Top Spots in Paris to Explore Art and Culture

For many people, Paris is a top destination to visit. They dream of it day and night. For others, Paris is a cliché, and this is unfortunate. Even though Paris is on every list of top cities to visit, it is a kind of city that you can never get bored of. Every time you visit, you will discover something new and interesting. For example, the first time you go there, you can do it as a tourist. The second time, you can explore the food and wine. Then, on some other visit, you can explore the wonderful art and culture that Paris has to offer. And be sure, you will never get enough of this. In order to have a stress free time in Paris, and to be able to enjoy the art and culture without any distractions, make sure all travel and accommodation technicalities are taken care of. Once you got this done, you can set about on the next great cultural adventure of your life. So, if you are ready to take up this challenge, here are some suggestions on where to go and what to see while in Paris.

Montmartre

 

This is an obvious choice. The best spot for both art and culture, without a doubt. Take a stroll down the tiny cobble streets, and the many stairs of this Parisian neighbourhood and time travel. It will take you back to the times when every famous person used to spend most of their days here. You can also catch a glimpse of the modern artists, as they showcase their drawings and paintings on the small squares in the neighbourhood. When you get tired of walking, sit in some café and have a taste of really good French wine. And the best part of it all, on your way to Montmartre, you will see Moulin Rouge and the gorgeous Sacré Coeur. Certainly, you will feel like the main character from the movie “Midnight in Paris”.

Musée de l’Orangerie

 

If you are in need for a quiet, relaxing moment, then this is the place for you. Take a break from the city bustle and hustle, and dive into the waters of Monet’s “Water Lilies”. The museum houses this masterpiece and it offers the best way to see them. They are displayed just as Monet wanted them to be. The same way he envisioned them. So, when you get inside the room, you feel surrounded by the paintings, as though they are hugging you. This is because of the oval shape of the room. Thanks to Monet, who planned the positioning, the sizes and spaces between each painting, you will get a full experience of his art.

Shakespeare & Co.

 

This is a must-see for every book lover. It is the holiest of all bookstores. A small building, tucked in a corner, just across the river from the Notre Dame cathedral. This is where you will fall in love with literature, if you already haven’t. And if you already have, this is where you will seal that love forever. Take a pick from the vast offer of books they have. They have everything from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf. New editions, old editions – it’s your choice. You will not be disappointed.

 

Whatever you decide to visit, you will be amazed. Amazed by the offer, and by the beauty of it. Paris will charm you with its biggest attractions, but it will do so with the small ones, too. By walking through the city, you will see more on one street than in a whole museum like Louvre. You will learn of its history, of the great people and their culture. You will learn of the love they have for life. And that is one thing Parisians are the best at – living life to the fullest.

 

And these three items on the list are only the beginning. You can visit many other museums and neighbourhoods. Each corner of Paris has an offer for you. Its map is like a treasure hunt map. All you have to do is be willing to wake up your spirit for adventure.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/ivandseo/top-spots-in-paris-to-explore-art-and-culture/

Tips to Maintain a Good Social Media Presence When Applying to College

Let’s face it—everybody is on social media these days. Parents, grandparents, neighbors, and even teachers have social media profiles across a large number of platforms. The age of social media is upon us, and it is certainly changing the way we interact with one another. An effective social media presence can even make or break students in some situations, so it is important to curate an image of yourself worth presenting to the world—particularly when it comes to admissions.

While it may feel simpler to just delete your profiles as you apply to colleges, it isn’t necessary. In fact, by following a few simple rules, you may even be able to successfully market yourself when applying to colleges by establishing good social media practices.

Explore what you can and can’t control

Because each social media platform is different, it is important to examine the exact capabilities of each. Find out what you may be able to control to protect your privacy. You may be able to limit who sees what, which can be useful in presenting a certain image of yourself.

You may also be able to request that you’re able to either approve or deny pending followers or friends, ensuring that strangers receive very little—or no—information, if you so choose.

Remember to think twice

Social media platforms have quickly transformed into a space in which individuals can express everything they’re feeling—which isn’t necessarily a good thing! Because they are so easy to use, we tend to be reactionary at times, posting in moments of excitement or even anger.

A good rule of thumb is to wait 15 minutes before posting. In that time, you may reevaluate what it is you want to share with the world. Your posts will be more cohesive, logical, and thoughtful. Assume future employers as well as college admissions officers are browsing your social media.

Show excitement about the schools to which you’re applying

A great way to tell potential colleges that you’re really invested in them is by engaging with them on social media. Perhaps you have a photograph of you visiting the campus or hanging out with the mascot—these are great additions to your profiles!

It can also be a good idea to go as far as interacting with the schools. Repost articles about them, respond to their posts, or mention them specifically when you’re posting updates. This establishes a connection between yourself, the school, and people you may someday be interacting with there.

Do a double-check by Googling yourself

While you may be fairly certain that you’ve adjusted your privacy settings to your specifications, it can’t hurt to check up on the situation. Imagine that you are an admissions staff member from a school you’re applying to—what’s the first thing you do? Perform a web search on the applicant, often with Google.

To perform this action yourself, open a private window so you aren’t logged into any social media sites. Search your name and click on any profiles that come up for you—how do they look? If they aren’t “clean” enough, do some revising. You may even be able to make these profiles harder to find by taking them off of Google search results.

Finally, you may even want to Google a few other people you know—their profiles may provide good guidelines or give you valuable insight as to what’s easy to find, what isn’t, and what looks good.

Think carefully about the image you wish to present

It may seem like the key to social media management when applying to college is in lying or at least covering up the truth, but that’s not it at all. Instead, you want to project an image of yourself that is accurate and professional, which can be achieved without being dishonest. Think about the person you are and the person you want to be, and make sure your social media profiles represent that effectively.

If you are political, there are ways to express your beliefs in a respectful way. If you’re into cooking, post pictures of the impressive meals you create. By curating your profiles to purposefully reflect the person you are, you actually offer admissions representatives valuable insight into the type of student and individual you will be on their campus.

A few final words

The key to social media management is balance—your profiles should ideally paint the portrait of someone who is professional, passionate about higher learning, and well-rounded with some fun outside interests as well. If you have to question whether or not something should have a place on your account, chances are that it doesn’t.

Remember that many admissions professionals also have social media profiles themselves, so they understand the various ways students interact on social media. By keeping your profiles clean, professional, and fun, you ensure they’re not a burden to the admissions process—in fact, they may even help you!
Heather Hamilton is a contributing writer for Varsity Tutors, a live learning platform that connects students with personalized instruction to accelerate academic achievement.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/varsitytutors/tips-to-maintain-a-good-social-media-presence-when-applying-to-college/

Your User Experience Improvement Checklist

Since most UX problems on the web are rooted in poor user interface design, a quick heuristic evaluation can do wonders in improving the overall user experience of a website.

Keeping in mind Nielsen’s widely used usability heuristics to check if your website is good enough to provide a good experience for your users, we can check for the following:

 

Provide relevant feedback whenever possible

It’s important to keep the user informed in every step of the process. The site should provide relevant feedback in a timely manner. Information should be there as soon as the user needs it. Help the user know their current state and provide triggers that will let them act appropriately. This helps maintain a seamless flow of navigation throughout your site.

 

Speak your user’s language

Use a language that is familiar to your target audience. Real-world conventions make your users comfortable navigating your site. Technical terms and acronyms should be reserved to those users who will understand them at a glance. Otherwise, immediately provide descriptions or remove them entirely.

 

Users should be free to do whatever they want

It is important that you provide an ample amount of freedom to your users. Give them options to handle both wanted and unwanted actions. There should be options to go back, move forward, or leave the current page without disrupting the experience.

Your users will make mistakes from time to time and it’s up to you to handle them appropriately. Create user contingencies for possible error states, giving users more options on what to do upon encountering a roadblock. A good information architecture is a big help in preventing and solving errors, giving users a clear path to their goals as well as what to do if they encounter them.

 

Create a style guide and follow it at all costs

Try to maintain the same design layout and style across your site. From the fonts, color schemes, margins and navigation, keeping it consistent adds to the user’s level of comfort. The opposite creates distraction and confusion that does nothing but detract from your user’s goals in navigating your website.

 

Catch potential mistakes

Part of keeping your users in control is catching potential errors before they occur. If you think that an action is either sensitive or will have a significant impact on the user’s current state, provide options and alerts prior to the action. Test for errors in the background as the user goes through a task. You can use Javascript and CSS to validate data and inform the user accordingly.

 

Don’t make your users think too hard

Chances are, your users are better at recognition than recall. So be consistent in your design. Provide the user enough information about the current page they’re in, and they’re place in the overall site structure. Effective use of breadcrumbs, navigation menus as well as fonts, color schemes and other site elements will give users enough context to know where they are, what is the purpose of this page, what they’re supposed to do, and where to go next.

 

Design for power users

Give your more advanced users options to navigate the site faster than they did the first time. Track common actions and design for that. Make frequently visited pages more accessible, commonly clicked links more recognizable, and important content readable.

Your navigation, sitemap, and breadcrumb structure is a big help in terms of getting your users to go wherever they want to go on your site as quick as possible.

 

Keep it simple, keep it straight

Make sure that every piece of information on a page is absolutely necessary. Either too much or too little can potentially paralyze your user, preventing them from achieving their goal upon visiting your site. The more you put on a specific web page, the lower the chance that your user can fulfill an intended task.

 

Catch your users when they fall

Some errors are unavoidable; therefore, the messages that recognize these must be simple and actionable. State the error, suggest solutions, and provide your users some options on how to proceed from there.

 

Support should always be at least one click away

Accessing your site’s help and documentation should always be your user’s last resort. It is where your users go if all else fails, so make sure that the documentation is robust, easily searchable, catered to the current task and most importantly, accurate. Provide user access to this through easily identifiable “Help” links, and the error message itself should contain links detailing possible solutions.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/twitter-easyvince/your-user-experience-improvement-checklist/

6 Tips on How to Create a Bedroom of Your Dreams

Do you want to walk into your bedroom and just feel right? You can easily achieve that by creating a simple design that will function well. It may look simple, but it actually isn’t. You might wonder why? Well, every bedroom has to have a bed in it, and beds are big and bulky and pretty much dictate where everything else will be placed in the room. So, when you are planning a bedroom from scratch or remodeling your old one, you have the control in creating a space that will be both pretty and practical. So, here are some tips that will help you create a bedroom that will be your own piece of heaven.

Easy to Get Around

In order for your bedroom to be functional, you should keep your circulation on one side of the room only. Hotels design all of their bedrooms in this manner because of two reason, it is simple and it works. So, make a good get around plan, and remember that it can be more challenging if they are en suite or if they have balcony doors. When creating a bedroom from scratch, pay attention to the location of the closet and bathroom. If your bedroom has a bathroom or access to a closet, make sure that you have a longer hall.

A Nice View

 

You will always feel much better if you sleep in a bedroom that has a nice view. Imagine waking up and the first thing you see is a beautiful view out of the window. So, when designing and creating a bedroom of your dreams, make sure that you choose a layout that will focus on the windows. Wouldn’t it be better to wake up to a view of a lake or your landscaped backyard, than to looking at a plain wall?

Privacy

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the possibility to leave the bedroom door open and still have some privacy? Having this in mind, when creating your bedroom, leave a small foyer in front of the bedroom and in that way you will get make your bedroom more private from the other rooms in your home. Avoid designing a layout where someone can directly look into the bedroom from other more public rooms, like kitchen or family room.

Have an Outdoor Space

This might not be suitable for all climates, but if you live in a warmer place, than this is an amazing idea to implement in your bedroom. Connecting your bedroom with an outdoor space will make your bedroom look bigger and it will receive more natural light. If your bedroom is on the ground floor or maybe on a second story with a nice balcony, just add French doors, and you will be amazed how it will visually increase your space.

Furniture

When creating a bedroom of your dreams, furniture represent a big part of how it will look and feel at the end. Choose a big bed with a comfortable mattress to spend your nights in, and our friends at The Sleep Judge also recommend putting a topper over your mattress so that you feel like sleeping on a cloud. Next you are going to need night stands, a TV, and perhaps a desk and a chair if you want to do something where you won’t be disturbed. If you aren’t sure how to place your bedroom furniture, work with a designer or an architect so that you implement your furniture in your bedroom circulation.

Lightning and Ventilation

Your bedroom should be in a corner of your home, so that you have windows on two or more sides. This will benefit you a lot, you room will receive natural and soft light and you will easily ventilate it. Take your time, a great design can take a while, so don’t rush through it… if it takes a little more time, it is important that you come up with a functional and efficient plan for your dream bedroom.

Having a great design does not depend on having a space that will be complex and pricey to build. It is only important to create a space that will be functional, cost less and be efficient in maintaining. This is what great design really is.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/ivandseo/6-tips-on-how-to-create-a-bedroom-of-your-dreams/

H9 test postpage

This is test post page from Hostnine

 

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/admin/h9-test-postpage/

How to Create Working Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing strategy is a very important part of any business. Experts from educational help service Assignment-Masters prepared a few rules to follow to create successful content marketing strategy.

 This is the process you should follow each and every time you begin a marketing cycle. Jump right into content creation without a proper foundation and process, and your every marketing effort will be a shot in the dark as you hope for the best.

Content Marketing Process

 

 

 

Set your marketing goals making sure to ally them to your business goals

It is not enough to simply say you want more conversions or more profit. Your goals must be precisely defined and must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your business goals, which may also mean portioning off part of your efforts for brand building and brand educating your target audience.

Create metric measuring and analysis protocols

There is no point in creating goals and working your marketing plan if you have no reliable ways of measuring the results. How can you be sure you met your targets or achieved your goals if you are not correctly measuring the results?

Define and research your target audience

Knowing your target audience will help you find them, identify them, and communicate with them in a way they find engaging. It has to involve the alienation of at least some people that are not part of your target audience.

Research how your competitors are communicating with your target audience

Finding innovative ways of communicating with your target audience is important, but most of your efforts will revolve around taking customers from your competitors, which is why communicating using the same channels, mediums and platforms as them is important.

Don’t forget big businesses

Even though larger branded website and stores may seem like only a minor competitor because you work within your own niche, you can still learn a lot about them by advertising. For example, they invest millions into marketing research, so when the bigger branded companies in your industry do things such as start their Christmas advertising, you too should strongly consider doing the same. They have spent a lot of money finding out the right time to run promotions and to identify things that will pull in the most customers.

Define and set your communication platforms and mediums

Decide which will suit your company and your marketing goals the best, and consider how you will divide your resources to engage with your target audience on said communicate platforms and mediums. Wasting time on ineffective mediums and platforms is the same as giving money away.

About your communication mediums and platforms

It is not about finding the medium with the most potential customers. Just because there are a lot of people tuning in to a certain channel doesn’t mean it is your most cost-effective and efficient way of communicating with them. Added to which, such channels often have very large and powerful companies operating within them that are able to draw buyer’s attention far better than smaller companies. Remember that it is better to whisper to small groups rather than trying to yell your message to a large one. The time to start yelling to larger groups is when you have the pull and influence that big named brands have.

Plan the most cost-effective methods for information dissemination

Now you have your plan in place, it is imperative that you do a cost-benefit analysis of each so you may place the correct amount of resources into each information-dissemination and user-engagement channel/portal as possible without waste. Streamlining for the best ROI is most important at this stage otherwise you will burn through your marketing budget with little to show in return.

Generate your marketing material and disseminate amongst your chosen channels

How, why, when, and how often are all decisions you need to make. You also need to decide the most cost-effective way of creating the most beneficial content possible. Creating content for the sake of it is silly. The principles of drip-drip marketing are true, which means the more people see your brand and your content, then the more they will trust you, but creating content just for the sake of putting something out there is not very cost effective and may even tarnish your online reputation.

Stick to just one idea or selling point

When creating your content, you may be tempted to include all or most of your best selling points and your unique selling points that set you apart from your competition, but it is not the best way of communicating with strangers. Fill your website with the hundreds of ways your products and services are fantastic.

Think of your website as your spider’s web where people will be bowled over and won over once they are in it because of all of your USPs and such. However, when trying to tempt them into your spider’s web, it is best to stick to your overriding brand principle and best selling point. Draw in and tempt their interest and then try to wow them on your website. Draw them in by sticking to a single selling point on your disseminated content.

Consider larger brands again

Even large and established brands only use a single selling point to draw people in. A single selling point makes a difference. For example, take Volvo, they are known as very safe cars, yet if you go onto their website you will see how they are also luxury cars, they are powerful, have energy saving features, space-aged suspension and much more. Now consider the defunct car manufacturer Rover, can you recall their biggest brand selling point? No? Neither can anybody else.

Analyze and evaluate your results

Have your targets been met? Have you reached your goals? Where did you fail the most? What areas saw the most success? Which were the most cost-effective methods and channels? Are your positive results repeatable?

Use your findings to power your re-planning process and begin again

In essence, you are undertaking a large and highly throughout trial and error test. Now you have your results, you must use the good, eliminate the ineffective, and apply what you have learnt to the process as you begin again for your next marketing cycle. To learn nothing is the equivalent of setting plans to fail.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/laurajonson/how-to-create-working-content-marketing-strategy/

Building a Startup around a SaaS Platform

SaaS founders seem to be sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain, and the market is becoming increasingly competitive.  But, it takes more than good ideas and fancy premises to get a small business off the ground. Some startups like WhatsApp and Instagram managed to skyrocket in no time, but this was not the result of a spectacular streak of luck.

It takes a lot of time to get the products right, but it is only then that the real work starts. The sales, marketing, customer service, there is no shortage of activities that can occupy your day and trouble your mind.  Getting the recurring revenue and initial traction takes a great deal of commitment and some strategic planning.  

Serving for the win

SaaS platforms involve a subscription-based licensing and central hosting. They have become a popular delivery model for business applications and many software companies incorporate it in their operations. One of the benefits for users is reduced IT costs because maintenance is outsourced to a SaaS provider. For the latter, this results in more work dedicated towards making customer’s life easier.

The initial phase includes developing and designing. You can choose to allow other developers to build on top of your platform, adding new value to your product. Another way to boost your chances and offer added value to customers is via key integration. Keep in mind that application with limited features can easily win acclaim, provided that it is user-friendly, fast and that it solves problems for your clients.

In any case, be prepared to adjust on-the-go and change your strategy more times than you can count. The SaaS business model is all about flexibility and responding to market shifts. Furthermore, SaaS-based companies must provide around the clock support to establish lasting connections with the customers. Helping out new clients in the onboarding process essential, so offer free guides, video tutorials, write handy blog posts and host webinars.

To attract a new audience, you can offer a freemium model, which is usually better than time-limited trials. Of course, what matters is scaling the free accounts up and turning them into paid ones. To pull this off, take advantage of marketing automation via tools like Marketo or Hubspot. The goal is to move to a position where the feedback you are receiving is predominantly positive.

Prospecting and exploring

Now, even the greatest products do not sell themselves, and must be backed up by promotional activities. At first, a bulk of startups was looking to team up with big names in the industry and sign the “Marketing partnership program”. The results did not meet the expectations, and many founders turned to other means. One of them is putting your application on major marketplaces for desktop, or App Store and Google play for mobile devices.

Still, there is no better way to enhance your online endeavors that to build a solid website.  Filling it with quality, relevant content, and engaging in SEO is what comes next. All your efforts here gravitate around the search engines’ axis, as these are the imposing gatekeepers of the virtual realm. Moreover, do not neglect the link building process, as it will help you boost the site’s rank. The truth is, however, that this is something that could take a lot of time and distract you from other important tasks.

On the brighter note, there are also link prospecting startups that can help you get your own startup project of the ground and promote it with more success. The latest SEO tool from Four Dots called Dibz seems promising, even in the beta phase. It makes the whole link building process less time-consuming and enables you to adjust your search results to show only sites that are spam-free. This fresh example also demonstrates the importance of securing a proper domain name (dibz.me), which is one of the key aspects of the online brand building process.

A long lasting success

When you are only in a phase of developing and designing a product, a road to success ahead can seems obscure and bumpy. Some startups explode in a matter of months, but others bite the dust in the same amount of time. To make the first scenario more probable, you need to show commitment to customer service excellence. Success does not happen overnight, so be prepared to be in for a long haul. Make a lasting first impression and make sure you get the last word with your software solution.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/marcusjensen/building-a-startup-around-a-saas-platform/