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The New World of Real Estate Listing Marketing

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As a writer for the New York Times website at About.com, I am privileged to write business advice and tutorials for real estate professionals. I find that there is still a lot of misunderstanding about the best ways to use the Internet to market their clients’ listings. Too many real estate agents and brokers spend too much money on print media, while neglecting the much richer environment and greater capabilities presented by the Web.

Back in 2005, selling a home was easy, fast, and usually profitable. Get a real estate professional to throw it into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), run some ads, and go to closing. Some home sellers even enjoyed bidding competition for their homes. Those were certainly “the good old days” of real estate.

Contrasting today’s markets, we have double and triple the “days on market” in most areas, with homes languishing on the market unless aggressive price-slashing is implemented. And, that’s for normal homes at and around the median prices in most areas of the country. It is a tough market for those homes, but it’s even tougher for “special” homes. These homes could be special solely due to location, size and price. Others are homes on high value land with special development challenges and unique architecture. There is so much greater potential in the Web marketing of these homes than many real estate professionals recognize. Or, if they do recognize it, they still do not take advantage of it.

Whatever the challenges, real estate brokerage and getting a home sold is all about “marketing,” not salesmanship. What’s the difference? Marketing is a planned activity that uses advertising and media to get the product in front of as many interested prospects as possible. It’s about doing a great job of presenting the product, and getting that prospect to respond. Advertising is used to get the word out, but marketing is the plan and structure of the campaign, as well as the selection of the media in which it will be run.

How It’s Been Done

There have been a whole lot of real estate brokers and agents doing the very same things for many years. And, most of them are still doing the very same things over and over again. Remember the definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

  • Put the property into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service).
  • Put some ads in the local newspaper real estate section, maybe some in color, others B&W. Almost all will have a single photo of the property.
  • Put an ad in the local “Homes” magazine; again with one photo, sometimes two or three if a larger ad is purchased.
  • In the last few years: put the property up on the broker’s website on a page titled “Our Listings” or “Featured Listings.”
  • Wait for the phone to ring.

Let’s talk about the print media advertising for a moment. While there’s still a place for print, especially for old style image advertising, the format can’t compete with the Web. Whether a daily or a weekly newspaper, the ads placed will achieve maximum exposure to the subscriber base of the paper only on the days it runs. If it’s a Saturday and Sunday placement, like many real estate ads, those two days garner the most eyeballs, but it’s over to a great extent when the next day’s paper comes out. Looking back to find a home in last weekend’s paper might involve getting it back from the bottom of the birdcage. Also, the only way a home buyer might see a home ad is to scan ALL of them. It’s not an efficient search process, and is more about convenience and having nothing else to do over morning coffee.

Wait, aren’t those full color homes magazines a lot better? Well, they’re more colorful. But, they’re not any easier to search, as they are laid out by brokerage advertiser, not home characteristics, and rarely by location. My experience with placing ads in those magazines was a deadline for placement almost two months in advance of publication. No changes were allowed after that deadline. So, the material the target prospect sees there is a couple of months old before they ever come across it. And, they must go get that publication, as it’s rarely delivered to their home. Again, it’s more about something nice to read while they’re doing something else or waiting for the dentist. By way of contrast, the Internet home listing can be up and running in hours, and changes can be made at any time.

What about the demographics for readers of newspapers? While they’ll happily tell you that they have maybe 178,000 subscribers, you really need to get the other characteristics of the readers. First, rule out any prospects too young to buy a home. Then, out come the ones with incomes below the necessary number to be able to afford the home you’re selling. Next go those who only read the “funnies” or the “sports” sections. Finally, throw out the majority of the remaining readers, as they’re not in the market for a home. That big number rapidly shrinks to a few thousand eyeballs, and that’s two-per-prospect.

If you have a very old stack of newspapers, or some of those old homes magazines going back a few years, compare one of each from five years ago to issues running today. The new ones will be a lot thinner, with fewer ads and less color. Budgets are being cut by real estate companies, and print advertising is suffering. Why? Because it really doesn’t work as well as the Web, and costs much more. Too many brokers are afraid to tell their sellers the truth, so they keep running ads because that’s what their sellers think will sell their home. It’s not that it can’t work, but it’s far less efficient than the Internet, and far more people are using the Web for home shopping. The truly advanced real estate practitioner will put most or all of their listing and marketing efforts into Web placement, syndication, and innovative ways to present their listings via images and video.

While many will tout their website and the nice rendition of their seller’s listings there, that’s pretty much all they’re doing. How many Web searchers actually find those listings on those local sites, and specifically the home that’s right for them? Not many. While it’s a fact that print is less effective than the Web in marketing a home now, there aren’t that many real estate brokerages that have managed a fully functional transition to the new real estate marketing world on the Web. They’ve cut their print budgets, but haven’t figured out how to do effective Web marketing of their sellers’ homes.

The New World of Real Estate Marketing

It’s easy to say that print doesn’t work as well anymore, but the homeowner who wants their property to sell needs to understand what does work, and their Realtor needs to explain it to them. Let’s look at some statistics from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), and their annual survey of home buyers and sellers. These statements are from actual buyers and sellers of homes in the survey period.

  • In 2008, 87% of all buyers used the Internet to search for homes, with 33% of all buyers saying it was their first step. Only 3% looked in their newspaper first, and less than half even looked there at all.
  • In 2009, the group using the Web increased to 90%. 36% made it their first step. Users of print media declined by another 7%.
  • In 2009, 77% of all home buyers found the Internet the most useful resource, second only to a real estate agent. Home books, magazines and newspapers were rated the bottom three resources important to them. This was below yard signs, open houses, television, and billboards.

These statistics leave no doubt about how home buyers are locating homes that meet their needs and desires. With the vast majority of buyers using the Web, it becomes a matter of developing a marketing strategy that uses the Internet effectively, and gets a home in front of as many prospects as possible. Some quick points illustrating the power of the Web for home sales include:

  • One resource states that more than 266 million people use the Internet in North America alone.
  • There are a number of large websites dedicated to real estate and home searches. Realtor.com alone accounts for between 6 and 8 million unique visitors every month.
  • Other sites, such as Zillow.com and Trulia.com are gaining ground on Realtor.com and have many millions of page views every day.
  • All of these sites bring targeted visitors. The site visitors are there because they have an immediate interest in buying or selling a home, mostly buying.
  • The biggest advantage: If your home fits the criteria of a buyer, they’ll find it easily using the searches at sites like these. Using keywords and search boxes for major features, getting to the homes that best meet their needs is fast and easy. You just can’t do that with print media, and they’ll drop that homes magazine when their turn comes up at the dentist.

I’ve worked in a consulting role with real estate professionals to help them to develop their Web presence and incorporate the established and developing best practices for marketing home listings in this dynamic medium.

Advantages of Web Home Marketing

While the numbers show clearly that people are using the Web to locate homes to buy, there are vast differences in the quality of the homes’ presentations:

  • Images are in full color, and can be thumbnail links to high resolution larger images to really present the property at its very best.
  • Text descriptions can be as long as necessary, not limited by budget or ad size as in print media. Along with images, a great marketing description can generate that email or phone call from the prospect.
  • Floor plans and land plats can be presented, a very rare thing indeed in print media.
  • Video is a tool that doesn’t even apply to print, but is very valuable in home marketing on the Web. While it doesn’t apply to every home, a video slide show or full motion video can get the attention of a buyer and result in a sale.
  • Syndication – This is a huge advantage to the home seller. Using a syndication tool and service, the real estate broker who is aggressively marketing their sellers’ homes will be able to have their home listed on dozens of the largest sites on the Web. And, it will happen in a few days, not weeks or months. And, unlike the paper at the bottom of the birdcage, the listings are available 24/7, 365 days of the year.

All a homeowner must do to fully realize the major advantages of the Web over traditional and old-fashioned marketing is to put themselves into the buyer’s shoes. If you were searching tomorrow for a home, perhaps a waterfront or view home in a high demand area, what would you like to see, and how would you like to find information?

  • Wouldn’t you want to quickly access home listings, but be able to “drill down” to those that meet your price range and criteria?
  • Would video or multiple full color and high resolution images be much more useful to you than a print ad with a single photo in newspaper print resolution?
  • Wouldn’t you rather find complete textual descriptive and property information instead of a few bullets and a “call us” number? This means all of the property details.

There’s simply no contest. The new world of real estate marketing is firmly entrenched on the Internet, and while print still has its place, it’s only in specific instances and limited applications.

Work With A Broker Who Understands and Uses The Web

When you sit down with a real estate professional to discuss listing your home, make sure that you’re not listening to the old “show and tell” with copies of newspaper ads and homes magazine pages in a scrapbook. What you want is a frank discussion of what works and how the full power of the Internet will be focused on marketing your home.

It’s really quite simple in one respect. Print is ineffective, and the Web will sell your home. While the first half of that statement is true across the board, the second half is only true if you’re working with someone who understands Web marketing and listing syndication. The brokerage that shows you how your home will be richly presented online, with images, charts, drawings, documents and anything else that a buyer would want to see, is the brokerage you want to work with.

Beginner’s Fitness Tips

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So, you want to start a fitness routine but don’t know where to begin. Two years ago I was in my early forties I was unemployed and 40 pounds overweight. I had had enough and decided that I was taking my life back. Today I have dropped the weight and have completely turned my life around.

How? Let me tell you.
Fitness is a triangle that consists of weight lifting, cardio (running, walking swimming etc) and last, but not least, nutrition. Let’s take a look at each one individually.

Weight Lifting
A lot of people go to the gym and concentrate on their biceps even though the bicep is a relatively small and useless muscle compared to the other muscle groups. The mistake that these people are making is that they are not doing compound exercises. Compound exercises are exercises that work more than one muscle group at the same time. The Bench Press works the triceps and the pectorals. The dead lift works the back and the legs. There are two big benefits of compound exercises over the other. First by working larger muscle groups you will increase your resting metabolism rate. You will burn more calories even when you are not working out. Also, because you are working on larger muscle groups you will be building more muscle and, the more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn.

Cardio
A lot of people spend countless hours on the treadmill or the stairmaster or any one of a number of cardio machines. You don’t have to. While running miles and miles burns calories doing ten 100 meter dashes actually raises your metabolism so that, again, you will be burning calories even when you are not working out.

Nutrition
This is often the most overlooked area of fitness. But, it is actually the first place you should start and, in many ways, the easiest. The good news is that I am not going to recommend that you go on a diet – ever. Diets are designed to fail because they work by starving your body of something it needs to function. When the diet is over you gorge yourself on the thing you have just taught yourself to crave. The first step toward better nutrition is to steer clear of processed foods and eat the foods we were meant to eat: fresh vegetables, nuts and fruit; lean beef, chicken and fish. My wife lost 40-50 pounds in a year just be eliminating soda from her diet.

The other trick to nutrition is to graze like a gazelle and not gorge like a lion. If you eat four to six small meals a day rather than 3 large meals, again, you will raise your rate of metabolism so that you will be burning more calories.

5 Top Internet Marketing Tips 99 Percent Don’t Take Advantage Of

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Whether you are new to online marketing, or whether you are on your fifth successful website, it is important to stay abreast of helpful Internet marketing tips. Every week – even every day – brings new technologies and new opportunities for you to take control of your niche. And if you aren’t paying attention to what’s working, you can be sure that your top competition is. You want to dominate your niche, so here are five tips that can help you keep your edge.

1. Before you go live, put together a plan to promote your website and to design and develop your online presence.

The temptation to go live as soon as possible is a very compelling one because the sooner your site is up, the sooner you can get traffic… and the sooner you can get income. However, a far better strategy is to make sure that your website complements a comprehensive marketing plan. Every page that you put up – landing pages, home pages, checkout pages – needs to be designed to maximize traffic and ease of use for the consumer.

Take a tip from Google’s mission: focus on making negotiating your website simple and user-friendly. Sending your user to laser targeted landing pages based on their searches, instead of the home page, is just one way to make your website stand out from the competition.

2. Use affiliates and associates to dominate your niche.

Your website doesn’t have to be the only one working for you. One of the most successful Internet marketing tips coming into vogue involves finding people to set up affiliate and/or associate websites that send traffic your way. You can set up a PPC (pay-per-click) payment system for your organization, so they get value when they earn it, by sending customers who come to you and buy. The more sites you have funneling traffic in your direction, the more value you will get for your Internet investment.

3. Use Search Engine Optimization techniques to get your page ranked highly in search results.

Use keyword analysis tools like AdWords to see what keywords will get the most hits for you. You can even buy sponsored results on Google and other search engines to get preferred placement once users do search for your keywords. This is one of the most crucial Internet marketing tips out there – because it’s rare for users to even go to page two of search results. You want your site to be at the top when people search for what you have.

4. Put together a solid opt-in email marketing system.

Don’t give your special deals away without making sure that your customer email addresses are real and belong to people who are interested in your product. Setting up a double opt-in system that makes users click on a link in their in-boxes to verify the addresses is an Internet marketing tip that will keep you from sending e-mails to invalid addresses.

Most marketers don’t do this because they just want a large list… bigger is not always better when it comes to a list. 100 highly targeted leads who truly want to learn about what you have to offer are worth far more than 1000 junk leads.

5. Compose and publish web press releases.

Why not be your own press agent? There’s no reason why you can’t e-blast your presence out there for everyone to see. Obviously, if you’re going to take advantage of this Internet marketing strategy, you want to have a newsworthy event. For example, launches of websites and individual products are worth putting out a fresh release.

Use these Internet marketing tips to take your website to the next level!

2010 State of the Internet – Video Marketing for Attorneys

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

I give you the State of the Union for Lawyer Video.

“My fellow attorneys,

The state of affairs for lawyers who create video to market themselves stinks. Truly awful. Video quality has improved but content has gone down the drain. Four years ago the only type of lawyer videos that video companies created were “Look at me!” videos. Those videos simply were one intro video that did nothing more than say “Come to me because I’m great.”

Fast forward to the present day and lawyers have made leaps and bounds. Now, many attorneys have gone beyond the bounds of “Ooo, pick me because I’m great” type of videos, to ones that actually inform. However, the information that most attorneys are putting out are not what online viewers want or care about. It’s true.

Lawyers still focus on the number of views that each video gets. Video companies sell their services and convince lawyers that their video metrics program is top shelf and can also predict which videos will get viewers to call. Nonsense.

The reality is that metrics don’t matter at all. Really, they don’t. I have written repeatedly that video metrics are not worth your time to invest in or learn about. The ONLY thing that matters with your online videos is whether your viewer picks up the phone to call you for an appointment. That’s it. That’s your goal. If your videos are not accomplishing that, you have big problems. The reason that most lawyer video does not work is that most videos fail to provoke a viewer to take action.

In all likelihood you’ve spent a lot of time and money creating video, either on your own or with a video production company. Have you tracked your return on your investment? That is something definitely worth calculating. You must know at all times what your ROI is.

Let’s say you spent $10,000 on 5 videos. The production team spent all day in your office and each video, after editing, came to about 1 minute to 1:30 mins. The cost per video in this instance is $2,000. The production company might say to you “If you get only one case from a video, the fee you get will have paid not only for that one video, but for all five of your videos.” That sure sounds like a line from the yellow pages rep who would visit my office on a yearly basis. She made it sound so convincing when she came in to renew my yellow pages ad that I had a hard time saying no.

For me, I recouped my yellow pages investments, but just barely. Calls were few and far between. I was on page 9 of 11 full page ads. By the time someone got to my ad, they had already been rejected by eight other lawyers.

The video production companies who help lawyers create video have changed their way of creating video. They’ve moved on from creating a single “intro” video that cost $5,000-$10,000 just a few years ago, to creating multiple videos for around that same price. I’ve seen some wedding videographers knock the price down to $2,500 for 7-10 videos. I always ask those wedding guys if they know who the lawyers’ ideal client is? They don’t and that’s a big problem. They tell me they create broadcast-quality video. I believe them. But that’s only half of the equation.

The other, more crucial part is content. It’s knowing how to get the videos found in the search engines using white label strategies that are proven and tested. It’s not just about creating good technically proficient videos. It’s getting the videos recognized; getting a viewer to have enough curiosity and interest to click on your title; getting them to watch your video in its entirety and most importantly, getting that viewer to call or email you after watching that video. If your video production company can’t show you, using proven tactics that they have the know-how to do this, then you’re paying for something that will look pretty but be nothing more than watching your money evaporate into the internet ether.

Let’s turn now to the other side of the coin; attorneys who create video on their own. There are lawyers who think they can master this video thing all by themselves. Some can, but most have not yet been able to do that. Some lawyers don’t want to spend the money to shoot video with an experienced video production company. Instead, they want to do it all themselves.

Those are the type of lawyers who would rather climb up a ladder to fix a leaking roof instead of calling a roofing expert. That lawyer will try to fix their broken watch by buying a do-it-yourself fixing book about watches. When the electrical system in the house breaks, that lawyer would rather spend a week learning how to fix the problem himself instead of hiring a certified and qualified professional electrician. This lawyer is the type of person who, when his car breaks down, eagerly spends two weeks fixing his car in his driveway and walking to work, instead of spending the money to bring it into a mechanic and get it done in one day.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great when someone has the ability, desire and time to learn to do things on their own. However, really smart attorneys and business owners realize that the way to make tons of money is to leverage their time with other people’s expertise. Here’s what I mean. If you are a transactional attorney and you bill at $400 per hour, and it will take you 2 days to edit two hours of video, the amount you could earn doing legal work would be conservatively $6,000. Is it worth it to you to spend that time editing your own video instead of earning $6,000?

It’s always a time/cost trade-off. What if you could hire a video editor to edit those two hours of video for only $1,000? Would that be a more cost-effective and economical use of your time? I should think so.

I know there are lawyers out there who think they can become a videographer using their iPhone4, their Flip camera or their Kodak Zi8 and that’s great. There are also lawyers out there who think they can become video editors using iMovie or Sony Vegas or Final Cut Express, and that’s great too. Then there are still others who believe they can become video distributors and publishers. Good for you. But wait…aren’t you still a practicing attorney? How do you have the time to do all that and more? Are you going to be using your skill to create a side-business or are you just going to keep all this information to yourself for your own benefit?

Most lawyers just want to practice law. They don’t want to get involved in marketing or video marketing. Rather, they want someone to do it all for them, and that’s good too.

So, Mr. or Mrs. Lawyer, where do you stand?

Are you closer to the lawyers who want to do it all themselves, or are you a little closer to the lawyers who want experienced and tested video production experts to do all the video work for them?

2011 will be a great year for those lawyers who implement their decisions to change. Video marketing should be done smarter, with more knowledge, information and content. Content will rule in 2011. If you lack content and a compelling reason to call you, you will revert back to the startup days of internet marketing. Make this year your most successful one ever.

To your success!”

Gerry

How To Choose A Collision Repair Shop After An Accident

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No one likes to be in an accident. Aside from the damage accidents do to your car and your body, the aftermath can be a hassle, as you haggle with your insurance company and find the right body shop to properly fix your car. To get the best work at the best price, what should you look when choosing a body shop?

In addition to turnaround time, affordability and quality of work, also be sure to find out the following from the shops you’re considering: how long they’ve been in business, what type of cars they specialize in repairing, what type of guarantee they have, and whether they offer supplementary services you need, such as rental cars or loners.

Referrals Are Often The Best Source For A Competent Collision Repair Shop

If possible, check among your co-workers, friends and relatives for a recommendation for a shop that has done a good job for them. Some shops, especially small family shops, don’t even have an internet presence because they have built a successful business on referrals alone. Check Google for reviews. If a shop has plenty of reviews and the majority of them are raving, there’s a good chance you’ve found a keeper.

Assessing The Price

Whether you are paying for repairs yourself or your insurance company is picking up the tab, you want to make sure that you are paying a fair price for the services you will receive. You probably don’t know what a reasonable price is, so always get several estimates before making a decision. With an estimate in hand from three or four different shops, you may find a big difference in price. How can you tell whether the shop that offers the lowest price will do quality work? How do you know that the highest priced vendor is worth it?

A low price shop may use cheap aftermarket or salvage parts and fewer coats of paint and clear coat on your vehicle than a higher priced alternative. On the other hand, the parts used might be OEM replacements and the shop just happens to have lower overhead costs so they pass the savings along to the customer. This is why it’s important to compare each section of the estimates side-by-side to see how much is allocated for parts, labor and other costs.

Be wary of any other factors that might make a “cheap” shop too good to be true. For example, a shop may not have fire and theft insurance, which works in your favor in the form of lower prices. However, this also means that if a fire or burglary should occur when your car is in the shop, the liability falls squarely on you (or your insurance company if you’re covered for those features).

Labor Cost As A Factor

The biggest line item on a collision repair estimate is labor costs. This figure not only reflects the amount the shop owner pays his workers in the shop, but also the amount of overhead he pays. If the shop is located in a pricey area or if there is a big front office staff to support, the hourly cost you pay might be higher than elsewhere.

Also, you might be charged more hours for the same job. Shops tend the use a reference manual of standard hours to estimate what a particular job should take. Some shops may add on “gray” charges by allowing for steps they might have to take in the worst case scenario or by itemizing the various components of the job. This can be confusing to the consumer, and unfortunately some unscrupulous shops will capitalize on your uncertainty. Your best protection is to carefully compare estimates, and don’t be afraid to ask very specific questions about the costs until you are satisfied with the answer.

Making Your Decision

If you don’t have recommendations to go on, take factors into account such as the length of time the shop has been in service, the way the shop looks and if they have the latest in auto body technology, how busy it is, and your gut feelings. Check with the local Better Business Bureau and look for online reviews to guide your decision, too. Quality is not cheap, and in shopping for a body shop, you want to balance paying the right price with excellent workmanship.

Employed Or Self-Employed – Getting to Grips With Employee Status

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UK employment laws are extremely complex and with the government introducing regular changes, many UK employers often struggle to keep up to date and keep their business compliant.The thought of complying with these complex UK employment laws often leaves business owners concerned and unsure about employing staff directly and so many choose instead to use self employed workers, thinking this means they won’t need to worry about typical employment related matters… but it’s not that simple!An increase of atypical contracts has effectively blurred the lines between self-employed and employed status and so employers should be very careful when entering into any sort of working relationships.Increasingly, disputes over the definition of working relationships between individuals and Employers are being referred to Employment Tribunals where preliminary hearings are being used to determine the legal definition and, in many cases, businesses who thought they were contracting self-employed individuals have found they are actually employing them and so immediately find themselves subject to the full range of UK employment law.So how can employers work out whether the working relationships they have with individuals are that of employer/employee or employer/self-employed?Over the years, various different tests have been used to determine the nature of working relationships between individuals and Employers including the ‘Control Test’, the ‘Integration Test’ and the ‘Economic Reality Test’ but these days, preliminary hearings held by Employment Tribunals use the ‘Multiple Factor Test’.The ‘Multiple Factor Test’ looks at a number of different factors opposed to just one or two. The factors normally taken into consideration include but are not limited to the following:

Does the worker receive a regular wage or a one off payment or fee?
Can the employer dictate the place of work and the way it is to be carried out, in other words what is the employers degree of control in the relationship?
Does the employer have the right of exclusive service?
Does the employer have the right discipline and the power to dismiss the worker?
Who owns the tools or other means of production?
To what extent is the employer obliged to provide work for the worker to perform and to what extent is the worker obliged to accept such offers of work? Commonly known as ‘mutual obligations’.
Recent case law suggests that the minimum criteria to establish a contract of employment is mutuality of obligations and control but this is no guarantee that the presence of these two criteria means there is definitely an employer/employee relationship. However, if either of these is missing then there won’t be an employee/employer relationship.It is critical that employers correctly determine the nature of the working relationship they have with their workers and then review their contracts to ensure they are compliant with current legislation and are what they actually were intended to be.Given the complexity of UK employment law, and the potential impact and cost that getting it wrong could have, employers should speak to qualified experts to prevent problems and protect their business.

Health and Fitness For Children

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Introducing your children early in life to proper health and fitness routines will go along way towards promoting their general heath as they grow up because body and fitness are very much important for their whole life. You need to tell them the importance so that they know whatever they are doing is for their own benefit.It is important to let your children play games that will both keep then healthy and fit. You can make for them a health and fitness plan and encourage them to follow it by participating too once in a while. Children can easily be obese especially if you don’t regulate what and when they eat. The health and fitness plan can also be for the whole family in which case it will include the kids. If you don’t take the initiative, you will find that your children are relying heavily on the television for relaxation which is not very good for them in the long run.Health and fitness routines can help your children deal with puberty anxiety in an easy way so as to avoid stress. Introduce your children to the right exercises according to their age and ability and change them as they grow up and let them know the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.Health and fitness for your children also entails proper feeding. Good nutrition should have the right proportion of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins and select foods that they love as long as you make it a balanced diet. Children learn by following example hence if you make a point of having a good health and fitness routine yourself, they most likely will follow suit.

How to Pick the Right Wedding Entertainer for Your Event

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Are you looking to hire something fun and different for your event? Do you have a wedding or corporate party where you need to impress? Take a look at the following article to find out more about corporate entertainers and wedding entertainers.So, what do you look for to make sure that you hire the best wedding entertainer for your event? Similar to if you were looking to hire a corporate entertainer for a works do, the first thing you would take a look at is the previous customer feedback that any act you were interested in has advertised. If they have none, then beware! It means they are either a new act with perhaps little experience, or, they are not very good…! After all, an act with no references should surely raise the odd alarm bell…Another thing to take into account is just how good the entertainers marketing material is. Chances are you will have been drawn in by this in the first place, but, it is still worth thinking about in detail. Actually spend a few minutes reading the bio – see what work they claim to have undertaken before. Have a look at the images and check out the looks on guests faces. These are the kind of things that cannot be ‘forged’ so investigate at length. Back to references as well, have a look at the kind of events that your entertainer has previously performed at. Corporate events can be quite different to weddings and so check out of you are looking more toward the hiring of a wedding entertainer or a corporate entertainer.It is also worth taking a look on YouTube to see if you can actually find videos of the artist performing. There is nothing like seeing an act in their environment for putting your mind at rest.One way to take a lot of worry and stress out of the whole process it book via a reputable entertainment agency. This way any entertainer you become interested in will already have been vetted by the company for quality and the kind of experience they have. They will often be able to point you in the right direction not only in the style of act best suited to your event but also the ones that best meet your budget.Beware though, not all agencies adopt a good vetting process, so, when you speak to an agent, be sure to ask them how they add the acts, what process they use and also check if they charge the act to be included on their roster… if they do… HANG UP! Any agency that charges an act to be included is more than likely going to be not as strict on their quality control because it is in their own interest to just add as many entertainers as possible to bump up their own profits.Hopefully, this offers a brief guide on a couple of things to look out for, but if you have any additional questions feel free to ask.

Which is the Best Life Insurance Policy?

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When you’re searching for the best life insurance policy for you, one of the most important considerations is the type of insurance you’re purchasing. While the differences between these policies aren’t always explained very well, they offer different coverage, different premiums, and different exclusions and so should influence what you purchase.Life insurance falls into 4 main categories though it can often look like there are more because different companies will title them differently. Getting familiar with each type will help you know what sort of policy you’re looking and which one will be the best life insurance policy for you.Term LifeTerm insurance will pay your beneficiaries a certain, specified amount of money in case of your death in exchange for a regular premium. These policies generally have a specified length of coverage, or term, after which they are no longer valid. Most of these policies pay out in case of death only and not if you contract a serious illness or are in an accident that seriously prevents you from returning to active work.Term life can be the best insurance policy for you if you are looking for the lowest personal investment, or premium. On the other hand, if you do not die during the specified term of coverage, you receive nothing in spite of your investment.Whole LifeWhole life does not have a fixed term of coverage and so is considered permanent insurance. In addition, this type of insurance policy has a cash value on top of the specified death benefit, and you can access that cash value at any time. However, anytime you use money from the cash value of your policy, it is considered a loan and your beneficiaries may not receive the entire death benefit if you die before paying it back.While whole insurance policies usually have significantly higher premiums than term life policies, the greater flexibility and permanence of the insurance can outweigh this downside. If you can spend a little more on premiums, a whole life policy may be the best life insurance for you.Universal LifeUniversal life offers some similar benefits but more flexibility than whole life insurance. Most universal policies offer flexible premiums, and distinguish between what you’re paying for the death benefit and cash value of the policy (which many whole life polices do not offer).If you want the benefits of whole life but know you cannot afford the premiums at this point, a universal policy can allow you to have a permanent insurance policy with some cash value and lower premiums.Endowment Life InsuranceEndowment insurance policies build up a cash value until the total amount of the policy equals the death benefit. At this time, the policy reaches its endowment age and pays out whether you have died or not after a specific amount of time or when you reach a certain age.If you cannot afford high premiums, this is not the best life insurance policy for you. However, if you want some guaranteed income provided you live past a certain age check out this type of life insurance.No matter which type of life insurance you choose, you should know what you’re getting. That way, you can insure that the choice you make is for the best life insurance policy you can find.

Learn About Bungalow House Plans – Free Resources

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Bungalow house plans are quickly returning as a desired home style. Bungalow house plans originally came from western areas of the United States but quickly drew interest from southern and northern area families. The original bungalow houses were quite small and only a single storey in height. Bungalows often had wide verandas across the front or wrapping around the house providing additional family gathering areas. Today bungalows are still considered to be single stories but may include partial second floors or loft areas.The popularity of bungalow floor plans is often the result of the desired convenience of having all the main living areas on one floor. In some cases it may be a requirement of necessity as the absence of stairs makes the floor plans well suited to those who are aging, have limited mobility or are confined to a wheelchair.Bungalow floor plans come in a wide range of sizes from small, compact plans suitable for inner city lots to large, sprawling plans that take advantage of country locations. Therefore bungalows can be considered suitable floor plans for any type of homeowner – young or old, single or married, large families or small.The smaller bungalow plans will be designed with strict, efficient use of all space as was typical in the original traditional bungalow designs. Simplicity of design is essential in creating a functional small bungalow plan. These plans can provide comfortable living spaces with all the current household conveniences that families are looking for while allowing for an ease of maintenance and smaller lot considerations. Smaller bungalow plans are suitable for individual homeowners or small families. They are often considered as ‘starter’ homes for families but are often found to be so efficiently designed accommodating grown families is possible.Larger bungalow floor plans have become very popular in recent years. These floor plans provide families with designs that include more elaborate spaces in which to entertain, relax or engage in family activities. Often these larger plans may include separate ‘wings’ to allow for privacy between bedroom areas and active living spaces. Active living spaces may now include mini gyms, game rooms, home theaters and hobby spaces. In areas where construction practices include full basements bungalows with fully developed basement areas are extremely common. This helps to offset the more expensive aspect of bungalow construction. Since bungalows require more foundation and roof area on a per unit basis (per sq.ft, per sq.M) than the same living space in a two storey, bungalows are more expensive to construct. By retaining the convenience of all the daily living spaces on one floor and adding the amenities and/or extra bedrooms in the basement level the footprint can be kept smaller and maintain cost.Bungalows can be designed in any style of exterior architectural design. Traditional exterior styles will customarily be Craftsman, Prairie, Shingle or Colonial designs. Typically clad in natural materials and finished in earthy color schemes these styles all offer wonderful attributes for a comfortable family home and blend suitably in most surroundings.Bungalows are also well defined by Modern, Post Modern and International styles of architecture. These styles will consist of strong yet simple forms enhanced with edgy detailing. Finishing materials will be clean and smooth with possible textured or boldly colored accents. These styles offer the discriminating homeowner opportunity to make a contemporary lifestyle statement.