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Top eleven tips to securing your home against theft

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates that in the twelve months prior to its Crime Victimisation Survey 2009-10, 254,500 households were the victims of at least one break-in to their home, garage or shed and 203,700 households were victims of an attempted break-in.

The ABS reported that break-ins were down slightly on the previous year (in NSW and WA) or stable (in the other States). The survey found that in 10 per cent of the break-ins, the burglar was confronted by the householder and property was damaged in almost half (48 per cent) of incidents. Add to these findings US research that suggests that it takes an average of four months to recover from the stress of a break-in and it's clear there can be more to deal with than just replacing the stolen items.

With a few straightforward steps gleaned from police experience around the country, however, you can help protect your home and belongings from thieves.

1. All locked up

Police suggest many opportunistic thieves take advantage of unlocked homes. Even if you are going out for a short time, lock-up your house and windows. Locksmiths can provide advice on appropriate door and window locks, and key all the windows to a single key.

Also, ask your electricity supplier about locks for your power supply to prevent tampering, and keep your car locked. Police in Bundaberg, Queensland, for instance, have reported a case of a garage door opener stolen from a car, later used to burgle the owner's property.

2. Don't provide cover

Deter theives from targeting your house by ensuring a clear line of sight from the street. Cut back trees and bushes that obscure your front door, look into installing movement sensor lights and report broken street lights straight away. Police also suggest making sure your house number is visible for the fastest response if you need to call for help.

3. Upgrade your defences

A high number of victims (60 per cent) in the ABS research cited a door or window had been damaged or tampered with in attempted break-ins, so it pays to invest in strengthening these defences. A solid core door with a deadlock, for example, is harder to force, grilles and shutters prevent burglars from breaking in through windows, and a peep hole or lockable security screen can help keep burglars out.

4. Monitor all targets

Garages and garden sheds are often targets for burglars who can then use your tools or ladders to gain access to the main house (police even report wheelie bins used to smash windows). An automatic light, for instance, fitted to the shed or garage can be a useful deterrent, along with keyed locks.

5. Security doesn't take a holiday

Ask friends to collect your mail and to stop junk mail from building up in your letterbox while you're away from home. A neighbour parking in your driveway can also help signal the house is not unoccupied. Other measures could include internal lights or a radio set on timers and organising for someone to mow your lawn.

6. Guard your keys

Most people know not to hide keys somewhere about the house but are you also aware that lending your keys to tradespeople and acquaintances can pose a risk? Keys are easily copied and can provide burglars with fast, no-fuss access to your belongings.

7. Store valuables in a safe

According to the ABS Crime Victimisation Survey 2009-10, money and jewellery are most often stolen in break-ins. Installing a small safe in your home is a relatively low cost way to protect those items.

8. Don't advertise valuables

Break up packaging for expensive new gear before tucking it into the bin or recycling. Also, take a look at your house from the outside. With most thieves looking for cash, even a wallet or iPod left on your hall table can make your home a target. Speaking of valuables, police advise making an inventory of your belongings to have at hand in case of a break-in. Mark your property using an engraver or ultra-violet markers and take photos of precious, one-of-a-kind possessions.

9. Install an alarm or deter thieves with a dog

Add another layer of defence to your home with an alarm system. A barking dog can also provide effective security for your home. Even installing a "Beware of the dog" sign can make thieves pause before targeting your home.

10. Make friends with your neighbours

In tightknit communities, people look out for each other. Neighbours can report suspicious activity at your home and help when you're away - and you can return the favour.

11.  Buy gate opener system ( like MIGHTY MULE 350 ) for comfort and security aroudn house.

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Home Improvement Methods That Can Save Energy

There are home improvement methods that can save a great deal of energy. You can find a solitary investment that can save money for many years. The amount of money you can save will enhance the expenses of heating fuel and electricity.

Insulating your walls and windows

Nowadays, almost every home can be with more insulation. Older homes can have advantage from new forms of insulation that are more efficient. New glass compounds can save heat from the sun in the time of summer. In case you block your windows during winter with plastic, you would want to invest in new windows.

The insulating properties of the windows can assist in preventing heat from escaping during the winter season.

Making alterations to your roof

In case your roof leaks, you would spend much money on your heating and cooling bills. If a roof does not leak it may not be nice for retaining heat in the winter or cool air during summer. You may find that you want to install a metal covering on your roof. This kind of roof is energy efficient.

In the event of your being not able to afford a new roof, it can be of some help to coat roof shingles with coating that is reflective. This will redirect sunlight away from the shingles. Your home will not actually get heated up in the summer season. This will help in reduction of air conditioning.

When there is the issue of home improvement, you can take the benefit of methods that can help in saving energy and also allow you to produce it. A small investment from your side can save a great deal of money irrespective of the options that you opt for.

What Home Improvement actually is?

Home improvement does not mean complete renovation of the interiors of your home. Home improvement can be as easy as dividing rooms with the use of screen dividers. Screen dividers can be of high utility and functional home improvement pieces. When you open up the room, you can set up against the wall. There would not be a difficult time finding one that can fit the interiors of your home.  This is because all the designs are available now.

There are places where you are restricted from altering the colours of your wall or hanging some decorations and dividers arte able to fill in and give you a great appearance that you crave for. A room divider that suits the complete theme of the room adds more dimension and style and at the same time not making the wall appear plain. This is the reason why it makes a nice home improvement alternative. Migtymule company produces the best gate opener system like  MIGHTY MULE FM200 which protect your house

Another advantage of possessing the dividers in rooms is that they add some type of elegance to a big room. You will find screen that have four panels while others have three. You may choose the style and length that you desire and that will match your interiors in the best possible way.

If you want the area that has to be partitioned you can utilize room divers that have similar designs. The aspect that make the room dividers very attractive are that they are made from different materials that are plastic, wood, glass, metal, silk etc.

The room dividers that are Asian themed have nice, beautiful paintings are very beautiful. Those who like antique home furniture, there are room divider choices that fit the design. The range of room dividers make it a home improvement method that is temporary.

Conclusion

You can the choice to opt that where your requirements change. There are nice home improvement ideas to separate a dining room from a recreation room. They are useful when screening and at the same time adding style to the interiors of the room.

You will come across times when the rooms you have are not sufficient and you see the home improvement techniques to convert any space that is accessible into a room. One of the finest option for this purpose is your basement.

The basement is utilized as a storage space and you can convert it to make a nice study, office or bedroom relying on your needs. Your budget will differ depending on the conversion you propose to make.

You have to determine the needs prior to making the estimate of the expense of conversion. You can determine what space you want to make part of your home improvement project. In case it is a study or the office, the space can be created with nominal costs. In case you are looking at making your basement into a bedroom or adding toilets, then your costs will enhance.

The other aspects that influence your budget are electrical connectivity and the requirement for water connections and plumbing and additional furniture needed. If you want to fix the air conditioners then the electric work would add not the expense of your plans for home improvement.

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How to Choose the Best Solar Charger

The modern outdoor enthusiast is a very different beast from the climbers, backpackers, kayakers, hunters, and anglers (etc.) of half a century ago. Even 10 years is plenty to have completely revolutionized the way we think about technology in the backcountry. You can use SUNJACK USB BATTERY CHARGER for a portable use. Today, many climbers carry route beta on their smartphones, and lots of hikers forego an expensive GPS and just use a $20 app to mark waypoints and set tracks.

The only catch: compared to a handheld GPS, most smartphones don't pass muster on satellite accuracy or battery life. Otherwise, those apps are pretty impressive. But with today's selection of solar charging options, battery use does not have to be a problem (unless you are short on sunshine). Solar panels now range from elaborate and spendy to ultra-affordable and pocket-sized SUNJACK USB BATTERY CHARGER. Some are the same size or even smaller than your smartphone itself. We're not sure what this means yet for the GPS companies, but this review will give you an idea of how to navigate the rapidly expanding technological world of solar charging devices.

Before we get started, a short anecdote about this review.

In our testing a few years ago, there was one that we just couldn't get to charge in all of its advertised capacities. It had a huge assortment of laptop plug adapters, but we could never get them to work, and there was no adapter for any Apple product (red flag!). Finally, we gave up and emailed the company. We got a very polite but useless email back and quickly identified that it was a very, very good copycat. The packaging and everything looked identical, but it was not the reputable brand it seemed to be.

This is our way of saying: be discerning in your search! Sometimes it is worthwhile to spend a few extra bucks for a reputable brand. This review will help identify several brands that are good or not as good, and how to sift through the hype.

Wait, Watt?

As we found in the reviews of previous years, the more advanced our gadgets get, the more power-hungry they become. This means those tiny, pocket-sized panels of yesterday have become obsolete regarding their ability to efficiently charge a phone or tablet.

This year, we chose a range of SUNJACK USB BATTERY CHARGER from 5W to 21W, and found the best panel at each size. The thing is, the larger watt panels are not that much bigger, heavier, or more cumbersome than those of smaller wattage, which led us to the conclusion that bigger may, in fact, be better, in this particular case. Not only did we take these panels out and about as we traveled around the western US seeking sun, but we also put these panels through rigorous side-by-side testing to make sure we knew exactly which panel was the most effective. We used a standardized external battery and USB cord to eliminate any discrepancies between different batteries' ability to hold a charge. We also set the panels out at the same time, with the same orientation, eliminating as many variables as possible. In this way, we got a baseline time for how long it took each panel to charge the same exact battery.

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How to Sell With Emotion

Ad legend Robert Collier’s phenomenal success as a copywriter made him a figure that many ad writers and promoters still turn to for advice and inspiration. In The Robert Collier Letter Book, he dissected a series of ads to show what made them succeed or fail. It’s like a graduate course in how to use psychology to prepare effective promotions.

One of the chapters in his book, “How to Arouse That Acquisitive Feeling,” analyzed ads for the degree of emotion they were able to provoke in people. Collier believed (and proved again and again in his own work) that ads that touched readers’ emotions were more successful than ads that only touched the intellect.

You can provide a ton of arguments to convince the intellect of the advantage of making a certain choice, but unless you make readers feel that they have to have what you offer and that it will be worth any effort to get it, your sales letter will be worthless.

Collier advised that before writers put even one word down on paper, they need to decide what effect they want to have on the reader. They have to know the feeling they need to arouse so the prospect will be moved to take action. The point of the ad isn’t to make the reader think, “What a clever ad.” Rather, it’s to arouse in readers the feeling of “Let’s go!”

Marketers must determine what feeling has to be aroused to lead prospects to take action. From there, they must consider what kind of argument should be presented to inspire that feeling in readers so that taking action will become irresistible. As Collier put it:

Isn’t the prime requisite arousing in your reader the feeling that he must have the thing you are offering, or that he cannot rest until he has done the thing you are urging him to do?

Of course, people don’t want to feel as though their emotions are being manipulated. They want to believe they’re making decisions based on logic (i.e., you have to placate that good old cerebrum). The challenge of the writer is to present arguments that seem to convince the intellect, while in fact aiming at their emotions.

Collier gives two examples. The first letter had only moderate success, while the second letter pulled more than twice as many responses. Both letters sold boxes of greeting cards, and while the first presented some sound intellectual arguments, the second went straight for the emotions. You can see the difference right in their opening paragraphs:

Letter One -- Intellectual Appeal:

Some people have a sort of sixth sense that enables them to send greetings and the like to all the proper relatives and friends on every appropriate occasion. But most of us are likely to overlook such things.

Compare that to the opening paragraph of the second letter:

Letter Two -- Emotional Appeal:

How often have you promised yourself to keep in touch with some old friend, to cultivate some new one -- and then gone your way forgetting them, and letting them forget you?

The second letter immediately brings up the image of a potential loss readers could experience if they don’t follow up on the offer. It’s that twinge of guilt and loss that keeps the reader going to the next paragraph and the next to learn how to resolve those unpleasant feelings. It primes them to take the easy solution the letter is about to offer.

The goal of either of these letters is to get readers to place orders for personally inscribed cards so they can get them back in time for Christmas. Let’s look at the final two paragraphs of each letter.

Letter One -- Intellectual Appeal:

The time is getting close now. It won’t be long before you will be wanting to mail these cards. Better fill in your name now on the payment blank -- tell us how many more cards to send you, and drop it in the mail.

Then the days may come and days may go, but you’ll be sure of having attractive greetings with which to keep green all your friendships.

Letter Two -- Emotional Appeal:

And of all ways to recall yourself to your absent friends, none is more pleasant or easier than sending them a lovely Christmas greeting, like the box of fifteen that we mailed to you a short time ago, for they are not only good to look at, but they carry with them a warm-hearted greeting that every friend will welcome.

Remember, it is not the intrinsic value of what you send that counts. It is the spirit that goes with it. As Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, “If uncounted wealth were thine, thou couldn’t not to thy cherished friends a gift so dear impart, as the earnest benediction of a deeply loving heart.

Granted, quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes wouldn’t get you very far today, but it worked well in Collier’s time. The specific words aside, this letter worked because it touched on people’s emotions.

It takes a lot to get people over their inertia, and it takes a lot to get them to consider spending money on anything. Even motivating people to click through to your website takes effort. You have to convince prospects that they’ll feel so much better as a result of buying your product -- that they’ll feel so much better about themselves.

For example, most people know that eating healthy food is good for them, but if you want them to come to your store and stock up on beet juice, you have to play upon their guilt, fear and vanity. So when they come into your store to look through your line of supplements, don’t just talk about the pristine way a certain brand of vitamins is processed. Talk about how much better they’ll feel, how their doctors will be impressed by their healthier numbers and how great they’ll look.

People may also know it’s a good idea to cook balanced meals for their families, but if you want them to keep visiting your healthy-eating blog, add stories about family meals in your own home, the joy of cooking together and funny or heartwarming experiences sent in by other readers. Make reading your blog an emotional experience, not just a list of ingredients and directions.

Whatever you’re selling, try to determine the main factors that impel people to take the action you want them to take, and then appeal to those factors while keeping the intellect happy with arguments that satisfy it. To repeat Collier’s classic quote:

Appeal to the reason, by all means. Give people a logical excuse for buying that they can tell to their friends and use to salve their own consciences. But if you want to sell goods, if you want action of any kind, base your real urge upon some primary emotion!

People haven’t changed since Collier wrote those words. We’re just as emotional as ever, and that’s still the best way to reach your reader. As a marketer, a good place to start is with yourself. Ask yourself, “What would get me over my inertia so I would take action?”

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How Do You Measure the Impact of an Experience?

When Fiat launched its new 500X model last year, the car manufacturer tried something unique: The company partnered with Dynamo, the popular star of "Magician Impossible," to unveil the "Power of X" tour. As part of the campaign, brand managers at Fiat took the 500X to 74 cities across Europe. The tour culminated in a grand live performance during which Dynamo “brought to life” a model of the car from a three-dimensional light show.

This is how experiential marketing looks. The objective is to engage the audience, entice members to actively participate in your campaign and allow them to create a one-on-one connection with the brand. Customers then positively associate their experience with your product, service and company.

Fiat's live magic performance was only the opening act. What came later demonstrated the real power of experiential marketing. Fiat teamed with Microsoft to re-create the magical Fiat 500X illusion on Xbox One and Xbox 360. The result? Fiat reported a 12 percent volume growth -- an impressive leap for a company whose sales had fallen since 2009.

Create benchmarks.

The question remains: How much impact did the experiential campaign have on the overall marketing strategy? The goal of the "Power of X" campaign was to get people to associate 500X with a magical experience at one of Dynamo's performances or via their Xbox system. But such an experience alone is not enough to push people to buy a high-ticket product. At the outset, experiential campaigns might seem impossible to quantify in terms of success or contribution to the bottom line. But it can be done.

If you're an established brand and an experiential campaign is just one of many events in your year, the easiest (and most obvious) way to measure its impact is through benchmarking. Project your annual sales in the absence of the campaign and then transpose it against the actual sales figures.

For instance, if you own a product line that sees 5 percent growth year-on-year, any bump in sales after an experiential campaign may be attributed to it. It's not as easy in the real world, where factors such as pricing, competition and buyer sentiments also are at work.

Survey consumers to learn their needs and motivations.

If you're launching a new product with little historical data, you might not have the luxury of benchmarking. In those instances, consumer surveys can be extremely powerful. This is how you do it:

Survey Demographic Data: Capture the age, gender, occupation and other details of the average consumer targeted by your experiential campaign. Benchmark this against demographic data obtained from your end buyers.

Post-Purchase Surveys: Use consumer surveys to understand how variables such as features, price, competitive advantage and location contribute to the purchase. The survey also should tap into how your brand is positioned in customers' minds. You then can benchmark the results against the position you wished to attain through the experiential campaign. For instance, if 80 percent of survey participants at the Dynamo show associated 500X with a magical experience but only 10 percent of the actual buyers espoused a similar brand image, Fiat's sales more accurately might be attributed to factors not directly influenced by the experiential campaign.

Survey and benchmarking results never will be as accurate as measuring the conversion rate on a pay-per-click campaign. But these strategies provide directional help if you want reassurance you're headed down the right path. Often, that's enough reliable evidence to make decisions.

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14 Easy Ways Authors Can Promote Their Books

In the book marketing world what works today can be considered old news tomorrow and won’t work because ‘everybody’ is doing it. Some tactics continue to be effective over time. As a book publicist I keep an eye out for the latest tips and techniques. Here’s a list of ‘easy’ ways authors can promote their books.

TV news. Few mediums reach as many people as TV news. I’ve spent the better portion of my life placing clients on TV news programs and interview shows. It’s extremely effective in letting people know about your book. The easiest way to land a TV interview is to send your book with a personally addressed cover letter/pitch and press release about the book to the news director of the station. Provide your photo and send it in. Do that for every TV station you want to appear on. Start local first then go after the big shows.

Talk radio. Listeners turn to talk radio to be fully informed on topics that are not covered completely in newspapers or on TV and to have an actual conversation with the host and you, the guest. Talk radio show hosts will in most cases ask you to share your website, e-mail address or toll-free phone number or they’ll mention it themselves. Use the same methods discussed to solicit TV News above.

Kickstarter. Need money to promote your book? Many authors have successfully turned to Kickstarter to fund their book marketing.

Goodreads. 50 Million readers find books to read on Goodreads so it makes sense for authors to find out as much as possible about how it can help sell books. One way is to make sure reviewers post their reviews on Goodreads. Also ask readers to add your book to Listopia lists where books are grouped together by genre and subject. Get active on Goodreads. Write reviews of books you’ve read and add books you’d like to read to your ‘Want to Read’ list. Buy an ad on Goodreads. Target your ad by book genre, location, gender or age.

Amazon Author page. Make sure you are utilizing your Amazon Author page. Are all your books listed? Have you added your author photo and bio? What about including your book trailer, blog and tour schedule? Take advantage of all the tools you can that cost nothing!

Amazon KDP Select. This is where you give away your ebook on Amazon for up to five days. When this first started it was amazing how effective it was in getting exposure for authors. While not as effective today, it’s still worth doing.

Book awards. You have to enter to win. It’s well worth your time and money giving you media opportunities as it distinguishes you when you become ‘an award-winning author.’

Book Fairs. Meet fellow authors and readers who love books. It’s where the rubber meets the road in the book business. You’ll find out what readers like and what’s on the mind of authors. You may find out some good info about effective marketing methods. Make it a point to hit a few during your next vacation.

Writer’s Conferences. Where serious authors go to hone their craft, meet fellow authors and listen to experts in the field. Well worth your time to find out how others are progressing in the writing field. Writers are quite nice people so you’re bound to make long term friends who collectively can change your life for the better. When you look back after a few years you’ll remember bits of advice that made all the difference in your success.

Social Media. Become active on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Create specific content for each of the mediums using blurbs, your book trailer, memes and book reviews. It’s a major project no doubt, but it’s one of the best low cost ways to reach readers. Plus, Facebook offers advertising directly to fans of authors in your genre or specific authors themselves. Get busy and just do it!

Book trailer. Just as a movie trailer is used to get consumers interested in a movie, a book trailer does the same for a book. If a picture is worth 1000 words then a book trailer must be worth 100,000 words! Get one for your book and post it to social media and include the URL in all pitches.

Read a book. You want people to buy your book then go out and buy and read books about book marketing. You can’t know everything on book promotion so read books to find out what you need to learn.

ProfNet. A reporter, freelance writer or television producer is assigned a story and places a query on ProfNet requesting an expert who could speak to the topic. Queries come from the NY Times, Good Morning America, Women’s World Magazine, NPR etc. Authors are perfect for ProfNet because of their built-in credibility since they wrote about the subject matter covered in their book. The media likes people who have credentials and are authorities and experts.

Book signing event. Often we’ll land a media interview because we have an event such as a book signing. The event gives the media a ‘reason’ to talk about your book right now. Since book stores are solicited by authors and publishers incessantly, try another retail outlet. One client of mine set up a book signing in a bake shop. We got TV and newspaper coverage for that one!

The Bottom Line: Authors, recheck your marketing mix and take advantage of all the ‘easy’ ways to promote your book. Do it today!