Don’t talk just for the sake of talking

It’s often noticed that people talk during the group discussion session, just for the sake of grabbing attention. It makes one look stupid and also shows lack of depth of knowledge. Talk only when you know enough about the topic in hand and you are confident. If you are not sure of yourself, wait for others to start, find clues from their conversations and then raise your voice. Don’t talk pointlessly, trying hard to prove a point.

Don’t shout to make a point

Just to get heard among many heads often participants end up shouting on top of their voice to prove a point. Wait for the right opportunity, raise your hand and state your point. If someone interrupts in middle, ask the person to wait and let you finish first. Shouting just to get noticed and beat others will create sheer confusion and chaos.

Stick to the point

Often we deviate from the main issue and stretch the topic too far. Don’t go far away from the main topic in hand. If the topic is controversial and raises lot of discussion, talk either in favor or against the topic in hand. Don’t keep switching between the two. Make sure you stick to your point and don’t go stretch it too far. Maintain the time limit.

Good start, great end

We often think it’s important to grab attention in the beginning only and thus put maximum energy in starting the group discussion rather than concluding nicely towards the end. Never commit this mistake. First impression is definitely the last impression, but an end moment fuss or ambiguity can tarnish the whole thing. So make sure, you are not only noticed in the beginning, but also equally heard and noticed towards the end. When time comes towards end, nicely wrap your message in an impressive conclusion. It will help you to leave a long lasting impression.

Keep it simple and relevant

Simplicity is the key to success of web writing. Unless your message is well comprehended by all, the whole purpose of writing will go in vain. Keep it simple yet strong, crisp yet impactful, creative yet relevant. No one is interested in reading pages after pages, so keep it short but powerful, including all important things you wish to communicate to your visitor. You can’t beat around the bushes and for the sake of creativity commit the mistake of losing focus. Stick to your topic, stay relevant.

It should be informative

Often web contents are seen repetitive, vague, and lacking concrete substance. But if a website is not informative, doesn’t convey anything meaningful even a good style of writing can go wasted. So, know what all to be included, what are the important points and include them all. Don’t beat around the bushes.

Make it tightly knit and avoid disconnection

Structure your write up properly, in a smooth flow moving from one thought to another. One sentence should be well connected to the next, but shouldn’t convey the same thing. A well-knit writing with a smooth flow will make reading pleasurable and beneficial for the reader. There shouldn’t be any disconnection. Many writers often use too many conjunctions to make the write up well-knit. But conjunctions show writer’s weakness. Instead, you may change paragraphs to convey different things.

Next time keep these few simple tips in mind while writing web content. It will be easier for you to craft captivating and effective web content.

A group discussion typically works in three phases –

• Introduction
• Body of the GD
• Conclusion

Introduction and conclusion of the GD are the most important phases, as these phases help impressing the examiner.

Introduction stage of GD is your opportunity to write your destiny. This is your first chance to impress the examiner. While you initiate the discussion you not only grab the opportunity to speak first, but you equally draw attention of the examiner and other candidates. First impression lasts for long. If you can kick-off with a good start (on basis of content, logic and your communication skill), the ball is already in your court. Don’t get numb or stuck soon after the introduction, it shows you started with a bang just for the sake of drawing attention. Maintain your participation throughout and make sure you are heard. On the other hand don’t jump into the well and start before others; if you are not confident about the topic. A hollow start brings negative marks. You are supposed to put things in the right perspective of framework. Some handy points which can help you to try a good start are –

• Definition of the topic in hand
• Related quotes
• Questions
• Shock statement
• Facts and figures (along with credible source)
• Short story
• General statement

Conclusion stage of GD is equally important. Every GD is summarized. Summarize what the group has discussed during GD, in a nutshell. It could be a conclusion either in favour or against the given topic. While concluding don’t raise new points again, avoid putting personal opinion or perceptions, avoid rigidity towards one aspect, keep your views short and crisp, don’t add anything new apart from the already discussed points.

Examiner not only pays attention towards your spoken words; but also sees through your personality traits and non-verbal communication aspects like –

• Ability to work in team
• Reasoning ability
• Communication skill
• Leadership skill
• Persuasion skill
• Assertiveness yet humbleness
• Pro-active attitude
• Flexibility
• Creativity
• Independent thinking process
• Time management
• Body language
• Patience and tolerance

When these things are taken care of, a big win is not far from you.

For a business owner, outsourcing any business process that is not its core is a not good but great strategy. I am not saying this to put bread on a family’s table in a third-world country, I am saying this because doing things that you are not good at will cost you doubly— (a). You will not be able to produce quality work, (b). And you will end up wasting time that could be invested on doing things that you are best at.

I do not play baseball nor do I play golf. I even do not know their terminologies. How do you think I will fare, if I take a baseball bat or club in my hand? I may hit a home run by fluke, but I cannot repeat it. So, if I were wise, I would have played chess or cricket, instead of going for baseball or golf. By not doing so, I have not only made fool of me, but I also end up wasting precious time I should have invested on games that I know.

It holds true for business processes as well. If you are a programmer who has started a small company, or if you are an existing small business owner that is good at manufacturing and marketing then you should outsource designing, SEO, marketing works to outside vendors whose core competencies lies in these fields. They will do better job at significantly lower cost. And the cost incurred will be even less, if you outsource your work to the third-world countries.

Did you say quality? Don’t worry, not everyone is bad there.

Benefits of outsourcing

• It frees up your time that you can devote on doing things you are good at.
• It can get you better result at a fraction of the cost incurred if you had worked on that.
• The work quality is often good.
• It will help you speed-up the process of product creation, testing, and delivery.
• You will get a bigger team to think on the problems that your customer’s face. Who knows, you may get a brilliant insight from there.

Above, I have just a few of the benefits. I do not claim here to know all the benefits, and I am sure, you can suggest countless more benefits of outsourcing. Why do not you post your comment here?

First and foremost, target your audience.  Go through Google’s Adsense options and choose categories that have something in common with your blog.  So obviously if you’re here reading this, you’re either an IT professional or in the field, so you want computer/internet products and services first and foremost.   After which, make sure you pay close attention to which sorts of ads are receiving the most attention, as you can use that to your advantage by replacing any banners that nobody pays attention to, instead adding ads that are more likely to get clicked.

There’s no point in wasting ad space on something that’s not doing anything positive for you.

Be careful in picking your Adsense banner colors also, as there’s a huge mistake that most people make when formatting Adsense content for their blogs.  And that huge mistake is, you do not want your ad banner to match your blog’s background color scheme.  It’s a proven fact that a contrasting vibrant color will attract more attention to the advertisement, increasing the likelihood that Dave Websurfer will click on the banner, netting you some money for your trouble.

But the main attraction, as I always say it, is writing relevant intriguing content.  That’s your blog or website’s lifeblood.  The longer that Billy Interweb-Browser stays on your site, reading whatever it is you choose to write about, the more likely he is to notice an advertisement.  And that’s the whole purpose of using your blog to generate any sort of cash flow.