The LuxMob Info Tags

I was talking to one of my friends just a few days ago, and she got me thinking.

She was telling me about all the problems in her life and how bad she was feeling and that it seemed that the universe just kept piling problem after problem after problem on her and she felt she was going to snap any day.

Yet she hasn’t yet, and is still going strong, coping with it all. In fact, it’s not starting to ease off and get better.

This made me think. I had gone through periods in my life where I thought the universe was ganging up against me and trying to wear me into the ground. Yet I got through it all. I remember in one of my worst times, a close friend of mine had a stroke and I remember visiting her in hospital and thinking, “How is she coping? I could never cope with that.”

Then one night whilst watching the Discovery channel I put two and two together and got forty two.

I love Archaeology, and living in England we are literally swimming in it. In this particular show they were recreating how Iron Age man would have made a sword.

The blacksmith, when asked why he was heating and then cooling the blade said something very similar to this, “This process is called tempering. It’s where you stress the metal in order to make it stronger.”

As you can imagine, I perked up at this and realisation dawned upon me.

The Blacksmith deliberately stresses the blade of a sword so he can make it stronger.

Perhaps it is the same in life?

I then started to review some of the stress points that I had had in my life, and then I realised that it was true. If I hadn’t have had these stresses then I would not be as strong as I am. I wouldn’t be the person I am if it wasn’t for these “bad” episodes in my life.

I began phoning around my friends, and asking them questions about this and realised it was true for them.

We go through all sorts of trials in our life because we are being tempered; made stronger for our purpose in life. I can now look back at many of the once negative events in my life and see how they have made me stronger and created the person I am today.

Another thing I realised whilst interviewing these people was that we are never given more than we can handle. I couldn’t handle the stroke, yet my friend could. Perhaps she couldn’t have handled some of the things in my life.

You will undoubtedly have stresses in your life, but instead of fighting them, embrace them as they are making you stronger. Understand too that you are never given more than you can handle, so that “insurmountable” challenge you are facing is in fact something you can handle and overcome … maybe just with a change of perspective.

Jason E. Johns is a personal success coach with a wide portfolio of products and services to help you create your dream life. Discover more about how you can become more confident, achieve your goals and much more at his self help website, http://www.SanjoPublishing.com

Voice Over IP (VOIP) is a relatively new technology. Voice Over
IP allows people to leave behind the old and very traditional
analogue phone networks and now adapt in favor of the very new
and very progressive Internet-based calling system
infrastructure. Using this technology for your communications
actually works out cheaper for you in the long run as it means
you won’t need to pay for calls if the people you are calling
and speaking to are also using the same VOIP system.

Voice Over IP runs on several different types of infrastructure.
This is the main reason why you should take the time to do your
homework and find out how it works and what is involved, before
you even consider setting up a Voice Over IP network at your
home or place of business. When you do your homework you will
see that invariably VOIP offers lots of advantages over and
above the standard traditional telephone based analogue service
that most people are currently using. Let’s take a moment to
examine some of the advantages of using Voice Over IP.

The main advantage of Voice Over IP is to be honest - the cost -
the cost benefit goes directly back into your pocket. And
because Voice Over IP uses the infrastructure of the Internet to
make outgoing calls, you will never need to pay your traditional
phone provider to maintain a telephone line or for phone and
line rental. In addition, many Voice Over IP service providers
allow customers to make long distance calls that attract minimal
or no long distance charges at all. Many service providers even
offer customer VOIP packages that allow you to opt for
discounted internet call rates so you can save even more.

But what about this for a benefit? If you have Voice Over IP
software installed on your PC and you want to speak to someone
who is also uses Voice Over IP, then you are able to talk for as
long as you want without having to pay a single cent. This is
because your voice is actually transformed into digital data
packets rather than audio, and the data is transferred in a
similar fashion to that of email. Voice Over IP also makes it
very easy and cheap to conduct conference calls and video calls.

There are, of course, some minor disadvantages to using Voice
Over IP and you should consider these before you embark on
setting up Voice Over IP. Since Voice Over IP is a relatively
recent and largely untapped technology, Voice Over IP is prone
to experience more errors than using a normal phone would. In
addition, if you experience a power failure, then you would be
unable to make a call, like you could with a traditional
analogue phone. In any event, Voice Over IP is something that
you should investigate for your own home and business needs and
you should consider it soon while the rates are cheap and the
deals are good.

It’s a fact. Men’s skin is more delicate than women’s.

Yep, you heard right! The daily shaving ritual aggravates the
skin, destroying the hydrolytic film on the skin’s surface,
thereby increasing dryness and reducing the skin’s natural
protection. What’s more, men – especially outdoor men – tend to
expose their skin to a torturous array of damaging conditions
including sun, wind, water, salt, building products, chemicals,
cuts, scratches, and grazes.

It’s no wonder, then, that the man of today is more concerned
about his skin than ever before. Like his level of fitness and
health, his apparel, and his grooming, a man’s skin says a lot
about him. Unfortunately, this new-found awareness is leading
some men to the conclusion that they should be using their
wives’ skincare products. This is a mistake! A man’s skin is
different to a woman’s, so it needs to be treated differently.

Why is men’s skin different to women’s? Before we can talk about
how natural men’s skincare caters to men’s unique needs, we need
to understand what those needs are. Why is men’s skin different
to women’s skin? There are four main differences between men’s
skin and women’s skin:

• Men have thicker skin (although many women would beg to
differ) • Men have oilier skin • Men have more delicate skin •
Men’s skin has smaller sebaceous glands

Why natural men’s skincare? There’s little point using a
skincare product which is made for a woman’s skin. Quality-made
natural men’s skincare addresses the differences between men’s
skin and women’s skin (without turning skincare into a tedious,
never-ending chore).

A quality men’s facial scrub is formulated to combat the drying
effect of shaving while at the same time exfoliating and
replenishing the skin’s natural defenses. A men’s soap contains
specially selected oils and organic ingredients which not only
cleanse but which also accelerate healing. Men’s shaving
supplements leave the face feeling fresh and moist, not dry and
aggravated. And of course, men’s all-in-one face and eye
moisturizers provide convenient yet dynamic skin rejuvenation
while simultaneously minimizing the damaging effects of excess
sunlight.

Quality natural men’s skincare doesn’t contain chemicals which
strip out the skin’s natural moisture. It doesn’t contain
petrochemicals, sulphates, and chemical preservatives which can
have an hormonal impact. It doesn’t contain artificial
fragrances and parabens. In fact, quality natural men’s skincare
contains only pure and organic ingredients. It consists of a
blend of essential oils, vitamin extracts, spices, beeswax, and
pure oils which is tailored to the specific needs of a man’s
skin and a man’s environment and lifestyle.

As a result, a quality natural men’s skincare range can make a
man’s skin feel less irritated, dry, and itchy. It can maximize
the skin’s elasticity, and enhance the complexion. Perhaps most
importantly, it can make it far more pleasant to a woman’s touch…

Conclusion As it turns out, men need skincare just as much as
women, maybe even more. Their skin is more delicate and it is
continually exposed to damaging conditions. But because a man’s
skin is thicker and oilier and has smaller sebaceous glands, it
needs a tailor-made skincare range. So when it comes to skincare
don’t settle for second best. A man’s skin needs a natural men’s
skincare range – a range which reduces dryness and irritation,
replenishes natural defenses, enhances skin rejuvenation, and
makes his skin all the more touchable…

Comprising of around 50 islands (750 if you count the
archipelago of the Bahamas), the Caribbean is a real
treasure trove when it comes to cruising. A rich
variety of vistas, people and places await, along with
swaying palms and idyllic beaches of golden sand.
The network of islands in the Caribbean is in fact so
extensive that it is possible to book several Caribbean
cruises and avoid going to the same islands twice!

There are four basic Caribbean cruise routes used by
cruise operators:

Western Caribbean Cruise Route - Departing from
seaports in Texas, Louisiana and Florida, the Western
Route takes in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the
island of Cozumel, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and
any number of islands off the coasts of Honduras and
Belize.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise Route - One of the most
popular Caribbean cruise routes, the Eastern Route
typically departs from Florida and other seaports
along the eastern seaboard of the United States. The
route calls on destinations such as Key West, The
Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands the Virgin Islands
(including St. Thomas and St. Croix), and Puerto
Rico.

Southern Caribbean Cruise Route - This route
normally commences at San Juan in Puerto Rico, and
takes in many possible destinations along the Lesser
Antilles and the Netherlands Antilles as far west as
Aruba.

Exotic/Long-duration Caribbean Cruise Route - This
route takes in any/all of the above destinations,
and can sometimes end in a different place to where
the cruise started.

Given this broad assortment of destinations available
in the Caribbean, it can be a bit overwhelming when
trying to make that crucial decision on which islands
to fit into your itinerary. After all, you don’t want
to miss out on some true Caribbean gems, do you? So,

whether you’re planning a short vacation or a longer
cruise break away from home, here is a selection of
‘must-sees’ & ‘must-dos’ on your Caribbean adventure.

St Croix (Virgin Islands) - Take a night kayak trip
in Salt River National Park and visit the first
landing site of Christopher Columbus on his voyage
to the New World.

Grenada - Although ravaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004,
Grenada is still well worth a visit for its scuba
diving. You can explore the largest shipwreck in the
Caribbean here and see an underwater volcano.

St. Thomas (Virgin Islands) - The Cinnamon Bay
National Park offers excellent snorkeling
opportunities. You can see a wealth of underwater
life in the shallow waters around St. Thomas.

Jamaica - Why not try your hand at bamboo rafting in
Montego Bay?

Puerto Rico - No Caribbean cruise would be complete
without a visit to the world famous Condado Beach on
the island of Puerto Rico.

Aruba - Want to find Caribbean paradise? How about
relaxing on one of the 365 beaches that surround the
Dutch island of Aruba.

St Kitts - Swim with the turtles in the waters around
St Kitts and then relax on the pink sand beaches on
this beautiful island.

Good luck with planning your trip and happy cruising.

John Metcalfe is the author and web publisher of A to Z Cruises your #1
source
for cruise information, discounts and great deals! Visit
http://www.azcruises.com
now to book your very own dream Caribbean Cruise vacation.

In part 1 of: Get the most out of your camera, we looked at how to use the aperture and the creative uses of depth-of-field. In this part we’ll look at how to use the shutter button on your camera and how both the shutter and the aperture control exposure.

The shutter is a mechanical device that controls the length of time that light is allowed to act on the film.
Most standard cameras allow us to use a range between 16 second and 1/1000 second. You might be wondering, why anyone would use a long shutter time of 16 seconds: I’ve used this and even longer shutter times when taken lowlight landscape images. I would always advise the use of a tripod with these long exposures time to avoid blur images.

Using a shutter speed of 1/125 second should safely avoid overall blur due to camera movement if you hold the camera by hand. Any longer shutter time should require a tripod.

Each time you open the shutter by one, we double the light, when we close down the light by one we half the light. Open the shutter at 1 second allows twice the light as that of a ½ second.

The shutter can also be used creatively when taking landscape images or sport images. If you want to add motion to your image a slow shutter speed can give an image an extra bit of sway. No more so than taking images of streams. Using a slow shutter speed when photographing water will cause the water to blur, resulting with the image expressing motion.

By contrast, a fast shutter speed of 1/250 would be used in shooting wildlife or where the subject that you’re shooting needs to be still and sharp. Most wildlife photographers would use a fast shutter speed.

By using the shutter and aperture together we control exposure. Both allow light to enter the camera: the shutter by time and the aperture by the size of the hole in the lens.

For example: you’re shooting a landscape scene; you get an exposure reading at f/11 at ¼ second. You know that by using f/11 that the entire image wont be sharp. You want to shoot at f/22, which is four times less light than f/11. You need to quadruple the light through time; each time you open the shutter by one you double the light, so open it by two stops and your exposure time will be 1 second. Your final exposure should read f/22 at 1 second.

At the best of times, calculating the correct exposure can be a difficult task, but with a few simple tips our images can produce eye-catching colours that we see all around us every day.

TJ Tierney. Award winning Irish Landscape Photographer. If you are looking for more tips visit: Photo tips. To view some of his images visit his on-line gallery: Pictures of Ireland.

I’ve always been fascinated by “anti-marketing”, and how
powerful its effect can be if done properly, so when I stumbled
upon The Rich Jerk salesletter, I was immediately intrigued.

I’ll admit, I’m one of those people who *never* reads a
salesletter when I am considering buying something (I do read
them when researching techniques, but that’s another story), but
from the moment I read The Rich Jerk’s headline, I couldn’t keep
from reading the entire thing. Sure, in the back of my brain, I
was telling myself that I was only reading it from a research
perspective, and that I had no intention of actually purchasing
the book. However, by the time I was halfway through the
salesletter, I absolutely HAD to buy the ebook. Even if it was
just the same rehashed old stuff, this guy deserved my money
just for the education (and entertainment!) I got from his
salesletter. My point here is that anti-marketing works very
well if done right, and The Rich Jerk has done it extremely right

However, after reading the book, I’m pleasantly suprised! The
Rich Jerk does indeed contain information that WILL assist you
in making more money online…

His writing style is easy to follow, and perfectly
understandable if you’ve been around the internet for a short
time, but it is definately not for complete newbies (he does
not, for example, take you step by step through registering a
domain name or obtaining web hosting) - if you feel like you
need any amount of hand-holding, this ebook is not for you.

In the first chaper, entitled “Creating an Affiliate Website
that Sells Like Crazy”, he covers building affiliate websites to
earn commissions from the sales of other people’s products. He
starts by listing 13 affiliate sites and ranks them as “must
join”, “maybe join”, and “join if [you are] bored”. Once you’ve
selected a product to sell, he goes through six specific writing
strategies to use on your affiliate site to hook the reader and
get them to click through on your affiliate link. He then gives
you a complete sample “sales letter” (it’s more like an article)
with all of his strategies at work.

The third section in chaper one discusses offering rebates to
your customers, but it’s not just the same old “buy from me and
I’ll give you part of my affiliate fee back”. Rich Jerk delves
into specific ways to do refunds that will increase your bottom
line as opposed to simply offering a rebate.

In the final section of chaper one, Rich Jerk writes about
setting up pay-per-lead sites, where you get paid $10 or so for
each person who provides you with his or her information (which
you then pass on to a company which pays you for the lead.) I
found this section to be a bit light on content, although there
is enough there to get his point across. I think this is a
technique that has not been explored very deeply by any of the
mainstream internet marketing channels, and one that warrants
further research.

Chapter Two of The Rich Jerk goes into being a traffic
middleman, and he reveals just how much money can be made by
doing this. I have to be honest with you, this chapter alone is
well worth the price of the ebook - you can easily use this
chapter to make well more than the price of the ebook in just a
few days - all it takes is a little time and action on your
part. The funny thing is that it’s one of those things that,
when you read it, you’re going to smack yourself on the forehead
and think to yourself “Duh! I’m an idiot!”… at least that’s
the reaction I had

The Rich Jerk also discusses unique ways to use PPC ads to drive
more traffic from them - more of his Anti-marketing at work
here. Using the writing techniques he discusses in Chapter One,
you can create anti-marketing PPC ads that I’d say will get
quite a few clicks. He even gives specific examples of his
techniques at work, with Before and After examples (his after
examples are sometimes funny, and sometimes just plain silly,
but you’ll understand exactly why they pull so well as soon as
you read them.) To finish up the section on PPC advertising, he
reminds you that popups are not allowed on landing pages, but
that you can use DHTML popups, and he even gives you the code to
make them.

Chapter Three of The Rich Jerk is all about Search Engine
Optimization. He starts the chapter off by showing us one of his
websites that has multiple number one rankings in Google for
very competetive keywords - proof that his strategies work. The
first section is called “Inbound Links”, and goes into detail
where and how to get inbound links to your website(s). Included
is a list of 40 free and paid directories with significant
PageRank, and a discussion on buying inbound links, including
exactly how to set up your inbound links (hint: don’t use the
same text for every link!) Other inbound linking strategies he
covers are using signature lines in forum posts, setting up
blogs, and submitting articles to article directories. He
doesn’t go into much detail on these three techniques, but he
does cover enough to explain why you’ll want to take advantage
of them.

After covering inbound links, The Rich Jerk discusses on-page
factors that will assist your SEO efforts. These are really just
the basics, and anyone who has ever researched even basic SEO
will be instantly familiar with them. There is nothing
ground-breaking revealed here, but it definately needs to be in
the book.

The third section of this chaper discusses miscellaneous SEO
techniques, a couple of which I was unfamiliar with. The Rich
Jerk covers HOW to do internal site linking, and how to set up
301 redirects. He even provides the .htaccess instructions
needed to accomplish this. One thing absent from this section,
however, is WHY to do 301 redirects. Throughout the rest of the
book, he does a very good job explaining the basic reasons for
doing particular things, but in this section, he does not. I’m
sure a Google search would quickly reveal the reasons why, but I
think he could have covered it in just a sentence or two.

The final section of Chapter Three discusses (insert ominous
music) cloaking. When I first came into the online marketing
world, I noticed people talked about cloaking in hushed tones,
and only in back rooms and alleys. “Don’t do it!”, they’d say.
“You’ll get banned!”, others would warn. Well, the fact of the
matter is that lots and lots of people who are making lots and
lots of money online are cloaking. It’s one of those things that
everyone pretends that they don’t do. The Rich Jerk gives it to
us straight: “Cloaking is frowned upon by most webmasters,
except for the ones who do it and make a lot of money like me.”
and “…the easiest way for a lazy person to get good rankings
is by cloaking.”

The Rich Jerk explains what cloaking is, how to do it, and how
to not get caught. He also provides links to two cloaking tools
- one very expensive, and one rather reasonable.

Now that The Rich Jerk has discussed the specfic strategies he
uses for building websites and getting traffic to them, chapters
four and five discuss selling your own products (as opposed to
selling as an affiliate, which was covered in Chapter One.)
Chapter Four details creating your own informational products to
sell using The Rich Jerk’s website building and traffic pulling
techniques. Chapter Five discusses buying wholesale goods and
reselling them. He warns us of the scams in the market and how
not to get burned, and also gives us a list of 11 excellent
wholesale sources.

Chapter Six of The Rich Jerk is “Websites you can Make
Profitable Right Now”, and seems to be a “what to do to get
started” section. He details how to find the best products to
sell at Clickbank, and then urges us to put the information in
chapters one through three to work. He wraps up the chapter with
a listing of websites that have made him over a million dollars
(although he does not specify whether the websites themselves
made him over a million dollars, or whether selling the sites,
as he eventually did, made him over a million dollars.)

Chapter Seven lists some ways to invest your newly acquired
wealth in some not-so-traditional ways. Specifically, he details
currency exchange brokering and High Yield Investment Programs
(HYIPs). He gives the basics about how to do these, and only
lightly touches on the risks involved, but he does provide some
good external resources for anyone who is interested in looking
into these further.

Chapter Eight is “Quality Products/Services I Highly Recommend”,
where he rehashes his affiliate links from throughout the ebook.

Overall, The Rich Jerk is an excellent ebook, chock full of
strategies to make money online. The book covers a wide variety
of techniques, without bogging the reader down with too many
details. All of the advice is sound, from the standpoint of
making money, but some of his suggestions may make some people
uncomfortable (he warns of this at the beginning of the book.)

People new to internet marketing should not buy it until they
have mastered the basics. Intermediate marketers will find tons
of excellent ideas for maximizing their income, and even
advanced marketers will find a gem or two in here. As I
mentioned earlier, I believe just the traffic middleman
strategies are worth more than the price of admission, so I’d
have to give this ebook my highest recommendation you can get
his ebook : click
here

Will your child’s lack of manners keep him/her from attending the college of your choice? In this day and age, dining out may be done from a paper bag, but many colleges and universities are now evaluating the social skills of potential students.

Not all schools require personal interviews as part of evaluating a student for acceptance, but there is a trend in this direction. Often the student ia asked to attend a luncheon and his/her dining skills are monitored and assessed. Schools do not want people who are going to be uncouth alumni.

I was recently privileged to be the keynote speaker at a Chicago university which sponsors a program for high school girls who are juniors and seniors. These girls are introduced to the possibility of choosing a career in the fields of technology, and have a chance to explore whether or not a career in the technological fields would be appropriate for their college major.

As a professional in the field of teaching etiquette, I was asked to address these girls at a luncheon given in their honor. My mission at that luncheon was to teach the girls how to dress and present themselves for an interview, and how to exhibit proper dining skills while at the table.

By the time we had worked our way through five courses including instructions; the students were well informed competent diners, and often amazed by what they had learned.

Next, we addressed the issue that our personal income may be at least partially determined by how well we mind our manners and our attitudes. Our ability to be promoted may depend on our people skills as well as our techincal skills. Three seperate studies conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and the Stanford Research Institue agree that “Success in getting, keeping, and advancing in a job depends 85% on people skills and only 15% on technical skills”. So proper social skills including courtesy and respect may be the bottom line in determining a profitable future.

www.etiquette4u.com

Edith Vosefski MA.,is the Director of the Etiquette School of Northern Illinois. She works with individuals, schools, and corporations who want to perfect their social skills. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, and believes that manners are just important today as they ever were. In fact, she also believes that etiquette can be fun, fascinating, and functional. She writes a newspaper column “Hats Off to Etiquette” which is published regularly by the Liberty Press.

The disciplines of branding and corporate identity have long been personal passions of mine and nothing within this genre holds greater fascination for me than the practice of corporate naming. This article is the first in a three part series and will discuss whether corporate naming should be handled as an internal initiative or whether it should be outsourced to a professional naming firm.

Done well, corporate naming can be one of the most powerful assets in a company’s branding arsenal. A great company name can support, energize and leverage your brand. The right name will also create strong competitive separation while at the same time establishing a bond of trust and loyalty with your target market(s).

Given the critical importance of selecting a great company name I’m always amazed at the haphazard approach that many organizations use in their methodology (or lack thereof) when creating a name. There are basically two paths a company can travel when creating a name, they can create it internally or they can collaborate with a service provider. Both options are assessed below:

1. The Do it Yourself Approach: In all but the rarest of circumstances companies that attempt to develop a name internally usually do themselves a disservice. Names should not be developed in a vacuum. I have seen pride of authorship create many a naming train wreck. Just because it is your idea doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good name.

Naming is a competency that spans mediums, cultures and geographies. Naming is equal parts art, science, linguistics, strategy, competitive positioning, research, business intelligence, marketing, branding, creative, intellectual property and above all else talent and experience. If you can’t honestly say that your company possesses all the aforementioned capabilities then you should not organically pursue naming.

Even if your organization possesses the aforementioned abilities you may still want to think twice when you consider the fact that companies like Disney, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Time Warner, ABC, MTV, Apple and many others outsource naming to experts. There is something to be said for third party objectivity.

What about cost you say? If you think you can’t afford a professional naming firm think about all the money you’ll spend down the road trying to breath life into a bad name, the future cost of a rebranding initiative, the legal fees you’ll spend defending an intellectual property infringement claim when it turns out that you’re using someone else’s name, or the fact that you can’t do business in foreign market because the name you’ve chosen happens to be an expletive. It just pays to get it right the first time.

2. Select a Third Party Naming Expert: Your second option is to outsource naming. For all the reasons noted above the undisputed best practices approach to naming is to hire a third party expert. The tricky part associated with this method is determining what it is that actually constitutes an expert. For if you select the wrong firm all the negative aspects of the do it yourself approach referenced above will also apply here.

Let’s start by defining who does not qualify as a naming expert. While there are clearly exceptions to any rule of thumb, generally speaking graphic designers, printers, PR firms, logo shops and yes even many advertising agencies don’t qualify as naming experts. They may dabble in the practice, but you’ll find that it is rarely a competency.

Complicating matters even further is that many firms who profess a competency in naming are simply not very good at it…Just for kicks and giggles let’s put some naming companies under the magnifying glass and see what they’ve done for themselves…

The Avant-garde firms: Avant-garde is defined as way out or ahead of its time. Firms that fall into this category tend to confuse off the wall and ridiculous with being creative…Trust me when I tell you there is a big difference. Point in case: The first thing that comes to mind when I see “A Hundred Monkeys” is what were these guys smoking when they came up with that name? A Hundred Monkeys is a naming firm that created the name “Alfalfa” for a tax and financial planning firm; Go figure…Firms that try so hard to be cool at the expense of all the other critical factors that go into creating great names should be avoided.

The Completely Predictable and Boring Firms: Firms such as “The Naming Firm” clearly understand relevant association, but there is a certain lack of creativity in this name, don’t you think? Firms that have no sense of flair should be eliminated from the search as well. There is no need to make sacrifices when it comes to selecting the right name. It is possible to be relevant, associative, creative, memorable, and distinctive.

The trick to selecting a great naming firm is to avoid the extremes represented by the firms mentioned above. There are two main factors to focus on when selecting a naming firm. The first is to find a firm who has a portfolio that is really good. Their work should reflect a variety of styles that demonstrate relevancy to the industry they were created for. This type of diversity of work history will give you a better chance of ending-up with a style that is compatible with what you are trying to accomplish. The second is to find a firm that is very collaborative. They should spend time getting to know your company, your industry, your competitive value propositions and your vision. Great naming firms achieve success based upon their ability to align their talent with the client’s vision.

Now that you are armed with what to look for in a naming firm, Part 2 of this series will discuss the elements contained in great names.

Mike Myatt is the Chief Strategy Officer at N2growth. N2growth is a leading venture growth consultancy providing a unique array of professional services to high growth companies on a venture based business model. The rare combination of branding and corporate identity services, capital formation assistance, market research and business intelligence, sales and product engineering, leadership development and talent management, as well as marketing, advertising and public relations services make N2growth the industry leader in strategic growth consulting. More information about the company can be found at http://www.N2growth.com.