Rainbow Works Pty Ltd

What is a Request? Requests come in many forms. Requests for jobs are usually made through job applications and resumes. Yet your prospective employer might learn more about you from that short biography you gave the local newspaper when you won a speech competition; a letter of complaint about a service failure; or a letter to an editor on a controversial topic.

You request brand recognition with advertisements, on product labels, and signs. Requests appear in circulated white papers, newsletters and editorial articles. They appear in mission statements and tag lines; in business letters and reports; in business contracts and agreements; and in guarantees and terms of trade.

You request investment in a Prospectus or Information Memorandum, but the copy on your company web site and on your product brochure may have far more impact than anything in that formal legal document you laboured so hard to prepare! Many applications are returned unread, because the cover letter or introductory email didn’t “nudge” the investor to want to know more!

Every communication influences.

Every communication demands careful preparation. Words with impact, appropriately presented, deliver impressive results. Whether you seek to educate, inform, inspire, or entertain, successful communication requires compelling copy, attractively presented. Through your words, you must connect with your audience, compelling them to take action.

Well-chosen words, carefully arranged, make readers:  Picture vividly what they have never seen.  Travel to places they have never visited.
 Experience life through the eyes and emotions of others.  Question their thinking and beliefs  Adjust their dreams and aspirations.

Inspired writing is original, creative, entertaining, informative, empowering, and influential. Inspired writing changes a reader’s view of reality. It elicits responses that surprise—occasionally even responses inconsistent with conscious intent.

“….Responses inconsistent with conscious intent” Consider that phrase carefully. It may be the secret to getting everything you want in life!

Your customer started reading your brochure determined it would not influence him to buy… convinced your product would not suit his needs, or was not affordable. Will your choice of words change his mind?

That voter believes—as his father and grandfather did—that the opposition favours workers and the unions, and will do more to protect his interests. Can you influence him to think differently?

Is the writing that promotes you or your business inspired? Does it influence thinking? Does it challenge the reader’s view of reality? Does it occasionally elicit responses “inconsistent with conscious intent”?

When you can confidently answer “yes”, you can be certain you are enjoying the best that life has to offer. Success! Your wishes granted.

If your writing doesn’t deliver, perhaps it is worth investing in some education, or professional help. What might you achieve if you could “nudge the world” just little more effectively? What might you accomplish if you could inspire your readers to say “yes” to almost every request?

Visit job matching sites like Guru, Elance, etc. and you’ll find hundreds of requests for SEO experts to write web copy, and a host of so-called SEO professionals boasting about their writing skills. Web design companies often use claims of superior SEO skills or ‘guarantees’ to get your site to the top of search engines in their advertising and client presentations, and so-called SEO experts quote extortionate fees to get you to the top of the search lists, and keep you there.

Don’t be fooled! There are two strong reasons for caution when responding to anyone wanting payment to SEO your web site. SEO does not involve any mysterious or little-known secrets. There are no tricks involved. Search engine creators have spent years and millions of dollars learning all the tricks and figuring out how to ensure the bots thwart tricksters. They punish those who use them. (Look for articles about the “Google Slap” to learn more.)

Companies claiming to know more about SEO than you do are often acting on outof-date information. Worse, their ‘tricks’ can either get you banned, or, in a worst case scenario, cause website malfunctions that will cost you time and money to repair. (Rainbow Works’ staff know of one case where a user of a specialized content management system engaged an SEO ‘guru’ and paid $7000 for his services. Because he didn’t understand, or pay attention to, the way the content management tool worked, he managed to mess up the site so badly it cost $1000 to repair, and last we heard the customer was still battling for a refund from the so-called guru.)

SEO is simple. The rules are clearly stated on search engine websites and in numerous ‘how to’ guides published on the Internet. Anyone can follow the guidelines to create a search-engine friendly site. You can't drive huge increases in sales through SEO. SEO may drive hits. Hits do not equal sales.

Yes, SEO is simple. What isn’t simple is site promotion that attracts PROSPECTS. You see, high search engine ratings may bring lots of hits, but you don’t want hits. You want qualified prospects. And while legitimate SEO devices may bring qualified prospects, there are far simpler and more effective ways to achieve this goal.

Hits vs. Prospects The first requirement for selling on the Internet is an effective web site. It goes without saying that regardless how many visitors hit your site, a bad site attracts no interest, no repeat visits, and no sales. SEO devices might attract a million hits, but they will be of no use. A few hundred visitors a day can generate a fortune, and a few million $0. It’s all down to how effectively your site is designed to attract you most wanted response—not to where your site appears in a search engine listing.

You can actually buy hits. Google will sell them to you for an outrageously inflated price. But it’s not the number of hits that matters. It’s the number of genuinely qualified prospects, how long they remain on your site, how often they return, and what response they give you that determines your success.

Too many business operators—especially novices just starting to do business on the web—waste money and time on SEO. They don’t understand that it’s mostly hype. The only way to rank high in a credible search engine is to have a credible website. In fact, you might find that, in time, your site ranks well despite not paying any attention to SEO and never submitting. Activity and popularity can drive your rating up. Google (the most important search engine) ranks sites on relevance and popularity, so if you invest your time making your site credible, interesting, timely, and relevant, and promoting it effectively off-line and via methods other than SEO, you are likely to find that, after a couple of months, it rates well despite your lack of attention to the recommendations of so-called SEO gurus.

Who (among Aussie readers) didn't count Blinky Bill and his bushland friends among their best friends during childhood? (Readers outside Australia, google 'Blinky Bill’, by Dorothy Wall)

The koala is an Australian icon. It attracts tourism. It drives campaigns for eucalyptus reforestation and preservation of wildlife habitats. Our furry friend is loved, it seems, the world over. But the koala is in grave danger of becoming extinct. Greedy developers and irresponsible regulators have converted thousands of hectares of the bush land it calls home to forests of brick and mortar. Greedy timber merchants have cut down hundreds of thousands of the trees that provide the animals with food and shelter. Our wildlife has been chased further and further into the remotest parts of the country where it struggles to survive.

On the Tweed Coast - an area where once the koala bred prolifically - there are just 144 of the species left. About 31 of these live in the Black Rocks area. Many of those live in the area immediately adjacent to Black Rocks Sports Ground. It's a key breeding area for koala, osprey, curlew, and other iconic wildlife. Echidnas amble across the roads and into nearby gardens regularly.

There are expensive programs in operation, partly funded by the local council, to re-establish eucalypt forest and preserve the bush land in the area. Local residents aggressively support those programs, having bought into the area at premium prices specifically because they love living in proximity to beautiful bush land and the wonderful native fauna that inhabit it. So you would think it logical that Tweed Shire Council would be quick to reject a proposal to convert a small, lightly used sports ground to a high use night sports ground with football towers and 48,000 watt lighting.

Outstanding for its originality and depth, M.A. McRae’s Not a Man is an amazing work that will transport you to a foreign world. It will let you experience a lifestyle and culture that is most likely vastly different from any with which you are familiar. This is not a story for the faint-hearted. If you read to escape to a fantasy world where heroes are gallant, heroines are beautiful and spoiled, and endings are always happy, you may not enjoy it. If you are reluctant to face the reality of man’s inhumanity to man, or to recognize that some people enjoy sex in a way that others regard as perverted, it may shock and distress. If you struggle to recognize that those whose beliefs, moral standards and lifestyles many in our civilization abhor are, nevertheless, real people capable of kindness, compassion and love, it may enlighten you, but also disturb you. I began reading Not a Man feeling more than a little uncomfortable. I expected to be repulsed by the story of Shuki, a boy taken from the slums and castrated before his tenth birthday. The idea of reading about men taking bed-boys and having anal sex didn’t appeal. I knew it happened, but I preferred not to be confronted with it. But I promised the author I would read it, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the story fascinating and educational, as well as enjoyable. I recognized immediately I began reading that M.A. McRae was no ordinary writer. She has the ability to draw the reader into the story – to bring her characters and settings to life in the readers’ mind. She has a knack of portraying characters a reader may want to despise for their unpalatable behaviour in a way that compels you to understand and forgive their foibles and admire their better qualities. The people she describes are a product of their culture. We may not approve of aspects of their lifestyle, but we are drawn to understand how they came to be what they are and to appreciate and applaud their efforts to be empathetic and charitable. I wanted to hate Hassanel: a man who could arrange the castration of a child for his sexual pleasure. I wanted to find him vile and repulsive in every way. But I got to know a man for whom this conduct was an acceptable part of the culture in which he had been raised and educated, but who had the capacity to genuinely care for Shuki and want to protect him. Shuki found his way into my heart. The little boy from the slums who so feared a return to abject poverty that he would agree to an operation he feared, believing he could arrange his escape before it was done, used his charm and guile to secure his own future and to help his suffering family. When he was brutally raped and his best friend—who came to his aid—was killed, I confess I cried. It amazes me now to realize that I liked and admired Ben, and Elei too. These were men who used a boy for sex, so it astonishes me that I could find them anything but repulsive in the extreme. But M.A. McRae introduced me to human beings – good, kind, caring people who succumbed to temptation to perform acts, in private, that gave them pleasure and that certain cultures do not regard as abhorrent.

Some business operators report that they are substantially unaffected by recession. Some even claim recession improves trading conditions. Recent surveys support what might be regarded as a common-sense presumption that traders who deal in necessities, or in products or services demanded by battlers seeking to cut-back expenditure, are likely to thrive in a recession. For example: In a recession, people are more likely to cook economical meals in their own kitchen rather than go out to eat or buy costly convenience foods. Because vegetables and fruit are economical and healthy, these products are likely to be in higher demand in tough times. Similarly, producers and sellers of eggs, dairy foods, and economical cuts of meat are likely to experience increased demand. In recent surveys, takeaway stores reported increased demand while more expensive restaurants reported reduced bookings and patrons spending less. Video rental stores and sex shops experience increased demand, as people look for cheaper forms of entertainment. Country pubs and sporting clubs often boom, as locals stop travelling to drink, dine and holiday and spend more of their leisure time in their own community. Caravan parks may see increased demand, while upmarket family holiday resorts struggle. Logically, financially challenged consumers will look for bargains in clothing, homewares, and personal services - so up-market suppliers may experience reduced demand, while down-market suppliers and bargain stores may experience increased demand. Suppliers of used clothing and homewares are likely to do well. Shoe repairers are likely to grow their businesses, as are dry cleaners and suppliers of clothes mending services, and specialists in car, household, appliance, and homeware repairs. Producers and vendors of tools and materials that increase productivity or efficiency in building, business management, transport, storage, energy production, food production, etc. have a unique opportunity to prosper as companies look for new ways to cut costs and increase productivity.

Who Survives/Prospers in a Recession? Recent surveys support what might be regarded as a common-sense presumption that traders who deal in necessities, or in products or services demanded by battlers seeking to cut-back expenditure, are likely to thrive in a recession. | At the other end of the spectrum, selected luxury-item suppliers catering to those sufficiently well-heeled to be minimally affected by recession may continue to do well through tough times.

Increased unemployment inevitably leads to increased demand for training and educational services and job placement services. Sadly, debt collectors, liquidators, bankruptcy lawyers, finance brokers offering refinancing services and debt management counsellors experience increased demand in tough times, as do psychologists, marriage counsellors, and divorce lawyers. Most health professionals will see increased demand for their services, as financial troubles cause stress-related illnesses. Even undertakers see increased demand, because stress can kill. Wine sales typically increase in tough times. Alcohol eases pain, and wine is both cheaper and more socially acceptable than harder liquors. Suppliers of home brew kits and supplies are also likely to see increased demand. Disturbingly, the demand for weapons and security products and services tends to increase during a recession, because crime rates increase in middle class neighbourhoods during hard times. Some readers will be surprised to learn that fortune tellers are in demand in tough times. People want to know that better times are coming soon, and fortune tellers invariably offer that reassurance. There may be larger congregations at churches and synagogues, too, as people look for personal strength, hope, and the support of friends and neighbours. It isn’t just your product that determines whether you will do well in tough times, though. It is also your approach to business. The innovator, the optimist, the saver, the planner, the people manager, and the creative marketer come into their own when the going gets tough. Almost any business can prosper through tough times with the right approach to management. Historically, recessions and depressions have given birth to millionaires — entrepreneurs who grasped opportunities presented by a challenging economic climate and used determination, optimism, and a smart approach to business to achieve outstanding success.