A water heater’s tank is made of steel and plumbing lines are often made out of brass or copper. This poses a problem. Brass or copper may not touch steel without causing the steel to rust and corrode. The brass or copper will remain unharmed when touching steel. This can cause a weakened water heater lining. Plastic-lined nipples were created to deal with this problem. If you have a brand new water heater and it is attached to copper lines, check to see if any corrosion has occurred. If it has, you should have plastic-lined nipples installed immediately to prevent corrosive damage to the water heater which could cause a leak.

If you are handy with plumbing, you can install gate valves on your hot and cold lines on top of your water heater. Install brass valves into plastic-lined nipples. This is better than installing directly into steel. Don’t attach copper or brass directly to steel or the steel will corrode and rust. Now you have the ability to turn the water on and off at the water heater.

Heat traps can be used where the plastic-lined nipples are installed. Hire a plumber to do this to increase the water heater’s efficiency. Make sure adapters are attached to the copper plumbing. If the water heater has a combination anode rod inside, the plastic-lined nipple will still be important. Now you can attach a plastic-lined nipple. If you have a curved dip tube installed inside your water heater, you will need a three inch long plastic-lined nipple as well.

The easiest method of adding plastic-lined nipples if you have steel plumbing is as follows: Attach to both the hot and cold lines a plastic-lined nipple where the lines protrude from the wall. Attach to both of the hot and cold lines another set of plastic-lined nipples where the lines connect to the water heater. Use copper flex-connectors to connect the hot line from the wall to the water heater and do the same for the cold line. Heat traps should be installed to your plumbing lines for increased heating efficiency and to keep the water in the lines warmer.

Plastic-lined nipples may also be installed on the T&P valve. A lack of corrosion or rusting will keep the T&P working properly without getting any trapped water inside. This can assist, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

Go to http://www.waterheater-info.com or contact johnnyhayneser@gmail.com for information on solar water heaters, tankless water heater, traditional tank-type water heaters, and water heater repair. I can set you up with the most qualified plumbing contractor in your area.

Hair loss is usually a traumatic experience for someone who values a full head of hair. A number of different psychology elements are at play here. These range from coping with a noticeable change in appearance, dealing with the aging process, and handling self image issues due to the loss of hair.

Loss of hair can be caused by many different factors. Even though it is a studied field of human biology, scientists still do not have all the answers for hair loss and they do not have the means to successfully prevent it.

Every person loses hair every single day of their lives.

This is not a big deal for most people because the hairs that fall out are replaced by new hair growth.

People who do not experience this new hair growth need hair loss help.

The first bit of hair loss help is the good news that sometimes hairs do grow back. This is true for people who experience a medical or a chemical suppressant of hair growth. People who have certain illnesses and people who undergo chemotherapy often grow their hair back when these conditions or treatments are terminated.

The next bit of hair loss help is the good news that there are remedies available for people who do not experience natural hair regrowth.

Falling under the cosmetic category, one finds many hair loss drugs on the chemical side of the treatment spectrum, as well as herbs for hair loss on the natural or organic side of the hair loss treatment spectrum.

On the very serious side of hair loss help one can find complete hair transplants. With this type of treatment hair is implanted into the skin on the skull to cover up the bald spots.

People who have, without success, tried drugs or herbs for hair loss and do not want the hair transplant option often resort to two different solutions to cover their baldness.

The first method many people use is called the “comb over”. This is a remedy where the remaining hair is left to grow long enough so that it can be combed over the bald area to cover it.

The second method is wearing a wig or a toupee. A wig with naturally looking hair can be a very expensive item with prices into the thousands of dollars.

To some people, hair and hairstyle form an essential element of what they define as their beauty or their attractiveness. Hair loss changes their appearance and most people hate that. When hair loss visits you, you either have to consider one or more of the hair loss help items mentioned above, or you have to learn to love the new you.

For more information on hair loss visit InformationAttendant.com, where you can also find a wide selection of information and knowledge with RSS feeds for website syndication.

Google’s landing page quality score is meant to algorithmically eliminate low quality and obvious spam sites from the AdWords advertising platform by making it unaffordable. The new update puts pressure on advertisers to develop search engine friendly landing pages with readable content. But even among those who have developed spider-friendly pages, this update has stirred a lot of anger because:

1.-The system still makes judgment errors.

2.-Well-performing one-shot sites saw their minimum bids skyrocket.

3.-Advertisers playing around with multiple domains sometimes saw their minimum bids go up.

4.-Advertisers using the system to quickly make money through dubious means or with quickly setup sites stopped making profits.

Advertisers in the first three categories have solutions to the minimum bid problem. The last set of advertisers does not.

The First Three

The frequency of judgment errors seems about at the same level as it was before, when minimum bids without landing page quality were employed. If one of your minimum bids looks like an error in judgment, call Google and they might fix it. Otherwise employ the usual means of making ad text and landing page copy more relevant to the keyword. All the sites that I advertise that were legitimate sites, employing typical advertising methods, went unaffected by the quality score update. If you fall under this category, you probably shouldn’t be affected by the update.

Over time, AdWords gave rise to a lot of very effective one-shot sites that had low bids and high conversion rates. These were sites that might have displayed only one page islands. The page may have been a newsletter or whitepaper signup, or something along these lines. These pages didn’t provide much content, and didn’t establish reputation with the visitor, but nonetheless they often did well. In a sense, these sites employed borderline methods, and Google doesn’t approve of them. In their landing page guidelines, Google recommends providing substantial and unique content, defining your business and what it does, and notifying the visitor how his/her personal information is being treated. Advertisers employing the one-shot method can fix their landing pages up to meet Google’s guidelines if they are legitimate companies.

The final fixable category of users that had trouble with Google’s quality score employed multiple domains. The reason this could be problematic may lie in the requirement for unique content. As in SEO, AdWords advertisers should develop one domain for a set of products or services to avoid problems.

The Advertisers That Are Permanently Affected

The last set of advertisers who have problems with Google’s quality score guidelines is tough out of luck. Being an affiliate that launches a visitor into another site that is already advertising with AdWords is probably going to impact your campaigns. This is a lower quality site in the eyes of Google and probably in the eyes of most users. Also, using AdWords ads to generate revenue with more expensive AdSense ads by capitalizing on click-happy visitors is going to ruin your campaigns. These methods of making money with AdWords are getting eliminated. Advertisers are being forced to provide more content of their own and to develop reputable domains.

Conclusion

Among advertisers using search engine friendly landing pages, a lot of controversy developed from Google’s quality score updates. This is because the update required some users to update their pages to stay profitable and completely eliminated other advertisers from the pay per click arena.

Steve Loszewski is a Google AdWords qualified professional. He optimizes campaigns for Pure Visibility, a pay per click management company

“I don’t know.”

These three words are DEADLY.

As a front line employee, you are the face and the voice of your company. As such, you must project an aura of competence, confidence and resourcefulness. That’s what approachable service is all about!

So, even if you really DON’T know the answer to a customer question, never let ‘em see you sweat.

Here’s what you say instead:

“Great question! I’m not exactly sure, so let me ask someone who DOES know.”

This is the Phrases that Payses for several reasons:

IT REFRAMES. The customer is upset. Frustrated. Looking for answers. So, by immediately countering with a positive, even complimentary response, you reframe the context of the dialogue. They start to feel reassured right away! You’ve laid a foundation of positivity and approachability.

IT LOOSENS THE BLOW. By stating that you’re “not exactly” sure, you come off as more competent and confident. Much better than, “I have no idea!”
After all, your credibility is on the line. The front line!

IT VOCALIZES COMMITMENT. It’s OK not to know everything. But it’s also OK to tell someone that their question is important enough that you will go out of your way to find the answer for them. See, without this display of commitment, you’re toast. Because customers only give you (and your company) credit for that which they SEE and HEAR you do consistently. And consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness.

Ultimately, your job as a customer service provider; call center operator or PDX rep is not only to provide approachable service, but to CHANGE PEOPLE’S MINDS.

About their problem.
About your company.
About your level of service.
About YOU as an individual!

So, next time you get stumped by a tricky customer question, just remember: customers want answers. Solutions. First call resolutions! And even if you’re not exactly sure what those are, that doesn’t mean you can’t respond in a confident, competent and approachable manner.

© 2007 All Rights Reserved.
Scott Ginsberg, aka “The Nametag Guy,” is the internationally recognized author of three books and a professional speaker who helps businesspeople make a name for themselves - one conversation at a time. To book Scott for your next association meeting, conference or corporate event, contact HELLO, my name is Scott! at 314/256-1800 or email scott@hellomynameisscott.com.

Some debt solutions make sense, while others are not so smart. Is selling your assets a good option to meet your debts?

Yes, sometime it is. In this article we are going to cover the pros and cons associated with selling your assets in order to save yourself from the pain of paying off your debts.

The benefit of selling your assets may vary for different people depending on many factors such as; the nature of the debt, the amount of the debt, the resale value of the asset, the future prospects of retaining the asset, etc. In order to understand whether this debt solution is right for you, you have to assess your situation and work out the best option for you.

Two Types of Assets

There are two types of assets: the appreciating ones and the depreciating ones. Appreciating assets include immovable property such as your land, house, or a rented place and some movable assets such as jewelry, antiques, old paintings, etc.

Depreciating assets include your vehicles, used furniture or other articles, books, etc.

If you have decided that the best debt solution for you is to sell some of your assets, then the best assets to sell are the depreciating kind.

Suppose you owe a credit card debt of $2000, you may easily pay it off by selling old stereo equipment or a TV that you no longer use. These days it is easy to sell anything on ebay. Plus if you sell stuff through ebay, it is easy to check the value of the asset.

By the way, you need to make sure that by selling your old asset you are not forced to buy a new one to replace it. If you do not have an alternate means of transport for your daily conveyance, there is no point in selling your old car. It may take a long period of time for you to buy a second one, and so keep it in mind that you go for the resale wisely.

Hold a Garage Sale

Another option, instead of selling one or two big assets, is to hold a garage sale. By displaying all your unused items including the old furniture, paintings, and clothes and accessories in an all-in-one garage sales display, you can attract prospective customers.

Though the individual items may not offer significant prices, you may earn a lot of money from the collective money offered by these unwanted items that have been messing up your house for years.

However, if you owe a debt that is not manageable by the above assets, you may think of divesting your most valuable assets, such as your property or jewelry.

Here too, you need to consider the financial benefits rather than thinking only the emotional benefits of getting rid of your debts versus what you get emotionally from having that jewelry or other valuable assets.

For example, you may think of reinvesting a part of the resale value of your asset after meeting your debt obligations. This will definitely give you double benefits - you get to retire your debts and you get something new to replace the asset(s) you sold.

The Emotional Effects of Selling Your Assets

One thing I do not want to overlook is the emotional strain of selling some of your assets to get rid of some of your debt. Even though you are getting rid off your costliest debts, it is painful to realize that you are losing one of your most valuable assets.

Therefore, it is important that you prioritize your assets before selling them. For instance, you may decide to keep some stock or bonds you own, as the appreciation on these investments could help you build a big retirement account. You may instead go for selling your jewelry, as the appreciation on them is not as high as compared to that of the stock or bonds.

By “not as high” I am talking about missing out on the investment gain from your assets. Because no matter how much those current debts are squeezing from you in terms of interest, if you’re selling your assets to pay off debt, you are sacrificing the future gains from your assets.

At the end of the day, selling your assets is a great debt solution for you to try, but it is one that usually is a last resort. Before you go for this “drastic debt reduction plan” you should try and see if you can use any of the simpler debt consolidation or debt elimination options that are available to you.

Fabio Marciano is the author of The Secrets of Wealth and president of The Wealthy Pauper, a company whose mission it is to help educate people about investing, getting out of bad debt and personal development.

Get your hands on free debt help resources designed to help you learn how to pay off debt at: http://www.payoffallyourdebt.com/free

In a world of instant oatmeal, instant gratification, instant product downloads and instant food, it’s no wonder that we continue to seek an almost instant answer to our weight gain problems. From fast food that we pick up on our way home to instant delivery over the Web, we want what we want and we want it now.

Is it any wonder that the weight loss industry has grown to be worth over 30 billion dollars while only about 5% of those on a diet will be able to keep the weight off for more than a year or two. The reason for this extremely profitable industry, is that as a group, the weight loss industry offers the promise of quick and easy weight loss. This is very effective because frankly, we desperately want to believe that there is some pill or exercise equipment that can somehow magically transform us into thin and beautiful people.

By the dream a fast and easy weight loss, only to be disappointed and disillusioned… until the next time

We don’t seem to care that all the extra weight took months or even years to be gained. Nor do we recognize that there’s so much going against us losing weight quickly.
Things like:

1. Having babies and families

2. Heredity

3. Slowing metabolism, because were aging

4. Little time for physical activity to work schedules

5. Work and careers that now keep us behind a desk in front of a computer monitor instead of physical work.

6. Busy schedules mean precooked and fast food that high in calories and fat content.

Don’t be fooled by the weight loss industry promises. Notice that they use a disclaimer like “results not typical” in their marketing materials. This isn’t to suggest that the weight loss industry can’t help with your weight loss goals. It’s important to understand however that just as gaining the weight didn’t happen overnight, losing it, even the fastest way possible will also not be a short-term effort.

Vitamins, minerals and supplements to curb your appetite can all help you reach your weight loss goals. The fastest weight loss programs are also the healthiest, but unfortunately also demand the highest level of commitment from us. When it comes down to it, the most successful and quickest weight-loss plan is one that’s designed for us to eat less and exercise more.

Abigail Franks has done extensive research into weight loss and what works. Find out valuable information about the fastest weight loss and many successful weight loss ideas