Water Ponds and Wildlife – How To Attract More Animals to Your Backyard-Gardening
Water Ponds and Wildlife - How To Attract More Animals to Your Backyard
Wildlife require water just as humans do. Water is essential for life. Songbirds use it for bathing and preening; waterfowl and shorebirds for finding food and escaping predators; and muskrat, mink and beaver for every part of their existence.Providing water can be as simple as a bird bath or small fiberglass water pond or as complex as the construction of a large, excavated wetland with an artificial or clay liner.The simplest method of providing water is a bird bath. The structure need not be elaborate, an old pie tin works as well as a prefabricated concrete structure. Make sure the water is no deeper than three inches and that smooth bottom baths are enhanced with some type of structure or objects for perching. To cut back on maintenance, simply hang a garden hose above the bath and allow water to drip into the bath at a slow rate.Birds also require water in winter. By providing open water, you may potentially attract more birds for viewing. There are a variety of options including dog and poultry water heaters as well as commercial water heaters designed specifically for bird baths.It is important that you always keep placement in mind both for the bird's safety and for your viewing enjoyment. Keep the bird bath near a favorite viewing location but at least ten feet away from vegetation or other cover. This will help in preventing neighborhood predators such as domestic cats from killing birds.Small backyard ponds with artificial liners are another method of providing water for wildlife. Choose a location that receives sun part of the day to stimulate plant growth. Begin pond construction with a pre-fabricated fiberglass shell or similar item such as a kid's wading pool or old washtub. A good option to both of these methods is utilization of 20 mil black plastic.If you begin with a child's wading pool or washtub, it should be lined with 10-30 mil black plastic. This will insure water does not leak from the pond and will give a more natural background color than that of a wading pool or other structure.Begin by excavating soil out of an area roughly equal to the size and shape of your liner. Remember, the location of your pond should be where you can view it from your house. You should also consider keeping it within reach of a garden hose for filling purposes or and electrical supply for powering any pumps or aerators. A pond need not be more that ten feet long and two to five feet wide. Providing varying depths from a few inches to a couple feet will increase chances of different wildlife using your pondAfter fitting the liner, field stones, flat rocks or timber can help hold and hide the edges of the plastic liner. Adding soil over the top of the positioned liner will allow future planting of aquatic vegetation. An alternate method to lining the entire pond bottom with soil is to put aquatic plants into pots and then submerge the pots in desired locations within the pond. Stabilize pots with rocks or other means to prevent tipping. Plan to have enough aquatic plants to cover 30-40 percent of the surface area.Provide areas for birds and turtles to make use of your pond by adding log perches or a rock island. Creating a sandy, gravel beach in one corner can provide the grit birds require for digesting food. A sandy substrate also makes looking for wildlife tracks an educational experience. After you have completed all the necessary preparations, fill the pond with water. If using tap water rather than well water, let stand for a week to let chemicals like chlorine dissipate.You may choose to see if plants will come naturally. This could occur through transfer of seeds on bird's feet or from their droppings. Another method to introduce potential plant and invertebrate life is to scoop muck from an existing wetland and transfer it to your pond.Keep an eye on your pond often and log the plant growth as a family activity. And be sure to keep watching for new wildlife to your new oasis.This article is courtesy of D.R. Ray, owner of the Water-Pond-Guide.com website. Learn more about backyard and patio ponds at Water-Pond-Guide.com.
How to Use Public Speaking to Attract Clients – Public-Speaking
How to Use Public Speaking to Attract Clients
When Robert Middleton moved his marketing consulting practice, Action Plan Marketing, to Palo Alto, California several years ago, he started his business from scratch. He had left his well-established client base several miles away and now had to find strategies to generate new clients.Because Middleton had always spoken to promote his business, he turned to public speaking with a vengeance. He researched local organizations whose members comprised professional business owners, his target clientele. He called chambers of commerce, business groups and others likely to be interested in his three-hour marketing workshop.Within a few months, Middleton had spoken at over a dozen organizations, establishing his reputation as a marketing expert for professional service firms. He quickly became a known entity, having personally introduced his business and credentials to hundreds of prospects.Better yet, Middleton's speaking strategy helped him land all the business he could handle in a relatively short time period.Over the course of sixteen talks, he averaged one new client each time. Today, the seminars he conducts at business groups and, increasingly, teleconferences promoted through his web site generate more than 50 percent of his business.Speaking Is SellingMany business people never consider standing in the front of their buying public to share professional wisdom. If you're one of them, you're missing the boat.Speaking is a marketing strategy you can immediately embrace to get in front of potential customers. Speaking puts you within handshaking distance of your best prospects, many times helping you close sales before you leave the room.By speaking regularly you can end the uncertainty of knowing where your next client will come from. Speaking can help you reach dozens, and sometimes hundreds of your best prospects every time. Speakers report that speaking regularly continuously fills their prospect pipelines, ensuring a steady stream of new clients and customers.Speaking is effective because it showcases your knowledge before groups of people who eagerly show up to hear it. Your prospects may tune out advertising, but they'll pay attention to your talk because it presents your knowledge in polished form to people who think it will help them.Speaking gives you tremendous visibility and credibility that increases over time. Whenever you are in the front of a room, you get noticed. People will remember who you are and what your business does. The more people see you speak and see your business name, the more successful people think you are.Speaking gives prospects a taste of what you offer in a non-threatening environment. When they are in a room full of people, they feel comfortable. There's safety in numbers. They do not feel the sales pressure of a one-on-one meeting. It's also low risk, as chances are, they didn't pay as much to hear you speak as it would cost to hire you.Get On The ProgramYou don't have to be a seasoned speaker to put speaking to work for your business. If you're willing to speak for free, you'll find that there are more outlets available than you'll know what to do with."If you can get up there and do a decent job you will immediately position yourself as an expert in the minds of an audience," says business coach, author and professional speaker Caterina Rando. "You only have to be 'decent' to make an impact. Even though speaking can be scary at first, anybody can find groups to speak to and master the basics of giving a good speech."Choose the right topicsBefore you contact an organization about speaking, create sample talk descriptions with catchy titles. For example, a financial planner could avoid generic descriptions like "Planning Your Retirement," and use a more snappy title like "Enjoying Your Gold Years On A Champagne Budget".Targeting speaking opportunitiesOnce you are clear about your topic and its benefit to the audience, make some calls and offer yourself as a speaker. Here are ideas of where to look for a free podium. Many of these groups need speakers all the time.Chambers of CommerceService ClubsIndustry Specific AssociationsUniversity ExtensionsProfessional AssociationsGetting the most out of your speechThe promotional value of your talks goes beyond your time on the podium. Often, when you speak to a group, the group publicizes the event. Many people who do not attend the event will still read the information, or will hear about you from other attendees, and may give you a call.Consistency is the big thing. Getting out there and speaking on a regular basis keeps your pipeline full of prospects. When you're done, put a follow up mechanism in place, even if it's a simple mailing or newsletter. If you keep in contact with people who've heard you speak, you get more long-term leverage from your efforts.About The AuthorSteven Van Yoder is the author of Get Slightly Famous (tm.). He teaches small business owners how to attract more business with less effort by becoming a mini-celebrity in your field. Visit www.getslightlyfamous.com to claim your FREE Slightly Famous Marketing Plan Workbook.steven@getslightlyfamous.com
Publish Articles on Numerous Subjects and Attract More Readers – Writing-Articles
Publish Articles on Numerous Subjects and Attract More Readers
Writers have one basic need -- readers. We all want more of them. No matter what type of writing people enjoy, we want all of them reading our stuff. You can attract just about any reader if you just model your writing after an old investment strategy -- diversification.All you need to do is publish articles on numerous subjects, and you'll attract more readers. In other words, diversify your work. It's easy. Just expand your writing into as many fields as you know, and believe me you know more than you think. I am a novelist, specializing in sports-related suspense. Now, although I would never alienate my biggest audience, sports fans, I want all suspense readers to get my books. In fact, I want anyone who reads fiction to flock to my novels, like they are the newest in the Harry Potter line. So, I have to get my name and my web site to as many readers as possible.How do I do it? Simple, I write and I write and I write. I write about real estate, because I used to own property. I write about mortgage finance, because I used to be a loan officer. I writer about fantasy football, because it's a hobby of mine. I am a teacher, so I write about education. Writing and publishing is my passion, so I write articles about how to be a successful writer and how to publish your novel. The bottom line is I write. And when I write on many subjects, I am writing for different audiences.But at the end of every article I write, I ask people to visit my website, sportsnovels.com, where they can read about my work and read an excerpt from my novel. If they like what they see, they can also order the book. If I can reel in just a fraction of people who didn't use to be suspense readers, perhaps the word will spread, and others will become Mark Barnes fans. Remember, we writers all need the same thing -- readers.Mark Barnes is the author of the new novel, The League, the first work of fiction, based on fantasy football. He is also an investment real estate and home loan finance expert. Learn more about this suspense thriller at http://www.sportsnovels.com. Get his free mortgage finance course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com