Showing posts with label julieelder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label julieelder. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
SKYPE:Technologies inside and outside the classroom
9:40 AM | 
Posted by
Julie Elder
ion, pamela, pretty may, skype, teaching
http://straubroland.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/skypes-the-answer/Skype is a free web tool where you can make and receive free calls and video calls only with an internet connection. I’ve already shown a short presentation on Skype in my previous post about Prezi so what I’m just going to give some tips on how to use it in your classroom as well as outside 
Sorry for writing so much but I did this while on the train and I didn’t have my microphone with me and it would’ve been kind of awkward recoding this post with 8 people sitting around you
Well there are more options:
o You can ask them to record themselves using their phone while talking about a topic. However, not everyone has a phone with a recorder on it.
o You
can tell them to use a microphone and install a specific software on their computer to record what they’re saying. However, they have to buy a microphone in case they don’t have one and they have to install the proper software on their computer…something that not everyone is willing to do.
o IF they have a laptop with an incorporated microphone, they could use that. However, not every Windows OS supports a recorder although Windows 7 has one and is free for use in the Accessories section. You just have to open it and push the big red button to start recording.
o Using a proper recorder is of course a good way also but once again they need to buy one if they don’t have one yet. For most this might be a pain in the neck and might demotivate them to practice the speaking part.
And if you think about it, talking to oneself is not really what happens at exam…or in real life… Practising speaking on your own might be good if you’re practising for a speech and still you don’t have an audience…something that you do have in reality.
So without further a do….In my opinion, the best way of practising speaking at home on a phone with a partner is using Skype.
Skype not only offers you free calls but also free live video chat feature thus making it able for anyone who has a laptop with a webcam and a microphone (built in or external) to have a real conversation while practising some speaking skills. Yes, you do have to have a microphone…luckily most of the laptops nowadays on the market offer you a built in webcam as well a microphone thus making the purchase of an external microphone unnecessary.
So how do we give feedback on a conversation that our students have had at home with another person? The answer is simple…we ask them to record the conversation and send it email it to us:)
How do we do this? On Skype of course Skype has many plug-ins which give us the possibility to record not only the voice but also the video calls.
You might not want to ask your students to record their video calls…I think asking them to record their voice calls is enough for you and for them. They might be shy enough to listen to their own voices and sending it to you could be something they might not be keen on.
2
http://straubroland.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/skypes-the-answer/Skype is a free web tool where you can make and receive free calls and video calls only with an internet connection. I’ve already shown a short presentation on Skype in my previous post about Prezi so what I’m just going to give some tips on how to use it in your classroom as well as outside Sorry for writing so much but I did this while on the train and I didn’t have my microphone with me and it would’ve been kind of awkward recoding this post with 8 people sitting around you
Inside the classroom:
- Let’s say you want to invite a guest to talk to the class but this person is in another country and can’t make it to your class (transport, expenses, time, etc. – for all these reasons and maybe others). What you could do is to organize a live video stream through Skype.
- You could start a call with a person (important for your lesson) on Skype without video feature. Ask him/her to hold a short speech on a certain topic and ask you students to speculate on the persons characteristics and appearance just by listening to his/her voice – for using adjectives; speculating language; language for prediction. In the end show the person by activating the video feature and ask your students to compare their predictions with the true identity.
- I don’t know how many of you do this but I have some classes where I teach my students how to make phone calls, how to start a phone conversation, how to end it when calling for different reasons (personal or professional). In these lessons I like to use real examples. This means that I actually give them a phone or ask them if we can use theirs. Some might not want to pay extra costs for phone conversations on their phone in the English lesson and maybe you don’t want to do this either (mainly if you have a large class). Do you see where I’m heading with this?
- Students record their conversations on Skype, send you the saved recording on email and you can give them feedback on it. I always strive to give a feedback as good as possible to my students and this might be sometimes difficult when in the classroom. I’m not saying it’s impossible….I’m just saying that processed information is easier to assess.
Outside the classroom:
I might want to practice the Speaking part for the IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge (FCE, CAE, CPE) exams in the class and I see that my students still need practice. If I don’t have enough time in the class for further practice then I can tell them to practise their speaking skills at home. How do they do this?Well there are more options:
o You can ask them to record themselves using their phone while talking about a topic. However, not everyone has a phone with a recorder on it.
o You
can tell them to use a microphone and install a specific software on their computer to record what they’re saying. However, they have to buy a microphone in case they don’t have one and they have to install the proper software on their computer…something that not everyone is willing to do.
o IF they have a laptop with an incorporated microphone, they could use that. However, not every Windows OS supports a recorder although Windows 7 has one and is free for use in the Accessories section. You just have to open it and push the big red button to start recording.
o Using a proper recorder is of course a good way also but once again they need to buy one if they don’t have one yet. For most this might be a pain in the neck and might demotivate them to practice the speaking part.
And if you think about it, talking to oneself is not really what happens at exam…or in real life…
Practising speaking on your own might be good if you’re practising for a speech and still you don’t have an audience…something that you do have in reality.So without further a do….In my opinion, the best way of practising speaking at home on a phone with a partner is using Skype.
Skype not only offers you free calls but also free live video chat feature thus making it able for anyone who has a laptop with a webcam and a microphone (built in or external) to have a real conversation while practising some speaking skills. Yes, you do have to have a microphone…luckily most of the laptops nowadays on the market offer you a built in webcam as well a microphone thus making the purchase of an external microphone unnecessary.
So how do we give feedback on a conversation that our students have had at home with another person? The answer is simple…we ask them to record the conversation and send it email it to us:)
How do we do this? On Skype of course
Skype has many plug-ins which give us the possibility to record not only the voice but also the video calls.You might not want to ask your students to record their video calls…I think asking them to record their voice calls is enough for you and for them. They might be shy enough to listen to their own voices and sending it to you could be something they might not be keen on.
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Saturday, January 8, 2011
My Recommended Business Tools
The main reason i now recommend this business tools is simply because my mentors and I found success with them. They tested and tried other systems and choosen this as one of the best to work with. As I have made my journey into internet marketing I have found for myselves and other people have introduced me to some fantastic tools that have made my life so much easier so i thought that i would help you by telling you about them. If you think they’ll be useful for your start-up online business or existing one, feel free to give it a try. You’ll be glad you did.
This suite of tools is online marketers’ dream come true. At My Express Site you can host and build websites, wordpress blogs, lead capture pages, buy domain names, track statistics, and tons more stuff. And you don’t need to be a “techie”. It’s all so simple to use – just choose a template and off you go! Click Here
Or a Free Website with Weebly
Once upon a time to build a website you had to be a HTML whizz kid, not any more. You’ll find it is the easiest way to build websites in a flash. Best of all it is FREE. You can create websites with a click of a mouse and within minutes your site is up and running and hosted FREE. Have a go! Create your websites today!
Email Marketing
Aweber is an autoresponder and is an essential tool for building an internet business. It allows you to keep in contact with your prospects and your team easily and automatically. Click Here
Search Engine Marketing
which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site’s natural (organic) ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings. Use single strategy or a combination of three for top search ranking. Using Linksvana blog marketing service exclusively – no other link building too can triple traffic to your website and increase your online presence. Create one way quality permanent backlinks with great page raking (PR2-PR5) Click here.
Press Release
Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online wire service. I used to say that using press release were one of the most feared methods for promoting a website. These days i’d say it depends on the person. Yes, people are still quite scared of these things, but some people find video far more. Whether or not you’re scared of then (fraidy cat), you’re going to want to use them. The bottom line is that they’re great way to get traffic to your website. Click here
Video Marketing
Million dollar businesses have been built using Youtube alone as the only video site you use, but with so many other video sites out there looking for your videos, you may as well upload them to those other sites too. The issue becomes the time it takes to upload a video over and over again. It’s a tedious job and not one that’s really worth your time. Instead, I recommend you use a video distribution service to get your videos on multiple sites. This way you only have to upload your video once and they take care of the multiple uploads from their end. My favorite service for distributing video across 25 or so different video sharing sites is Traffic Geyser. Click here
Article Marketing
Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience. Click here
This suite of tools is online marketers’ dream come true. At My Express Site you can host and build websites, wordpress blogs, lead capture pages, buy domain names, track statistics, and tons more stuff. And you don’t need to be a “techie”. It’s all so simple to use – just choose a template and off you go! Click Here
Or a Free Website with Weebly
Once upon a time to build a website you had to be a HTML whizz kid, not any more. You’ll find it is the easiest way to build websites in a flash. Best of all it is FREE. You can create websites with a click of a mouse and within minutes your site is up and running and hosted FREE. Have a go! Create your websites today!
Email Marketing
Aweber is an autoresponder and is an essential tool for building an internet business. It allows you to keep in contact with your prospects and your team easily and automatically. Click Here
Search Engine Marketing
which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site’s natural (organic) ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories, which are similar to offline yellow page listings. Use single strategy or a combination of three for top search ranking. Using Linksvana blog marketing service exclusively – no other link building too can triple traffic to your website and increase your online presence. Create one way quality permanent backlinks with great page raking (PR2-PR5) Click here.
Press Release
Online press releases, which involve placing a newsworthy story about a company, its website, its people, and/or its products/services with on online wire service. I used to say that using press release were one of the most feared methods for promoting a website. These days i’d say it depends on the person. Yes, people are still quite scared of these things, but some people find video far more. Whether or not you’re scared of then (fraidy cat), you’re going to want to use them. The bottom line is that they’re great way to get traffic to your website. Click here
Video Marketing
Million dollar businesses have been built using Youtube alone as the only video site you use, but with so many other video sites out there looking for your videos, you may as well upload them to those other sites too. The issue becomes the time it takes to upload a video over and over again. It’s a tedious job and not one that’s really worth your time. Instead, I recommend you use a video distribution service to get your videos on multiple sites. This way you only have to upload your video once and they take care of the multiple uploads from their end. My favorite service for distributing video across 25 or so different video sharing sites is Traffic Geyser. Click here
Article Marketing
Article marketing, which involves writing articles related to your business and having them published online on syndicated article sites. These articles then have a tendency to spread around the Internet since the article services permit re-publication provided that all of the links in the article are maintained. Article marketing can result in a traffic boost for your website, and the distribution of syndicated articles can promote your brand to a wide audience. Click here
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Search Engine Optimization
Getting a high ranking in Google’s search results can have a huge impact on the success of your business.
SEO ~ Search Engine Optimization
You can either hire the experts of a Search Engine Optimization company, or if you have the time, there are some simple changes you can make to your website yourself.
Step 1: Keyword Research:
Finding out what keywords you think your customers would type in to search for your products or services. A keyword can be one word (e.g. “optimization”), but multiple keywords or keyword phrases can be more effective, because they are more specific and more likely to be what your customers are looking for(eg. “ Search Engine Optimization”).
Write down as many as you can think of. Brainstorm with your team. Think of alternative words. Consider geographical phrases if they are important to your customer (e.g. “Window Cleaning Portland”). Also, get some ideas from your competitors’ websites. Try to make a list of 10-20 keyword phrases. You can right click on your competitors website and click on view source, this will bring up a bunch of code, look around you’ll find out some great info.
Choose the two keyword phrases you think would be searched for the most. But also remember, the more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to achieve top rankings. If you want to rank high in Google for the keyword “insurance”, you have a very long journey ahead. So try your best to select two keyword phrases that are the most relevant to you business but that are not vague nor competitive. It’s a good idea to have 2 or 3 words in each phrase (e.g. “wedding catering services”)
Once you’ve selected your two best keyword phrases the next step shows you how to make some improvements to your home page.
Step 2: Web Copy
Web copy refers to all the words or text on your website. Because content is king in the world of search engines, your keyword phrases need to be placed strategically on your web page to convince Google that your content is highly relevant to those keywords. The more prominent they are, the better. (Keep in mind that as important as search engines are, customers come first, so make sure your copy also reads well.)
Here’s how you can increase each keyword’s prominence:
• Place your keywords in headings, preferably at the beginning of the heading;
• Include keywords towards the top of the page;
• Bold or italicise keywords where appropriate;
• Instead of having a link to another page that says “Click here to read more “, reword it to include your keywords, e.g. “Read more about our seo copywriting Services“.
An important tip is to also include these keywords in your HTML “title tag”. Use your content management system to make these changes yourself, or perhaps ask your web developer to do it if you’re unsure how.
Once you have fine-tuned your home page, consider adding new content, such as detailed descriptions of what you offer, FAQs and informative articles about your products and services. (If you don’t want to write these yourself, they can be located for free on the internet – do a search for “articles directory”).
It’s also good to bear in mind that search engines can only read text, not pictures. Often web developers embed words in images to look better for search engine spiders or use Flash for animation, but this is a major impediment to search engines.
Step 3: Linking
Each link from another website to your website (not from your website) is considered by search engines as a vote of popularity for your business and will improve your rankings.
But it is the quality, not quantity, of the links that is crucial. The other websites should be relevant to your industry, and preferably highly regarded themselves. Ten quality links count far more than 500 links from arbitrary websites. In the same way your personal business network can have a significant impact on the success of your business, so too the online network you build on the internet.
Brainstorm all the relevant websites that could link to you, such as non-competing companies, and industry bodies and organizations. Write a friendly email to each describing the benefit their visitors would get in knowing about your business, and request them to create a link to your website. Most people will not respond first time round, so a follow-up phone call is usually required.
How do I monitor my results?
Monitor your rankings in Google over the next few months by typing your chosen keywords into the search box, and recording your ranking. Also look at your hosting reports to understand what search terms your visitors are using to find your website.
The above process can be also be repeated for each page of your website. Remember to keep updating your content, and continually increase the number of links to your website.
As you see your rankings climb you should see a corresponding increase in web traffic and a substantial increase in sales. Be sure to record the source of your customer, so you can measure the success of your marketing efforts.
Remember, if you measure it, you can improve it.
SEO ~ Search Engine Optimization
- Attention: What I'm about to share with you will allow you to increase your Free search engine traffic faster and more effectively than any other marketing tool online. How would you like to...
You can either hire the experts of a Search Engine Optimization company, or if you have the time, there are some simple changes you can make to your website yourself.
Step 1: Keyword Research:
Finding out what keywords you think your customers would type in to search for your products or services. A keyword can be one word (e.g. “optimization”), but multiple keywords or keyword phrases can be more effective, because they are more specific and more likely to be what your customers are looking for(eg. “ Search Engine Optimization”).
Write down as many as you can think of. Brainstorm with your team. Think of alternative words. Consider geographical phrases if they are important to your customer (e.g. “Window Cleaning Portland”). Also, get some ideas from your competitors’ websites. Try to make a list of 10-20 keyword phrases. You can right click on your competitors website and click on view source, this will bring up a bunch of code, look around you’ll find out some great info.
Choose the two keyword phrases you think would be searched for the most. But also remember, the more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to achieve top rankings. If you want to rank high in Google for the keyword “insurance”, you have a very long journey ahead. So try your best to select two keyword phrases that are the most relevant to you business but that are not vague nor competitive. It’s a good idea to have 2 or 3 words in each phrase (e.g. “wedding catering services”)
Once you’ve selected your two best keyword phrases the next step shows you how to make some improvements to your home page.
Step 2: Web Copy
Web copy refers to all the words or text on your website. Because content is king in the world of search engines, your keyword phrases need to be placed strategically on your web page to convince Google that your content is highly relevant to those keywords. The more prominent they are, the better. (Keep in mind that as important as search engines are, customers come first, so make sure your copy also reads well.)
Here’s how you can increase each keyword’s prominence:
• Place your keywords in headings, preferably at the beginning of the heading;
• Include keywords towards the top of the page;
• Bold or italicise keywords where appropriate;
• Instead of having a link to another page that says “Click here to read more “, reword it to include your keywords, e.g. “Read more about our seo copywriting Services“.
An important tip is to also include these keywords in your HTML “title tag”. Use your content management system to make these changes yourself, or perhaps ask your web developer to do it if you’re unsure how.
Once you have fine-tuned your home page, consider adding new content, such as detailed descriptions of what you offer, FAQs and informative articles about your products and services. (If you don’t want to write these yourself, they can be located for free on the internet – do a search for “articles directory”).
It’s also good to bear in mind that search engines can only read text, not pictures. Often web developers embed words in images to look better for search engine spiders or use Flash for animation, but this is a major impediment to search engines.
Step 3: Linking
Each link from another website to your website (not from your website) is considered by search engines as a vote of popularity for your business and will improve your rankings.
But it is the quality, not quantity, of the links that is crucial. The other websites should be relevant to your industry, and preferably highly regarded themselves. Ten quality links count far more than 500 links from arbitrary websites. In the same way your personal business network can have a significant impact on the success of your business, so too the online network you build on the internet.
Brainstorm all the relevant websites that could link to you, such as non-competing companies, and industry bodies and organizations. Write a friendly email to each describing the benefit their visitors would get in knowing about your business, and request them to create a link to your website. Most people will not respond first time round, so a follow-up phone call is usually required.
How do I monitor my results?
Monitor your rankings in Google over the next few months by typing your chosen keywords into the search box, and recording your ranking. Also look at your hosting reports to understand what search terms your visitors are using to find your website.
The above process can be also be repeated for each page of your website. Remember to keep updating your content, and continually increase the number of links to your website.
As you see your rankings climb you should see a corresponding increase in web traffic and a substantial increase in sales. Be sure to record the source of your customer, so you can measure the success of your marketing efforts.
Remember, if you measure it, you can improve it.
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