Summertime Parties

As usual, you can always count on July to introduce the heat into summer. Now that we've had a proper welcome to the most lively season of all, let's start planning a party to thoroughly enjoy the time we have in the sun.

Summertime parties are some of the best parties you can have. The weather is almost always perfect if not just right, people feel alive and a special sense of fun fills the atmosphere. Maybe it's the clear skies, maybe it's the warmth on your skin or maybe it's the bright sunny days that puts everyone in a cheerful mood. Whatever it is, we're happy to finally have summer back!

Now is the time to gather your favorite friends and family for a backyard barbecue, a pool party, or a midsummer night's cocktail party. Plan your party like you're dressing for summer: lightly. This will ensure an easy-going atmosphere and chill time, which is what summer is all about.

For food options, consider having a snack table with an assortment of chilled fruits and veggies with some light ranch dip. Maybe some salad would work as well. Avoid the greesy chip snacks, these can get heavy and messy which is not a good combination with the heat. 

Burgers and hot dogs are a staple at any summertime cookout, but you can also choose to have chicken or vegetable skewers instead. Desserts MUST be cold: ice cream, ice cream cake, sherbets or popsicles are great choices.

For drinks, keep a selection of beers, sodas, water and juices on ice. You can even have a concession machine rentals like margarita machine or a slushie/snow cone machine on deck to add a little flare. Nighttime cocktail parties may call for a full bar and bartender to attend to a variety of drink preferences. 

Cold drinks are a great way to keep your guests cool in the sun, but don't forget about tent rentals to put up for shade. You certainly don't want any dizzy spells on your hands at your party. 

In any case, make sure to have plenty of tables and chairs for all your guests to comfortably eat at or take a break from standing around in the heat. Have appropriate music playing to make sure guests don't remain seated for too long, though. 

Pop music is great for a lively party atmosphere, but if your party is more laidback, then island music will be perfect. For nighttime cocktail parties, consider jazz music for entertainment; and if your daytime party is going to include kids, consider water slides and games.

For decor and lighting, keep things bright. Bright and neon colored streamers, accessories, tablecloths, utensils and even food and drinks will add to the mood. As an outdoor party, bug repellent candles are essential. They can even double as lighting once the sun sets. If you have the space and money for it, a fire pit would be an awesome addition to really top off that summer atmosphere.

Summertime is fun time. Get your friends and family together, fire up the grill, pour the drinks and turn up the music for a memorable party

Plan a Summer Time Party

Have a birthday or block party during the Summer that you are trying to plan for? There are a couple of things to keep in mind and take into consideration to have a cool and refreshing Summer time party. Summer is a fun and active time for a lot of people because of the great weather and ability to cool off with in the water or have a fun day out at the park. Here are a couple of things to take into consideration when you plan a Summer time party:

Shade From Sizzling Heat

We have experienced a lot of dramatic changes in weather due to climate change with hotter Summers and colder Winters. So as you plan a Summer time party, pool party, or Summer picnic at the park, plan on having some shade with tents or canopies. Tent Rentals are a great way to provide shade and cool from the heat.

Water, Water, Water

Whether you have a party at your house, on your block, at the park, or at the beach, you have to make sure to provide a lot of H2O for everyone to keep hydrated. The heat tends to get to people during the course of the day and being overheated can bring down our mood, so make sure to provide plenty of water for you and your guests to keep hydrated and cool.

Cool off With Concessions

Another great way to cool down from the heat at your backyard Summer, pool, or picnic is to rent a Concession Machine. Some good concession machines during the summer include Snow Cone or Ice Shaver machines and Margarita Machines. Concession machines are really simple to make and usually party rental companies will provide all the supplies to go with it, so you have nothing to worry about.

So remember, Summer can be a really fun and warm time, but make sure to provide plenty of shade, water, and refreshments to cool off. Last thing any party host wants is his/her guests having their moods melt away.

Planning for A Grad Party at the Top of Its Class

It is graduation season and grads of all ages are ready to celebrate their academic successes in preparation for a fun-filled summer leading to a new chapter in their lives.

A graduation party is one of the most exciting parties students may ever attend. It takes some work tor properly plan and successfully host a grad party, so read on to find out how to celebrate at the top of your class!

Since graduation is celebrated with so many family members and friends, it is important to host your party on a date that allows graduates to be flexible with their own commitments and celebrations. Plan ahead to give guests enough time to secure the date and inform them on dress codes and whether meals will be served.

Create a guest list to help make planning easier. You can count on your closest family and friends, but if guests can’t commit to your party, invite them to drop-in whenever they can to celebrate with you. You may even invite a broader list of friends and classmates to make your party one of the stops for celebration in case there are a number of grad parties going on in town.

A menu for your party should definitely be age-appropriate. Depending on whether it is a pre-school graduation party or college graduation party, your selection of food and drinks will surely differ.

Pre-school and elementary kids may be entertained with snacks and juices, whereas middle school and high school kids might prefer pizzas and soda. Be careful with the older high school kids that may try to sneak in alcohol. Underage drinking is not a problem you want to deal with during your celebration.

A college grad party may call for a more sophisticated menu of appetizers, a variety of foods to fill a plate with and desserts. Beer, wine and cocktails might also entertain your guests better.

As you can see, even the menu will take some planning, but no matter what, do not forget a “Congratulations Graduates!” cake to share with guests.

For decorations, stay true to your school’s colors and mascot. You may also include themes of major events and accomplishments for your school in your graduating year. Since graduation is in the springtime, an outdoor or luau themed party may also be appropriate.

To entertain your guests, decide on a DJ or live band for music that caters to the older graduates. Maybe hula dancers for the luau parties or magicians and face painters for grade school grads.

There are a number of items to plan and budget for in hosting a grad party, just make sure to include your graduate in on all aspects of planning. It is their special moment to say goodbye to past memories and prepare for the future, so be sure to celebrate the memorable occasion with a special party.

St. Patrick’s Day Party Planning

March is here and St. Patrick’s Day is the marquee holiday of the month. So take a green marker and circle the 17^th on your calendar to be sure to celebrate with a fun crowd of friends, family and even strangers; for as they say, “everyone’s at least a little bit Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”

First thing’s first: you must think green. Decorations for a St. Patrick’s Day party definitely need to be centered on green. Props and pictures of shamrocks, leprechauns, pots-o-gold, and rainbows are perfect for your party’s theme.  Blow up some green balloons and of course don’t forget to wear green yourself. Mark your house accordingly so guests know where to go.

As for what you will serve your guests, once again think green. Food coloring goes a long way in turning your food and beverages green. Save the light beers and clear sodas for the green drinks while serving some traditional Irish beer (Guinness, O’Hara’s, Murphy’s); don’t forget the green Jell-O shots! Green M&Ms or cookies and chips with guacamole make for easy themed treats.

For entertainment at your party, you can play a CD of classic Irish pub songs, a Dropkick Murphy’s greatest hits album, or sing along to popular Irish songs like “Whiskey in the Jar”, “The Wild Rover”, “Danny Boy”, or “The Unicorn Song”. What may be even more entertaining is to hold a limerick contest or just have an open floor for people to have fun with humorously witty poetry that need not make any sense. It’s always fun to drink and be silly, for:

There are plenty who party in the States,

All with their guys and their gals on this date.

          When they gulp down their beers,

          Out come all the cheers,

And laughter along with all that they ate.

With a green house (not the kind you grow plants in), lots of green food and drinks, and entertainment as suggested above, you are sure to have a cheerful and fun St. Patrick’s Day party.

So as you begin planning your party: a “top of the mornin’ to you…(and the rest to me-self)”. “May the sun shine on your windowpane” and “the hand of a friend always be near you” on the day of your party; and “may the wind at your back not be from the cabbage and corned beef that you eat on St. Patrick’s Day!” Cheers!

Planning a Special Valentine’s Day

As a holiday shared between two lovers, Valentine’s Day should be celebrated romantically and in a way that engages all the senses sensually. Make this Valentine’s Day the best one yet by planning an event accordingly.

It goes without saying that your romance and passion should be expressed by sending your loved one a bouquet of flowers. Start the holiday by awakening her senses with the wonderful scent of freshly blossomed flowers. Roses are a popular choice, but jasmine, gardenias, and stargazer lilies will also do.

If you can manage, leave a romantic voicemail message for her to hear during the day or surprise her with a CD in her car stereo full of her favorite love songs; and make sure that it starts with your own special song, this will really tantalize her ears as she drives around town.

For even more cupid-like gestures, write her a love-letter, a romantic valentine, a poem, or find a nice greeting card to help express your thoughts and feelings.

If you can have the whole day together, plan a day of sightseeing and activities to have some fun leading up to a romantic evening together. Try a picnic at your favorite outdoor spot, visit an exciting town center or try an exciting new activity together such as hot air ballooning.

If you only have the evening to share, go for a drive along your favorite scenic road or vista to take in the evening sights. Enjoy a panoramic view of the glimmering city lights atop your favorite hill or mountainside, these visuals will help spark a romantic atmosphere for the rest of the evening.

Be sure to have dinner plans arranged ahead of time to avoid conflicts. Reserve dinner at a favorite restaurant, where you first had dinner together, or even someplace new you’ve both wanted to try. You can even surprise her with a candlelit dinner at home, outdoors at your favorite romantic spot if it’s not too cold, or even in a special hotel room suite.

Make sure the champagne is kept on ice to begin your romantic evening with a toast to each other. Prepare a dinner with favorite foods to excite her tastebuds. Oysters, shrimp, salmon, steak and other flavorful foods will make for a romantically savoring meal. Chocolate dessert is a must after dinner, so make sure to have the truffles and raspberry treats elegantly wrapped as a tasty gift.

After dinner you may take a carriage ride through town, go dancing, step out for a romantic stroll, go out for drinks, go ice-skating, or anything fun that you will both enjoy. Be sure to remind her of all the reasons you love her and enjoy kisses throughout the night.

Upon return to your house, suite, or whatever romantic getaway you have arranged, you may enjoy giving each other a full body massage with aromatic oils or even just a neck and shoulder rub with facial caresses to ignite her sense of touch. If planned ahead, you can prepare a bath with her favorite scented candles and rose petals all around for her to enjoy as you offer a massage. Rose petals across the sheets are also a nice touch for a romantic close to your evening.

Other romantic ideas include a weekend getaway to a bed-and-breakfast, a beach house, a cabin, or even on a yacht rented out for the weekend. Also, remember the bonus touch of a special gift just for her. Jewelry such as necklaces and earrings are nice while a ring may be more appropriate for the more serious couples, but any special gift should be appreciated.

Although this article highlights the guy as the one planning everything for the girl, the gesture may fittingly be applied either way. This is just an idea of some of the ways you can make Valentine’s Day a memorable day for you and your loved one. Be creative and be thoughtful in your own approach by including whatever may be personally special between you and your loved one.

Planning a Super Bowl Party

Now that February is under way and the boredom of January is behind us, let’s kick off the new month with a winner: your very own Super Bowl XLV Party! This is one party where you can let loose with the planning and focus on simply having fun. Let’s begin by tackling some of the best ways to make sure your party is worthy of championship celebration.

The two most important ingredients are lots of food and drinks and a TV or two. Whether you or your guests gather for the love of the game or not, these are the essentials.

A buffet table of simple, portable foods is your best bet. You don’t want to commit a penalty by asking your guests to sit around a table for entrees when they’d rather be shouting at the TV and jumping around in celebration or despair. If you plan on having a large gathering, set up as many TVs as you have available around your party area for easier viewing for everyone.

Regarding the foods to prepare: keep it simple. Avoid a menu full of items that require intensive preparation that will keep you in the kitchen the whole time. Make sure you get to enjoy your own party as well.

Chips, an assortment of dips, salsa, chili, chicken wings, cheeses, pizza, mini sausages, and basically any high-fat finger foods that are easy to serve, eat, and enjoy while watching the game are perfect menu items. For drinks, be sure to have a variety of sodas and beer kept on ice.

For the most part, these are foods and drinks that everyone loves and enjoys worry- and guilt-free or hurting their diets as long as it is during a Super Bowl party. However, for your more health conscious guests who are not into football as much or simply don’t want to overindulge, have some carrots and celery with fat-free ranch dip and some water and wine for them to enjoy.

To further accommodate the hardcore fans from the casual partygoers who aren’t interested in the game, have a room set aside for the game and another where guests can have a quieter place to talk without disturbing the fans with idle chatter.

For an added feel at your party, decorate in team colors or jerseys if you have them handy and various football props such as goal posts, footballs, whistles and so on. Since most guests will be more interested in the quality of your TV’s reception, you shouldn’t worry too much about decorating heavily for visual appeal.

Football games, especially the Super Bowl, are known for the betting pools they create. Whether it’s the outcome of the game, isolated quarters or plays of the game, or even proposition bets such as who will score first, how long the national anthem will last or if there will be a halftime show costume malfunction, which commercial will play the most, etc., there are plenty of wagers that may come up. So keep a little spare change and small bills handy to have some fun with these best as they pop up.

After all this fun and excitement, you will surely have a lot of cleaning up to do. Have lots of paper towels and napkins for guests throughout the party to avoid dirtying furniture and such. Also, be prepared to bring out the vacuum and rug cleaner solutions to take care of the messes that will be created during exciting plays. Have a big trash bag to help make cleanup easier at the end of the party as well.

All in all, a Super Bowl party planning should not be a hassle, but a fun and exciting ordeal. Keep it simple and keep it fun. Just make sure to invite some guests that will stick around and help with the cleanup afterwards.

Good luck with your party and the game should you be a fan of either team this year!

Planning Graduation Parties

Elementary Graduation Party

For many young students, graduating from elementary school may be their first such celebration, so an elementary graduation party is definitely in order. Even pre-teens know how to party! If you don’t have space at your residence to host a graduation party for your young one, you can always find a indoor play center nearby to go to. There are many vendors listed for you right here. If you can accommodate a party at your own home, you can still have all the fun of a play center in your own backyard. Inflatables, clowns and a variety of live entertainers can be reserved to keep the fun alive at the party. Be sure to have your party supplies and equipment ready along with table, chair and tent rentals. There are also catering services that can make life easier for you in serving food and drinks; even concession machines can be arranged for your convenience. Everything is prepared right her to help make your planning and decision making that much easier.

Middle School Graduation Party

Graduating from middle school is an exciting time in one’s life. Realizing that the next step is high school is enough to make a crowd of young teenagers want to get together and have some fun. For a group of young teenagers, a play center is the most exciting place to be. This is also convenient for parents since you can take care of food and entertainment with one decision. Search through our list of vendors to find the play center that is best for you. Hosting a party at your home can be just as easy. Just browse through the lists of suggested vendors and you can have a party planned in no time. All your supplies, equipment, rentals and entertainment are readily prepared for your choosing. You can even hire catering for your party if a table of snacks, pizza and sodas is not enough. PartyJumpUSA has made it easy for you to plan your party. Just have fun!

High School Graduation Party

After high school comes three months of carefree fun; so what better way to welcome the summer ahead than with a memorable high school graduation party? Whether you attend your school’s grad night celebration or not, you can still hold your own graduation party where you and your friends can party just the way you want to. Graduating from high school is a special moment so it is important to celebrate accordingly. Find a venue for your party or even host one at your house. PartyJumpUSA has a listing of vendors for all your party needs to help make it happen successfully. Find live entertainers, party equipment, supplies and rentals, catering services and even inflatable games. There is no doubt that a successful party incorporates these ingredients, so get on it and find everything you need right here!

College Graduation Party

It is not an easy task to make it through college and to finally graduate with a degree; so, once that special day arrives, be sure to have a party to celebrate your academic success. You can either go out to celebrate with friends at any number of venues or bring the party to your place. Wherever you choose to party, PartyJumpUSA has everything to give you a jumpstart on your event planning. Find everything you may need for your party right here, including: supplies, equipment, rentals and ever catering and entertainment services. Life was hard enough the past few years in college, make it easier now with suggested vendors to fulfill all your party needs.

Planning Customer Appreciation Days

A customer appreciation party is one of the best celebrations a company can host to thank its customers for their year of loyalty. What could be better than celebrating those that support a company the most? It is good to occasionally remind your customers that you appreciate their business, as maintaining positive relations with them is a great way to ensure success in the business world. An annual Customer Appreciation Day party is a great way to express thanks. Host a party free of charge to your customers so that they may come and enjoy a day of fun, food, drinks, and entertainment. Any company representative can plan this event with ease through PartyJumpUSA's party planning directory. There are listed vendors for every party necessity.

A number of planning needs can be skipped if the event is to be held at a play center for families and their children. There are many local venues that would happily host your event. Play centers are convenient since they provide for entertainment, food and drinks, seating arrangements and are a great place for kids. However, you may even create a similar environment on your own with the many party vendors listed right here. There are live entertainers and clowns that can serve as attractions at the event. Children and parents alike would surely be amazed by a fun magician or any other playful act. For games, there are plenty of local inflatable rental companies that can service the event with a variety of inflatable games. Concession machines can also be rented for the event as supplementary snacks for everyone to enjoy. Show customers appreciation with a proper party. Everything is organized right here to planning easy for you, so be sure to take advantage of PartyJumpUSA and its services.

Google Instant Impact on SEO

Instant Impact: Google’s newest search engine advancement with Google Instant may leave an impression on SEO.

When Google implemented its new Instant search results interface, it created a wave of interest and speculation on what impact it will have on SEO and overall ranking and advertising with Google. The new technology streamlined search and made it easier to target any query, but did that make things easier for you to get found in the results page?

When considering the significance of SEO efforts, Google Instant has made it even more important to achieve top ranking on its search results. As its drop down “suggestion box” attempts to predict your search query, a chunk of the advertisement positions gets taken up, pushing the page of results further down. This means that SEO results will be pushed “below the fold,” and unless you commit to your search all the way without stopping short thanks to a successful Google Instant prediction, you will not see many organic search results above the fold. ReelSEO discusses these effects with fine examples.

Furthermore, this means that “CTRs on positions 1 and 2 organically will rise at the expense of positions 3 and 4.” With more impressions appearing through instant rendering, lower CTRs will present a negative impact on SEO. Also, with results changing so quickly, and with our ability to read much quicker than we type, the traditional meta-description “calls to action” should move into the title tags for your pages. Users will definitely spend less time examining results as they scan the more-easily viewable title tags of search results.

Google Instant is also likely to have a major impact on PPC performance since these results get prominent placement in its new page rendering format and since, impressions on websites are set to increase with so many search results rendering and re-rendering as you type. The classic Google search impressions of pressing “enter,” clicking “search,” or selecting a prediction are joined by new criteria for impressions. Now, if a user pauses for 3 seconds or longer as they type a partial keyword, any website appearing in the instant search results gains an impression. A site appearing in the instant results that a user clicks on a result from also gets an impression; same goes for when a user clicks on a refinement of maps or news and such.

For advertisers, this means that sub 3-second impressions will not impact their quality score and in a sense be free as long as the user does not interact with the page and create definite impressions. On the other hand, if Google Instant leads to shorter queries by delivering immediate results, AdWords CPCs may go up for many terms due to a diminished inventory of valuable keywords. Fewer keywords, more bidding, higher prices and lower ROI: all this is good for Google, but not so much for advertisers. Meanwhile, consumers remain unconcerned.

For more on the effects of Google Instant on advertisers and to learn more about what to test and watch for follow this link. But for now, keep in mind the importance of optimizing for shot-tail and long-tail keywords to increase your website impressions and chances of getting a click. Also, always incorporate appealing title and description tags. These tips should help you in the short-run, but do not overlook constant maintenance of your SEO efforts as techniques are ever-changing, especially with lightning quick result technologies such as Google Instant.

Google Instant, An Instant Look

Google Instant: The innovative engine speeds up search by instantly displaying results as you type.

In further enhancing its search-engine, Google has created a faster, more targeted and efficient way to search. With Google Instant, the predictive search technology is accompanied by a real time visualization of the results of your search, showing you results as you type instead of only suggesting keywords for your search.

Google Instant allows you to scan results as they refresh to match each keystroke’s predictions. The instant feedback on your search terms makes it easier to refine your search on the fly. This “instant” approach to finding what you need decreases the amount of time it takes for you to complete a search. The technology minimizes your need to type your full search term or even click “search.”

The Google Instant search feature only works when you are signed into a Google account. As it logs your search history, the technology is able to make smarter predictions to guide your search, even when you don’t know exactly what you are looking for. With the instant results, you can see where your search will take you as you type, instead of having to click search to get there.

If Google Instant is a feature you do not find beneficial and would rather not see results as you type, you may turn it off. However, keep in mind that you don’t lose any of the original functionality with Google Instant. You may still type in your full search terms and hit enter to search like you always have. Google Instant simply brings what you are looking for to you immediately and help you find it on your first attempt.

It is worth noting that the application of Google Instant does not impact the ranking of search results; however, it may have an impact on other aspects of search engine optimization. These issues will be further discussed in the another article.

Prioritizing Lists

On too many websites, there is an overabundance of features vying for the user’s attention. Too many colors, animations, blinking texts and graphics tend to annoy users by blending everything into each other. If everything on a page is equally outstanding, nothing stands out. The same goes for everything being equally dull.

As a designer, you want to advise and guide users to the most important or most promising choices. As Jakob Nielsen points out, “the goal is to give users more of what they need. And easier access to what they need.”

Prioritization is essentially accomplished in two ways:

• Listing items that users are most likely to want on top or made to stand out;
• Highlighting new items on the homepage and also featuring a link to hot topics that may be buried deep within the site on the homepage.

Using prioritization will essentially guide users to the most important and most promising content on any given site. This is not to say that user’s will not be free to go anywhere they please; prioritization will merely point towards the more prominent content.

Some ways to guide users with prioritization include, but are not limited to:

• Editorially selecting the most important stories or items and giving them better headlines or more visible placement much like newspapers do;
• Placing best-selling products at the top of search listings, as this is what most customers are looking for. It means nothing to a customer that items be organized according to internal attributes such as SKU/Item numbers or even that they be in alphabetical order.
• Guiding users to areas of the site that have high activity with links on the homepage. This will simplify user experience and keep them posted on hot topics.
• Feature popular or high rated contributors’ material.
• Highlight the most popular items in a list that is sorted by another criterion.
• Mark new items with a small, but noticeable “NEW” icon. This is not necessary on pages where new items are constantly uploaded.

These suggestions are meant to be tips on how to effectively guide users on your site toward more prominent information. Make sure not to overwhelm users by highlighting every item or bore them by not featuring any featured items. Allow them to surf freely, but point them towards the new or hot-topic information. This will surely improve usability.

Writing for Online Readers: Using Numerals

After conducting eye-tracking studies, Jakob Nielsen discovered how users read various elements of a website. Among the findings, an interesting discovery was the effect numerals had on users’ wandering eyes as they scan through or browse a webpage. Even if they were lost in a pile of words, numerical digits attracted readers’ eyes enough that they stopped scanning and focused their attention of the digits.

Digits tend to be more attractive to readers than words because they tend to represent facts, which readers typically look for when they read on the web. Digits are also a more compact version of representing information, which is preferred over wordy descriptions.

How the effect of digits works is that their shapes stand out significantly among words, especially with a group of digits. This allows one’s peripheral vision to pick up on the uncommon figures before the reader even focuses their vision on it. This enhances the scannability of a page.

Aside from being more attractive to readers, digits also help improve a site and its content’s usability and credibility. E-commerce shoppers, whether they are shopping or just doing research, typically are looking for a particular piece of information or even just the gist of a page. Using digits instead of words to represent numbers significantly improves the usability of the page for shoppers.

Customers often look for specific facts of a product or service, such as products’ size and weight or a service’s cost or specifications. These are all bits of information that are best represented as numerals. Even if users are not scanning for data, presenting facts in a manner that stands out visually enhances credibility of a page with useful information.

The important thing to remember in online writing is that readers are prone to scanning pages and texts. When everything starts looking the same, information tends to get lost in the jumble of words. Therefore, if you have a numerical fact to represent, do so with digits rather than words, you will be sure to grab the reader’s attention.

Web-Based Reading: Content on the Web

It is hard to get someone to focus online attention to reading content in detail. Most people browse the internet just as the action word describes: they browse or scan through content. Therefore, it is important to focus web writing efforts on creating concise, objective and scannable text.

Rarely do people thoroughly read through web page content word-for-word (only 16% of test users) according to studies by Jakob Nielsen. Instead, they scan over the page, picking out words and sentences that may strike an interest. Almost 80% of test users always scanned new pages they came across; therefore, it is important for web pages to be designed with scannable text.

Some ways to incorporate scannable text into the web page include:

• Using highlighted keywords. This can be achieved with bolded text, italicized text, colored text or even hyperlinked text.
• Writing meaningful, rather than clever, subheadings.
• Using bulleted lists.
• Including one idea per paragraph. People will skip the remainder of a paragraph if the first few words or sentences don’t capture their interest.
• Using the “inverted pyramid” style of writing that introduces the most important information first before going into the detailed discussion of background info.
• Use fewer words than you do in conventional writing (half or less).

Of critical importance in web writing is credibility. Web users appreciate increased credibility regarding the information presented to them in web writing with the use of high-quality graphics, good writing and links to outbound sources where information was gleaned from.

At the other end of the spectrum, web readers absolutely hate promotional writing. If you make boastful, subjective claims in your writing, you will surely turn off readers with your content. Web users usually look for objective facts rather than subjective opinions, so focus on concrete facts. Also, exaggerated writing has an adverse effect on credibility.

Jakob Nielsen measures the effects of improved web writing styles to compare to the base, control condition of promotional writing. He charts the details of the style, respective content and results to display the effects when compared to one another. In order of usability improvement measured against promotional writing (0% as the control condition), objective language (27%), a scannable layout (47%) and concise text (58%) performed considerably better. Even more impressive was that when the three improved writing styles were combined, the usability improvement was 124%.

These are all suggested methods of improvement for writing for the web. Incorporating any one of these styles or using any combination of them may improve usability. Use them to improve the content on your website or even in articles you may write to help in your link-building efforts.

Headline Usability - Creating Concise and Information Headlines

Creating concise and informative headlines can go a long way in improving usability of your webpage.

Whether you present links to articles on your homepage or have an archived section of news and feature articles, ensuring headline usability is a must. Doing so gives readers and even casual visitors to your site a pleasantly quick and informative glimpse into what you have to offer without having to click through pages they may not be interested in.

Headline usability is essentially achieved with precise communication in a handful of words. As hard as it is to write concise, scan-able and objective content for the Web, it is even harder to write headlines for the content.

In writing headlines, following a set of guidelines, as set out by Jakob Nielsen, may help in creating concise and informative headlines that maximize usability. Headlines must be:

• Short (because people don’t read much online);
• Rich in information (clearly summarizing the target article);
• Front-loaded with the most important keywords (because users often scan only the beginning of list items);
• Understandable out of context (because headlines often appear without articles, as in search engine results); and
• Predictable, so users know whether they will like the full article before they click (because people don’t return to sites that promise more than they deliver).

The most important thing to remember about writing headlines is to be concise and informative. Each word used should be meaningful. This allows you to create a headline that will communicate to the reader a proper idea of what the article is about without forcing them to click through to find out. Optimum headline usability will limit, if not eliminate, wasted clicks for users as they will be able to tell which articles they would be interested in reading from the headline itself.

Keep in mind that people’s attention span is not very long and their tolerance for vague and misleading information is low. So when you go to create a headline, keep it short and sweet; clear-cut; concise and informative. Jakob Nielsen even recommends visiting reputable sources such as BBC News to get an idea of how to achieve remarkable headline usability. You may discover how BBC editors create such excellent headlines and apply their discipline to the headlines you create.

Corporate Blogs - How to Structure a Good Home Page

Displaying summaries of many articles on the first page as opposed to presenting each posting’s full content may serve to attract users.

In creating homepage designs for blogs, you typically have two options:

• Posting each article in its entirety on the first page so users can read it all without having to click to an article.
• Providing article summaries on the first page that link to the full content on secondary pages.

When managing a corporate blog, it is important to remember that the number of postings may eventually reach the hundreds or thousands depending on the size of the organization. Clearly, not every posting will fit on a single page. This is where you need article summaries linking to the full post in the archives.

Web Usability Design columnist Jakob Nielsen discusses in detail his findings through an eye-tracking study of how people read the “official” weblogs of corporations. His gaze plots diagram how users read the front page of several corporate blogs.

In short, his study revealed that the blogs featuring full articles on the front page lost the interest of users after the first post, whereas the blogs offering summaries on the homepage were able to attract the user to browse through more, if not all of the article summaries.

Through Nielsen’s study and general experience, corporate blogs fare much better with summaries rather than full articles on their homepage. Article summaries allow blogs to post more in a shorter page-length, thus exposing users to a broad selection of topics.

With more topics available in the same, if not shorter amount of space, users are more likely to find something that interests them. This will entice them to click through to read more, as opposed to abandoning the blog after the first full-length article failed to appeal to them. Few people will actually continue browsing after exhausting their interest on the first posting.

So for the most part, it is best to include summaries on the homepage of your corporate blog, especially if you have a wide product range with many topics to discuss. People are simply not fully interested in everything, but may prefer browsing through to find the one thing they are.

In the case that you do receive regular visitors that are passionate about everything your company does, you may want to post full articles as Nielsen recommends, but this is rare and unlikely. So stick to the summaries and offer a broad sample of articles in hopes of attracting a user’s interest and getting them to read on.

How to Grow Your Party Business

The party industry is a profitable, fun, and exciting industry to be in because of the nature of the work and the constant interaction with different people and events. Due to this, and the easiness of entering the industry, competition is always increasing. So how does a small family owned business or part-time business owner grow and expand its company? There are a lot of methods or practices that you might not be already familiar with, and that is what we will cover in this article. Some options to explore include email marketing, reminders, discounts and incentives, new products, customer interaction, business partnerships, distributors, and more.

One of the first ways any small business should start off in expanding their business is to take their business online. The amount of time people dedicate per day cruising the internet, along with all the new gadgets that allow them to do so, are evidence of a company’s need to go online. An online presence allows a business to do other things as well, like communicate to the public about the latest news, events, discounts, promotions, etc. One way a business owner can retain customers is by sending email reminders to its previous customers about their upcoming events or discounts during a particular date. An online service like Constant Contact simplifies the process so anyone can do email marketing. E-commerce and office management software’s like Rental Pad help streamline your business and reduce employee costs. Incorporating payment methods like PayPal or Google Checkout can help reduce payment-processing fees and make life easier. Business owners should take advantage of all the options available to streamline their business, make purchasing their products easier, and educate the public and employees. (Read More)

The Party Industry, Service is Golden

The party services industry is a broad and large industry that encompasses services from the likes of party planners, inflatable rentals, tent rentals, children entertainers, clown service, table and chair rentals, videographer and photography service, catering service, concession machine rentals, DJ service and more. As large as the industry is and as many services as it encompasses, it still has one thing in common, it is in the service industry. This means that all companies provide a service, an intangible good to consumers. The quality of the service determines the quality of the company and its image to consumers. Just like the quality of products for retailers and manufacturers determine the success of the business, the quality of service determines the success of a service company. So what must you do to improve your company’s image and service?

Every company must have a mission, goal, or objective in the endeavor. The company’s corporate culture, along with the mission, goal, or objective, must be represented by every member in the organization. The members of the company and the quality of service they provide represent the company to the customer. This can be the customer service representative, the manager, the delivery personnel, or even the attendant service the cotton candy. Every direct line of communication is important and must be coherent in its level of quality and service. Yes it is difficult to align all members of an organization to provide the same level of service since individuals are different and act differently. However, managers and executives should seek to identify the levels of direct communication between the company and the customer, what information is passed, how communication is done, and how company representatives can be trained or directed to providing a service that’s coherent to the company. (read more)

Party Jump USA offers information for party rental and party service companies. The website www.partyjumpersusa.com provides complete information about the company.

Marketing Your Party Service Company

Are you a new company or have you been having a hard time getting your company name out there? A company can only be as successful as its marketing strategy and the level of exposure it gets to its target market. As a new company it is important to put your name out there so potential customers can know you exist and are there for them. As an established company, it is recommended that you do continuous advertisement so customers are aware you’re still out there and offering your services. Since competitors are always increasing, advertisements and promotions are being exposed to your customers constantly from other companies. Therefore having a continuous form of advertisement and exposure is essential to being successful and keeping your market share. However, this article will delve into how a new or small company can get their name out to the general public.

There are numerous methods and sources new or small businesses can use to effectively gain exposure. One of the cheapest and most used methods is word-of-mouth advertising. Word-of-mouth advertising is the first step any business should turn to get exposure. In this current economic and social world that we live in, consumers rely on their trust groups for referrals and information. These trust groups include family, friends, co-workers, and classmates. As a new business owner you should be constantly soliciting your services at every venue and to every person you know that can in turn refer your business or service to their trust groups. This creates a form of viral marketing that spreads quickly to people that might use your service. This viral marketing or word-of-mouth referrals can be enhanced through the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.

Another way to create the effects of viral marketing is through incentives and referral programs offered to your customers. This form of marketing has seen dramatic effects in the recent years with a lot of online-based companies. Incentives and referral programs can create leads and advertisements between trust groups that can be more valuable than any other form of advertisement you do. By tapping into your customers’ social networks and trust groups you can increase your target market dramatically and without any form of cost. An example of an incentive and referral program is discounts or prizes offered to customers who refer your company to five or ten of their friends and family members. Some companies use incentive and referral programs strictly for their advertisement and to get their name out there, and it has proven to be very successful for them.

One form of advertisement that creates exposure to a vast amount of people at once is through large venues and events. As a new company you want to find a way to get yourself out to these large venues like carnivals, city fairs, school festivals, and community events. Providing your products and services, whether its inflatable rentals, clown service, catering service, or photography service, is a great way to gain referrals, experience, and exposure. Some new companies may find it difficult to get into these venues, therefore donating and offering your services for free might be necessary. However, the amount of exposure a company can get and the potential number of clients from such events can be substantial.

A new startup company can also look to partner with established companies or affiliated services to gain exposure. Offering your services to established companies can get you to events and venues and dealing with customers without spending any money on advertisement. Partnering with established companies can be done through a fee based or contract based program where you give a percentage or fee to the company for connecting you with the customer. This form of exposure can get you established in your location before you know it. When partnering with another company you want to make sure that all details are laid down and a formal contract is written up before you proceed. Other important things to consider when choosing which company to partner up with is the level of market share and company image that the company has. Partnering with someone that has as low of a market share as you does not do either of you any good. Also partnering with someone that has a bad company image can be detrimental to your success. Taking such things into consideration are important when partnering with other companies.

Getting your name out there and exposing your company to potential customers can be most successfully done through numerous sources. Using only one of these sources is not as effective as combining numerous sources and avenues. One of the keys to gaining exposure is by concentrating on networks that will give you the largest amount of exposure. Focusing on large venues, large companies, and large social groups can be the key to immediately gaining exposure in your community and establishing yourself as a company.

Party Jump USA offers marketing and advertising information for party rental and party service companies. The website www.partyjumpersusa.com provides complete information about the company.

Online Website Tracking

So you have your website and you advertise online, now what? Well some things any marketing representative wants to know is where customers find you, what keywords they use, what websites they bounce from, what time of the day they search, what day of the week they search and more. Every bit of information that helps analyze your customers shopping trends will help you make more informed decisions regarding your advertising. So how do you find out about your customers’ shopping trends? By implementing a website tracking system that will provide detailed information about the people that visit your website.

Here is a list of some of the free website tracking software's out there, but the most popular one is Google Analytics.

• AddFreeStats
• FreeStats
• GoldStats
• Google Analytics
• GoStats
• Site Tracker
• StatCounter
• StatSession
• TulipStats
• WebSiteTrafficReport

These are some of the free ones that are offered, however there are plenty more with paid subscriptions to choose from.

Implementing the tracking code into your website is real simple. If you have a web master you will want them to handle this task, but you can do it yourself as well if you don't have a web master. Simply take the tracking code they provide and copy paste it to your websites html code. You should implement it to every webpage you have to analyze how customers use your website and which pages they visit. Once you have the code pasted into your website the tracking software will read that code and start analyzing visits.

Tracking your visitors is a must for any company that has a website. Not knowing where your customers find you from and how they use your website can lead to an unsuccessful online marketing campaign. Understanding which advertisements give you the most referrals and best results also help cut costs from unpromising advertisements that are wasting your money. Once you get an analysis of your customers and their shopping trends you can implement promotions and advertisements that are the most suitable for those days. Knowing which days customers usually shop for your products or services helps you in making decisions about which days to advertise and focus your promotions. In every form of process, whether business, school or other, you must know how your are doing during the process and what results you are getting. Without a formal online tracking system there is really no way for anyone to know the results of their website and online advertisings.

Online Advertising for Beginners

Search Engines

The biggest and most used search engines are Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com. About 70% of people use Google, 16% use yahoo, 9% use Bing and 2% use Ask.com (November 2009 statistics). The most widely used search engine and source for finding any type of company or service is Google. Google lists companies a couple of ways when people do a search. There are organic search results, pay-per-clicks (also known as sponsored searches), map search results, articles and more.

Organic Searches

Organic Searches are the searches you see on the left hand side of Google. These searches are free. Companies do not pay any fee to Google to show up here. However, it is very tricky on how Google lists the companies in order. Google has spiders, which are programs in a sense, that go through the internet, surf all the websites and read the texts that are on the websites. These spiders classify web pages according to their text. If a particular websites text is related to the keyword "jumper rental", than Google classifies it as a webpage people would want to see when searching for "jumper rental". The priority of the list for a specific keyword always changes because people are always writing articles and optimizing their website, so one month a company might be first on the list for a keyword, but 3 months later they might be the 10th company showing up for that same keyword. Search engine optimization is a way to help make a website more relevant to specific keywords. Organic Searches are the most used search results from all the sources because they are the most relevant to what the person is looking for.

Pay Per Click

Pay-per-clicks are the sponsored search results you see on the right side of the results page when you use search engines. Companies pay money to be listed here for their desired keywords. Companies pay every time someone clicks on the advertisement banner. Usually companies see a lot of results from advertising in pay-per-clicks because they pay usually around 0.20 to 0.80 cents per click (depending on how competitive the keyword bidding is). However, keeping track of the keyword performance and optimizing the ads takes up a lot of time and requires the person doing it to have knowledge in pay per click advertising. Usually most people hire a company that does pay-per-click optimization and pay them on a monthly basis to keep track of their keywords and optimize their ads. The cost of doing pay per click depends on how much money you decide to spend on it, but usually it runs in the hundreds of dollars a month. Companies can place a daily or monthly budget so it only spends that much, once the limit is reached the advertisements stop. They say about 10-30% of clicks on the advertisements are fraud, meaning a competitor is sitting their clicking on the advertisements so the company can get charged. Google's pay-per-click program is called Google Adwords. Pay-per-click is usually more expensive on the long run than search engine optimization.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is when someone optimizes their website so Google's spiders will recognize it as important for a specific keyword. This can be done by creating back links (links from other websites/webpage's to your website), articles linking to your website, directory submissions and more. Search engine optimization is kind of like a popularity game. The more websites there are that refer or link back to your website for a specific keyword, for instance "jumper rentals", than Google's spiders think, ok this website is the most important for the keyword "jumper rentals" and therefore, should be the first listed under the organic search results. Companies that usually get listed on the top of search results for a keyword do search engine optimization on a continuous basis. This means they either hire someone or do it themselves. Hiring someone costs around $350-$600 per month to continuously do search engine optimization, but this does not guarantee a company will the listed in the first page.

Online Directories

Online directories differ from search engines in the way that they are more specific to a particular topic. There are probably hundreds of thousands of directories out there, each one for its specific topic or subject. Directories, like party directories, are more helpful to customers looking to find a company or service in a specific location. For instance, someone looking to find a jumper rental company might do a search in a search engine for "jumpers in Glendale", but might come across companies that are located out in Glendale California or Glendale Arizona. Directories, however, usually list companies servicing specific locations and for specific services. Therefore, finding a company or service in your local area through a online directory is easier and usually more informative than using a search engine.

Costs

The cost to be advertised in a directory is usually either free or too expensive. The most widely known directories for party rentals are Yellowpages.com, which is usually too expensive, and also PartyPop, which takes too may steps and is too confusing to find what you're looking for. Party Jump USA is a unique directory because it offers companies advertisements in all of the major online search sources like Yellowpages.com, Google, and Yahoo, but they do so through exclusive advertisings, which in essence gives the company advertising all the customers looking for the directories' specific service in the area their advertising. Party Jump USA's directory does not create competition between companies advertising, so they get the most efficient form of advertising, a competitive advantage over their competition.