Author Archives: ernie

5 Tips For Booking a Motivational Speaker

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Several essential factors must be considered when booking a motivational speaker for your event or organization. Here are five suggestions to help you in the process:

  1. Clearly Define Your Objectives: Before looking for a motivational speaker, clearly define your objectives and what you hope to achieve through your presentation. Are you looking to inspire and motivate your team, provide industry-specific insights, or address specific challenges? Understanding your goals helps you find a speaker who aligns with your needs.
  2. Research and Evaluate Speakers: Conduct a thorough investigation to identify potential speakers who specialize in the topics you are interested in. Look for experienced speakers with a proven track record of delivering engaging and impactful presentations. Read their testimonials, watch their videos, and review their past speaking engagements to assess their style, expertise, and ability to connect with audiences.
  3. Consider Audience Relevance: Consider the demographics and interests of your audience when selecting a motivational speaker. Ensure that the speaker’s message and style resonate with your audience. A speaker who understands and can relate to your audience will deliver a compelling and relevant message more effectively.
  4. Check for Flexibility and Customization: A great motivational speaker should be able to tailor their presentation to meet your specific needs. Discuss your event requirements, themes, and special requests with the speaker beforehand to ensure they can adapt their content to your audience. Flexibility and customization will make the presentation more impactful and relatable.
  5. Inquire About Support Materials: Ask the speaker if they provide any additional resources or support materials that can enhance the impact of their presentation. Support materials could include handouts, slides, or access to online content. These materials help reinforce the speaker’s message and inspire and motivate your audience even after the event.

Remember to communicate clearly with the motivational speaker about your expectations, logistics, and other essential details to ensure a successful and memorable event.

Why is there so Much Smoke Residue and Little Fire damage

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You might observe a significant amount of smoke residue and relatively minor fire damage in a particular situation for several reasons. Here are a few possible explanations:

  1. Fire Suppression Systems: If the building or area where the fire occurred was equipped with fire suppression systems, for example, sprinklers or fire extinguishers, they might have effectively controlled or extinguished the flames before they could cause extensive damage. In such cases, the smoke generated by the fire can still spread throughout the space, leaving behind residue while the fire itself is contained.
  2. Firefighters’ Intervention: Prompt and effective intervention by firefighters can help minimize fire damage. Firefighters are trained to extinguish fires swiftly and efficiently, using techniques and equipment to reduce structural damage. They may employ ventilation, containment, and targeted water application to prevent the fire from spreading and causing extensive destruction.
  3. Building Materials: The materials used in building construction can also influence the amount of fire damage. Fire-resistant materials, such as concrete, fire-rated walls, or fire-resistant coatings, can slow down the spread of flames and reduce the overall impact of the fire. In these situations, even if there is a significant amount of smoke residue, the actual fire damage may be limited.
  4. Rapid Response: A quick response time from the fire department can make a significant difference in limiting fire damage. If the fire is reported promptly and firefighters arrive on the scene quickly, they can mitigate its effects before it can fully engulf the area. In such situations, the fire may not have had enough time to cause substantial damage, but the smoke residue remains.

It’s important to note that the observations you mentioned can vary depending on the specific circumstances of the fire. Each fire incident is unique, and factors such as the size, duration, location, and available firefighting resources can all influence the amount of smoke residue and fire damage observed.

 

SEO Services for Agency

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SEO services, or Search Engine Optimization services, refer to a range of activities and strategies designed to improve a website’s visibility and rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). The primary goal of SEO activities is to increase organic, non-paid traffic to a website from search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

SEO services typically include the following components:

  1. Keyword Research: Identifying the phrases and keywords that potential customers or visitors will likely use when conducting searches for products, services, or information related to a website’s content.
  2. On-Page Optimization: Optimizing various elements within a website to make it more search engine-friendly. On-page optimization involves optimizing meta tags, headings, content, URL structures, and internal linking.
  3. Off-Page Optimization: Building high-quality backlinks from external websites to improve the website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines. Off-page optimization may involve content marketing, outreach, social media promotion, and guest blogging.
  4. Technical SEO: Ensuring a website has a solid technical foundation that search engines can crawl and index effectively. Technical SEO includes optimizing site speed, fixing broken links, improving mobile-friendliness, and implementing structured data markup.
  5. Content Creation: Developing high-quality, relevant, and engaging content that satisfies the needs of both search engine algorithms and website visitors. Content creation includes blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and other forms of content that attract and engage users.
  6. SEO Audits and Reporting: Conduct regular audits of a website’s SEO performance, identifying areas for improvement and providing comprehensive reports on keyword rankings, traffic metrics, and other relevant data.
  7. Local SEO: Optimizing a website to target local search queries and improve visibility for location-based searches. Local SEO implementation is essential for businesses with physical locations or those targeting specific geographical areas.

SEO services are typically provided by SEO consultants or agencies with expertise in optimizing websites for search engines. The specific strategies and techniques employed may change based on the target audience and the goals of the website.

Why is My Check Engine Light On

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The check engine light in your vehicle’s dashboard illuminates when the onboard diagnostic (OBD) system detects a potential engine or emissions system issue. The OBD system monitors various sensors and components in your vehicle to ensure they function correctly and meet the required specifications.

Many faults can cause your check engine light to be on, ranging from minor issues to more severe problems. Some common causes include:

  1. Loose or damaged gas cap: A missing, damaged, or loose gas cap can cause the check engine light to come on. It’s one of the most straightforward issues to resolve, as simply tightening or replacing the cap can often solve the problem.
  2. Oxygen sensor malfunction: The oxygen sensors measure the amount of oxygen in the exhaust system, helping regulate the air-fuel mixture. A faulty oxygen sensor can reduce fuel efficiency and cause potential damage to the catalytic converter.
  3. Malfunctioning catalytic converter: The catalytic converter helps reduce harmful emissions by converting them into less toxic substances. A failing catalytic converter can trigger the check engine light and may require replacement.
  4. Faulty ignition coils or spark plugs: These components ignite the fuel mixture in the engine. When they malfunction, it can lead to misfires, reduced engine performance, and increased emissions.
  5. Issues with the (MAF) mass airflow sensor: The MAF sensor measures the engine’s air entering, determining the correct fuel-to-air ratio. A malfunctioning MAF sensor can affect engine performance and trigger the check engine light.
  6. Problems with the (EGR) exhaust gas recirculation system: The EGR system helps reduce emissions by recirculating some exhaust gases into the engine. If it malfunctions, it can cause rough idling, diminished power, and increased emissions.

These are just a few reasons the check engine light turns on. It’s essential to have a diagnostic scan performed using a specialized OBD scanner or by taking your vehicle to a qualified mechanic. The scan will retrieve error codes stored in the OBD system, providing more specific information about the issue. With the error codes, a professional can accurately diagnose and address the problem, ensuring your vehicle operates optimally and safely.

5 Reasons to Hire a Motivational Speaker Your Company Event

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Hiring a motivational speaker for your company event can have numerous benefits. Here are five reasons you should bring in a motivational speaker:

  1. Inspire and Motivate Employees: Motivational speakers are experts at delivering powerful messages that inspire and motivate individuals. They can share personal stories of success, resilience, and overcoming challenges, igniting a sense of purpose and determination in your employees. By listening to a motivational speaker, your team members can gain a renewed understanding of motivation and drive, positively impacting their performance and productivity.
  2. Foster a Positive and Engaged Work Environment: A motivational speaker can help create a positive and engaged work environment by uplifting the spirits of your employees. Their energizing presentations and messages can boost morale, encourage teamwork, and enhance employee satisfaction. Individuals who feel motivated and engaged are more likely to collaborate, communicate effectively, and contribute to a positive workplace culture.
  3. Provide Fresh Perspectives and Ideas: Motivational speakers often bring unique perspectives, experiences, and insights. By exposing your employees to these fresh ideas, they can gain new ways of thinking and problem-solving. A motivational speaker can challenge conventional thinking, encourage innovation, and push your team members to step outside their comfort zones. This can lead to increased creativity, improved decision-making, and a culture of continuous improvement within your organization.
  4. Address Key Issues and Goals: A skilled, motivational speaker can tailor their message to address specific challenges or goals within your company. Whether you want to improve teamwork, enhance leadership skills, or increase sales performance, a motivational speaker can deliver a customized presentation that directly addresses these issues. By focusing on the specific areas that need improvement, a motivational speaker can help your employees gain the tools and strategies to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
  5. Enhance Personal and Professional Development: Motivational speakers often offer practical tips, techniques, and personal and professional growth strategies. They can provide valuable insights into goal setting, time management, communication skills, and building resilience. By attending a motivational speaker’s session, your employees can develop new skills, improve their self-confidence, and gain a broader perspective on their potential. This focus on personal and professional development can lead to long-term benefits for your employees and your company.

Hiring a motivational speaker for your company event can significantly boost your employees’ motivation, engagement, and personal growth. Their inspirational messages, unique perspectives, and practical insights can leave a lasting affect on your team members, leading to improved performance, enhanced workplace culture, and increased success for your organization.

WordPress Plugin Updates

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There is a great deal to look after if you are operating a blog. They tell us that keeping the content original, up to date and current is important. Use valid keywords. Make it look nice and add interesting content that readers want to read. There are many more factors, but one important item is making sure that your WordPress Plugin updates are up to date.

Recently, I was upgrading my WordPress installation. Usually, all that is needed is to click upgrade the WordPress icon, then the templates, and then any plugins that indicated upgrading is needed. This time, an error was generated,

“There has been a critical error on your website. “

I could not log on to the site, nor view any pages or posts. This was serious since my blog was out of commission. Fortunately, I have other blogs, I can check and verify before considering an upgrade. I was concerned that the database was corrupted. Always make sure you have backups of everything before doing any upgrades.

WordPress Plugin Updates – Trouble Shooting

I also use Yoast to help manage SEO issues. On another site, the plugin was telling me that several plugins were out of date and had not been upgraded in several years. This is often a good sign that there may be an incompatibility issue with the latest release of WordPress. This issue could cause the entire blog to fail.

I decided to remove all of the plugins and reactivate them one at a time after I was able to get my WordPress blog working again. In order to do that, I needed to revert back to the older version of WordPress. I used the following step by step approach and it worked for me.

Step by Step WordPress Plugin Updates

I was running WP 5.5.X and got the message to upgrade to 5.6,

Here are the steps I used
1. Download the older version of the WP version 5.5.x to my computer

2. Using FTP, I changed the file names of wp-content, wp-admin, and wp-includes folders by adding xcopy in front of each

3. Uploaded the older version of 5.5.X to my Host (wp-content, wp-admin, and wp-includes folders)

4. Confirmed that I could log on and view a page minus all of the plugins, images, etc.

5. Changed the file names of all of the plugins in the xcopy-wp-content folder

6. Transferred all of the plugins to the new wp-content folder

7. Activated all of the plugins at the WP 5.5.x level and confirmed they worked, one at a time

8 Changed the plugin folder names to add xcopy for each plugin folder

9 Upgraded WP to 5.6

10 Confirmed that I could access WP and access all pages and posts

11 Activated each plugin one at a time and confirmed that WordPress still worked

12 Transferred all uploads, which are the images etc from the old WP to the new WP folders
13 Confirmed that it all works, which it does

14 Deactivated old plugins that were not used

15 Deactivated old plugins that had not been upgraded in some time and replaced them with new plugins that were more current and supported the functionality I was looking for.

This was a lot of work to recover a blog that was down. But the database was fine and everything worked!

Upgrading Other Blogs

Before upgrading any other blogs, I took the step of deactivating all plugins that were not active and also those that were no longer current. These were replaced. Fortunately, all of the other blogs upgraded to WordPress 5.6 with no issues.

What is SEO and How Does it Work

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What is SEO? First of all SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization.  It is the process of increasing the visibility of a website in search engine results. This is usually referred to as organic. Organic means that the results are unpaid results. A page that is ranked well on the search engine results will receive more traffic. Most webmasters aim to have their page listed in the top 10 results or on the first page that Google serves to readers. Falling to the second page will lower your traffic substantially.

There are a common list of basic things you need to do to rank well. Obviously the first is to have a working web site that delivers content to the reader.  The fundamental rule for all web sites and the one that Google gives as the highest priority is quality content. It should answer the reader’s question clearly and not be filled with useless keywords etc.

What is SEO and How Does it Work

Beyond high-quality content, there are numerous other factors that search engines take into account when ranking a page or web site. In fact, Google is rumored to have over 200 factors that contribute to page rank. But quality content is at the very top of the list.

In addition, page load speed is a factor, as is mobility adaptable content. A page written for a desktop must also be able to be rendered on a smartphone equally quick. The page must also be readable. If not, search engines will rank your page low and readers will move onto other pages if it does not load quickly or is so small it cannot be read on a smartphone screen.

Once you are listed on the search engine results page, you must have meta data or a short sentence that captures the reader’s interest. They have 10 results to choose from. They might select the first one listed. Or they might select the one that has a description closest to what they are looking for. Always make sure that you have a great meta description for your post to attract readers.

For more details and additional SEO info, check out some of the other posts on this site.

Why Are XML Sitemaps Important

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What are XML sitemaps and why are SML sitemaps important to web sites and their owners? These are the two questions we will answer in this post. The first one is easy. Think of XML sitemaps as a road map for search engines to follow when they are exploring your site. It tells them the names of all of your pages, or posts. In addition, it shows where they are located on the server they reside in. Sitemaps tell the search engine when the post was updated. A sitemap can be in one of two categories. The first contains the information we just presented. The second is an XML sitemap containing a list of XML sitemaps. This file is an XML sitemap index. It points to all of the sitemaps for your website. Large websites use index files.

Why Are XML Sitemaps Important

These sitemaps point to all of the files, posts, and pages for a website. It is important to provide these roadmaps so that search engines who are indexing your site can find all of the pages quickly and easily. Without a sitemap, the search engines must rely on links within each page or post.

A search engine will not index these pages. They are not provided in search results to searchers. No one will ever find your site. You will not receive any traffic. Links are important. But so are sitemaps. Indexed the entire web site. They need to be included in search result rankings from Google and other search engines.

There are various apps available for WordPress and other content management systems. They can automatically scan your site and prepare a properly formatted XML Sitemap. They will even send it to the search engines for you.

Don’t Let Wish Full Thinking Ruin Your Retirement

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Don’t Let Wishfull Thinking Ruin Your RetirementOne of the easiest ways to ruin your retirement is to avoid reality. What do we mean by that statement? Don’t let wishful thinking ruin your retirement! For example, believing you will win the lottery is one of the most obvious. Many people believe or hope they will win the lottery. The reality is that only an extremely small percentage of people will win a lottery. Of those that do, most squander their cash long before they retire. We have identified and covered several other areas later in this post. If you fall into any of these kinds of wishful thinking traps, it is time to step back and assess your chances. Will you have a comfortable retirement with the real money that you will have during your retirement?

Don’t Let Wish Full Thinking Ruin Your Retirement

It will all work Out Just Fine

Many people have this approach and just do not worry about the future. The reality is that unless you take specific action, there is a good chance you will be poor in retirement

The Market Goes Up Every Year

The market does not go up every year. Just look at the years 2000-2001, 2008-2009 and even more recently 2018 to date. There have been significant declines in these years. Over the long term the market on average has increased. But what do you do when you need funds and the markets are down in a specific year?

Don’t Let Wish full Thinking Ruin Your Retirement – Maybe I will Inherit Money

With baby boomers retiring and passing along a great deal of wealth there is a good chance you will inherit something. But will it be enough? How much will you actually receive after taxes are paid on the estate, legal fees and distribution to other heirs. Probably not that much and certainly not enough to retire on.

I have Lots of Equity in my Home

You may indeed have lots of equity in your home. Will you down size? Will you sell and rent? You have to live somewhere.  Real estate sometimes can decline as well.  Will you have sufficient equity that you can access to pay the bills etc.

I Have a Business, I will Fund My Retirement

Will your business continue to thrive until retirement? Can you sell it or will you have to work well into retirement to generate sufficient income? Develop a transition plan for your business and yourself to ensure there is something for you from your business.

Saving When There are no Expenses

There are always expenses. There are always repairs needed on the house, the car, or even health bills. they never seem to go away. Start setting aside money to save now and don’t stop.

Planning to Make More

That raise, that promotion etc. will allow me to save more or start saving. What happens if you get laid off? Companies downsize all of the time. Other people get the promotions. Don’t count on the promotion etc. Stat saving now.

Don’t Let Wish full Thinking Ruin Your Retirement = Win Big on a Sure Thing

An investment that is going to pay really well may not turn out. A business venture that may or may not work. Real estate investments that take longer to appreciate than planned. All of these can happen, but they have a very high risk associated with them.

Avoid wish full thinking and live in today’s reality. Start saving immediately for retirement. If some of these areas do turn out, you got lucky! Don’t Let wish full thinking ruin your retirement

Check List of Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

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check list of common seo mistakes to avoidThere is a check list of common SEO mistakes to avoid when you are designing a web site. This post discusses seven of those items and explains in a little more detail why they are important. Failing to use an optimized theme, contact form and images can contribute to poor SEO results. Domains need to be owned by the website and they need to be optimized for the subject you need to focus on. By far, selecting the right keywords and writing great content that addresses the reader’s needs and interests. Make sure you use excellent grammar, write a text for easy reading, and most of all answer your reader’s questions. Regardless of the subject writers and blog owners should be attempting to address questions readers are trying to answer. We assembled a shortlist of areas that web designers and content writers should focus on.

The list includes:

  • Not using an SEO optimized Theme
  • Failing to Optimize an SEO Contact Form
  • Not Purchasing Your Own Domain
  • Not Optimizing Blog Images
  • Choosing the Wrong Keywords
  • Not Providing High-Quality Content

Check List of Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

Not using an SEO optimized Theme

Optimize every element of your blog for SEO. This includes the theme you are using. Select a WordPress blog theme that has been optimized for SEO and fits with the intent and objectives of your blog.

Failing to Optimize an SEO Contact Form

Optimize your contact form for SEO. Include your keywords, meta data, and images to help visitors find your blog.

Not Purchasing Your Own Domain

A domain name provides an identity that aligns with your company objectives. It helps manage expectations for your blog’s content.

Not Optimizing Blog Images

Images should contain the keyword you are aiming at. Optimize images for fast loading. Large image files take a long time to load and turn readers off. Fast loading images mean readers do not leave your page prematurely because it failed to load.

Choosing the Wrong Keywords

Develop a keyword strategy. It should define your content and are focused on your message. Keywords should be typical strings that readers would search for that lead to your web site.

Not Providing High-Quality Content

By far the most important item to keep readers coming back is providing high-quality content that addresses their questions. Provide information that helps them solve whatever problem they have and pulls them to your web site.