Every now and then you just have to sit back, stop “working,” and have a bit of fun. While traveling the blog circuit this morning, I came across one that is just that… pure fun!

Virtual Me posted a “Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year Old?” and funny enough out of the 50 some comments also everyone was stumped lol!

Here’s the question and the drawing:

Which way is the school bus traveling ?

Right or left ?

You don’t see the difference?

Look carefully at the picture if you are having a hard time.

Then scroll down for the answer and the “why.”

ANSWER:

The bus is going LEFT because the school bus door is not visible

Did you get it right?

Have a fun weekend!

Simply put, WhamX is a Web 2.0 Social Bookmarking news and article site that allows you to vote on your favorites. (That is a direct quote from their website.)

WhamX.com would like to become (don’t they all) bigger and better than Digg over time. It can be done, if you make enough people aware that you exist.

So how do you use WhamX?

First, you create your account. Update your profile with whatever information you would like others to see, including an Avatar for yourself or use theirs.

Then you click on the Submitted button and at the bottom of the page (still in the white text area), you will see the bookmarklet to grab. Either store it in your favorites, or if you are using Firefox, draw it up to the Bookmarks level and let go.

The other thing to remember is with this and just about every other service like this, in order to submit something (or vote or do anything) you have to be LOGGED IN beforehand.

Our suggestion is to pick the ones you want to be active with on any given day. Say you want to be able to hop in and out of BlogCatalog, Digg, WhamX, and Entrecard (just a few or you’ll drive yourself crazy). First thing in the morning (or after logging on and getting ready to start working), go to each of these sites and log yourself in. Then stay logged in. Usually that means leaving the browser window open down (at least) on your start bar or using the Tabs in IE 7 or Firefox to leave the web sites open.

Then as you go about your day posting your own stuff and reading and commenting and creating back links to others about theirs, you’ll already be logged into your chosen few and good to go

Below you’ll see a screenshot of the WhamX social bookmarking site, and it is good to note that (according to my Firefox browser with its plugin for checking this sort of thing), WhamX is prepared to give you full credit and full backlinks for your time and effort.

Enjoy!

Today is one of those unusual posts, and I owe it to our local newspaper. Not the big city-wide one, but the little Green Valley Home News.

I began reading their article in the Arts & Style section only because it talks about a game I personally enjoy (but haven’t played for years)… Scrabble. Now bear with me, because this post does have a point, and you won’t want to miss it.

Here’s the interesting facts about Scrabble and why this has anything to do with the title of this post “Keyword Research.”

First, a bit of background.

Scrabble is the #1 best selling game in the world. Over 100 million sets have been sold worldwide with one to two million sets sold every year in the United States alone. Scrabble can be found in one out of every three households in America. It was developed by an out-of-work architect named Alfred Mosher Butts during the Great Depression.

When Butts first invented the game he called it “Lexico.” Lexico never caught on so he next tried “Criss-Cross Words.” Yep, you guessed it. No one was flocking to buy this new game with this new name either.

Butts went back to the drawing board (no pun intended) and after revamping his rules a bit, he and his partner, James Brunot, renamed the game “Scrabble.” They trademarked that name in 1914.

Well, as shown above, we know how well Scrabble is doing, to this very day.

Keywords! Ah, very important. With some choices, nothing, while the right ones pull in the money hand over fist!

To further emphasis “what’s in a name” (or keyword phrases in your content or title or domain name), the story of Scrabble continues.

In the early 1950s, while on vacation, the president of Macy’s Department store discovered the game. Of course, the next logical step was a huge influx of orders from Macy’s to Hasboro. Stocking the game became a must-do on Macy’s shelves nationwide.

In fact, to this day, television versions of Scrabble exist, and even online versions of the game can be found. In addition, Scrabble clubs and Scrabble competitions form all over the country on a weekly basis.

Oh, and as if that isn’t enough, Facebook users can enjoy the Scrabulous application on their Facebook websites.

So think your choice of keywords isn’t that important? Think again!

What’s in your name? Did you think it through? Are you thinking it through? Best take a lot of time with both your market research and your keyword phrase research.

It could mean the difference between a “Lexico” or “Scrabble” website or blog for yourself.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?? Scott informs me that perhaps the idea of keyword research for this is a tad confusing, and suggests perhaps “branding.” However, I stick by my original association. Without proper keywords one would never develop the proper brand name. They most certainly go hand in hand, but “Scrabble” did not become a “brand” until the keyword was known by many.

What do you think?? Please comment!

“What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? Discover Secrets to Achieving Total Success!”, a new book launching this week on Amazon, quickly teaches you that your willingness to be different can make all the difference in how your business is perceived. Dr. Joe Capista gives you an inside view of how he took a struggling business and, with a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish, built a multi-million dollar business.

The beauty of this book is the way in which the story is told. Forget the dry, disinterested approach, Capista takes you on a journey through his life, the mentoring and direction he received, and sums it all up in a 222-page discovery he calls The Success Triangle(TM). Capista offers a roadmap that virtually any business can implement to achieve higher profits, greater customer satisfaction, more satisfied employees and the ability to sustain any turn in the economy.

With permission, we offer a few excerpts for you to enjoy below, ways you can become familiar with this author; his style of writing. Throughout this book, Capista brings you a wealth of information based on family type situations, business situations, and personal experience. We’ve chosen a few from Chapter 8 (along with the summary of what Chapter 8 covers) entitled, “Five Part Forumla for Success”:

Become an Expert
Have a Great Product and/or Service

“By investing in your own training and education, you will gain more in the long run than you’re giving up. With increased skill comes increased confidence. With increased confidence comes increased competence. The rewards will continue to multiply.

Many are comfortable with the status quo. They feel because they’ve been at something for a long time it qualifies them as an expert. I learned a long time ago just because you’ve got a lot of years in or you’ve done something repeatedly, that doesn’t necessarily make you an expert. Some people work in a vacuum doing the same thing day in and day out thinking they are the best at what they do. Wrong!

You can’t increase your expertise on your own; someone has to teach you. I don’t care if you’re already at the top of your game, there’s somebody that’s on top of you that’s doing it better. That’s the person you have to talk to!”

Develop Sales and Marketing Skills

“Sales is a kind of strategic influence. Too many times we think of sales as manipulation because we have the vision of the slick salesperson; the person who’s trying to sell for his or her good and not for the good of the customer. Sales is about benefits and coming to a mutual agreement with your customer that what you have to offer is of value. Once value has been established, you have the responsibility to influence the person to say, “Yes.”

You always have to have the other person’s highest good in mind. In fact, Charlie used to tell me about the U Attitude. When he first presented the U Attitude idea, it was foreign to me. He would sit in front of me, hold his pad of paper and he’d draw a U. One part of the U started with the customer coming to me and it ended back with the customer to complete the U. This means the process has to start with the customer, come to me, and then go back to the customer. The customer always has to be the person who benefits the most in the sales process and the U Attitude has helped me to remember this over the years.

Selling is about helping the client. The times I have been sold by people who have good sales skills is fantastic; a great experience. They see what I want and what I need. They know how I’m going to benefit by it and they help me get there. Sales require compassion, understanding, and talking in such a way people are comfortable dealing with you. When you create comfort for your customer, they will return again and again.”

Get Help from Experts (Mentors)

“Mentorship doesn’t have to be a difficult experience. There are very informal as well as formal methods of mentorship. Let’s begin with the informal. Consider the top five people you spend time with the most. Each can be a mentor in his or her own right. To be successful you need to make sure those you associate with most are people that inspire you and lift you up. You must be clear about who you want to spend time with and understand the power they have in your life.

There is an exchange of energy in all relationships. Some people enhance our energy; others can actually deplete our energy. I’m very deliberate in choosing people that increase my energy and fuel my dreams. We may not call one another mentors, but the influence we exert on each other’s lives is the same as a mentor/student relationship. I feel so strongly about this I’ve made efforts in the opposite direction, minimizing relationships with certain people because we weren’t on the same track or heading in the same direction. I look to mentors in both my personal and professional life.”

Chapter 8 Success Summary

1. Business Success and Life Success are not exclusive of each other. To have TOTAL SUCCESS you need success in both areas.

2. To have TOTAL SUCCESS you need to:

o Become an Expert (have a great Product and/or Service)
o Develop Sales and Marketing Skills
o Get help from Experts (have mentors)
o Control your Thoughts
o Create Balance in your life

3. You may not be the “best” at what you do, BUT be the best you can be.

4. To be the best in your field requires continued training.

5. The success of your business and the success of your personal life is directly proportional to your ability to sell and market.

6. Our lives revolve around selling a Product, Service or idea.

7. Sales is strategic influence, not manipulation.

8. Develop a ‘U’ Attitude.

9. Always have the customer’s interests foremost and have integrity and honesty in your sales process.

10. Sales and Marketing are skills that need to be learned. Very few people are “natural born” sales or marketing people.

11. You need people – mentors – to teach you what you do not know.

12. Find successful people and study their behavior.

13. Mentors can be living or dead.

14. Pay people to teach you what you do not know.

Again these excerpts are just that, pieces we’ve taken that caught our eye. The stories and information are much more indepth than we can cover here. Suffice to say this is an interesting, informative, and (more than slightly) different way of following key patterns to personal success.

Order you own copy of What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? within the next 24 hours and receive over $2,551 in bonus gifts from experts around the globe. Go to www.joecapista.com/amazon.htm