Shopping Online is the Fastest and Best Way to Purchase Products and Find Services Offered

By shopping online, you will find many advantages that will help make your shopping experience pleasurable. Selecting and purchasing products online has never been easier. Find out how quick and easy it is to shop merchant sites that assist you in the simple process of obtaining the product that you want.

Save time and money

The time and money that you will save by shopping on the internet is quite significant compared to the local shopping mall. Online, you can make specific searches for products in a matter of minutes, whereas shopping for products at the local mall takes a great deal of energy and time.

Another big advantage of online shopping are the benefits of great prices, sales, and exclusive offers. On some sites you can save up to 50% or more on selected items. Depending where you shop online, you may also find huge savings on shipping and delivery.

Product selections

You can find more product selections online than a brick and mortar business. You can choose a category and refine your search for that special item. It's also possible to find discontinued products that shopping malls no longer stock. Are you in the market for a new car? Why not search for it online? Look for home furnishings, gifts, clothing, and more online.

Look for services offered online

Products are not the only items of interest that you can shop for online. You can find businesses offering their services also. There is banking online, computer services online, grocery shopping online, investments online, dating services online, real estate online, employment online, and many more services at you fingertips.

The way of the future

Online shopping is quickly becoming the way of the future. The advancements of technology are creating avenues of convenience to suit the ever-increasing busy lifestyles of this century.

More and more people are using the internet to access information that is readily available. With this in mind, it only makes "cents" that it is profitable for businesses to be online and a great advantage for the customers to do their shopping.

The Perfect Gift For Someone Who Has Everything

Modern Day Gift Giving Is Different

Many people like to spend time and effort searching for a meaningful gift that symbolizes what a friendship or important event means to them. There is always a possibility that the recipient may not like it, even if there was much time and effort put in towards locating and preparing the gift for that person. One way to get around such an event is to give gift certificates or gift cards as a present to let someone know you care about them. They carry little risks and you can choose how much you spend quickly and easily.

The purpose of gift certificates and gift cards is saving time that could be spent planning something else such as a generic party, birthday or other special event. Gift cards act the same as prepaid debit cards for their respective stores. Gift certificates allow the bearers to order products or services online or for use in the respective store towards a purchase. They also make great incentives for contests or rewards to those who perform outstandingly at a job, or in a school setting.

Most People Want The Power Of Choice

Challenging recipients who have diverse taste will have no problems with receiving gift certificates or the like. Many of these types of people enjoy the freedom that they offer when they are out making purchases. Children will especially like using gift cards to purchase their own toys, as they feel like they have power like their parents towards making an important purchase. There is no doubt that a gift certificate or gift card to a department store is appreciated, especially when they have a large amount to spend loaded into their special gift.

Why Gift Certificates and Gift Cards are better than Cash

The advantages of gift cards and certificates will always far outweigh any disadvantages. In fact, the only disadvantage to such a great gift is that it can only be used in the store that it was intended for. Otherwise, it is a safer method of carrying money. Any amount can be loaded onto a gift card or gift certificate and can be redeemed just as easily towards a great purchase. Many people dislike carrying money so this modern method allow those with such dispositions to carry a valuable purchasing source of funds with them to use at their favorite shopping locations.

Where Gift Certificates & Gift Cards Are Available

Virtually every store will carry Gift Certificates or Gift Cards. They also come in various designs and styles that are amusing and artistic. They can be bought with special tins and holders and can fit snugly in a card. Gift cards and certificates are basically care free and thoughtful expressions, which are accepted by almost everyone without delay. New designs and concepts are being developed for holidays and other special events. They really are the perfect little gift for someone who has everything, or the person who does not have enough!

A Painting Within a Painting: Hidden Messages in Dutch Art

Due to the wealth and prosperity of the Netherlands in the 17th century, there were now hundreds of painters creating works for private homes.  Artists and art galleries flourished during what is now known as the Dutch Golden Age.  Genre themes, or scenes of everyday life, were very popular at that time.  When we look at these works today we see paintings with people engaged in a variety of routine activities.

However there is more than meets the eye in most Dutch genre paintings.  Often rather than portraying common activities, genre paintings contained moralizing messages or were allegories of virtue or vice.

Contemporary 17th century viewers would have recognized many levels of symbolism, including the meaning in the painting within a painting.  Let's look at some examples of Dutch genre paintings that have small works of art in the background to better understand their variety of meanings.

The Love Letter, Vermeer, 1669, Rijksmuseum

One common example are love letter paintings, they were a popular theme because due to foreign trade and the Eighty Years War many Dutch men were sent away from home.  This was a genre scene that has many incarnations, typically when we see a woman who is receiving or reading a letter we know it is meant to be a love letter.  What is the message inside? Clues are typically given to the viewer in the painting within a painting.  There are two paintings within the above work by Vermeer.  The top painting shows a man along a road which lets us know that the woman is receiving a letter from someone, likely a fiancé or husband, who is on a journey.

A ship at sea was a common metaphor for love and that is the subject in the botttom painting.  What is going on with the ship gives the viewer a clue as to what is in the letter.  Is the ship on a calm sea? Then all is well and the reader will be getting good news.  Is the ship on a stormy sea? This may mean the reader is receiving some troubling information.  In the Vermeer the ship is on a calm sea, but clouds are rolling in.

Man Writing a Letter/Women Reading a Letter, Gabriel Metsu, 1664-66, National Gallery of Ireland

Gabriel Metsu created these two works to hang together as companion pieces.  In the first a young man is writing a letter and in the second a young woman is reading a letter.  The viewer is meant to understand he is writing a love letter to her, though their exact relationship to one another isn't known.

We can understand by his surroundings that he is traveling, there is a large globe that sits in the corner of the room behind the open window and an oriental carpet is being used as a tablecloth.  The painting on his wall is a pastoral landscape. 

In the other painting we understand with the inclusion of the little dog that the woman is being faithful, in the foreground there is a tiny thimble which lets the viewer know that she was so excited to get her letter she jumped up in the middle of her needlework.

As the woman reads her letter, her maid pulls back a curtain over a framed painting to reveal two ships on stormy seas.  Due to the fact that Metsu shows us that the man is fine and that he created these two works to be hung together, the rough seas would likely be a symbol for the turbulent nature of love, especially when spent apart from a loved one, rather than a symbol of bad news.

The Slippers, Samuel van Hoogstraten, 1654-62, (Louvre)

Another type of genre painting which commonly used a painting within a painting were those with a moralizing message.  We can see an example of this in the van Hoogstraten work known as The Slippers.  At first glance the viewer sees a quiet interior setting with two slippers in the foreground.  On closer examination the work is an allegory of lust and temptation.  The slippers are not a set, there is one man’s and one woman’s.  A broom in the foreground has been left to the side as if to suggest that the woman who was cleaning and a man are in the bedroom together.  The painting within the painting here, the Father Admonishing his Daughter by Netscher (a variation on a well known work by ter Borch) was actually a painting that takes place in a brothel. The contemporary viewer would have taken note of this and immediately understood the allegorical message.

The Doctor's Visit, Jan Steen, 1665
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam)

In the same vein of allegories of lust are the many versions of The Doctor's Visit, painter Jan Steen in particular created a number of these.  A doctor's visit genre painting typically shows a young woman being visited by the doctor (often shown as a quack) and contains clues that she isn't sick, but rather is pregnant.

In this particular painting everyone but the young woman seems to know this and to be laughing about it.  To give an added clue here the painting above contains two embracing lovers.  The paper on the floor states, "No medicine is of use, for it is lovesickness."
 

Woman Holding a Balance, Johannes Vermeer, c. 1664, National Gallery of Art

Other versions of messages within paintings contained religious themes. During this time the Netherlands was strongly Protestant and religious works were no longer being painted or hanging in churches.  However religious imagery can be found in many of the paintings within a painting, which is interesting in genre scenes as it would be very uncommon to find these within the average home.

In Vermeer's well known work Woman Holding a Balance, the woman in the painting is dressed in the finest clothing and is surrounded by a variety of expensive jewelry and pearls.  She holds up a small empty balance scale, perhaps to weigh some of her jewelry.  This genre scene takes on an entirely new meaning when the painting in the background is taken into consideration.  

Here we see the Last Judgment and the analogy can be made that Christ will be holding the ultimate balance, weighing the souls of the saved and the damned.  It is perhaps a reminder to the viewer that regardless of the riches you accumulate in life, it is important to take care to live a life of virtue and realize your immortal soul will ultimately have more weight than your possessions.

 

 The Sick Child, Gabriel Metsu, 1663, Rijksmuseum

In our final example we turn again to a Christian religious painting on the wall, this time it is a Crucifixion.  In Metsu's The Sick Child, a young mother holds her little child in her lap.  The child looks pale and unwell and slumps across the mother's legs, much like a modern version of the Pieta found in Italian Renaissance art.  Interesting to note too is the fact that the mother is dressed in a gray shirt, which would have been common, but has a blue skirt with a red undertunic.  At this time women would dress in simple colors in day to day activities, but the Virgin Mary is nearly always shown wearing a dress of royal blue (the color associated with her) with a red undertunic (red symbolizing the blood and Passion of Christ).

The fact that the mother is wearing these colors and that on the wall we have a picture of the Crucifixion of Christ lets the viewer know that Metsu is drawing a comparison between this mother and sick child and the Madonna and Christ.  But what message exactly is he sending the viewer?  He may be likening the sacrifices all mothers make to those of the Virgin Mary, or reassuring parents that she would know how it felt to be worried about your child.  Perhaps Metsu wants to remind viewers not to worry about things such as sick children since Christ has died to bring salvation to everyone.  The exact interpretation would likely have been more apparent to the contemporary viewer.

While the meanings of a painting within a painting vary, always make sure to take note of what the artist has chosen to embed in their paintings.  The subjects within these frames within frames always enhance the viewers understanding of a painting. 
 
 

Can Your Trade Show Exhibits Hold Their Own In Today's Digital Commerce?

If you're a business owner, chances are, you've heard the news: It's a digital world that we're living in. Everywhere you look, entrepreneurs in every industry are using the Internet and other technological advances in abundance to help propel their business brand to the forefront of the global economy. From virtual meetings to webinars and a wide range of innovations in between, it seems that face-to-face client/vendor interaction is dwindling at an alarming pace.

Trade Show Exhibits Deliver Unparalleled Benefits For Businesses In Every Niche

While many traditional marketing techniques are beginning to feel the pinch when trying to keep up with the more modern mediums that cater to our digital commercial realm, one promotional resource is still proving itself to be an advertising force to reckon with: trade show exhibits. Regardless of how technologically-centric any given marketplace or niche becomes, today's modern trade show exhibits still deliver a wide range of unparalleled features and benefits that cutting-edge entrepreneurs simple can't ignore, thus solidifying their place in any marketing mix.

At any given event, a business' trade show exhibits can offer invaluable perks that include:

• Face-to-face connection

• Live product demonstrations

• Opportunity to outshine the competition (in both real time and real life)

• Chance to educate your business' consumer base through live seminars and workshops

Recognizing The Importance Of Keeping Your Trade Show Exhibits Cutting Edge

Despite the unwavering relevance of these promotional booths and stands, it's important for business owners to remember that, in order to effectively optimize function ROI, they must continuously raise the bar on what their booths and stands deliver to attendees. Relying on antiquated and obsolete (read, "lackluster") and technologically uninventive booths and stands is a surefire way to quickly disillusion today's savvy consumer. Rather, strategically-minded entrepreneurs consistently find relevant ways to breathe new life into this more traditionally-minded medium to ensure that their booths make a big impact that resonates with the wandering clientele and effectively stands out from the competition. When designing your final trade show exhibits, consider including innovations such as:

Moving parts: Don't let the "stand" in trade show stand fool you - today's booths can include a wide range of moving pieces and parts to effectively grab the wandering eye of the crowd.

Flat screens: Paper presentations are officially passé - incorporate flat screens throughout the stand to loop videos and marketing presentations that will make a meaningful impression on your guests.

Tablets: Who says that digital doesn't have its place in today's business booths and stands? Having electronic tablets ready to connect with the web can deliver a wide range of customer benefits. From instantly grabbing online information to answer questions, to helping visitors link up to your online social media pages, successfully incorporating electronic tablets can help ensure that your business looks cutting-edge and innovative. Leverage the benefits that come with the digital age and you'll stand head and shoulders above the competition.

The Case For Shopping Online For Women's Clothes

Women shoppers seem to be in one camp or the other:

They love to shop online;

They absolutely will not shop online.

I am in the "absolutely not" camp although there is a good case to be made for shopping online for women's business suits. See if you agree with my research.

Efficiency. You can find your favorite websites, shop for the women's suits you want, and request them to be shipped home all with just a couple of clicks on the Internet. Add in a few more keystrokes to enter in your credit card number and you are done.

Rain Rain,...Who Cares. If your weather activity includes rain, sleet, snow, or hail, it won't matter at all. Shopping from home protects you from unfavorable weather conditions while you snuggle up to your computer to do all the shopping for women's business clothes you can stand.

What gas prices? If you do not live near quality women's clothes stores, you will have to use your precious gas to do any shopping at all. No gas needed to get to the stores online.

No strollers needed. Young children are a challenge on a shopping excursion. Unfortunately, strollers may be part of the equation of shopping. The quality of strollers has improved a great deal yet they are still equipment that requires loading and unloading into the car. What an energy sapper!

Sweetheart salespeople. If you are annoyed like I am at sales people who follow you around and hassle you, rest assured the sales people online will seem like sweethearts. When I am out shopping for a women's business suit or other apparel, I only want help from someone who knows her merchandise. That doesn't seem to be the norm. In retail, the pay for sales people is embarrassingly low which speaks directly to their incentives to work extra hard to be completely familiar with all the merchandise they sell and how it will work for me. I propose that any company selling clothing, provide training sessions that specifically teach their sales people How to Really Help Your Customer Without Annoying Them.

Has my catalogue arrived? Catalogues have been gracing our mailboxes for decades. Many shoppers got used to flipping through the magazines, finding women's clothes they want and placing those important phone calls to purchase something. For those women, doing their shopping online was not a big adjustment. These shoppers are already well informed about the clothes offered by their favorite vendors. Many of the companies that have already been in the catalogue business, only sell online. They have not invested in physical facilities.

Time returned. You will save a lot of time shopping even if you take a long time to visit many websites and clothing items online. That amount of time will beat the time you would have spent driving to and walking in and out of stores. It could conceivably give you back a whole lot of time.

Who is the fairest of them all? The point when many women lose their zest for shopping is when they have to stand in front of the mirrors. Online, no mirrors!

No messy fitting rooms. Even in the high quality stores selling business suits for women, the fitting rooms need attention. There is usually someone else's trash, pins, gum, and leftover hangers. It's definitely not home.

Customer service. Retail stores have a reputation for not providing high quality customer care. The more enlightened stores, such as Neiman Marcus and Nordstroms have done an outstanding job of providing great customer service. They get it. Other retail clothes stores seem to think it's not important enough or that the merchandise will sell itself. Shopping online can be a much better experience in customer service. It may not get high marks for being pleasant but it is generally positive.

No distractions. When I go shopping, I often run into food or items that persuade me to get off my plan. For instance, until I smelled the cinnamon rolls, I didn't want one. Until I saw the ice cream, I didn't want any. When I shop on the Internet, I do not encounter those distractions.

Return policies. The online retail community has done a superb job at learning how to handle merchandise returns. Sending the goods back still has some hassles yet, the online store's attitude on serving the customer is notably better than the retail stores served by those annoying sales people I mentioned earlier. Many stores provide easy ways to return merchandise - and for any reason. Lands End and Coldwater Creek, for instance, jump through hoops to let you return merchandise. They make it easy to print an online return order if those pants I bought turned out to be way too small. Lands End offers free shipping on items you select as replacements. What a great deal!

Did I make the case for shopping online instead of driving your car to shop? There are many benefits of shopping online to find excellent customer service as opposed to visiting shops to make those purchases in person.

The Unicorn Tapestries

Elaborate woven tapestries were a common art form during the period of late Medieval and the Renaissance.  Tapestries served the dual purpose of adding warmth to a room and providing beautiful decorations.  Biblical or historic themes were common and often tapestries would be created in a cycle of 4-10 works telling a story.  They were hand-stitched from threads of wool and silk, created in workshops throughout Europe.

The unicorn was seen as a symbol of Christ and was frequently shown in Medieval art.  There are several interesting examples of unicorn tapestries, this blog post will focus on one of the most famous unicorn tapestry cycles known as The Hunt of the Unicorn.

The Unicorn in Captivity (Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

This seven tapestry cycle was likely created sometime between 1495-1505.  This cycle is displayed in the Cloisters Museum in New York, the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated entirely to Medieval Art.  The original patron and tapestry workshop is not known, but the dates can be deduced based on clothing styles of the figures.  It was probably created in Belgium (known at the time as Flanders).  Brussels in particular was known for its high quality tapestry construction around the turn of the 16th century.  

In the late 17th century the cycle was owned by French nobility living in Paris.  After the French Revolution the tapestries were taken down and used by peasants to keep warm and were found lying in a barn 70 years after the revolution.  Unfortunately during the years when they were outside they were damaged, faded and in the case of the fifth tapestry in the cycle, torn badly.  They were recovered in the 1850's by descendants of the French family that once owned them and despite their damage they are still quite well preserved. The Rockefeller family purchased them in the early 20th century and then later donated them to the museum where they hang today.

#1: The Hunters Enter the Woods (Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

The cycle tells the story of a royal hunt of the unicorn and in these tapestries there are many symbolic ties between the unicorn and Christ.  The unicorn is seen in six of the seven tapestries but he is missing from the first one.  It is the start of the hunt with huntsman and hunting dogs out looking for the unicorn.  If you look carefully you will see the initials "A" and "E" hidden in each tapestry several times.  The "E" is backwards and one example can be seen in the tree between two hunters, others are found in the bottom corners. Notice the distinctive style of clothing worn by everyone in the tapestry.  Every part of the tapestry is filled and the forest floor contains dozens of types of plants and flowers.

#2: The Unicorn is Found(Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

In the next tapestry the Unicorn is discovered as he dips his horn into the stream to purify the water.  A wide variety of animals wait by the side of the stream to drink out of it afterwards.  The animals include: a panther, a stag, a lion, a rabbit and even a hyena.  Rather than representing animals found in a typical French forest, each animal had its own symbolism.

At the very moment he is putting his horn into the water the unicorn is discovered by the hunters who all point to him.  This lovely tapestry is rather faded and the blue sky was added later after the cycle was recovered.  During the time that this was created the sky would have been replaced by something else such as more trees.  As we can see in the other tapestries, all areas were filled in with decoration and not left a solid flat areas of color.

#3: The Unicorn is Attacked (Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

The recurring initials have led historians to think these tapestries may have been commissioned for a marriage.  Note that in this tapestry the letters "F" and "R" have been added to this particular work, but they appear to have been added later and not part of the original tapestry.  The viewer can also see different coats of arms on the collars of the hunting dogs which is likely an allusion to the family or families represented by the initials.  The "R" added later may stand for the La Rochefoucaulds, the French noble family who owned these works for a time.

The composition in the 3rd tapestry is quite similar to the 2nd, the unicorn is in the center by the stream and surrounded by hunters, in the 2nd they all point to him and in the work above they all lunge at him with spears. As in the first two we can also note the use of vivid colors and dense foliage.

#4: The Unicorn Defends Itself (Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

In the 4th tapestry the unicorn has been surrounded and is making an escape by giving a powerful kick, as he kicks outward his horn gouges one of the hunting dogs.  This two follows the compositional set up of the previous two works.  In the foreground a variety of animals continue to drink from the purified stream. 

There is also a #5: The Mystic Capture of the Unicorn, today this is badly torn and only fragments remain.  This is unfortunate as we don't know how the unicorn came to be captured.  In one strip of the tapestry the unicorn is with two women (only the hand of one remains).  The woman who strokes the unicorn is thought to be a maiden (virgin) due to the fact that she is shown in an enclosed garden which was a popular symbol of virginity.  As he is subdued it appears that the other woman is signalling to the hunters.  However since only pieces of this work are still intact that isn't known for certain.

#6: The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle(Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

The killing of the unicorn is presented in a rather gruesome way.  If we are to follow the Christian symbolism of the unicorn in this tapestry cycle we can note the following: The unicorn is capable of purifying the water, the unicorn is tamed by a maiden (virgin) and killed violently.  However after he is dead, he is resurrected in the last tapestry.

#7: The Unicorn in Captivity (Cloisters Museum), 1495-1505

The subdued and resurrected unicorn sits within another small enclosure in the final tapestry in this series.  In addition to the Christian symbolism there are also symbols that could reflect that the "maiden" has in fact subdued a bachelor by marrying him, another reason that historians think this was commissioned for a wedding.

Flowers each had their own symbolic meaning and several in this would also tie into a matrimonial theme; for example the lily for faithfulness and the carnation for marriage.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art website says of this work:

"The Unicorn in Captivity may have been created as a single image rather than part of a series. In this instance, the unicorn probably represents the beloved tamed. He is tethered to a tree and constrained by a fence, but the chain is not secure and the fence is low enough to leap over. The unicorn could escape if he wished but clearly his confinement is a happy one, to which the ripe, seed-laden pomegranates in the tree—a medieval symbol of fertility and marriage—testify. The red stains on his flank do not appear to be blood, as there are no visible wounds like those in the hunting series; rather, they represent juice dripping from the bursting pomegranates above."*

*"Unicorn in Captivity, The [South Netherlandish] (37.80.6)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/37.80.6 (October 2006)  

 

Key Ways To Always Put Your Best Foot Forward With Your Business' Trade Show Displays

Participating in industry trade show exhibits offers businesses a chance to meet with prospective clients and offers in-person insight on what sets their services and products apart from the competitive masses. While many organizations engage in trade show exhibits annually, many companies often fall short when trying to reap a maximum return on their promotional investment. One of the biggest proponents of missed opportunity at these events? Failing to put their best marketing foot forward when it comes to presenting both their company image and line of products/services at trade show displays.

Once an organization has made the promotional decision to participate at an industry event, there are several items to consider for optimal achievement at every function. It's imperative to remember that a company's trade show exhibits are often the first and only exposure the attending crowds will get of any particular organization. Keeping a steady focus on how grab the attention of the passersby is a must.

What Do Your Trade Show Displays Say About Your Organization?

First and foremost, an organization should take stock on the current condition of their trade show exhibits. It's important to ensure that the image the stands present is polished and professional on every level. Having a shabby, unmaintained booth conveys the message that an organization doesn't have the funds for upkeep and/or doesn't care about the impression it makes on event attendees.

If, after careful inspection, you've determined that your trade show displays aren't up to snuff, it's time to bring in the experts. Working with a professional booth designer means you gain instant access to their industry expertise and their command of the latest design innovations. Ultimately, partnering with a design team will help your organization create a stand that appropriately represents your business, consistently conveys your current marketing message and best highlights the biggest strengths that your team offers over the competition.

Once the stand's outer appearance has been finalized, always work to keep the inside of the booth neat, organized and easily accessible at every function. Include shelving and cabinetry as needed to house updated marketing collateral and store backups and giveaways, and keep personal items out of sight. Keeping the booth tidy at every function will convey an inviting and welcome vibe to the crowd and will encourage them to stop by for a closer look at what your organization does.

Continue Polished Professionalism With Your Staff

Once your booths have passed inspection, it's time to consider your staff and the image they will convey at each function. Work with designated staffers before the event to hone their presentation and greeting talents. It's also imperative to really work with each employee on an individual level to practice their conversational skills as well as their ability to connect with booth visitors professionally to ensure they are best representing your organization.

Finally, always brainstorm the best dress code to adopt at each event. For formal functions shirt/tie and dressier attire makes sense. However, for most exhibits, stuffy outfits may seem out of place and deter guests from stopping in. At these functions, have your team don business-casual outfits. Khakis and button-up or collared shirts with the company logo prominently displayed will make your staff look polished, professional and, most importantly, approachable!

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Promote Your Business Online Using Internet Marketing Strategies

Competition in the online business is high, fancy items are on display, customers are flocking the markets like bees on freshly bloomed spring flowers.

Many e-stores are opening their avenues every day of the week and every day the customer base is getting divided with your newly-arrived-rival.

Anyone and everyone is taking their business online, promoting it with all the money that they have for marketing and start ranking on the first page-stealing you valuable traffic!

Wake up, get on your toes, plan, strategise and implement should be your words now. If you do not take care of your competitor's visitors now, may be nobody will even notice you online ever! It is high time you realize that only offline marketing is not the strategy for TODAY. Reach out to your customers who search for you on Google.

Tweak your website in such a way that your website becomes search engine friendly, is easily readable by the Google and Bing spider. Once the search engine understands your website, it will get indexed. In Lay man terms, it will be registered in the search engines registry of WEBSITE.

But wait, do not jump on conclusions, just tweaking your website content is not enough to be visible on the Google SERPs.

It is very critical to get hold of your customer's interest in the first interaction, and to get hold of a customer, it is very important to rank on the first page of the SERPs.

Beware; it is not simple to rank on the first page. Not when so many other people have made marketing their bread-and-butter.

Just as it is important to build contacts in the offline world, similarly it should be done in the online world. The only difference being, instead of making contacts with people you should go ahead and build contacts with the webmasters of websites to get links back to your website. This is possible only when you make proper submission to directories like niche category, paid directories, reciprocal directories etc and get quality back links to your page. Also select proper keywords which will help your website get more recognition.

Yes, you got me right. You should build back links to your website that will make your website linkable from every node of the internet!

Go ahead and submit links in a web directory to start ranking on the first page of the Google SERPs.

How To Get Your Internet Marketing Business Started

Do you have an idea for an internet marketing business but aren't sure how to set it up or make it successful? Or, do you want to make money on the internet but aren't sure how? Have you ever wished that you could be one of the people that make their living from internet marketing?

Starting a new online business or taking an existing business online can seem intimidating or overwhelming, but learning how to start an internet business doesn't have to be complicated.

Like everything else, if you make a plan and take it step by step, you'll be up and running in no time.

There are just some basic things that you need to consider and actions that you need to take, in order to create a successful online business:

Find out if there is a market for your idea or product.

Find your potential customers.
Build relationships.
Create your product.
Create your website.
Market your product.
Take the payments.

These are the fundamental steps to successful online marketing and you'll find lots of free information and how to's on the internet in articles and forums, to help you put each step in place.

Alternatively, you may be someone who likes to have all the information in one place and, again, you'll find lots of offers for courses and guides on how to start your internet marketing business, on the web.

One of these products, that I've recently reviewed. is the Internet Business Start Up Kit, which I'll use as a basis for what you need to be looking for in a guide to internet marketing.

The Internet Business Start Up Kit, produced by Neil Stafford and Neil Travers of KTS Publishing, is designed to be a one-stop source of information, resources and back-up needed to create your own internet marketing business from scratch and get sales coming in as quickly as posssible.

The manual, reports, DVDs, CDs and online training facilities provided as part of the Kit and its Bonus sections take you through all the steps of creating an online business in a logical and easy to understand manner.

Subjects covered include, market research, listbuilding, product creation, forming a website, copywriting, and marketing techniques. All set out with full details of what to do and how and when to do it.

The information in the manual will enable anyone to:

Find a viable market using the keyword search techniques provided.

Learn the benefits of blogging and set up a blog quickly and easily to create a list of hungry customers.

Discover where to find all the information needed to create a well researched and saleable product.

Save time and set up a product website simply and without specialist knowledge, using the website templates provided.

Easily write sales letters and email copy, without any copywriting experience, using the sales letter templates provided.

Implement a marketing campaign using suitable techniques for your product.

Set up the payment facilities for your online marketing business, and see the cash come flowing in.

All this basic information required to get an internet business up and running is set out in the main printed manual, reinforced by the additional reports and presentations included, with further backup tutorials and advice available online.

Particularly useful is the step by step manual, which is clear and comprehensive and set out in an easy to understand and logical manner, guiding the user through the various stages of creating their business and securing sales.

Neil and Neil have given a wealth of information here, including links to sites and resources that they use themselves, in order to make the process even easier for the user.

This is an important aspect because, although much of the basic information could probably be found by some extensive online searching, just the benefit of having it presented clearly and logically in one place, is well worth the modest outlay, even without all the additional training and backup facilities included.

A part of the manual which deserves a special mention, is the section on creating your website and email campaign sales copy. Maybe a daunting task for most people, this is reduced to a simple fill-in-the-blanks exercise, using the proven and effective sales letter templates provided. Well worth having.

In addition, it's not necessary to be an expert webmaster to construct your website, as the Resource CD, which accompanies the manual, contains a wide choice of easy to use web templates and many other useful resouces, enabling a website to be set up, without extensive previous experience.

Included with the kit is a trial Gold Membership of the Internet Marketing Review. An invaluable resource to anyone setting up or running an internet business.

On the Internet Marketing Review site, there is a huge amount of useful information in the form of training videos and articles, giving even more advice on all the aspects of getting a business started and profitable, plus the latest tips from the two Neils about new ideas and what's currently working for them.

The Internet Marketing Review also has a very active members forum, a good place to meet up with and ask advice from other successful marketers, who are very friendly and keen to share what they know.

It's well worth checking out the public area of the Internet Marketing Review to see what's available there.

I do have one criticism of this product and that is, there's no guide to the contents. So you really need go through it all and make your own.

On the plus side, having done that, you'll have reviewed everything once and know where to go back to, when you really need it.

And, there is a lot of solid information on getting started, provided in the Kit, that is worth reviewing several times to get the most benefit from it. Plus many useful ways to further improve your business once it is running.

Overall, the Internet Business Start Up Kit provides sound, practical step by step guidance, well laid out and explained for anyone without previous internet business experience.

It contains everything needed to get an Internet Business up and running, set out in a clear and comprehensive way and, at £79.95 is definitely worth considering.

Now, if you're thinking of buying an all-in-one guide to setting up an internet marketing business, use this information to help your comparison.

And whichever one you're considering, bear these four important points in mind.

1. Check that it covers all the elements you need, including the how, why and when, of what to do at each stage of creating your online business.
2. Check out the people involved. Forums and blogs are a good way to find out what sort of reputation they have.
3. Don't just believe the sales letter. It's really good to get a personal recommendation.
4. Check out any guarantees offered. Products often have some form of money back guarantee period, like the Internet Business Start Up Kit.

So, however you choose to find the information you need, I wish you every success with your online marketing business.

And, remember, it all happens when you take that first step!

Jusepe de Ribera's Classical Subjects

Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish Baroque painter who worked in Naples (under Spanish rule since the 15th century) for most of his career.  After his move to Naples around 1620 he was known as Lo Spagnoletto (the little Spaniard) and followed in the Caravaggisti manner of painting, which meant that the Italian painter Caravaggio had an enormous impact on his style.  Caravaggio painted with extreme darks and lights in a style known as tenebrism, and was known for painting subjects taken from life who were never shown as idealized figures.  Caravaggio lived in Naples for a brief time in the early 17th century and after his stay much of Neapolitan painting followed his lead in both style and subject matter.

Ribera took Caravaggio's techniques a step further and became well known for portraying figures in an extremely naturalistic style.  Rather than idealizing his models Ribera focused on things such as wrinkles, sagging flesh or grotesque figures.  He was influenced also by Caravaggio's use of tenebrism; painting compositions with dark backgrounds and a strong contrast between light and dark. Ribera always created figures that were highly individualized, such as his portrait representing the Greek mathematician Archimedes. 

 Archimedes, Jusepe de Ribera, 1630, Museo del Prado, Madrid

As we can see in a detail of this painting below, Ribera emphasizes every deep wrinkle in the face of the older model that he uses for Archimedes.  He was less interested in painting the idealized faces associated with the Italian Renaissance and instead was interested in his sitter's character, personality and individuality.

A

 detail of Archimedes, Jusepe de Ribera, 1630

While he painted many Biblical scenes and Catholic saints, Ribera was also the first Spanish painter to take up subjects derived from classical mythology such as his Drunken Silenus (below) and Apollo Flaying Marsyas (not shown) among others.

Drunken Silenus, Jusepe de Ribera, 1626, Museo Nazionale de Capodimonte, Naples

The Drunken Silenus was one of Ribera's first signed and dated works and is characteristic of his early style in the manner of Caravaggio.  In Greek mythology Silenus was the son of Pan and the foster father of Bacchus.  Both Bacchus and Silenus are known for their enjoyment of wine and merriment.  However unlike the regal god Bacchus, Silenus is shown as someone to be loathed or pitied and could be used as an allegory for gluttony.  

In mythology Bacchus granted the king Midas the wish to turn objects to gold after Midas treated his drunken foster father Silenus with kindness.  In Ribera's painting the obese Silenus is shown nude and is surrounded by figures with grotesque features.

 Ixion, Jusepe de Ribera, 1630, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Another example of Ribera's classical subject is in his work Ixion.  In Greek mythology, Ixion spawned the centaurs.  After Ixion tried to seduce Juno (the Queen of the Gods), his punishment was to be tied to a wheel and be turned for eternity. In this painting a cruel looking Satyr has just chained Ixion to the wheel.  As in Drunken Silenus  and Apollo Flaying Marsyas  Ribera paints every detail of these gruesome scenes and creates a compelling image filled with drama.  Here (as in his other work Titus) the main figures are shown being turned upside down which adds to the dramatic feeling of the overall composition.

While best known for his powerful religious paintings created in Catholic Italy and Spain after the Counter-Reformation, the viewer can see that the Classical themes of Jusepe de Ribera are every bit as emotional and dynamic.