What the heck are nocebos you are probably wondering and what do they have to do with your health and fitness? They are the evil cousin of placebos. You know that placebos are used quite a bit in testing of drugs and supplements.The test is set up so that one half of a group gets the actual drug and the other half gets a placebo. The placebo is usually some kind of sugar water and it doesn’t have any of the drugs in it. In a double blind study neither the participants nor the researchers know which group gets the drug and which group gets the placebo.The idea of the placebo is that it isn’t the real drug and that it is not harmful in any way. This way the researchers can get an accurate measurement of what effects the drug actually has. An interesting thing happened during testing. Both groups responded to the drug.This shows the power of the mind. If you think you are getting a drug that is going to help you, you respond as though you are getting the drug and that it is helping you, even if you are in the placebo group and only getting sugar water.This effect is called the placebo effect. Many people have taken this placebo effect and used it in a not so positive manner. The nocebo effect as mentioned before is the evil cousin of placebo. It is when someone tries to affect a negative and harmful effect in you by using the power of the mind to control your response.This might make more sense if you think of a witch doctor. There have been many documented cases of where witch doctors have actually killed people just by using the power of suggestion.They do their incantations on someone and that person, because they believe the witch doctor, fall violently and sometimes fatally ill. That is the nocebo effect taken to the extreme.So what does this have to do with you and your health or fitness goals?Plenty. How many times have you said you are going on a diet, or going to start eating healthy or start going to the gym only to be met with a round of laughter and put downs from your friends and family?That is a milder form of the nocebo effect. And it does affect you. Very few people are able to overcome such negative and harmful statements.It has taken a lot of strength for you to admit you need to change your lifestyle to become healthier. It takes even more strength to admit it to others.When that strength is met with derision, scorn and laughter, it is like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.It is almost too much to overcome. Does that mean you shouldn’t tell anyone? Well, maybe. Or maybe you need to be pickier in who you tell. One of the best things you can do to help you in your health and fitness goals is to find others that are trying to reach the same goals. You can go to a gym or you can go for walks in the park. You will see and meet others doing the same thing you are doing.Surround yourself with other like minded people and you will be able to easily overcome the nocebos in your life. One place where you won’t meet any nocebos is at Val’s health and fitness site. Check it out – see below.
Video Marketing: 7 Reasons You Should Post Videos to Market Your Business
The number of small businesses using video email marketing is trending upwards. Are you on the bandwagon?? If not, you should jump on it – now.
With the technology and various tools that we have at our disposal, there is no reason for any business owner to not think of posting videos online. Quality videos can do wonders for your business and bottom line.
Here are seven reasons to start adding videos to your marketing toolbox.
1. People Love Videos
It’s only natural that people love watching videos. Humans are visual creatures. Being able to deliver a message through a captivating video is a marketing homerun.
Many people would prefer to watch a well-produced video than to read a bunch of text. You’ve probably noticed many business owners using videos instead of (or in combination with) long form sales letters. The reason is because in many cases, split testing has shown higher conversion rates with video sales letters.
2. They’re Inexpensive to Make
You don’t need a big budget to produce videos; an inexpensive camera works just fine. Of course, you can also pay for a top notch expensive camera and professionally produced video, but that’s your choice. It’s not necessary.
A well done cheaply made video will beat out an expensive but mediocre video every time.
3. It’s Easy To Distribute Online Videos
Your videos can easily be posted to sites like YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion and others. They can also easily be shared via social media sites once they’re uploaded.
4. Videos Decrease Bounce Rates
One of the metrics that Google uses to rank webpages is bounce rate – the percentage of users who land on a webpage without viewing other pages. You want to do everything you can to reduce your website’s bounce rate.
You should add your videos to your website as well as the video sharing sites. They can help lower your bounce rate which can result in higher search engine rankings and more sales.
5. Mobile Device Users Prefer Videos
More and more people are using mobile devices to surf the web. Due to the smaller screens on handheld devices, many people prefer to watch videos rather than read a bunch of text.
6. Videos Can Boost Your Brand Credibility
Producing videos is one of the best ways to boost your brand credibility. To take things further, one of the most effective ways to popularize your brand is by producing good videos that generate buzz.
Your credibility can get a huge boost if viewers see that your videos have lots of views and shares on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.
One more point: YouTube videos now occupy many top spots at the search engines. Even if your website doesn’t rank well, your videos just might. If your videos and website can both rank well, your business will gain an incredible amount of visibility and all the good stuff that can come with it.
7. Videos Allow You to Give Product or Service Demonstrations
Videos allow you to visually explain and demonstrate your products or services. This way, people can more easily see themselves using whatever it is that you have to offer.
If you’re not sold yet, consider this: viewers are many times more likely to buy whatever it is you’re selling after watching a video.
Video Is Here To Stay
The signs are clear: video marketing is not going anywhere. It will only continue to grow in popularity. The question is will you grow with it or will you be left behind?
Build Your Brand With A Marketing Strategy
The majority of small-time online businesses do not bother with branding, thinking that the latter is only for large companies or those with a big marketing budget. However, applying the habits of a big business to your own small website by developing a brand marketing strategy can help your sales to climb, and help you to make a bigger profit this year than in any other year. By designing and applying a brand to your own company, no matter whether you are selling products or offering a service, you can encourage potential clients into your website, and persuade them to stay long enough to make a purchase. Brand building can also help you to develop long-term relationships with your clients, a significant step when you want to make a living from a business website.
The first steps towards promotional branding of your product involves developing an action plan and setting aside a reasonable budget. This often means creating a brand marketing strategy, beginning with working out what your customers want from your brand, and moving towards an appropriate brand for your website, complete with a ‘brand promise’, a set of ideals and values which visitors to your site will associate with your brand. In most cases, it is a good idea to employ an expert to create this brand for you, as they are more likely to be able to spot gaps in the market which your products can fill, and will also ensure that the brand matches your website’s themes.
One of the most important early stages in your brand building strategy will involve the creation of an image. Many small businesses start with a picture. This can be a photograph of yourself, or perhaps of a pile of books, or maybe even a hand-drawn image by a friend or relation. This picture should represent exactly what you want the clients to think about you, and represent the products or services that you are offering. For example, if you work from home and offer IT services, you may want to consider a brand marketing strategy image that involves a photograph of yourself sitting at your computer, perhaps with books or computer DVDs on a shelf behind you. This image will help to represent you at your work, and your client will not have to look at the text to understand that you are offering a from-home internet based service.
Short and simple messages like this form the basis of any great brand marketing strategy. You should not need a lot of text or content to get your brand’s message across to the client, and if you are finding it hard to create a brand that does this easily, then you may want to consider talking to an expert and asking them for advice or tips about how to create the brand perfectly. Once you understand how to get your message to the client without having to write them an essay, you should find that your brand evolves naturally to suit your own needs and what you want to offer to potential customers.
There are so many different ways to extend your brand marketing strategy once you have developed the design and color scheme of the brand that you can sometimes be spoiled for choice. You might want to look into promoting your website through audio and video messages, and there are plenty of places on the web that provide free hosting sites for these brand messages. With this method, you can get attention for your website from people who like to use video hosting services or listen to audio broadcasts.
You should also concentrate upon the basics of any brand marketing strategy, including regular creation of different content for your website. Content for your site is essential, and you will have to make sure that you regularly write new texts in order to be interesting to visitors of your website. Once you have rewritten content for the site itself, you can also work at spreading that content to other areas, including writing essays for article directories, with a link back to your site.
Any modern brand marketing strategy should also try and make an impact through social media networks. These allow a brand greater access to the general public, and can also bring in new clients through connections to your social media pages.