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It is a wonderful feeling when you finally finish sewing your doll. She is SO cute, her frock is just adorable and her hair is exactly the way you wanted it. She is just perfect! The only thing left to do is to draw her face.

This is the part of doll making that can cause the most anxiety amongst doll makers, but by following a few simple “rules” you can confidently achieve a gorgeous face every time.

Always begin by drawing your doll’s face on paper. Practice positioning your doll’s features to ensure you have the right proportion and position.

Have fun experimenting with different styles and observe those around you. Babies, small children and characters in children’s books often have cute features, which can provide inspiration.
I encourage you to use your imagination to personalise your doll and make her a “one of a kind” heirloom.

On a sheet of paper, draw a shape similar in size to your doll’s head.

Lightly draw a line horizontally and vertically through the centre of the “face”.

Look in the mirror and you will notice your eyes are approximately midway between your chin and the top of your head. Mark the centres of the eyes on the horizontal line an equal distance from the midline. By placing the eyes slightly lower on the face, your doll will have a younger appearance.
Divide the lower half of your face into thirds and mark a small dot on the centre line at these points. These will be the positions of the nose and the mouth.

Next, you will need to choose the style of face you would like. The style you choose should fit the character of your doll. A naive style doll will have a much simpler face than a more formal doll.

Experiment with different shapes for each facial feature. You may like to try round eyes and oval eyes, with or without eyelashes and eyebrows, a little button or a straight nose and different sizes and shapes of hearts or smiley u shapes for your dolls mouth. Some dolls look gorgeous with two tiny “commas” for nostrils instead of a nose. The more styles you try out the easier it will be for you to choose a face that really complements your doll.

When you are happy with the style, size, shapes and positioning of all of your doll’s facial features it is time to add some colour to bring your doll to life.

Pigma micron 01 made by Sakura are the brand of pen I prefer. They are waterproof and fade proof and they contain archival, pigment ink. They are also available in a range of 6 colours. Derwent artist pencils also provide a high quality finish to your doll’s face and you can purchase them individually in your favourite colours. If you plan to continue doll making then purchasing good quality pens and pencils to finish your doll is an excellent investment.

Choose eye, mouth and cheek colours to complement your doll. Use the black pen to draw the eyes and eyelashes, the brown pen to draw the nose and eyebrows and either the brown or the red pen for your doll’s mouth. Be careful when using drawing pens, they have a very fine tip so always hold them in an upright position (not slanted) to prevent damaging the pen tip.

Before adding pencil colour to your doll experiment with the various ways you can apply this. You can achieve many different effects by using either a sharper or a blunter pencil. You should also try the side of the pencil as well as the point. A good way to add shading is to apply the colour to a scrap of paper or calico and carefully rub this over the area you want to colour. Gradually build up the colour in layers until you obtain the desired look. Just remember it is easier to add a bit more colour than it is to try to remove it. It’s also a good idea to keep a record of the colours you have used, just jot down the names of the colours and any special techniques you may have used to apply them alongside your diagram as a reference for future use.

Once you are completely satisfied with your doll’s new face, it is time to transfer it onto fabric. However, before you take the final step, it is a good idea to practice one more time just to make yourself comfortable with working on fabric. The slightly uneven texture of the fabric will make a difference when you are drawing the face and the colours may need adjusting to suit.

Place a piece of fabric in an embroidery hoop and follow the steps listed above, once again. Once you have added all of your doll’s features to the fabric and you are satisfied she has just the attitude and expression you are trying to achieve then you are ready to complete your doll!

You should feel completely comfortable now applying your doll’s face!

You might like to add your doll’s photo to an online Photo Gallery so others can see her online. A really professional, friendly & helpful photo gallery for cloth doll’s and patchwork can be found at http://www.kitsnpieces.com.au

You can find a great template for drawing your dolls face at http://www.kitsnpieces.com.au/face_tips.htm

Karen Bennet is an authority on cloth doll making who provides articles and craft tips for several leading e-zines and craft magazines including Country Threads and Handmade.

Karen Bennet

Kits ‘n’ Pieces

http://www.kitsnpieces.com.au

Usually the first thing you see, and always the first thing you hear, when you walk into a casino anywhere in the world is slot machines. The flashing lights, sirens and people jumping in excitement over their most recent win, sets the mood to one of excitement and possibility throughout the casino.

If you are anything like me, you may be very skeptical of this whole slots excitement thing. I always knew that playing slots was a losing proposition, because they only pay back a percentage of the money put into them, often between 90 and 98%, so I refused to play them for years. My wife on the other hand has always played slots, and seems to enjoy it, so I decided to give them a try. I quickly determined why they are so popular. The feeling that is generated when you win in addition to the possibility, no matter how small, of hitting a life-changing jackpot is almost indescribable. I have compiled a short list of why slots are so popular.

Playing slots is easy. All you have to do is decide how many coins you wish to wager and either push a button or pull on a handle.

Because they are so easy to play, it is much easier to socialize with your neighbor or significant other while playing.

With many of today’s games tied to large progressive jackpots, there is always the chance you will win enough money to retire or change your life forever.

You can come and go as you please. The slot machines will be sitting in the same place when you get back from dinner, and won’t complain if you are a little late.

The variety of slots available is staggering. You can play on hundreds of different slot machines in a single day. If you don’t like the layout, design or position of the one you are using, there is another one just a few feet (or inches) away.

New slot machines are introduced all of the time, so there is always a variety of new and exciting games to play.

The bottom line is that slots are fun, relaxing and can be very enjoyable.

With the ever-increasing popularity of land-based slot machines, the Internet now offers hundreds of places where you can enjoy slots from the comfort of your home. To see some of these places and investigate the bonuses that they offer, take a look at SlotsBonuses.net Good luck at the slot machines!

Wesley Young is an author and runs a wide range of web sites including http://www.slotsbonuses.net To find the latest Slots Bonuses, be sure to visit today. (Note to webmasters, you may use and alter this article for SEO purposes as long as you leave my links intact and live.)

Everybody knows how important an explosive offense or a stifling defense can be for a football team, and everyone can name the big stars on both sides of the ball Ray Lewis, Peyton Manning, LaDainian Tomlinson and Terrell Owens are household names and they make headlines every Sunday. But there is another, less heralded, often overlooked part of a football team that is very important: special teams. Studying special teams can become a valuable part of your handicapping strategy. The five categories of special teams are kickoff, kick return, punting, punt return and field goal teams and there are several factors that come into play with regard to studying them.

Field Position — Winning and losing in the NFL is largely a matter of field position. Field position is determined in large part by special teams. Teams that win the battle of field position often win the game.

Kicker — Placekickers and punters are the keys to special teams. If a team has a guy who can boom a punt from deep in his own territory, or a guy who is accurate in long field goal situations, that translates into better field position and points, respectively, and ultimately results in more victories.

Return Man — A guy with great hands and blinding speed like the Chiefs’ Dante Hall is a game changer capable of scoring anytime he touches the ball, and by virtue of that, he really ups the value of a team’s kickoff and punt return units.

Speed Kills — The old football cliché is especially true for special teams. Kick coverage demands that players get down the field in a hurry and put a hat on somebody. Otherwise, the other team can pick up extra yards for free, get better field position and score more easily.

Tacklers — Speed is great. In fact, it is necessary. But without good tacklers on special teams, it doesn’t mean a whole lot. You need coverage guys who can break down quickly and wrap guys up in the open field.

Long Snappers — Here’s a position that you don’t hear too much about unless something goes wrong, as happened to the NY Giants a couple years ago against the 49ers.

Crazies — You always want to have a few guys who have no regard for their bodies and are willing to sacrifice themselves by flying full speed all over the field, breaking the wedge, and generally creating havoc.

Smarts — It’s not enough to have speed, good tacklers, and craziness. The players also need to be smart. Things like knowing when to let the ball go, when to fair-catch and not getting plays called back with careless penalties can make a huge difference in a game.

Special teams are often populated by third and fourth receivers, rookies, and guys who otherwise might not play, so it helps sometimes to follow college football, and notice guys, say in the defensive secondary, who are fast and are big hitters. If they were studs in college, and catch on with an NFL team, they can help to improve the special teams. A good example of this is Carolina Panthers’ rookie Thomas Davis, who was awesome in college at the University of Georgia and really strengthens Carolina’s special teams coverage units.

With other factors being equal, the team with the better special teams play has a huge advantage. Good special teams can keep a team in a game against an otherwise superior team, and that makes a closer look at underdogs with good units an interesting proposition. For favorites, a dominant squad can really open the floodgates and keep the other team in the hole as far as field position goes.

Special teams are just that: special. It’s hard to overstate their importance. Remember when you are doing your homework on NFL teams not to neglect special teams because they can and often do make the difference in outcomes.

Doc’s Sports Handy Links:
Jeremy Martin archive
World Cup 2006
Breeders Cup 2005

Doc’s Sports Handicapping Service
1-866-238-6696

Since 1971 Doc’s Sports has been recognized as one of the leaders and most trusted names in sports handicapping information. Visit Doc’s website for
free college and NFL picks and predictions as well as updated articles and free game matchup reports.

We all know what dumbbells look like, right? Usually, they consist of a narrow handle or handgrip in between two weighted spheres or disks. They look sort of like an exaggerated hourglass figure. They’re designed to be lifted with one hand rather than two, to add weight and resistance to moves like unilateral bicep curls. They come in a wide variety of weights, from 1 pound on up, but the basic design is the same with one exception - PowerBlock Adjustable Dumbbells.

The PowerBlocks are a revolutionary design that makes working out with dumbbells an actual pleasure, and lets you have a complete set of free weights that’s small enough to store on a bookshelf. Here’s how PowerBlocks lets you fit a whole home gym into a milk crate sized space.

Working Out With Conventional Dumbbells

Conventional dumbbells come in a variety of sizes. If you want to work out using different weights for different exercises, you need to buy a set of dumbbells in each size you want. That adds up after a while - not just in money, but in space needed to store your growing collection.

The solution is a set of adjustable dumbbells. Adjustable dumbbells have a center bar and several sets of weights. The weights slide onto the bar and fasten into place with a locking collar of some sort. The advantage is that they take up much less space. The disadvantage is that you have to take them apart and put them back together every time you want to kick your workout up a notch.

The PowerBlock Difference

PowerBlocks is a complete set of adjustable dumbbells that fit into about the amount of space that a milk crate takes up. Imagine having a full set of dumbbells - in a milk crate. The real difference, though, is in the way that you adjust the weight on the PowerBlocks. There’s no fiddling with wrenches, no sliding weight rings on and off of bars and no chance of the weights sliding off or rattling around loose as you work out. Adjusting the weight is almost as easy as putting them down and picking them up again.

Most adjustable dumbbell sets have a dozen or more pieces. For each dumbbell, you’ve got a bar, a collar, a pin, and pairs of weights in all the sizes you want. The PowerBlocks dumbbells have just four pieces:

1. The core

An internal handle that weighs five pounds, the core holds the rest of it together. The handle itself is padded and designed to be gripped in one hand.

2. The weight plates

The weight of each PowerBlock is controlled by sets of 5 pound weight plates, connected to each other in pairs. The weight plates are similar to the plates you’ll see on adjustable weight machines at the gym. Each set of weight plates adds ten pounds to the five pound core. Add one set, and you’ve got 15 pound dumbbells. Add two, and you have twenty-five pound dumbbells, all the way up to 85 pounds. What if you want 50 pounds? We’ll get to that. Just hang on.

3. The selector pin

Here’s the ingenious part of the PowerBlocks. The selector pin is a pair of metal rods that slips between the sides of the weight plates. To make a set of fifteen pound dumbbells, you just slide the selector pin into place beneath the first set of weight plates. Want twenty-five? Slide the selector pin under the second set of weight plates. That’s simple enough, but the PowerBlocks folks have made it even simpler - they color-coded it. Each set of weight plates is colored a different color. A chart that comes with the PowerBlocks lists the weights and colors so you know at a glance where to slip the selector pin if you want 75 pounds.

4. Adder weights

So you want a set of 50 pound dumbbells but the PowerBlocks only increase in ten pound increments? The PowerBlocks folks thought of that, too. Each PowerBlock has a pair of cylinder slots in the core. They’re made to hold a pair of silver cylinders called adder weights. The adder weights give you the ability to add weights in increments of 2.5 pounds - the weight of each adder. That means that you can increase the weight of the PowerBlock from 5 to 7.5 pounds by adding one adder weight, or to ten by adding two. So you want fifty pound dumbbells? Slip both adder weights into their slots, and set the selector pin to 45. Voila! You now have a fifty pound dumbbell.

More PowerBlock Options

You can buy PowerBlock dumbbell systems in seven different sets ranging from the SportBlock (goes from 3 pounds to 21 pounds in 3 pound increments) to the Elite Set 5-130 that lets you go from five pounds to 130 pounds per dumbbell in five OR ten pound increments. With the PowerBlock dumbbell system you can have a full rack of dumbbells in no more space than a milk crate uses. How does that compare to conventional dumbbells or other adjustable dumbbell sets? Take a look:

1 SportBlock 3-21 Total weight: 42 pounds

7 pair’s adjustable dumbbells - 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 pounds Total weight: 168 pounds

14 fixed dumbbells, 2 each 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 pounds Total weight: 168 pounds

That’s a lot of space saving right there. But it really adds up when you look at one of the larger sets. With the Elite 5-130, you’ve got the equivalent of 37 pairs of dumbbells or 4,820 pounds of free weights in a block that’s about the size of a pair of shoe boxes.

Add Barbells to Your PowerBlock

Trainers will tell you that you’ll get your best training by alternating between dumbbells and barbells for weight lifting. With PowerBlocks, you don’t have to go out and buy a whole new set of weights to have both dumbbells and barbells. Some of the PowerBlock sets can be combined with a special bar that allows you to turn your SportBlock or Personal Block into a set of barbells just as easily as you change the weight - and they’ll still fit on your bookshelf.

But if you want something a little more stylish, you can also purchase an optional stand for the PowerBlock that holds your dumbbells at just the right height for lifting. In addition, several of the sets can be expanded to add more weight by purchasing an add-on kit.

If you’re thinking of adding adjustable dumbbells to your home gym, or want to replace the bulky set you own now, the PowerBlock is definitely worth a look.

Kristopher Gardner is a freelance writer and home exercise enthusiast providing information about adjustable dumbbells at http://www.Quick-Change-Adjustable-Dumbbells.com.

Visit the site for a review of the Powerblock adjustable dumbbells.

A number of hair growth inhibitors are available on the market and generally claim to slow the growth of hair.

The basic idea behind hair inhibitors is that they are often used after you have removed unwanted hair using some form of hair removal to slow the regrowth of the unwanted hair.

Many hair inhibitors are available in various retail outlets and there is at least one product in particular that requires a prescription.

I don’t have a lot of personal experience with such products although I did try one non-prescription product for a short period of time. Given that I didn’t use it long enough to really notice any difference, I can’t say that it worked and can’t really say that it didn’t work either.

The products often come in a lotion, cream or spray format and are usually applied directly to the area where hair removal has been conducted.

Whether or not every hair growth inhibitor on the market actually works is a bone of contention. You can certainly find a number of products on the market that make various claims and new ones are popping up on the market regularly.

Your best bet is to do your homework if you are considering using a hair growth inhibitor. If the product you are considering has independent and verifiable research on its merits, carefully read it and consider its findings.

If a product requires a prescription, it’s because it is considered to be a drug so you’ll need to speak with a doctor about its merits and possible side effects. The fact that it requires a prescription means that research should be available that documents its ability to slow the growth of hair.

When it comes to these sorts of products you’ll need to learn how to figure out the difference between fact and hype.

Temporary and permanent hair removal technology is evolving constantly and is relevant to both men and women who want to remove unwanted hair.

For more information on hair removal options, visit http://www.PermanentHairRemovalTips.com.

You wake up early, do your morning chores, while brushing you
take a glimpse and admire yourself at the mirror hoping it to be
the most beautiful day, at the same time enthusiastically
brainstorming the errands for the day. You grab a bite of
anything on the table just to fill you up, not forgetting your
morning tea. In no time you kiss your mom goodbye and you are
out of the house. In the midst of the traffic, your phone rings
and you get a call from one of your favorite people, someone
that has always been the rhythm to your ears. She called to
discuss about plans for the next major event in your community,
and both of you happen to come up with the same ideas giggle at
how similar you are and at the peak of your laughter, she says
something that strikes you deep down, perhaps highlight your
weakness or emphasizes your character that you most inferior
about. But you still laugh, not believing what she just said or
meant, continue the conversation as if nothing really happened.
While struggling to forget her major insult, she attempts to
make you feel better, however making it worse by saying, “But I
really didn’t mean that… “. Hmm…, now what are you supposed
to think? Well, basically she just confirmed her statement. To
make things better, you quickly laugh it off and come up with a
quick conclusion regarding your major event. You wind up in the
most cheerful way and say bye, giving no absolute signs of your
feelings. The moment you hang up, tears roll down your cheeks,
almost not believing what she just said/meant. All of a sudden,
you feel isolated. You feel there is no one you can really trust
or no shoulders to lean on. After the whole traffic jam, you
finally reach the destination place. No more tears, you tell
yourself, you don’t want anyone to pound you with questions. So
you greet your mate with the broadest, yet fakest smile and you
move on, with those words still bouncing back to you every other
time during the day. The same day that you were hoping to be
beautiful is all a chaos…just because of words!!!

I took a survey to ask men what they most wanted from women when it comes to sex. While there were a lot of varied responses, there were 5 things that seemed to pop up over and over again. So ladies, take note, chances are your man wants at least one of these.

1. Men would like their partner to be more confident and/or open. She should be willing to stand naked in front of him. She should be willing to tell him what she does and doesn’t like. She should be willing to at least try something new. You get the idea. Ladies, you need to stop being self-conscious and realize that you will turn him on even if your body isn’t perfect.
2. MORE MORE MORE! Men want more sex. Wow, I heard you on this one. A lot of men want more sex than what they are now getting. This applies to both single men and men in relationships.
3. Oral sex. A lot of men complained about this one in varying degrees. Either they never get it, they get it but she stops too soon, or they get it but only every once in a long while.

Here are a few tips to help out with this one:

Tips for Men

• Practice good hygiene. Take a shower before becoming intimate.
• Be sure you are giving as good as you expect to receive.
• Warm her up first, don’t just throw it in her face and expect her to go to it.

Tips for Women

• If you don’t enjoy performing fellatio, find ways to make it more pleasurable. For example, flavored oils, chocolate sauce, or whipped cream.
• Get an anal toy. Men can have anal orgasms and it will take a lot less work on your part. If he’s never had an anal orgasm, you have covered ‘be willing to try new things’ too.
• If he insists that you swallow but you hate the taste, ask him to change his diet. Meat makes semen taste bitter so men who are vegetarians taste much sweeter.

4. Initiate sex. Men want the woman to initiate sex at least some of the time. They enjoy the feeling of being desired as much as women do. Ladies, if you wait for him to start it every time, then he will never know when you are doing it because you want to, or just doing it to make him happy.
5. Masturbate for him. Men love to watch. Ladies, if you feel self-conscious, here are some ways to get things going:

• Have a drink or two to lower your inhibitions.
• Have him start you off, then you take over.
• Use a vibrator as this will take less work on your part and will be more enjoyable for you.
• My motto is practice first, after all, practice makes perfect. If you are very familiar with your own body, masturbating for him will be much easier to do.

That pretty much covers the most mentioned topics. Of course there are other things but these vary some from man to man. Men, if there is something you really, really, want her to do but she won’t, first consider why she doesn’t want to. Does she have a good reason such as it will be painful? Or is it something that she just has no interest in? If this is the case, be patient. Introduce it slowly and listen to what she says. Sometimes it’s not the act itself she objects to but the way you go about it. Making her feel inadequate or defensive for not doing it, pretty much guarantees that she never will.

Ladies, the number one reason why a man cheats is that he can’t get what he needs at home. (Men this isn’t an excuse to blackmail your woman! This only applies to things that are really needed for you to be happy.) Listen to his requests. If they are reasonable, try to be open minded and you just may discover that it isn’t as awful as you thought it would be or, possibly, that it’s something you really end up liking.

To learn more about some of the topics covered in this article, visit Adult Toy Stash - adulttoystash.com
(Please use an active link when posting this article on your website)

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor the rising cost of postage
can keep a well-written sales letter from persuading readers to
send money directly to its writer or organization. And many of
the techniques successful direct mail writers have been using
for years work equally well on-line today. Here are ten
tried-and-true tips from the snail-mailers.

1. Have a plan. Writing a sales letter is a lot like writing an
ad. And successful advertising starts with clear thinking about
what to say — and to whom. Picture your prospect in your mind
– in terms of age, income, attitudes, and the product she or he
uses. Then determine the single most important benefit your
product offers. The essence of a good plan is sacrifice –
playing down the lesser benefits to concentrate on the biggest.

2. Start fast. The first sentence of your letter is the most
important. That’s when your prospect decides whether your letter
is just an other piece of junk mail or something that will make
him say, “This sounds interesting. I’d like to know more about
it.” Involve your reader in your first sentence, or your second
sentence may never be read.

3. The early offer gets the worm. Direct-mail pros work on the
coupon first, not the letter. What’s the offer? How should it be
stated? What are the terms? The offer is what gets the action.
So make it clear. Make it direct. And make it early. Because a
good offer can outpull any other technique to get your letter
started.

4. Show the benefits Write about benefits, not features. A
feature describes a product; a benefit explains what it does for
the reader. Remember that people don’t want to buy grass seed.
They want to buy a beautiful green lawn.

5. Show some personality. The tone of your letter should be as
important as what you say. Write the way you speak, using the
language of the reader, so he perceives the sales pitch is
coming from a peer rather than an outsider. By using this
approach, you receive empathy from the reader by saying, “Look,
I’m just like you. I know your problem; I’ve been through it; I
have a solution.” Writing peer to peer — writing as you would
speak to a friend — is the tone you want to cultivate in every
letter you write.

6. Go long. The amateur letter writer assumes that people will
not read long letters. All the research tells us otherwise. The
fact is that long letters sell better than short ones. If they
make an attractive offer. If they get the reader’s attention at
the top. If they are packed with facts. You are asking your
readers to make an investment — of their time, money, or both.
They need to be — they want to be — convinced that what you’re
selling is worth it. And that takes plenty of information. So
the more you tell, the more you’ll sell.

7. Be short. Research also shows that people won’t read long
letters that look hard to read, with long, black, solid blocks
of text. Better to use short paragraphs that make your letter
look more inviting, and easy to get through.

Use simple words and use jargon sparingly. Write in crisp,
short, snappy sentences. Even sentence fragments.

When you’re writing a sales letter, you’re trying to communicate
with your readers, not impress them with your grasp of the
American language. Remember, you’re writing to sell, not impress.

8. Be free. Give something away. A free trial, free shipping,
even free literature you may have printed for another purpose.
It has been proven, time and again, that adding something free
adds tremendously to the power of the sales letter.

9. Don’t let ‘em get away. Follow the advice in the previous
eight tips and you’ll find yourself writing letters that will
capture the interest of your readers. But you can’t just let
them nod in agreement, and do nothing. After all, it’s human
nature for most people to procrastinate. You can’t let them off
the hook. The successful letter writer tackles inertia and
creates a reason for the prospect to act — and to act now. Ask
her to tear off a reply card, check a preference, paste a
sticker on the phone or calendar, or answer a short quiz. There
are probably dozens of other simple devices you can think of. A
reader who starts to do something with your mailing is a good
bet to end up being a reader who buys something.

10. P.S. Don’t forget a postscript. A postscript is an
opportunity to restate the offer, to create a sense of urgency
with a deadline, to offer a special premium or to remind the
reader of an important detail. And maybe the best reason for
using a P.S. is that so many professionals have proven that it
works.

Walter writes, edits and publishes “Words @ Work”, a FREE
bimonthly newsletter of advice and information about writing
that works. Subscribe by visiting www.walterburek.com or via
e-mail to: walter@walterburek.com

Internet marketing is a different ball game altogether when compared to traditional marketing. A brick and mortar store employs salespersons to guide and advise its customers. No such equivalent of a salesperson exists for an online store. This could be one of the reasons why people shy away from online stores.

Given these circumstances, it is of vital importance that your web store should be as interactive as possible. An interactive website makes your visitors feel more comfortable and increases your chances of making a sale. A well designed website is the first step to make your visitor comfortable. Enough has already been said about not choosing flashy colours or having excessive graphics. I will now elaborate on the importance of having a feedback form in your website.

Every site will invariably contain a “Contact Us” section. Information usually present in this section includes the business name, e-mail address, physical address, telephone numbers etc. But what is missing in many websites is a feedback form. Consider a scenario where your visitor has a query and wishes to contact you. If you don’t have a feedback form, your visitor will most likely choose to e-mail you. There are numerous intervening steps that your visitor has to perform before he can e-mail. Such steps like opening his/her e-mail program, logging in etc. are distractions and your visitor’s attention is easily diminished. Moreover if your potential client is on a public computer he/she may not have access to his/her e-mail and it is extremely unlikely that he will remember and contact you once he/she gets back to his/her computer.

All this can be avoided by having a simple feedback form in the “Contact Us” section of your website. Your visitor won’t even be leaving your site when he/she fills up your form. The very nature of forms makes it easy for you to collect information from your visitor. For example, if your visitor requires more information about a particular product that you are selling, he/she can choose it from a drop-down box listing all your products and then type his/her query. Consider the alternative: if you didn’t have a feedback form in your website, your visitor would have to type your product name in the e-mail and then type the query - more pain to your user.

The very fact that feedback forms have so many advantages may lead you to believe that they are very hard to implement. You would be surprised to know that they are one of the simplest things to have. Forms consist of very simple HTML and there are numerous tutorials available on the web for creating them. You also need a program/script to process the form and a simple query in your favourite search engine would find many such scripts. A simpler method would be to sign up for a remotely hosted form processing service so that all your form processing needs can be outsourced. You will find that the entire process takes about 10-15 minutes or lesser and you can have a feedback form up and running!

Now that I have shown you that it is so simple to have a feedback form and there are numerous advantages associated with it, there is no reason for you not to have one!

Ajay R is a vastly experienced web-designer and developer. He is also the webmaster of FormBuddy.com, a free remotely hosted form processing service that allows you to easily create and process feedback forms without the requirement of knowing any programming language.

If I asked you to describe yourself, what would be the first
five things that come to mind? Are they positive things? Are at
least three out of five positive? I hope so. If not, though, it
is good information. It indicates a need for you to make
self-appreciation and self-respect a higher priority.

You’ve all heard the phrase, “Be your own best friend”. How
would you describe your best friend? It is unlikely that you
would have a list of negatives, isn’t it? How do you treat your
best friends? With respect, with kindness and understanding,
with compassion, right? Treat yourself the same way.

One of my longtime friends recently told me this story. She said
that, when she approaches a household task that seems risky, she
asks herself, “Would I hire a sixty-seven year old woman to do
that for me?” If the answer is “No”, then she hires a younger
person to do the job. If the answer is “Yes”, she proceeds. My
dear friend, Helen, is a very wise woman!

If your friend wanted to accomplish something and s/he asked you
for support, would you say, “You don’t deserve to have it
anyway!”, “You’ll never do it.” or “Who are you kidding?”?
Probably not, however, you may say things like that to yourself.
What would it take to become your own best friend? What habits
of thought would you have to replace? What self-talk would you
have to change? I remind myself of this important phrase often:
Never say anything about yourself–out loud or in your
head–that you do not want to be true about you. Would you
consider adopting that one for yourself? You’ll find that it
quickly improves your self-respect and your self-image.

ALWAYS REMEMBER—-WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO EXPANDS!