A Look at Punta Cana Real Estate

Real Estate in an area like Punta Cana is hot property. Despite development of the island in recent years, there is still potential for appreciation when purchasing property in such a popular vacation destination.

Punta Cana is among the fastest growing tourist destinations in the entire Caribbean. Because of its explosive growth, it is hard to believe that 35 years ago all one could find in Punta Cana was a tiny adventurer's hotel and one narrow, dirt road. There was no airport, the hotel didn't offer the services that are offered today. With roughly 40 hotels, 30,000 rooms, 5 operating golf courses and its own power company, Punta Cana still has the potential for tremendous growth.

Punta Cana is a safe destination known for the warmth of its people and their hospitality. Though a small town, it has all the amenities of a metropolis and is endowed with a moderate tropical climate, beautiful beaches, and luxurious forests.

Many years ago entrepreneurs with great foresight purchased large beach properties at very low prices and today, most of the beachfront property in Bavaro and Punta Cana is owned and occupied by big resort hotels. There are very few beach properties left at relatively high prices, but there are still excellent opportunities for acquiring land with a great potential for growth, considering the pace of urbanization.

Acquiring property in Punta Cana is straightforward, but still, foreigners purchasing property anywhere in the world outside their native countries need to exercise extra caution. One can obtain help from a real estate attorney to get through the process. The government's only requirement is that the Title Registry Offices keep a record, for statistical purposes, of all purchases made by foreigners.

Apartments in Punta Cana can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $225,000 depending upon the location and type of apartment. Beachfront land costs between $15 per square meter to $200 per square meter.

Punta Cana Info provides detailed information about Punta Cana resorts, hotels, real estate, beaches, weather, and the Punta Cana airport. Punta Cana Info is the sister site of Cozumel Web.

Buddha Never Bowed Before a Statue, and Jesus Never Kneeled Before a Cross, From Divine Source

Far to many people have become "followers" rather than BEING and living the messages they hold dear. True spiritual enlightenment comes from one Source; it is the same source that Jesus, Allah, Buddha, and You are connected to. It is Divine Source, and ALL beings of Light are connected to the same Divine Source energy ...

This information comes "through" me from Divine Source, God, All That Is, Creator to bring a message to humanity that many people have forgotten.

Far to many people have become "followers" rather than BEING and living the messages they hold dear.

True spiritual enlightenment comes from one Source; it is the same source that Jesus, Allah, Buddha, and You are connected to. It is Divine Source, and ALL beings of Light are connected to the same Divine Source energy.

I ask you to now close your eyes, and imagine the men named Jesus and Buddha for a moment. Jesus was a Jewish man that sought to bring humanity messages from Divine Source. He was murdered for that. He gave compassion because he learned the ultimate truth, and that is that ALL people, from every land are all Divine spiritual beings, and have the same abilities that Jesus had.

Buddha was also a man that sought to attain enlightenment from Divine Source. He told people to only take what he had to say into their hearts if it felt true for them. He never said to follow him, or create a statue to bow to in his image. So why are there so many people bowing, rather than just being and living the messages?

Oh there will certainly be controversy over this article, because it takes down the rigid structures and places all beings as equal, all as one, and all connected to Divine Source.

Each spiritual path carries wonderful teachings. It is when people take those teachings and create an organized religion out of it that the problems ensue.

Look at the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland that literally KILL each other ? all in the name of Jesus Christ. Is THIS what Jesus taught? I would wager to say that the answer is absolutely not!

When people start to create rules, regulations and restrictions all in the name of one person that they believe "must" be worshipped, they have taken all of the teachings and made a huge business out of it.

The Catholic Church has millions of dollars. Why are there so many homeless people? Why are priests given the money for legal counsel when they sexually molested young boys? Why is that money not poured into helping the homeless children in this world?

The teachings of the man Buddha are fantastic. Why are there certain doctrines that seek to encourage people to worship a man, and not each person's Divine essence, and simply live the teachings of Buddha? Why is there not allowed freedom of expression? Why is everyone bowing before man made plastic statues, when each person can simply be grateful for being an equal part of Divine Source?

You see, it is important for people to feel a sense of belonging, such as in a community where they can gather together and engage in prayer. There is nothing wrong with this at all. It is all of the OTHER rules and regulations that ostracize others if they do not "follow" the "rules" that were made by PEOPLE and not by the one whose teachings they are following to begin with.

There is no need for rules and regulations of any kind. There is no need for censorship. This robs a person from their individual right to explore the teachings in their purest form, without all of the "business" and organized rules that many organizations create.

The teachings are so simple; they are that hard to follow for so much of humanity. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Give compassion for others, as you would like them to have compassion for you. Share from your heart, and have pure motives and deeds.

Jesus didn't belong to a church, and Buddha never prayed before a statue in his image. Additionally, the deity's of Light are ALL a part of the same Divine source. All of the Angels, the Saints, all people are part of the same Divine Source.

There is a quote from the book "If God Was Like Man" and that is: (coming from Divine Source) "I would venture to say that your organized religions are causing much discord and disorganization among your people."

That seems to be an understatement. So should the author of this article be on a hit list because Divine Source had another message to bring through to humanity? Should Jesus have been killed? Never! However, do not worship to follow others, pray and get connected to BECOME the highest level of light you can attain in this lifetime. Pray as an equal Divine Co-Creator ? because that is what you are! So many millennia have passed, and humanity is STILL fighting over religion.

Who exactly crated the Vows that so many people take? Did Jesus create them? No. Did Buddha create them? No. So it was man that created them, along with the statues.

ANY Divine Being of Light will come to your aid when you call on them. However, as an enlightened being, I am sure you will attest that if a person lived on Earth, such as our dearly missed Saint (Mother) Teresa, SHE did not ask for statues to be made in her image, and she did not require certain prayers to be said to her. She is as much of a Saint as Paul, or any of the others. What Saint (Mother) Teresa probably would have requested is to take that money and feed the hungry children.

So many religious organizations have great plans to build large structures for worshipping before statues, and yet are they really doing anything to help the little ones in dire need? This is where the "organized" part of religion needs to be re-organized. There must be a budget to help the children that are sick, hungry and homeless, BEFORE the money is spent on more statues, decorations, and items to create a structure of worship.

There is only one place from where you can truly worship and get connected to whomever you wish to pray to, and that place is your heart.

That is ALL you need is your heart, and your mind. You NEVER need to FOLLOW anyone. Just be who you are ? exactly as Jesus and Buddha were ? they were themselves, and they attained spiritual enlightenment without all of the decorations. They helped so many people. Now, it's your turn.

Take this message and create a NEW way ? humanity for humanity. Uplift others lives rather than try to be or create a follower. Live the messages from your heart ? there is no need to bow before anything that the ascended masters never bowed before. That was all created by man AFTER they passed over.

Realize that you are a spark of the same Divine essence as those you worship. Live their messages, and become yet another example of spiritual enlightenment. It only requires your heart ? that is where your essence dwells. Use your mind to co-crate, and do so with love, pure motives, and positive actions.

You will then be living the messages. No statues are required.

? Copyright by Barbara Rose. All Rights Reserved

Barbara Rose is an internationally recognized expert in the field of personal transformation and spiritual/human potential. A pioneering force in incorporating Higher Self Communication the study and integration of humanity's God-Nature into modern personal growth and spiritual evolution. A #1 relationship best-selling author of Stop Being the String Along: A Relationship Guide to Being THE ONE, Barbara's other highly acclaimed books include, If God Was Like Man, and Individual Power: Reclaiming Your Core, Your Truth and Your Life. Her public speaking events, tele-seminars, webcasts, articles and private intensives have transformed the lives of thousands across the globe.

Barbara is known for providing life-changing answers, quick practical coaching and deep spiritual wisdom to people worldwide. She is the founder of IHSC ? Institute of Higher Self Communication, inspire! Magazine, Rose Humanitarian Alliance, and The Rose Group publishing company. Barbara works in cooperation with spiritual leaders, to uplift the spiritual consciousness of humanity. http://www.borntoinspire.com

How Improve Conversion Rates

Do you know your conversion rates? Conversion rate is the number of visitors to your site that take the desired action against the total number of visitors in a particular period or time. Research has shown that 60% of websites do not know their conversion rates. Then how do you improve your site's performance if you do not know your conversion rates? What do you take into consideration when making changes to your site's design? What do you do when you have plenty of visitors yet very few of them take the desired action? What do you want your visitors to do? How are they going to do it? What is the next step for your visitor after taking the desired action?

These and other questions can easily be answered if some efforts are made towards tracking and calculating websites' conversion rates.

Converting your visitor is the ultimate aim of any website. Making the visitor to take the desired action is the fulfillment of a process that started from wherever the visitor clicked to come to your site. The desired action could be;

Sales

Subscribing to your newsletter or book-marking a page.

Taking a survey.

Downloading a software or ebook

Clicking on a link.

Going through the process (that is, clicking from page to page ) before clicking on the order button.

Etc Most of the time we think conversion starts when the visitor lands on our Site. But conversion actually starts from wherever the visitor first locates our site. How the site was located. What description the visitor sees before clicking to your site or what recommendation or word of mouth brought the visitor to your site. This pre-conversion state is what to a large extent, can determine whether conversion actually takes place or not. This is what I call the keyword-title-description-landing page formula. This formula is explained in my free ebook "Google Adwords Made Easy". You can download this free ebook at home base business ideas site.

What enables conversion to take place.

A visitor landing at your site should immediately feel comfortable with your site. First impression as they say matters a lot. For conversion to take place you must hold the visitor's attention once he lands on your site. Some of the points to note that make for easy conversion are:

Your website should load fast. The next site is a click away. If your site loads slowly your visitor clicks away and you have lost a potential customer. Usually, graphics, animations, are the cause of slow loading pages. Your can use some software, available free on the internet, to reduce the size of your graphics so that they load fast.

Your site should have a professional look about it. It should at first glance portray a quality site. This adds a little bit of credibility to the site. The site is then seen as a serious site.

State your case quickly. Let your visitor know what your site is about in a few words. Don't go rambling about your achievements. That can come later. Give the visitor what he is looking for.

Arrange your content in an easy to understand way. Whether you are using Tables or CSS for site design, make sure your content is arranged in such a way that the visitor moves from one section of the site to another without confusion or frustration. If you are catering to different kinds of visitors, demarcate your site or page clearly showing these different sections for visitors.

Include your Privacy Policy, Phone Numbers, About Us information on every page of your site. This builds some element of trust. Visitors may not click to these pages but the fact that they are there builds some credibility.

Do not irritate your visitors with bad grammar or typos. Check and crosscheck your content. Ask somebody to read through your content and point out grammatical errors and typos. These kinds of errors portray a site as unserious and therefore suspect.

If you must use banners use them sparingly. Do not allow your banners to distract your visitors from the desired action to be taken. Banners are been clicked on less and less these days. Having taken care of all of the above, your site is set to present your visitors with your carefully packaged offer. You begin by getting to know your present conversion rates. It is only logical that before any action is taken to improve conversion rates, the present conversion rates are known.

What is your website's conversion rates.

There are many actions a site may desire a visitor to take once he lands at the site. It is the conversion rates of these desired actions that you want to calculate.

Lets look at some the typical conversion rates that need to be calculated and what can be done to improve them.

1. The SALES CONVERSION RATE. This gives you an idea of how many visitors are buying your product out of the total number of visitors that visit you site.

The sales conversion rate = number who bought / total number of visitors x 100

So if you have about 10000 visitors in the month and out of that , 350 bought your product, your conversion rate is

350 / 10000 x 100 = 3.5%

This means that for every 200 visitor that land at your site 7 will buy your product.

How to improve the sales conversion rate.

Make navigation through your site to your order page so simple a ten year old can find it.

Make bold call to action. Example, BUY NOW, or ORDER HERE. Put it near the top, at the middle and near the bottom of you sales page.

If you offer free shipping indicate this at your home page and prominently on your sales page. Research has shown that free shipping is the second most important consideration for buyers apart from price.

Your web page should load fast. Imagine a potential customer clicking to your order page with the intention to buy only to be frustrated by a slow loading page. The importance of fast loading pages cannot be over-emphasized. Some of the ways to reduce loading time are:

Reduce the number of graphics on your page. Apart from the number, you can also reduce the size of the graphics. There are a number of software you can use to reduce the size of your graphics.

Always specify the dimensions of your graphics in your html coding. In your IMG tag be sure to specify the width and height of your graphics. This makes it easy for the web browser to load the page because it doesn't have to figure out the dimensions of the graphics.

Experiment with different colors on your pages. Measure and track the result of any little change you make. It has been reported that change in the color of a page layout increased conversion rate.

Do not use Pop-ups for displaying your vital information. For example, your shipping rates. Though Pop-ups can be effective in drawing attention to vital information, it is not worth taking the chance. With all the free Popup blockers offered by most toolbars and software companies it will be counter productive to display your vital information in a Popup only to have it blocked. Displaying information in Pop-ups could seriously reduce your conversion rate. Instead use banners that will display a strong call to action.

Include a progress indicator on each page to your order page so that your customer knows at what stage he is. You can number the pages or steps and clearly describe each step so that the customer can easily move back and forth through your pages.

Make it automatic so that when the shipping info is same as the billing info, the customer doesn't have to fill the same information twice.

Because of credit card concerns, not all customers will want to order using credit cards. Offer other forms of payment, check, fax, phone etc

Display critical information at the check out page. Information like warranties, guarantees, shipping costs, testimonials, return policies, after sales service, support service etc

Develop a system whereby if a visitor abandons the checkout process for whatever reason after providing an email address, your system immediately emails the visitor offering an incentive to tell why the process was not completed. This happened to me. I abandoned purchase when the order page could not load due to my unsteady internet connection. I promptly received an email from the company. I later went back to the site to purchase the item.

If you are selling tangible product use high quality pictures. Since the visitor cannot touch or smell the product, it is essential to provide a top quality picture that will look like the physical product.

Include the number of days the customer will have to wait for the order. If possible provide tracking of the order. All these help to make the customer comfortable and close the sale. 2. THE SUBSCRIPTION CONVERSION RATE. This is simply calculated by dividing the number of subscriptions (subscribers) by the total number of visitors for that period and multiplying by 100. This gives the percentage of visitors that subscribed.

Example, if the total number of visitors in the month is 9000 and 300 visitors subscribed. Your conversion rate would be

300 / 9000 x 100 = 3.3 %

Getting visitors to subscribe to your newsletter or ezine depends on where the visitor had seen the offer to subscribe. If you are promoting a subscription page, then your description must be enticing enough to lure surfers to visit your page. That is, if they are coming from search engines,ads etc.

Most times people will only give their email address when they are sure they will get some quality stuff from your newsletter. If they are already at your site and it is a quality site then you may require little persuasion to get them to subscribe.

How to improve the subscription conversion rate.

Make sure your privacy policy is clearly stated.

Highlight the benefits of your newsletter to the subscriber. State plainly the high points of your newsletter. Direct your visitor to a good issue in your archives.

Provide a valuable free gift. Example a free ebook or report.

If you are providing a free ebook or report, tell the visitor what is special about your own because there are a thousand and one free ebooks and reports on the internet so why should yours be different. For me I usually get a high conversion rate from surfers seeing the articles I post at various article sites on the internet. They become interested when they see the quality of the articles.

Change the position of your subscription form. From upper left to upper right. Then recalculate the conversion rate. Compare the result of the two positions. Try other positions until you get the position where conversion is highest. 3. DOWNLOAD CONVERSION RATE. This rate shows you how many of your visitors (in percentage) are downloading your software or ebook or whatever you have presented for download. It is obtained by dividing the number of downloads by the number of visitors to your download page. Example , you had 4000 visitors to your download page for the month and 300 downloaded your software your conversion rate is

300 / 4000 x 100 = 7.5%

you will need to install a script at your site to monitor the download. You can get a free download monitor script at http://www.Focalmedia.net

How to improve your download conversion rate

Write a compelling copy emphasizing the benefits to your visitors of whatever you are offering for download. Then make a bold call to action .example, Download Now or Start Download.

Download should start with the first or second click. That is do not make the download page more than two clicks away from the introductory page.

Make it clear to the visitor that it is a free, trial or demo download. You could list the features and benefits of the download in a Popup window. That is the popup is activated when a link is clicked and not by itself.

Put your download button at the top of your page with the main menu. Alternatively, you can put it at the left hand side navigation links

If it is a free report in PDF make the download start when the download link is clicked. It is some times frustrating when PDF download opens up in the browser. 4. CONVERSION RATE FOR CLICKING ON A LINK. Sometimes a web page is written where the main aim is for visitors to click on a particular link. The link could be an affiliate link., or a link to another page or even an email link. You have to install a script to monitor these clicks. There are many click trackers on the internet . You can get a free click tracker script at http://ww.focalmedia.net . The conversion rate is the number of clicks on the link divided by the number of visitors to the page. Example, if the total number of visitors are 6000 and the number of clicks 1500. Then the conversion rate will be

1500 / 6000 x 100 = 25%

How to improve this conversion rate.

One effective way to improve conversion rate for clicking on a link is to put the link in the content. This is called in content link. The text link flows with your write up. Visitors are more likely to click on such a link than one that is not in content.

The text link should clearly indicate to the visitor what to do or what to expect after clicking on the link. You are sure to get a more favorable response this way.

If the link is an affiliate link do not use the long affiliate links provided by affiliate merchants. They are often long and too obvious get clicked less times. Get a script that will shorten the affiliate link you can download a script at home business ideas. Make your links bold. CONVERSION RATE FOR AFFILIATE SITES.

Affiliate sites need two conversion rates to succeed. One on the affiliate's site, the other on the merchant's site. The first is within the affiliate's control while the second is not. So to succeed in affiliate marketing the affiliate has to choose a merchant with good conversion rates. The merchant should show proof of conversion rates. Or you can calculate how many visitors you sent to the merchant's site and how many converted (that is, resulted into sales).

Conversion on affiliate sites largely depends on traffic. As a matter of fact, you need a lot of traffic to succeed as an affiliate. With little traffic your conversion will be almost nonexistent and there will not be enough data to show a consistent conversion rate. For example you might make a sale after 10 visitors to your site and make the next sale after 2000 visitors. This is not consistent. The first sale after 10 visitors might have been a motivated buyer. Which means you were lucky. You need more than luck to succeed in affiliate business.

How to improve conversion rates on affiliate sites.

Build traffic to your site.

Effective pre-selling. An affiliate tries to persuade a visitor to click on an affiliate link. He has to pre-sell the product properly. Emphasizing the benefits of the product to the visitor. Building on the emotions of the visitor and leading him to click. Research has shown that most buying decisions are influenced by emotions.

Get your visitor to subscribe to your newsletter. With the traffic you are generating you do not want to miss out on the other visitors who do not buy. Provide an opportunity for them to subscribe so that you can still pre-sell again and again through your ezine or newsletter.

Provide very few choices for your visitor. Do no clutter your page with all kinds of offers. This makes the visitor to be undecided and may lead to frustration. Promote one or two product per page. Write your best review of the product.

Own the product you promote. This way you are able to give real life experiences about the product or service. It more believable when writing reviews from experience and this increases conversion rates. CONCLUSION: Calculating your conversion rates would be meaningless if you cannot determine whether you are improving or not. Stick to a period of test and be consistent. Example, one month, two weeks etc. Whichever is suitable for you. Calculate for that period. Compare with the previous period or the next period. Make changes to your pages and test again. By testing you will know what works.

Also if there is any industry standard conversion rate (especially for the sales conversion rate), compare your rate to the industry standard. By comparing you will know whether you are doing well or not. Or you can set objectives for yourself. Set a reasonable conversion rate that you want to attain within a certain period and go for it.

The author has been earning his living online since 2000. For comprehensive home base business ideas check out one of his sites at http://www.ebizstartups.com There you will find solid, easy-to-do strategies for building a successful home base business.

By Salihu Ibrahim

http://www.ebizstartups.com/

About The Author

The author has been earning his living online since 2000. For comprehensive home base business ideas check out one of his sites at http://www.ebizstartups.com. There you will find solid, easy-to-do strategies for building a successful home base business.

You can publish this article in your newsletter or website as long as you retain the author's byline above and leave all links active.

saleh@ebizstartups.com

Publicrelationistas?

Is that what we are? Fanatic, over-the-top disciples of some wretched obsession?

Well, maybe not fanatic, or even wretched or obsessive, but certainly SOLD on the reality that people act on their own perception of the facts before them, leading to predictable behaviors. And equally sold on the next step too, create, change or reinforce that perception/opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect the organization.

Why am I sold on what amounts to a fundamental premise for public relations? Because it's the best way to insure that you, as a manager, get the key external audience behaviors you need to help achieve your unit objectives.

It also makes the proper execution of the public relations program very important to other managers like yourself in any business, non-profit or association.

Here's one approach that can work just fine.

Jot down your unit's, or department's, most important audiences, then prioritize them as to the impacts they exert on your operation. Let's look at #1 on the list because, clearly, any organization, including yours, must stay in touch with its most important external audiences in order to know how it is perceived, remembering of course, that behaviors usually follow perceptions.

Now, you need to interact with members of your target audiences, monitor what they think about you and ask lots of questions. "What do you know about us? Have you had any contact with us. Was it satisfactory?" and so on. Be alert to an untruth, an inaccuracy, or a potentially damaging rumor.

The responses to your opinion monitoring form the basis for your public relations goal. In other words, the specific perception to be altered, followed by the desired behavior change.

Obviously, the goal will seek corrective action. That is, clear up a misconception, scotch a rumor, or correct an inaccuracy.

But a goal without a strategy is like a hot dog without a bun.

We're fortunate we have just three choices when it comes to strategies to deal with opinion matters: we can create perception where there isn't any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. But make sure the strategy you select flows naturally from your newly-minted goal.

Now, here's where the art comes in. You have to write the corrective message going to the attention of members of the target audience. The satisfying part of this chore is the fact that, done right, it will change opinion and, thus, behavior. No small feat!

The art lies in the writer's ability to prepare a message that accomplishes that objective clearly and in a believable, persuasive and compelling style. Not easy, but an absolute must!

How do you get that message "into the end zone?" That is, before the eyes and into the ears of members of your target audience?

Good old "beasts of burden" communications tactics will come through for you and carry your message to the attention of your target audience members. And there are scores of them ripe for the picking.

You can choose from letters-to-the-editor, speeches and news releases as well as consumer meetings, brochures, radio interviews and many, many others. Just be careful that the communications tactics you choose have a good record for reaching folks like those in your target audience.

The day will come when someone asks, "are we making any progress with this PR effort?" A good and proper question, the answer to which is available back out among the members of your target audience. Assuming your budget cannot accommodate pricey professional opinion surveys, you and your colleagues can re-monitor perceptions among audience members asking the same questions as before.

The difference this time around is that you will be watching for perceptions altered in your direction ? perceptions changed as a result of your corrective message and some aggressive communications tactics.

You can always increase the beat by adding a few more communications tactics, and increasing their frequencies. And be sure to re-vet the message itself for clarity and actual impact.

The payoff is clearcut ? you get the key external audience behaviors you need to help achieve your mission objectives.

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.

Robert A. Kelly ? 2003.

About The Author

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to general management personnel about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; Director of Communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and Deputy Assistant Press Secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Discipline

Discipline is a necessary part of parenting yet it makes most parents feel uncomfortable. Some of those old disciplinary phrases such as 'spare the rod and spoil the child', 'teach them a lesson' or 'set children straight' are enough to send shivers up the spine of any reasonable-minded parent.

Discipline for the majority of the twentieth century was adult-centred and relied heavily on punishment as a way of keeping children on the right track. Discipline was based on the principle of severity and terms such as punishment, obedience and compliance were commonly used.

Corporal punishment was used in schools and smacking and variations of that theme were the general tools of trade used at home. Rewards and positive reinforcement for good behaviour were usually kept for the behaving children rather than used as a mechanism to encourage better behaviour in more difficult children.

The last few decades have seen some dramatic shifts in discipline that reflect very much the social changes that have occurred. In countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia discipline has swung between a very child-centred approach where it seems parents forgot that they were the adults in the parent-child relationship through to the use of parent-focused techniques that place control firmly in the hands of parents. The use of praise and a reliance on reward systems to promote appropriate behaviour are the hallmarks of these child-centred approaches.

Despite the variety of approaches available parents commonly struggle to get discipline right. Recent Australian research shows that 58 per cent of parents struggle to find the appropriate approach to disciplining their children. Most want to use different discipline techniques than their parents yet exactly which approach to use is a dilemma. As the same cohort rated developing positive attachments and good relationships with their children as their highest priority I suspect many parents are concerned with being friends to their children and tend to avoid those sticky discipline issues. Evidence from other parts of the world suggests that Australians are not the only parents who struggle to find an appropriate approach to discipline.

While the type of discipline parents use should reflect the times in which they live it is also useful to look to children and their needs. While society has changed significantly over the last few decades children and their developmental needs haven't altered much.

Children develop best in a stable environment where they are valued, loved and listened to. They prefer an orderly environment rather than a chaotic one. And they need someone in that environment who will help them learn to be safe and sociable. This is where discipline comes in.

Children in their first few years of life are hard work for any parent. This age group experience massive physical development that is not matched by the same rate of intellectual maturation. Children around the age of eighteen to thirty months are a little like international airports ? massive amounts of activity but with relatively small control towers. They need parents who adopt a patient yet varied approach to discipline so that they learn to become sociable, stay safe and gradually take responsibility for their behaviour without having their spirit squashed.

Children in the 2-3 year age group present the most challenges to parents behaviourally, with the 11-14 year age group coming a close second. It is not surprising that these two ages present most difficulty to parents, as both are significant transitions stages with children in both age groups pushing their parents hard in the pursuit of greater independence.

Evidence suggests that parents of young children need to adopt a real-life approach to discipline that is heavy on teaching rather than the punitive stuff. My own work with families suggests that those parents who base their discipline on the twin principles of consistency and prevention have generally well-behaved kids and positive relationships as well.

The notion of consistency is the biggest challenge modern parents face. Dr. Sal Severe author of the recently published book for parents "How To Behave So Your Children Will Too" says, "Consistency is the most important element in a child's relationship with their parents." He is on the money. Children need parental consistency as it gives them a sense of security and control.

Consistency means parents dealing with the little misbehaviours and not letting them grow into bigger behaviours. It means parents following through and allowing children to experience a consequence when they misbehave. It also means that both parents in a dual parent relationship have a similar approach to behaviours. Children learn from a young age to play one parent off against each other when they standards differ.

But consistency is hard these days. Consistency, like routines, is often sacrificed by busy working parents and put in the 'too hard basket'. When parents are tired, stretched and overworked the last thing they want to do is engage in a battle with children over what are sometimes petty issues. Besides consistency can make a well-meaning parent who values relationships feel downright awful.

But giving in rather than being consistent and holding ground is not a smart long-term strategy. Kids learn quickly how far they can push a parent before they give in. If you give in occasionally they will learn that if they push you hard enough and long enough you will cave in. So consistency is about being strong and holding your ground. That is hard work because Australian research reveals that the average garden-variety child will push parental boundaries about 30per cent of the time and more difficult kids push your boundaries twice that much.

But what can parents do when young children are less than perfect? Smacking is one alternative but not one recommended by this writer. Most current studies indicate that parents generally don't view smacking as a suitable method of discipline for young children, however many reluctantly admit to reverting to this method on occasions. Smacking is generally ineffective in terms of reducing misbehaviour over the long-term. In some cases, it exacerbates aggressive behaviour in young children as they learn that it is okay to use physical means to resolve problems when you have the power to do so. The notion of 'it is okay to smack if it is a little smack' holds no water. It is either a smack or not. There is no middle ground.

So if smacking is out, what's in? Timeout is a good alternative, but often misused. Timeout is effective if used to either break a young child's pattern of behaviour or interrupt a deteriorating situation. A small amount of time spent in his or her room has saved many a child's hide and his parents' sanity as they both have time to calm down. Those parents who use time-out as a punishment or a deterrent usually end up frustrated when they enter their child's room only to find him happily playing with toys. Timeout is a poor punishment but effective in helping to restore calm and giving children an opportunity to reflect.

Effective discipline with young children involves a refusal by adults to become involved in the behaviour games that they can play. Children don't act in a vacuum. They will keep those behaviours that work in terms of getting attention or some other pay-off and drop those behaviours that are ignored. So when a young child receives a long-winded reprimand from his mother as he purposely wriggles while she changes his nappy he is learning a great way to keep her busy. Similarly, a child who continuously stands up and sits down while he is being bathed is working out how he can have some fun at his mother and father's expense.

In both cases, it would be effective if the parent involved simply made the child safe and didn't respond verbally to the situation. Children in those cases generally learn that their parents are not engaging in the game they are making so they will try other ways to get some attention. However, it takes some children a while to understand so parents need to persist with their approach. Kids can't learn if we are giving them different signals ? sometimes ignoring, sometimes laughing and sometimes punishing for the same behaviour.

The language a parent uses with young children can make a huge difference. Those parents who use the language of coercion and spend a great deal of time telling children what they want them to do will generally meet with a child who refuses to cooperate. Effective parents avoid over talking at the point of misbehaviour and don't try to fight children on every battlefront.

Effective discipline of young children involves more than simply applying the right technique or strategy to match a situation. If it was that simple then dog owners would teach us a great deal about gaining cooperation from kids. "Be consistent, praise the good stuff; teach one behaviour at a time and growl at bad behaviour" is the appropriate approach for our four-legged friends. If we want perfectly obedient kids then we know the formula.

Therein lies the dilemma. We need to raise cooperative kids capable of making their own decisions, to be considerate of others and generally survive as adults. This takes time and considerable teaching and patience, not to mention the use of routines, good parental behaviour for children to copy and the opportunity for children to find a place through contribution rather than misbehaviour.

The idea of healthy relationships lies at the heart of effective discipline. Kids will only cooperate in the long term if they feel their parents are fair, care for them and have their best interests at heart. Parenting by remote control or from a distance just won't cut it with many children.

The high priority parents place on healthy relationships with children is not compromised by the need to teach them appropriate, safe and socially acceptable behaviour. In fact, good discipline and a good parent-child relationship go hand-in-hand. Parents who don't have a firm backbone generally find that their children show them little respect, which is a recipe for relationship disaster. Discipline maybe misunderstood these days but there is no mistake about its importance for children and parents.

Michael Grose is Australia's leading parenting educator. He is the author of six books and gives over 100 presentations a year and appears regularly on television, radio and in print.

For further ideas to help you raise happy children and resilient teenagers visit http://www.parentingideas.com.au . While you are there subscribe to Happy Kids newsletter and receive a free report Seven ways to beat sibling rivalry.

How Reliable are Cell Phones

Cellular phones and pagers are part of the "now" generation, instant contact, anywhere at any time. People are looking for convenience, comfort and security. The question is how instantaneous and reliable is the contact?

Talking with someone is the main use for a cell phone, yet due to poor reception how often do calls not go through, or important calls "dropped" due to flaky coverage? Let us not forget, that in a time of tragedy, lines were congested and the resounding "all circuits busy" messages were heard from coast to coast. There is certainly room for improvement if you want to reach out and touch someone.

The alternative to voice communication is traditional text messaging, enjoyed by the young as SMS, a 'hip' communication method, and the older as the tried and true paging, a trustworthy means of communication. A carrier receives pages or text messages via a traditional dial up modem or Internet connection to their terminal, and then broadcasts the messages over their network to the appropriate wireless device. How instant is sending a text message? The answer might surprise you...it depends.

Traditional means of sending text messages is surprisingly reliable and fast. However, many cellular carriers, wishing to merge technologies while keeping costs down, have opted to utilize email technology to send text messages. Why not, an email is nothing more than a text message, using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). On the surface this sounds like a great idea, nearly everyone has email access, and the use of the Internet streamlines the sending of messages.

What is often overlooked, is the fact that email was not designed to be time sensitive. There can be significant delays and an instantaneous receipt can be lost when sending email to a pager or cell phone. Text messages sent via the email protocol SMTP could take a more scenic delivery route. While in many cases, receiving messages in a timely fashion is not critical; some industries require and benefit from the receipt of urgent messages. It is therefore important to realize and make a distinction between the protocols that are designed for instantaneous communication and those that are not.

If sending messages immediately to a cell phone or pager is required, more reliable protocols are available. When sending text messages, via a modem, the Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) is extremely dependable, albeit slower due to the modem dialing. If sending messages with a high-speed Internet connection use the newer time sensitive Internet protocols: Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) and Wireless Communication Transfer Protocol (WCTP). If your carrier supports these protocols they are the better options for sending important messages.

If carriers understand the "now" generation is about speed and reliability, customer satisfaction will improve. Text messaging is a reliable and useful communication method, especially since voice is not always convenient or possible. With public awareness and urging, carriers will increase their offerings of text messaging protocols. Carriers should offer email or SMTP, but they must also support time sensitive protocols, regardless, of whether the protocols are older such as TAP or newer such as WCTP.

Resources -

Carriers supporting SNPP - http://www.notepage.net/snpp.htm

Carriers supporting WCTP - http://www.notepage.net/wctp.htm

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net

Alternative Ways to Avoid Payday Loan

If you spend more than you earn on a regular basis, it is a bad practice. To overcome this situation, if you opt for a payday loan, it will be a "risky solution". Payday loan companies often take the advantages of your need and lead you in debt trap.

The most obvious disadvantage of payday loan is High cost. The APR of payday loan varies between 400% to 800%. Think about your investments even on a high interest stock, you can get an annual return of 20% to 30% for investment on a stock although investments on stocks are considered as "high risk".

So, consider about all the possible alternative ways before opting for a payday loan cash advance.

?Payday loan borrowing situation arises due to bad financial planning. I suggest you to prepare a realistic budget at the beginning of each month in order to keep the balance between your earnings and spending. Avoid unnecessary purchases. Also save some money each and every month. Your savings will be counted at the time of crisis. Consider taking help from a consumer credit counseling bureau.

?Ask your creditors to give you a favor by waiting until your next payday. If you can manage them to do so, you need not to borrow the loan and thus you can save 15-30 USD by not paying the loan interest!

?Use your credit card for making urgent payments. Usually credit card loan's interest rate is very low; even you have to pay nothing as interest if you repay the loan within a month. Again you save $15-$30 by not paying the loan interest.

?Ask your banker or a credit union for a short-term loan. The costs of these loans are such that you can easily afford.

?Ask your employer to provide you with a portion of your salary as advance so that you can cope up with your emergency bills.

?Consider in borrowing money from your friends or relatives. Actually for a time lag of 1-2 weeks nobody will prefer not to provide you the money (I strongly believe so!) unless you had a bad credit history with him or her. Thus you will meet your money requirements with no interest charges at all! Also think about the harassments if you can't be able to repay the loan at specific date to the payday lender!!

?Consider in making arrangements with your banker regarding withdrawal facility from your checking A/c in order to protect yourself from making extra charges on bounced checks. This facility costs you as little as $5.Sometimes no fee is needed at all!

?When you shop for credit, check the APR and other official charges of different credit offers. Thus you can avoid higher monthly charges with lower credit cost.

?Many social groups and communities provide urgent assistance either directly or by various social services programmes. For example, I can mention "Federal low income home emergency assistance programme" provides financial assistance to families with lower income.

?There are several loan companies who offer $500 to $100 loan to active in duty & retired military personnel. The APR of these military loans range from 34% to 40% which is 10 to 15 times cheaper than payday loan.

?There are also several Consumer finance companies that provide small consumer loans at a low APR of 60%, which is also cheaper than payday loans.

Do the homework when you are about to borrow a payday loan. Look for low interest payday loan. Gather all the knowledge about payday loan before borrowing it. For more detailed discussions on payday loan alternatives, visit http://www.ampmcash.com/loan-alternative.html. If you have any problem or query regarding payday loan, join our discussion board at http://www.ampmcash.com/talk/

Angelina Rosario is a contributing writer of http://www.ampmcash.com/. You are invited to visit her site for the latest on payday loan news and information.