Transitioning Into a Greener Lifestyle

Green Living: How to transition into a greener lifestyle
What can you do to help save the environment?
In what ways can you change your living habits?

One of the best ways we can help save money and energy is to convert to a greener lifestyle. You have probably heard the word “Green” around the neighborhood lately, but what exactly does it mean? By transitioning to a green lifestyle you are helping to make the environment a healthier place for your family. There are many ways you can do your part to make the Earth Green. A few of those ways are quite simple changes to your day to day life which we will discuss below.

Cleaning
There is no way of getting around it, everyone cleans. But what everyone cleans with is not always the same. This is one of the easiest areas of your life to start on the path of greener living. There are many Green products out there that are much safer for your family and the environment. One of the easiest ways to switch to greener cleaning is to try simple home recipes that will not include harsh chemicals and cleaning agents.

- Spray Cleaner
Mix into a spray bottle the following:
Cup of vinegar (the white kind not the apple cider)
Cup of water

*Please note if you are not a huge fan of the vinegar smell you can add in a few drops of lemon juice to make the smell more pleasant.

This spray is perfect for everywhere in your home from the kitchen counters to the bathroom toilet. Vinegar is considered to be a deodorizer, and absorbs the odor instead only merely covering them up with a scent.

- Drain Cleaner
Drain cleaner is one of the toughest cleaners you can find around. It contains many harsh chemicals and acids that help get clogs out of virtually anywhere, but it is definitely not good for people and the environment. With that said you can make your own at home drain cleaner that handles those tough clogs just like its harsh counterparts.

Put in 2 tablespoons of baking soda into your drain; follow up with one cup of white vinegar. You will notice a foaming reaction from the two ingredients, when it has settled immediately pour hot water down the drain to clear out the remaining effects. You will be surprised just how well this drain cleaner works compared to others. Plus it comes with an added benefit of being much healthier.

Laundry

One of the biggest ways to help live a greener lifestyle when it comes to laundry is hanging your clothes out to dry instead of drying them in a dryer. This will save tons of energy once you begin to do it on a regular basis. Many people also state that laundry hung on the line smells much better than that dried in the traditional drying machine.

These are just a few small ways you can change how you live in your everyday lifestyle around your house. By switching to these methods you can slowly transition into a greener lifestyle and do your part to keeping the Earth healthy.

Five Tips For Video Email Marketing

Video e-mail marketing is the new trend in internet marketing. It is rising in popularity very quickly. This should not be surprising when you consider the significantly greater impact of video over audio or print. Video engages all of the senses, compounding the impact of your message. This seems to make the decision to include video e-mail marketing in your internet marketing strategy very simple. Video is a great way to tell your story or showcase your products. There are, however, other things to consider.

There is increasing interest on the part of marketers to make greater use of this marketing tactic. In a recent study of small and mid-sized businesses, REELSEO found that about 80% of those surveyed will use video e-mail marketing in 2010. Further, of those surveyed, 64% said they expect video-email marketing to produce a significant increase in conversion rates. In another study (by GetResponse) more than half of the internet marketers surveyed said they believe the greatest benefit of video e-mail marketing is increased click-through and conversion rates.

There are several basic considerations before you decide if you should use video e-mail marketing.

1. High Quality Video Only

Video clips are a high-impact and highly memorable impression of you and your business or organization. A boring or low-quality video makes you and your organization appear to be doing things without adequate planning and forethought. This kind of negative impression on potential customers or clients can do more harm than good. If you cannot produce a video that will represent you and your organization in a good light, you probably should not use video e-mail marketing yet.

2. Right Format and Encoding

It is important to use the latest and greatest video file formats for your video e-mail marketing. You also need to encode the video file correctly. As you undoubtedly know, it is very frustrating to try to view a video clip and discover that it cannot be downloaded or it cannot be viewed on your equipment. Using outdated file formats or the wrong codes can make your organization seem to be out of touch with advancing technology. This might mean you will need to get some professional help to format and code your video correctly before you attach it to an e-mail or embed it in an e-mail.

3. Start with a Video E-mail Marketing Strategy

It is very easy to aim at nothing and hit it. Like other types of internet marketing and lead generation, video e-mail marketing needs a strategy. You need to have goals in mind before you start producing video clips and emailing them to people. Each video you produce should be created to generate a specific response in viewers and that response should lead them to respond to your call to action. Your video e-mail marketing strategy needs to consider the following:

  • Who am I trying to reach with this video?
  • What is my goal in creating and distributing the video?
  • What response and action do I want from recipients?
  • What formatting and coding will be used?
  • What other information needs to be provided in the e-mail?/li>
  • How does this video fit into my larger marketing strategy?

4. A Strong Call to Action

Just like every other campaign or message you produce to market your business or organization online, video e-mail marketing needs to incorporate a strong call to action. Marketing messages always need to provide a clear indication of what you want viewers to do and how they can do it. The call to action also needs to be a logical response to the content of the video. Even if you intend the video to be informational, lead your viewers into a desired action.

5. Shorter is Better

Keep in mind that the people who receive your video e-mail marketing messages have not signed on for a major epic motion picture. Keeping your video short, focused, engaging, informative, and clearly leading the viewer to a response is the goal. Underscore the call to action in the text and provide a clear link to your landing page.

Video e-mail marketing has natural characteristics that make it a natural for providing information about your brand, your business, your products or the services you offer. Video testimonials are a great use of the technology, as are product demonstrations and the like. Plan your campaign, produce a quality video and support it with text and a good call to action. The click-through and response rates from your video e-mail marketing will thrill you.