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deusluxuria · 3 years

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johnny how does spine???

( warning: medical stuff )

( Don't be ableist or go "ew" or "oh no that is so sad that he's disabled" I'll eat you. )

For fanfiction info and whatever.

This info is subjective and not a matter of "you have to perceive Johnny this exact way." It's just a lil guide or starting point that might be helpful if you want to know more about Johnny's most-likely type of paraplegia.

There are a number of factors going on effecting the variables when it comes to gunshot wounds, spinal injury, and paralysis. So I'm gonna simplify it and get into basic stuff that doesn't require having a PhD or knowing firearm ballistics and all that.

(That being said, when it comes to writing about the experience of ableism, you need to be talking to disabled people and reading about their experiences. Remember that disabled people are a marginalized group.)

There's only so much we can figure out canonically. Spine injuries vary a lot, and then there are inconsistencies with Johnny's disability throughout the story. Araki likes to "not sweat the small stuff" (in his own words).

I like to just stick to the information we have in the beginning, since we get the most from there.

These are two excerpts from one of the first few chapters of the manga, showing approximately where in the spine Johnny was injured (just about above elbow level).

And here's a diagram showing the spinal column, and about what "above the elbow" means for Johnny's bodily functions. The T9 vertebrae is the closest to where that might be, so it can be assumed that Johnny's spine is effected from there-downward. Again, this varies depending on the person and multiple factors of the injury.

Digestive:

Johnny has no bowel control (which means it's a given he also has no urinary control). And according to how other characters say he has no sensation below the waist, either that's true or he has very minimal sensation.

Johnny is rich, so he can pay his medical bills. And his main dilemma in the story is that he's got a toxic self-ableist ego, so he probably would have gone for the prosthetic route, with colostomy surgery & catheters. As opposed to a bowel program or using diapers / other receptacles. Prosthetics also make more sense in context, since he's in a horse race and being chased by violent assholes, and so he wouldn't be able to visit a doctor or look after his hygiene just whenever.

A colostomy involves a hole (aka "stoma") being surgically made directly to the colon from the abdomen. A removable colostomy bag (aka "stoma bag") is attached to the hole, and is used as a receptacle for fecal matter to be emptied into automatically.

[ID: simple diagram showing the structure of colostomy surgery, & the location of the stoma & where the colostomy bag hangs. /end ID] [ID: simple stock photo showing a person slightly lifting up their shirt to show their colostomy bag, which is opaque, white flesh-tone color, & about the size of a large adult's winter mitten. /end ID]

This can make bowel movements easier for some paralyzed people as opposed to diapers or bowel programs, because emptying into a colostomy bag requires a lot less muscle function, is easier to change and clean, and needs less prep before bathing, showering, exercise, sex, sleep, etc.

Similarly, a catheter bypasses some of the distance and muscle control needed for urinating. A small, thin tube is inserted into the urethra and guided to the bladder. Urine automatically empties from the bladder, through the tube, and into a drainage bag, which is kept strapped to the person's thigh or calf, or secured to their wheelchair or underneath their bed.

[ID: simple diagram showing the structure of a catheter & thigh drainage bag, as well as what the extension to an overnight drainage bag might look like. /end ID] [ID: simple stock photo of an opaque white drainage bag cover, strapping the bag to the person's thigh. /end ID]

If someone uses a diaper, they'd simply change it whenever it's used, or otherwise whenever they're able to.

Because Johnny rides horses and does various dangerous, strenuous things in SBR, if using prosthetics, he might have his colostomy bag secured to his torso in some way (such as tying a piece of fabric around his torso). He might also have more padding to these prosthetics to protect them from being punctured, or worse, ripped out.

When he was shot, the bullet also may have perforated his intestines (along with his gallbladder and a kidney), which would have made a colostomy procedure necessary anyway. When he's shown in the hospital, he has a cloth wrapped around his pelvis, and acknowledges in distress that he's lost bowel and/or bladder control. So we can guess that his intestines are at least mostly intact.

[ID: Part of a panel from the Steel Ball Run manga, showing Johnny from the waist-down, in a hospital bed with a white cloth folded around his pelvis and bandages around his abdomen. /end ID]

Pain:

Johnny has the right idea about strapping his ankles up next to his saddle. People without paralysis tend not to realize just how heavy the human body is. With no muscle control in his legs, they would be way too heavy, and his back would be injured if he were to just let his legs dangle, especially while riding on horseback at high speeds. That would most definitely break his legs.

One thing about a transition between having muscle control and then being paralyzed is that previously non-paralyzed people might not understand right away that their paralyzed body parts still need to be taken care of. Even if those parts don't feel pain.

Johnny would likely have back, neck, and shoulder pain after being paralyzed, at least for a while. At least until he re-learns how to take care of his body from the waist down. Treating his legs like dead weight would put strain on the rest of his skeleton.

[ID: A panel from one of the first few chapters of Steel Ball Run. Johnny from the side, showing how he has changed the structure of his horse saddle and has his ankles strapped to his sides, so he's seated on his horse in a kneeling position. /end ID]

Sexual:

It's possible to experience orgasm with paralysis. There are types of non-genital orgasms, and then, strong or prolonged, repetitive stimulation to the errogenous zones of sensationless genitals can still cause orgasm that's felt from the waist-up (paralyzed folks may find the use of strong vibrators to be especially beneficial). Prostate stimulation may also be significantly more effective than genital stimulation.

Some people also have increased sensitivity from the waist-up if they're paralyzed from the waist-down (i.e. Johnny would feel notably more pain when injured, say, on his arm, than Gyro would).

A person can also have phantom sensations and experience pleasure & arousal from visual stimuli alone.

Sex with paralysis might need extra lubricant, since natural biological lubrication can be less prevalent with pelvic paralysis.

The way sexual stimulation feels to a paralyzed person is likely impossible for a non-paralyzed person to imagine. And it of course depends on the person and the unique way of how they experience sex in general.

Going by Johnny's personality, mainly with his loss of self-confidence, after his injury, he would likely only have sex with someone whom he trusts very deeply.

Reproductive:

With a uterus and viable ovaries, it's just as possible to get pregnant with pelvic paralysis as it is without. There can also still be pain during childbirth.

Viable testicles are a different story. It's very difficult to get someone pregnant when the person with testicles has pelvic paralysis. There would need to be help from a doctor. In context, Steel Ball Run doesn't stick to historical accuracy. But if it were, there's no way disability services around 1890 were existent enough for people with testicles to have medical help conceiving children when paralyzed at the pelvis.

If George is the biological child of both Johnny and Rina, it would make more logical and historical sense if Johnny had a uterus and was the one who gave birth to George, alongside Rina having testicles and being the one who impregnated Johnny. But that all depends on your headcanons, like what I said at the beginning of the post.

thank you for tuning in to "how johnny spine does" or something, goodnight lol

#long post #i cut it down a lot already but dhsjhdjshd #johnny joestar #steel ball run #disability tag #headcanon #jojo's bizarre adventure #jjba #ableism /#medical /

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crystalessenceswrites · 4 years

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Shadows- Chapter One

*not my gif*

Shadows

A modern monster AU Pairings: Din Djarin x fem!reader Rating: T (at the moment- subject to change) Warnings: dark themes, canon typical violence, reference to human trafficking, description of blood (brief), mentions of drugs and alcohol, swearing Summary: Crypto- concealed; secret. You have always lived your life in the shadows; after all, you’re one of the creatures who go bump in the night. He has sworn his life to a creed that aims to protect the world from monsters like you.

[Masterlist] [Chapter One] [Chapter Two] Cross-posted to AO3

A/N: I told ya’ll I have no self control, so here’s ya go, have some enemies to lovers AU with some kinda mixed up timeline (there's some characters that don’t exist in the Mandalorian timeline).

Chapter One

Blood for coin.

One of the oldest transactions known to mankind.

And crypto-kind.

It paid your bills. And your family’s bills. So, you tried to not let it get to you, to not let some of the things you did get under your skin. There’s too much riding on what you do to back out; no matter how much you would rather be curled up under a blanket, couch scattered with snacks, bingeing some new mindless tv show, than here.

The bar is too packed for a Wednesday night. Had you been blessed with a more carefree personality you might have enjoyed the atmosphere, with a bottle or two clouding your system. Completely sober to the world the activities masked behind pounding music and strobe lights did not hold any appeal. Copper and iron tinted the air, pheromones were running rampant and other mind-numbing treats were being less than subtly exchanged.

“What’s your poison tonight, sweet-gills?”

You scoff, regarding the bartender through half-lidded eyes as you draw your dagger from a boot and slide it across the counter. “Zachriel.”

The man raises a bushy eyebrow in response.

“He’ll know who I am when you give him that.”

He shrugs and takes the pearl-handled dagger. You were not the only one who came looking for his boss.

Before he left the bartender flashed you a smile of pointed teeth and poured you a glass of something strong. Halfheartedly you swirl the glass in one hand as you watch the mass of bodies blur together on the dance floor. Neutral ground clubs were truly a different world, one where the shadows of the world melted back into their old ways-the ways labeled sinful or unnatural by humans. Not that some of the old ways weren’t wrong. Many of the too grotesque and unsightly ways took place out of sight of other patrons- Zachriel made sure of that. As long as the living left alive and the dead remained dead then it was fair game. The shadows took advantage of that and chose to live their pleasures out here.

One such woman approached as your gaze wanders aimlessly, hips swaying and eyes glazed over she makes it no secret what she wants. You do not speak a word of acknowledgment as the woman closes the gap between your bodies. A hand slides over your hip, tugging less than subtly at the waistband of your jeans. She smells of juniper berries and cigarette smoke.

“Ma’am.”

The shark-toothed bartender returns, glaring slightly at the woman still hovering at your side.

“You’re welcome to head up now.”

“Thanks.” You leave the untouched drink and disappointed looking woman behind to fight through the crowd towards the stairs tucked away at the back of the establishment. You tap the “employees only” sign above the stairwell as you pass.

You are familiar with the maze upstairs. After all this time you could locate Zachriel’s suite blindfolded. Not bothering to knock, you’re not surprised to find it has been redecorated, again, since he had last called you here. Empty glasses litter the end tables by his settee, their owners presumably the young man and woman snuggled up to Zachriel’s sides. The smell of human permeates the space, seeming to originate with the glassy eyed man, much to your displeasure.

“Ah (Y/N), welcome darling,” Zachriel’s baritone voice cuts through the smoky air. “Have a seat and we can get right down to it.”

Wordlessly you slide into the armchair across from the bar’s owner. Neither or his guests pay you any attention, simply continuing to clutch onto their host, lavishing his exposed neck and shoulders with sloppy kisses. Both were presumably beyond drunk and only awake because of the stimulate Zachriel had burning in the loft.

“You’re looking lovely as ever, darling, but judging by that twinkle in your eye you aren’t just here for my company.”

The way Zachriel could read you no longer comes as a surprise, but that does not mean you have to like it. “Seven months apart and it seems you can still read me like an open book.”

“Oh, don’t sound so sour about that, darling. It makes our business easier, doesn’t it?”

Business it was, and Zachriel’s fares had been on the rise. You were either going to have to find a new informant or start getting the friends and family discount here.

“Then let’s get to it, I don’t have all night,” you kick your combat boots up onto his polished coffee table, both of Zachriel’s playthings jump, turning to you with wide eyes.

“Ha, not quite as dainty as your scaled sisters, you must hate stereotypes, darling,” Zachriel chuckles as he pours himself another drink. “What would you like to know tonight? It must be something big if you’re coming to me all the way out here on.”

“I need a location and names for Samson’s trafficking ring.”

The decanter comes down with such force you’re surprised it does not shatter. The playthings jump again, both putting a miniscule amount of space between them and the demon in human skin.

“(Y/N), have you been partaking in the festivities downstairs, because normally you’d know better than to ask me such a stupid question as that.”

“You know for a fact that I don’t. I am asking you in all seriousness where Samson is running these days,” you cross your arms, staring down your nose at Zachriel as he screws up his face.

“Get out!” He shoves his guests away and they quickly obey. The door slams shut behind them as Zachriel’s eyes begin to shift between his green façade and their natural coal-colored irises.

Feet planted on the floor, you lean forward, elbows on your knees, “no need to get so worked up. It is an easy question. You know the answer, or you don’t.”

Zachriel sneers, “I don’t.”

“Try again.”

“I’m still suffering losses from your last bust! I shouldn’t even let you step foot in here anymore!”

“You mean the bust that saved 25 teenage girls? I think that’s worth more than your profit margins.”

“Says you!” He snarls back, jaw clenched and face going red.

“Oh calm down and just think of the cut I’ll give you from Samson’s bounty once we take him down.”

A glass sails by your head in warning. If he wanted to hit you he would have.

“Get out!”

As the words leave the demons lip the door slams in, the doorframe splintering. You’re on your feet and reaching for your blade before you can even lay eyes on who’s kicked the door in. Fingers grasping the hilt of your sword dispels the enchantment, revealing the weapon strapped to your back. As you evaluate the man in the doorway, you’re not sure how useful it will be- he’s armed with a pistol, holding it in a stance the screams soldier.

Sword drawn, you stare down the man and he does the same, his dark eyes flickering up and down your form. He’s got a few years on you, you’d guess, but he’s well built, and sporting a bullet proof tac-vest under his black long sleeve judging by the shape it gives his torso. He is otherwise well prepared for whatever he came to Zachriel for; there’s an extra gun and ammo strapped to one leg, a blade and a stake strapped to the other. You briefly wonder how he got this far into the bar so armed without getting caught.

Indignant, Zachriel glares down the dark-haired intruder, “who the fuck do you think-”

You kick his settee over as the intruder fires. Zachriel tumbles to the floor as you jump to put yourself between the two men. As much as you and Zachriel had your differences, you were not about to let your informant get murdered in front of you.

“Go.” You don’t turn to look at him but hope the demon decides to cooperate for once.

Best guess, the man was after Zachriel, the way his gaze lingers on the demon as he scrambles to his feet behind you. Did not mean he wouldn’t shoot you to get to Zachriel though.

“I’d ask you not to shoot but I take it you’re not the type to listen to reason.”

The man scoffs, the thin mustache on his lip quirking with the sound. “It’s not like you monsters have reason to begin with.”

A hunter.

You spit a curse under your breath. Everyone in the building was in danger with him around.

“Stand down and I’ll make it quick and painless for you.” His voice is rough and dark even without the threat.

“Oh hell no.”

Your lunge manages to catch him by surprise, striking at his right shoulder. He recovers quick, managing to dodge before your blade can sink too deep. Grunting he aims a shot for your torso but you’re quick too, rolling out if the way and ducking behind the overturned settee. Reaching for your boot you launch your dagger over your cover. The thunk of metal on wood is enough to know you missed your blind shot.

“Fuck!”

With an almost comical puff of smoke Zachriel disappears, leaving only a dusting of soot on the floor where he had stood. Lucky demons and their dark magics, always had a quick escape. Now you just needed a way out.

A bullet flies over the lip of the couch as the hunter’s heavy footfalls approach. Rolling onto your back, you shove your boots against the overturned seat, pushing it right into the path of the hunter. He swears again, clattering to the floor. Jumping up you throw the end tables towards him, glass shattering around you both as the tumblers fly across the room. You dart for the door and thank whoever’s out there for industrial design and exposed pipes. Shoving your sword into the pipe above the doorframe with all your strength manages your desired effect. Water starts to pour from the hole into the already trashed room. Stepping out the busted door you mutter a few old words under your breath and with a flick of your wrist the liquid covers the doorway and freezes solid. A door of ice to keep in the hunter, just in time. He rushes towards you, fist slamming against the ice.

A sigh of relief escapes you as the magic holds. He glares at you through the ice, dark eyes burning with a hate you have not seen in a long while. There’s blood smeared across his face and neck, creating a terrifying image as he snarls at you. His shoulder is bleeding pretty heavily where you nicked him, but it doesn’t look too deep; he would live, and his shoulder would heal fine. Good.

His shirt is torn down to his forearm revealing a myriad of tattoos painted across skin, one in the shape of a horned skull just below his shoulder. Solid and black. So painfully obvious.

Fuck.

“I have no desire to kill you. So just stay here for a bit while I get the hell out of dodge and then we’ll be good to go.”

You wave at him as you dash away, ignoring his shouts trailing behind you. Sliding your sword back into its scabbard, the blade disappears again by the time you reach the bottom of the stairs. The bartender spots you long before you reach the counter. You must look a mess now.

“Hunter. Zachriel’s suite. Gotta go.”

Lips set into a thin line the man nods, swift to wave over the security lingering around the edges of the room.

Then you’re gone, weaving through the crowd to disappear out a fire exit and into the city streets.

At least Zachriel owes you now.

“Boba Fett was the last Mandalorian we had in these parts; are sure this hunter was one of them?”

Rolling your eyes, you grimace at the aging man, “well I didn’t think to ask him while he was trying to kill us, Boss. But he had the tattoo, plain as day. Black mythosaur skull, right shoulder.”

“Boba Fett used to hunt around here?” Kanan’s dark-haired apprentice is filled with awe, missing the important point at hand.

“Ezra-” Kanan goes to chide him for interrupting but Boss cuts him off.

“Fett was the only Mandalorian we’d ever dealt with in these parts before he died five years ago,” Boss explains. “We’ve only seen some lone wanderers since. None of which have been much cause for concern.”

He thinks you’re overreacting.

“This one seemed pretty serious.”

“(Y/N) had a point.” At least Kanan agreed with you.

Boss sits for a moment, wrinkled hand stroking his wiry white beard. Murmurs ripple through the small crowd that they’d gathered in the office. Mandalorians were not to be taken lightly. They were better equipped and considerably more organized than any usual human hunter. Many slayers had fallen to their kind as well. Even one Mandalorian hunter running around the city could spell the death of hundreds of cryptos. The issue was they rarely operated alone. They were the communal type. One Mandalorian could mean a whole covert more of them nearby.

“We’ll release a bulletin with a description of the Mandalorian. Any other sightings or run-ins will need to be reported and compared to the initial description to confirm there is only one in the area.”

Well at least he was doing something. Now everyone in the area would be walking around with bated breath until they knew exactly what they were dealing with.

“Dismissed.”

The group disperses, considerably more solemn than when they’d been gathered.

“What was the Mandalorian like?” Ezra looks to you with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm you imagine you once held for the job.

Kanan rolls his eyes but doesn’t stop the teenager. He understands the curiosity in the apprentice slayer.

“Angry?” You offer.

Not quite the answer the boy wanted. “Was he as tough as the rumors say?”

“Ah- it wasn’t much of a fight, Ezra. I was just trying to get out without any issues.”

The boy’s face falls. He was still so new to all this, high off the pride of being strong enough to protect others no matter how strong your foe. You could imagine he wanted to see the Mandalorians as this tough advisory that one day he would be strong enough to beat without breaking a sweat.

“Ezra, you have to remember. Mandalorians are humans so we cannot put ourselves in their paths. And we absolutely cannot harm or kill them without good reason.”

Meaning the only choice was their life or yours.

He sighs at Kanan, “I remember.”

It was the, often fatal, disadvantage you faced. You were sworn to protect humans from your own kind, to the point that you were not allowed to harm the humans out to kill you.

Karga looked rather smug when Din returned to see him the following morning. Not a look Din enjoyed being on receiving end of.

“Well looks like you had quite the night.”

Din rolls his eyes and slides into the seat across from the barkeep as he works through his books. Most of Din’s injuries had been minor, cuts from the broken glass around the room, sore back (though that wasn’t news these days), and a bruise blossoming across his jaw from the table the woman had thrown at his face. His shoulder had been the worst of it, and he had managed to get away without proper stiches, just butterflied it up on his own. It still ached a bit under the bandages, but Din had dealt with far worse.

“I can take your sour mood as you didn’t catch what you wanted?”

“Managed to get away,” Din grunts.

“Well, the information did say that the owner is rather crafty. I thought you would have been prepared for that.”

The frown on Din’s face deepens. “It wasn’t the owner. There was a woman with him, managed to keep me busy so he could escape.”

Karga looks surprised, “a woman? Security maybe?”

“No,” Din shakes his head, “it sounded like she was there to do business with him, but she didn’t hesitate to put herself between him and me.”

“Strange. I hadn’t heard of any women he was doing business with. I can poke around, see if I can’t find out who she is.”

“That could be helpful, thanks.”

Karga chuckles, “don’t thank me yet. Questions around here tend to lead to more questions than answers.”

#fic: Shadows #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x f!reader #din djarin x reader #din djarin x f!reader #din djarin #reader #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fanfiction #x reader #fanfiction #modern au #enemies to lovers #monsters and monster hunters #crystalessences writes

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that-one-girl-behind-you · 4 years

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Illicio 9/?

Part 8

"What's up with that?" She asks after so long has gone by that Jon is starting to think he's safe. He lets out an exhalation that hopefully doesn't sound as exhausted as he is with this whole matter.

Jon is, regardless of what Tim -or Georgie, or even Gerry himself- used to say, not completely hopeless at reading people. Only mostly. He's not entirely blind as to how the mood has shifted in his interactions with the man in question.

"Nothing." Jon says, then adds sullenly. "I don't know."

Daisy squeezes his hand. "Martin?"

"I don't know." Jon turns his head away to avoid Daisy's gaze. "I- Daisy, I think there's bigger things to worry about."

"It's good to- I'm trying to think of the little things too." Daisy shrugs. "It feels like having a purpose."

On the days after the Buried, Daisy gets to know the world again. Or more accurately, the Institute, and the people in it. The difference is mind-blowing, now that the Hunt is only a background presence in her mind instead of the driving force behind her thoughts.

"You look... better," she tells Melanie one evening. It's not really a visible change, but she remembers Melanie from before the Unknowing, always bristling with a rage so barely restrained it used to set Daisy on edge too. Back then her thoughts had been mostly focused on how to take Melanie down if it came to a fight, and she has the feeling the same can be said of Melanie. Just two rabid dogs sizing the other up and waiting for the tension to crack.

"I guess I am," Melanie frowns down at the computer screen, and when Daisy leans over she can see she's taking a quiz of some sort. Probably not the approved use of Institute equipment, but she doesn't seem to care. "Did Jon tell you about the bullet?"

"He mentioned it," Daisy shrugs. A lot of things were said in the depths of the coffin, trying to bring the other some measure of comfort.

"Gerry says they got it off me just in time. Apparently I was a bad accident away from becoming a full avatar." Melanie gives her a careful look out the corner of her eye. "I'm guessing that's why you look..."

"Like shit?" Daisy asks with a dry smile, and after a moment Melanie smiles back.

"I was trying to look for a better term."

"Sugar-coating doesn't suit you."

"Can't say I have much practice." Melanie goes back to her quiz, and Daisy goes back to thinking.

Her condition is hardly surprising, considering everything; the Hunt has been pulling at her from the moment she climbed out the coffin after Jon, but she's done her best to ignore the call of the blood. Daisy's very aware that this is abstinence without recovery, and that her reticence to join in with the Hunt's other hounds is her choosing a slow but certain death.

But she's herself again, and finding out who that is feels like a goal worth dying for.

"Why are you an onion?" Daisy frowns at the computer screen showing the results of Melanie's quiz.

"I was always going to be an onion," Melanie shrugs, "I just wanted to know what kind."

Daisy's thinking about the right way to answer to that statement, when Melanie's phone pings in her pocket. She watches her pull it out, and her face softens at whatever it is she just received.

"I have to go. You should- I think he's recording, but you can probably go in if you're quiet." Melanie points at Jon's door. Even the way she refers to him is different, vaguely distasteful apathy instead of the tense hostility Daisy remembers from before the Unknowing, which is a relief.

The irony of the situation doesn't escape Daisy, how she walked into the coffin with half a mind to kill Jonathan Sims, and walked out ready to kill for Jonathan Sims.

"I can be alone for a while. It's alright." The call of the blood is easier to ignore when she's in someone else's company, but Daisy's not- she's noticed how Basira looks at her, the tired tension of her lips when Daisy follows her around the Institute and she has to pretend it doesn't bother her. Daisy's broken, but she will not be a burden. Not to anyone, but most of all not to Basira.

"Okay, then. Want anything from outside?" Melanie asks as she shoves an arm through her jacket's sleeve.

"I- some chips, if you could get them. Or any food that doesn't come packaged, really."

Melanie briefly nods an acknowledgment as she leaves, and she closes the door behind her before Daisy can ask her to leave it open.

It's okay. It's just a room, just a door. There's plenty of space to breathe and to move. If she focuses, she can feel Jon's presence in his office; he's okay too. They're- they made it out.

Daisy opens her eyes, unsure when she closed them, and finds that the walls have started closing in. She tries to ignore them by clicking back on Melanie's onion quiz, surely that will distract her right? The room is unchanged, she's- it's safe out here, safer than outside for sure, where she'd no doubt find a trail and be compelled to chase it, to run until her legs hurt and she can smell the panicked exhaustion her victim's perspiration, until they cannot keep from her any longer and she's forced to claim the prize and move on to the next-

"You alright there?" When the man's voice pulls her away from her mind, Daisy realizes she's closed her eyes again. Her fists are clenched tightly on the desk, and when she forces them open she finds a matching set of angry red crescent moons on her palms. "You're growling."

She looks up; the man is standing before the desk, looking warily down at her and he smells of lavender and Jon, which helps her push away the last traces of the blood.

"I'm okay." She mumbles, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to release her hunch over the desk, leaning back against her chair. She's heard a lot about this man lately; Basira calls him by his surname, like the ones she doesn't trust, but Melanie calls him Gerry with a sort of relaxed companionship, and when Jon does the same there's an undeniable undercurrent of fondness in the tone he gives the name. She has yet to meet him herself, but this seems as good a time as any, now that the room has stopped trying to suffocate her. "You're Gerry Keay?"

The man holds his silent contemplation for another minute, before he shrugs and grabs the chair across the desk. "That would be me. I've never seen an avatar of the Hunt look so famished," he observes. "Your kind doesn't usually deprive themselves."

"Well, I do," Daisy grumbles.

"Yeah. I can see that."

Silence. It's not exactly comfortable, but it's not uncomfortable either, and the company keeps both the Buried and the Hunt at bay.

"Are you here for Jon?" Daisy asks, and Gerry nods.

"Always. But right now I have to see Martin first."

That's... unexpected, to say the least. "Why do you have to see Martin?"

The man gives her an amused, resigned smile and a shrug. "Jon," he says like it's all the reason he needs, and Daisy decides on the spot that she likes Gerry Keay.

"I guess that tracks," she nods. "Why don't you go then?"

"You looked like you needed someone to talk to for a bit."

"That helps." Daisy nods. While she would've sneered at it before, she's now terribly aware that kindness is a virtue sorely lacking in the world they move in. "I'm alright now."

"You sure?" Gerry's eyeing her strangely, and only then does Daisy remember he's aligned with the Beholding as well.

"Yes. I'm- I'll just keep myself busy." Daisy looks at the computer. "I can... figure out what kind of onion I am."

The man blinks rapidly a couple times, probably trying to process what she just said, and Daisy wonders if Melanie felt the same perverse satisfaction when she said it.

"Sounds- yeah. I'll go now," Gerry says, climbing to his feet again. He turns at the door, and gives Daisy another evaluating look. "You're… very strong. Thank you. For helping him back." And he's gone before Daisy can ask what that even means.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You should be careful with that. Could be dangerous." Peter half-turns before he leaves, a hand on the edge of the ajar door and ice-cold eyes heavy on Martin's nape.

"Not any more dangerous than anything else in my life, really." Martin shrugs, eyes fixed on the bright computer screen. Interacting with Peter is only tolerable because it feels only marginally like talking to another human being, but even that is enough to upset his stomach.

"Well, if you look at it like that. But I think you'll find that doing something dangerous out of your own free will is always better than being controlled to do it, even if that will is motivated by your frankly worrying infatuation with a man that does not care about you."

"Hm," is all Martin says. Out the corner of his eye he sees Peter's lips curl into a satisfied smile, but he can't bring himself to care. It's not like he's telling any lies either way.

"Okay! Now I really am running late, so if you don't mind?" Peter says in that cheerful, jovial tone Martin is quickly growing tired of, before he closes the office door behind him.

Martin sighs. This is- it's been harder, lately.

He still remembers why he's doing this, and he still cares, he really does. And everything is going according to plan, Peter really does think Martin believed his 'only you can save the world' spiel, Jon is out of the coffin, Daisy's alive, the Institute is -mostly- safe... but he just got the first actually feasible proof that the Extinction might be a real thing, and all he can think is that he's glad Peter left quickly.

The door flies open, and Martin jumps to his feet so abruptly that the chair he was sitting on tumbles to the floor.

"What- Gerard? What are you doing here?" Martin asks angrily, his heart beating madly in his throat. "Peter could've seen you!"

"I waited until he left, Martin, I'm not an idiot." The man rolls his eyes as he closes and locks the door behind him. Martin isn't sure it would be enough to stop Peter from coming in through the Lonely, but it's something.

"So what, were you eavesdropping?" Now that the shock is starting to pass, Martin is steadily moving towards annoyance in the spectrum of emotion. He told Gerard he didn't want him messing with his business, and yet here he is, just-

"You still look a bit gray," Gerard comments, coming to sit across Martin's desk like they had a freaking appointment. "You know what he said was bullshit, don't you?"

"He said a lot of things," Martin mumbles as he picks his chair back up and sits under Gerard's heavy gaze.

"There we go again." Gerard rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes are a beautiful color, Martin notices -if he still felt anything when writing his poetry, he'd be inclined to find a suitable comparison- and they couldn't be more different from Peter's. Gerard is actually looking at him, instead of through him, like Peter does. "Are you always this stubborn?"

"Excuse me? I'm not- you're the one who broke in here!" Martin sputters indignantly. "After I told you very clearly that I didn't want your help. If anyone is stubborn, that's-"

"The door was unlocked. Next time you want to be alone, check that first." Gerard shrugs, leaning backwards on his chair until the front legs lift off the floor.

Martin rolls his eyes. "Would it have stopped you?"

"For about five minutes." The man gives him a smug smile that fits his face like a glove, a handsome, mischievous troublemaker that takes far too much pride on the admission. "You look better now."

Martin grumbles, shoving the tape towards him across the desk's polished surface. "Here. Dekker's statement."

"What did you make of it?" The chair's legs land heavily against the floor, and Gerard reaches to take the tape and shove it in his jacket's pocket.

"It's... very odd. It feels like the Spiral, the Lonely and the End all rolled into one, with a side of the Stranger to boot." Martin worries at his bottom lip, frowning. His thoughts as he puts them into words are slow like dripping treacle, like waking up on a cold morning, but he can feel with no room for uncertainty that they're his thoughts, not the Lonely's. "I'm- I don't know if it is a new power, but I- the fears don't usually interact like that, do they?"

"Not really. They're more likely to fight over territory than to share it." Gerard's face is thoughtful when Martin lifts his gaze to look for answers there. "Sometimes they get along if their domains overlap. I've seen the Forsaken mix with the Vast and the Buried, but never at the same time because those two are opposites. The more entities that try to get in the mix, the more likely it is to fail."

"Hm. So? New kid in town?"

"I'll have to listen to it. I'm not exactly thrilled by the idea, though." Gerard sighs, rubbing at the back of his neck in a slow, deliberate movement that belies his exhaustion. "But it's not out of the question."

"H-how's Jon?" Martin blurts out. Gerard's mouth twitches, and Martin clears his throat, looking pointedly away.

"He's... better. I don't think anyone's left the coffin before, so it's not like we have much to compare his progress to. Got a nice new mark out of it, of course. We're this close to completing the card."

"The what?"

"It's just something I- " Gerard blinks, a confused frown coming to rest at his face all of a sudden. "...Something I thought of."

"...Yes?" Martin arches an eyebrow, but Gerard's frown only grows more pronounced when he shuts his eyes tight, as if trying to focus on a though- "Oh. Oh, you're bleeding again!"

Martin goes rustling frantically around in his desk, until he finds a box of paper tissues. The black ink dripping down steadily from Gerard's nose still hasn't slowed down by the time he looks back up, offering the box.

"Her- grab one. Jesus, what happened?"

"I-" Gerard opens his eyes again, and one of them has popped a blood vessel, it seems, the black startling against the white and blue as he reaches to pull a tissue free. "The Eye didn't like that too much."

"It didn't like what specifically?"

Gerard gives him a dubious look. "I don't-"

"Oh, no. You have to tell me now." Martin scowls as fiercely as he can, ignoring the heat on his face when Gerard raises an eyebrow.

"Excuse me? I have to?"

"Of course you do! You can't just barge in here and- and expect me to give you all I know and then not tell me anything!"

"You continue to not be what I expected, Martin," Gerard says in a flat, annoyed tone. Good. "It's got something to do with the marks. He's- he has twelve of them already."

"That's- wow. That's a lot of them." Martin blinks. He's aware -oh, he is so aware- of Jon's brushes with the entities, but it never occurred to him to actually sit down and figure which he hasn't encountered yet. It never felt important, for some reason. Peter's voice echoes in his mind. You should be careful with that. Could be dangerous.

"And he's getting them in the weirdest ways too, like-"

"Is there a normal way to be marked by a fear god?" Martin interrupts, only to be pinned down by Gerard's unimpressed stare. He snorts. "Sorry, sorry. You were saying?"

"Well, yes. I was there when he Knew about the bullet in Melanie's leg. It was a tidbit from the Eye. And then- why did that Stranger bloke bring the coffin here?" Gerard frowns, and ink starts running down from his other nostril as well. "Ah, fuck."

"Yes, maybe- we should stop for now." Martin gives the box of tissues another push. "I really don't want to go looking for Jon because you bled out in my office."

"Would be hard to explain, huh?" Gerard tears a handful of tissues out, before climbing to his feet. "We'll listen to the tape. I'll-"

"Wait- we?"

"I'm not going to lie to him," Gerard shrugs. "Besides, it will make him... not happy, but at least he'll have news of you."

"Very considerate," Martin says dryly. It's an abrupt reminder that they might be doing this out of love for the same man, but they're not friends. Still, Jon deserves nice things, even if Martin can't be the one to give them to him. "What?" He asks, when he zones back in and finds Gerard still looking at him thoughtfully.

"He really does care. Lukas knows how to come at you; don't let him." Gerard opens the door, halfway out already before he pokes his head back in. "Don't call the Lonely back in yet, give yourself a break, will you?"

He's gone before Martin can answer, and he sighs. This is getting so much more difficult than he thought it would be.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"-statement ends." Jon clicks the recorder off and places it on his improvised desk, before turning to look at Daisy. "The Flesh continues to be... puzzling, to say the least."

"Nasty," Daisy agrees without looking away from her phone. The tape recorder slides a little on his stomach when she shifts to make her head more comfortable on Jon's thigh. "Are vampires from the Flesh?"

Jon leans back, resting his head against the wall as the Knowledge starts pressing against his mind. "Yes. Bit of the Hunt too. And a little Stranger. They're quite a mess." He shifts too, the hardwood floor of his office punishing on his tailbone.

"Want to switch?" Daisy asks, already halfway through sitting up.

"I'm alright." Jon slides down instead. "It's almost time to leave anyways, Gerry will be here soon."

"I met him the other day. He seems nice." Daisy lays back next to him. Jon slides his hand under her forearm, just to have an additional point of contact, and she tangles their fingers together.

"He is," Jon says quietly. Daisy, who is not aligned with the Beholding but whose stare can still make you squirm, looks at him out the corner of her eye.

"What's up with that?" She asks after so long has gone by that Jon is starting to think he's safe. He lets out an exhalation that hopefully doesn't sound as exhausted as he is with this whole matter.

Gerry has ways been generous with his touch, a heavy hand on Jon's shoulder, around his wrist, on top of his head, but recently there's been the slightest moment of hesitation just before making contact, and Jon finds himself dreading it every time, without really knowing what outcome he fears more.

It definitely doesn't help that Jon is far too aware that no matter what Gerry may or may not feel, he did not choose to be here willingly, that even if he for some reason enjoys Jon's company, he's as much a prisoner to him as Jon himself is to the Eye.

"Nothing." Jon says, then adds sullenly. "I don't know."

Daisy squeezes his hand. "Martin?"

"I don't know." Jon turns his head away to avoid Daisy's gaze. "I- Daisy, I think there's bigger things to worry about."

"It's good to- I'm trying to think of the little things too." Daisy shrugs. "It feels like having a purpose."

Jon purses his lips. Sure, having a purpose is good and all until said purposes are self-sacrificing to a fear entity to keep you safe or behaving in an entirely too confusing manner.

"How's Basira?" He hasn't spoken much to her since that day after the statement. Jon gets the feeling she doesn't want to give him another chance to voice those thoughts she doesn't pride herself on.

Daisy sighs. "She's- it's okay. We're together, so it's fine. I just-" her voice falters a little, and Jon turns back to face her, squeezes her hand in reassurance. "I know I'm not what she needed."

Jon doesn't do her the disservice of trying to offer advice; the nuances of their relationship are something he doesn't want to intrude on. Instead, he tugs softly on her hand.

"I think we have time for an episode or two, if you're up for it."

Daisy's chapped lips twitch with humor. "I thought you didn't like it."

Jon snorts; no need for an Eye membership to see that, then. "It's- charmingly simple, I suppose."

"You don't get to back out," she says, lifting Jon's hand in hers to tap at her phone.

"Fine. But I will comment on it." Jon mock-scowls as the opening notes of The Archers' intro start playing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Want some coffee?" Gerry asks as he locks the door to the flat behind him.

"That sounds nice," Jon mutters. His voice is distracted and somewhat annoyed, and Gerry turns to see him struggling with the very last button of his coat. The burned hand must be aching more than usual, because he's not even trying to use it. "Uh- could you-"

"On it," Gerry nudges Jon's hand away gently, before easily sliding the button through the hole. "You're... good." Jon's large, dark eyes are glued to him when he looks up, awfully closer than he expected.

"Yes, I- thank you." After a moment's hesitation Jon's hands slide under his again to grab at the coat's lapels, and he steps away as he shrugs it off.

Gerry sighs, taking his own jacket off. This tension is ridiculous, he thinks as he watches Jon make a beeline for his bedroom. It's not- Gerry's far too aware of the situation with Martin. The tape he's carried around in his jacket for the past two days can attest to that, so no, he's not planning on making a move on Jon without at least a conversation. But he can't- it's not like he can just pretend he doesn't want Jon. Not after the Buried, not after thinking he lost him, and all the revelations that stemmed from that.

And speaking of the tape...

He hasn't brought himself around to listening to it, the hard corners digging at his ribs where his heart should be. Gerry's not so blind as to not realize this is selfishness on his part, a futile attempt to keep up this false normalcy they have found for themselves.

It's not fair for Jon, after Gerry made him promise to not keep secrets, but most of all it's not fair to Martin, who Gerry has very much decided he misjudged.

"We should- there's something I have for us. That we should listen to," he says once he goes back to the living room. He hands Jon -who has already changed into night clothes and is balled up at one end of the sofa- the two steaming mugs. "Here. I'll be right back."

Jon's eyes narrow in suspicion when Gerry comes back with the tape recorder. "What is that?" Gerry sits next to him on the sofa, stalling for time. "Gerry..."

With the kind of relationship he has with Jon, there's probably not a good way or time of saying 'I really like the way you say my name', but considering the news he's about to give, Gerry's willing to bet this would be one of the worst.

"I spoke to Martin." He says hurriedly, instead.

"You what?" Jon's eyes go wide, and Gerry lifts a hand in an appeasing motion.

"Yes, when- I went to look for him when you went into the Buried."

"I- why would you do that?!" Jon asks, his voice strained.

"Let me see, because I found out you'd fatally misunderstood the concept of anchors, and I thought he might have a better chance at getting you back than a rib." Gerry finds himself growing more agitated as he speaks, the light compulsion bringing forth more than just words. "A rib. Jon what were you think-"

"You said you'd stop bringing that up," Jon cuts him sullenly, his brow furrowed as he straightens up to shove a finger into Gerry's chest. "You said a man used quiche as his anchor!"

"It was not about the quiche, I thought you'd understood that!" Gerry clamps a hand down on Jon's to yank it away from his torso as he leans forward. "How was I supposed to know- a rib!"

"Well-" Jon snaps angrily, inches from Gerry's face. "Next time-"

"Next- there is not going to be a next time, Jon! You're not going into any more entities without me," Gerry blurts out. Jon's face goes carefully blank, and they stay there for a moment, breathing heavily in agitation. "Jon-"

"What- the tape." Jon sits back, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping an arm around them. "What's in it?"

Gerry groans, sitting back as well. Stupid.

"It's... let's just listen to it," he says before pressing the play button.

"Right. Martin Blackwood, archi- assistant to Peter Lukas, head of the Magnus Institute."

Jon grows more and more stiff with each passing second, and Gerry purses his lips in thought. This is probably the most Jon has heard of Martin in months, and the content could hardly be worse.

"Hey, I..." Gerry sighs. Jon doesn't look at him, and Gerry notices with a start that his eyes are starting to glow a faint green. More information to the Archive, then, whether Jon wants the knowledge or not.

He reaches over to lay a comforting arm across Jon's shoulders, pulling him lightly towards him, and Jon -surprisingly, terrifyingly- comes. It doesn't make Martin's words any less dreadful, but it does make it easier to listen to, knowing they're not alone.

"What- what happened after?" Jon asks after the tape clicks to an end. Gerry didn't miss how his posture against him grew stiff again at the subtle abuse Lukas flung to Martin after the statement. He'd known that was a possibility, but he'd also known Jon wouldn't let him stop the tape before it was over.

"I waited until Lukas left, locked us into his office and pissed him off until he was more human." Gerry shrugs. "Then we talked."

"Please don't antagonize Martin," Jon mutters softly, running his pointer finger over the edge of the tape in a gesture that seems almost intimate, and that Gerry very much doubts is meant for the device.

"All interaction helps, when he's like this. Especially if it turns out he wants to engage back, and trust me, he wanted to argue with me."

"That's because you are irritating," Jon huffs, and Gerry snorts a little.

"Beholding hasn't told you where it hid the return receipt?"

Jon's hand slaps softly against Gerry's chest. "What else?"

"Not much. After- I reminded him that you care about him. When he was more himself," Gerry adds, giving Jon's shoulders a light squeeze. "He even listened, I think." Jon frowns, quiet and contemplative for a moment that stretches for entirely too long. "Does it help? To know he's doing this for a reason?" Gerry asks

'Does it help to know you're loved?' he doesn't add.

Jon sighs.

"Somewhat. I just- leaving my personal- what are we going to do about this?" Jon asks. "This new- we have our hands full with the regular ones already, but a new one?"

"Is the Eye telling you something about it?" Gerry watches his face carefully, but his eyes are already back to their usual, comforting dark hue, and Jon shakes his head.

"Suspiciously quiet, if you ask me." Jon looks up at him, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Does it ever tell you anything?"

Gerry thinks of the marks all over Jon's soul, and the screeching static that came from trying to Know about them.

"Sometimes. I try to pay more attention to what it doesn't want to tell me."

"And what is that?"

"There's something about your marks," Gerry says slowly, trying to pinpoint the exact piece of information that the Watcher doesn't want him to focus on. "I think there's a reason you're getting- oh, there we go."

"Wh- Gerry!" Jon springs from the sofa, leaving Gerry's side uncomfortably empty as he darts into the bathroom. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back to keep the ink flowing from his nose from making a bigger mess. Done with Eye business for the night, it seems.

"It doesn't hurt," Gerry shrugs after Jon comes back with a handful of bunched up toilet paper. "You're a cheapskate, Martin had tissues."

"You're ridiculous," Jon huffs, pressing the paper carefully against Gerry's face. "Should I- I'll get something to read, that'll fix it. Hold this."

"Nah." Gerry makes no move to take over holding the toilet paper under his nose, cracking an eye open instead to find Jon hovering over him with concern clear on his face. "Just talk to me. I like it better."

"I-" Jon's cheeks go a few shades darker, and Gerry feels his mouth twitch into a smile. "Uh- alright. What- Gerry, I'm really bad at small talk."

"Then don't do small talk," Gerry shrugs. "Tell me... oh, tell me about when you broke into Getrude's flat."

"W- how did you know about that?!" Jon gapes, his face red with embarrassment. He could get used to this, Gerry thinks.

"Had a lot to listen to when you went to pick up Daisy. Supplemental Jon sounds like a fun fella," Gerry adds with a wink, and Jon sputters like an angry kettle.

He could definitely get used to this.

#jongerrymartin #illicio #vit writes #j/g/m

21 notes · View notes

deniigi · 5 years

Note

I heard you that you were taking prompts and I thought that maybe seeing Brett or Foggy interact with Daredevil and Miles-Spidey from your ITSV verse would be pretty cool. Feel free to throw this away if it’s not what you’re looking for!

I actually have something similar-ish to this in my drafts.

I’m putting this one under the cut since it’s a little longer.

Lol, so the premise of the larger piece this is from is that Technicolor Peter’s mutation reacts violently to the appearance of other spideys and kind of puts him into a berserk mode so all he wants to do is tear them limb from limb. Doesn’t show up much in this bit, but that’s the working idea here.

———–

“Put your hands up,” Brett called, full-voice.

Surprisingly, the four masks did this without question.

“Get on your knees.”

It was almost like they could sense the guns. Brett didn’tlike to aim one at anyone, but this shit was going too far. And Peter wasspeechless with fury this time. He’d tangled with a few of these characters onthe way to this particular alley and, to Brett’s surprise, had come out onbottom. Scrambling off from beneath one after the other.

Brett wasn’t sure if it was the quality of the costumes or thedesigns that pissed him off, or if it was the challenge to his territory, but anywayaround, little Pete was not havingthese cosplayers that night. He stayed crouched low against a nearby wall, morespiderlike than Brett had seen him.

Unhappy.

This was one unhappy Spidey.

He realized belatedly that his suspects were chatteringamong themselves and repeated the command for them to kneel.

“Dude, we gotta kneel,” one of them—the smallest one—hissedat the others.

“We don’t have time for this,” the one in the white suitsnapped.

“We don’t have timeto get shot either,” the small one insisted.

Boy had some sense in his head, then. That was a relief.

“He won’t shoot, he’s got no reason to—”

“Now. He’s got noreason to now.”

Brett really liked the small one. He glanced over to Peter,still sunken into the wall, and jerked his head a little. Asking him if he hadanything to say to these guys before they got to the hand-cuffing part of theevening. He didn’t respond.

Well, alright then.

“This is the last time I’m gonna say it, y’all. Get on yourknees,” Brett called.

“Hey, can you take a bullet?” the second tallest of thegroup asked the tallest over his shoulder.

“Take a—do I look like Superman to you???”

The second tallest Spidey turned his head to the side justbarely and shrugged lightly.

“Well, I mean. You dowork for a newspaper.”

“Is that seriously your baseline for bulletproof right now?”

“Yes?”

“Hey,” Brett called to get their attention. All four wentrigid and then eased up.

“Okay, alright, everyone shut up,” the tallest guy said tothe others. “This might be a good thing. We can make this work.”

Make what work? And why the fuck were they still blabberingon?

“This is it,” the smallest one moaned, “This is it. My dadis gonna kill me.”

“Same,” the white spidey sighed.

“No one’s dad is killing anyone,” The tallest guy said. “Weare just going to explain to this very nice officer and his very nice,marginally feral Spidey what’s goingon and through exuberance and charm, we will find the chain and then be righton our way—right, officer?”

Oh. That had been for his benefit, then, had it?

Ha.

Nice try.

****

“Name?”

“Parker.”

“Given name?”

“Peter.”

“Listen, sir. This is not a funny joke.”

“No, you listen, my friend. I am hilarious, but also 100% not trying to be funny right now. Name:Peter B. Parker. That one’s just Peter Parker.”

“So he’s your nephew, sir?”

This made the blond kid scream into his cuffed hands andsent the other two kids—kids becauseof fucking course they were—into peals of muffled giggling. The big uncle wasbeyond unimpressed.

“Yes,” he said, totally deadpan.

“Oh my god, no,”the blond kid burst out, “No, no, no.”

“He’s my nephew,” the uncle said tightly.

“I’m not. We’re cousins at most—”

“They named him after me ‘cause I’m so fucking handsome.”

“Oh my GOD, B. Shut the fuck up right—”

“They saw greatness and knew exactly what to do.”

This guy was. Well. He actually was kind of a riot. Half thestation was pretending like they weren’t giggling.

Funny, they were. Yes. But that did not make the situationone iota less unbelievable. Peter B. Parker had a state ID which literally,actually read ‘Peter Benjamin Parker’ and, for all that Brett could tell, itwas not a fake. He snuck it off to forensics to see if they thought it was afake, and while he and Steph held it, it fucking buzzed and zipped andshattered into color before resuming its normal corporeal form.

“Well, this is interesting,” Steph said.

Interesting, on the forensics team, was code for ‘bad.’

Steph and Kev came with Brett back into the bullpen wherethe blond kid was firmly renouncing any relation to his uncle. He was kind of ariot too.

“I’ve never met this man in my life,” he kept insisting. “Ionly know these guys. They were all, hey let’s do Halloween early—let’s allpretend to be Spiderman which is just silly,right?”

“Sir, do you have an ID?”

“And I said, like an idiot, no, yeah. That’s sounds likeit’ll be a great time, and really,it’s only karma that we’d end up getting arrested.”

“Sir,” Isabel said slowly, with immense patience.

“It’s a onesie, ma’am, not a whole lot of room for pockets.”

“Sir. It will be easier for all of us if you have an ID.”

“Yeah, Peter,” theuncle said nastily, “You heard the lady. The cheek of you, talking back likethat.”

“Oh my—he’s not myuncle. I swear.”

Isabel looked between the two of them and like. Even Brettcould see the resemblance there. From a distance even. Nah, man. Nice try.

“He’s not. This isjust a biological accident—”

“That’s what his mama calls him,” the uncle stage-whisperedto Isabel. He had absolutely charmed Isabel. They needed to get him a differentofficer for booking ASAP.

“Oh my god,” Blondie moaned into his hands. “This was amistake.”

Isabel could not keep her face straight. She asked for theID again and this time Blondie dug through his suit and shoved it at herwithout eye contact.

“Peter Parker,” she read.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You know, we’re familiar with a kid with this same name.”

“I am not even a little surprised, ma’am.”

“Are you guys all related?”

“Biologically and theoretically speaking—”

“Yep.” Uncle had this shit on lockdown. Blondie glared athim and pursed his lips. Kid looked like a model. Also a little homicidal. Heand Uncle probably ought to be placed in different holding cells.

Steph and Kev were entranced by these people. Even more sowhen Blondie’s ID did the same buzzing-zapping thing that Uncle’s had inIsabel’s hand. She nearly dropped it.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Well, most likely,it was the misalignment of particles from—”

“Act of god.”

Thanks, Uncle B. Blondie mugged at him with every bit of hisjaw he could weaponize. The kids were just about in tears. The girl looked kindof familiar, actually, now that Brett got a good look at her.

“How old are you?” he asked.

Silence among the children.

“Sixteen,” she said.

“Name?”

“Uuuuuh.”

Yeah, that’s what he thought.

“Need your name, honey,” he said. “Ain’t no use in making upone now.”

“Gwen.”

Now, was that so hard?

“And you?” he asked the young black boy next to her. Hedropped his eyes immediately.

“Miles.”

“How old are you, son?”

“Uh.”

Gwen elbowed him right in the ribs and gave him a Look.

“F-fifteen?”

Ummmm, no. Try again.

“Fourteen, sir.”

That was better. Someone had disciplined the ever-lovingshit out of this boy. He was good and respectful.

“What were you two doing out in the middle of the night withthe dream team over here?” Brett asked. “You guys forming a cosplaying club orsomething?”

“Uh.”

“We aren’t cosplaying,” Blondie snapped. “That guy’s thereal Spiderman.” He pointed at his uncle, who was offended as hell at theaccusation. “He got bit by a radioactive spider and then I got bit by a radioactive spider and then Gwen got bit by a—”

Okay, Brett got the idea. He looked at Uncle B.

“You’re Spiderman, then,” he said flatly. Uncle B thoughtabout it like a guy trying to remember where his damn keys were.

“Mmmmm, sure why not?”

What.

Who the fuck was he?

“Peter B. Parker,” Brett repeated. “Spiderman.”

“Pretty much.”

“Peter Parker,” Brett started.

“No, no. Peter B. Parker. The B’s important.”

This was ridiculous. Steph and Kev poked at the guy from theside and he lit up like he’d touched a live wire. His body jerked and burstinto colors like his ID had.

What.

The fuck.

“I’m—okay, you. You seem like some kinda scientist,” Brettsaid to Blondie who went stiff as a board and started stammering. “What thefuck is happening?,” Brett demanded. “I already got the night crew to dealwith, I don’t need any more crazy in my life right now.”

“Uuuuh. Can I? Have counsel?”

#fic #into the multiverse #dreamcoats verse #that person who sent me a message about getting Miles and Brett to interact a million years ago is responsible for this #I haven't stopped thinking about it since #ficlet

97 notes · View notes

jackhbritt36 · 5 years

Text

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With its drag and drop feature, the landing page builder has made it easier than ever to create great pages.

Other landing page builder like Katra recently released have shown that Clickfunnels is worth its costs.

It can be very frustrating to look through product ratings, review, compare products, wasting precious time before finally deciding to make a purchase only to discover that it’s not exactly what you thought it would be.

I have taken time to make a detailed and truthful Clickfunnels review to intimate you with everything you should know in picking which is best for you – because the truth is Clickfunnels is not designed for everyone!

Even with recent and cheaper competition, Clickfunnels is still one of the best sales funnel solutions available.

* I’m an affiliate marketer of Clickfunnels, which means I will be given a commission if you buy via my affiliate link.

What Is ClickFunnels?

Russel Brunson, alongside his team, developed ClickFunnels quite a few years ago. Of all landing page builders, clickfunnels was one of the first to create the drag and drop attribute that makes it easy and simple to create sales funnels.

People used Leadpages and other software or sometimes designed sales pages by themselves using HTML before the invention of clickfunnels.

What Does Clickfunnels Do?

Clickfunnels helps you develop landing pages, downsells and upsells, sales funnels, and membership sites with ease.

ClickFunnels also comes with Stripe, Paypal, and other payment merchants. It makes Clicks funnel an accessible service for small business owners and online marketers. The software makes it very easy to accept online payments.

For example, if you work as a fitness coach and people engage you in a personal consultation, or you even offer online courses, you can direct web traffic with Clickfunnels to your page getting customers to join your social media or email list.

The moment your leads have joined, they would be allowed to choose to purchase the course or have access to your free e-books. If they make the purchase, an extra page will pop up to redirect them for a special training session with you. You can do all this directly with Clickfunnels without necessarily having to host a domain or pay for any special software of any kind.

Clickfunnels also has its software for analytics with which you can monitor your page and how well it is doing. Also, you can run A/B tests many times on your sales page with ease. These tests will help you optimize your sales pages to have the best in terms of leads and sales.

Sales Funnel - What is it?

Before reading this review, you should understand sales funnels, its advantages, and how it generates maximum profit.

Sales funnels are created to get potential client email or social media contact. The process is quite similar to getting a girl’s number or social media contact. That would be a step towards a relationship…

However, having someone’s email address doesn’t always result in sales, just like it doesn’t imply anything from the girl – but then, chances to make sales for you and your company are increased!

As soon as you obtain the email, you can proceed into relating with your potential customer where you can keep them up to date on your new products and services.

See it as a good book or movie. Your aim here is to become emotionally connected with your customers while you gradually gain their confidence and trust in your business. The moment you have their belief, they can make purchase decisions with ease.

Afterward, the sales funnel requires that you send the prospective customer to your page dedicated to sales. This sales page should stand out and should be specially designed in such a way that people are very eager to make purchases.

Usually, useful pages will have headlines that are very catchy and talk about your products and services, followed by very engaging images and videos, also bullet points which will give a short information on the benefits of such a purchase. All these work hand-in-hand to keep the visitor intrigued and eager to buy your product.

The moment your customer enters their card details and makes a purchase is not the end. Instead, it starts a journey where you lead them through additional One Time Offers (OTOs) or special single offers, and other types of promotions.

The idea here is to help each customer maximize profit.

For instance, assuming your company gets a conversion of about 10% for every visit to the sales funnel. Considering each item worth $10 /pop, totaling a $5 profit. Therefore, for 100 visitors, with an average of 10sales, you get a whopping $50 profit.

Now imagine if the conversion rate was 30%, for an extra $10 item, while an additional 10% decide to register for the annual $500 package?

You might not believe your eyes after doing the maths…

For every 100 visitors visiting your sales page, you sell ten products, three new products, and an annual package. The result is a $600 profit, which is an increased profit of about 1,200% for your business.

This increased margin in profit will give you enough leverage to spend more than your business competition on advertisements, which will further raise the numbers of your potential customers.

There are so many options for sales funnel to choose from. You must develop one that suits your business model. That can be very daring, challenging, and tasking. However, with Clickfunnels, you can implement it with ease.

How Does Clickfunnels Work?

ClickFunnels has a lot of advantages and features that give it an edge over others.

Starting with what is the most significant of them all—ClickFunnels works just fine, doing precisely what it is meant to do. The software builds sales funnels completely for its users, helping them drive both buyers and leads to the sales funnels sequel to completion.

Also, users can process payments. It also gives a very adaptable page builder with which users can create personalized pages. It provides room for promotions, featuring an autoresponder and an affiliate tool for management, and many more.

And that is not all.

The landing page software lets you build your sales funnel pages as fast as possible and with ease. Clickfunnels also comes with the option of email marketing.

It helps you smoothly synchronize sales pages using a follow-up email without needing e-mail software like Mailchimp and Weber. With this done on your behalf, you can have more of your free time and focus on critical stuff like business growth!

ClickFunnels gives room for A/B testing on every page within the funnel. You can as well create membership funnels with the use of ClickFunnels.

After you register the leads, they will gain exclusive access to membership rights of your service previously developed and maintained by you.

That’s not all; one of the very many exciting features of ClickFunnels is that it is integrated with Stripe and PayPal. You would receive payment for membership sites and/or products and services which you give to people.

What is the meaning of all these?

You can build your entire business using Clickfunnels! You won’t need multiple websites or pay extra for hosting a domain – because Clickfunnels is all-inclusive.

The software also comes with features that allow you to recruit, manage, and pay to affiliates. You will also have exclusive control over all the metrics and analytics you need for your funnel’s review in terms of campaigns, performance, conversions, and sales, as well as the results of A/B tests.

The main objective of Clickfunnels is using the software to ensure maximum spending of every customer who engages in your product or services, transforming them into possible big spenders.

Things to Like

Beautiful Blueprints

Clickfunnels is inbuilt with a menu of a detailed database of gorgeous, already made templates. These templates are straightforward to re-use and can be set up in minutes. The list of pre-made funnel type template you can pick from include webinar funnels, membership funnels, etc.

Clickfunnels also comes with a marketplace where anyone can buy or sell for free or receive payment in exchange for templates. You don’t need to worry because, for many people, purchasing a template isn’t necessary, and on the plus side, there are a whole lot of built-in free templates.

Drag and Drop Editing Feature

People who have used other sales page software at one time before now will understand and appreciate Clickfunnels and its easy drag and drop editing feature. In the past, when you make minor tweaks, you have to continually relaunch the page to be sure those changes made look just the way you need them to.

With Clickfunnels, any change made will appear the same way whenever the page is launched. You save yourself time and escape a lot of unwarranted frustration.

A Whole Lot of Features From Which You Can Choose

Elements, or widgets as some call it, are like cogs in wheels of your sales funnel as they allow you customize your page.

This powerful feature categorizes Clickfunnels on its level, since Clickfunnels comes stocked to the brim with a lot of useful widgets that you will not find on other landing page applications at the moment.

Elements like Pricing tables, SMS registration, Videos, Surveys, Social media plugin like Facebook Comments, Progress bars, Countdown Timers with FAQ blocks, and also Custom HTML will help you improve conversions, and in the end, could result in added profit for you.

Clickfunnels Affiliate Program

One of the beautiful pros of Clickfunnels is the jaw-dropping affiliate program and also the Dream Car program. The registration for the program is straightforward, and you earn high commissions for everyone you refer to.

The affiliate program gives you a 40% commission on every person that registers using your link add to the fact that the program is a “sticky cookie.” If someone clicks on their phones, and then buy the software on their PC, you will still get your commission.

Unlike most affiliate programs, for instance, Amazon, this sticky cookie has no expiration. The implication is that you will continue to receive commissions from your referrals after their first purchase as long as they continue to pay.

Clickfunnels also has loads of upsells. You could practically make a lot more cash asides your revenue monthly. The good news here is, Russell Brunson is a genius of funnels, which guarantees that people that purchase Clickfunnels will definitely buy other related products.

One fantastic feature of the program is also the Sharefunnel. The share funnel allows you to give out funnels that you make with other people.

Imagine you made beautiful funnels for a real estate agent. You can as well share the funnel with as many agents as you wish for free.

Assuming they appreciate your work and they purchase Clickfunnels, that means you will receive a commission on the purchase.

June 2019 Update: Recently, Russell Brunson announced some improvements to the program. Clickfunnels, as of now, will give you commission for re-marketing campaigns.

If a person clicks your link, Clickfunnels will spend money on adverts to attract the person to buy Clickfunnels.

In my opinion, this strategy makes the affiliate program ten times more valuable. It also makes promoting them as easy as can be. Building your own experience and watching your learning curve grow through the training process.

The fantastic onboard training process

Clickfunnels is not rocket science; it’s very easy to understand; however, if you are like me, training to use a new software might be a bit frustrating…

ClickFunnels makes it very simple to understand the software with its on-boarding 7-day training challenge. The challenge is a sort of training on using the software, making it as fun as possible. If you continue the challenge until the end, you would know everything there is to know about Clickfunnels. Watch your learning curve grow as you proceed through the training process.

Complaints About ClickFunnels

Bad Part #1: Adding a funnel can be slow

Choosing a template or a funnel type to add to your account takes about 10 seconds averagely all the time. It might not seem like a big deal right now, but then, it could be annoying if you are in a hurry.

Bad Part #2: Visitor Limit

The base plan suite on ClickFunnels limits you to only 20,000 visitors, 100pages, and 20 funnels per month. Which looks very small at first glance.

However, when you think it through, if you get 20,000 visitors in one month, you would have enough money to upgrade to the unlimited funnels plan. However, if you have the cash, you can beat these limitations by opting straight for the etison suite that comes with unlimited funnels.

Bad Part #3: Pricing

ClickFunnels has a plethora of functions and features to its name, although it could be a bit expensive. Click funnels cost $97 per month, which is a whole lot of cash for startups, irrespective of how you look at it.

How Much Does Clickfunnels Cost? [Updated]

ClickFunnels’ most affordable plan costs less than a hundred dollars per month($97). You will have access to all the tools you can use to create funnels, although with limits as stated earlier ( 20,000 visitors, 100 pages, and 20 funnels).

To know more about deals on Clickfunnels pricing, check out the Clickfunnels Pricing page

Even though I understand the use of Actionetics, which is an inclusive email service. On a personal basis, I have not tried to use Actionetics. Actionetics added to Backpack, is an affiliate that creates the program.

If you had to select the two; Actionetics and Backpack, you would be paying $297 per month to use the Etison Suite. The etison suite offers all the action like unlimited visitors, pages, and funnels.

I’m not sure if any ClickFunnels coupon codes exist for discounts. However, you will receive a 16% discount if you are opt-in for a yearly payment on the etison suite. By my calculations, using the etison suite amounts to paying to use the software for ten months only, while the rest of the two months is for free.

You can try out Clickfunnels risk-free by registering for a free trial. There is an ongoing deal that lets you check out Clickfunnels 30 days for free. If you plan to check Clickfunnels out, the time is now because the offer won’t last for long. However, if you don’t make it on time for the 30-day free trial, you can always opt-in for the 14-day free trial.

Clickfunnels and Competition

You would agree, different things appeal to different people, the same way ClickFunnels has other alternatives available like SamCart and LeadPages. If you care to know, Clickfunnels stands out in the following ways:

LeadPages vs. Clickfunnels

Before now, LeadPages was a leader in the market in terms of building sales pages, but recently Clickfunnels has taken the lead. Leadpages has a very limited scope compared to ClickFunnels.

One can decide to build a very stylish and attractive sales pages to help collect leads and source new customers with leadpages. However, it won’t do much when it comes to the sales of a product or service. The strength of LeadPages is in the generation of leads (as you would see from the name ), when it comes to sales and funnels, however, leave that to ClickFunnel.

On the other hand, Leadpages is cheaper per month, so if what you seek is a less costly option compared to Clickfunnels then, Leadpages should be your best bet.

SamCart vs. Clickfunnels

Speaking of SamCart, the product allows you to produce checkout sales pages that look good, thereby increasing your rate of conversion. So, how does it differ from ClickFunnels?

The difference is simple: SamCart is designed for straight sales and easy setup. It offers support for Paypal and Stripe with added 17 different page templates that you can customize to your taste. However, Samcart does not have the kind of flexibility and ability that ClickFunnel and its drag and drop editor feature gives you. That is to say, ClickFunnels can design almost any type of sales page you want.

It would not be nice to be restricted by Samcart and its primary personalizations and its already made templates. Asides that, you will discover Samcart might not be able to capture lead source and to develop sales funnels to completion.

If you consider that ClickFunnels and Samcart both cost $97 per month, the cutting edge for ClickFunnels will be its flexibility, which also gives it a higher rating.

Other Competitors

One thing about the Clickfunnels software is the fact that it has challenged the competition. As of now, a lot of alternatives exist like Builderall and Karta.

Is Clickfunnels Software Worth Your Money?

If you are here to compare ClickFunnels and LeadPages or SamCart and Clicksfunnel, by now, you should be equipped with all the information you need to make an informed decision.

You would agree that SamCart and Leadpages are useful tools with their strong points. However, we have discovered ClickFunnels is the very best comprehensive tool for your business. You can try the 14-day free trial and see for yourself.

Clickfunnels Review Final Thoughts:

To sum it up, we give Clickfunnels a 9 out of 10 ratings compared with the other existing options.

We believe our ClickFunnels review has helped you determine the service that you think is right! Whichever one you choose, ensure it improves sales as fast as possible! The good news is that you can opt-in for the 14-day free trial to make your assessments without risk.

FAQ

Can I replace Infusionsoft with ClickFunnels?

Infusionsoft and Clickfunnels may seem comparable, but the two platforms offer distinct differences that serve different types of users. ClickFunnels works for online marketers and companies needing landing pages and other online marketing tools integrated to make their sales funnels run smoothly. By using Clickfunnels, marketers would be able to develop their sales pages, oversee sales transactions, run tests, and even conduct email campaigns. Clickfunnels offers a full-function shopping cart, add that to checkout menu options that allow you to generate promotional codes and offer sales discounts in a bid to improve your rate of conversions. The interface will enable you to do all these and more from a single page, which is to say, you don’t have to change tabs to finish multiple tasks.

Infusionsoft, by the way, can help a more significant business develop landing pages, and at the same time, use a menu of tools available to start marketing campaigns. Infusionsoft was designed to be inclusive for online marketing and sales. However, it lacks feasibility when it comes to startups and small companies. Furthermore, it costs about $699 monthly, which is on the high side for a business that has a low marketing budget.

While ClickFunnels would not exactly replace Infusionsoft’s use for medium-sized businesses and enterprises, ClickFunnels is less expensive, has high functionality, and offers excess tools that are very simple to use. Small business CEOs will discover when picking between them that Clickfunnels would not only be a better replacement for Infusionsoft; it might as well offer a more useful experience in marketing automation.

ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft?

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ClickFunnels and Shopify Integration?

ClickFunnels, as of now, is not integrated with Shopify. However, you can incorporate ClickFunnels with Zapier that has a direct link with the platform of Shopify- as an online store owner; you can completely automate your sales funnel. With ClickFunnels and Zapier integration, you will be able to: -Connect ClickFunnels with Shopify, -Utilize new contacts on ClickFunnels in making Trello cards, -Utilize current ClickFunnels contacts in making Podio contacts, -Develop Gmail automated responses sent to existing contacts and buying customers -Sign up new click funnel contacts for webinar series -Bring in click funnel orders inside Google sheets -Automate the development of invoices for current click funnel contacts, and -Have an up-to-date MailChimp subscribers list based on click funnel activity.

Connecting ClickFunnels to Amazon and Shopify

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ClickFunnels is by who?

Russell Brunson is the founder of ClickFunnels and he is also the CEO of Brunson’s Etison,LLC. Brunson is well respected in marketing. He is one of the very few geniuses in marketing who make use of marketing analytics to develop, sales campaign with high conversion rates. He hosts Funnel Hacks event annually, where he discusses hacks and tools that small business owners, marketers, and startups need to stay ahead of their industries by optimizing their sales funnels. With followership of over a million small and large business owners and books sold in hundreds of thousands, he has an edge in the marketing industry. He has made a name for himself as a leading expert in the marketing industry.

ClickFunnels’ Owner

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How Click Funnels can be used

ClickFunnels provides a supervised process where customers can get to know your company and their products through marketing training materials that make interested leads from ordinary potential buyers who have chosen to receive added information from you. In simple terms, you will need multiple components, that is after the advertisement. With advertisement and marketing on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, ClickFunnels can create a landing page.

Most pages usually called squeeze pages, which have a unique action call as well as a form where people that visit the page fill their details and email address. After your visitor has entered his details via the form provided, most markers prefer to be redirected to another page where, for instance, you can have time-limited promotional offers like a 14-day free trial of your product. While this is not compulsory, it is available on ClickFunnels. Making use of this tool, which is optional, will let users market additional products or services or present offers that will increase the chances of a purchase. Whether your visitor decides to go for the special promotional offer or they don’t, they would be directed to another page for order confirmation. The page thanks them for submission and gives the visitor further information about your company and its products.

After that, on the menu of tools, you will find on ClickFunnels, you will find one suitable for training your new leads. One could send newsletters periodically, develop marketing campaigns, and announce special promotional offers to engage the leads that you have using marketing automation. The moment you implement the tools, your sales funnel would begin to run smoothly without you needing to manage each of your leads manually.

FREE Tutorial on Clickfunnels Usage

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Cloning funnels with ClickFunnels?

Cloning a funnel involves making an extra copy of a page with the aim. In case you need the page, later on, you won’t need to build the page from the beginning again. Cloning is beneficial when you are creating single or multiple landing page templates. It enables you to finish general layouts alongside all required components and to maintain consistency through campaigns without having to waste time creating your pages one after the other. Cloning is easy, involving only three very easy steps.

To start, you open the funnel you wish to use as your template. After that, you will select Settings from the menu. After that, choose the option “Clone Funnel” that will create a duplicate of the page automatically after clicking it. After cloning, your page will be included in a list on the main menu. The new page will be named after the original one, with “Copy of”, preceding it.

ClickFunnels TUTORIAL: Duplicating a Sales Funnel

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How can Clickfunnels help Realtors?

Realtors can improve lead generation, grow buying and selling while automating some useless tasks needed to discuss terms with clients to get deals closed all with clickfunnels. Twilio integration with clickfunnels helps Realtors develop autoresponders with quick responses – which is necessary to engage demanding clients effectively. To be a successful real estate agent, consistent engagement with your pipeline is very important.

This explains why with Clickfunnels, agents can develop email drip campaigns that are automated in a bid to communicate with their prospective clientele as often as possible. Also, you can get a stable source of leads to ensure your contacts are filed using landing pages on Clickfunnels. You can use of your landing pages to give free reports and guides that help resolve common issues in buying and selling in your own market, leading to new potential source of leads for engagement that might develop in the future into listings or sales. The ClickFunnels platform makes all these tasks very easy to do.

Realtors and ClickFunnels

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How can ClickFunnels for Amazon Help Affiliates?

Affiliate marketers usually build an email list using landing pages. However, ClickFunnels can do more than just creating landing pages. ClickFunnels can assist affiliate marketers in making money in different ways. For instance, when a customer buys something from an online store, say Amazon, for example, through affiliate marketers, such people become customers of the online store, not the affiliate marketer. Affiliate marketers can collect the customer’s contact and purchase information, using landing pages to provide analytics, develop membership plans in order to generate income, and for follow-up campaigns on email to encourage subsequent sales.

Tools also available to marketers allow for expansion of cart sizes to accommodate promotional sales if need be. You can also give varied options for order fulfillment so that buyers can choose how they receive their products. Paypal can be a payment option, which is a big deal because Amazon competes with Paypal, so Paypal payments are not allowed on Amazon. However, this is very important for affiliate marketers to accept Paypal payments as it raises revenue by 27%. Affiliate marketers can add promotion deadlines to create scarcity, a part of their marketing strategies. They can as well sell webinar funnels alongside normal products or lead conversion from products with high-end customers that pay well.

Even with more tools at your disposal to improve sales, ClickFunnels gives insight and action in creating diverse marketing campaigns and automation of sales processes without any damaging effects on quality.

ClickFunnels in Affiliate Marketing

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ClickFunnels for chiropractors. How does it work?

Just like other professions, the sales funnels can be of benefit to Chiropractors by getting leads from every source possible. In health improvement, informative messages are very effective in attracting new leads from every source possible. Landing pages help you market your messages to the customers you need with ease. Once your source to new leads has piled up, ClickFunnels has a plethora of tools that enable you to grow each lead so you can add messages with information continuously to help convert your leads to engaged customers.

As a chiropractor, you can use marketing tools to offer discounts and other special promotions that may attract new customers. Better still, you can start referral schemes for customer to customer marketing. This is very effective for chiropractors trying to stimulate brand awareness in their environment. As you get new customers, ClickFunnels will see that you’re communicating with them as you send customized messages that aim at making them feel as though you’re communicating directly with them.

By using this powerful marketing tool provided by clickfunnels to add a personalized touch to your emails, people will easily see the big difference between you and other average chiropractors.

Chiropractors and Clickfunnels

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How does ClickFunnels work for lawyers?

Lawyers, unlike most professions, have a challenge, which is, most people won’t require a lawyer, except they get in trouble. This implies that when there’s a need for a lawyer, most clients rush to find one as fast as possible. They resort to the internet to find a lawyer, they fill a few forms and then wait for a response. In a lot of cases, the lawyer who returns the fastest response is the one who gets hired for the job.

Legal practitioners must-have messages ready for people looking for attorneys of their caliber. They also must respond to these inquiries speedily. Keep in mind, a person might look for other options after they come to a decision that the first call does not offer enough to meet their needs, you should be the next option available, ready to accept their business.

The platform helps lawyers to create different landing pages online in diverse places so their materials for marketing can be seen with ease.

Landing pages will make the reader understand what you are competent to get a win in their case and also collect their contact information so you can be in touch. Following up, ClickFunnels allows you to create autoresponders so that you can respond right after the customer fills contact form. Consequently, you can nurture your leads and qualify them using your sales funnels. You can custom your landing pages and use them intake forms.

By doing so, ClickFunnels, in a way, can help you remove weak perspectives from the strong ones or quickly sort out cases that are simply time wasters. This removal process during client intake implies that you will speak with only prospects who have shown an appreciable amount of interest in your services. When you talk to them, you are assured they have their minds set to retain you as their lawyer. Consequently, your sales funnel will help you keep in touch with every client so that none slips through your hands when they are accidentally ignored.

The platform ensures you are keeping up with all your leads consistently, keeping track of your communications, and monitoring how the leads move from the source throughout the rest of your sales funnel. By making good use of the analytics you have on the Clickfunnels, one can find out the areas in your sales funnel where people leave the system or areas where they get stuck. This will give you clues as to what the problem turning people away is, and thereby make changes that make your campaign more proficient. Your sales funnel will now be fine-tuned after a while, so your conversion rates are maximum, and the influx of clientele is steady.

source https://www.eventuring.org/clickfunnels-review-2020/ from Eventuring https://eventuring.blogspot.com/2020/02/clickfunnels-review-2020.html

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eventuring · 5 years

Text

Clickfunnels Review [2020]

Paul Spraggins

Everything you need to learn online marketing and execute campaigns. Blown my expectations.

Daniel G

 4.7/5

Features

 4.8/5

Ease of Use

 4.6/5

Support

 4.7/5

Pricing

 4.7/5

Overview

Are you hoping to find an HONEST Clickfunnels Review? Clickfunnels is hyped a LOT. But then, how will it help make you money?

Are you wondering if Clickfunnels is the right software for you? Well, you are in luck because you will find out all you need to know here!

Be it your own business or an online business, or you are into affiliate marketing – the Clickfunnels software essentially makes your life very easy.

With its drag and drop feature, the landing page builder has made it easier than ever to create great pages.

Other landing page builder like Katra recently released have shown that Clickfunnels is worth its costs.

Even with recent and cheaper competition, Clickfunnels is still one of the best sales funnel solutions available.

* I’m an affiliate marketer of Clickfunnels, which means I will be given a commission if you buy via my affiliate link.

What Is ClickFunnels?

People used Leadpages and other software or sometimes designed sales pages by themselves using HTML before the invention of clickfunnels.

What Does Clickfunnels Do?

Clickfunnels helps you develop landing pages, downsells and upsells, sales funnels, and membership sites with ease.

Sales Funnel - What is it?

Before reading this review, you should understand sales funnels, its advantages, and how it generates maximum profit.

As soon as you obtain the email, you can proceed into relating with your potential customer where you can keep them up to date on your new products and services.

The idea here is to help each customer maximize profit.

Now imagine if the conversion rate was 30%, for an extra $10 item, while an additional 10% decide to register for the annual $500 package?

You might not believe your eyes after doing the maths…

This increased margin in profit will give you enough leverage to spend more than your business competition on advertisements, which will further raise the numbers of your potential customers.

How Does Clickfunnels Work?

ClickFunnels has a lot of advantages and features that give it an edge over others.

And that is not all.

The landing page software lets you build your sales funnel pages as fast as possible and with ease. Clickfunnels also comes with the option of email marketing.

ClickFunnels gives room for A/B testing on every page within the funnel. You can as well create membership funnels with the use of ClickFunnels.

After you register the leads, they will gain exclusive access to membership rights of your service previously developed and maintained by you.

What is the meaning of all these?

You can build your entire business using Clickfunnels! You won’t need multiple websites or pay extra for hosting a domain – because Clickfunnels is all-inclusive.

The main objective of Clickfunnels is using the software to ensure maximum spending of every customer who engages in your product or services, transforming them into possible big spenders.

Things to Like

Beautiful Blueprints

Drag and Drop Editing Feature

With Clickfunnels, any change made will appear the same way whenever the page is launched. You save yourself time and escape a lot of unwarranted frustration.

A Whole Lot of Features From Which You Can Choose

Elements, or widgets as some call it, are like cogs in wheels of your sales funnel as they allow you customize your page.

Clickfunnels Affiliate Program

One fantastic feature of the program is also the Sharefunnel. The share funnel allows you to give out funnels that you make with other people.

Imagine you made beautiful funnels for a real estate agent. You can as well share the funnel with as many agents as you wish for free.

Assuming they appreciate your work and they purchase Clickfunnels, that means you will receive a commission on the purchase.

June 2019 Update: Recently, Russell Brunson announced some improvements to the program. Clickfunnels, as of now, will give you commission for re-marketing campaigns.

If a person clicks your link, Clickfunnels will spend money on adverts to attract the person to buy Clickfunnels.

The fantastic onboard training process

Clickfunnels is not rocket science; it’s very easy to understand; however, if you are like me, training to use a new software might be a bit frustrating…

Complaints About ClickFunnels

Bad Part #1: Adding a funnel can be slow

Bad Part #2: Visitor Limit

The base plan suite on ClickFunnels limits you to only 20,000 visitors, 100pages, and 20 funnels per month. Which looks very small at first glance.

Bad Part #3: Pricing

How Much Does Clickfunnels Cost? [Updated]

To know more about deals on Clickfunnels pricing, check out the Clickfunnels Pricing page

If you had to select the two; Actionetics and Backpack, you would be paying $297 per month to use the Etison Suite. The etison suite offers all the action like unlimited visitors, pages, and funnels.

Clickfunnels and Competition

LeadPages vs. Clickfunnels

Before now, LeadPages was a leader in the market in terms of building sales pages, but recently Clickfunnels has taken the lead. Leadpages has a very limited scope compared to ClickFunnels.

On the other hand, Leadpages is cheaper per month, so if what you seek is a less costly option compared to Clickfunnels then, Leadpages should be your best bet.

SamCart vs. Clickfunnels

Speaking of SamCart, the product allows you to produce checkout sales pages that look good, thereby increasing your rate of conversion. So, how does it differ from ClickFunnels?

If you consider that ClickFunnels and Samcart both cost $97 per month, the cutting edge for ClickFunnels will be its flexibility, which also gives it a higher rating.

Other Competitors

One thing about the Clickfunnels software is the fact that it has challenged the competition. As of now, a lot of alternatives exist like Builderall and Karta.

Is Clickfunnels Software Worth Your Money?

If you are here to compare ClickFunnels and LeadPages or SamCart and Clicksfunnel, by now, you should be equipped with all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Clickfunnels Review Final Thoughts:

To sum it up, we give Clickfunnels a 9 out of 10 ratings compared with the other existing options.

FAQ

Can I replace Infusionsoft with ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels and Infusionsoft?

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ClickFunnels and Shopify Integration?

Connecting ClickFunnels to Amazon and Shopify

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ClickFunnels is by who?

ClickFunnels’ Owner

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How Click Funnels can be used

FREE Tutorial on Clickfunnels Usage

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Cloning funnels with ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels TUTORIAL: Duplicating a Sales Funnel

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How can Clickfunnels help Realtors?

Realtors and ClickFunnels

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How can ClickFunnels for Amazon Help Affiliates?

ClickFunnels in Affiliate Marketing

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ClickFunnels for chiropractors. How does it work?

By using this powerful marketing tool provided by clickfunnels to add a personalized touch to your emails, people will easily see the big difference between you and other average chiropractors.

Chiropractors and Clickfunnels

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How does ClickFunnels work for lawyers?

The platform helps lawyers to create different landing pages online in diverse places so their materials for marketing can be seen with ease.

from E-Venturing Blog https://www.eventuring.org/clickfunnels-review-2020/

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write-havoc · 6 years

Text

Of Sons and Daughters Ch 6

Summary: Arthur is tasked by Dutch to watch over a young woman who had just lost the last member of her family she had left. That young woman just so happens to be the daughter that Dutch told no one else about.

This is a non canon AU with no major spoilers

Fandom: Red Dead Redemption 2

Pairing: Arthur Morgan/Original Female Character

Status: Ongoing

Contains: swearing, PG 13 smut

Intended for readers 18+ of age only

Masterlist in my bio

While Arthur was gone, Emmeline’s sleep was far from restful. She found herself waking up at all hours instead of sleeping until morning. But with him sleeping in the room next to hers again, she sleeps soundly.

When she wakes with the sun, she feels refreshed. She gets dressed quickly and goes out to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Arthur’s door is still closed, meaning that he must still be sleeping. She figures that whatever Uncle Tacitus had him doing must’ve worn him out. As she puts the kettle on for coffee, she sits down at the table.

Figuring that she could probably finish the story she was writing last night while she waits for the water to get hot, she pulls the leather book over to her and opens it. To her surprise, she doesn’t see her own handwriting, but a sketched picture covering both pages. She realizes very quickly that it’s of her standing in the creek washing clothes. The details are all there, perfectly rendered in beautiful pencil strokes.

“What are you doing?” Arthur’s gruff voice booms from beside her, causing her to jump since she thought he was still asleep in his room. He had apparently woken and gotten dressed at some point because he is now standing right beside her looking none too impressed. Quickly he pulls his journal away from her and snaps it shut. Not before seeing what page she had it open to, though.

“I’m sorry. I thought it was my book.” She gestures to her notebook still sitting on the table. It and Arthur’s journal are very similar looking, so she hopes he will realize her mistake. “I didn’t mean-“

“Did you read it?” he barks out.

“No,” she answers quickly. “I just opened it. I swear. I-I wouldn’t have read it.” She looks up to him with wide eyes, willing her tears not to flow. She really doesn’t want Arthur mad at her, especially for something that was just a mistake.

He can see her eyes misting over and it causes his chest to tighten. With a shake of his head and a sigh, he says, “Don’t be upset, Emmeline. I ain’t really mad atcha.”

“No. It’s okay. I understand. I’d be mad, too, if I thought someone was reading my private thoughts.”

“You really didn’t read none of it?”

“Not a word. I just saw that picture of me. But only for a moment.”

He looks away, embarrassed that she saw pretty much the only picture in his journal he wouldn’t want her to see. And that she realized that it was of her. “I’m real sorry about that,” he says without looking up. “I’ll rip it out.”

“What?” she asks in confusion.

He finally looks at her. “I’ll get rid of the picture. I shouldn’ta drawn it.”

“Why not? You’re a very good artist.”

Now he’s confused. “You ain’t dressed in it. It weren’t proper for me to draw you like that.”

She thinks about it for a moment, not really understanding why it’s a big deal. “I don’t mind. I mean, I wasn’t about to step in the stream with my dress on.”

He stares at her for a moment. “You don’t mind that I drew you?”

“No. I think it’s beautiful. Maybe it’s vain to say that because it’s me in the picture. But you have a lot of talent.”

He looks away bashfully. “Aww. I ain’t really that good. I just scribble, really.”

“Do you have any drawings of yourself?” she asks. “Don’t artists do self portraits?”

He chuckles. “I ain’t no artist. And I ain’t gonna draw myself when there’s far more interesting things out there to draw.”

“Do you have more drawings in your journal?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see them?” When he doesn’t say anything right away, she looks away, shaking her head. “You don’t have to. I just... I really like the way you draw.”

He can feel the blood rushing up his neck to his cheeks. “Maybe some other time. I should really be heading out.”

“You’re leaving again?”

“Yeah. The camp needs me back, so...” He clears his throat. “I’ll come check on ya in a few days.”

“Oh.” She can’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. “Okay. I’ll see you then.” She gives him a tight smile, though she’s not exactly happy about being left alone again.

“Alright, Miss Emmeline.” He tips his hat and heads for the door.

“Please, call me Emma,” she calls out.

He stops and turns back to her, mulling it over for a moment as a smile creeps its way into his face. “I’ll see you later then, Emma.” He tips his hat again then is gone.

Even though she’s not happy that he’s leaving, the fact that he used her less formal name makes her smile. She doesn’t want him to see her just as a job or a responsibility someone else tasked him with. She wants him to care about her the way she cares about him. At least a little bit, anyways.

In the few days that Arthur is gone, Emmeline tries her hand at drawing. She used to draw a lot as a kid, and she was pretty good at it, too. After her father died, though, she stopped. He had always encouraged her to draw more, so when he passed, it reminded her too much of him. Seeing Arthur’s drawing made her want to pick the pencil back up again, though.

She draws Miss Susie, the creek, some trees, a squirrel, and anything else she sees fit to. The drawings are a little unrefined, especially compared to Arthur’s, but she finds that she rather likes the act of putting what she sees down on paper.

After being alone for a couple days, Emmeline finds herself missing Arthur quite a bit. The chores and practicing drawing have kept her occupied, but that loneliness still seeps in more and more. Before she can even think about it, her pencil is sketching Arthur’s face, as if just seeing him, even in illustration, would somehow make her feel better.

That first drawing doesn’t come out quite right. She shifts to drawing his form as he leans against a tree, his wide shoulders accentuated by crossed arms, narrow hips popped out to one side, and long legs, one crossed over the other at the ankle. She’s marginally happier with this attempt, finding the general pose easier to draw than a highly detailed face. She attempts his visage again, though. Over and over she tries to commit the memory of his expressions to paper. After a while, she’s happy with what she’s been able to accomplish, the face on the paper actually looking like more like Arthur than anything else.

Meanwhile, Arthur is busy trying to provide for the gang, since that Blackwater money is forever gone. He spends much of his time upon getting back hunting to build up their food stores and selling the pelts for profit. Then, there’s the homestead he and Javier rob, which goes pretty smoothly. The stagecoach job he gets roped into doing with Micah goes a little less smoothly, however. Arthur’s lucky to come out of it free of bullet holes, but they do manage a good take on it.

He also receives a letter from Mary asking him for help. He goes, of course, and does what she asked, saving her brother from getting himself killed. For a moment as he’s talking with Mary, he thinks that maybe she might ask him to run away with her, to start things up again. But she doesn’t. And on the ride back to camp, he realizes that the part of him that used to want to leave his outlaw life to be with her wasn’t there any more. He still cares for her in a way and the hurt she caused him with her rejection would always be there, but he realizes he’s closed that chapter of his life, well and truly.

Once he gets back to his tent at camp, he takes the picture of Mary he always kept beside his bed and puts it away in his trunk.

After a few days of solid work for the gang, he knows he should check on Emmeline. He’s planning on spending at least a couple days with her, recuperating from how hard he’s been pushing himself to keep everyone fed and healthy at camp. He figures he’ll leave first thing in the morning to go to her house.

As Arthur walks toward his tent to turn in for the night, he’s stopped by Dutch.

“Arthur, my boy,” the dark haired man calls out jovially.

Arthur comes to stand before him. “Hey, Dutch.”

“You’ve been doing fine work out there.” He claps Arthur on the shoulder. “I’m real glad to have you back.”

“It’s, uh, it’s good to be back. Helpin’ out.” Arthur looks down and scratches the back of his neck. “I’m plannin’ on heading out tomorrow.”

His eyes are cold as he responds, “Where to, might I ask?”

Arthur doesn’t much like the scrutiny in Dutch’s expression, knowing what he must be thinking. He recalls the last conversation he had with Dutch concerning Emmeline and what he implied about Arthur’s feelings toward her. He’s technically not wrong in that assumption, but Arthur isn’t planning on acting on his feelings, so nothing will come of it in the end. Still, it surprises even himself when the lie starts to pour out from his own lips. “Heard from this trapper feller about a wolf up north in Ambarino, Cotorra Springs. He says the pelt is worth a lot of money. Thought I’d try to bring it in.”

Dutch nods, knowing full well that Arthur isn’t telling the whole truth. “I know what this is about,” he responds lowly.

Arthur just looks back at Dutch, not knowing what to say in defense. He was surely caught in his lie, he figures.

Dutch lays his hand softly on the younger man’s shoulder. “I know you went out to help Mary. And I saw you take her picture down when you came back. That woman tore your heart out once. Ain’t no shame in admitting that, son.” He moves his hand up to Arthur’s cheek and gives it a pat. “If you need a few days to yourself, go on and take ‘em.”

Dutch had misread the situation. Thankfully for Arthur.

He gives the man a tight smile. “Thank you, Dutch.”

Once Arthur is back in his tent, he lets out a sigh of relief then brings out his journal.

I’ve been working hard to make back the money that we lost when the Blackwater take burned up before my eyes. Running myself ragged. But the gang needs money. So Dutch says. Every day since I came back he’s said that to me. So every day since I came back, I’ve been making him money.

Even though I’ve been busy, I still think about her. Miss Emmeline. Emma. She asked me to call her Emma. I know she said once before that’s what her parents called her. I admit, I rather liked the idea of calling her something more personal. I guess maybe I should’ve done it sooner. She’s been calling me Arthur instead of Mr. Morgan for a little bit. I just wasn’t sure if I really should be so friendly.

I probably shouldn’t. I should be keeping her at arm’s length. But I just don’t want to. For the first time in a long time, I feel that pull. But it ain’t right of me. Mary is proof that I can’t be that kind of man. And I don’t want to keep Emma from finding the kind of man she really deserves.

Mary. I saw her again after all those years. She wrote me a letter and I ran out to her. But it felt different than what I thought it would. It still hurt, but it was less like a fresh wound and more like the memory of it. When I looked at her, I did see that woman I fell in love with, but it just felt different than I remembered.

I don’t know.

She asked me if I found someone else. I said no. She didn’t believe me. Said I had the look, whatever that means.

I guess deep down I do know what that means. It’s just hard to admit that I have feelings for someone again. I lied right to Dutch’s face about it. First time since I got into my twenties, probably. I didn’t know how to tell him that I needed to see Emmeline. So I didn’t. Spun some tale about hunting a rare wolf for a few days to cover it.

I don’t think he’d react very well if I told him how I feel about his daughter. Though he ain’t exactly a father to her, but it seems to matter to him all the same. I guess it don’t rightly matter anyway. I ain’t gonna act on it. I just want to make sure she’s doing fine. And when she finds a man that can take care of her, I’ll move on.

He lets out a sigh at the thought. He knows that’s what’s right for her, but it still leaves a pit in his stomach to think about her being with someone else.

The next morning, he tries to head out early. The problem is, Miss Grimshaw all but orders him to take the girls into town for some supplies. Once he gets back into camp it’s about noon. He wastes no time in getting Sparrow saddled up and ready to go.

“So, going off on a hunt?” Hosea’s voice comes out from behind Arthur as he brushes his horse.

He turns back to him. “Yup. Dutch tell you that?”

“He did. Though he thinks this impromptu trip has more to do with a woman than a wolf.”

Arthur just nods and looks away.

Hosea leans in closer. “But I think he’s wrong about which woman,” he whispers.

Arthur turns back to him. Lying to him is useless. It’s hard to get one over on Dutch, but it’s impossible to pull the wool over Hosea’s eyes.

“Did you tell him?” Arthur asks.

Hosea shakes his head. “No. Ain’t my business, is it? Who am I to say what you do with a girl I’m not supposed to even know about?”

“Dutch don’t want me to get close to her.” Arthur hangs his head. “But I ain’t gonna do nothin’ with her.”

“Because he told you not to?”

Arthur meets his gaze. “Because she deserves better than me.”

Hosea gives him a smile. “I don’t know this woman, but I’m inclined to think that she is capable to make her own decisions, including who she wants to be with. And I think it would do her a great disservice to take that choice away from her.” With a final pat on Arthur’s arm, he turns and walks back into camp, leaving Arthur to mull over their conversation.

Hosea and Dutch have worked together well for years, but they’re complete opposites in a lot of ways. Where Dutch could say nothing with a lot of words, Hosea could say everything with just a few. Most of the time, both of them left Arthur trying to discern what they mean from it. This time, it seems like Hosea is telling Arthur to be with Emmeline, in stark contrast to what Dutch wants. That only adds to the conflict already raging inside him.

When Arthur pulls up to Emmeline’s house, he finds her outside chopping wood. Or at least trying to. She’s been at it for two hours at least and has very little to show for it.

“Emma,” he calls out after dismounting. “Miss Emmeline, let me do that.”

She turns to him with a huge smile on her face, though her cheeks are red and her forehead is sweaty from the combined temperature outside and the work she’s been doing. “Arthur. How are you?” She’s a little breathless from the exertion of her chore.

He takes the axe from her hands. “What are you doing chopping wood?”

“It needed done. I figured I should do it.”

“This wood’s too thick for you. You shoulda found smaller sticks.” He places one of the logs on the stump then pushes her back a little bit to give him room.

“You made it look easy. I thought it wouldn’t be so hard.”

As if to demonstrate this point, he brings down the axe and cuts the log in two with one chop, a feat that had alluded Emmeline for the past two hours. “I’ve chopped a lot of wood in my life.”

“I was getting it.” She points to her meager pile off to the side. “It just took a while. And more chops.”

“You’re gonna wear yourself out.” He chops another one easily.

“Well... Did you eat lunch?” she asks excitedly. “I can make you something.”

He looks back to her. “That sounds nice,” he agrees then brings the axe down again.

Emmeline rushes into the house to start the food. Before she decided to chop the firewood, she had gone out to catch some fish, which she’s now cooking. She’s excited to show Arthur that she can catch good sized fish on her own.

By the time she calls him in for the meal, he’s just about done with the wood. The hot weather caused him to remove his jacket and shirt, leaving him in his red union shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the suspenders dangling from his waist. She tries not to stare at the sweaty skin of his chest exposed by the open buttons at the top of his shirt, but she finds the sight very appealing.

Once he sits down at the table, he looks over the plate. “That looks like a nice fish,” he compliments. “You caught it yourself?”

“Yeah. I actually kinda like fishing,” she admits. “I’m not too fond of the killing bit, but the rest of it is fun.”

He cuts himself a bite and eats it. “I’m glad you took to it. I’m gon hunt for ya tomorrow to get you some other meat though. Can’t live on just fish.”

“I got a few eggs out of the chickens already,” she explains excitedly. “I’ll use them for dinner tonight.”

“That’s great, Emma.”

She smiles at him. “If you get some meat, I’ll make us a stew tomorrow.”

“You’re a good cook,” he comments, his fish all but gone. “Real good. I sure missed your cooking back at camp.”

She blushes at the compliment. “Oh, thank you. You can always come in for dinner anytime. I won’t mind.”

Later that night, after dinner, Emmeline finally works up the nerve to show Arthur what she had been working on while he was gone. “You remember, the last time you were here, I saw one of your drawings?”

“Yeah,” he answers, embarrassment already building inside him for what she might say next. Maybe she thought it over and realized it was weird that he drew her. Maybe she wanted him to destroy the drawing.

“Well,” she picks up her notebook and sits in the chair beside him at the table, “I thought I’d try to draw, too.” She opens the book to her first set of drawings.

“Oh.” He lets out a sigh of relief that she didn’t bring up that picture again.

“I know they ain’t good. But I think I’m getting a little better.” She pushes the notebook over to him to see.

“They ain’t bad,” he comments. She needs a little more practice, but it seems to him like she has natural talent. He flips the page and sees a few animal sketches, some flowers, a deer, a few trees. When he turns the page again, all the breath leaves him as he’s met with his own face staring back at him.

“That one’s not good,” she immediately says. “Not the face, anyway. I don’t think I did too bad with this one.” She points to the sketch of him leaning against a tree.

“It ain’t bad. Don’t know about the subject matter,” he says in a half joking way. “I really look like that?”

She giggles at his reaction. “I drew one of me and you.” She turns a few pages to a picture of the two of them fishing. Off to each side, there are bigger sketches of their faces, so she could be more detailed with them. “I kinda like it.”

He looks it over. It actually is pretty good, though it’s a little rough. But the proportions are right and the expressions on their faces are convincingly happy.

“You drawn before?”

“I used to a lot when I was a younger. My father really liked my drawings, but when he died,” she shrugs a shoulder, “I stopped.”

“I’m sorry about your father. But you’re good at this.” He gestures to the book. “If you keep at it, you could make money off of it.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. And if you pick better things to draw,” he chuckles a little at his self deprecating joke.

“I like drawing you,” she replies easily.

He hangs his head sheepishly. “Aw, I’m just an ugly old man.”

“You ain’t ugly.” She takes his chin in her hand and gently pulls his head up to look at her. “You’re handsome. I think you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.”

“I think you ain’t seen a lot of men.”

She laughs, taking his statement as a joke. As she pulls her hand away from under his chin, she notices something. “I got your scars wrong in the picture.” She lightly traces the marks on his chin with her thumb.

He doesn’t pull away, though there’s a voice inside him telling himself to. Instead, he’s transfixed, his eyes taking in all the details of her face as she looks over his own.

“How did you get them?” she asks as she flicks her gaze from his chin to his eyes.

“Horse threw me into a fence, years ago,” he tries to answer as normally as he can, though his heart is pounding in his chest at her proximity to him.

His close closeness is affecting her, too, giving her a giddy feeling. She moves her hand from his chin to cradle his cheek then brings her other hand up to trace her finger over the small scar on the bridge of his nose. “And this one?” she asks, leaning closer to him.

Instead of answering, all resolve in him falls away and he pushes himself forward to place his lips on hers. The action is a surprise to her, but it certainly isn’t unwanted. She’s never done this before, but her body instinctively follows his in its movements as if they had done this a thousand times before.

Time seems to stand still and speed up simultaneously, the flow that normally would be constant is anything but. Getting into Emmeline’s bedroom and undressing goes by in a blur, but exploring one another’s bodies for the first time seems like slow motion.

Emmeline had never been with a man before. She’s read some things in books and her mother told her some, but she’s completely inexperienced. It doesn’t stop her from being an enthusiastic participant, though. Being with Arthur feels so right to her, like they belong to each other.

To Emmeline, it’s such a beautiful act sleeping with Arthur. He’s gentle and patient as he makes her feel things that she’s never experienced before, soaring to a high she didn’t think possible. As she comes down from that high, she feels such a connection to the man beside her, more so than with anyone else.

“Arthur,” she says breathlessly.

In response, he wraps his arm around her, pulling her to lay on his chest. It’s only a moment after he places a kiss to her head that the both of them fall asleep.

The next day as the morning sun shines through the window, Arthur is aware that he’s a little overheated as he starts to wake up. Once he becomes more conscious, he realizes that the heat isn’t coming from the sun, but the warm body partially laying on him. Just then, all the memories of what had transpired the night before come into focus. They’re pleasant thoughts, but as the realization of what should come next dawns on him, his face sours.

This wasn’t supposed to happen, he thinks. He was supposed to push her away, keep her from getting close to him. She shouldn’t be with him. Not with the kind of life he leads. He’s a bad man an he doesn’t deserve this good woman. He’ll just get her hurt. Or worse, even.

He lets out a heavy breath and looks down at Emmeline, her hand sprawled across his torso as her head lays delicately on his chest. Only giving himself a moment to revel in the feeling of her in his arms, he slides out of the bed from under her, trying not to wake her. After getting his union suit and pants on, he looks back over his shoulder at her. To his surprise, he’s met with her sleepy eyes looking back at him.

“Good morning,” she says quietly, her voice still heavy with sleep. It doesn’t detract from her wide smile, though.

Arthur looks away and bends down to pick up his shirt, saying nothing.

The smile falls from her face as she sits up. “Is something wrong?”

“What happened last night won’t happen again,” he says lowly as he faces away from her and pulls on his shirt.

Emmeline gets out of bed, not caring that she’s still naked. “Did I do something wrong?”

He turns to face her, but averts his eyes when he sees that she’s standing bare before him. “Will you please get dressed?”

“If I did something wrong, I-I can be better,” she states quickly.

Realizing that she doesn’t care about putting any clothes on, he pulls the blanket off the bed and wraps it around her. “You didn’t do nothing wrong,” he finally replies. “I did.”

“What do you mean?” She takes a step toward him but he takes a step back away from her.

He hangs his head, not having the strength to look at her. “I shouldn’ta done that. Laid wit ya. I shoulda stopped it.”

“What? No, I-“ She doesn’t understand why he’s saying this. How could it have felt so right to her but so wrong to him? “You didn’t do any wrong. It was beautiful.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t do this, Emma. We cant do this.”

“What? What do you mean?” She reaches her hand out to touch him, but he turns away to gather his satchel and holster.

“I’ll check on ya in a few days.” He practically runs out of her room, but she’s right behind him.

“You’re leaving?!” Now her vision is quickly clouded with tears. “Arthur, what’s wrong? Just tell me!” She rushes to him at the door and pulls on his arm. “Please.”

The action gives him pause, but he’s resolute. “I can’t-“ He shakes his head and gently pulls his arm away without fully turning to face her. “Goodbye, Miss Emmeline.”

As Emmeline watches Sparrow gallop away with Arthur in the saddle, she is left confused and completely alone.

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan x oc #arthur morgan / oc #arthur morgan x original female character #Arthur Morgan / Original Female Character #Red Dead Redemption #red dead redemption 2 #writehavoc Of Sons and Daughters #of sons and daughters #RDR2 #rdr #writehavoc writes

17 notes · View notes

el-d-ritch · 6 years

Note

all evens,,

100 character development questions (for in depth and ooc answers, go send numbers to @somnolentis)

002. do they do anything to celebrate their birthday?

nah.

004. do they prefer being alone or with others?

i don’t really know anymore. i guess i’d lean more towards having company, but honestly the idea just makes me feel nervous now.

i know not everybody would end up thinking i’m a freak but it feels like enough would to where i probably shouldn’t even bother. i guess i could take some precautions but what’s the point of having proper friends if i can’t even tell them anything.

a lot of that is probably just baseless anxiety, i know.

006. what sense do they most rely on?

it’s kind of hard to explain that.

i guess my hearing used to be the best. my sight has never been that great and tbh i could probably use glasses, just never bothered to get them.

but now, it’s sort of different. there’s like a seventh sense that’s just… a knowing of things. like having a memory of something without actually having the experience.

some things i just know. not because of sight or sound or anything i’ve learned, really. i just know.

sorry. i know that doesn’t make much sense.

008. what is their favorite fairy tale?

i really like beauty and the beast. it’s cute.

010. who they believe in love at first sight?

i don’t know. maybe. i’m not super cynical about the idea of it, anyway. but it’s been so long since i’ve felt anything even remotely like a crush that it’s hard to really say.

012. what makes your character embarrassed?

god. so many things.

i think the worst is when people make tentacle or vore jokes. it’s so embarrassing. like both for myself and for them. as if i haven’t heard them all already.

014. detail one secret shame your character feels.

everything about me physically probably. not exactly a secret. i don’t have much else to be ashamed about i guess other than how monumentally stupid i was when i was younger.

rest under read-more because this is so many fucking asks, dude.

016. what is their choice of weapon?

i used to really like swords.

but

swords in the real world is fucking dumb, so a pistol, i guess. i learned that the hard way. hands on weapons don’t mean shit when you’re going against a bullet.

that among other things i’m capable of.

018. your character wakes up to find that war has been declared. What do they do?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

become a hermit in the woods once and for all i guess.

020. what are their hobbies?

i really like learning about space. that’s one thing about me that hasn’t really changed at all.

collecting different sorts of hats. i have every color i think. which is dumb because i wear the same one every day.

i’ve kind of gotten into photography lately, if only because there’s a lot of beautiful scenery around the forest and the city. feels like it would be kind of a waste to not document some of it, you know?

plus dave really likes coming with me whenever i decide to go on a walk around the woods. i’ve let him take a few pictures before and they all look like shit but it’s kind of endearing to look at. i put them on the fridge.

022. what is the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen?

sort of relevant to the last one, but still space.

there’s something so calming about looking up at the stars and knowing just how insignificant you are. the idea used to unnerve me but now it makes me feel at peace knowing that no matter how badly i fuck up, it won’t mean shit in the grand scheme of the universe.

something really comforting about that.

024. what do they consider ugly in others physically?

bad hygiene like most other people although if blood is involved i don’t really care. i may as well be a vampire considering how used to it i am. it’s like i barely notice.

other than that, hell if i know. i don’t really have a place to judge aesthetics anymore. it’s all about the personality.

026. what do they consider ugly in others personality-wise?

unnecessary rudeness for sure. it’s super grating and not at all as cool as people think it makes them look.

on that note, though: people who can’t take a fucking joke. there is no faster killjoy than making a joke and having someone act like you just insulted their dead godmother. fuck.

someone who can’t just properly banter back and forth with me. i hate when talking is like pulling teeth. i hate having to be the one asking all the questions just to keep them engaged in a conversation. boring as fuck.

028. what makes them laugh out loud?

whenever dave does something especially stupid that i know i’m going to bring up in ten years just to embarrass him.

that’s always fun.

it’s another benefit to liking photography, too. i can document it so he can’t say i’m lying. i think i’ll make a scrapbook.

030. do they believe in the afterlife?

eh. i did but it doesn’t really matter anymore if i do now. although i guess it’s kind of a given that i do to some extent considering i’m already a dead man walking.

i’m not going there anyway. to the proper afterlife, i mean.

032. does your character believe in ghosts?

yes.

i mean.

gestures to myself.

i’m a fucking zombie technically speaking so it would be pretty fucking hypocritical if i didn’t.

034. what’s their view of lying?

it’s stupid.

at least anything that isn’t a harmless little white lie, i guess.

i don’t know. personally i don’t do horrendous stuff so i don’t really have much reason to lie myself. it’s not hard just to tell the truth.

036. how honorable is your character?

probably not that honorable. i can’t imagine anyone aspiring to me like me.

038. what bad habits do they have?

so fucking many, you don’t even wanna know.

smoking and drinking, although it doesn’t matter much because it won’t have much of an effect on me, but it’s still a bad example to set for dave. i try to avoid doing it around him at least.

uh, other than that. self harm, i guess, but it’s mostly unintentional when it happens. it’s just really easy to hurt myself.

040. what is their obsession?

what a weird question.

i don’t know, trying to be a decent brother?

042. what is their greatest achievement?

don’t really have any. i guess the fact that i’m still friends with spirit is something i’m pretty proud of.

044. what disgusts them?

not much, if anything. i’m not really a judgmental person.

046. how do they handle getting sick?

lol. i’m always sick.

048. do they have any allergies?

yes. cats. that’s all i’m aware of. idk if it still applies.

050. how does your character feel about their own mortality?

i don’t.

052. what is your character’s worst flaw?

oh, i don’t know, everything about me? have you met me?

i guess personality wise i’m pretty bearable but if you met me irl you’d realize how stupid a question this is.

054. does your character want power or authority of any kind?

no.

056. has your character ever struck someone in anger?

no. i’ve pushed someone, i guess, if that counts.

if my older brother wasn’t dead i’d probably punch him in the fucking head.

there are other people i wish i could hit, too. but they’re already gone.

058. what is your character’s idea of a perfect day?

i don’t have one, really.

060. what is your character’s attitude toward education and learning?

it’s good.

the education system sucks, though. i had a shitty time in school.

i’m really worried for dave, when he’s older. i hope he doesn’t go through the same shit i did. and if he does, i hope he doesn’t react the same way i did, too.

062. what sort of legacy does your character wish to leave behind?

i don’t really care about leaving a legacy, but

i just really want to be a good brother. someone dave will be able to look back on and actually recognize how much i cared for him.

that sounds cheesy as hell, sorry.

064. in what ways does your character annoy others?

the self deprecation probably gets pretty annoying. i’m pretty self aware of that but if i’m insulting myself, i’ll do what i want.

066. does your character prefer city life or being out in nature?

i have the luxury of being stuck in between both.

i like nature, though. i like the solitude.

and nature doesn’t judge you the way people do, either.

068. how strong is your character’s sense of responsibility? what kinds of things trigger it?

decent now, i guess. i have two jobs, i have a kid, i pay my bills.

i used to be super irresponsible and immature but i don’t really have the choice not to be right now. so it doesn’t matter what does and doesn’t trigger it. i don’t have a choice.

070. what about your character is cowardly?

that i’d rather just stop trying rather than fix how badly some things are fucked up.

sometimes you drain yourself out so much that giving up is easier. dealing with the guilt is better than dealing with misplaced hope.

072. in a dungeons & dragons game, which class would your character be? (wizard, fighter, bard, priest, ranger, etc.)

hmmm. tough choice.

i think i’d like being a fighter. eldritch knight seems pretty fitting, after all.

074. what is your character’s favorite game?

don’t really have one right now.

i like pokemon, though. who doesn’t?

076. how do they express anger?

i’d rather not talk about that.

probably not well.

078. how emotionally stable is your character?

not.

080. how easy is it for others to read your character’s emotions?

i don’t know. haven’t been told that yet. i haven’t had a proper friend for a few years.

i used to be very easy to read in person, though. i wonder if that’s changed or not.

082. what are your character’s sleeping preferences?

anything that’s even marginally comfortable. i don’t have much for standards.

084. describe your character in one word.

complicated.

086. How would your character describe themself in one word?

and messy.

088. is your character quiet or loud?

quiet.

090. how bodily expressive is your character?

i don’t really know. it’s another thing i don’t pay attention to until someone points it out to me, and i’ve changed a lot in the past few years.

i guess i’d need an outside opinion.

092. what emotion does your character evoke in others?

fear, usually. unease, most of all.

this isn’t really me patting myself on the back. there’s an actual sort of energy that goes to it, that isn’t.. really mine. it just exists around the very nature of what i am a part of.

094. name three things most would not expect your character to be able to know.

what you’re feeling.

if you’re lying or not.

the meaning of life.

096. how do they move and carry themselves? what energy do they project?

lazily, i guess. i would imagine i look like i always want to drop dead. it’s how i feel, usually.

098. does your character like animals?

yeah. i have a cat and a dog. i love them to death. pun intended.

100. does your character dream? if so, what do they dream about?

sometimes.

of the dark and the things that crawl in it. the realm beyond ours and other things i really can’t explain.

it’s just beyond my ability to, really. it would be easier if i could just show you but i can’t.

i’m used to it. as used to it as i can be without going crazy, anyway.

but it does bleed into reality sometimes.

#bromeggeddon #headcanon #LONG FUCKING POST #whew

2 notes · View notes

smallblanketfort · 7 years

Note

do you have tips on taking notes?

yes!! i have many, so i tried to make it easier for you to navigate :)

L O N G post ahead of you, covering lecture notes and readings notes, from a college senior :)

lecture notes:

i suggest using a notebook and pen, physically writing down. it’s easier to study, and since it’s using your body, you have a much higher retention rate on your side than if you use a laptop.

i have used my laptop for taking notes before. it’s easier to take more notes, word for word, but that’s not always helpful. maybe that’s your style, especially if you enjoy rewriting your notes all pretty and more successfully when you get home. i am not that girl.

more notes does not always equal better! it’s good for you to listen actively, selecting what is important and what is not. i take very thorough notes. i take a lot of notes. if you need notes for a missed class, i. am. your. girl. that doesn’t mean i write out everything word for word. selecting details, clauses, and images really helps me to not only keep up, but also to memorize later. plus, when you’re typing, it’s easier to type all the words out without really processing the whole meaning. remember that dense notes are harder to study

finally, when you write by hand, you can get more creative with your style. occasionally, i’ll web notes out from one, rather than a traditional outline, bc it makes more sense for the topic

it also helps my anxiety! so much! if i force myself to take great in depth notes, then my mind has to dedicate more brain space to the task at hand than to my anxieties.

stick to one of these though. it really sucks to get into a test and realize you didn’t study half of your notes bc you forgot half were on your laptop. it’s awful lol.

if you use a laptop, get used to how it works first. do u know how much i resent trying to switch from a bullet that is under other bullets (like this one, not filled in) to a main point bullet (the ones filled in). it can be so confusing. also make sure you use a program you like. you can take directly into documents, but i find that i really love evernote, as i can make notebooks for classes, stacks of notebooks for my college, and that i can tag notes with specific classes and topics.

if you’re on paper, for fuck’s sake, divide your notebook into sections for classes. keep it all together. those notebooks with handy dandy dividers are so helpful, and they keep you from carrying around 5 notebooks at once.

i wouldn’t worry too much about highlighters and such in class. there’s just so much going on then. save highlighting and color coding for later, and count it as studying.

don’t worry about traditional outlining styles, with roman numerals or whatever. i take notes very simply. bullets/dashes, subnotes under a broad note.

do it how it makes sense to you! maybe that includes different bullet styles, different places for different types of information (on a simple level, i start writing chapter numbers and titles as far to the left as i can go, over the margins, in bold and capital letters. i also usually go over these later in a certain color marker)

in some classes it is helpful for me to write the topic along the top of the page in a highlighter (color coding is lovely) the main idea/topic for each page. the classes this was most obviously helpful in were astronomy (COMETS or BLACKHOLES etc) and shakespeare (MUCH ADO ACT 2 or ROMEO etc)

it’s easiest to just note page numbers of referenced complex diagrams, as they are usually in your reading or accessible online

your style might look different in each class. whatever works.

note everything (everything) your professor writes on the board. if it’s important enough for your professor to write it, it’s probably important enough for you to write it.

note examples only if it’s helpful for your memory. however, make light note of things like famous people and their science/psych experiments. but in math and such, note! the! examples! and! reasons! will help you so much.

examples that have emotion, imagery, or sound are going to be more helpful. applicable examples are most helpful. good professors will lecture you accordingly. lazy ones will not.

star anything that the professor stresses or hints will be tested. anything that they say is a major theme or whatever.

note main ideas/points/themes, definitions, conclusions,

use your tests to help you figure out what you need to know. ask questions about the tests too. in every class i’ve taken, i’m totally shocked at how willingly people ask about exam format and how willingly the professor will tell us how it will work. they want you to succeed.

people learn differently! i suggest taking notes in class and later adding touches that help you. count it as study time too. a warm up, if you will.

if you’re visual, this might include highlighting, color coding, drawing diagrams, etc.

if you’re an auditory learner, reading the notes out loud and organizing them accordingly, as well as making up rhymes, rhythms and such, might help you. some auditory learners actually like to record lectures and listen to them later.

if you learn best through movement, rewriting or making flashcards will be great for you.

sometimes professors go really. fuckin. fast. why. idk? but

dont be afraid to ask them to go back a slide bc i guarantee, you will be the class hero for asking

develop a little bit of shorthand. sometimes i end up using initials, arrows, abbreviations… this is where i got “bc” and “thru” and “u” and such. lol. also, list things vertically, rather than using commas and “and/&/+) it’ll be more clear later

some professors you literally cannot take notes on. it sucks. you’re going to need to do the readings and pick their brains on how the test will be to figure out how to prepare. take home tests are your best friend. thank god for them. seriously. get your butt to church and do some worshipping.

if your professor puts powerpoints online, save the powerpoints, ya never know.

look at inspiration if you want, but remember that notes on studyblr are usually copied from class notes. if you’re too focused on how pretty your notes are, good luck to you

finally, the day before an exam, i review my notes that i have (hopefully) been studying. i like to make a one page cheat sheet / study guide on everything i didn’t remember, leaving out everything i understand, memorized, or want to disregard.

reading notes:

ima be real and tell you i hardly ever do reading unless i will be tested on it in class in multiple choice. and im an english student. ye i suck, i know. i dont condone shirking the system but u know what, reading shakespeare or 18th century lit literally makes me want to kill myself. so, im a senior in college, and have barely ever done the reading for a class. the thing is, if you do it right, anything is better than just reading the words on the page and not getting the meaning. dont be a reading zombie. read actively, even if it’s not the actual reading. doing this, i have a 3.9 gpa. so. there’s hope for us yet.

first of all, yall need to do your damn reading. idc how. but due to the fact that a test will be multiple choice, essay answer, a presentation, or a paper, you’re going to not love pulling nothing out of your ass. can be done tho. just be fake deep.

that being said, i’m writing a lot below, but the reality is that if it’s lit, your notes dont have to be longer than a sentence. if it’s a textbook, more.

the same formatting question comes into play here, except it’s should you take notes in your book or in a notebook?

listen i’m always going to be pro notebook, pro physically writing it out as it helps me really get the information into my head, rather than more passively highlighting

i tend to do both, if im willing to mark up a book. i underline and highlight things that stick out to me, and i write them down as well. sometimes when reading literature/essays, if i know the contextual/meaning notes will be interesting to me later, i will copy notes both into my notebook and also less in depth onto post it notes (which also make sweet little flashcards btw), which i will stick into the passage. this is so helpful when a) im reading it again later and b) when we are discussing a passage in class

buy used books. it’s cheaper. until it happens to u, u do NOT UNDERSTAND how EXCITING it is to get a book that has highlights and underlines in it ALREADY. DUDE. my work is basically DONE for me. now take that lightly, bc often different ppl will highlight different pieces of information. however, it is helpful.

look up summaries. do not simply rely on cliffsnotes and sparknotes, esp since professors are very aware of these. google “title of book, summary, chapter notes, whatever youre looking for” and use the blog posts, the book reviews, the papers that come up. does this method probably take a bit longer? maybe? but it’s easier on my tired brain.

if you don’t have time to read your textbook one day and really want to, read the introduction and the conclusion to the chapter, or the first and last sentences to the paragraphs. it’s not great, but it’s something.

like your lectures, note definitions, conclusions, and helpful examples, as well as people and dates. if i’m reading literature and i’m deciding to be a smart student i will keep several logs as well. these logs will make it so. easy. to study for your exam:

updated character lists, including name, relationships, and anything defining and important

scene/chapter summaries, just a sentence summarizing what happened where

any quotes or themes that stand out

i highly highly highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of the well educated mind for note taking on a range of genres. this is what i had to use through high school and while it’s involved, it’s incredibly helpful.

if you’re going to have to cite your notes, note the page number in the margin every time you flip the page

the biggest issue i have with reading is when and where to do it. before or after class? always ask your professor if they do not tell you. where in your notebooks? i always do it on the next blank page bc leaving space stresses me the fuck out. make notes on the top of your pages of corresponding lectures/readings.

for both lectures and readings i really really really suggest either having something to drink or something to snack on (think fruit, loose nuts, m&ms. small loose things rather than things u bite? idk they just last longer?)

okay i hope this was somewhat helpful even tho it’s an incredibly longwinded post. it seems like a lot, but the reality is that while i take a lot of notes, i don’t make them complicated, i don’t have rules, i just do what feels right in the moment. they’re not at all stressful. just take it easy and do whatever works for you :)

if anyone has other tips, feel free to reply :)

#school

377 notes · View notes

lifevocabulary · 8 years

Text

Shifting impressions and giving feel good vibes. The Margin Kings - cultivating a new culture in the UK ‘urban’ music scene.

"The whole idea behind our movement (and our music) is to bring people together. We are trying to remove barriers, and ‘they’ keep chopping social groups how ‘they' want." - Rico Marvell of the Margin Kings.

“There are enough people talking about their struggle and telling my story for me. I don’t need to add to it. I want to come from another perspective.” - Reece Rydar of the Margin Kings.

“Are we starting to get singled out? It’s funny there used to be a lot of ‘beefs’ and post-code wars. It’s funny that the era of the gangs is dying out. Cos people are like ‘yo … come here my brother … are we getting singled out and picked on?” - Reece Rydar.

The Margin Kings are a tight group of 4 individuals between 20 and 25 yrs of age. What struck me the most is how much they know themselves and their own musical style - and they’re open about evolving and progressing as a group. All from London, you have the only female in the group Selz (Selina) who is the vocalist alongside Lorenzo Storm (Leo); Reece Rydar and Rico Marvell are the rappers of the group. This interview took place in London and in person - by Serena Hussain.

LV: What do your fans most relate to? Selz: So we have this thing called FGB or GBO - Feel Good Vibes or Good Vibes Only (Listen to ‘They Know’). People like us because, we just like to have fun. Our music, no matter what it is about, is always uplifting and relevant so people can relate. It’s just fun! Sometimes other artists have songs that are very negative or with hard hitting lyrics, whereas ours is calm and fun. You can listen to it in your house or car - everyone likes to hear something that makes them feel good. LV: Was that a conscious decision? To only make feel-good music? Selz: It happened naturally. All our personalities are very fun. When we all came together, the bond was there. We 'bust jokes' and the banter was just there. When you are around people the same as you, you just gel more, and our music reflects that. So when we are like that with each other, we want to make others feel the same way with the music. LV: Is that the Margin Kings mission? Selz: Yes. And definitely with our last show. We wanted to get that mood across - for everyone to just enjoy themselves. LV: So, each one of you have your own style musically... Rico: Yeah ... mine is a more soft rap and poetic style. I’m also the looks of the group (smiling). I’m more the playful, ‘turn-up' one. LV: How is it more poetic? Rico: Because I am an emotional wreck! (everyone laughs). LV: Musical influences? Rico: Anything 2000 era. Ja Rule... Ashanti sound. LV: Any other rappers? Rico: Reece. LV: EMOTIONAL MOMENT!!! Rico: Without sounding soft. That’s a legit answer. He’s the one I listen to the most to make myself better. LV: AMAZING Reece: My style is more gritty, almost like a counter balance to Rico’s style. Rico will tell the poetry and almost tell a story, then I hit the bullet points. LV: How do you feel about Rico saying you inspire him? Reece: It’s vice versa. I will listen to him and think the same. How he switches things. We might share the same vision, but our delivery is different. Rico: Like the Turtle and Hare. We will both finish the race but do it differently. He will get there quicker but I will chop down every alleyway and road to get there. Leo: Same thing but with different language. Reece: I’ll say ‘ yesterday I went to Morleys and got a fried chicken’ and he’d be like ‘I drove for days and saw a painting before I even reached Morleys … and which one was it?’. I almost admire how he does it. That’s what I love about it. So what I bring to the table is honest, to the point, and for people to really ask ‘do you really think that?’. Yeah! In ‘So Fine’ I do think she’s ‘a spice’! I do want her to cook. I’m not gonna go ‘I need a nice girl … aromatic’. I feel like people know they will get a story from Rico and get something different from me. Even the singers do it differently. Selz: My style is soulful. Very subtle. I think I am an emotional wreck as well. LV: Aren’t we all!

Leo: I can be an emotional wreck as well - my vocal style is calm, cool and chilled. But the thing is, as a person, I am nothing like how I sing. It’s a contradiction. My style has remained the same. I think theirs has changed. (Minor group disagreement ensues - another humorous moment!). Selz: My style has changed for sure. I used to be one of those singers who would sing with an american twang and used to hold notes quite a lot as well. But I’ve worked on that. Just being more angelic, more calm. Before I used to belt out. But in terms of that, my influences were Ashanti, Brandy, Aaliyah, Mistyque, Craig David - that 90s vibe - the songs my mum listened to. Reece: As a rapper you have your own identity. Singers might feel it more. I can’t think who Rico sounds like. With singers though … you can end up sounding like others before you. LV: I suppose with rapping it’s easier to establish your own voice? How influenced are you by current sounds? Reece: Take social media. When we were talking earlier, you said something that was spot on. It’s ‘in' right now but its a trend that could go. If there’s a trend right now … we will use it. Leo: It’s like Chris Brown. Initially he sang the ‘Yo’s' and 'Excuse me Miss' and then shifted to House Music. LV: And he’s rapped too and still manages to keep his sound and style. Leo: It’s not about changing yourself, but adapting. LV: That’s quite key actually. How to adapt but still be you. How things are constantly changing but sticking to your core foundation. Yours is that feel-good perspective. Reece: And the fact that we are more than just the music. Come bowling with us! The feel good vibes is us as a whole. You can be around us and be a part of that. LV: This quality you have, comes across in your music, and face to face. That kind of consistency is rare.

Technically within the R’n’B/Hip Hop genre, the Margin Kings have a fresh more encompassing sound (with well known UK R’n’B singer Shola Ama professing how they have “...brought a new, fun, and exciting element with energy”. What struck me is how they reflect on where they sit right now within the music movement, but also their inclusive perspective when it comes to connecting with their followers and fans.

LV: Is there a need for speed when it comes to putting your music out there? Selz: If you care about your art, you'll only put music out that’s relevant. Content is important but it’s about quality, rather than quantity. LV: There’s a lot of pressure to post and publish content these days. Do you feel it? Selz: Yes there is. Especially with younger people always watching things on youtube or twitter, always expecting things. Nobody really sits down and takes the time to even read! Everyone is on social media looking for the next best thing. So if you’re not continuously putting things out, consistently, you don’t get noticed. So there is a lot of pressure because a lot happens on social media. Top labels and managers are always trying to scout for people. It does take from the creative process, but it’s part of what you have to do now. LV: If there is a lot of musical choice out there … what’s happening with your listener? Selz: If what you put out is good, then listeners and followers engage, they ask Q’s, and connect with us directly. Once they like what we put out, they want to know when more will be out. It’s a fast pace, so if you leave a long pause, people move onto the next best thing that’s coming out. Young kids always want to know what’s new. But then at the same time, it’s good to have a fan base. If you establish that first, naturally you’ll have those supporters there already. You might get people clicking through, but you want the people to stick with you and what you’re doing. I would say youtube has been good for us. Especially putting our music on ‘Link Up TV’ - a worldwide site with a big following - getting our music on there has given us good exposure.

LV: What does your listener most relate to?

Leo: The feel good vibes. It’s because of our personalities and the upbringing we have had - with regards to the music that our parents have listened to. Even if you listen to Heavy Metal, there’s something in there that makes you feel good. Some of us have got reggae, old school afro-beats, the Jamiroquai’s. Anything that has a bounce to it and a positive message for sure has influenced me. LV: Your lyrics are young and relative to your experience right now; like (smiling) wanting "a lady on the street and a low key freak”? (The group laughs). You put a spin on a well known lyric! Reece: It’s funny. I picked up on something when you were saying earlier how you listened to a Biggy song and appreciated the sample/reference he used. The key is how he sampled and mixed into what he was doing right then at the time. So we as our generation are listening back to music like the Biggy’s, the Ashanti’s and the Ja Rules. We like bits of that and then mix it into what we’re about right now. Our lyrics represent where we are right now, but the sound is definitely coming from other influences. LV: Funnily enough, Selz’s vocal and style reminds me of Ashanti. What is it like being the female amongst a lot of young testosterone? Selz: It has its ups and downs (smiling). Being the only girl vocalist, I offer my own style with my singing. I am not very outspoken and a lot of the time, especially when these lot are having their dramas, I give my bit and manage to calm it all down. But it’s been really good. As the only female, I just want to be empowering and make sure I stick to my own direction as well as the direction of the group. LV: Interestingly, their lyrics (the guys) talk about the types of girls they want. You almost need a track where you get to put down your own words about the kind of guy you want. I mean, they talk about how the girl has to be ‘spicy’. (Group laughs). What’s your criteria for a guy then? I don’t actually hear much from the female about what she wants in a guy … it’s always the guy dictating qualities, don’t you think? Reece: (jumping in) … can I say why though? What I have realised in this society that we live in - or this generation - that the guy has this clear idea of what he wants. Yet girls have this thing about communicating what they are about. I rarely hear a girl saying ‘I want this’. I hear them more saying ’I am this type of girl or not this type of girl’. So when we are writing our lyrics, I make sure I state what I want. But Selina (Selz) in her lyrics states what she is about. Selz: It’s almost like I counter what they are saying. LV: It’s like you’re having to react to all of this messaging. Do you find you have to counter a lot of ways of thinking in your generation? You’re all about the positive vibes but are your peers on the same page as you? Is it common for them to be this positive? Reece: That’s a good question because there have been a lot of hurdles and definitely a lot of negativity. That’s because the scene is saturated. There are a lot of singers. Everyone wants to be a musician. Everyone is almost like, when are you going to succeed? They’ll appreciate what you are doing but it gets countered with ‘you’re still not here’ (gesturing high with his hand). Sometimes it is hard, but the more you keep going, the more people see how it is going somewhere. Having to tell people who you are and where you want to go can feel challenging. LV: Do you feel like you are having to transform their thinking? Rico: I don’t think so. I think it’s absorption. You’ll gravitate towards someone that interests you. We don’t need to force it down their throats. It’s like a rave. If a rave is ‘live' you’re gonna want to go. I think that’s what we give off. LV: Do you view the current (young) culture being a feel-good vibe culture? Leo: I there there are feel-good vibes out there. You’ve got different types though. Reece: I actually think it is negative you know. I am always hearing about how people are grinding, someone got stabbed last week, the lyrics… Selz: A lot of young artists stress a lot about what is going on in life. Back in the day everyone used to love the feel good vibes and I feel like now, so many people are stressed about so many things in life. LV: Why is that? Because you guys are between 20 and 25, why is it that there is so much stress? Reece: As an example, the #BlackLivesMatter thing. Are we starting to get singled out? It’s funny there used to be a lot of beefs and post-code wars. It’s funny that the era of the gangs is dying out. Cos people are like ‘yo … come here my brother … are we getting singled out and picked on?’. Even though everyone is not working together, they are talking their pain. I don’t believe they are being negative, but they have an outlook and they want to share that message. Where we have come from is ‘yeah we might have had the same upbringing as most of these guys, however, sometimes you just want to be happy’. You want to be scrubbing your kitchen with just your boxer shorts on, listening to music and you’re smiling like YO! That’s where we are coming from. There are aspects in your life that are good. Like you said going to a rave or going on holiday with the guys and coming back saying ‘yo that was live’. Let’s put that in a song so people can feel like we have made their day. If everyone wasn’t talking about their struggle, then we might talk about our struggle. But there are enough people talking about their struggle and telling my story for me. I don’t need to add to it. I want to come from another perspective. LV: That’s really powerful. I was wondering how you feel about these campaigns … are they having an adverse effect? Rico: I think it is splitting people up even more - in my opinion. It’s another way to divide and separate. The whole idea for our movement (with our music) is to bring people together. They keep chopping the groups down to what they prefer - into social groups. And that’s what we are trying to remove as barriers. LV: Do you see that the people initiating those campaigns are perhaps older with more baggage? Whereas your point of reference is different? Reece: I feel like they are trying to teach us their knowledge and what they have learnt. To be careful. However it’s a bit of what you (Rico) are saying. The beauty of life is to walk your own path and learn what you have to learn. You know when you have a preacher for a father and you end up rebelling later. Listen, the clue is in our name. We are called Margin Kings and it is all about breaking the boundaries. What we are trying to do is make music that everyone, white / black / chinese / young / old can listen to and say, I like these guys. Stop putting people in categories. Even though we are within a specific genre of music, our music takes from all genres of music. Just so everyone can relate to us. LV: It’s interesting you should say that. I was telling Selz earlier about why I wanted to start this publication in the first place. I feel like many of us, whether you’re a creative or whatever, get put into a category or a box, and the mainstream media does that to us. I just wanted a publication showing people doing their thing without having to say this is black or brown or for an ethnic/cultural community. To show how different groups of people are relatable. Just because I had a Muslim upbringing and I am Pakistani doesn’t mean I am only about THOSE ‘thing’. I was born and bought up in London. My experience and identity is more than the ethnicity questionnaire ‘they’ get us to tick! Rico: Definitely. (All laugh at Rico’s brevity and nod in agreement)

There’s something that troubles me when it comes to viewing and valuing racial diversity. This word ‘diversity’ is banded around in a one dimensional way. We are more than our colour - we are our diverse opinions and perspectives along with our racial/cultural identities. That’s where our true diversity lies.

Recently, I’ve wanted to discuss the whole matter of ‘cultural appropriation’ within music, but in a gentler way to try to understand the grey area more. Since there is always a grey area. In my opinion the guys pretty much nailed the whole issue within a short moment... It’s about ‘giving props’ to the influence - and referencing with respect:

LV: When you’re a creative you are influenced by so many things. How can you, lets say, ‘borrow’ and be respectful? In terms of your sound and how you put a spin on your influences? Reece: I can’t even say we pick. As a creative, when you’re in that moment, writing something, or things are getting bought to the table and you’re like ‘eh!’ … we go with the moment. Even when Leo was writing something, he was referencing Janet Jackson, but it was still him. We aren’t calculated. It’s more like being in the lab and you’re cooking up something. Rico: That’s the difference between copying and being influenced. If you can listen to something and immediately hear the original, you’re copying. Whereas if you notice a reference, it’s an influence. Reece: Like our tune ‘Good Vibes Only’, Selina in the bridge had an Usher themed ending. The reason was that our rapping flow was fast and she wanted to take it slow. She didn’t want to steal it, but she went with a theme. LV: I know you guys are in a good zone with your music. But what are the frustrations? Leo: Having people understand who we are and what we are right now. When it comes to doing a show, everyone wants to come, but they also want to start to dictate our direction. Reece: People show us support and believe in the unknown because the sound we are putting on the table is unknown. But people want to compare you to a sound that’s been proven and done before. But we believe in what we’re offering and how different it is, and we just keep going. People don’t know if this will work and don’t know where it is going. So there is a bit of fear coming from them. Leo: Funny thing though, when it does work, the strangers embrace it more than friends and family. It’s sad but the truth. Rico: All we can do is be consistent. Especially with social media. People can see right through you. Just keep on going as we are now. It’s worked so far. Don’t want to fix something that isn’t broken. Leo: There is a bit of pressure though. If you disappear from social media, people will forget you. When you come back, nobody really connects. You have to keep the momentum going. Reece: I don’t know if I would be on social media if I wasn’t a musician. And that’s part of the struggle. Waking up and telling people what I’m up to today … do I have to? But it is part and parcel. LV: What about as the female of the group … doing the social media thing … do you get treated differently online? Selz: As a girl I do get more likes for sharing music. But I feel like it’s my job to relate to the female fans. I told Reece too … if I wasn’t a musician I wouldn’t share my life as much. LV: Do your fans connect to the sound or vocals more? Leo + Selz both answer: I think it’s the sound first and then the vocals and the lyrics after.

LV: Your current project has just come out (Nov/Dec ’16) and you’ve started working on new sounds for the summer? Reece: We don’t rest or sleep - we live and breathe music. The first project ‘The Waiting Room’ was to raise awareness. LV: When you started - did you want to get signed immediately? Leo: Yes for sure … when I started. But when you do music you learn your worth. (I dreamt of a big house for my mum though). There is only one thing that appeals to me about being signed. It’s the financial backing. We wouldn’t look for it if we had this ourselves. Rico: Plus labels have a bad habit of wanting to change you. Reece: And you have to promote yourself. There are a lot of aspects to learn about the music business but it doesn’t affect our music. We have a big team behind us.

Young creatives like the Margin Kings aren’t pushing any agenda as such. They are doing something much more refreshing. They are being inclusive and are a segment of a generation not given much, if any airtime at all, within the (traditional) mainstream media.

LV: How do you guys communicate with each other daily, to stay on the creative page? Reece: Whatsapp. What you’re doing now (recording audio). It’s a technology based world so we use that to our advantage. LV: Some conversations for the journal have taken place as an insta chat actually. So social media is and has been really useful, and powerful. A lot of people in lets say ‘older generations’ don’t want to share their lives on social media. But aren’t they missing out on a whole new era of sharing? Reece: 100%. I’m not gonna lie. You can pick a lot of negatives out of it. But communication has become easier. There are a lot of positives.

As there are about this group. This conversation was a light hearted but insightful one … the kinds of conversation which would be incredible as a future podcast episode for sure.

Upcoming performances: The guys will be joining a great line up of performers at ’The Legacy Showcase' this Sunday night (15 JAN 2017 in Balham, South London). Venue: The Bedford, Bedford Hill SW12 9HD, 6pm til 11pm. Tickets: https://shoobs.com/events/16351/legacy-the-showcase. AND Boxpark Croydon (22nd JAN 2017), 99 George Street, Croydon CR0 1LD, at 1pm.

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45 Best Resume Tips & Tricks Amazing Writing Advice for 2019 [List]

We're about to give you dozens of our best resume tips, but first:

Maybe you’ve finished writing your resume, maybe you’re just starting.

Either way, you could probably use some quick resume pointers.

It’s easy to overlook things when you’re worried about finding a job. The best tips help you remember the smallest details of resume writing.

So, in this guide you'll find 42 of the best resume tips we could find for every step of the resume writing process.

For your convenience, we’ve divided the tips into two, five, and thirty-minute tips.

Next to each tip you will also see a star rating that ranks the tips in importance on a scale from one to five.

Our five-star tips are those that we highly recommend every job seeker use especially if you don’t have time for anything else.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. Sample resume made with our builder—

One of our users, Nikos, had this to say:

[I used] a nice template I found on Zety. My resume is now one page long, not three. With the same stuff.

Create your resume now

These Resume Tips Will Take Two Minutes Tops

1. Create a professional email address.

Out of all of the resume building tips listed, this may seem too obvious.

But it’s worth mentioning because the use of an unprofessional email address will get you rejected 76% of the time.

So, if you haven’t already done so, ditch that email address you’ve been using since high school. Choose a professional email provider like Gmail or Outlook. Use your name.

Right:

[email protected]

Wrong:

[email protected]

2. Update your contact information.

After you change your email address, make sure the rest of your contact information on your resume is up to date.

You don’t want to miss an interview because you put the wrong phone number on your resume.

Also, exclude information like your birth date or marital status. You do not have to respond to questions about religion, race, or gender on an application. US employers cannot take these aspects into consideration when accessing you.

If you’re applying for a job out of state or country, also consider omitting your current address. That way a hiring manager won’t think you’re confused about the location of the job.

3. Set your font size to 10-12 points.

While choosing a font is important, making sure that it is the right size is paramount.

Keep your resume font size between 10-12 points so that a hiring manager can easily read it without squinting.

4. Use reverse-chronological order.

That means: start from your most recent job and work your way back.

For your experience section, put your current job first.

For your education section, put your highest degree first.

5. Align your content to the left to make it skimmable.

The first thing a hiring manager is going to do is skim your resume for relevant keywords from the job description.

Aligning your text to the left makes this easier for them to do.

6. Make strategic use of bold, caps, and italics.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Be consistent with your choices. If you’ve made one of your subheadings bold - make them all bold. Try not to overuse anything. The point is to make important information easier to find.

7. Choose an attractive and readable font.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

You may think resume fonts are trivial in the larger scheme of things, but the right font is going to do a lot for your resume.

Right

Stick to fonts that sound like the names of hipster children:

Verdana

Arial

Helvetica

Wrong

If you choose a font that is hard to read or childish, a hiring manager might toss your resume in the trash.

Comic Sans

Papyrus

Curlz MT

Want to make sure your resume will hook every recruiter and get you that interview? Get our free checklist and learn what makes a job-winning resume: 46 Things You Need to Do Before You Send Your Resume

8. Only add jobs you’ve had in the past 10-15 years.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

You do not need to list every job you’ve ever had on your resume. Make sure you go back on your resume no more than 10 or 15 years.

9. Give your sections simple subheadings.

Importance: ✸ ✸

Regardless of what layout you choose, make sure your resume sectionsare visible and easy to find.

You can do that by giving them simple subheadings.

For example:

Right

Resume Summary

Experience

Education

Skills

You’ll want to write simple subheadings for all sections. That way Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software can find them.

Wrong

About Me

Accreditations

Professional Background and Work History

Pro Tip: Deciding what key skills to put on your resume is one of the biggest tasks that lie ahead of new resume writers. Make sure that they are easy to find and easy to skim as well.

10. Include URLs to social media profiles, personal websites, and your blog.

Importance: ✸ ✸

If you have a professional website or blog, include the URL in your contact section.

Add any relevant social media handles as well. For most professionals, that will include your LinkedIn URL and your Twitter handle.

Creative professionals could also consider adding relevant links to Instagram, Youtube, or Pinterest profiles.

Take an extra couple of minutes to make sure that your URLs are live and to hyperlink them in the text so they are accessible.

11. Choose a resume format that works for you.

Importance: ✸

What are the best formats for a resume? Well, that depends.

There are three types of resume formats:

Reverse-chronological

Combination

Functional or Skills-based

Deciding what resume format to choose will be one of the first things you do.

Best

Most of you will opt for the reverse-chronological format. It’s the most common and you can play with the layout.

Worst

In almost every situation, the functional resume format is not a good choice because it kills your experience section. And even if you don’t have experience, that’s not the best way to handle it.

Pro Tip: Consider a format that gets your strongest information closest to the top of your resume where hiring managers will be sure to see it right away.

12. Consider using a professionally designed template.

Importance: ✸

Resume templates can save you a lot of time and effort. Imagine not having to fool around with margins in Word. Pick one out, and you’re ready to go.

13. Consider putting your education section first.

Importance: ✸

Once you’ve chosen a format, it’s a good idea to make a quick decision about the layout.

How do you build a strong resume?

After your contact information, start your resume with either a resume summary or a resume objective. More on that later.

But what should come next? Your education or your experience section?

If you’re a professional with tons of experience, your experience should come first.

But let’s say you’re a student and your educational background is your strongest selling point. In that case, consider putting your educationsection first.

14. Lose the phrase “References Available Upon Request.”

Importance: ✸

It is no longer necessary to place this phrase at the bottom of your resume, as hiring managers know that they can request your list of references.

Adding it only takes up valuable space that you could use for something else.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.

Create my resume now

When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

Only Have Five Minutes? Here are the Best Resume Tips

15. Read the job description and then read it again.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Okay, reading the job description may sound like one of the most obvious resume-building tips ever.

Of course, you’ve read the job description. Right?

In fact, most people spend an average of 76 seconds reading a job description. And that’s why hiring managers find that 50% of applicants are unqualified for the job.

You’ve got to make sure you have the skills necessary for the job in the first place.

Right:

Read the job description. Make sure you’re qualified. Read it again. Mine it for keywords. Put it through a cloud generator. Target your resume. Take it on a date. Buy it Tiffany’s. Get married to it.

Because that job description is your best friend when it comes to building a great resume.

Wrong:

Seeing a job title that sounds right, sending your resume immediately.

Reading a job description is as close as you’re going to get to reading the recruiter’s mind.

Pro Tip: If you want to save time and find out how to write a resume for your profession, take a look at our guides and resume examples.

16. Make sure you’ve created margins.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Margins are important. That’s because resumes with text crammed edge to edge look messy and unprofessional.

Do you know where messy resumes go? You know.

If you do need a little more space, it’s okay to drop your bottom and top margins to 0.5” and your side margins to 0.75”. Anymore and you’re resume will suffer.

17. Balance your text and white space.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Balancing your text and white space is the same thing as adding margins. It makes your resume aesthetically pleasing and easy to read.

Do not sacrifice white space in the name of fitting everything onto one page. There are other ways.

18. Consider adding a coursework description.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

This is one of the best resume tips for students. If you’re learning how to make a student resume, adding a coursework description is a good start.

Your education section is still your strongest asset. Listing or describing courses can show recruiters that you have skills related to the job.

Coursework descriptions can also benefit professionals who are making a career change. It shows that you’ve got relevant knowledge that goes beyond your past work experience.

19. Name your files properly.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

This is a *pro* piece of resume advice: it is important to name your resume files properly.

Right:

John_Smith_Resume

Wrong:

Resume

Your resume could end up in an inbox with hundreds of other resumes.

And if they’re all named “resume,” then the chance of your resume standing out is slim to none.

20. Match your cover letter to your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

The two best cover letter tips are:

Write a cover letter.

Match the content of your cover letter to your resume.

Yes, you still need to write cover letters. And yes, they need to match your resume so that you’re telling the hiring manager one cohesive story.

If there was something you feel needs an explanation, write about it in your cover letter—see our great guide on how to write the perfect cover letter for a job application.

21. Draw attention to your promotions.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Make sure you’ve mentioned any promotions you’ve received.

You don’t have to list the name of the company more than once in the case of internal promotions.

Write the name of the company once. Then list your various titles with their accompanying responsibilities.

Example:

Company ABC

Marketing Manager

Responsibilities.

Marketing Assistant

Responsibilities.

22. Cut the fluff in your experience section.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Is your resume is a bit longer than the ideal length for resumes (one to two pages)?

Then an easy way to cut fluff is to start by deleting bullet points in your experience section. Limit yourself to around six resume bullet points.

Right

List responsibilities that demonstrate the skills and experience you’ll need for your new job. Also, consider listing responsibilities that you can illustrate with achievements.

Wrong

Don’t list every responsibility you had at previous jobs.

23. Write explanations for large gaps in your career history.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Address significant gaps in your career history by writing brief explanations next to the jobs where the gaps occur.

Gaps can happen for all sorts of reasons.

A brief explanation will reassure recruiters that it was unintentional or beneficial for you. As in the case of a layoff or a break to have a child or go back to school.

24. Insert action verbs wherever possible.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Take a quick glance at your resume.

How many times have you used the phrase “responsible for?”

A million? It’s not uncommon.

The good news is that it only takes five minutes to replace that sad phrase with action-packed verbs.

Using action verbs and avoiding resume buzzwords is one of the best resume tips out there.

Remember, not all verbs are action verbs. Try to avoid weak verbs like “managed” or “communicated.”

Here are some alternatives:

Wrong: Managed

Right: Orchestrated

Wrong: Communicated

Right: Persuaded

25. Get rid of nonsensical jargon.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

The person interviewing you may not be familiar with the technical jargon that goes with your territory.

Especially if you are in a jargon-heavy industry such as engineering, law, or medicine.

Try to use layman’s terms or simplified equivalents wherever possible.

Wrong: Dramatically cloudify viral innovation.

Right: Create digital backups for popular campaigns.

26. Run your job description and resume through a cloud generator.

Importance: ✸ ✸

Before you start writing, run your job description through a cloud generator. Which words are the most prominent?

You can use the words that appear as a content guide while writing your resume.

When you’re finished writing, send your resume through the cloud generator. Do the same words appear?

A cloud generator is a quick way to check that you’ve tailored your resume to meet the needs of the hiring manager.

27. Consider saving a copy of your resume as a PDF.

Importance: ✸ ✸

Saving your resume as a PDF is one of those resume tips that might not work for everyone.

Pros

The benefit of saving your resume as a PDF is that the formatting will not change when it’s opened.

Cons

The downside is that if a company is using ATS, a PDF might not be the best format for your resume.

Pro Tip: It’s often best to save your resume in a couple of file formats so you can send whatever is more suitable. It’s up to you to decide.

These Resume Tips Take 30 Minutes, But They’re So Worth It

28. Tailor your resume to the job description.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Tailoring your resume is probably the king of resume tips. If you do nothing else, tailor your resume to the job description.

You do that by identifying keyword skills in the offer and then add these skills throughout your resume. It sounds like a lot of work, but these keywords are what you should put on your resume above all else.

That’s because keywords are what hiring managers are looking for when they scan your resume.

29. Add achievements to your experience section.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

If tailoring your resume to the job description is the king, adding achievements is the queen of resume tips.

Illustrating a skill or responsibility with an achievement puts you five steps ahead of candidates with the same skill set.

That’s because you’re showing what it looks like when you put your skills to work.

When adding achievements to your resume, use the X, Y, Z approach.

In situation X I did Y, which resulted in Z.

Right:

To generate user engagement, I performed multiple A/B tests, resulting in a 20% decrease in bounce rates and a 15% increase in sales conversions.

Wrong:

I won an employee of the year award.

30. Add numbers and details where possible.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Adding numbers and details to emphasize skills is by far one of the best resume tips you can follow. Anytime you can illustrate an achievement or skill with numbers or details - do it.

Right:

Increased sales by 12% over a 5 month period.

Wrong:

Responsible for sales.

Numbers draw the eye of the recruiter and details give them a tangible sense of what it looks like when you use a skill.

Maybe you increased sales, efficiency, or user engagement. Maybe you slashed costs. Whatever it is that you’ve achieved try to make it quantifiable.

31. Make good use of the top third of your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Another very important tip for your resume. Think of the top third of your resume and “the penthouse.” It’s here that you want your best skills, experience, and achievements to appear.

Try to put the best stuff at the top.

Why?

Because when a recruiter scans your resume, they will focus on the top third of the document.

If they don’t find what they’re looking for in a few seconds of scanning, they will reject your resume as irrelevant. Read more with our guide on how to start writing a resume.

32. Include a resume summary or objective.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

So, how do you get your best information in the top third of your resume?

Include a resume summary or a resume objective.

It’s three sentences of who you are, where you’re going, and why you’ll bring value to the company.

When considering how to write a resume summary or how to write a resume objective, keep in mind that the old school way is dead.

Wrong - What You Want

Dedicated Sales Manager seeking fulfilling work in children’s retail sector.

Right - What They Want

Dedicated Sales Manager with 5+ years of experience in the retail industry.Wishing to decrease returns for PeaPod Babywear by 15%.

33. Use a proofreading tool like Grammarly.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

You cannot afford to have typos or grammar errors in your resume. The majority (61%) of recruiters will throw out a resume immediately if they see typos.

Microsoft Word or Google Docs will do a good job of detecting spelling errors, but the Grammarly app or Language Tool will catch grammar mistakes and typos.

You need to proofread your resume before sending your resume, and an app will help you catch things you can’t see.

34. Have a human proofread your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Apps are great for catching mistakes, but another human being is priceless.

Grab whoever you can find with the patience to read through your resume.

They can also give you feedback about your tone and how you’re selling yourself.

35. Write a thank-you email.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Knowing how to write a thank you email after an interview is priceless.

It’s not always enough to write a great resume and ace an interview. The show isn’t over until you’ve also written a thoughtful thank-you email.

36. Clean up your online presence.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

When you’re just learning how to create a resume, you may forget that hiring managers also search for you online.

Be sure to optimize your LinkedIn profile so that it resonates with your resume.

Make sure that you’ve cleaned up “public” information on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Change your Facebook privacy settings to “Friends” to keep future posts from becoming public.

And do a quick sweep to make sure nothing else unsavory is lurking out there on the Internet. Enter your name into Google and see what turns up in the results.

You can ask Google to remove sensitive or sexual content from the web.

37. Create a professional persona for yourself.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

A professional persona is a two or three-word description of yourself that should stick in the head of the recruiter when your name doesn’t.

It’s like when you try to describe someone from last night’s party.

Remember the girl who graduated from Harvard and talked about goat cheese for an hour?

It’s like that except less goat cheese.

38. Reinforce your professional titles by showing career progression.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Putting a bunch of flashy job titles on your resume isn’t the most impressive thing you can do believe it or not.

What is impressive is the telling the story of your career progression.

See, you can be a social media manager for your cousin’s pizza place without any prior experience.

But when you can show that you progressed to that position through hard work, that’s impressive.

The trick is trying to make each past role reinforce your place in the next one.

Example:

Marketing Manager

Manage a team of 10+ employees.

Prepare annual marketing plans.

Marketing Specialist

Planned and implemented promotional campaigns.

Cooperated with interactive agencies.

Marketing Intern

Conducted market research.

Assisted during promotional campaigns.

39. Consider adding a Hobbies and Interest section to your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

If you have space, hobbies and interests can be great additions to your resume.

That’s because companies are beginning to emphasize work culture. Which makes finding a candidate with a fitting personality increasingly important.

Just be sure to research your company. Choosing hobbies and interests that match the company’s culture is a good strategy.

Right:

Work Culture: Corporation participates in charity marathons.

Hobbies and Interests: Volunteer Work and Athletics

Wrong:

Religious, political, or sexual hobbies.

If the person reading your resume has an opposite opinion, it could hurt your chances of getting an interview.

40. Trim any unnecessary fat from your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

Having problems keeping the length of your resume in check?

You will want to trim the fat:

Make sure every word you’ve used is necessary.

Keep your bullet points to six at most.

Trim your resume summary or your skills section without killing the value.

And kill any extra sections that aren’t mandatory.

41. Try to find the personal email address of the hiring manager.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸

You can always attach your resume to a generic email and send it to a generic inbox.

Or you can attach your resume to a personalized email and send it to your hiring manager.

Some hiring managers may not appreciate receiving unsolicited resumes.

At the same time, if you know how to send an email to a hiring manageryou know that you aren’t sending it unannounced.

Right:

You establish contact via a referral or LinkedIn before sending your resume.

Wrong:

Sending a cold-call email to an unknown hiring manager.

42. Track your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸

Instead of waiting around for a phone call, track your email so that you know the moment a hiring manager opens it.

You can use a free tool like Mixmax to see if a hiring manager has read your resume. That gives you a better idea of when to send follow-up or thank you emails.

43. Do not lie on your resume.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

No need to explain. You will get caught lying on your resume: in the interview or after you've been hired.

It will cost you your job, career, or a costly lawsuit.

44. Do not worry about making your resume one page long.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

You've heard it before: a resume has a perfect length. And that's one page. However, most employers expect experienced candidates to submit resumes at least two pages long.

45. Don't try to impress employers with fancy paper.

Importance: ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸ ✸

Need to print your resume on paper? See the link to learn what kind of paper works best (and doesn't make you look the fool.)

Check out our resume dos and don'ts to avoid more mistakes!

Key Takeaway

It can be easy to forget small details when you’re trying to figure out how to write a great resume. But if you follow these resume tips and tricks you can rest assured that you’re on the right track. And if you want a professional resume writer to create compelling resume for you then you can order at TextProz resume writing service. See all content writing services

0 notes

aileenmbatts · 6 years

Text

How Negotiate Like A Local In A Chinese Flea Market

Welcome to AidanBooth.com, thanks for visiting!

Having been in the physical product eCommerce business for over a decade now, and especially since we opened our office in Guangzhou, China, in 2015, I’ve learned a thing or two about negotiating with Chinese suppliers, and that’s exactly what this blog post is about today.

Your ability to negotiate will set you up to secure solid profit margins, or to struggle to make ends meet, it’s an absolutely VITAL skill to possess if you’re involved in buying inventory in China, or anywhere else for that matter.

Read on to learn how to negotiation like a local in a Chinese flea market, and make sure you download the 7 Bullet-Proof Business Blueprints as well if you haven’t done so already (brand new a few weeks ago!):

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Negotiation Hack #1: Establish A Starting Point

What I mean by this is to find out what you’d pay for a non-customized item if you were to buy in bulk.

If you’re starting from scratch with a new product, for example, a camera case, it helps to know what you could get that camera case for if you were to order a large quantity, without customization.

Alibaba.com gives a pretty good estimate, but you still need to ask the question to the supplier to hear what they can really do.

Once you’ve got your price, you have a starting point from which to continue.

Negotiation Hack #2: Do Your Homework

If you come into a negotiation uneducated about the product you’re trying to develop and buy, you’re starting off on the back foot and immediately handing a huge advantage to the manufacturer.

Don’t get me wrong, we always aim for a win-win and that’s something I’ll discuss shortly. But remember this, the Chinese will NOT do a deal where they’re losing out, so don’t fret about that… what you do need to worry about is if you put them in a position where they NEED to cut corners, and end up delivering a sub-standard product, hence the win-win approach.

Getting back to doing your homework, if I wanted to get into the camera case space, I’d learn about the different fabrics used (exterior, interior, padded lens pockets, etc), the hardware used (zips, latches, clips), the amount of material needed and the required case size, the color, the grade of fabric, the weight of a finished product, and so much more.

I’d understand the raw costs of these materials, and I’d try to understand (if possible) the manufacturing processes used.

Is the product hand made? Made by automated machinery? Or a mixture of both methods?

I’d also want to understand the market, and what the key players are doing. Regardless of what you’re selling, you’ll always have down and dirty cheap products, the kind you see on AliExpress.com, and higher end no-cost-spared products.

It’s beneficial to understand the specifications of these products so you can talk to the manufacturer in language they understand, and show that you also know what you’re talking about. This alone will shave percentage points off the price you finally end up paying.

Negotiation Hack #3: Build A List Of Specifications

An expansion on hack #2, the more specific you can get about what you need, the easier it’ll be to ensure you’re getting what you paid for, and in fact that you’re getting a good deal.

Create a ‘Product Specification Sheet’, and add in all the specifications you can think of, here are a few ideas to get you started:

Dimensions

Material Specifications (eg. 3.175 mm (0.125”) neoprene)

Material Treatments (ip67 grade water resistance)

Components (eg. YKK Metaluxe zippers)

Colors

Functional Requirements

Chemical Requirements (eg. Surface Treatments)

Logo (design file, positioning, material)

Product Packaging and Packing

International Quality Standards

Certifications

Don’t freak out… most people don’t go to this degree of detail, especially when they’re getting you started. But I promised to teach you how to negotiate like a local in a Chinese flea market, and THIS is how you do it. You can get good results just by applying a few of the simpler hacks covered in this article.

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Negotiation Hack #4: Give Price Targets

After establishing a starting price point, and after then going back to your supplier with your list of custom specifications and desired purchase quantity, you’ll be given a new price, for the sake of example, let’s say it’s $13.75/unit.

As a preliminary step to this, you should already have an idea of your desired market price point based on the grade of product your developing, and your marketing abilities. Let’s say your desired (realistic) sell price is $40.

At this point you can go back to your supplier and ask them the following:

“I need to be able to manufacture this for $9.50, what can you do to meet that price?”

You’ll now need to be willing to make some concession here.

The manufacturer will likely want to downgrade materials, sell you a larger quantity, or move the transaction back in their favor in some way, and this is absolutely fine. Maybe 2 mm neoprene is actually FINE for what you need, so you’ll accept that (instead of the initial 3 mm).

The point is, this hack sets you up to get a better price and puts the onus on the Chinese manufacturer to figure it out, otherwise they stand to lose the deal.

Negotiation Hack #5: Get A Second Supplier

Good old supply and demand working in your favor!

This is possibly one of the most powerful hacks of all, and one that has multiple positive spin-offs for you.

First, you’re generating competition, and this will keep your supplier working hard and providing a good service.

Secondly, your supplier will know that they don’t have a monopoly-like control over you, after all, you’ve got a plan B working in parallel.

Thirdly, in many cases a second manufacturer will allow you to ramp up your production, if you’ve current got a limit on output with your first manufacturer.

There are lots of other benefits as well, the main one relating to negotiation however is that you can tell each supplier:

“I’ve got a supplier who can manufacture this for me at a cost of $8 per unit in a quantity of X, can you match that?”

In some cases, your supplier may think you’re bluffing, which is fine, you can order with your second supplier, and come back to the first supplier again at a later date. In most instances though, if you can show you’ve got a real offer, you’ll get a better price that what you started with.

Negotiation Hack #6: Visit The Factory

It’s hard to beat face-to-face interaction when trying to strike up a deal.

Going to the factory shows that you’re serious, and commands better prices from the outset, it’s also a once in a lifetime experience, where you’ll be wined, dined, and treated like an emperor!

Don’t be fooled though, the lavish pampering you’ll receive is all designed to win over your business, and soften you up to pay a higher price

Regardless, visiting face-to-face at some point will help you get a better deal.

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Negotiation Hack #7: Aim For A Win-Win

You’ve got certain numbers you need to hit, and so do your suppliers, and HOPEFULLY there’s a middle ground you both have in common where the deal becomes a win-win.

If you’re able to build up an honest and somewhat transparent relationship with your supplier, you’ll have an easier time when it comes to finding that happy middle ground.

For example, if your supplier says that it’s difficult for them to apply a barcode to your product, because it’s labor intensive, then look for an alternative solution, and you may both be better off. Or if doing quality checks on-site isn’t really supported, but you’re insisting on it, you may end up doing more harm to your product than good… it may be better to get QA done at another facility designed to do QA.

Regardless of the path your negotiations take, for long term success you’ll need a supplier that’s prospering, and your supplier needs you to prosper as well, so try to find a way where you both win.

Negotiation Hack #8: Look For Lower MOQ’s

MOQ stands for ‘minimum order quantity’, and it’s a key consideration when you’re getting started with a new product.

We find that a comfortable first order MOQ is around 200 – 300 units for a product which may cost $5-$10 to manufacture (obviously the starting MOQ varies enormously from niche to niche, product to product, but this will at least give you a starting point as to what’s possible).

In order to reach an MOQ of 200 – 300 units, we normally start off by looking at suppliers who are willing to offer 500 units as an MOQ… this puts you within range of finding a deal.

If you start with suppliers who are talking about mega orders of multiple thousand units, you’ll never get them down to what you’re after. Once you’re established and selling well, you can look at changing to a bigger supplier, who will likely give you decent price breaks and maybe even make a superior product.

An effective tactic here, when negotiating your MOQ, is to say something like:

“This is an experimental market for us, we’ve never sold in this market before and as we want to continue to do business with you and set a good starting point for both businesses, we need to start with a lower MOQ of 200 to make it viable. If things go well as we expect them to, then in the future we’ll be able to far exceed your MOQ.”

In addition to the above, you can also say that you’re willing to accept a higher price for your lower MOQ order, with the condition that the price is revised once the MOQ is reached.

Negotiation Hack #9: Be Ready To Walk Away

Don’t get attached to anything. At the end of the day, the numbers are king in this business (and any business really), and you need to be able to make a decent margin, or there’s no point in doing it.

If you’re offering a fair price, and your supplier can’t meet it, then walk away.

Move on, and find another supplier. China is the manufacturing Mecca of the world, and there are ALWAYS alternative suppliers.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ll be able to raise your prices to make it work, or that you’ll be able to reduce your prices later (even if you very well may be able to do both of these things).

You need your product to work from the get go, and you need to build enough buffer in to protect yourself when you launch, so don’t get attached, and walk away from the deal if you need to.

And don’t just walk away if the price isn’t right, be prepared to walk for other reasons too. For example, if your supplier pulls out any shenanigans, or plays any games, you’ve always got the option to walk.

This happens all the time, we’ve seen supplier try all kinds of tricks (mainly to raise prices), such as:

“labor cost went up, we need to raise the quote”

“taxes went up, we can’t manufacture for $8 anymore”

“material costs went up”

“it’s our busy season”

Sometimes the reasons are real, and you should be aware of that… but at the same time, don’t let a supplier take you for a ride and try to rip you off.

Negotiation Hack #10: Build A Relationship

Don’t ask for everything on your first date.

Build a relationship before you ask for payment terms and other benefits. Once you’ve built report with your manufacture, and more importantly, trust, you’ll be amazed at how much they’ll be willing to sacrifice to keep your business.

We’ve got suppliers who are willing to start orders for us without even getting a deposit. Others who pro-actively find ways to reduce our costs and look for new win-win scenarios.

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Negotiation Hack #11: Timing Is Important

Price negotiations must be done at the right time.

If you’ve already made commitments to your supplier, for example, perhaps you’ve paid for a tool to be made specifically for you, then they know that you’re pretty much tied in, and unlikely to back out of any deal already made, so will NOT come back to the negotiating table.

And if no deal has been made, then that’s even worse, because now they have you in a choker hold, and you’ve got almost no wiggle room.

The exception here is if you have an established product, at this point, and especially if you’ve got multiple manufacturing options, you can come back to the negotiating table in a fairly strong position.

Negotiation Hack #12: Stay Current On Raw Material Costs

It pays to keep a record of raw material costs, so you can monitor that you’re getting a good deal on an ongoing basis, it also shows that you’re not a stupid gringo, and are aware of market conditions.

If you see raw material prices drop, you may want to ask your manufacturer about that and see if you can pocket some of the difference.

Negotiation Hack #13: Speak Their Lingo

If you really want to negotiate like a local in a Chinese flea market, you’ll go a long way to doing it by engaging a local.

One of the main reasons we opened an office and hired a team in China was to have feet on the street, people who speak the language, know the culture, and are able to carry out a lot of the negotiation on our behalf.

But you don’t need an office to do this, you can hire a ‘sourcing agent’ in any city in China quite easily, just post a job on Upwork.com, or Freelancer.com, you’ll be inundated with candidates!

Negotiation Hack #14: Don’t Rush Negotiations

Expect a lengthy and drawn our negotiation time period, especially if you want to get the best deal.

The Chinese know that most westerners just want to get the deal done and move on to the fun part, selling product and making money, so they use this to their advantage, and in some cases will actually try to deliberately wear you down until you eventually just agree to their terms… but be patient, it’s worth it.

You can’t rush the Chinese, and you shouldn’t want to do that anyway. Flesh out all the trivial details to ensure you’re on the same page, and you get what you want.

Negotiation Hack #15: Walk The Walk

If you talk, walk, and look like a newbie, the Chinese manufacturer will use this to their advantage and tear you apart.

Conversely, if you approach every stage sourcing, communication, and negotiation, you’ll get a better deal.

But how do you do this if you really are a newbie?

There are a few things you can do:

Set yourself up with a ‘@brandname’ email address (this instantly gives you more street cred than gmail).

Tell them you have an office in China, and be specific as to where it is. I’m not saying you should lie, but if you’re using an inspection center, you could say that’s your office. Our company does have an office and team based in Guangzhou, all our product passes through it, we always make this known to suppliers.

Speak about your business as though you’re already well established. Ideally you want to be able to tell suppliers that you do millions of dollars worth of sales each year, and have a large product line.

Like the old corporate adage, “fake it till you make it” is quite useful here!

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Got a question? Got a comment? Leave it below.

Thanks for visiting,

Aidan

How Negotiate Like A Local In A Chinese Flea Market shared from AidanBooth.com

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lxryrestate28349 · 7 years

Text

Where To Start With Amazon Marketing

Where To Start With Amazon Marketing Amazon Marketing: Why It’s Important

There are hundreds of millions of active accounts on Amazon. Moreover, nearly half of internet shoppers go directly to Amazon instead of starting with a search engine like Google when they are looking to make a purchase. Those are staggering numbers. But chances are you don’t need convincing that Amazon is a channel worth pursuing if you sell online.

The real question is how to approach it and how to succeed. Competition on Amazon is high and just posting your listing isn’t going to mean sales.

With Amazon, the name of the game is visibility. Specifically, premium visibility and how to get it. Amazon is a search engine. Just like Google, it uses an algorithm to decide who should rank and who shouldn’t for queries or particular product searches. That said, it is its own platform with its own rules defined by Amazonians, not Googlers. It absolutely needs to be treated with a different strategy to win this unique game.

But there are certainly lessons to be drawn from search engine advertising.

How do we generally produce visibility in Google search? With search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC). These same broad concepts apply to Amazon.

Amazon SEO

The first step to SEO for Amazon is understanding how Amazon’s search algorithm works. That is easier said than done, but if you’re going to understand the algorithm, you need to understand what Amazon’s real goal is. It’s different than Google or Bing’s.

More traditional search engines design their algorithms as a way to, as Google puts it, “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” That’s a nice way of saying they want to rank and present pages in order of their quality and usefulness for any search so that people can find the information they need and continue searching on Google’s owned properties.

Amazon’s goal, on the other hand, is to help people find the products they need so they can buy and keep shopping on Amazon. The word “buy” is the important part here. Amazon is a shopping engine (for now). It wants its users to buy things so its sellers can sell things so Amazon can make money. Send the package ridiculously fast. Drive a review or two. Rinse and repeat. Everything facet of their algorithm considers this simple end goal of driving the sale.

So, what is Amazon looking at to help people find and buy what they want and need?

Performance and sales: The algorithm looks at things like CTR (click-thru rate) in the search results, conversion rate once users view a listing, and yes, sales.

Relevance: The algorithm looks at how well a product listing matches the query that a user types into the search bar.

Begging the more actionable question: How do I improve those ranking factors for my listing?

Keywords Are King

Much like Google in the not-too-distant past, keywords are a big part of what you can do or control to start ranking better. So, how do you know which keywords matter to Amazon and to those millions of your prospective, future customers? Keyword research.

Keyword research is a foundational part of all SEO, but Amazon keyword research is a little different. And it’s not just Amazon. This is true for all shopping engines. People search differently when they are on Amazon or in a true product-seeking mindset than they might on Google when they’re seeking early information about your category. There is likely to be some overlap, but it is important to use keyword research tools that are meant for shopping.

Here are a few keyword research tools to consider:

MerchantWords

SellerLabs

KeywordTool.io

Terapeak SEO

Once you have a strong keyword list informed by how people are actually searching on Amazon, you’ll need to figure out how to leverage that insight.

Keyword Placement Matters

Location, location, location! Your title is the prime real estate for optimizing your listing. And not just technically speaking, but for real humans scanning real results.

The next most important placement is your product description. Followed by your backend keywords, which have a strict character count. Your bullets matter too, but more for UX than for strict technical optimization.

Again, the point is to start with a good grasp on what matters most and to let that guide how your listing is constructed, with a heavy dose of common sense about writing clearly, concisely, and engagingly for real humans. There should be a method to the madness.

Amazon Marketing Requires Strong UX

Designing and writing your listing for the end-user will also directly affect your ability to rank well. Blatant keyword stuffing as a practice is thankfully still on the trash-pile of search engine history. Shoes shoes shoes, tennis shoes, shoes shoes…

Having things like high quality product images may seem obvious but it’s exactly this attention to detail and deliberately providing great product information in all forms that will earn you a click and ultimately a sale over someone else. Here’s a short list of UX related considerations:

Image quality

Image variations (different views, pictures on a model, etc)

Clear and descriptive product titles

Detailed descriptions and product specifications

High rating

Good reviews

Free shipping

Available on Prime?

Competitive pricing

Some of these things you’ll be able to control more than others, but you should do what you can to put a good foot forward and earn a shoppers’ trust as quickly as possible. This boils down to looking credible through both polish and social proof, and yes, giving them what they need to make a decision.

Amazon Visibility Isn’t Something You “Fix” – It’s Something You Work At

Just like other forms of SEO, you are never truly “done” optimizing. This kind of effort towards best-possible visibility is all about Distance from Perfect, a concept we talk about a lot at Portent.

Continue to iterate. Amazon’s algorithm will absolutely continue to change over time as they learn and improve, so make sure your marketing team or your agency is current on what’s happening to stay ahead of your competition.

Amazon PPC

As with just about everything in digital marketing these days, sometimes you need to pay to play. This is especially true for new products without a lot of historical sales to provide lift organically.

Amazon Sponsored Products are a very effective way to get people to your listing and boost sales in a targeted and cost-efficient way. Amazon’s PPC service is similar to Google AdWords in that it is keyword-driven and uses a CPC (cost per click) auction model. The ad targeting options available, combined with the “buy” mentality of Amazon users make it an easy choice for serious Amazon sellers.

Sponsored products aren’t just for new products either. Yes, it’s a great way to get products off the ground, but it can also be highly effective for seasonal campaigns and for providing an overall lift when organic sales aren’t meeting short-term revenue goals.

Can Sponsored Products Improve My Organic Ranking?

In a word: Yes. Although it’s not as simple as an ad spend “dragging” a lagging search result up the page, the visibility and extra sales from paid will mean a better organic rank in the future. Think of it as proactively creating momentum for your organic listing.

How to Run Ads on Amazon

Sponsored Products can be found and mentioned in Seller Central. As described above, Sponsored Product ads are fairly similarly to AdWords in terms of how you can manage them, For instance, you can (and very likely should) create campaigns and ad groups to target keywords with max CPC bids.

It’s worth noting that AdWords controls are more robust than Amazon’s at this point, with a several-year head start, although Amazon seems to be investing heavily to make up ground. Whatever your take on the interface, the important thing to remember here is still that keywords are king.

The keyword research you already did on the SEO side can and should influence the keywords you target with your paid ads on Amazon. You know what they’re searching, so unless it’s cost prohibitive (ad costs minus your specific margins) you know exactly where you’d ideally like to show up.

Importantly, and just like AdWords, “negative keywords” (those terms that signify a search for a product where you’re not a good fit, are also an important tool for Amazon PPC. Be sure to invest a bit of time early-on to develop a strong negative keyword list to help narrow your targeting. This will improve efficiency and prevent wasteful spending. Focus on showing up when you’re truly the best fit, and invest to make sure you’re highly visible in those moments.

Where Do Amazon Ads Show Up?

This might sound well and good, but without the context of what this ultimately looks like, it can be tough to connect the “I should…” with the real end result.

Just like Google, Amazon ads are usually given some of the most premium real-estate on the entire site. This means they will be the first thing a shopper will see.

Not only do paid or sponsored results give you a shot at the top of each search results page, they can also be seen directly on other seller’s product pages. That’s a pretty significant advantage over traditional search when it comes to merchandising, if we do say so.

Is Amazon Advertising Easy Enough To Handle Solo?

The reality here is that Amazon is a highly competitive marketplace because the upside volume is simply unmatched. Achieving high ranking and driving sales doesn’t happen by accident. Whether you’re opening a job req for an internal staffer, or looking to your agency partner, it’s generally a very good idea to have someone familiar with both SEO, paid search management, and Amazon’s platform-specifics managing your presence.

Shameless plug: if you aren’t sure whether your Amazon products and presence would benefit from professional help, contact us or read more about how Portent helps sellers on Amazon here.

http://ift.tt/2zaSxpf

#Where To Start With Amazon Marketing

0 notes

seo53703 · 7 years

Text

Where To Start With Amazon Marketing

Where To Start With Amazon Marketing Amazon Marketing: Why It’s Important

The real question is how to approach it and how to succeed. Competition on Amazon is high and just posting your listing isn’t going to mean sales.

But there are certainly lessons to be drawn from search engine advertising.

How do we generally produce visibility in Google search? With search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC). These same broad concepts apply to Amazon.

Amazon SEO

So, what is Amazon looking at to help people find and buy what they want and need?

Performance and sales: The algorithm looks at things like CTR (click-thru rate) in the search results, conversion rate once users view a listing, and yes, sales.

Relevance: The algorithm looks at how well a product listing matches the query that a user types into the search bar.

Begging the more actionable question: How do I improve those ranking factors for my listing?

Keywords Are King

Here are a few keyword research tools to consider:

MerchantWords

SellerLabs

KeywordTool.io

Terapeak SEO

Once you have a strong keyword list informed by how people are actually searching on Amazon, you’ll need to figure out how to leverage that insight.

Keyword Placement Matters

Location, location, location! Your title is the prime real estate for optimizing your listing. And not just technically speaking, but for real humans scanning real results.

Amazon Marketing Requires Strong UX

Image quality

Image variations (different views, pictures on a model, etc)

Clear and descriptive product titles

Detailed descriptions and product specifications

High rating

Good reviews

Free shipping

Available on Prime?

Competitive pricing

Amazon Visibility Isn’t Something You “Fix” – It’s Something You Work At

Amazon PPC

Can Sponsored Products Improve My Organic Ranking?

How to Run Ads on Amazon

Where Do Amazon Ads Show Up?

This might sound well and good, but without the context of what this ultimately looks like, it can be tough to connect the “I should…” with the real end result.

Just like Google, Amazon ads are usually given some of the most premium real-estate on the entire site. This means they will be the first thing a shopper will see.

Is Amazon Advertising Easy Enough To Handle Solo?

Shameless plug: if you aren’t sure whether your Amazon products and presence would benefit from professional help, contact us or read more about how Portent helps sellers on Amazon here.

http://ift.tt/2zaSxpf

#Where To Start With Amazon Marketing

0 notes