Modern garden design has a very long history and all the years of garden design have played into the current trends. The first gardens that were planted purely for visual enjoyment date back to the 1500s in Egypt. There are paintings on Egyptian tombs that reflect gardens that were simply beautiful and not necessarily for food purposes. These drawings show ponds surrounded by palms and acacias. Other famous gardens from long ago include the hanging gardens of Babylon and the paradise garden of Persia. There are many mentions of gardens throughout old texts from Aristotle to others. As a result, the garden design we have today has lots of different influences from hundreds of years of gardens.

Zen gardens from China and Japan and villa gardens from Italy all developed from these original gardens. English landscape gardens and French parterres were also influenced. As a result, all of these garden styles have influenced today’s modern gardens as well. A little bit of style and technique is taken from each garden to create a completely modern look and style. Today’s gardens frequently have vinyl fencing as well to protect them or interlocking pavers that act as stepping stones rather than actual stones as the old gardens had. Vinyl fencing is new in gardens because before only wooden or steel fences were available. But, the new vinyl fencing is outstanding because it enhances a garden and is easy to clean not to mention lasts forever

Flower gardens became incredibly popular throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and today they remain so. Interestingly enough, but the gardens of the 20th century also resulted in city planning. There are a lot of interesting facts about gardening and how it started as well as how it ended up in today’s modern designs. Of course, just because modern gardens have been influenced so much by the past does not mean they are like the gardens of the past. Instead, modern gardens reflect elements that have been inspired from past gardens as well as different trends that have recently been implemented thanks to new design techniques and technology. Modern gardening really has been influenced by many different things and as each day passes there will be more changes in gardening.

Natalie Aranda writes about gardening. A little bit of style and technique is taken from each garden to create a completely modern look and style. Today’s gardens frequently have vinyl fencing as well to protect them or interlocking pavers that act as stepping stones rather than actual stones as the old gardens had. Vinyl fencing is new in gardens because before only wooden or steel fences were available.

Have you taken a good long look at your yard lately? If you have, chances are you’ve been dreaming about more outdoor storage space. If you’re tired of tripping over yard equipment, looking at unsightly weed whackers and lawn mowers or dodging your kids’ outdoor toys, a storage building may be the solution to all your outdoor storage dilemmas.

The best way to contend with your outdoor overcrowding is to add a storage shed to your property. But how can you best prepare for a storage building while you wait for it to be constructed? Here are some storage planning tips to maximize your storage shed experience.

- Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the past year. Have a yard sale, donate your useless outdoor storage items to charity or auction them off on eBay. The less clutter you have to begin with, the less cluttered your new storage building will be.

- Get organized. Arrange your outdoor storage items by category and/or season. When your storage shed is ready, put the items you won’t need for a while in the back so that those outdoor items you do need are at your ready disposal. Rotate the items in your storage shed each season for optimum efficiency.

- Carefully examine each of your outdoor storage items. Is the starter on your grill failing to ignite? Then replace it. Do your inflatable pool toys have leaks? Then toss them. Are the blades on your lawn mower dull? Then get them sharpened. There’s no point in filling up your new storage building with outdoor storage items that don’t work properly.

With a little advance preparation on your part, a storage shed from Heartland, America’s #1 backyard builder, can change your life for the better. Follow the aforementioned outdoor storage tips and enjoy a backyard transformation.

With Over 30 Years of Experience and 1.5 Million Satisfied Customers, Heartland has become the Expert in Providing the Perfect Storage Solutions for your Needs. Whether you are looking for additional storage or want to expand your outside living area, Heartland offers a stylish and functional solution, custom fit to your needs and your budget. Visit Heartland online at http://www.heartlandind.com

The methods employed to increase your search engine rankings may seem complicated to you. You have probably avoided dealing with this issue. WELL - the time has come to face your website! A high search engine ranking for your website is so essential that if you have the slightest desire to actually succeed in your business.

At least 85% of buyers of goods and services on the Internet locate websites through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. It stands to reason that the higher your page comes up in search engine results, the higher the volume of traffic that is directed to your website. That’s what search engine optimization is about.

You can get bogged down in all the technical information available online to figure out how to optimize your web pages to achieve higher rankings. Or you can look at a few simple items on your pages, make some small adjustments, and most likely see improved rankings quite rapidly.

The first item you should examine is the title bar on your homepage.

The title bar is the coloured bar at the top of the page. Look at the words that appear there when you access your home page. To increase search engine rankings, the words on your homepage’s title bar should include the most important keywords or phrases, one of which would include yourcompany name.

Then click on all your links and examine the title bars on the pages you access. Each title bar on every single page of your site should contain the most important keywords and phrases taken from the page itself. You should avoid very long strings of keywords, keeping them to six words or less. Avoid repeating keywords more than once in the title bars, and make sure that identical words are not next to each other.

The next item to examine is your website content. Search engines give greater weight to sites that contain quality content rather than fancy graphics. The text on your site must contain the most important keywords - the words that potential customers will be typing into search engines to find your site.

Aim to have around 250 words on each page, but if this is not possible due to your design, aim for at least 100 carefully chosen words. If you want to achieve a high ranking on search engines, this text is essential. However, the search engines must be able to read the text, meaning that the text must be in HTML and not graphic format.

Next we need to consider meta tags. Many people believe that meta tags are the key to high search engine rankings, but in reality, they only have a limited effect. It is still worth adding them in the event that a search engine will use meta tags in their ranking formula.

Finally, we come to the issue of link popularity. This is a factor that is extremely important in terms of search engine rankings. Almost all search engines use link popularity to rank your website. Link popularity is based on the quality of the sites you have linked to from your web pages.

If you type in “free link popularity check” in a popular search engine, the search engine will then show you what sites are linked to your site. If there aren’t many sites linked up to yours, or that the sites that are linked up have low search engine rankings, consider launching a link popularity campaign. Essentially, this entails contacting quality sites and requesting that they exchange links with your site. Of course, this requires checking out the rankings of the websites you want to link up with. Linking to popular, quality sites not only boosts your search engine ranking, but it also directs more quality traffic to your website. Also, posting to online forums creates valuable links from your signature file.

Before you go out and hire a search engine optimization company, try taking some of the basic steps listed above, and see if you can boost your rankings yourself. Don’t ever ignore this massively important factor in Internet marketing. Remember, the higher your search engine ranking, the more quality customers will be directed to your site.

About the Author:

Cameron Johnson makes multiple streams of income from one Website.

See how he does it here:

http://www.NetCashMadeEasy.com

http://www.NetCashMadeEasy.com

As the calendars rolled from the 20th to the 21st century the surety bond industry as a whole experienced some large scale changes. It was after several years of record breaking losses that forced many bonding companies to close down operations. Those sureties that were able to survive the soft market of the early millennium had some major changes to make. After a thorough review of their underwriting guidelines the industry shifted to become a much more conservative, leaving many applicants without the good credit unable to be bonded.

The fact of the matter is that many Americans do not have perfect credit, or anywhere near for that matter. One study (http://www.nationalscoreindex.com/ScoreNews_Archive_03.aspx) by Experian shows that the credit of an average American is 683. With a bond market that generally looks for a credit score of 650 or better, a large amount of the market was considered “un-bondable”. Typically those with sub-par credit score would have to get an Irrevocable Letter of Credit from the bank, or obtain a bond by posting 100% collateral.

After a short a period of time where this was the norm, Bad Credit Surety Bond Programs started to emerge. These programs were an alternative for those with bad credit that went against traditional suretyship. In these programs the surety would write for high risk commercial (sorry, this programs do not apply to contract bonds), but at much higher rates then typical bonds. Though this solution may have seamed very obvious to many, it should be noted that traditional surety underwriting is done with a 0% loss ratio. What this means is that unlike insurance, which many people mistake surety bonds for, there is no loss built into the premium of the bonds, hence only the best applicants traditionally are accepted.

The bonding companies that accept high risk applicants today are very few, though slowly new companies arise that are willing to write applicants using an insurance based philosophy. This increase in competition for the high risk market is good for the principle, as this competition has made rates more reasonable (slightly) and lowered certain requirements such as cash collateral, while adding new classes of business that are accepted as high risk.

So where does the future lie? This is perhaps the impossible question since very few would have predicted these High Risk Bonds from ever happening. Though many applicants may hope for lower rate, this does not appear to be in the cards as explained above in the 0% loss ratio mentality. The Bond market is very clear, it is separated into two camps, you are either in the standard market, or you are high risk. One thing that may occur in the future with increased competition is a scale of the high risk market. Perhaps those applicants with a history of a few collections may receive rates in the 8% -10% ranges, instead of just being lumped with applicants that have bankruptcies on their credit history.

The past few years have brought the bonds world into the high risk market. Through this time subtle changes have occurred to make the process easier on the applicants (no collateral-high risk). Eventually underwriters should start to define a cloudy area for middle ground rates for applicants that have poor credit sue to more minor infractions.

Todd Bryant is President of Bryant Surety Bonds, Inc.
Bryant Surety Bonds, Inc

Unfortunately, when it comes to your website, the “if you build it, they will come” strategy just doesn’t work. Fortunately, there are many ways to drive high-quality traffic to your website for little to no cost. The following 5 strategies will show you how:

1. Optimize your site for the search engines.

You’d have to be a fulltime search engine optimization expert to keep up with all the changes the major search engines make, but there are a few basic things you can do to help your site come up for relevant searches. Here are some to get you started:

a. Define your keywords - this is how people will find your business online. The trick is to find keywords that are highly relevant to what you offer and popular enough that they will attract decent traffic to your site, but not so competitive that you can’t rank well using them. Use your keywords in your web page copy.

b. Create your metatags - this is how the search engines “read” your site. Put your keywords in your metatags on each page of your website.

c. Don’t use lots of graphics or Flash, frames, or “alt” tags in HTML for pictures - search engines don’t like them because it makes it hard for them to “read” your site.

d. Submit your site to the search engines - (see #2).

e. Get links to your site - create a page in your website and call it either resources or links and add GOOD links, meaning relevant links. Linking is the second biggest indicator of how your site is ranked.

2. Submit your site to the search engines.

Why wait for the search engines’ robots or spiders to find you? Submit your website (it’s best if you submit every page individually) to at least these four major search engines and directories manually. It’s easy and only takes a minute.

Submit your web pages to:

Alexa: http://pages.alexa.com/hrlp/webmasters/index.html
Yahoo at http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
Google at http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addur
DMoz at http://www.dmoz.com/add.html

3. Swap ads with other ezines in your niche.

Seek out other ezines in your niche whose publishers might be interested in swapping ads. They can either be formals ads, or just a recommendation within the content of the ezine itself. I’ve used this strategy myself, with the result being lots of new visitors to my website and new subscribers to my ezine.

4. Be a bonus participant.

You’re probably aware of the tactic of adding valuable bonuses to your offerings to encourage people to buy. As a traffic-building technique, you could do the same for someone else’s product offering. For example, when Andrea Lee released her second edition of “Multiple Streams of Coaching Income” print book, one of my audio products was offered as a bonus to those who bought the book. I received loads of new visitors to my website and had a nice spike in ezine subscribers as well as a result.

5. Become an “ask the expert” on a high-traffic website in your niche.

Seek out websites that are information portals for your niche, and see if they offer an “ask the expert” section (and if they don’t, you could always suggest they do). Offer your services as an expert, to answer questions from their visitors about the challenges they face.

For example, I’m the online marketing expert at www.womans-net.com, and an expert within the Circle of Experts at www.adrpracticebuilder.com and I get targeted traffic from people visiting these sites.

These 5 ways of attracting targeted traffic to your website are tried-and true, meaning they DO work. They are all things you can do right now to start driving more more high-quality traffic to your online business today.

© 2007 Alicia M Forest and ClientAbundance.com

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™ and creator of “21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System™, teaches coaches, consultants, and other solo professionals and online entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.clientabundance.com/

I just finished up with my coaching singles training recently and was reminded of something I wanted to share.

The training was held once a week. In the second last class we were to identify a goal that we wanted to reach and then list 1-3 action steps we were willing to take by the next class and report back to the class on how we did. Luckily, this class was just before Christmas so it gave us an additional week to complete our action steps.

At the beginning of the next class, which was also the last class, we were asked to report on what we completed. The whole idea behind the exercise was to experience how accountability can be a motivator. Many of the participants had stated that they were much more driven to do the action steps because they knew they had to report back to class how they made out.

Obviously this was just a generic test, but statistics back this up as well. Below reflects the probability of completing a project or goal based on certain behaviors:

Come up with an idea - Probability 10%
Consciously decide to adopt the idea - Probability 20%
Set a date to complete - Probability 40%

Put a plan in place - Probability 50%

Commit to someone else - Probability 65%

Have a specific accountability appointment - Probability 95%

After the class I reflected on the exercise. When I was listening to the other class members’ talk about how motivated they were because they did not want to let the class down and look like failures, I wondered whether or not success could be had if they chose to be accountable to themselves as well. This is important since we don’t always have someone or a group to hold our feet to the fire.

That is when I started to remember a particular situation where that did occur for me. My husband and I separated in the month of January. In February I attended an intensive weekend workshop. In that workshop I was introduced to “acknowledgements”. Acknowledgements are used to help you identify positive things about yourself.

The way it works is everyday you are suppose to identify five things that you acknowledge yourself for, starting each acknowledgement with “I acknowledge myself for …..” . I thought this was a cool idea and thought I would give a shot. So when I came home from the weekend workshop I dusted off my journal and started my daily acknowledgements. Since everything was new and different everyday due to the separation I had no problem coming up with acknowledgements initially.

Well as the weeks went by it became harder and harder to come up with acknowledgements. But I wasn’t willing to quit. What happened was I found that I started to think of things that I could do differently so I would have something to acknowledge myself for each day. Little by little I started to step outside my comfort zone and take a risk just so I could have something to right in that blasted journal at the end of the day.

One particular situation sticks in my mind still today. As I mentioned earlier my husband and I separated in the month of January. My birthday is in April. So I found myself facing a birthday alone during a period of emotional turmoil. Well I resolved that I would not spend it alone and unhappy. So I decided I would throw myself a birthday party. This was a huge step outside my comfort zone, as one of my greatest fears in life is “rejection” and this was definitely a way to set myself up for rejection. I hand delivered my hand made invitations and had an amazing response. I must say it was probably one of the best birthdays I ever had.

I have my commitment to “acknowledgements” to thank for having the strength to take this step. After all I needed something to write in my acknowledgement journal. So again, I ask can we be just as successful by being accountable to ourselves as we are being accountable to others? I say, yes!

What is it that you want to achieve? How will you achieve it? Can you be your own support system when others are not available? Give it a try. Start your acknowledgement journal today. See how just a few entries can help you see you and your world a little different.

Hey, we are going to think things about ourselves and others no matter what, right? Why not choose to see the positive in ourselves and others rather than the negative. We or someone taught us how to think negatively about ourselves, so I challenge you to retrain yourself to see the good more than the bad. Give it a try. What do you have to lose? Nothing except your negative self-esteem.

If you take me up on my challenge I would love to hear about your experience email me at coach@lisafredette.com

Lisa A. Fredette is a CTA Certified Life Coach and a member of the Relationship Coaching Institute as well as a graduate of the Fearless Living Workshop. She is the owner of Passionate About Life Coaching. Lisa provides one on one and group coaching, workshops, and seminars. Her main focus is on supporting women who want to be successful singles after divorce and singles who wish to attract the right partner. In addition Lisa offers coaching services around the Fearless Living model. Sign up for Lisa’s free report “Stop the Pain: Six Easy Steps to Removing the Emotional Pain of Divorce” at http://www.lisafredette.com

Atlanta Employment Agencies are professional recruiting agencies, which are approached both by clients, such as big business firms, organizations and the candidates in search of job.

Employment agencies, which are highly professional in approach and selection of candidates for different job openings, are better to be relied on if and when an employer needs a professional candidate or a job aspirant needs a dream job. Employment agencies, in Atlanta or elsewhere, concentrate only on quality candidates for their clients, as it is obvious that a satisfied client approaches them again.

So, fresher or the experienced candidate in Atlanta in need of better job can simply contact any local registered employment agency in Atlanta to look out for openings.

Here are some guidelines:

·-Get your resume and cover letter ready, which mentions about you positively.

·-Make sure that you update your resume by making favorable changes according to the target job you are searching, every time.

·-An extensive search and research in the internet will always reward you. Get to know the information on different employment agencies located in your area. Observe their approach and success history. Look at the clients who they have provided for and the candidates and also at their present clients.

·-Though the thought of searching in job sites is good, it is sure that larger firms and companies use employment agencies rather than job sites. So, one can find better employment opportunities at the agencies than job sites.

·-Once you have researched the job opportunities, now you can approach the employment agencies you have chosen to contact.

·-It is always better to contact the employment agencies which are specialized in employing in a particular area than those who recruit generally, as even the clients also look for the specialized ones.

Agencies recruit both temporary and permanent employees. Fresher employees in Atlanta can opt for temporary or project based employments, which have a definite period of 6 months or 1 year. It helps fresher employees get involved in a short term projects to reach goals and also gain qualifications and experience to be placed in one’s resume.

While there are scams that came to light about employment agencies, it is better for a job searcher in Atlanta do some research before approaching any employment agency in Atlanta.

Blogs and forums have been better places for any one approaching employment agencies. There are many local forums in which experts provide information and guidance on approaching employment service agencies in Atlanta.

One need not be shy about asking any question. Even the questions on the credentials of an employment agency can also be asked.

There have been many scams in relation to some employment agencies. While the task of an employment agency is only to find fitting candidates for their clients’ requirements, agencies need nothing more from a candidate than his suitability for a post. KoreOne has been informing about employment resources and advisement to candidates for all aspects of related jobs. Similarly, KoreOne keeps providing information to the employer of Atlanta.

Shakir A: independent writer for IT Staffing/ Recruitment Trends and tips
Atlanta Employment Agency http://www.koreone.com

One way to invest in real estate is by purchasing new construction or pre-construction residential homes. This is a highly lucrative way to make profits quickly. Many times your home will increase in value before it is even built.

About ten builders are responsible for over 90% of the new homes built in the United States each year. These builders usually announce when and where they intend to build a new tract of homes well in advance of ever breaking ground. They are looking for areas where there is growth potential in terms of population, marketplace appeal, and ability to buy. They spend many millions of dollars for research to find just the right areas across the country before they begin building. As an investor you can profit from this extensive research.

When a home builder first announces to the community that they intend to build a specific number of homes in a particular area they generally hold an open house for all perspective and potential buyers to attend. Realtors are also invited because it is typical for the builder to offer a 2-4% commission on any homes that are sold through the area realtors. They will set up a sales office where you can see the artist’s rendering of the homes that will be built, as well as see brochures showing the floor plans and options that will be offered. Try to visit the sales office quickly so that you can be among the first to choose a floor plan, model, and location that you may be interested in purchasing.

The builders often will offer sales concessions to the first buyers to commit contractually to purchasing one of the new homes. These concessions may come in the form of money towards closing costs, a buydown of the interest rate for the first 2-5 years so that the payments will be more affordable, a credit towards landscaping or home furnishings, or other creative means. Their goal is to sell as many homes as possible during this early stage so that they can develop more projects in either the same or other areas. You benefit by having the first choice of model and location within the new development.

If you do not intend to live in the home you must find out what the builder’s requirements are. They may ask you to sign an agreement that you do not rent out the home or sell it for the first year, or until all of the homes in the new development have been sold.

Purchasing new residential real estate is a smart way to invest for several reasons. You will be buying in a brand new neighborhood and be able to choose if you want a corner lot, cul-de-sac location, or an interior lot. You will also have the choice of building materials, such as ceramic tile, granite, cabinetry, and type of flooring. The color choices will also be yours. As the original buyer you will also be able to choose amenities like fireplaces, balconies, extra bedroom or den, and other things that can be changed before the home is actually built. These new homes also typically come with a home warranty, up to ten years, that covers just about everything except for light bulb replacement.

It is always best to conduct your own research about the builder’s reputation for quality and completion time. Find out if there will be a homeowner’s association and what the monthly fee will cover. Also investigate the neighborhood itself to see if this is where you will want to live or own a home for investment. Check directly with the neighborhood schools to see where the children from these new homes will be able to attend.

As building gets underway visit regularly to see the progress that is being made. Wear your old clothes and shoes because the streets may not be paved yet. You will want to walk around and go into the homes as they are build, but be sure to get permission from the construction foreman. They will most likely require you to wear a hard hat when walking close to the homes and may not allow children to accompany you for safety reasons. Follow the rules set forth by the foreman so that you will always be safe and not get in the way of their work schedule.

Purchasing residential real estate that is new or pre-construction can the path to profits for you, while also helping the country’s overall economy. Do your research and investigation and then buy the home that you have helped design and plan.

Connie Ragen Green is a Real Estate Broker and State Certified Residential Appraiser in California and has bought and sold over 100 properties since 1983. Visit her at http://www.BuyRealEstateforProfit.com for more information about buying and selling real estate.

Anger: Should you express it or suppress it is an age old debate. People who promote suppressing anger do so on the premise that letting anger out will cause damage to both your self and to others. Those who say you should express anger do so on the premise that you will be relieved and calmer by letting it go.

In actual fact you shouldn’t express it or suppress it. Here are the reasons:

By suppressing anger the result will usually be that the anger will recoil and lash back at you from within in such a way that you’ll have little or no control over it. That recoiled anger can be very destructive to the self and others. By expressing anger, although most people experience a temporary relief from the tension of holding onto anger the long term result is that you are develop[ping the tendency towards being angry and giving it out. Such a person is getting more and angrier as time goes on.

So what to do? The best method is to control anger so you don’t express it or suppress it. To control anger means to master the emotion before it becomes too powerful for you. When something happens that you know is going to make you angry or you see something that starts to get the emotion going that is the moment to immediately interrupt the polarization of your emotions to anger. In a very simple way it is in fact quite possible to choose not to be angry. Yes, it is that simple, so simple that very few people have ever tried choosing not to be angry. Most simply believe that it is human nature to be under the influence of anger and get angry. Try it and see. The next time you experience the onset of anger, whether it is a slow burning up or a rapid blaze about to start, think: STOP and create thoughts contrary to anger; thoughts of tolerance, thoughts of peace, thoughts of good feelings. This works! Give love or even soothing talk to either calm the self down; just like you would to an angry or upset child: there, there, it’s ok, it’s ok

Accept that you have anger. Denying that you have anger is pointless. It’s ok to have the emotion of anger. Now you only need to control it. Start with self forgiveness and go on from there. It helps to understand that any one who is angry is very weak even though they may seem powerful. Anger is like a ‘paper tiger’ where as peace is a true power that is latent in all of us. The proof of that is that everyone prefers peace. Even the most violent of people will calm down from any rage after a while. That person’s calm state may be worse than your angry state but for them it is relatively calm. We all have hope.

For more great tips on anger management visit http://free-anger-management.improvefast.net, a cool anger management website that provides advice, resources and tips on dealing with anger. There’s also a section
on ‘anger management for kids’

You’re probably wondering how someone can build a list with words on a page. You can’t really. But you can use them to send people to your squeeze page where all the list building begins. The way to build your list using words is by writing articles.

Starting an article seems hard, but it’s not really. Think about your niche, what about it interests you, and what you’re interested in learning more about yourself. That way, researching becomes fun for you, too. So, let’s say that you like hockey, all right? But what about hockey do you base your list upon? Maybe it’s the personalities, the players. You especially love to write about the great ones like Orr, Gretsky, and Lemieux. So, you choose Lemieux this time and wonder what you’ll write about him.

Then what?

Begin at Google. Type “Mario Lemieux” into the search box, and see what results you get. On top, you may see an entry from Wikipedia. OK, that’s a good place to get some basic information. When you hit the page there, you find out that Lemieux now owns the team. He played for the Pittsburgh Penguins for 17 years, and when they filed bankruptcy in 1999, he took the team over. That’s pretty interesting. Why? How did it happen?

So, your next search is for the “Pittsburgh Penguins.” The team has been around a very long time, and even had a different name until the late 1960s, but down the page a bit, you see a section about Mario and find that he took over the team because he was owed so much back pay that he was their largest creditor. Boom! You have some good background information. But you need facts. Finding stuff on the Web is OK, but you have to be careful when you’re writing articles that what you put into them is real.

But you’re on the Internet! You can go to several different places to get information about what was happening when it happened almost a decade ago. Try the Pittsburgh newspapers, like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette or the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. At the Post Gazette, you can run a search for penguins +bankruptcy and come away with a whole list of articles to read more information. This is a credible source. Magazines are usually another place to get good factual information, and you can access thousands of issues, current and past, of hundreds of magazines right through your computer with your library card. Almost any topic you can think of has available research material online.

When you have all your facts together, decide on your main point of discussion. Perhaps you might write about how he was the brightest star on the ice at that time, and he wasn’t being paid. You can explain why the expenses for the team were so high, what Lemieux got and didn’t get, and how he ended up owning a major hockey franchise. Begin with a strong lead:

Which Pittsburgh Penguin played so well that he’s already made it to the Hall of Fame? He never asked to be traded. He never stopped playing his heart out, but guess what? He never was paid all the money he was owed, either. So, what kept him hanging on?

I haven’t researched this topic thoroughly because I’m not going to write an article about Lemieux, but you see where I’m going, I hope. Start with an interesting paragraph.

So, how does this help you with list building? You’ve written an interesting story. So, now you write a great resource or author’s bio box to go with it. This is where the marketing comes in:

Bob Smith is an avid hockey fan and a hockey history buff. You can read more of his interesting information about the old days of hockey in his newsletter at Bob’s Hockey http://bobshockey.com.

Do you like hockey? Would you join Bob’s list to find out more if you liked the article you read? Sure, you would. Once people have joined your list and are enjoying the information you’re giving them, you sell them related hockey products and make money, too. It’s amazing how well this works.

But don’t stop at one article. Try to write one or two a week, and keep them coming. Not only will it help you to build your list, it will help your web site to gain rank with the search engines from all the one-way links pointing back to it. Articles are great! Start writing them and see if it doesn’t help your sales and conversions, too.

Tellman Knudson, CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc., is a master list builder and well-known for his first project, List Crusade. Tellman teaches you his system for explosive list building at MyFirstList.com.