Individual Assignment Essays - Problem Solving, Systems Theory

Individual Assignment Compare and contrast two problem-solving methodologies, select one of these and apply it to a situation in your organisation. The latter should be written in a `case study` format Introduction ? What is a Problem? In an individuals professional and social life, they will have objectives or desired outcomes that they aim to reach. These may be in preparing to take a family holiday or meeting a high sales target at work. During the course of attaining that goal they will encounter either an occurrence or obstacle that prevents the person achieving the desired aim or objective. This "circumstance" or "discrepancy" is a problem. It is preventing the individual from achieving their desired state of affairs in the manner that they had planned or had perceived it would be achieved. The problem solving methodology that an organisation will choose to attempt to solve these problems will determine their strategy and general approach to problem solving. It will determine what tools and techniques they use to assist in their processes. The comparison between a hard systems approach to problem solving and a soft systems approach provides us with two very different outlooks and are based on differing fundamental assumptions on how human beings interact. Hard Systems Thinking - Optimisation In the years after the Second World War, when lessons from military operations were applied to industrial companies and Government agencies, an interest in systems ideas developed in many fields. This interest was signalled by the formation of the Society for General Systems Research in 1954, a group of people who were interested in applying systems thinking in traditional disciplines. The basic principle that a hard system thinking emphasises is the use of quantification and measurement to understand systems. This strategy is intended to reduce the level of uncertainty that is associated with confronting problems and the possible options that are available to attempt to solve the problems. The core belief of hard systems approaches are that rationalisation and systematisation of problem-solving processes will lead to the best decisions being made. Soft Systems Thinking ? Appreciation Soft systems thinking and the associated approaches to problem solving have developed primarily over the past two decades. The approaches are based on the belief that because individuals views are subjective experiences, there is no single reality. This means that individuals will view and interpret activities differently based on their own social, cultural and political experiences. As people view situations differently, it is not possible to accurately define a problem and as a result, there is no opportunity to produce a perfect solution. Soft systems thinking addresses organisational problem solving through the use of continuous learning and communication. These will increase an organisations` capacity for problem solving. The fundamental aim is to create a Learning Organisation whose` goals are not to solve problems instantly, but to consider problematic areas as the organisations` members of awareness of the issues related to the areas broaden and deepen. The Comparison between Hard and Soft Systems Problem Solving Methodologies Hard systems approaches are characterised by the fundamental assumption that a definitive problem statement can identify the problem solving process. This clearly defined problem forms for foundation for all the subsequent structured steps. The end point of the process is to change the system in a way that eliminates the problem. Once a problem has been clearly identified, the process that follows focuses on identifying and evaluating alternative solutions. By contrast, soft systems problem solvers believe there are no problems waiting to be solved because the problem is being enacted through an individuals conditioning and perception. As a result of this thinking they recognise that there are no permanent solutions, only improvements. These become a continuous series of on going improvements, which are regarded as accommodations. A useful way of comparing the two methodologies is to consider two different models that have been developed that use the alternative principles as discussed above. N. K. Kwak and S. A. DeLurglo [1] have developed a seven stage problem solving process that is based on the principles of Operations Research (OR). OR is an application of hard systems thinking that uses different mathematical techniques to solve specific types of problems. It approaches problems by using the scientific method of inquiry. Peter Checkland`s [2] soft system methodology as similarly

Hamlet is a Fuckin Psycho essays

Hamlet is a Fuckin' Psycho essays William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Hamlet, is full of many timeless themes, issues, as well as problems which resurface frequently throughout its duration. In this play the main protagonist, Hamlet, feigns insanity in order to cover his inner devious and vengeful intentions. His act, albeit convincing (and teetering on the verge of not actually being an "act"), leaves the reader wondering, "Hey! Is Hamlet just pretending, or his he really crazy?" Like a good author, Shakespeare leaves Hamlet's mental condition up to interpretation by the reader, creating an outlet for some fascinating "dinner table" discussions. While pondering the ins and outs of this concept, one must be open to abstract ideas. Consider this: Hamlet's insanity act drives him insane. Rather than being one or the other, one leads to the other. There is historical proof that William Shakespeare based his rendition of Hamlet on a classic, traditional, Norse saga. In this original narrative, a story unfolds where a king is killed by his brother, who then marries the dead king's widow. A young prince must pretend to be mad in order to save his own life, all the while avoiding traps laid by his wicked, incestuous uncle. Eventually, the young prince revenges his father by killing this uncle (Neill 310). This basic plot parallels with Shakespeare's Hamlet in such a way that Shakespeare's young prince (Hamlet) must also be faking insanity, at least at the beginning. The rough outline of Hamlet was there, Shakespeare needed only to fill in the many small details. At the beginning of Hamlet's little act, he is able to switch back and forth from sanity to his crazy alter-ego depending on whom is in the room with him. In Act II Scene 1 Ophelia, obviously distraught, confronts her father, Polonius regarding Hamlet's recent behavior. He took me by the wrist and held me hard. Then goes he to the length of all his arm, ...

Oral health condition of the Maya community Essay

Oral health condition of the Maya community - Essay Example The results of the study showed that missing teeth correlated significantly with age. Gender, religion, income, and education levels were not related significantly related to missing teeth. The samples used had restored their teeth using amalgamated fillings, bridges, full dentures or crowns. Periodontal diseases occur in four stages; 1. Color change on gums, 2. Gums bleed, 3. Gums become sensitive, 4. Oral lesions appear. 45 % of the respondents showed two or more signs while 10% showed all the signs. 16% of the participants showed five symptoms of temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Most of the respondents did not have access to preventive health. Instead, they used reactionary care that is the extraction of teeth either by themselves or by minimally educated participants. Interviewees had different reactions on tooth extraction. However, a larger percentage preferred tooth extraction since it eliminated acute pain. 54 respondents were aware that failing to brush their teeth was a cause of their teeth problems. The level of healthcare among the respondents was dependent on their income level. The respondents either visited an odontology or a dentist depending on how much money they had. The condition in the two differed in terms of qualification of the doctor, equipment, workspace and even aesthetic appearance of the facility. Some respondents found it expensive to purchase toothbrushes. Moreover, they could not afford dental care and thus waited until their teeth fell off.

Plato's View of Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Plato's View of Democracy - Essay Example Many people were wondering how the ideal state could come about. It was argued that it could be a democracy, and this 'idealized world,' could, in name exist. Plato doubted this however. Other people caught onto Plato's ideas about the Greek state quickly. They even adopted them for their own philosophies about the world. In fact, "Jews used Plato's myth [about the demiurge in Timaeus] to imagine how the world could have gotten so out of shape when it was God's wisdom that had planned it." (Mack, 1995) Plato was talking not only about democracy, but about the creation of a polis: "Well, then, said I, is not the city you are founding to be a Greek city" (Hamilton, 2005) Plato insisted that Greeks would run a democratic city in a better fashion than barbarians or non-Greeks, and insisted upon this point with some alacrity. "They will not, being Greeks, ravage Greek territory nor burn habitations, and they will not admit that in any city all the population are their enemies, men, women, and children, but will say that only a few at any time are their foes, those, namely, who are to blame for the quarrel." (Hamilton, 2005) Plato insisted that Greeks would not harm their own land if they were to fight for it and, would indeed not pillage the land. "And on all these considerations they will not be willing to lay waste the soil, since the majority are their friends, nor to destroy the houses, but will carry the conflict only to the point of compelling the guilty to do justice by the pressure of the suffering of the innocent." (Hamilton, 2005) Plato considered that it would be an injustice towards Greek countrymen if Greeks were to commit their own savage acts of war on their own country in pursuit of democracy, saying, "if either party... The Plato's View on Democracy The problems Plato had with democracy were that: there was a fake quality about this notion, and that in fact in Greece not all men were equipped to become faciliators of the state; men needed an oligarchic state because no man was an island capable of helping himself; and that a society in which there is a hierarchy avoids justice, and includes a state which would dissolve into a tyranny because people would not know what would be the right thing to do. "While Plato and Aristotle founded their schools, the Academy and the Lyceum, before the beginning of the Hellenistic period, the Epicureans and the Stoics first appeared in the early decades of that period." (Koester, 1995) Plato does have a way of describing events, but he does so in a mentally rigorous process. "When Plato describes the universe [and how ordered a democracy should be], "he does so in almost entirely mythological terms; so too in his many discussions of the nature and destiny of the soul (Phaedo, Gorgias, Phaedrus, Republic, Laws)." (Tarnas, 1991) In that period, not every man was deemed equal in Plato's eyes. "In the middle period dialogues (Phaedo, Symposium, Republic), Plato set out the character of the ideal society and speculated on the nature of true reality as such. Plato had a very narrow view on democracy, and he can’t be blamed for that seeing as how the people of his time were at times unreliable.

Human perception on gambling and investing (online sports betting and Essay

Human perception on gambling and investing (online sports betting and day trading) - Essay Example ---------- has contributed greatly to making me the person that I am today. I express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, ------------ whose guidance and wisdom helped me to give a coherent shape to my material, and remain confident and optimistic throughout the entire process. His ability to incessantly identify the lacunae in my writing, served to challenge my thinking; his critical passion and intellectual humor encouraged me to keep pushing myself to the limits of my ability. If it were not for his positive attitude and encouragement, this dissertation would not have been completed. I would like to thank --------------- for her creative drive and immense generosity, and the support and trust that she had reposed in me throughout the years spent at -------, and for all the practical advice and thoughts, and for all the time that she had spent on talking and discussing various subjects with me. In addition, I would like to specifically thank the----------------- and his colleagues for their support, for the time spent on discussing my subject and area of interest, for all the advice and directions given in order to sharpen my ideas and construct my dissertation topic, and also for their unreserved sharing of knowledge with me. I have profited greatly from ----------, who helped me to develop my ideas at the initial stage of the ------ program. I was lucky to have met him at the beginning of the ---------- studies while I was still struggling with my first drafts forms. He was able to understand, much before I could, as to the objective of my thesis and what I was attempting to convey. He gave me the courage and inspiration, and also taught me to love the research and writing process. I am especially grateful to ----------------- ., first, for the impetus that she imparted to me, in order to take up the program and secondly for always

An Analysis Of Agatha Christie

An Analysis Of Agatha Christie Britishs literature is one of the biggest treasures of literary, poetry, play that famous around the world. The place that all the name like William Shakespeare, William Golding , and Philip Larkinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ come from. Love story, romantic story, fantasy and fairytales are some topics that many author/writer want to write about, usually based on their personal life. Therefore, when people talk about literature, its only a small amount of people interested in mystery and murder stories and one of the reason is because mystery and crime stories as we know them today did not emerge until the mid-nineteenth century when Edgar Allan Poe introduced mystery fictions first fictional detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his 1841 story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. The acknowledged father of the mystery story, Poe continued Dupins exploits in novels such as The Mystery of Marie Roget (1842) and The Purloined Letter (1845). (Mystery Time Line Group). Even though appeared really late in litera tures history but it coming popular quickly. And many authors became famous by writing this type of stories like Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy L. Sayers, and according to Hack, a woman spent her entire life writing about mystery and murder Stories Agatha Christie. It truly began in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe introduced Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin in the short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Two women were brutally murdered in a baffling an grotesque manner, the police appear baffled, Dupin leads his own investigation and succeeds were regular authorities have failed, so getting in stone the basic of countless detective fiction novels to come (R.D Collin). After that, many other stories, novels appeared as mystery fiction and became very famous. According to Mystery Time Line Group, Dickens Charles became popular by Bleak House (1853). The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), a prolific writer, Collins wrote The Woman in White (1860). The Moonstone(1868),and a brilliant Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who we know as Sherlock Holmes. Many people wonder that why crime fiction became popular so quickly. Most writer novel usually write their story, they based on real story and it difference from all other category of writing, it include many difference small stories in one big story in order to find the final answer. While reading, reader feels like they are the main character and wants to find the puzzled as soon as possible, its mysterious mixing with reality because it based on things that surround us. By the 1920s British mysteries had become extremely popular, particularly the cozy, a style of mystery usually featuring a small village setting, a hero with faintly aristocratic family connections, a plethora of red herrings and a tendency to commit homicide with sterling silver letter openers and poisons imported from Paraguay.(Murder Ink) From a regular novel of finding puzzle, it spread out in to other category, involved more violation and sex one of them are I, The Jury which became one of the best selling mystery books back in those days, sold over 6 million copied and most of them are mal reader. Heavy gut and bloody mystery are interested many people too parallel with love mystery. It became more and more successful and that why mystery fiction became so famous in a short period of them. Not stopping there, crime fiction step in television and theater. TV has provided mystery lovers with a seemingly endless stream of colorful characters over the years and into the present. Characters such as Perry Mason and Simon Templar (The Saint) were extremely popular during the early years of TV, followed more recently by the likes of Lieutenant Columbo (Columbo), Jim Rockford (The Rockford Files), and Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote), among many others. (Mystery Time Line Group). Consequently, mystery keeping it own pos ition of strength and dot not losing any sign of abating. Many new novels had published and it not only convinces British but fan all over the world. And speaking of famous, Christie Agatha is woman that famous by her writing and nonpareil skill. Agatha Christie, full name was Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. According to Janet Morgan, Agatha came from a middle class family in Torquay. In April 1878, Frederick Miller married to Clara Miller, they had three beautiful daughter together, into this well equipped house hold, Agatha was born on September 15, 1890, she was much-loved after through ; her mother was thirty-six and her father was forty-four and there was a gap of eleven years between Agatha and Madge and ten years between Agatha and Madge( Morgan, 8)which mean Agatha had two older sister and she was the youngest of all. By Morgan, we know that Agatha was educated when she was young and only educated at home (19). Agatha proved that she really intelligent, interesting in book, good at cooking and singer and in her early life, Agatha dreaming of becoming nurse, Agatha said, during her school day that she wanted to be a nurse but Mr. Miller had other ideas. She would deadly have loved her daughter become a concert pianist or a professional singer, perhaps in grand opera.(Hack 24). When Agatha was young, she wrote short stories and composed a collection of poems which were later publishes by Geoffrey Bles in 1925 and called The Road of Dream (Robyns 27). Confo rm to Richard Hack; Agatha worked at a hospital as a nurse in the First World War. This is the point when Agatha came up with an idea to write crime fiction novel while nursing for her patients. August 1914 she met an an aviator name Archibald Christie, its happen to be her future husband, surprised everyone when they got married in a Christmas Eve 1914 in a local church without any preparing , Agatha remembering the memory, wrote no bride could have taken less trouble about her appearance. No white dress, no veil, not even a smart frock. I was an ordinary coat and skirt with a small purple velvet hat.'(Hack 59). A baby girl was born in August 5, 1919 is a result of this married, Agatha gave birth to a baby girl in her own bed room and name it Rosalind (69). According to Richard hack, Archibald Christie only came home to see the baby and Agatha for a couple hours a day and left after that. Agatha felt depressed and sad when her body changed after pregnant and the loneliness while M r. Miller usually away from home, looking at the sad corner in her house, Agatha decided to continue her novel that she started when she was a nurse in World War 1 (70). The book names The mysterious Affair at Styles, it was a bid success, and The New York Times was really impressed with this book: The only fault this story has is that it is almost too ingenious, they wrote: Though this may be the first published book of Miss Agatha Christie, she betrays the cunning of an old hand à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ You must wait for the last-but-one chapter in the book for the last link in the chain of evidence that enabled Mr. Poirot to unravel the whole complicated plot and lay the guilt where it really belonged. And you may safely make a wager with yourself that until you have heard M. Poirots final word on the mysterious affair at Styles; you will be kept guessing at its solution and will most certainly never lay down this most entertaining book. (New York Times) Agatha keeping up with her writing career and thinking that this is what she love to do, she published: The Secret Adversary which appeared in 1922, Murder on the link(1923) the man in the brown suit ( 1924) (Robyns 48). Richard hack informed that Archie asked for a divorce in late 1926, he claims that he was falling in love with another woman and asking Agatha for a quit. Disappointing and painfully, while she still in a pain of the lost of her mother not too long ago (95). In December 1926, Agatha disappeared, the Monday morning paper wrote an article for Agathas manhunt: Missing from home, the Styles, sunning dale, Berkshire, Mrs. Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, age 35; height 5 feet 7inches; hair, red, hinged part grey; complexion, fair, built slight, dressed in grey stockinet skirt, green, jumper, grey and dark cardigan and small velour hat; wearing a platinum ring with on pearl; no wedding ring; black handbag with purse containing perhaps L5 or L 10. Left home by car at 9:45 P.M. Friday leaving note saying that she was going for a drive ( Robyns 66) Fifteen thousand fans join police from four counties looking for Agatha ( Robyns 67), she appeared three week later in Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, she claimed that she has loss her memories and do not remember anything happen before. According to Gwen, the doctor had diagnosed her as suffering from amnesia, typical case of mental reprisal, a person got hurt from someone or some impact event that affected them. In this case, it might be the depressing of losing her mother and the betrayed of her husband that made Agatha decided to disappear for a short period of time. Its difficult for Agatha Christy to recovery after all things happen so she decided to take a long holiday and choose the West Indies( Robyns 91) to distress and find a new source of inspiration for her next book. On this trip, she met Max Mallowan, an archaeologist, who Agatha spent the rest 45 year of her life with. On September 11, 1930, Mrs. Agatha Christie and Professor Max Mallowan were married quietly in Edinburgh to avoid the sensation that it would have caused in London press. The ceremony took place at St. Cuthberts church in the district of St. Giles with her daughter and two secretaries, Charlotte and Mary Fisher, as witness. ( Robyns 94). After married Agatha Christie returned to write book and success after success. Agatha got ideas from things she saw and turned to novels, masterpieces. Christie wrote the first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles , got an idea when she was a nurse in a hospital in World War I, and the plot of the story was base on World War I. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was finish during the death of her mother and a divorce with her ex husband. She translate her sadness in to the story and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd became one of the most selling book in Agatha Christie career, it place Agatha Christie at the top of her professionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the un disputed Queen of crime(Robyns 53). Agatha love it and know this is what she love and something that she will keep doing till the rest of her life. 12 January 1976 In St. MARYS CHURCHYARD, Cholsey, Berkshire, forty seven miles west of London, lies Lady Mallowan- Dame Agatha Christie- who was known to millions of people throughout the world as the Queen of Crime, as she prefer, the Duchess of Death.(Robyns 3) According to Gwen Robyns, Agatha Christie has the most unique style of writing story, she doesnt base on and literature rule and still turn it into many wonderful novels. A lot of professor study about Agatha Christies writing. Like Professor Behr proved that the way her character say maybe misleading or false but on the other hand, it real and true, really inevitable (189). People wonder if she used that character from real life. Agatha replied: No, I dont. I invent them. They are mine. Theyve got to be my character- doing what I want them to do, being what I want them to be- coming alive for me, having their own ides sometimes, but only because Ive made them become real. (Robyn 190) Like she said she Agatha Christie had no ambition to create a literary style, she uses her own world as her own strength. Her stories use easy language, easy to understand, that helps reader have a way to connect to the character and make it real. She put so much effort in to whats she doing. In order to write a book, she has to work through all winter, and spring to be able to publish in September. Agatha said: you must decide what kind of style you want to work in and then read book that have a same style. (Robyns 197) People think that writing is much easy for me. It isnt. Its murder. (197). Even though Agatha think she cant write but the fans still cannot find a small mistake in her ingenious writing. Mr. Max Mallowan shard with reader about his wifes writing style: My wife always wrote the last chapter first. In this way she was able to gather up all the clues and nearly tie parcel. It was only after she had done this that she went back to the beginning and worked her way through.(Robyns 195) Agatha unique writing style is incredible, she thought of some ideas that people would never thought of. Like Murder on the Orient Express, the victim got murder while walking to the gas station and the last seem reader knew before he death that he was looking at a back of the woman wearing kimono ( Christie 38). In Murder with Mirror by Christie, she created many character in order to trick viewer by thinking there would be a multiple choice of murderer. Most of the time the answer will review in the very end of the story and it always surprise fans. Creative, ingenious, incredible still not a word that we can describe Agatha Christies works. People got blow away while reading to her books, follow every step that Mr. Hercule Poirot make who is an imagine character made by Mrs. Christie. According to Janet Morgan, he appeared in 33 of Christies novels and 54 short stories (108) became the most famous character made by the Crime Queen. She named her detective Hercule Poirot for no particular reason. (Hack 64). Even though Agatha Christie is a very famous writer, but she still read and discovered about crime fiction by looking up other famous author. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the them, Agatha read and learn that if she want her book to be famous and unique, she need to created some one that creative and as smart as the most famous detective of the day, Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John H. Watson, and that is how Hercule Poirot was born (64) go along with his friend Captain Hasting. Poirot was Agatha biggest child, followed her through her life. According to Hack, in 1975, Agatha released the held Poirot manuscri pt titled Curtain( 229) to make an end for Poirot, it sold more than one hundred twenty thousand copies. Fans of Hercule Poirot were visibly moved by the book which found him now crippled with pain ,and, on the last page of the novel, he said farewell to his friend Captain Hasting.( Hack 229) Another famous character that created by Christie is a woman name Jane Marple. According to Hack she Miss Marple was introduced in the short stories, The Tuesday Night Club establishes 1928; Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, she name Miss Marple after the Maple Hall during visited her sister and this character was dedicated to her only daughter Rosalind (131). Agatha never forgot the graceful decay she saw at this once fine house and name Jane Marple in its honor.The Tuesday Night Club, Murder at the Vicarage gave Agatha a critical success goes along with some book like: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), and Death on the Nile (1937). ( Mystery Time Line group). In Miss Marple, Agatha found a spirit whose observations she enjoy creating. The character herself was a spin-off from Caroline Sheppard, a spinster in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Agatha Christie had fun and interested with this character, Miss Marple gave Agatha many success in short stories category. Like Poirot, Agatha gave Miss Marple an end in the book Sleeping Murder and it was a gift for her love Max, while Rosalind was given Curtain, the final case for Hercule Poirot. (Hack 163) Agatha Christie wrote ninety-four books all told and was translated into 103 languages, 14 more than Shake Speare. She wrote eighty-three detective stories, six straight novels (under the pseudonym of Mary Wesrmacott), one book of reminiscences, two of poems, and her autobiography. Four hundred million copies of her book have already been sold and there is no sign of a decline in sale. (Robyns 3)Agatha is truly a legend of crime fiction, the queen of crime like people use to call her. Murder/crime fiction come a long way and still developing itself. Agatha Christie, a name that well never forget she gave her all and never want much for herself. She left behind so many great novel and wonderful art work and she will always be the most popular mystery writer of all time. Because like she said: I did not have to be polite when saying that I could see no limit to the popularity of my story ( Robyns 200)

Essay --

INTRODUCTION Sir Alex Chapman Ferguson, a football living legend was born on 31st December, 1941 in Glasgow, Scotland. In his entire lifespan as a football player and a manager, he has been one of the most consistent and remarkable name in the game. He was a former football player at the Scottish football team and has also played for various English clubs. He became the top goal scorer by scoring 31 goals in the Scottish League. Later, in 1974, his career as a football manager got a kick start when he was elected as the manager of a team called East Stirlingshire. Afterwards, he was shifted to many clubs and was elected for the same post in the clubs including St. Mirren and Aberdeen. Also, he got elected as the manager of Scotland’s international team and led them for a year. In the year 1986 his path to glory started when he was elected as the manager of one of the most popular and one of the biggest football club of the prevailing time ‘Manchester united’. He has been on t he same post since then and his career of 26 years at Manchester United has been one of the most glorious and exciting one for any manager in the world of sports. He is charismatic, smart, and flexible and his workaholic type attitude has profited the team as a whole in so many ways and thus he is an important and influential part of the team. He has led the team on the victory path from 6 November, 1986 to 19 May, 2013 when he announced his retirement. This period witnessed the Manchester United with a win percentage of 59.67 %. â€Å"Some people do not want to work but I want to continue working.† - Sir Alex Ferguson. ACHIEVEMENTS Under Sir’s... .../authors/a/alex_ferguson.html. Last accessed 07 March 2014. Alex Ferguson Quotes | Football+science.(2014). Alex Ferguson Quotes. Available: http://footballsci.wordpress.com/quotes/alex-ferguson-quotes/. Last accessed 09 March 2014. Leadership Styles - Leadership Skills from MindTools.com. (2014). Leadership Styles - Leadership Skills from MindTools.com. Available at:http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm. Last Accessed 07 March 2014. Top 10 Quotes by Sir Alex Ferguson | Sir Alex 26 Year Anniversary. (2014). Top 10 Quotes by Sir Alex Ferguson | Sir Alex 26 Year Anniversary. Available at: http://manutddiehardfans.com/top-10-quotes-by-sir-alex-ferguson/. Last Accessed 01 March 2014. Alex Ferguson Leadership. (2014). Alex Ferguson Leadership. Available at: http://www.leadership-with-you.com/alex-ferguson-leadership.html. Last Accessed 07 March 2014.

Explain how the following link to your practice Essay

Bullying In my work place there is an anti bullying policy in place also all the children and staffs are educated on bullying and how it can affect people differently. The school also takes bullying very seriously and any accusations are dealt with straight away. Cyber bullying In my work place we have an cyber bullying policy also we educate the children and the staff on signs to watch out for and how to prevent it from happening also what to do if it does happen to you. The school also has posters in the ict room about bullying and where you can get help from. The school also send out leaflets so the parents can read them and educate themselves. Rewards At my work they are different rewards for different year groups and tasks. Some off the reward systems are ; star chart, this is mainly used on a 1-1 basis to help the child concentrate on the tasks set for them. Cloud and rainbow this is a whole class reward as it is not just focused on one child, if a child is behaving well they can go on the rainbow but if the child is not completing a task they will go on a cloud. There is also house points when a child is doing well they will get a point for their team and at the end of the week the points are added up throughout school and the team with the most points are moved along in the race. The team at the end of the year who wins the race will get a reward each. Sanctions There are different sanctions depending on the severity of the situation. One of the main sanctions is that if you are told more than once about something your name will go on the bored and if you still continue to misbehaving you will get a tick against your name, three ticks and you will spend playtime and dinner time in class doing extra work. Impact on personal factors This all depends on the situation for example; A child could be going through bereavement and they may act out e.g anger,  lashing out, withdrawn. If the school knows about an incident occurring they will take the child to one side and explain what has happened and how they might feel but that they can always talk to them if needed. Managing pupil behaviour They are different methods when dealing with pupil behaviour depending on the situation. If the child has additional needs they may be behaving differently due to confusion or anger. Two of the methods that are used most in my school are setting up a 1-1 support and also have a reward chart. Inclusion In my work place we try and treat everyone with respect and try and involve everyone no matter what. One of the ways we do this is buy changing the lesson plan so it can fit to the needs of the individual also if there is any other additional equipment needed such as a chair cushion it will be provided. Training Training is provided to all members off staff. If there is any additional training that is needed it will be provided such as first aid and food hygiene.

Chauvinistic Ideologies The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men Essays

Chauvinistic Ideologies The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men Essays Chauvinistic Ideologies The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men Paper Chauvinistic Ideologies The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men Paper Essay Topic: Of Mice and Men The Great Gatsby In literature, anti-feminism and patriarchal ideologies can manifest in very different forms. Some texts can be subtle while others are blatantly chauvinistic. A text can, however, can contain sexist ideologies but portray them in negative ways to promote feminism. If a text fails to address and condemn any forms of sexism it contains, the text promotes ideologies that damage society. Whether a text negatively or positively portrays the patriarchy vs feminism drastically alters the way we can interpret, value and read literature. Anti-feminist literature is damaging, and while it portrays the way most societies are, it does not accurately reflect the attitude or best interest of general populations. Both The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men take place in America during the 1920s and 1930s; a very male-dominated time in American society. While the texts do a great job of incorporating the struggles of the poor and rich in this rough time in American history by including class struggles and obvious discrepancies between how each class treats each other, both the texts fail to condemn the anti-feminist ways of life. The Great Gatsby is brimming with patriarchal aspects of life from the very first chapter. Nick Callaway, the story’s narrator, begins his story by having ‘dinner with the Tom Buchanans’ (8). He refers to his cousin and her husband by the plural version of Tom Buchanan’s name, rather than simply The Buchanan’s, to emphasize the male presence and procession of the home and family. Later in the book, after learning of his wife’s affair, Wilson locks his wife in the house. While a neighbor walks by, he hears Myrtle’s screami ng. ‘I’ve got my wife locked in up there,’ explained Wilson calmly. ‘She’s going to stay there till the day after tomorrow and then we’re going to move away’ (146). Instead of helping Myrtle, Wilson’s neighbor pries a bit but does nothing further to aid Myrtle. The neighbor acce

SEO Content Strategy How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%

SEO Content Strategy How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594% SEO moves fast. Its an ever-changing discipline where what worked six months ago, might be completely out of date. However, there are some fundamentals that stay more or less the same. When was first getting started, we knew we needed to attract the right kinds of customers. In order to pull those customers in, we also knew we needed to capture valuable search traffic. That led to a lot of research. Here are some of the basic strategies and tactics that guided our success: Focus on publishing compelling, quality content that is uniquely different and more valuable than anything else out there. That usually means its long-form content. Use the keywords your audience is searching for. Search engines understand synonyms and similar  terminology, so using related  keywords in multiple pieces of content helps the bots know what topics your site covers. That said, focusing on keywords for each piece of content you publish still matters. Offsite references, reviews, and social links play a role in how your content performs on search engines. Inbound links to your site are still important, and so is a logical sitemap with  internal linking among  pages. Content freshness matters. Keeping your content up to date helps search engines  understand that your site is accurate today. SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%And of course, any SEO strategy should work hand-in-hand with a basic content strategy: Know your audience. Know your business. Know your goals. So lets see how this  sort of SEO content strategy really plays out  with a deep dive of how we do it at . Results  From Our SEO Content Strategy (Or Simply, This Stuff Works) While there's a lot to  SEO, we primarily focus on applying keywords to compelling, quality content. There's not much more to it than that. And it's working: That's our 594% increase in organic search traffic from January 2015 through December 2016. Aside from some seasonal dips, it's mostly trending in the right direction. This screenshot was grabbed from our Moz.com account. Those results have helped us reach a larger audience, bringing in more than 150,000 email subscribers and increasing our customer base. SEO was one tactic  of our content strategy that contributed to these results. We had a lot of growth with our marketing calendar itself that boosted these results beyond the SEO tactics you're reading about now. But it all adds  up in the end. What It Is And What It's Not Did you know some folks in the SEO industry have actually talked about changing the term from  search engine optimization to optimizing content for discovery and conversion or simply OC/DC? SEO has become an infamous initialism some people  relate to content targeted at ranking for robots instead of answering real people's questions. That is exactly what a great SEO content strategy is not. At least, that's not how we got  the results we saw at . OCDC compared to SEO with Google Trends shows which term is forecasted to stick around. While the term "OC/DC" hasn't widely caught on, the idea is perfect for setting up your SEO content strategy. As Sean Jackson from Copyblogger puts it: Optimizing Content for Discovery and Conversion, or â€Å"OC/DC† for short, encapsulates this idea of amplifying the overall reach and results of content creation. Sean goes on to say there are two main aspects of OC/DC: On-site optimization is all about publishing  awesome stuff in the first place. Interestingly enough, Sean didn't really cover growth hacks to optimize your content specifically for conversions, but this is definitely something we do  at to turn traffic into subscribers. External optimization involves optimizing your content not only for search engines, but for tons of other referral sources, too. Republishing, repurposing, and distributing your content all fall within external optimization. Essentially,  Sean is spot on with this idea: Your SEO content strategy is not about thin content targeted at appealing to robots, rather, it's about publishing timely, compelling content your audience is seeking, and helping them find it. #SEO is publishing timely, compelling content your audience is seeking, and helping them find it.Let's combine everything you just learned into the three  steps you'll use  to  plan and execute your strategy: 1. Research And Target Keywords Relevant To Your Niche Start by brainstorming the core topics for which you'd like to be known for. Since we're talking through 's story, here's how we did it: is a marketing calendar for everything- blogging, social media, ads, e-books, brochures- you name it, you can plan it with . We could talk about content types... but it makes more sense for us to target keywords around marketing strategy, planning, and that sort of thing to help you gals and guys doing the work execute more efficiently than ever. Finding your marketing niche, especially in super broad industries, helps you hone in on your audience's needs really easily. This topic definition focused our vision from any willy-nilly marketing topic to purely marketing strategy, planning, and execution- all things our audience can do even better when they use  . After you have the topics, it's time to find your keywords. First, watch this awesome video from Rand Fishkin at Moz to get started: Then put everything you just learned into action: Enter your topics into Google's keyword planner tool and check out the keyword ideas tab. That shows you a ton of related terms people are searching for. Select the best related keywords and start a list. Words with  low competition will catch your eye as opportunities. Those are keywords  people are searching for, but there isn't a hefty amount of content available to answer their questions. From here, whip out SEMrush's keyword research tool to understand if the keyword is predicted to grow in popularity (making it worth your time to target), gauge your competition, and get a feel for the difficulty. SEMrush's keyword research tool is a handy way to understand if it's feasible to target certain keywords and helps you find better related terms. Bonus: Combine your data from Google's keyword planner and SEMrush with Moz's keyword difficulty tool. For us, when a keyword is in the low 50s for a difficulty percentage, we rank well. From here, we took Brian Dean's  advice and  found keywords that our audience would use to find as a tool for planning your marketing with a calendar, as well as the related keywords for our niche. Product keywords: To clarify that a bit, there are some keywords that we found people search for like  marketing calendar tool that show the searcher's intent is on finding an app like . We should show up in their search results for these sorts of terms, so we're creating a landing page that provides helpful advice on using a marketing calendar, then ends with information about how fills that need. These keywords are very important because folks searching for these words are set  on buying. If we can help searchers find as a solution for these terms, we have the opportunity to convert searchers into paying customers. It's demand generation. Does your SEO content strategy focus on commercial intent? Get buyers, not just traffic. Here's how.Niche keywords: This list is perfect for blog posts with terms like  social media strategy template. That keyword is a core element of , providing a template of how to share content more than once on social media. Yet when we target this keyword, the goal is to provide a sweet download that helps our readers plan this on their own. So these words are great because we know a need depending on the popularity of the keyword, so we can mention how is helpful.  But really, these terms are usually the ones the doers search to learn how to do the work on their own without buying a tool like . They are perfect keywords to target, however, because we can provide helpful advice on how to do it on their  own, but if they just used , their lives would be even easier by consolidating their tool base thus saving 30 minutes for every piece of content they share. See how that works? Recommended Reading: Your Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research 2. Plan To Execute Your  SEO Content Strategy So you have a big list of keywords you could target with your content.  Now it's time to plan how you'll actually accomplish your SEO content strategy to prioritize your projects and make execution a breeze. There is a traditional approach for marketing project management that will help you do just this: Initiate Your Project Your SEO content strategy is made up of multiple projects. The first step is prioritizing your keywords according to your goals: Start With Your Goals We have three core marketing goals at that all build upon one another.  Focusing on SEO helps us meet all of those goals: Grow traffic: Enabling our audience to  find through search engines, guest posts, and republished content helps us grow our traffic. Increase subscribers: The content we publish on our blog, for the niche keywords specifically, always contains free downloadable content in exchange for an email address. In that way, we optimize our content not only to be found, but to also convert readers into subscribers by providing valuable bonus content. Get more customers: The content we publish that targets the product keywords helps us turn readers into customers by showing the value provides as a marketing tool. From the get-go, it just makes sense for us to prioritize SEO as a valuable component of our overall content strategy. That said, certain keywords have more impact on those goals than others. For us, it makes sense to focus on both product and niche keywords. Here's what to do: Prioritize each list of keywords according to importance for your business to help you reach your goals. Take a hard look at the average monthly searches, competition, and difficulty, and choose the ones that will be easiest for you to rank for now. Select the top 15 keywords from each list to have 30 total keywords to target in your first  project. Define Your Content Types You could turn those keywords into a  million different content formats, right?  For each keyword, determine the best content type you'll use to rank for that keyword. At , we specifically think about the keywords first, then apply our knowledge of why our audience is searching for that term to the process. That helps us choose the right content type for each. Product: Think e-commerce pages, landing pages, and feature pages. These aren't necessarily best for blog posts because folks searching for these terms are likely ready to buy. Use the best content types to help you sell your product or service. Niche:  Think more traditional content marketing like blog posts,  landing pages, templates, and tools. Pro Tip: Think about the content types that work best for your audience- not just what you can do in-house with your current resources. Plan How You'll Execute Your Project Ask yourself, "Who's doing what, and how will they do it?" Resources:  Take people, tools, and budget into account: How you'll actually create the  content. Schedule:  Plan to publish  two pieces of content each week. That'll help you knock out your first project in about two months while staggering the workload to not overwhelm your schedule. Tasks:  Look at each piece of content you'll create, and break it down into what needs to be done. It's like a workflow. If you have team members, meet with them to understand where their skills will come in handy. Calendar: Plan your content on your marketing calendar, and add in the tasks for your workflow to nail every deadline. 3. Create, Publish, And Share Your Optimized Content Google's best results on  SEO content strategy suggest  tons of ways to optimize your content  as you create and share it.  Here are the main things we focused on to grow our #1–3 search results by 248%: Focus on Compelling, Quality Content Yeah, I know how many more times you can hear that before you go nuts. But it's a lot easier said than done. One of the top posts on this topic by Julia McCoy on Scoop.it suggests that brands like BMW, GE, and Red Bull are focusing on engagement tactics that are also helping people find their content. And it's no surprise that Neil Patel would say something similar with his take on interactive content reducing your bounce rate: Engagement and interactive content go hand in hand, and we’ve known it for quite a while. Interactive education was originally studied at home and schools even before the Internet was a thing. Let me define interactive education: Interactive education is teaching that requires participation from students. Interactive content, as we’ll soon see, is the same thing- just swap out students for readers. So while Neil is focusing on bounce rate,  it isn't that far of a leap to suggest  that focusing on engagement as a tactic to reduce bounce rate keeps readers  on your site longer, helping them understand your content is awesome and influencing them to share or convert. The more awesome it is, the more times it's shared. The more that happens,  you'll see more backlinks to your site. All of that is a good thing for SEO. For , engaging content is actionable: Tips and advice to plan better, write better, share better- and all of that with free downloads to help you remember the tips you learn when you're ready to implement the advice. Write Long-Form Content We started experimenting with long-form content in February 2014. In fact, Garrett did a whole little study with our data back then to share the results:  5 Things That Will Change Your Mind About Long Form Content Marketing. It's no guarantee that search engines will rank long-form content that's about 2,000 words higher in their search engine results pages (SERPs) than a post that is around 500 words. But there is a lot to be said for the quality and depth of longer content that seems to complement the previous point on quality. As Neil Patel puts it in another article on the KISSmetrics blog: My number-crunching, data-loving self has come to the conclusion that search engines and people are really into long content. It converts better, shares better, looks better, and just is better. But only to a point. I don’t want you to grovel in guilt or give up on blogging, just because you can’t write 2k-word articles. In an ideal world, we’d all be churning out 2k-word masterpieces. But in the real world, you don’t have to write 2,000-word articles. That said, even when we recently published a blog post that reiterated that blog post length doesn't matter, it is now just part of our content culture to provide long-form, detailed, and actionable content: Jason's on to us. We like long blog posts because they go way beyond scratching the surface to provide super actionable advice. The results have been great for us, and we're going to keep with it. Build Internal Links You never know which post  will be the very first that someone sees on your blog. So we backlink to what we determine are the most important pages on our site from all of our new posts. And you know what? Those pages that get linked to all the time are now some of our highest viewed and best converting on the entire website. Internal linking is supposed to help search engines cruise around your site. We see this as an opportunity to focus on our audience, however, and direct them from new posts to some of the best content we've ever published. Use the Keyword in Your Content We keep  this very simple: Page title Meta description URL Headline Image name and alt (mainly for organization) At least a few times in the body copy (including in subheadlines) There are many times when we let the context of the post speak for itself  without changing the verbiage to jam the keyword in there a few more times.  Search engines are smart and can read deep into context- you don't necessarily need every word in your long-tail keyword in the exact order. In fact, Brian Dean, the wizard behind Backlinko, pulled together a bunch of stats to look for in your on-page SEO that you can focus on right now: Source: On-Page SEO: Anatomy of a Perfectly Optimized Page – Infographic These are all things we've taken into account at to boost our SEO, too. It definitely works! Understand Latent Semantic Indexing Once you understand basic keyword targeting, digging into latent semantic indexing is the next step. It's a term describing the process search engines use to understand the relationships and context between related keywords. For example, let's say you're writing a post about Chevy cars. If you included some text about the Impala and the Cruze, search engines can infer those are both types of Chevy vehicles. If your goal was to create a really comprehensive post about Chevy vehicles, you might include a subheader for each different model. Search engines would then be able to see your page thoroughly covers its topic. Therefore, it would be more likely to rank well and drive traffic. Here's how to put this principle into practice. Find terms related to your primary keyword. These can be related terms you find using Google's Keyword Planner. LSI Graph is another great free tool that can help uncover related keywords, based off of one primary term. Include those terms strategically in your content. Section subheaders are one logical place for your LSI keywords. Weave them naturally throughout your content as well where it's natural and appropriate. That covers the basics of what you need to know. Recommended Reading: How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Share Your Content By  sharing, I mean optimizing your content for your readers to share it  while distributing it yourself  to reach more people (remember that OC/DC thing?). First, we optimize our content to help you share it with social media  buttons and . We also use the social queue in to help us share our content with our followers. Sharing our content more than once has helped us get 3,150% more traffic. Content promotion  including email distribution is a huge driver of traffic for us to keep our audience coming back. When we reference other folks' awesome content in our posts, we let them know through outreach marketing. We help our guest bloggers promote their content by providing helpful tips after their posts publish. All of these techniques help us  gain the visibility our content needs to be shared, which grows our traffic and helps search engines understand its value. Claim Unlinked Mentions For Your Content Once you've started publishing content, getting rankings, and growing your brand presence, people are going to start talking to you. And that's awesome. However, sometimes people might forget to link back to your content when they're mentioning your stuff. Those missing backlinks represent a missed opportunity to drive even more referral traffic and improve your search engine rankings. An easy way to monitor mentions is to set up a Google Alert for your brand name, and some terms related to your industry. Here's a quick video that'll show you how: Now, any time those terms are mentioned on the web, you'll get an email notification. Check those mentions to see if they include a link to your site. If they don't, find the contact information for those sites. Then, send them a quick email thanking them for the coverage, and ask if they'd consider adding a link. Here's some sample email text you can copy and paste: Hi,   My name is [INSERT YOUR NAME], and I'm the [INSERT POSITION] at [INSERT COMPANY]. I noticed you mentioned us on your site here: [INSERT URL] However, we noticed the link to our [HOME PAGE/BLOG POST] is missing. Would you consider adding a link to make it easier for your readers to find us? Here is the URL: [INSERT URL] Thanks for mentioning us on your blog! Our team appreciates the coverage. Best, [INSERT SIGNATURE] Most of the time, people will be glad to add in the link. Since they've mentioned your company, they have to be interested in what you do, right? Here are some additional tools for finding unclaimed mentions: BuiltVisible's free Link Reclamation Tool. BuzzSumo's monitoring and alerts can track unlinked mentions (and email you more detailed reports than Google Alerts). It's a paid tool, but it's indispensable for our  team. This guide from Moz  and this one  from Ahrefs  are packed with more detailed information on turning brand mentions into links. OK, Now Go Execute Your Plan Here is our best advice to get started on your  content creation process  while taking into consideration everything you just learned about optimizing your content: Angles: Know exactly  what you'd like the outcome of your content to look like. A great angle is appealing to real readers while targeting a keyword just helps them find your content. This is where the compelling nature of your content comes into play. Outlines: Stay on point in your content by beginning with an outline. This is also a great way to make sure you cover your angle. Headlines: Write emotional  headlines. There is some research out there to show that a variation of your keyword in your headlines  to help them feel less like search engine bait is a good thing. Introductions: Focus your first 100 words on drawing the reader in. Start with interesting facts, stories, anecdotes, and similar hooks to keep your readers reading. Brian Dean suggests using your keyword at least once in your introduction. Body: Follow your angle and outline and write your content. Use your keyword naturally. Take Julie's advice:  How To Write A Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist To Rock A Perfect Post. Calls to action:  Provide free content in exchange for email addresses and include calls to action for hard sales of your product or service. You're blogging to make money; don't forget to ask for it. Recommended Reading:  4-Step System For Writing A Great Blog Post, Even If You Have Writers Block What Doesn't Work (And Other Lessons Learned) Knowing what worked is all fine and dandy.  But we made a few mistakes you can learn from and avoid ever making in the first place: Adding in keywords after the post is written: Boy, this is super tough and feels like keyword stuffing. It's great to write posts that cover an idea no one has ever searched- that's thought leadership. Just know in your head that thought leadership is the point and adding in a keyword here and there may just make it awkward. Guest bloggers: It's super great to help them know exactly which keyword to use and your expectations before they get too far along. See point #1 for why. Headlines: Having your keyword in your headlines is important. But it's not worth the risk if you make it unreadable for humans. Don't be afraid to use a synonym for your keyword in your headline if you have to because your primary audience is, and will always be, people over robots. To top it off, here are the things I want to target in the near future to improve even more: Choosing the right keywords faster: I've been known to drag my heels on certain content,  searching for a millennium for the perfect keyword. It is a super important process, but we plan to publish for a long time to come. So it's easiest to just pick a few and run with  them now to keep us moving. Improving older content: There are tons of ways to optimize the content that's already published on your site. Lately, I've been researching the Google's 2oo ranking factors in a list from Brian Dean and plan to check out no-follow links, headlines, last updated dates (freshness), and just plain old better on-page optimization in old posts. More product-centric landing pages for demand generation: There are lots of product keywords out there that people could use to find . I'd like to target  all of them with dedicated features pages and landing pages. More super long landing pages because we know they work: Our blog posts convert readers into subscribers really well. But. Our landing pages perform even better. That said, we're going to publish more keyword-targeted landing pages with free offers to convert readers into subscribers. (By the way, some of those landing pages are only able to be found by search engines, so that tells you how much we rely on the robots to help people find our content.) More interactive content and tools:  You guys love the  headline analyzer. It's the #1 search result for that term. So it would make sense to bring you more interactive content we know you'll love. Good luck as you get started with your SEO content strategy.  And please, if you know of other marketers who may benefit from this information, please share it with your friends. SEO Content Strategy How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594% SEO moves fast. Its an ever-changing discipline where what worked six months ago, might be completely out of date. However, there are some fundamentals that stay more or less the same. When was first getting started, we knew we needed to attract the right kinds of customers. In order to pull those customers in, we also knew we needed to capture valuable search traffic. That led to a lot of research. Here are some of the basic strategies and tactics that guided our success: Focus on publishing compelling, quality content that is uniquely different and more valuable than anything else out there. That usually means its long-form content. Use the keywords your audience is searching for. Search engines understand synonyms and similar  terminology, so using related  keywords in multiple pieces of content helps the bots know what topics your site covers. That said, focusing on keywords for each piece of content you publish still matters. Offsite references, reviews, and social links play a role in how your content performs on search engines. Inbound links to your site are still important, and so is a logical sitemap with  internal linking among  pages. Content freshness matters. Keeping your content up to date helps search engines  understand that your site is accurate today. SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%And of course, any SEO strategy should work hand-in-hand with a basic content strategy: Know your audience. Know your business. Know your goals. So lets see how this  sort of SEO content strategy really plays out  with a deep dive of how we do it at . Results  From Our SEO Content Strategy (Or Simply, This Stuff Works) While there's a lot to  SEO, we primarily focus on applying keywords to compelling, quality content. There's not much more to it than that. And it's working: That's our 594% increase in organic search traffic from January 2015 through December 2016. Aside from some seasonal dips, it's mostly trending in the right direction. This screenshot was grabbed from our Moz.com account. Those results have helped us reach a larger audience, bringing in more than 150,000 email subscribers and increasing our customer base. SEO was one tactic  of our content strategy that contributed to these results. We had a lot of growth with our marketing calendar itself that boosted these results beyond the SEO tactics you're reading about now. But it all adds  up in the end. What It Is And What It's Not Did you know some folks in the SEO industry have actually talked about changing the term from  search engine optimization to optimizing content for discovery and conversion or simply OC/DC? SEO has become an infamous initialism some people  relate to content targeted at ranking for robots instead of answering real people's questions. That is exactly what a great SEO content strategy is not. At least, that's not how we got  the results we saw at . OCDC compared to SEO with Google Trends shows which term is forecasted to stick around. While the term "OC/DC" hasn't widely caught on, the idea is perfect for setting up your SEO content strategy. As Sean Jackson from Copyblogger puts it: Optimizing Content for Discovery and Conversion, or â€Å"OC/DC† for short, encapsulates this idea of amplifying the overall reach and results of content creation. Sean goes on to say there are two main aspects of OC/DC: On-site optimization is all about publishing  awesome stuff in the first place. Interestingly enough, Sean didn't really cover growth hacks to optimize your content specifically for conversions, but this is definitely something we do  at to turn traffic into subscribers. External optimization involves optimizing your content not only for search engines, but for tons of other referral sources, too. Republishing, repurposing, and distributing your content all fall within external optimization. Essentially,  Sean is spot on with this idea: Your SEO content strategy is not about thin content targeted at appealing to robots, rather, it's about publishing timely, compelling content your audience is seeking, and helping them find it. #SEO is publishing timely, compelling content your audience is seeking, and helping them find it.Let's combine everything you just learned into the three  steps you'll use  to  plan and execute your strategy: 1. Research And Target Keywords Relevant To Your Niche Start by brainstorming the core topics for which you'd like to be known for. Since we're talking through 's story, here's how we did it: is a marketing calendar for everything- blogging, social media, ads, e-books, brochures- you name it, you can plan it with . We could talk about content types... but it makes more sense for us to target keywords around marketing strategy, planning, and that sort of thing to help you gals and guys doing the work execute more efficiently than ever. Finding your marketing niche, especially in super broad industries, helps you hone in on your audience's needs really easily. This topic definition focused our vision from any willy-nilly marketing topic to purely marketing strategy, planning, and execution- all things our audience can do even better when they use  . After you have the topics, it's time to find your keywords. First, watch this awesome video from Rand Fishkin at Moz to get started: Then put everything you just learned into action: Enter your topics into Google's keyword planner tool and check out the keyword ideas tab. That shows you a ton of related terms people are searching for. Select the best related keywords and start a list. Words with  low competition will catch your eye as opportunities. Those are keywords  people are searching for, but there isn't a hefty amount of content available to answer their questions. From here, whip out SEMrush's keyword research tool to understand if the keyword is predicted to grow in popularity (making it worth your time to target), gauge your competition, and get a feel for the difficulty. SEMrush's keyword research tool is a handy way to understand if it's feasible to target certain keywords and helps you find better related terms. Bonus: Combine your data from Google's keyword planner and SEMrush with Moz's keyword difficulty tool. For us, when a keyword is in the low 50s for a difficulty percentage, we rank well. From here, we took Brian Dean's  advice and  found keywords that our audience would use to find as a tool for planning your marketing with a calendar, as well as the related keywords for our niche. Product keywords: To clarify that a bit, there are some keywords that we found people search for like  marketing calendar tool that show the searcher's intent is on finding an app like . We should show up in their search results for these sorts of terms, so we're creating a landing page that provides helpful advice on using a marketing calendar, then ends with information about how fills that need. These keywords are very important because folks searching for these words are set  on buying. If we can help searchers find as a solution for these terms, we have the opportunity to convert searchers into paying customers. It's demand generation. Does your SEO content strategy focus on commercial intent? Get buyers, not just traffic. Here's how.Niche keywords: This list is perfect for blog posts with terms like  social media strategy template. That keyword is a core element of , providing a template of how to share content more than once on social media. Yet when we target this keyword, the goal is to provide a sweet download that helps our readers plan this on their own. So these words are great because we know a need depending on the popularity of the keyword, so we can mention how is helpful.  But really, these terms are usually the ones the doers search to learn how to do the work on their own without buying a tool like . They are perfect keywords to target, however, because we can provide helpful advice on how to do it on their  own, but if they just used , their lives would be even easier by consolidating their tool base thus saving 30 minutes for every piece of content they share. See how that works? Recommended Reading: Your Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research 2. Plan To Execute Your  SEO Content Strategy So you have a big list of keywords you could target with your content.  Now it's time to plan how you'll actually accomplish your SEO content strategy to prioritize your projects and make execution a breeze. There is a traditional approach for marketing project management that will help you do just this: Initiate Your Project Your SEO content strategy is made up of multiple projects. The first step is prioritizing your keywords according to your goals: Start With Your Goals We have three core marketing goals at that all build upon one another.  Focusing on SEO helps us meet all of those goals: Grow traffic: Enabling our audience to  find through search engines, guest posts, and republished content helps us grow our traffic. Increase subscribers: The content we publish on our blog, for the niche keywords specifically, always contains free downloadable content in exchange for an email address. In that way, we optimize our content not only to be found, but to also convert readers into subscribers by providing valuable bonus content. Get more customers: The content we publish that targets the product keywords helps us turn readers into customers by showing the value provides as a marketing tool. From the get-go, it just makes sense for us to prioritize SEO as a valuable component of our overall content strategy. That said, certain keywords have more impact on those goals than others. For us, it makes sense to focus on both product and niche keywords. Here's what to do: Prioritize each list of keywords according to importance for your business to help you reach your goals. Take a hard look at the average monthly searches, competition, and difficulty, and choose the ones that will be easiest for you to rank for now. Select the top 15 keywords from each list to have 30 total keywords to target in your first  project. Define Your Content Types You could turn those keywords into a  million different content formats, right?  For each keyword, determine the best content type you'll use to rank for that keyword. At , we specifically think about the keywords first, then apply our knowledge of why our audience is searching for that term to the process. That helps us choose the right content type for each. Product: Think e-commerce pages, landing pages, and feature pages. These aren't necessarily best for blog posts because folks searching for these terms are likely ready to buy. Use the best content types to help you sell your product or service. Niche:  Think more traditional content marketing like blog posts,  landing pages, templates, and tools. Pro Tip: Think about the content types that work best for your audience- not just what you can do in-house with your current resources. Plan How You'll Execute Your Project Ask yourself, "Who's doing what, and how will they do it?" Resources:  Take people, tools, and budget into account: How you'll actually create the  content. Schedule:  Plan to publish  two pieces of content each week. That'll help you knock out your first project in about two months while staggering the workload to not overwhelm your schedule. Tasks:  Look at each piece of content you'll create, and break it down into what needs to be done. It's like a workflow. If you have team members, meet with them to understand where their skills will come in handy. Calendar: Plan your content on your marketing calendar, and add in the tasks for your workflow to nail every deadline. 3. Create, Publish, And Share Your Optimized Content Google's best results on  SEO content strategy suggest  tons of ways to optimize your content  as you create and share it.  Here are the main things we focused on to grow our #1–3 search results by 248%: Focus on Compelling, Quality Content Yeah, I know how many more times you can hear that before you go nuts. But it's a lot easier said than done. One of the top posts on this topic by Julia McCoy on Scoop.it suggests that brands like BMW, GE, and Red Bull are focusing on engagement tactics that are also helping people find their content. And it's no surprise that Neil Patel would say something similar with his take on interactive content reducing your bounce rate: Engagement and interactive content go hand in hand, and we’ve known it for quite a while. Interactive education was originally studied at home and schools even before the Internet was a thing. Let me define interactive education: Interactive education is teaching that requires participation from students. Interactive content, as we’ll soon see, is the same thing- just swap out students for readers. So while Neil is focusing on bounce rate,  it isn't that far of a leap to suggest  that focusing on engagement as a tactic to reduce bounce rate keeps readers  on your site longer, helping them understand your content is awesome and influencing them to share or convert. The more awesome it is, the more times it's shared. The more that happens,  you'll see more backlinks to your site. All of that is a good thing for SEO. For , engaging content is actionable: Tips and advice to plan better, write better, share better- and all of that with free downloads to help you remember the tips you learn when you're ready to implement the advice. Write Long-Form Content We started experimenting with long-form content in February 2014. In fact, Garrett did a whole little study with our data back then to share the results:  5 Things That Will Change Your Mind About Long Form Content Marketing. It's no guarantee that search engines will rank long-form content that's about 2,000 words higher in their search engine results pages (SERPs) than a post that is around 500 words. But there is a lot to be said for the quality and depth of longer content that seems to complement the previous point on quality. As Neil Patel puts it in another article on the KISSmetrics blog: My number-crunching, data-loving self has come to the conclusion that search engines and people are really into long content. It converts better, shares better, looks better, and just is better. But only to a point. I don’t want you to grovel in guilt or give up on blogging, just because you can’t write 2k-word articles. In an ideal world, we’d all be churning out 2k-word masterpieces. But in the real world, you don’t have to write 2,000-word articles. That said, even when we recently published a blog post that reiterated that blog post length doesn't matter, it is now just part of our content culture to provide long-form, detailed, and actionable content: Jason's on to us. We like long blog posts because they go way beyond scratching the surface to provide super actionable advice. The results have been great for us, and we're going to keep with it. Build Internal Links You never know which post  will be the very first that someone sees on your blog. So we backlink to what we determine are the most important pages on our site from all of our new posts. And you know what? Those pages that get linked to all the time are now some of our highest viewed and best converting on the entire website. Internal linking is supposed to help search engines cruise around your site. We see this as an opportunity to focus on our audience, however, and direct them from new posts to some of the best content we've ever published. Use the Keyword in Your Content We keep  this very simple: Page title Meta description URL Headline Image name and alt (mainly for organization) At least a few times in the body copy (including in subheadlines) There are many times when we let the context of the post speak for itself  without changing the verbiage to jam the keyword in there a few more times.  Search engines are smart and can read deep into context- you don't necessarily need every word in your long-tail keyword in the exact order. In fact, Brian Dean, the wizard behind Backlinko, pulled together a bunch of stats to look for in your on-page SEO that you can focus on right now: Source: On-Page SEO: Anatomy of a Perfectly Optimized Page – Infographic These are all things we've taken into account at to boost our SEO, too. It definitely works! Understand Latent Semantic Indexing Once you understand basic keyword targeting, digging into latent semantic indexing is the next step. It's a term describing the process search engines use to understand the relationships and context between related keywords. For example, let's say you're writing a post about Chevy cars. If you included some text about the Impala and the Cruze, search engines can infer those are both types of Chevy vehicles. If your goal was to create a really comprehensive post about Chevy vehicles, you might include a subheader for each different model. Search engines would then be able to see your page thoroughly covers its topic. Therefore, it would be more likely to rank well and drive traffic. Here's how to put this principle into practice. Find terms related to your primary keyword. These can be related terms you find using Google's Keyword Planner. LSI Graph is another great free tool that can help uncover related keywords, based off of one primary term. Include those terms strategically in your content. Section subheaders are one logical place for your LSI keywords. Weave them naturally throughout your content as well where it's natural and appropriate. That covers the basics of what you need to know. Recommended Reading: How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Share Your Content By  sharing, I mean optimizing your content for your readers to share it  while distributing it yourself  to reach more people (remember that OC/DC thing?). First, we optimize our content to help you share it with social media  buttons and . We also use the social queue in to help us share our content with our followers. Sharing our content more than once has helped us get 3,150% more traffic. Content promotion  including email distribution is a huge driver of traffic for us to keep our audience coming back. When we reference other folks' awesome content in our posts, we let them know through outreach marketing. We help our guest bloggers promote their content by providing helpful tips after their posts publish. All of these techniques help us  gain the visibility our content needs to be shared, which grows our traffic and helps search engines understand its value. Claim Unlinked Mentions For Your Content Once you've started publishing content, getting rankings, and growing your brand presence, people are going to start talking to you. And that's awesome. However, sometimes people might forget to link back to your content when they're mentioning your stuff. Those missing backlinks represent a missed opportunity to drive even more referral traffic and improve your search engine rankings. An easy way to monitor mentions is to set up a Google Alert for your brand name, and some terms related to your industry. Here's a quick video that'll show you how: Now, any time those terms are mentioned on the web, you'll get an email notification. Check those mentions to see if they include a link to your site. If they don't, find the contact information for those sites. Then, send them a quick email thanking them for the coverage, and ask if they'd consider adding a link. Here's some sample email text you can copy and paste: Hi,   My name is [INSERT YOUR NAME], and I'm the [INSERT POSITION] at [INSERT COMPANY]. I noticed you mentioned us on your site here: [INSERT URL] However, we noticed the link to our [HOME PAGE/BLOG POST] is missing. Would you consider adding a link to make it easier for your readers to find us? Here is the URL: [INSERT URL] Thanks for mentioning us on your blog! Our team appreciates the coverage. Best, [INSERT SIGNATURE] Most of the time, people will be glad to add in the link. Since they've mentioned your company, they have to be interested in what you do, right? Here are some additional tools for finding unclaimed mentions: BuiltVisible's free Link Reclamation Tool. BuzzSumo's monitoring and alerts can track unlinked mentions (and email you more detailed reports than Google Alerts). It's a paid tool, but it's indispensable for our  team. This guide from Moz  and this one  from Ahrefs  are packed with more detailed information on turning brand mentions into links. OK, Now Go Execute Your Plan Here is our best advice to get started on your  content creation process  while taking into consideration everything you just learned about optimizing your content: Angles: Know exactly  what you'd like the outcome of your content to look like. A great angle is appealing to real readers while targeting a keyword just helps them find your content. This is where the compelling nature of your content comes into play. Outlines: Stay on point in your content by beginning with an outline. This is also a great way to make sure you cover your angle. Headlines: Write emotional  headlines. There is some research out there to show that a variation of your keyword in your headlines  to help them feel less like search engine bait is a good thing. Introductions: Focus your first 100 words on drawing the reader in. Start with interesting facts, stories, anecdotes, and similar hooks to keep your readers reading. Brian Dean suggests using your keyword at least once in your introduction. Body: Follow your angle and outline and write your content. Use your keyword naturally. Take Julie's advice:  How To Write A Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist To Rock A Perfect Post. Calls to action:  Provide free content in exchange for email addresses and include calls to action for hard sales of your product or service. You're blogging to make money; don't forget to ask for it. Recommended Reading:  4-Step System For Writing A Great Blog Post, Even If You Have Writers Block What Doesn't Work (And Other Lessons Learned) Knowing what worked is all fine and dandy.  But we made a few mistakes you can learn from and avoid ever making in the first place: Adding in keywords after the post is written: Boy, this is super tough and feels like keyword stuffing. It's great to write posts that cover an idea no one has ever searched- that's thought leadership. Just know in your head that thought leadership is the point and adding in a keyword here and there may just make it awkward. Guest bloggers: It's super great to help them know exactly which keyword to use and your expectations before they get too far along. See point #1 for why. Headlines: Having your keyword in your headlines is important. But it's not worth the risk if you make it unreadable for humans. Don't be afraid to use a synonym for your keyword in your headline if you have to because your primary audience is, and will always be, people over robots. To top it off, here are the things I want to target in the near future to improve even more: Choosing the right keywords faster: I've been known to drag my heels on certain content,  searching for a millennium for the perfect keyword. It is a super important process, but we plan to publish for a long time to come. So it's easiest to just pick a few and run with  them now to keep us moving. Improving older content: There are tons of ways to optimize the content that's already published on your site. Lately, I've been researching the Google's 2oo ranking factors in a list from Brian Dean and plan to check out no-follow links, headlines, last updated dates (freshness), and just plain old better on-page optimization in old posts. More product-centric landing pages for demand generation: There are lots of product keywords out there that people could use to find . I'd like to target  all of them with dedicated features pages and landing pages. More super long landing pages because we know they work: Our blog posts convert readers into subscribers really well. But. Our landing pages perform even better. That said, we're going to publish more keyword-targeted landing pages with free offers to convert readers into subscribers. (By the way, some of those landing pages are only able to be found by search engines, so that tells you how much we rely on the robots to help people find our content.) More interactive content and tools:  You guys love the  headline analyzer. It's the #1 search result for that term. So it would make sense to bring you more interactive content we know you'll love. Good luck as you get started with your SEO content strategy.  And please, if you know of other marketers who may benefit from this information, please share it with your friends.

From the perspective of an operations manager in a large manufacturing Dissertation

From the perspective of an operations manager in a large manufacturing firm, present a case to the board of directors for adopti - Dissertation Example Elements of Lean Production 9 Figure 2.3.1.1. Six Sigma Implementation: An Overview 24 Executive Summary At present, products that have high levels of quality remains to be a prerequisite for any manufacturing company. Quality is the main focus of both lean manufacturing and Six Sigma as poor quality management often leads to waste and unproductive activities. On the other hand, appropriate management of quality significantly facilitates the manufacturing process, reducing safety buffers and identifying quality issues. Lean production emphasizes awareness of organizational culture, an organized workplace, standardization of work, flexibility in operations, empowerment of employees, control of materials, level production, and error proofing. Six Sigma also involves project definition, collecting measurements, analyzing process, correcting, designing, documenting and training, as well as controlling and verifying final outputs. The incorporation of both systems will allow a firm to ach ieve better outcomes than what either approach may not obtain. The combination of these two approaches can provide more favorable results compared to methods as it can incorporate both the human aspects (e.g. leadership, change in culture, customer focus) and process components (e.g. statistical thinking, process management), hence the need to examine the implementation of both systems. 1. Research Question From the perspective of an operations manager in a large manufacturing firm, present a case to the board of directors for adoption of Lean Production Systems and 6 Sigma Quality Management System. 1.1 Project Aims This current study aims to evaluate and present a business case with regards to the implementation of the lean production system as well as the Six Sigma quality system in an organization. 1.2 Project Objectives As such, the current study aims to address the following objectives: 1. Discuss the lean production system and Six Sigma quality system, and identify their effe cts on the organization; 2. Present case studies to examine and analyze the implementation of lean production and Six Sigma, highlighting their benefits; and 3. Develop a conclusion as well as recommendations based on the analysis and discussion of relevant data. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Introduction In an environment that is intensely competitive, the long-term success and survival of various organizations can depend on their ability to enhance quality and reduce costs in a continual manner (Montes, Moreno, and Molina 2003). Consequently, a higher level of productivity accomplished with fewer expenses has become an important component to become market leaders and sustain competitive advantage. For a number of successful manufacturers, integrating change into their production methods, such as the use of a leaner operation along with low inventory has been recognized as a fundamental practice, compared to traditional mass production that made use of a high inventory (Bai and Lee 2003 ). This suggests a clear message to employees- that goods should be produced with no defects in a timely manner and at an appropriate price. A shift towards lean production, however, can cause conflict that can hamper the implementatio

Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Motivation - Essay Example Like other doctorate students, I joined the Walden University to pursue a doctorate in Business Administration-Healthcare Management. After my undergraduate studies, I thought that I had obtained all the knowledge that I needed to survive in the real world. However, I later realized that a single degree was not sufficient for me to handle the emerging and dynamic challenges of life. I realized that there were many concepts that were unfamiliar to me, and my desire for continued physical and intellectual stimulation was still hot in my mind. Further, there was a strong need to push myself beyond the limits by breaking through the challenges of doctorate education, and strengthen my coping capacities because education can become frustrating at times. According to Mujtaba et al. (2006), the comprehensive dissertation process and the complex exams are the climax of doctorate degrees. They consume a substantial amount of a student’s time and resources before successful completion. Doctorate studies increase the job potential of an individual  by orienting a student to research of high education, and business language and vocabularies (Mujtaba et al., 2006). Business administration course is a comprehensive field, which has many vocabularies and conceptual language that only experts can understand. Healthcare management is another complex field that requires people who are highly trained and competent professionals to run the activities in this field. My chief motivation for pursuing a doctorate in this field was the increasing demand for effective management of healthcare resources. This will ensure that citizens of this nation receive high quality health services, which will facilitate a decrease in the number of deaths caused by poor management. During the course of my study, I expect to gain sufficient insights into administrative concept like strategic planning, strategic production, distribution and