I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the ways writing can improve your mental health. It’s a topic that I’m very passionate about, so I wanted to share some of my thoughts on it with you today.
If you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, stress, or any other mental health issue, you might be thinking about writing as a way to help you feel better. I want to share with you some of the reasons why I think writing can be such a powerful tool in the fight against mental health issues, and why I believe it can help you improve your life in so many other ways. I also want to give you some tips on how you can use writing to improve your own mental health!
## Writing Can Help You Feel Better
When I was struggling with anxiety and depression, one of the things that helped me the most was writing. I found that when I was writing, I was able to release all of the stress and anxiety that was building up inside of me. It helped me feel better, and it gave me a sense of control over my life that I didn’t have before. It also helped me express my thoughts and feelings in a way that I never had before.
I know that there are a lot of people out there who struggle with depression and anxiety, and I know that writing can help them, too. I hope that this post will help you realize that you are not alone in your struggles, and that you can find ways to make writing work for you as a tool in your fight against anxiety, depression, and stress. You can use it to express your thoughts, feelings, and emotions in a healthy way, and you can also use it as a form of therapy.
Here are some reasons why writing can make such a big difference in your life:
1. It Helps You Express Your Thoughts and Feelings in a Healthy Way
One of the most important things about writing is that it gives you a chance to express yourself. When you write, you have the opportunity to say what you want to say, and to say it in the way that is most comfortable for you.
When you are feeling anxious, depressed, or stressed, it can be hard to know what to say. You might not be able to put your feelings into words, or you might not even know what your feelings are. But when you write about them, you are able to express them to yourself and to others. You are able express them in a safe and healthy way.
Writing can also help you figure out what you are thinking and feeling. When I was depressed and anxious, it was hard for me to understand what was going on inside of my head. I had no idea why I was feeling the way I was, or what I was thinking about. Writing helped me figure all of that out. It gave me the chance to think about my feelings and my thoughts in a new way, which helped me understand myself better.
2. It Gives You a Sense of Control Over Your Life
Another thing that writing helped me do was give me a feeling of control. I used to feel like my life was out of my control, but when I wrote, I felt like I was in control of my life. I could write about what was happening in my life, and about how I felt about it. I knew that I had the power to change things, even if it was just in my own mind.
3. It Can Be a Form of Therapy
There are so many benefits to writing, but one of my favorite things about it is the fact that it can also be used as therapy. Writing is a great way to process your thoughts and your feelings. It can be a way for you to work through things that are bothering you, or that you just need to get off of your chest.
4. You Can Use It to Express Yourself to Others
The thing that I love about writing the most is that I can write about things that I might not feel comfortable talking about in person. I can express my feelings to myself, and then I can share them with the world.
5. It Allows You to Share Your Feelings and Thoughts with Someone Else
Sometimes, when I am feeling anxious or depressed, I feel like no one understands what I am going through. I don’t feel like I can talk to my friends or family about what is going on with me. Writing allows me to share my feelings with someone else. It lets me talk to someone who is going through the same thing as I am, and who can understand what I’m feeling.
6. It’s a Great Way to Clear Your Mind
A lot of the time, when we are feeling depressed or anxious, we can’t seem to think straight. We have a lot on our minds, and we have a hard time focusing on one thing. Writing helps me clear my mind, and helps me focus on what I need to do.
7. It Makes You Feel Like You’re Doing Something
I love the feeling of accomplishment that I get when I’ve written a good piece of writing. It makes me feel good to know that I have taken the time to write something that I am proud of.
8. It Keeps You in the Moment
It’s easy to get caught up in the past or the future when you’re feeling anxious and depressed. But writing helps you stay in the moment. It keeps you focused on what is happening right now, and what you need to be doing right now.
In this post, we are going to learn how to write a discount offer on magento 2 store.
If you are new to Magento, then you must be knowing that Magento is an open source e-commerce platform. It is one of the best platforms to build your online store. If you are looking to build an online store for your business, then this is the right platform for you. Magento has a lot of features that make it different from other platforms. It has features such as multi-currency, multi-lingual, and multi-store. It also has a huge community of developers.
So, if you are planning to start your own online store, then it is a good idea to start with Magento.
Now, let’s move on to the topic of this post. In this article, we will discuss some tips to write discount offers on your Magento store. These tips will help you to create a good discount offer for your customers. So, keep reading to know more about it.
## How to Write Discount Offers on Magento Store?
Discount offers are a great way to attract more customers to your store. You can use discount offers to attract new customers and increase your sales. There are two types of discount offers that you can use. These are:
– Fixed price discount offer
– Percentage discount offer
– Fixed Price Discount Offer
This type of discount offer is very easy to create. You just need to set a fixed price for your product and offer a discount on it. For example, you can offer a 10% discount on a product that is priced at $100. This will result in a discount price of $90 for the product. This is a very easy way to create discount offers for your products. However, there are some disadvantages of using this type of offer. One of the disadvantages is that it is very difficult to calculate the price of the product after applying the discount offer. Another disadvantage is that the discount amount is fixed and cannot be changed later.
Another disadvantage of using fixed price discount offers is that there is a limit on the amount of discount that can be applied to a single product. For instance, you cannot offer more than 50% discount to a particular product.
Fixed-price discount offers are the best option if you want to attract a large number of customers. But, they are not suitable if you have a limited number of products in your store and want to offer discounts to all of them.
In order to use fixed-price discounts, you need to make sure that you have all the necessary information about your product. You need to know the original price of your product, the discounted price, and the percentage of discount.
You also need to keep in mind that you cannot apply the same discount offer to more than one product at the same time. You will need to apply the discount to each product separately.
This is the reason why it is better to use percentage-based discount offers instead of fixed price offers. These offers are more flexible and can be used for a wide range of products.
Percent-based discounts can be calculated easily. This means that you don’t need to worry about calculating the price after applying a discount. Also, there is no limit on how much you can apply as a discount to one product. The only limitation is that you should not apply a discount that is more than 100% of the original product price.
There are two ways to apply a percentage discount. The first way is to use the built-in Magento discount system. The second way is by using a third-party extension. We will discuss both of these methods in the next section.
Before we move on, it is important to mention that there are certain products that cannot be discounted. Some of the products such as gift cards are not eligible for discounts.
Also, you should avoid discounting products that are not in stock. If a product is out of stock, then your customers will not be able to buy it. They will be redirected to the shopping cart page and will have to wait until the product is in stock again. This can be a big problem for you as a store owner.
It is also important to note that discounting a product does not mean that the product will be sold at a discounted price. It just means that the price will be reduced by a certain percentage.
For example, if a product costs $100, and you apply a 20% discount, then the product price will become $80.
If a customer wants to buy the product, he or she will still need to pay $100 for it. The difference is that they will get a discount of 20% on their purchase.
When it comes to calculating the discount percentage, you have two options.
The first option is to calculate it manually. This option is very simple to use. All you have to do is calculate the percentage and enter it in the discount field.
However, this option is not very flexible. It cannot be used to calculate discounts for more than two products at a time. It can also be very time-consuming to calculate a discount percentage manually.
A much better option is the second option, which is the use of a discount calculator. The discount calculator is an extension that is available in the Magento Marketplace. It allows you to apply discounts to multiple products at once.
To use the discount calculator, you will first need to install the extension. Once you have installed the extension, go to the “Configuration” section of the admin panel and select “Discounts’.”
You will then see a screen similar to the one shown in the image below.
As you can see from the image above, the screen is divided into two sections. The left section contains the list of all the products that have discounts applied to them. The right section contains all the discounts that have been applied to the products in the left section. The total amount of the discount can be seen at the top right corner of the screen.
Once you select a product from the list on the left, the right section will show you the details of the selected product.
A data-driven marketing strategy is an approach to marketing that is based on data analysis and data driven decision-making.
In this guide, you will learn:
– How to write an effective data driven marketing plan
– Who should read this guide
– Resources
– Acknowledgements
– About the Author
– Copyright
## What is a data- driven marketing strategy?
Data driven marketing is the process of using data to make marketing decisions. It is a marketing strategy in which marketing decisions are made based on the analysis of data.
For example, you might use data to decide whether or not to send an email to a customer. You might decide to send the email based on whether the customer has opened an email from you in the past or not.
If you want to learn more about how to use data in marketing, you can check out the following guides:
– How To Use Data In Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide
– The Ultimate Guide to Using Data in Marketing
## Why should you use a data driven strategy?
There are a number of reasons why you should use data driven strategies in your marketing. Here are a few of the most important ones:
– Data driven strategies are more effective than traditional marketing strategies.
– It is easier to make data driven decisions than it is to make traditional marketing decisions
– You can make more informed marketing decisions based on your data
– Your marketing decisions will be more relevant to your customers
You can read more about the differences between data driven and non-data driven marketing in the following blog post: [What Is The Difference Between Data- Driven And Non-Data Driven Strategies?
## Who should use this guide?
You should use the guide if you are interested in learning how to write a marketing plan that is data driven. You should also read the section on who should read the guide before you start reading the guide.
## Who should NOT use this Guide
If you are looking for a guide that teaches you how to do a traditional marketing plan, this is not the right guide for you.
This guide is not for you if you don’t have a marketing team that can help you with your marketing plan. You need to have someone on your marketing team who can work with you to help you write your data driven plan. This guide will not help you in this situation.
## How to Write a Data Drived Marketing Plan
The first step in writing a data based marketing plan is to figure out what data you will use to make your marketing decision. You can use any data that you want. The most important thing is that you use data that is relevant to the decision that you are making.
Once you have decided what data to use, the next step is to write your plan. Your plan should be written in a way that is easy for you to understand. It should also be easy for your team to understand as well. If your plan is not easy to understand, it will be difficult for you and your team members to make the marketing decisions that you need to make.
This guide will walk you through the steps of writing an effective plan. It will also help you think about the different types of data that can be used to make a marketing decision and the different ways that you can use that data to inform your marketing strategy.
You will learn the following things in this guide:
– How to decide what type of data will be most useful to you
– What type of marketing decisions you can make with the data you have
– The different ways to use the data to help make a decision
– Examples of how to structure a plan that will help you make the most informed marketing decision possible
– Tips on how to make sure that the plan that you write is easy to read and understand
Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the practice of using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ to promote your business, products, and services.
SMM is a multi-faceted marketing strategy that involves the promotion of your business on social media. It is a combination of the following:
– Content Marketing – creating, publishing, and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract the attention of your target audience. This content can be in the form of blogs, articles, videos, infographics, and so on. It can be published on your own website or on a third-party website that is relevant to your business.
– Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – the process of improving the visibility of your website’s content in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. It involves creating high-quality and relevant content that is optimized for search engines. This is achieved by using keywords in your content that are relevant to the products and services that you offer. It also involves creating backlinks to your website from other websites that are highly ranked in search engine results. These backlinks are also known as “inbound links” or “natural backlinks”.
In this chapter, we will discuss how to power your writer profile in social media using content marketing and search engine optimization. We will also talk about the importance of social media marketing and how you can use it to promote yourself and your business online.
## What is Content Marketing
Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to your audience. Content marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing because it is cost-effective, and it reaches the right people at the right time. In addition, content marketing is an excellent way to build your brand’s reputation and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
The following are some of the types of content that you can create and distribute through content marketing:
– Blogs
– Articles
– Videos
– Infographics
– Slide decks
– Case studies
– Whitepapers
– Ebooks
– Podcasts
Let’s take a look at some of these content types in more detail.
## Blogs
Blogs are a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with the world. You can write about any topic that you are an expert in. Blogs can be written in your own voice or in the voice of a fictitious character that you have created. Your blog can be about anything that is of interest to your readers. Some examples of topics that you could write about include:
– How to write a blog post
– What to write about in your blog posts
You can also write about topics that are related to your industry, such as how to start a business, how to be a better writer, or how to use social media to market your business and products.
## Articles
An article is a short piece of text that is published on a website. Articles are usually written in the first person, and they are usually focused on a specific topic. Articles can be used to promote any type of product or service, but they are especially useful for businesses that sell products or services. For example, you can write an article about the benefits of a particular product, and you can publish it on your website or blog. Your readers can then read the article and learn more about the product. This type of article is called an “informational” article because it provides information about a specific product or topic. Informational articles are often used by businesses to promote their products, services, and brands.
Some examples of informational articles include:
– How to Write an Informational Article
– What to Write About in Your Informational Articles
There are many other types of articles, but these are the two most common ones.
Note: If you are looking for more information about how to write an informational article, you may want to check out this guide.
If you are interested in writing informational articles for your business or yourself, you should check out the HubSpot Blog Writing Guide. This guide will show you how to create informational articles that are focused on your products and/or services. It will also teach you about the different types of topics and sub-topics that you should include in your informational articles.
## Videos
Videos are another great type of content to use for content marketing. Videos can be short or long, depending on the type of video that you want to create. They can also be used for a variety of different purposes, including:
– Promoting your business
– Teaching your audience about a particular topic
– Showing your audience how to do a particular task
– Providing entertaining content
For example, if you are selling a product, you could create a video that teaches your audience the steps that they need to follow in order to use your product. You could also use a video to promote your business by showing your audience what your business is all about and how it can benefit them.
To create videos, you will first need to decide on a topic for your video. Then you will need to create a script for the video. You will then need to find a company that can create the video for you. After the video is complete, you need to upload it to a video sharing website such as YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. Once you have uploaded your video to a website that allows you to share videos, your video will be available for your audience to view.
## How to Create a Video for Your Business
Video marketing is becoming more and more popular, so it is important to have a video marketing strategy in place. If you do not have one in place, you are missing out on a lot of potential customers and revenue.
The 9 Industries Most Likely to Make You A Millionaire
As an entrepreneur, choosing the right industry is very, very critical. And there are many industries that we could get into, right? And sometimes I think we are overconfident as an entrepreneur, and we say we could go into any industry, sell any product, offer any service and provide solution and we could be very successful in doing that. I think that’s simply not true. So today I’m going to share with you nine industries that are most likely to make you a millionaire. And if that’s your goal, there are many industries that you can get into. Now, I’m not talking about, like, gimmicks and tricks like cryptocurrency or winning the lottery, I’m talking about the legitimate, proven industries, that have created millionaires and billionaires.
Industry number one that is most likely that will make you a millionaire and that is financial services. Now, when I say financial services, I’m talking about the management of money, money lending or management of assets. We’re talking about the loan associations, banks, financial companies, insurance companies, brokerage. A lot of those firms are very, very wealthy because there’s a lot of money in money. One of the things I learned from one of my mentors, he said to me, “don’t ever forget, “the money is in the money.” There’s a lot of money to be made just by managing, handling, investing money. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, became a billionaire by providing financial data to the financial industry.
Industry number two, technology. Now, you know the Google, the Facebook, the Apple, but we’re talking beyond that. Think about traditional industries that you could go into, maybe by using technology, what you could do to disrupt that industry. And you can see that a lot. Now we call that disruptors, right? How you could use technology to make things more efficient? We’re talking about robotics, we’re talking about AI, we’re talking about automation, we’re talking about manufacture of these technology products or even providing technology as service. Billions and billions and billions of dollars worth of value are going to be created in this particular sector. So, are you a technology entrepreneur?
Industry number three, health care. So, health care, I’m referring to, could be assisted living, senior homes, pharmaceutical, any products or services that’ll help people to live longer life and stay healthier, that’s very, very good industry to get into.
Industry number four, real estate and construction. United Nations forecast predicts, by 2025, the world’s population will increase to almost eight billion people, eight billion people, by 2050, it would be almost 10 billion people. That’s 10 million people on this little planet by 2050. Now, what does that mean? Where’s the opportunity? We all need a place to sleep in, to play in, to entertain, to go to, to shop. Real estate and construction.
Industry number five, education. With all the changes, all the technological changes that are happening, knowledge becomes very, very critical. People want to learn, they want to equip themselves with skill sets, and that’s the space that I am in, the education and software space, because I can see the opportunity happening right now in front of us to connect individuals, people, professionals, to 21st century skills and job opportunities. Now, within education, you could also have products and services and software that helps people in many different ways. So, we have traditional education, but we also have alternative education, education outside of the school systems, right? And it doesn’t always have to be academic, it could be other types of education that can help people to lead a better life. Education, huge business.
Industry number six, entertainment and recreation. Beyond than just education, people want to be entertained. In fact, people demand entertainment. You look at all these big companies are getting into the entertainment industry. Now, what am I talking about? Movies, animations, productions, special effects. There are so many companies going into that industry. Amazon Prime, of course, you have Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, I could go on and on and on. Why? Because this is where we are going. Now on the other hand, thinking about industries who help and facilitate this particular industry, but also, we talking about influencers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, right? Now for the first time, you have people in that industry. Stand-up comedians could make millions doing that, before you couldn’t, most of time they struggle, but now we are in this age of people want entertainment. So, if you can find a way to create a product or service or company around this to service this particular industry or to service this demand, you could also make millions.
Insurtech
“It was only a matter of time before the world of insurance welcomed its own wave of technological disruption and it’s arrived with its own contraction; Insurtech (insurance technology),” writes Henry Williams for Startups.co.uk. “In a similar way to fintech and proptech firms, many of the new start-ups in the insurtech space aim to introduce some transparency into the market and reconnect with disenchanted customers.” Investors have already poured 5000.65bn into insurtech and customers are demanding “a more transparent and equal relationship with their insurer.” Both of these are good signs that this is a solid business opportunity.
Mobile Restaurant/Food Delivery
This industry has been booming the last couple of years. Customers are looking for affordable and quality food while on the go or delivered to their home or office. For those who have always wanted to start their own restaurant, this is a more profitable business since it eliminates the high cost of starting and maintaining a restaurant. FYI, the average food truck can generate close to $300,000 in one year.
As mentioned previously, we live in a global marketplace where you can purchase goods or services from anywhere in the world. Add to that fact the low-cost of building an online storefront the decreasing cost of transaction rates, and you can easily see why eCommerce websites are thriving. Pixpa’s e-commerce store builder gives you everything you need to sell online.
Finance And Investment Service
Of course financial and investment services are among the top industries with billionaires. The financial industry accounts for 14% of the world’s billionaires. Individuals who have skills in deploying and growing money, are those who are behind some of the most prosperous worldwide ventures.
If you think about it all the money in the world is managed by financial institutions, the majority of people also transact their money through a form of financial institution. Most of history’s economic crisis often begins with the financial industry such as the 2008 global financial crisis. By the same token, the majority of the world’s economic affluence also comes from the same industry that’s, why it’s not unusual that a lot of fun tech startups are being established all over the world such as Flutter Wave, Bamboo, and Pesa in Africa.
I hope I have encouraged you to pursue a business not only because it makes the most money, but also because it interests you. If you can opt for an industry that gets you excited to wake up, work, and make lots of money, you’ve hit the jackpot.
If you find this article useful, please do share it to make sure it reaches as many people. Don’t forget to subscribe to my mail list to get the latest updates from this blog. Click here to subscribe. Happy Hustling!
Manners really matter. Your recipients are more likely to give attention to cordial letters. On the other hand, letters containing threats and ALL UPPERCASE are responded to with the bare minimum. Or not at all.
If your Letter contains any kind of profanity, it is likely to be ignored, and some that may be considered threatening are handed over to law enforcement. The most effective e-mails and letters are very short averaging about 500 words tops. They include all the details necessary to track your problem.
Your request should be in the form of a question. The question should tow the lines of “How do you fix this?”. State exactly what you want to be done and how long you’re willing to wait for a response. Another key phrase format is “I wish to complain in the strongest terms about”. The question should be clear and easy to understand. It also helps if it’s genuine and void of sarcasm.
You should indicate your reasons for writing the letter. Highlight the facts which include the time, date and where you purchased or received the services. The reader should be able to get the point on reading the first few sentences hence it is important not to beat about the bush. Explain yourself well and be detailed to capture the reader’s attention.
While writing your letter, it is important that you remain courteous at all times. No matter how justified your complaint may be, do not allow your letter to become angry, sarcastic, or threatening. Bear in mind that the person that reads your letter will often not be the person responsible for the problem.
The best chance your complaint gets a fair shake is if you can convince the company that it didn’t follow its own rules or broke the law. If your complaint letter fails to bring about the results that you hoped for, consider writing another letter with a firmer tone, or try writing to someone higher up in the chain of command.
What to Include in a Recommendation Letter
The first paragraph of your letter should explain how you know the person for whom you are writing. Reference your job title and the individual’s job title at the time when you interacted, as well as the nature of your relationship, including whether you supervised the person you’re recommending.
Body of the Letter
The body of your letter should reference the skills, qualities, areas of knowledge, and other assets of the person you are recommending. Start by making a list of the strengths which you would like to convey in your recommendation.
Then compose sentences that show proof of your assertions—this will make your letter more credible. Provide specific examples of instances where you observed the candidate using skills they are highlighting to the hiring manager.
This might consist of a project or role where they successfully applied a certain skill. Citing accomplishments where value was added to your organization and describing the strengths which enabled the person to generate those results can be particularly compelling. If you can quantify the individual’s specific contributions with impressive sales or dollar figures, numbers, or percentages, this is even better (Example: “Joan led our sales team to achieve an unprecedented 48% growth in lead generation last quarter”).
Letter Closing
In your closing statement, it can be very effective to mention that you would hire the person again. Or, mention your belief that the person would be an outstanding addition to the company.
Share Your Contact Information
As part of your close, you can also share a telephone number and email address with a mention of your eagerness to share additional perspective on the candidate. That way, potential employers can easily get in touch if they have any follow-up questions.
Employment Recommendation Letter Example and Template
Employment Recommendation Letter Example (Text Version)
I am writing to you regarding Mark Slade, who has applied for the position of sales associate with your company. Mark has worked in my department as a sales associate since graduating with honors last year from University of Connecticut. We hired him after graduation in part due to his outstanding performance as an intern the previous summer.
Mark has been a fantastic addition to my team. He assimilated easily into our department, quickly and thoroughly learning about all of our products, not just those he was responsible for selling. His enthusiasm for his work and his superb communication skills made him an instant asset to the company. Mark exceeded his personal goals for every quarter and even made time to help his peers close particularly difficult sales. Mark is competent and organized, and his positive attitude and sense of humor made him popular among our customers as well as his colleagues.
I believe that Mark has a tremendous amount of potential and would be an outstanding addition to your staff. I would have no reservations about hiring him again and am confident in recommending Mark for employment with your company. If you have any further questions or would like to speak with me personally, please feel free to contact me.
Take a Personalized Tour
♦ Donation Letter Template: Online Fundraising
Dear [name],
We here at [your organization] would like to thank you for being a part of our community.
With the support of our friends and neighbors like you, we’ve been able to accomplish so much over the past year. [Include a few specific details about your recent projects and their impacts.]
We’re happy to announce that we’re launching a new online fundraising initiative! This campaign is raising funds for [purpose of the campaign], and will be essential for us to continue our work into the coming season.
Would you please consider making a donation of [specific amount] to help us kick off our campaign? Please visit our donation page [include a direct link] to get started.
[Add a button that says “Donate Here,” if possible.]
For helping us kick off our online fundraising campaign, we’d love to offer you a special thank you. [Offer some kind of incentive for online donors, like a social media shout out, merchandise coupon, event or raffle ticket, etc.]
Stay tuned for more updates on our campaign! Thanks so much for your support, and we hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
[Your name and title]
For an online fundraising campaign, your recipients will most likely all have donated to your organization (or at least engaged with it) via online channels in the past. This means your letter should start off by acknowledging that existing relationship.
Express excitement about your newest online fundraising push, and use a clear CTA, like a button, to funnel readers directly to your donation page. Get creative to incentivize early-bird donors, too! If you know that some of your donors are matching-gift eligible, include information on how to access a matching gift database and complete their match for your nonprofit.
♦ Donation Letter Template: Pledge Campaigns
Hi [name],
We need your help to reach our pledge goal of [total financial goal for the campaign] by [a specific time and date]!
We’ve launched this rapid-fire campaign to [purpose of the campaign – disaster relief, social or political advocacy, annual fundraising, etc.], and we know we can count on our community to help us get there.
At [your organization], we work hard every day to pursue our mission of [your mission], and our last major campaign resulted in [examples of your impact]. We could never have done it without the support of our friends and neighbors like you.
Pledge your support of [one or a few specific dollar amounts] now with our quick pledge tool: [provide a direct link to your pledge tool]
Please note: [Explain the unique pledge conditions of your campaign, like triggers or matching periods]. Together we can make a huge difference in our community!
Thanks in advance for your support! Be sure to share our fundraising challenge with your friends and family, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
[Your name and title]
Pledge fundraising campaigns are a unique way to raise support around a specific goal quickly. Check out our complete guide to pledge campaigns here for more information, including explanations of the pledge conditions mentioned in the template.
No matter the specifics of your pledge campaign, the main idea is to be short and to-the-point. These campaigns are all about speed and quick emotional connection. Remind readers of why the work you do is important, and then challenge them to get involved. You can collect the pledges later, but your goal right now should simply be to mobilize support.
♦ Donation Letter Template: P2P Fundraising Campaigns
Hi!
I’m raising money on behalf of [your organization]‘s ongoing campaign to [support/fight/raise awareness for your mission].
For [your organization’s age] years, this organization has pursued its mission and enriched our community. Now, I’m excited to be lending my own support to their cause, and I hope you’ll join me!
To reach my own personal goal for this campaign, I need to raise [the volunteer’s fundraising goal]. Would you consider making a donation of [a specific amount] or helping me to spread the word online? Check out my donation page here [include a link to the volunteer’s P2P donation page] to make a contribution or to learn more about [your organization].
When students are beginning to write, the writing experience itself should be an important and unforgettable learning experience in their lives. As an educator, I face the challenge of teaching my students how to write and helping them develop a keen interest in writing.
Basically, writing is one of the fundamental skills that our students need to develop. Aside from the fact, that writing is an essential skill needed in communication, it is basically needed for our learners to succeed in their academic and personal lives.
Such is my fabulous idea when I teach my young learners how to write. I possess the skill and as a dispenser of life skills, I should do whatever it takes to make my students write with the same intensity when I teach them how to read.
Hello, my dear fellow educators! I am glad that you are here with me again. For today, allow me to dish out my best practices on how to teach writing in elementary school.
How to Improve Writing Skills in Students
Grammar and Punctuation
Grammar and punctuation skills are important in both writing and as students progress into adulthood. As mentioned previously, using proper grammar and punctuation presents an excellent first impression for future employers and shows competency. Teachers can help students improve these skills by first providing practice in identifying grammatical errors and correcting them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use grammar worksheets. Although the use of worksheets is frowned upon at times, they give students the opportunity to practice with grammar skills in a fast and efficient manner. Students may also wish to invest in a grammar dictionary to reference when in doubt.
Spelling
Another skill that is crucial for students to master for success later in life is spelling! Students must be able to spell words correctly. As with most skills, spelling can be improved with practice. Teachers may ask students to complete the “ancient” practice of the spelling test! Students must study new words (or words and vocabulary specific to new content) in order to spell them correctly on the test. Teachers may even encourage students to create flashcards to help them study. Additionally, one of the easiest ways to spell correctly in writing is to simply reference the dictionary to find a word’s proper spelling.
Vocabulary
In writing, vocabulary is highly important. Students need a large enough vocabulary to properly and adequately describe and explain their thoughts. Teachers can help improve vocabulary skills by introducing new words each week. These words can also be used to help student spelling skills as mentioned before. As each week progresses, students should keep a list of all of their vocabulary words in a notebook or journal so that they can be quickly referenced when writing. As with spelling skills, students may want to reference the dictionary to discover new words and their meanings.
Clarity
Have you ever read something and didn’t quite catch its intended meaning or what it was trying to get across? That may be because the writing lacked clarity. Writing should be logical, consistent, and coherent. In order to have clarity in writing, thoughts should be fully formed and completed with plenty of detail to aid the reader’s understanding and interpretation of the text. Teachers can help improve student clarity in writing by asking them to proofread their work.
Creativity
Plagiarism is definitely something students need to avoid! When researching a topic or idea, it is easy to get swept away in the language or thoughts of another; however, students must learn that those ideas should be used as an aid in writing instead of using it as a foundation for their writing. Teachers should encourage creativity in writing and challenge students to think “outside the box.” Each student presents unique thoughts and ideas, and those qualities should be utilized in writing.
Strategies for Improving Student Writing Skills
Grammar Race
This activity requires teachers to create 4-5 stations for students to visit. At each station, there will be examples of various grammatical errors. Each student will need a clipboard or notebook that travels with them. Students will visit each station at their own pace to find one grammatical error, notate it, and move on; however, the name of the activity is “Grammar Race” so students should be challenged to work quickly. Allow students to move from station to station for 20-30 minutes.
Class Spelling Bee
Teachers can help students improve their spelling skills by hosting a class spelling bee once a week. Teachers should provide students with a list of words on Monday. Students will be given the rest of the week to study the words and prepare for the spelling bee. On Friday, students will complete the spelling bee. The spelling bee is completed like a normal spelling bee; however, words may need to be repeated if there are more students than words. Allow the spelling bee to continue for roughly 30 minutes. When time is up, the students remaining are the winners.
Read It Aloud
In this activity, students will proofread the work of classmates in order to provide constructive feedback. The teacher should place students into small groups of 3-4 students or allow students to work with a partner. Students should trade papers so that they no longer have their own. Then, they will read each student’s writing aloud. Reading aloud helps to identify any mistakes (specifically mistakes in clarity or organization of the text) that may not otherwise be caught. Students should check for mistakes (in both grammar and spelling) and to search for any lack of clarity in writing.
Get Organized
Teachers should aid students in the writing process by teaching them to organize their thoughts on paper first. Students can complete an outline or a writing map on paper first to help them identify the main points they would like to address and so on. Planning the steps in the writing process in this manner is extremely beneficial in staying on task in writing. It also helps students write with clarity as it helps them bring their thoughts full circle.
Think Fast
One of my favorite ways of implementing and teaching creative thinking is by writing one word on the board and asking students to respond. For instance, the teacher may write the word “tiger” or “beautiful” on the board. Student responses can be anything from short personal narratives to expository texts involving the provided word. Regardless of the response, students are encouraged to think creatively and respond freely. This activity teaches students how easy it is to create their own ideas and think uniquely.
Decisions, decisions! Our lives are full of them, from the small and mundane, such as what to wear or eat, to the life-changing, such as whether to get married and to whom, what job to take and how to bring up our children. We jealously guard our right to choose. It is central to our individuality: the very definition of free will. Yet sometimes we make bad decisions that leave us unhappy or full of regret. Can science help?
Making good decisions requires us to balance the seemingly antithetical forces of emotion and rationality. We must be able to predict the future, accurately perceive the present situation, have insight into the minds of others and deal with uncertainty.
Most of us are ignorant of the mental processes that lie behind our decisions, but this has become a hot topic for investigation, and luckily what psychologists and neurobiologists are finding may help us all make better choices. Here we bring together some of their many fascinating discoveries in the New Scientist guide to making up your mind.
How to Make Decisions
This process will ensure that you make a good decision in a complex situation, but it may be unnecessarily complicated for small or simple decisions. In these cases, jump to Step 5.
Step 1: Investigate the Situation in Detail
Start by considering the decision in the context of the problem it is intended to address. You need to determine whether the stated problem is the real issue, or just a symptom of something deeper.
Look beyond the obvious. It may be that your objective can be approached in isolation, but it’s more likely that there are a number of interrelated factors to consider. Changes made in one department, for example, could have knock-on effects elsewhere, making the change counterproductive.
Investigative Tools:
Step 2: Create a Constructive Environment for Your Decision
This is especially true when you have to rely on other people to implement a decision that you’re responsible for. You’ll need to identify who to include in the process and who will be part of any final decision-making group, which will ideally comprise just five to seven people.
Enable people to contribute to the discussions without any fear of the other participants rejecting them and their ideas. Make sure that everyone recognizes that the objective is to make the best decision possible in the circumstances, without blame.
Collaboration Tools:
Step 3: Generate Good Alternatives to Decide Between
The wider the options you explore, the better your final decision is likely to be. Generating a number of different options may seem to make your decision more complicated at first, but the act of coming up with alternatives forces you to dig deeper and to look at the problem from different angles.
This is when it can be helpful to employ a variety of creative thinking techniques. These can help you to step outside your normal patterns of thinking and come up with some truly innovative solutions.
Brainstorming is probably the most popular method of generating ideas, but for more tips on how to examine your situation from new perspectives, and how to organize ideas into manageable themes and groups, see the Mind Tools resources in the box, below.
Creativity Tools:
Step 4: Explore Your Options
Almost every decision involves some degree of risk. You’ll need a structured approach for assessing threats and evaluating the probability of adverse events occurring – and what they might cost to manage. You’ll also want to examine the ethical impact of each option, and how that might sit with your personal and organizational values.
Analysis Tools:
Step 5: Select the Best Solution
If you have various criteria to consider, use Decision Matrix Analysis to compare them reliably and rigorously. Or, if you want to determine which ones should carry most weight in your decision, conduct a Paired Comparison Analysis.
When anonymity is important, decision-makers dislike one another, or there is a tendency for certain individuals to dominate the process, use the Delphi Technique to reach a fair and impartial decision. This uses cycles of anonymous, written discussion and argument, managed by a facilitator. Participants do not meet, and sometimes they don’t even know who else is involved.
If you’re working with an established team, Hartnett’s Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making Model is useful for encouraging everyone to participate in making the decision. Or, if you’re working with several different teams, or a particularly large group, assign responsibility for each stage of the decision-making process with Bain’s RAPID Framework, so that everyone understands their responsibilities and any potential in-fighting can be avoided.
Decision-Making Tools:
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Step 6: Evaluate Your Plan
After all the effort and hard work you’ve invested in evaluating and selecting alternatives, it can be tempting to forge ahead at this stage. But now, more than ever, is the time to “sense check” your decision. After all, hindsight is great for identifying why things have gone wrong, but it’s far better to prevent mistakes from happening in the first place!
Your final decision is only as good as the facts and research you used to make it. Make sure that your information is trustworthy, and that you’ve done your best not to “cherry pick” data. This will help you avoid confirmation bias, a common psychological bias in decision making.
Discuss your preliminary conclusions with important stakeholders to enable them to spot flaws, make recommendations, and support your conclusions. Listen to your own intuition, too, and quietly and methodically test assumptions and decisions against your own experience. BRAIN BRAN BRAND is a useful tool for this. If you have any doubts, examine them thoroughly to work out what’s troubling you.
Use Blindspot Analysis to review whether you’ve fallen prey to problems like over-confidence, escalating commitment, or groupthink. And consider checking the logical structure of your process with the Ladder of Inference, to make sure that a well-founded and consistent decision emerges at the end.
Evaluation Tools:
Step 7: Communicate Your Decision, and Take Action
Get them involved in implementing the solution by discussing how and why you arrived at your decision. The more information you provide about risks and projected benefits, the more likely people will be to support it.
If people point out a flaw in your process as a result, have the humility to welcome their input and review your plans appropriately – it’s much better to do this now, cheaply, than having to do it expensively (and embarrassingly) if your plans have failed.
Change Management Tools:
Key Points
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How to make decisions
The decision-making process
Identify the decision. Recognize the need for you to make a decision, and figure out (roughly) what the decision will entail.
Determine your goals. Figure out what you’re hoping to achieve with the decision, and how important each goal is to you.
Gather information. Collect the information that you’ll need in order to make a decision.
Identify your options. Figure out which options are available to you.
Evaluate your options. Identify the pros and cons of the available options, especially as they pertain to your goals.
Select your preferred option. Rank the different options based on their pros and cons, and choose the one that’s best for you.
If necessary, it can be beneficial to move back and forth between these steps and make modifications as you go along. For example, if you discover that none of the available options will help you achieve your main goal, you can go back and reassess your goals, and then gather more information accordingly.
Create an optimal environment for decision making. You can do this in various ways, at any point in the decision-making process. For example, if you worry that the people you’re around now will hinder your ability to properly evaluate your options, you can postpone this step until you’re alone.
Identify and account for possible obstacles to your decision-making. It’s best to do this early on in the decision-making process, though you can do this at any step. For example, if you know that it’s going to be difficult for you to gather information and that this might cause you to rush into a bad decision, you can discuss the issue with a trusted person who will help ensure that you don’t make a decision until you’ve gathered all the necessary information.
Create an implementation plan. It’s sometimes beneficial to plan how exactly you will implement your decision. This can increase the likelihood that you will do so, and in some cases, the act of creating an implementation plan can help with the decision-making process itself, for example by helping you internalize the consequences of your choice, or by helping you determine how practical your chosen course of action is.
Review your decision. It’s sometimes beneficial to review your decision and the decision-making process that led to it, before you take action, in order to make sure that you’ve made the best possible decision. In addition, it can also be beneficial to revisit decisions after you see their consequences, in order to learn how to improve your decision-making process.
Note that, in addition to following this process, there are other things that you can do to improve your decision-making. As such, in the following sub-sections you will see additional tips and techniques that will help you improve your decision-making.
Each sub-section focuses on a different type of decisions, including good decisions, fast decisions, and hard decisions, and there are generally tradeoffs between the different approaches that are recommended below. For example, good decisions might take longer to make, while fast decisions might not be as good.
It’s up to you to decide what to optimize for, and you will likely prioritize different things in different situations. For example, when it comes to making relatively trivial decisions, such as what to order at a restaurant, you will generally want to prioritize speed, but when it comes to important life-changing decisions, such as which career path to follow, you will generally want to prioritize making the best decision that you can.
How to make good decisions
To make good decisions, you should generally go through every step of the decision-making process before you reach a decision, and make sure to conduct each step properly. To help ensure that you do this, you can go through each step in a way the forces you to be explicit with your reasoning, for example by outlining it aloud or in writing.
When doing this, you should watch for issues that could interfere with your decision-making, such as cognitive biases, and deal with them, primarily through the use of appropriate debiasing techniques. For example, if you’re in a situation where the egocentric bias is making it hard for you to see things from a different perspective, you can use self-distancing, and ask yourself what advice you would give to a friend if they were in your situation. This particular technique can be beneficial in a wide range of situations, and as one book on the topic states:
“The advice we give others, then, has two big advantages: It naturally prioritizes the most important factors in the decision, and it downplays short-term emotions. That’s why, in helping us to break a decision logjam, the single most effective question may be: What would I tell my best friend to do in this situation?”
Common questions about making decisions
Should I let my emotions dictate my decisions?
You should take your emotions into account as part of your decision-making process, but you shouldn’t let your emotions cloud your judgment in a way that causes you to make bad decisions. For example, when it comes to deciding whether to end a romantic relationship, you should take into account important emotional considerations, such as how you feel about your partner. However, you should not let your feelings for your partner lead you to conduct a flawed decision-making process, for instance by causing you to ignore serious negative things that this person did to you.
How can I be sure I’m making the right decision?
You can be relatively certain that you’re making the right decision by taking care to conduct a proper decision-making process, which includes all the relevant steps such as gathering information and evaluating options, while also taking care to avoid common issues, such as cognitive biases, that could interfere with your decision-making. In addition, you can increase your certainty in your decision by reviewing your decision-making process after you complete it, and by asking for feedback on it and on your decision from relevant individuals.
However, that said, there will be many situations where you can’t be absolutely certain that you’re making the right decision. To avoid regret and indecision, it’s important to accept this, and to tell yourself that you’re making the best decision that you can, based on what you know.
What if I make the wrong decision?
No matter how careful you are in your decision-making, there is almost always the possibility that the choice that you make will be “wrong” in some way, meaning that it will lead you to a worse outcome compared to some alternative that you had available. Because this is generally impossible to avoid, all you can do is accept the possibility that it will happen, and try to make the best possible decision that you can, by following a proper decision-making process.
“We can’t know when we make a choice whether it will be successful. Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive. We can’t control luck. But we can control the way we make choices.”
— From “Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work“
That said, in many cases, you’ll discover that even if you do make the wrong choice, the outcome isn’t as bad as you thought, for example because the decision is partly reversible. If you do find yourself having made the wrong decision, your main goal should be to avoid obsessing and punishing yourself over it. Instead, you should figure out what you can learn from your experience so you can make better decisions in the future, and then start looking at what you can do to move forward past this decision.
How can I avoid regretting my decisions?
There are two main ways to minimize regret toward the decisions that you make. The first is to make decisions in a way that minimizes the likelihood of future regret, and the second is to change the way you view your decisions after you’ve made them.
When it comes to making decisions in a way that minimizes regret, you should do what you can to make reasonably good decisions, which means, for example, that you should generally follow all the necessary steps of a proper decision-making process. This reduces the likelihood that you’ll make bad decisions that you’ll later regret, and will also help you know later that you’ve made a good decision given the circumstances and what you knew at the time.
In addition, where appropriate, the book “The Paradox of Choice” suggests that you can adopt the standards of a satisficer, by trying to make decisions that are good enough given the circumstances, rather than those of a maximizer, who tries to always make the best possible decision.
The book also suggests that to minimize future regret, you should reduce the number of options that you consider before making a decision. This aligns with research on the topic, which shows that regret generally arises from comparisons between the option that you select and the alternatives that you chose to forgo.
Finally, when it comes to making decisions in a way that minimizes regret in the long-term, note that people often regret indecision and inaction more than they do bad choices. As noted in The Paradox of Choice:
“When asked about what they regret most in the last six months, people tend to identify actions that didn’t meet expectations. But when asked about what they regret most when they look back on their lives as a whole, people tend to identify failures to act.”
However, keep in mind that regret is influenced by various other situational and personal factors. For example, inaction tends to lead to more regret when a decision is made in response to negative prior outcomes (a phenomenon referred to as the inaction effect), while taking action tends to lead to more regret when making decisions in response to prior outcomes that were positive, or when making decisions in isolation (a phenomenon referred to as the action effect). This is important to take into account when trying to make decisions in a way that minimizes regret, because it means that decisions that you make should be tailored to you and to your specific circumstances, rather than based entirely on general guidelines.
The one thing everyone on the planet has in common is the undeniable fact we’ve all made our fair share of regrettable decisions. Show me someone who hasn’t made a bad decision and I’ll show you someone who is either not being honest, or someone who avoids decisioning at all costs. Making sound decisions is a skill set that needs to be developed like any other. As a person who works with CEOs on a daily basis, I can tell you with great certainty all leaders are not created equal when it comes to the competency of their decisioning skills. Nothing will test your leadership mettle more than your ability to make decisions.
Why do leaders fail? They make poor choices that lead to bad decisions. And in some cases they compound bad decision upon bad decision. You cannot separate leadership from decisioning, for like it or not, they are inexorably linked. Put simply, the outcome of a leader’s choices and decisions can, and usually will, make or break them. The fact of the matter is that senior executives who rise to the C-suite do so largely based upon their ability to consistently make sound decisions. What most fail to realize is while it may take years of solid decision making to reach the boardroom, it often times only takes one bad decision to fall from the ivory tower. As much as you may wish it wasn’t so, when it comes to being a leader you’re really only as good as your last decision.
Here’s the thing – even leaders who don’t fail make bad decisions from time-to-time. When I reflect back upon the poor decisions I’ve made, it’s not that I wasn’t capable of making the correct decision, but for whatever reason I failed to use sound decisioning methodology. Gut instincts can only take you so far in life, and anyone who operates outside of a sound decisioning framework will eventually fall prey to an act of oversight, misinformation, misunderstanding, manipulation, impulsivity or some other negative influencing factor.
The first key in understanding how to make great decisions is learning how to synthesize the overwhelming amount incoming information leaders must deal with on a daily basis, while making the best decisions possible in a timely fashion. The key to dealing with the voluminous amounts of information is as simple as becoming discerning surrounding the filtering of various inputs.
Understanding that a hierarchy of knowledge exists is critically important when attempting to make prudent decisions. News Flash – not all inputs should weigh equally in one’s decisioning process. By developing a qualitative and quantitative filtering mechanism for your decisioning process you can make better decisions in a shorter period of time. The hierarchy of knowledge is as follows:
Gut Instincts: This is an experiential and/or emotional filter that may often times have no current underpinning of hard analytical support. That said, in absence of other decisioning filters it can sometimes be all a person has to go on when making a decision. Even when more refined analytics are available, your instincts can often provide a very valuable gut check against the reasonability or bias of other inputs. The big take away here is that intuitive decisioning can be refined and improved. My advice is to actually work at becoming very discerning.
Data: Raw data is comprised of disparate facts, statistics, or random inputs that in-and-of-themselves hold little value. Making conclusions based on data in its raw form will lead to flawed decisions based on incomplete data sets.
Even though people often treat theory and opinion as fact, they are not one and the same. I have witnessed many a savvy executive blur the lines between fact and fiction resulting in an ill advised decision when decisions are made under extreme pressure and outside of a sound decisioning framework. Decisions made at the gut instinct or data level can be made quickly, but offer a higher level of risk. Decisioning at the information level affords a higher degree of risk management, but are still not as safe as those decisions based upon actionable knowledge.
Another aspect that needs to be factored into the decisioning process is the sourceof the input. I believe it was Cyrus the Great who said “diversity in counsel, unity in command” meaning that good leaders seek the counsel of others, but maintain control over the final decision. While most successful leaders subscribe to this theory, the real question in not whether you should seek counsel, but in fact where, and how much counsel you should seek. You see more input, or the wrong input, doesn’t necessarily add value to a decisioning process. Volume for the sake of volume will only tend to confuse matters, and seeking input from sources that can’t offer significant contributions is likely a waste of time. Two other issues that should be considered in your decisioning process as they relate to the source of input are as follows:
The Eight Elements of a Great Decision
As a new leader, learning to make good decisions without hesitation or procrastination is a capability that can set you apart from your peers. While others vacillate on tricky choices, your team could be hitting deadlines and producing the type of results that deliver true value. That’s something that will get you — and the team — noticed.
The only surefire way to evaluate the efficacy of a decision is to assess the outcomes. You’ll discover, over time, whether a decision was good, bad, or indifferent. But if you rely only on retrospective analysis, the path to better decisions can be tenuous: Hindsight is incredibly prone to attribution bias.
That said, if you had a checklist of attributes to prospectively evaluate a decision (like the one provided below), you could predict in advance whether or not it is likely to be a good one. Based on my experience, these are the eight core elements of great decisions.
Think how your decision will square with your values.
You might feel pressured by others (your boss, co-workers, friends, loved ones or family members) to make a decision that doesn’t feel right. That’s because it doesn’t square with your values . If you go ahead and fall in line with what others say you should do, you’ll be dissatisfied with the result. Always be true to your values, since they’re the core of who you are. Any decisions you make should align with them.
Remember that whatever decision you make isn’t the end of the process. Also important is taking the time to follow up on your chosen actions. Did they turn out as expected? Did you meet your objectives and arrive at your goal? If this is a decision you’ll likely make again, is there a way you can improve upon it? Can you revise the current action to make your choice better?
How to Write a Perfect Cover Letter for a Short Story Submission
Editors see mounds of bad cover letters. A lot of new writers submit short stories with little or no guidance and end up submitting cover letters that are either overenthusiastic or lacking the necessary information.
What you must know is that cover letters for different genres follow different sets of rules and etiquette. For example, an editor doesn’t expect you to write a cover letter for short fiction in the same format you would craft a query letter for a novel submission.
Your cover letter is, most often than not, the first thing an editor sees and you have to be on point to create a strong first impression. Some editors that I have interacted with said that they read the cover letter after reading your short stories, and they admit that some cover letters convince them to go back to the story and reevaluate it.
Luckily for you, I have compiled tips on just how to go about crafting a good cover letter that can make a ‘strong first impression’ and influence the editor’s aftertaste after savoring your stories.
How to Write Great Closing Lines
1. Be Poetic
Simple words, if used creatively, can take on a poetic, symbolic form. It’s not a must that you end a short story poetically, so don’t try too hard. Sometimes, a poetic ending can happen by chance.
2. Use Impeccable Wording
It’s not that easy, but you have to make sure that you revise your last sentence over and over until every word in it sounds perfect, and every period, comma, or dash is in its place.
The truth of the matter is you are not a poet (well, some of you sure aren’t), and coming up with a poetic ending is a tough ask. But, you can still give your most important sentence—the closing line—some time and effort and keep housekeeping your ending until it’s just perfect.
How to Write a Short Story: The Complete Guide in 9 Steps
Novels are difficult to write because of size, but short stories are difficult because they require perfection.
If a minor character fails to come alive in a novel, you can forgive the error because there is so many other things to enjoy, but if a minor character falls flat in a short story, a reader will become annoyed and a literary magazine editor will throw it away.
In a short story, a writer has to accomplish a great deal — details, setting, conflict, plot, character development — in a very small space, usually between 3,000 words and 6,000 words, and that requires concision and revision. Read the tips below to find out how to write a short story that will get published, get readers that love you, and get attention from an agent.
The first step to writing a short story is to have an idea.
You can get inspiration fromreal-life events – whether they happened to you, a grandparent who told you a story, or even the combination of little tidbits you hear from here and there.
I suggest following a few “weird news” sites, because I’ve gleaned incredible stories including one about a tourist in Iceland who joined a search party only to discover she was the one being searched for, and another about an ex-Olympian who started prostituting herself not for money but for attention. Take nonfiction and transform it into fiction.
Now, decide whose eyes the story will be told through. Remember, you can’t switch halfway through the story. Once you pick a point of view, you have to stick with it. A good rule of thumb for beginning writers is to use the protagonist.
Your job as a writer is to develop a living, breathing character, and the only way to do that is to make sure you know more about your characters than what you ever let your reader know.
Write out everything there is to know about your character from their high school GPA, their earliest memories, and their home address to their first love, their favorite TV show, and their greatest fear.
Don’t outright explain your character’s appearance, personality, etc. Let readers discover this character on their own as they read.
Give your character weaknesses. Perfect people don’t exist.
Give your character at least one unique characteristic. Everyone knows the independent, stubborn female character who is small, stronger than she looks, not very pretty (at least in her own opinion), and can fight like the devil. But does she play the flute? Does she have an embarrassingly ugly laugh? Does she notice the smell of everything?
If you must have an outright description of a character, make it seem natural. Have the character describe him or herself to another character, or have one character describing the other character to someone else.
Make sure to have conflict. Don’t set up the conflict, start your story right in the middle of the conflict. This is called, “In Media Res.” It means to start in the middle of the action so the reader isn’t bored.
Make sure to “have something at stake.” In other words, what happens if the characters don’t get what they want? It should be something that ruins them. If there is nothing at stake in your story, you need to “raise the stakes.”
There’s a difference between writing an anecdote (the type of story you would tell a friend over dinner) and a quality short story (the type of story where readers are set inside the action).
1. I’m a pretty easy going person. I get along with everyone including the obnoxious guys from my hometown, but there’s a certain event that rolls around every year that puts most of them on the wrong side of the fence from me. These “couple” games are all athletic based and are meant to build trust and teamwork between “couples,” but no one cares for that. Everyone is after the prize money. Unfortunately, I am pathetically unathletic, so none of the athletic guys from my town have ever wanted to team up with me. I’m too “small,” “weak,” “uncoordinated,” and “clumsy.” They’re not wrong.
2. My eyes scanned the auditorium, but all of the boys seemed to be avoiding my gaze. Basketball scholarship boy was excitedly whispering with the tumbling queen of University of the Cumberlands cheer squad, and the soon-to-be marine was already exchanging information with the girl who had broken our high school hurtle record. Only Seth, the art major who assisted in coaching the middle school soccer team met my eyes with a malicious grin as he put his arm around his most recent fling – a rock-climbing pro from Etowah.
Telling will give the reader the facts, but showing engages their mind, emotions, and imagination. Sometimes it’s good and necessary to give the cold, hard facts (such as emails to your boss), but the writing we’re interested in makes the reader feel something. A story like this will engage the reader in such a way that he or she won’t easily forget it.
Best eCommerce Marketing Strategies: Tips For Success In 2022
eCommerce is, in the simplest of terms, the buying and selling of products through the internet. eCommerce marketing is utilizing an ever evolving array of promotional strategies to market your eCommerce website (or a specific product on your online store) and converting that traffic to paying customers. COVID-19 has caused a boom in online sales across the industry. As more people try to avoid crowded stores and limit contact with others, more businesses have been making the move to the online marketplace.
There has been a simultaneous increase in both consumers buying products online and stores selling their products online. This means that while more people are shopping, the competition is even more fierce than ever. When that competition ranges from smaller sellers to mega-retailers, a well developed eCommerce marketing plan becomes a vital tool for success. If an eCommerce business is having a decline in sales or struggling to make a profit, they should be looking at what they can do to improve their eCommerce marketing strategy.
eCommerce Marketing During The COVID-19 Global Pandemic
Approaches to doing business online are making a big shift due to the ongoing global situation. Even once this crisis is over, all signs point to the world never returning to the previous definition of “business as usual”. Storefronts have closed and retailers of all types and sizes have moved their businesses online, or developed more robust digital sales strategies. Consumers have also become more accustomed to doing all their shopping from the comfort of home, with many saying that they will retain their current online shopping routines after the pandemic is over. This means that marketing for eCommerce businesses will continue to increase in both importance and value.
1. Optimize Your Website For eCommerce SEO
Search Engine Optimization is commonly referred to using the acronym SEO. On site SEO is one of the most valuable tools in the eCommerce digital marketing toolbox, and should be the foundation for every digital advertising strategy. Unfortunately, it is also one that is often overlooked or not properly implemented.
What SEO does when properly implemented is ensures that when people are searching using keywords that relate to your site or product that your site will show up as a top result. Every day Google alone can process up to and above 5 billion search queries, and when those searches are being made for your relevant terms you want to ensure your site gets seen. When you add in the fact that when people search 75% do not go past the first page of results, and that the top 3 results are the most clicked on, the importance of SEO for eCommerce content marketing becomes even more clear.
One of the most important factors when it comes to on site SEO for eCommerce, is having well crafted content. Content is king because it not only allows you to tell your customers who you are and what you sell, but it also lets you tell the search engines how to rank your site and what keywords to place you on. Well crafted content serves both purposes well and will engage your customers while ensuring new ones can find you.
Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo! are just a few of the more commonly used search engines. Google is the clear market leader, however you do not want to ignore the others in your eCommerce marketing strategy as it is important to attempt to reach every potential customer. Some of the most important eCommerce SEO techniques in 2022 include:
To get your website optimized for search engines, you need a good knowledge of how SEO works. It is always best to hire professionals skilled in the art of SEO optimization to help you develop your website and its content. You can easily hire an eCommerce marketing company such as ComboApp to handle all aspects of the promotion including but not limited to content marketing and eCommerce SEO.
2022 Trend: Security
It seems that a week doesn’t go by that we don’t hear about a website having a data breach and exposing customer information. If you want to build trust with your potential customers, then you want to make sure you have solid website security to protect both your company and your customers. The most forward facing security protocols include using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and HTTPS to ensure that your customers communications and data are encrypted and unable to be intercepted. Two-Factor Authentication is another forward facing tool that can be used to secure the accounts of both your employees and customers by requiring a second form of authentication when logging into a site (email, SMS, authenticator apps, and physical keys are the most common forms of 2FA). Most other security protocols will be invisible to customers, but that does not mean you should skimp on them. A breach is the fastest way to lose the hard earned trust of your customers. Security should be an important part of every eCommerce marketing strategy.
2. Prioritize Website Speed And Mobile-First Design
As was briefly addressed in the last section, website speed is another important consideration when it comes to marketing for eCommerce. This is important for two main reasons. The first reason being user experience and behavior, and the second reason is the role that the speed of your page plays in search engine rankings. Both of these reasons should have you focusing on making sure that your site loads fast and looks great on a wide variety of devices.
People shop online for a variety of reasons. Before COVID-19 the reason was often because of the speed and convenience. However, having a safe place to order goods and have them delivered to their home is another major factor driving online sales. Whichever reason people choose to shop online for, having a good user experience is important. One of the first things that people notice is how fast a site loads. In fact, if it takes longer than 3 seconds people are likely to leave and visit a different site. Because of this, Google uses the speed your site loads as part of a determining factor in ranking your site. The faster your site is, the more likely you are to both acquire and retain customers
Top Easy eCommerce Marketing Ideas
Now let’s take a look at some practical eCommerce marketing ideas you can start using today. We’ve included a mix of goals and timelines so you can pick the ones that work best for your business.
1. Grow Your Email List
That’s just a quick overview on creating optin campaigns to build your list. Check out our other suggestions for getting more email subscribers or this quick video tutorial on how to build your first campaign in OptinMonster.
2. Catch Abandoning Visitors
Those visitors might decide to buy something after all, or they can join your email list and become customers later. Either way, that’s revenue you’ve recovered from drifting away forever.
3. Offer Prizes
When a customer sees a fun coupon wheel popup, chances are, they’ll spin to see what their discount or prize will be. Once that’s happened, they’re far more likely to opt in with their email address to receive their coupon.
4. Show Personalized Offers
With OptinMonster it’s easy to show the right message to the right customers at the right time. For example, you can use Page-Level Targeting to customize your discount offer to match the page the customer’s looking at:
You can also use MonsterLinks to trigger a popup recommending a related product whenever someone clicks Add to Cart. For example, when someone adds a GoPro camera to cart, OptinMonster can suggest adding some memory cards.
5. Recover Abandoned Carts
Abandoned cart recovery emails are a powerful way to boost your revenue. Instead of giving up on those customers, you can send emails reminding them about the products they were interested in. These emails are a great place to address the issues that stopped them from buying, such as:
6. Nurture Potential And New Customers
Don’t give up! You can still continue building relationships with potential customers by providing valuable, trustworthy content, including recommendations for your products that can help them.
Even if a customer makes it through your abandoned cart email sequence without purchasing, you can still send them helpful emails about the problem they’re hoping to solve. By positioning your brand as a reliable resource, you can keep your solution in front of them for when they’re ready to buy.
Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch after the sale. Send your new customers helpful tips for getting the most of their purchase, upsells or cross-sells they might like, feedback surveys, or testimonial requests. Nurturing these existing relationships can save you a lot of effort in the long run.
7. Show Social Proof
Social proof is like the positive version of peer pressure. When customers see that lots of other people are buying a product, they tend to assume that the product is worth buying.
When a potential customer sees that real people are buying from you, that’s evidence that your product is good and your business is trustworthy. That will make them more likely to buy from you.
8. Create Urgency
TrustPulse has a special type of notification called “On Fire” notifications. Instead of showing a simple feed of visitor activity, these notifications show how many visitors have purchased or signed up in a certain amount of time.
FAQs about eCommerce marketing
Important eCommerce marketing terms
What is ROI?
ROI is an acronym for “return on investment”. This concept is used to describe the result of this formula: profits – cost ÷ cost. The ROI formula helps businesses measure the monetary value of an investment versus its cost.
What is a (buyer) persona?
A buyer persona is a detailed description of the ideal audience a company seeks to attract. This persona is fictional but should be created based on research of your existing or desired target. Buyer personas can also be called customer persona, audience persona, or marketing persona.
What is a KPI?
A KPI (key performance indicator) is a measurable goal that a company seeks to achieve. KPIs give valuable information about the performance of the team or the success of marketing or sales strategies, for example. They can be used in the decision-making process and in the analysis of past actions.
What is ROAS?
ROAS (return on ad spend) is a common KPI used by online and offline retailers that perform a paid marketing strategy. The ROAS metric refers to the amount of revenue that is earned for every euro spent on a campaign.
What is a typical average online marketing ROI in eCommerce?
eCommerce stores tend to have an ROI of around €2.50 for every €1 invested, on average. However, this can change depending on factors like location, sector, or channel used for the marketing campaign.
How is email marketing done for eCommerce?
The easiest way to do email marketing as an online shop is to use an email marketing automation tool like Outvio. By doing this, you can automatically send personalized emails to your customers and check the open rate and clicks that were gained with every email, using that information to adjust them to the needs and preferences of your buyers.
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