, a user will not bother. Web/ Website design and development CVOLX’s SEO services have made sure that your business’s online presence is covered end-to-end. And web design is at the helm of your brand management. A good web design ensures that your user stays on your website and interacts with the website. It is the web design which is responsible for seamless navigation, menus placement, page load time and speed, in addition to colors, font sizes and overall features of your website. If all these elements are properly addressed, you can expect a winning combination of website design and SEO. Paid search or PPC Just like SEO, there is paid search. As the name implies, you have to pay make your presence noticeable. While SEO takes time for your landing pages, blogs and website to rank, with paid search or pay-per click advertising you can rank these instantly. All you have to do is bid on your preferred industry keywords and the rest will be taken care of by us at our SEO service company, CVOLX. However, paid search is not for everybody especially if you are a startup or a small scale business. Medium and large business have the budgets and they can even take a hit if paid search fails or decent results fail to materialize. For any other business, it could mean a hefty hit out of their budgets. Ecommerce If your entity specializes in ecommerce, then you are in luck. At CVOLX SEO Services company, we also employ CRM platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento and Shopify to enable our clients to get the best in ecommerce website. Coupled with our prowess in SEO, your business will take off in the least possible time! So the above was a bit about what services we offer in addition to best local SEO services in Karachi for our clients. Some info on our digital marketing team Our team is comprised of seasoned digital marketers that involves content producers, social media marketers, paid search managers, SEO experts, web developers, graphic designers and animators. Rest assured, our team is what any best SEO company of the world would work with and we can confidently say that CVOLX is among the top 10 seo firms in Pakistan. The individuals pack years of experience and can handle any task assigned by our client professionally and will execute them to perfection! What do we charge? Pricing is the key element that any client prefers to go in detail. We have designed packages that will suit your needs and business size. You can have our SEO services coupled with any of our other services mentioned above. That was a little something about me and my journey to be one of the agency’s offering the best search engine optimization in Pakistan. That being said, patience and perseverance pay off in the long run. The best thing anyone can do to be successful is to always consider themselves students and keep learning while staying humble. In my time of being connected to the online field over 4 years, I have seen many fake ass gurus in all fields and they get caught sooner or later. I will also write in another article about how I was scammed by one of the top sites of the world offering one of the best SEO tools names Xrumer. Written on my phone, might edit this later. Thank you for reading. Cheers! Read the full article

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riichardwilson · 4 years

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Content and coronavirus: How you can differentiate from the masses

All coronavirus all the time: that’s what everyone’s content looks like right now. It makes sense, because most digital marketers feel compelled to respond to the crisis.

However, the proliferation of “conronacontent” also creates a dilemma and a practical problem. There are a ton of me-too listicles and volumes of “how COVID-19 is impacting e-commerce” data circulating. This creates a kind of content din and raises the fundamental question: what should you be creating and how do you differentiate your content when everyone is basically doing the exact same thing? We know content is foundational for SEO success, but rising above the rest is easier said than done, particularly now.

It’s a challenging issue and there’s no single, simple answer. I reached out to a range of digital marketers to help answer this question: Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing agency at Hubspot; Casie Gillette, senior director of digital marketing agency at Komarketing agency; Todd W. Lebo, chief marketing agency officer at Ascend2and Patrick Reinhart, VP of digital strategies at Conductor.

I also asked them about non-coronavirus content and whether and how to prepare for the post-COVID future. At the end, I’ve tried to distill their advice into a list of principles.

Meghan Keaney Anderson, Hubspot

At its core, content marketing agency is about helping audiences solve problems. In recent weeks, we’ve seen countless businesses, employees, and communities face new and unprecedented challenges for which there is no pre-existing playbook. High-quality, relevant content can be invaluable at a time like this.

We have never witnessed such sudden and dramatic shifts in what audiences need, and we are continually adapting our content strategy in order to be as helpful as possible. Marketers across every industry should try to do likewise. In this rapidly changing environment, content that was hugely helpful to audiences last week may not be relevant to the challenges that next week holds.

My three pieces of advice to content creators right now are to:

Remain laser-focused on audiences’ most pressing needs by continually gathering feedback and closely monitoring engagement rates on new content being published.

Strive to deliver unique value without asking for anything in return — instead of dialing up the promotion of products and services, focus above all else on being helpful.

Always be prepared internally to quickly adjust content strategy as the rapidly changing situation continues to evolve.

Casie Gillette, KoMarketing

Right now, people are writing about the Coronavirus because it feels tone-deaf not to. That being said, and I can’t stress this enough, you shouldn’t be writing if you don’t have something unique to say. I have clients who serve the restaurant and retail industries and the content they are putting out deals with how they are helping/can help during this time. It’s unique to them and their customers so it’s genuinely useful. We always say, don’t write for the sake of writing and that certainly applies here.

At the same time, we are encouraging clients to publish their regularly scheduled content — why? Because some of that content is being created to help them rank in search and by delaying it, they aren’t helping themselves. We do want to be cautious though. For example, we had a client post scheduled to go live that included the phrase “statistics to keep you up at night.” Nope: that title was fine two months ago but certainly not now. I think publishing is fine as long as you are being mindful of what you are putting out there.

A side tip: as for not wanting to appear insensitive, one suggestion I have given to clients is to make your COVID post/announcement sticky. That way it’s always at the top of the blog and it’s the first thing people see.

In terms of preparing content for the future, I have a client in the healthcare space who is already thinking about this. We started creating topics around the issues hospitals will be facing when the crisis slows. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but you have to be OK with the uncertainty of knowing when to publish that content. I’m of the mindset it’s better to be proactive than reactive so if you are thinking about your future content initiatives, I’d start by thinking about what challenges your audience will be facing at the end of this and what information they’ll need.

Todd W. Lebo,Ascend2

My suggestion is to create content based on research and data (tests and other sources). Readers want science and data to help them make the best decision and this is especially true during challenging times.

Our June 2019 study, Content marketing agency Engagement, found that when it comes to content, having solid evidence to support a claim is extremely important. That is why a 60% majority of marketing agency professionals report that research and case studies are the most trusted content type by target audiences.

Another B2B study we conducted shows that research is what prospects consider the most valuable content vendors can provide them. Research provides an agnostic perspective on topics that are most important to your prospect. Prospects consider original research extremely valuable because they can use research to generate ideas, influence decision-makers, determine strategy, get approval for their budgets, and much more.

Patrick Reinhart, Conductor

It’s tough to differentiate because everyone is putting out content that speaks about the impact of the virus to their business and in their industry. We did that at Conductor so we are no different. What I think businesses should consider is having a “next step” that compliments their research or content. I am not seeing a lot of companies put out that type of content along with research and statements, etc. This may not work for some businesses but will for the majority.

Right now, you should be creating content that helps your customers and users. Every time you put something out, the question you should be asking yourself is: “will this help my customers?” If the answer is yes, then you’re on the right track. If it’s just a piece of content that you’re putting out for the sake of putting out then it’s more than likely not worth it.

As for non-virus-related content, you have to be OK with not addressing what’s going on. It’s OK to still run your business, it’s OK to still try and help your customers, you just have to be careful how you go about that. The biggest mistake businesses can make right now is appearing like they are trying to capitalize on the pandemic so it’s a balance.

You should absolutely address what’s going on in the world, but you also should be OK with not addressing it. What a lot of businesses are doing right now is only talking about the virus and not talking about other ways to help their customers. Right now is a great time to plant trees for SEO Company if you haven’t already. The trees you plant now will provide shade on sunny days in the future and there is nothing wrong with creating it along with content that addresses the current state of things.

Answer questions to help your customers; go and contribute on forums that are specific to your industry, create video tutorials, etc. Everyone has to remember that this is a snapshot in time and there is the other side to this that we all need to be planning for.

Content lessons and takeaways

Below are the distilled lessons and advice from the group:

Don’t create content for the sake of content, but do maintain a regular publishing schedule.

Don’t be self-promotional or appear to be capitalizing on the pandemic.

Focus on customer needs: does your content pass the “will this help my customers?” litmus test? Get regular feedback on customer needs.

Determine what you can say or what value you can provide that’s (relatively) unique.

Review scheduled content to make sure it’s not inappropriate or insensitive.

Be agile and prepared to change your content plan as the environment changes.

Be proactive, plan content for the post-COVID-19 future (be thoughtful about when to release it).

Use research and data to support your content.

Continue to develop and publish content that helps your longer-term rankings and SEO Company.

More about marketing agency in the time of the coronavirus

About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/content-and-coronavirus-how-you-can-differentiate-from-the-masses/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/615045860187897856

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

Content and coronavirus: How you can differentiate from the masses

All coronavirus all the time: that’s what everyone’s content looks like right now. It makes sense, because most digital marketers feel compelled to respond to the crisis.

It’s a challenging issue and there’s no single, simple answer. I reached out to a range of digital marketers to help answer this question: Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing agency at Hubspot; Casie Gillette, senior director of digital marketing agency at Komarketing agency; Todd W. Lebo, chief marketing agency officer at Ascend2 and Patrick Reinhart, VP of digital strategies at Conductor.

I also asked them about non-coronavirus content and whether and how to prepare for the post-COVID future. At the end, I’ve tried to distill their advice into a list of principles.

Meghan Keaney Anderson, Hubspot

My three pieces of advice to content creators right now are to:

Remain laser-focused on audiences’ most pressing needs by continually gathering feedback and closely monitoring engagement rates on new content being published.

Strive to deliver unique value without asking for anything in return — instead of dialing up the promotion of products and services, focus above all else on being helpful.

Always be prepared internally to quickly adjust content strategy as the rapidly changing situation continues to evolve.

Casie Gillette, KoMarketing

Todd W. Lebo, Ascend2

Patrick Reinhart, Conductor

Content lessons and takeaways

Below are the distilled lessons and advice from the group:

Don’t create content for the sake of content, but do maintain a regular publishing schedule.

Don’t be self-promotional or appear to be capitalizing on the pandemic.

Focus on customer needs: does your content pass the “will this help my customers?” litmus test? Get regular feedback on customer needs.

Determine what you can say or what value you can provide that’s (relatively) unique.

Review scheduled content to make sure it’s not inappropriate or insensitive.

Be agile and prepared to change your content plan as the environment changes.

Be proactive, plan content for the post-COVID-19 future (be thoughtful about when to release it).

Use research and data to support your content.

Continue to develop and publish content that helps your longer-term rankings and SEO Company.

More about marketing agency in the time of the coronavirus

About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/content-and-coronavirus-how-you-can-differentiate-from-the-masses/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/04/content-and-coronavirus-how-you-can.html

0 notes

nummero123 · 3 years

Text

Inbound Link Building Strategies to Help Your Site Rank Higher

Building high-quality inbound links to your website are undeniably difficult.

While many website owners resort to spamming blog comment areas in order to obtain backlinks,

this is not essential nor useful for your SEO efforts.

Although there is a lot of discourse about building inbound connections, the specifics of how to do so are rarely covered.

Fortunately, Link Building Strategies aren't as difficult to deploy as many people claim.

Consider it like social media: if you have amazing material and get it in front of the appropriate people, they will share it.

With that in mind, we'll get you started with tried-and-true methods for generating respectable income.

What is link building?

Link building is the practice of increasing the number and quality of inbound links to your website to increase referral traffic,

domain authority and search engine results.

What are backlinks?

Backlinks, also known as inbound links and incoming links,

are a type of off-page SEO in which you obtain links from other websites that bring readers to your own.

The individual who receives the link refers to a link as a backlink.

Backlinks differ from outbound links (links from your website to another website)

and internal links (links from your website to another website)

(links from one page on your website to another).

The appropriate backlinks can help your website in two ways:

They can bring visitors to your website. If someone places a backlink to your website on their website or blog, their visitors may click on it, and you will benefit from that referral traffic.

They can assist you in ranking better in search results. Backlinks indicate to search engines that your website is an authority on a particular subject; hence, the more backlinks you receive from high-quality, high-authority sites, the higher your website will rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).

An excellent inbound link originates from a reputable website

and employs natural anchor text. The text copy that hyperlinked is known as anchor text.

For instance, if I link to our blog post about backlink methods, the anchor text will be backlink strategies.

Natural anchor text implies that you are not simply hyperlinking keywords left and right.

Because Google recognizes link context, more generic "learn more" and "click here"

anchor language can be just as beneficial as keyword-optimized anchor text.

Link Building Strategies

1. Maintain a steady blog with great content.

One of the most tried and tested methods for organically generating inbound links

Is to consistently create quality blog content that people naturally want to connect to.

You should only publish content that directly linked to your sector.

And that will benefit your reader.

They will feel driven to communicate it this way.

They may even include a link to it on their website if they have one.

2. Link to other blogs on your blog.

A blog intended to use as a social tool.

The more you link to others, especially in a consistent, opportunity-driven manner,

the more likely it is that one of those bloggers will return the favour.

Furthermore, you can't cover everything on your blog.

It makes sense to take advantage of the plethora of resources available on the internet to improve and reward your blog's visitors' experience.

3. Write guest blog posts.

Create an excellent blog post and distribute it to blogs that would be a good fit for it.

If they accept, they should be willing to provide you with an inbound link in the post.

Guest blogging is an excellent strategy to promote your knowledge while also earning high-quality white-hat links.

Don't know who to address your letter to?

Most news organizations allow anyone to submit original stories on issues of interest to their readers.

You should get started.

However, with publications that are directly related to your area.

If you are a branding agency, you should contact branding publications.

4. Curate and publish helpful resource lists.

Resource lists are excellent link bait as well as useful information for your viewers.

If you produce a comprehensive resource list,

Other writers will be able to easily link to it in their blogs rather than rehashing and curating all of that stuff themselves.

Here's an example of a list of resources we prepared for newbie SEOs to give you an idea of what one would look like.

5. Do expert roundups to build relationships.

Expert roundups can be a powerful tool for connecting with influencers.

While these roundups may not result in a large number of inbound links or leads right away.

Developing relationships with influencers can help you obtain reliable backlinks from authoritative sources in the future.

After they contribute to your roundup, you can contact them later to inquire about a guest post possibility or something else,

While also thanking them for their contribution to the prior expert roundup.

6. Write newsjack posts.

When you use the popularity of a news story to boost your sales and marketing success, this is known as newsjacking.

Because of the "freshness" component of Google's algorithm.

If you're the first blogger to remark on a major event, you'll jump to the top of the SERPs.

And others will link to your content in their versions of the story.

7. Create case studies about your most impressive clients.

You can be sure that if you make your clients appear good in case studies about their business, they'll connect to your site.

But you must make them good. This entails selecting organizations.

That have achieved the best results, are enthusiastic, and are well-versed in your product or service.

It also entails asking the correct questions and presenting the case study in an appealing, thorough manner.

8. Volunteer to be the subject of a case study.

Why not take advantage of the case study link affection on the other side?

Companies are constantly on the lookout for consumers ready to be the topic of a case study.

Volunteer for one of your key vendors in exchange for a backlink from the case study after it's released.

9. Administer surveys.

If you undertake research, commit to sharing the results with others.

If you collect and crunch the data and then give some high authority sites access to the results.

You can guarantee they'll perform some promotion and inbound linking for you to ensure you have a large sample size.

10. Write book reviews.

If you write a thorough evaluation of another author's stuff, there's a strong possibility they'll (and others) link to it.

11. Conduct free webinars, and post archived copies online.

Your attendees will undoubtedly share it if it is informative.

Turning your PowerPoint presentation slides into a SlideShare presentation and then embedding.

That presentation into a blog post is one simple way to accomplish this.

You may also include it on the webinar's landing page so that anyone wishing to join up for an

an already completed webinar can view the presentation.

Partner with another organization, brand, or influence

for the webinar to increase your chances of getting backlinks to these archived webinar pages.

Not only will two well-aligned brands make for a great presentation.

But it will also broaden the audience — long after the webinar has ended.

12. Create free tools.

Remember when I said you should curate and publish resource lists for your blog?

What do you suppose people put on those resource lists and where do they connect to?

One of the most important is the availability of free tools.

You may get on the other side of those resource lists by offering free tools that your target clients will find extremely useful.

13. Create shareable templates.

Templates, like free tools, are something that others will find valuable enough to link to.

Consider what kinds of templates might make people's jobs easier before creating one.

A designer, for example, could establish a library of downloadable business card templates that others may go to repeatedly.

Bookmarkable content is frequently the type of material that receives a large number of inbound links.

14. Create compelling infographics.

People adore disseminating infographics.

People will link back to you as the source if you develop an original infographic.

You may also share your design with the sources you quoted and make the embed code for your infographic easily accessible to boost the likelihood of an incoming link.

You're not a designer?

With designs like these free infographic templates, anyone can create professional-looking,

high-quality infographics rapidly.

Before developing an infographic,

you should think of a topic that can be depicted and is relevant to your market.

15. Create other forms of visual content.

Cartoons, content visualizations, charts and graphs, and other visual content marketing tools

Are vital aspects of a visual content marketing strategy and a wonderful way to gain inbound connections.

Because they cost time and money to create,

Others are likely to forego the hassle of developing their visual content and instead link to yours.

16. Create SlideShare presentations.

Cut up one of your infographics or adapt one from a previous speaking engagement.

You can post these on your blog, in the resource part of your website, or even on a SlideShare account for more links.

Keep in mind that the most compelling presentations are the most shared.

That entails amazing content as well as outstanding design.

17. Do something funny.

Things that are amusing spread like wildfire.

Consider the amusing internal jokes in your sector and capitalize on them with some linkable humorous material.

You can make a meme, a short video, or a tweet that summarises the joke.

Just make sure you understand your audience and how they're likely to react so that nothing comes across as offensive.

18. Write press releases about interesting company news.

By transforming your PR strategy into an inbound one, you open up previously untapped prospects and carve out a niche for your brand.

While also gaining important mindshare with your target audiences.

Once you've written a superb press release,

Post it on your website and then send it to one of the major newswires to gain more visibility.

19. Send out a joint press release when your news involves another company.

This can help you reach thousands of other connected sites that may not have linked to your site in a press release about only your firm.

This will allow you to reach a bigger number of individuals and, as a result, gain more backlinks.

20. Do some outreach when you have big news or a great piece of content.

Getting press attention and being featured in industry journals can help you establish your brand.

Expand your visible expertise, boost your credibility, and, of course, gain backlinks from authoritative sites.

To begin, build a dedicated page on the story on your website to which they can link.

Then, contact a few journalists and/or media that you believe would be interested in your story.

Make sure your request is contextual,

That you obey their guidelines, that you compose an engaging subject line in your pitch email,

And that you are helpful rather than boastful.

21. Set up press request alerts and look for opportunities to send quotes.

Press request alerts are requests for information sources from journalists.

These journalists are continuously on the lookout for quotes from specific people to include in their articles,

And they use a variety of channels to convey requests and find those quotes.

22. Write and pitch op-ed articles.

If you have an intriguing point of view to share and can communicate it clearly and effectively in an op-ed piece.

you may be able to reach a large number of people, gain notoriety for yourself and your organization. And obtain authoritative backlinks to your website.

The most effective op-ed pieces, in my opinion, make a single point.

Embrace the author's perspective, and then provide specific recommendations.

After you've written the piece, seek online editions of industry newspapers and magazines for a very desirable inbound link.

Conclusion

You're well on your way to developing high-quality backlinks the white-hat approach with the suggestions and methods I've offered.

As more links point to your site, you will rise in the SERPs, increasing organic traffic and drawing more prospective leads and consumers.

You can contact Nummero, the best web design company in Bangalore.

#Inbound Link Building Strategies #digital marketing company

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scpie · 4 years

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Content and coronavirus: How you can differentiate from the masses

All coronavirus all the time: that’s what everyone’s content looks like right now. It makes sense, because most digital marketers feel compelled to respond to the crisis.

It’s a challenging issue and there’s no single, simple answer. I reached out to a range of digital marketers to help answer this question: Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing agency at Hubspot; Casie Gillette, senior director of digital marketing agency at Komarketing agency; Todd W. Lebo, chief marketing agency officer at Ascend2 and Patrick Reinhart, VP of digital strategies at Conductor.

I also asked them about non-coronavirus content and whether and how to prepare for the post-COVID future. At the end, I’ve tried to distill their advice into a list of principles.

Meghan Keaney Anderson, Hubspot

My three pieces of advice to content creators right now are to:

Remain laser-focused on audiences’ most pressing needs by continually gathering feedback and closely monitoring engagement rates on new content being published.

Strive to deliver unique value without asking for anything in return — instead of dialing up the promotion of products and services, focus above all else on being helpful.

Always be prepared internally to quickly adjust content strategy as the rapidly changing situation continues to evolve.

Casie Gillette, KoMarketing

Todd W. Lebo, Ascend2

Patrick Reinhart, Conductor

Content lessons and takeaways

Below are the distilled lessons and advice from the group:

Don’t create content for the sake of content, but do maintain a regular publishing schedule.

Don’t be self-promotional or appear to be capitalizing on the pandemic.

Focus on customer needs: does your content pass the “will this help my customers?” litmus test? Get regular feedback on customer needs.

Determine what you can say or what value you can provide that’s (relatively) unique.

Review scheduled content to make sure it’s not inappropriate or insensitive.

Be agile and prepared to change your content plan as the environment changes.

Be proactive, plan content for the post-COVID-19 future (be thoughtful about when to release it).

Use research and data to support your content.

Continue to develop and publish content that helps your longer-term rankings and SEO Company.

More about marketing agency in the time of the coronavirus

About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/content-and-coronavirus-how-you-can-differentiate-from-the-masses/

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bentonpena · 4 years

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How to Make a Unified Instagram Feed as a Photographer to Help Support Your Brand

How to Make a Unified Instagram Feed as a Photographer to Help Support Your Brand http://bit.ly/389v5c1

The post How to Make a Unified Instagram Feed as a Photographer to Help Support Your Brand appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anabel DFlux.

Social media has such a strong presence in our world, both in a personal and professional sense. Gone are the days of searching for a photographer via Google. Many are turning to the social media platform, Instagram. Instagram has become a powerful tool for photographers and content creators alike. It is an engagement-oriented online portfolio so-to-speak.

But with thousands of accounts active on Instagram in any given second, how do you stand out from the rest and still attract photography clients? By having a feed that is more aesthetically pleasing than the rest!

Here is our guide on how to make a unified Instagram feed as a photographer.

What does a unified Instagram feed even mean?

This feed by singer Jessica Abari, shows unification by color tonality. She uses blues and pinks to unify her Instagram feed.

Humans naturally gravitate to cohesiveness, especially those with a certain sensitivity to aesthetic.

A unified Instagram is one in which each image, viewed in totality with one another, look like a piece of a great puzzle. Each one appears to belong and in some way, shape, or form unites with another surrounding it.

It’s the difference between a feed that looks cluttered and disconnected and one that looks like it is a part of a strategically and effortlessly tailored brand.

Having unity in your work not only pushes your brand further, but can attract a slew of eyes on your product (the beautiful images!). Not only is it a trend to have something a bit more cohesive, it has been shown to really aid in acquiring new clients who are attracted to the style your showcasing.

An example of my varied feed – when you have many areas of specialization, it can be difficult to maintain complete cohesiveness.

This isn’t a tried and true method for all photography businesses. For example, I am a multi-faceted photographer and to have an overly-cohesive feed is just not possible for me. However, my fellow industry mates have very beautifully tailored and structured feeds that work brilliantly for them! Their clients know exactly what to expect and hire them based on their look.

The real secret?

This is an example of my thematic feed of female portraits with animals.

So, what’s the real secret? For the most part, it’s utilizing the same editing mechanism over and over again. Create a preset or a general direction for your editing, and replicate this across your full board. This already creates a look of cohesiveness with minimal effort.

I suggest not using Instagram’s preset filters as these tend to lower the quality of your images. Instead, create your own Presets or Actions in Lightroom or Photoshop. You can even automate these to play on the batch of images you select for posting.

If you find that preset editing really isn’t you, unite your feed by topic or theme. This also allows you an opportunity to really solidify your niche as a photographer and attract the right demographic to your work. Figure out what kind of photographer you are and who or what your most common subjects tend to be, and post images that fit within that scope.

In this feed from Goldilocks and the Wolf, there is unification by the fairytale theme and the winter landscapes.

Creating a unified feed based on a color palette is also an excellent idea.

Colors are a major way to keep everything looking tailored and express who you are as a creator.

Color theory is a complex topic that can be taught for hours, but the general idea is that certain hues and color combinations attract a specific reaction. Tying marketing into Instagram, find a color palette that tends to attract your customers (and potential customers).

Look at what your followers gravitate towards, and feed into that wanting. It’s okay to break up your feed with text that engages your audience base, and keep everything still looking together.

Bonus tip: create a posting calendar for the month. Preview these images in a mockup of your Instagram feed and see how it all looks together. This provides a lot of insight on the final outcome!

If you make a unified feed and then want to change the theme, what then?

This feed by singer Jessica Abari, shows unification in sets of 3 (with editing style and images from the same photo shoot), but also overall because Jessica herself is the theme.

I think a daunting aspect of this is all is permanence.

If you spend the time making your images cohesive with one another and then change your mind, has all of your effort been wasted?

Not at all! It’s quite simple to change your theme. You can choose to gradually shift to your new aesthetic or go bold and post three images in the new style right off the bat and go with that.

Final thoughts

Rachel Lauren’s Instagram Feed. Her feed is unified in both her editing style and theme with the portraits with animals.

Remember that while in the pursuit of unity, don’t lose yourself or who you are as a photographer.

There is a fine line to walk between solely appeasing the masses and ensuring that your individual photography voice is heard. Where that balance is, rests entirely on your own opinion.

As well as this, be wary about appearing too repetitive and monotonous – try to post images that have different compositions or express something new. Being cohesive doesn’t mean being boring.

When you make a unified Instagram feed as a photographer, put your best imaging foot forward first!

The post How to Make a Unified Instagram Feed as a Photographer to Help Support Your Brand appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anabel DFlux.

Men via Digital Photography School http://bit.ly/2h5PnNN January 15, 2020 at 07:44AM

#IFTTT #Feedly

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careeralley · 5 years

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CareerAlley The Experts Who Help You To Land Your Dream Job https://is.gd/x3FX6m

https://careeralley.com/the-experts-who-help-you-to-land-your-dream-job/

The Experts Who Help You To Land Your Dream Job

Every day, job seekers review vacancies on their favourite platforms. Whether they click to upload their resumes or are redirected to an online profile builder, sometimes several hundreds of candidates apply for the same position. Only one of them will be offered the role at the end of the interview process. Every candidate asks the same question: how can I make sure to be the one they choose?

It’s a difficult answer. Indeed, your skill sets, naturally, is detrimental to the role. You wouldn’t dream of applying for a position that requires certifications and experience you don’t have. However, it’s fair to say that if ticking off the skill requirements in every job description were all it took to land your dream job; there would be fewer job seekers. Your personality plays a significant part in convincing the employer that you’re the right person for the role. Similarly, you can’t send your CV without making sure first that you have reliable references who are going to promote you to recruiters.

"It’s fair to say that if ticking off the skill requirements in every job description were all it took to land your dream job; there would be fewer job seekers."

But you also have to consider that recruiters and employers are social creatures who rely on first impressions to develop a trust relationship with each candidate. Nailing the first impression is going to tip the scales in your favour when it comes to deciding between candidates with a similar experience and background. You’ve probably read countless articles explaining how to maintain eye contact during an interview or how to do a firm but friendly handshake. But, in reality, you need more than an online how-to tutorial to make an unforgettable impression. You need experts who can provide dedicated support.

Boost your profile with a personal site

The tutor who helps you with your grades

Some positions require specific degree classification. Indeed, you have probably come across specs targeted at 2:1-degree owners, or 1st class. In the UK system, the rating refers to the marks out of 100, meaning that 1st class degrees have obtained a score of 70 or over. While this information is typically relevant to entry-level positions and semi-managerial roles, it can also affect your chances of being a successful applicant. However, you can work closely with a dedicated professional during your student years to maximise your chances. A law tutor can help you to reach your potential and improve your marks for LLB or LLM degrees, for instance. For anybody who is still finishing their studies, personalised tutoring can be the way forward, especially if you struggle with complex lessons or topics.

The web designer who creates your site

The idea that you should need a web designer as a job applicant can seem ludicrous at first. But, you’d be surprised to know that a different approach can prove more successful than a traditional CV. Indeed, the story of Nina from Airbnb has become an overnight hit that shows the full potential of a personal website. Nina became a member on Airbnb in 2013 and immediately fell in love with the company. However, by 2015, she had tried many strategies to attract the attention of the company and failed to receive a positive response. Therefore, with the help of a web designer, she launched her personal website that introduced not only her enthusiasm for Airbnb but also some of the research work she’s been doing. Ninan’s work not only got her an interview with Airbnb but she also got noticed by a load of other big brands, including UpWork where she landed a job. The lesson here is clear: create new and exciting content that will get you noticed.

source

The copywriter who nails that cover letter

Unless you’re a trained content creator in the recruiting industry, the chances are that writing a cover letter might be challenging. Indeed, when you have only a few words to impress, you can’t afford to skip the cover letter. However, you are one of many candidates; how much time do recruiters dedicate to reading your material? The answer is less than you think! Therefore nailing your cover letter by keeping it sweet and short is a delicate but necessary skill to master. But, there’s nothing that stops you from polishing up your finished letter with a professional copywriter who can help you to improve some phrases for a more impactful content. Ultimately, you want an informative letter than showcases not only your expertise but also your personality, which is something a trained writer can help you with.

The professional recruiter who checks your PPT

More and more companies ask candidates to prepare a quick presentation. Creating a stand out presentation is a skill that you need to develop. Typically, the recruiter provides you with a few days to a few weeks to prepare a topic – you can expect anything from extensive research into the future trends in the industry to a case study. Needless to say, you’ll have to do your homework to nail the content of your presentation. But when it comes to the shape and format of your PPT file, you can work closely with a recruiting agent or a presentation expert to make sure your slides don’t send your audience to sleep. The first rule of presenting in front of an audience is to get your listening to participate, building the slides in such a way that you leave them questioning and thinking.

“Job interviews are pretty daunting, in all sorts of different ways. It’s already a pretty harrowing thing to be put in a situation where you are going through a make or break “test” to obtain a job you really want and care about, and when you add in the importance of personal presentation, a well-formatted CV, and all the rest, it can be difficult to stay calm and composed.” – 4 Tips for Boosting Your Confidence for an Interview

The theatre coach who helps you with your anxiety

Don’t be fooled into thinking that an elegant slide design is all it takes to run a brilliant PPT presentation. When you present your ideas to recruiters, you are effectively stepping into the role of a public speaker, regardless whether you’re applying for a public-facing position or not. Speaking in public is not an easy task for some people. Shy and introverted personalities can feel at significant disadvantages during interviews. However, you can improve your techniques and boost your confidence with a few theatre courses. Indeed, some practical acting tips can let you manage your anxiety and use your voice and body language effectively. Think about your presentation as a two-part performance where the content you deliver needs to be matched by the quality of the delivery.

The stylist who knows office elegance

A stylist? You might be thinking that the last thing you need is a stylist. But in reality, your clothes are part of creating the first impression. Indeed, you’ll find that most employers are keen to let you know whether they value a casual or formal dress code for the interview, which is your first clue. If nobody provides any detail, you should aim for a relaxed formal outfit. However, it’s fair to say that when recruiters meet dozens of candidates in a day, your style can make a significant impact and differentiate you from others. A stylist who helps you to nail your interview outfit without losing your personality helps you to stand out from a crowd of dull tailored blazers and trousers. When you stand out, employers remember you!

The manicure technician who gives you a killer handshake

What does your handshake say about you? While there are many studies of what makes a good handshake, you need to understand that the people you’ll be meeting are unlikely to have the psychological knowledge necessary to make sense of your behaviour. However, they can build an impression based on your handshake. A typical rule of thumb is to aim for something half-way between a wet-fish and the power crusher handshake, aka not too weak or strong. But more importantly, your nail and hand will do the talking. Clean, manicured hands create a positive impression. For a formal office role, women can use neutral shades, for instance. Men also benefit from a manicure that looks after their nails and cuticles.

Clean manicure

The coach who teaches you to land your dream pay

As a candidate, you rarely feel in a good position to negotiate your salary. However, nobody works for free. Knowing how to agree on your starting pay and asking for a raise is critical to your career. An executive coach can be a resourceful mentor to help you to navigate the troubled waters of pay negotiation. You should always do your research carefully by defining the salary range for your location and skill set. Don’t be afraid to ask for more as it is a common strategy that confirms you’re a top player. Additionally, you need to be clear from the start about your salary expectations during the interview process. While some recruiters are uncomfortable discussing money matters, you need to protect your interest and let them know that you have a minimum non-negotiable price.

The inside man who tells you about the business

Last but not least, platforms such as LinkedIn can let you connect to professionals who are active within the company or the industry sector of your choice. Even without building an extensive relationship, you can use their posts to gain the market savviness you need. Additionally, you can also use your network to engage and interact with local players and managers who can share their tips about specific businesses.

There is no secret. Behind every successful applicant, there is a large team of experts. From the stylist who picks your interview outfit to the theatre coach who helps you to take the stage for your presentation, you can find reassurance in the knowledge that you don’t have to go through the interview challenges on your own.

#Dream job

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michaelfallcon · 5 years

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Using Fermentation To Take Coffee To New Heights At Sítio Santa Rita In Brazil

The first time I heard Jhone Milanez Lacerda, a coffee farmer from the Caparaó region of Brazil, speak about all he has done to transform his family’s farm, I was flooded with emotion. I had never before seen a young farmer so humble and kind, and yet so smart, inventive, and articulate. From that first day, I could tell Lacerda had big plans—today, I am thrilled to share a little bit of his story here.

Sítio Santa Rita, in the Caparaó region—a national park in a rocky area between the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo in Brazil—was founded in 1896. The Lacerda family is the fourth generation of coffee farmers in that farm area, and the first producing high-quality coffee.

Jhone Lacerda remembers the day his father, Tarcisio Lacerda, brought home a little can of coffee that smelled and tasted nothing like he had recognized as coffee to that point in his life. It was fantastic, and it was life-changing. He asked his father why this coffee tasted like that, and the elder Lacerda couldn’t answer his son’s question. So in 2008, Jhone Lacerda started taking courses on coffee grading and tasting and coffee farm management.

Jhone and Tarcisio Lacerda

“Between 2006 and 2010, we understood that good coffee was pulped cherry coffee,” says Lacerda. “It made sense at that time, as nobody was doing selective picking, and the simplest way to separate the greens out of the ripe cherries was to do so via pulped processing,” Lacerda says. He started selectively picking a very small part of his crop and selling it at very low prices. His neighbor farmers would stop by and call him crazy, since the middlemen, being either naïve or just plain cruel, would only pay “improved commodity” prices for it—something like USD $8-10 above market price.

In 2012, Lacerda became certified as a Q-grader and created a tasting lab on his farm so he could host his green coffee clients. Around the same time, Miriam and Fred Ayres, Lacerda’s sister and brother-in-law, started specializing in barista courses and transformed the space in a coffee shop.

Then, in 2013, at Brazil’s International Coffee Week, Lacerda attended a talk by Manuel Diaz on coffee fermentation. “Until this point in time, my dad, my granddad, and every other farmer would instruct us to avoid fermentation at all costs. This guy told me to do the exact opposite: in order to be good, coffee has to ferment. That was mindblowing to me,” remembers Lacerda. The next morning, Dr. Diaz presented some fermented coffees at the cupping table and Lacerda can still describe them as if he’d tasted them yesterday: very fruity, citric, complex coffees.

Sítio Santa Rita

Back on the farm, Lacerda had cupped a spectacular coffee from a neighbor whose coffee had been disqualified from a quality contest because of the humidity content. “When I asked my neighbor what was the secret of that coffee, he got shy and did not want to share. I insisted, so he ended up confessing: he was picking the beans every day, storing them inside fertilizer plastic bags during the entire week, and on the weekends he would remove the coffee from the bags and lay them out in the sun to dry. There was my second confirmation that fermentation was the way to go.”

Lacerda started testing. “There were so many tests,” he recalls. “Many people would say it was too fruity, the old school folks would say it has gone bad or something like that. Eventually, I started getting it right. The coffee tasted so good, I started varying the fermentation by time. Eventually, I realized that time was not the most important variable, but temperature was. If I fermented a coffee in May for 72 hours, it wasn’t going to taste the same as a coffee fermented in August for the same amount of time, since the average temperature in those months differs widely.”

By 2014, Lacerda and his clients were able to find so many different fruit notes in his fermented coffee they nicknamed the coffee lots “Fruit Salad,” so the buyers would know what to expect. Other lots followed suit: Brazil Nuts, Sweet Caparaó, Jasmine, Coconut Candy, and so forth.

The Bala de Côco (Coconut candy) lot comes from coffee trees located in a very steep area at the top of Pedra Menina rock, very hard to access, surrounded by eucalyptus trees. One day Lacerda was riding his bike up there and noticed the coffee trees had beautiful flowers and decided to proceed with the harvest. The coffee turned out to have candied coconut notes. It comes through a biannual crop only since it is completely shaded. It’s one of his most sought after—and expensive—lots.

Last year, Lacerda invested in a more elaborate fermentation process, which resulted in a coffee with black olive notes, nicknamed “Olivia.” “Olivia went through a dry, pre-fermentation stage, then on to a dry, pulped fermentation, and lastly, a hydrated fermentation. I tried to unite three processes that we already do into one, and it created something very unique, with notes of black olives. From our trial and experience, we can tell the pre-fermentation adds flavor complexity, the second fermentation adds sweetness, and third fermentation contributes to a clean flavor and acidity,” summarizes Lacerda. Due to climate change, photoperiod, rain season variations, etc, it was not possible to reproduce the olive notes in this year’s same experiment. “I can only control my experimentation tests and harvest and post-harvest techniques, but I can’t control nature,” he jokes.

Lacerda, a Coffee Management graduate, is also a tinkerer. With his father, he developed a unique drying device for his microlots, which allows them to dry up to nine microlots at the same time. He’s also developed, with partner Wesley Coelho, a remote temperature measuring system that allows him to control his fermentation lots from anywhere. The system sends a reminder to Lacerda’s smartphone when the coffee mass reaches preset target temperatures, so that Lacerda can move forward with the post-harvest process. They are working to make it available for sale to other farmers as well. As a pioneer in coffee fermentation in Brazil, Lacerda has traveled to Costa Rica and Colombia to implement processes similar to those of the “Fruit Salad” lot in farms in those countries.

Fred and Miriam Bruno

“None of this would have been accomplished had the tasks not been divided between my family and me,” recognizes Lacerda. “While I’m in charge of quality and commercialization of our coffees, Fred and Miriam are in charge of the coffee shop and the roastery, my dad the plantation, and Miriam takes an additional role in financing and administration. Without them, I wouldn’t have had so much time to focus on researching better practices of fermentation and quality improvement.”

Farming is no easy task. Lacerda is surely very lucky to have such a dedicated family team behind Sítio Santa Rita, but also deserves much credit and recognition for being an inventive and fearless trailblazer in the mountains of Caparaó.

Juliana Ganan is a Brazilian coffee professional and journalist. Read more Juliana Ganan on Sprudge.

Photos by Bruno Lavorato.

The post Using Fermentation To Take Coffee To New Heights At Sítio Santa Rita In Brazil appeared first on Sprudge.

Using Fermentation To Take Coffee To New Heights At Sítio Santa Rita In Brazil published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

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