Getting Started with Video Blogging

Video blogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about text blogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, Video Blogging exceeds that by far.

A video blog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Video blogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Video blogging works with people on the internet expressing them. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you video blog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before spending money on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of video blogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it well enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s glory through a video blog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a video blog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a video blog.

Invest in a good web camera with high resolution for the best output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so you get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing?

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create the video blog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your video log, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefits to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a video blog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Video blogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so others may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if the customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let video blogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Video blogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

About The Author
Don Jeffre is the Owner of Don’s Sales, a computer repair business based in Vilonia, AR. USA. He owns and operates Really Unique Online Business Concepts, a blog dedicated to providing social media marketing and search engine optimization information. With over 14 years of industry experience, Don Jeffre shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog. Contact Don Jeffre at 501-796-2525, Skype: revenue4u, or revenue4u@gmail.com.

8 Best Places For Building Authoritative One-Way Links

8 Best Places For Building Authoritative One-Way Links

For any online webmaster or marketer, two things will consume most of your time: rankings and traffic. Usually, these two objectives will go hand-in-hand, the higher your rankings the more traffic you will receive. However, as you probably already know, getting higher rankings and traffic can be somewhat difficult.

One of the best ways to achieve both, is to build one-way links from existing authoritative sites on the web.

Now, let’s be honest, building quality one-way links will take some effort and time on your part. However, this can be done much quicker if you know exactly where to look for those authoritative sites or places which will let you create links back to your site.

Here are some good places or sources for Authoritative One-Way link building:

1. Press Releases

Press releases have become what article marketing was just a few years ago… excellent way to get quality one-way links back to your site. You can use both free and paid press releases to get your message out. Many marketers have had success with PRweb, but it can be somewhat costly but highly worth it. A well written press release will usually get picked up and displayed on numerous niche-related sites, boosting both your traffic and rankings.

2. Wikipedia Type Sites

Such places as Wikipedia and Google Knol are also excellent sources of quality one-way links. These can also give you those all important in-content links, as well as links in the resource section of the article. Everything will be theme focused, so your links will carry more PageRank juice in the eyes of Google.

3. Powerful .edu and .gov Link

Mainly because they are seen as non-commercial and coming from prestige sites or institutions, .edu and .gov links are some of the most effective and powerful one-way backlinks you can receive. Try to go out of your way to build these types of links for your site. For example, if you went to a college or university, try getting links from any Alumni pages. If your college has a newsletter section, try to get links there.

4. How To Sites

Yes, we know, Google with its Panda Update and countless follow-up changes to its algorithm, have hit these kinds of sites hard. But the quality ones are still great places to build one-way links. Often if you write a great how-to guide in your niche and place it on these sites, you will get an instant page one Google listing. For starters, try sites like eHow and Squidoo.

5. DoFollow Social Sites and Profiles

If you haven’t noticed, the web has gone social. Some of the best places for authoritative one-way links are in these social networking/bookmarking sites and profiles, especially if you build up your followers and subscribers. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Google+… will all give you opportunities to build your one-way links.

6. Memberships and Testimonials

You must always be pro-active when it comes to link building, so go out of your way to get links from any memberships you may belong to. Also, giving testimonials for your favorite site or product can be another excellent way to get authoritative links as these links are usually displayed on the main/index page of a site.

7. Embedded Videos/Slideshows/Software

Many webmasters have had great success by using embedded software, videos, awards, slideshows… to create one-way links back to their sites. For example, just look at how Slideshare.net builds its backlinks. You can try something similar or use that program to share your content and build your own links.

8. Site And Blog Commenting

While many sites are cracking down or making all their links NoFollow… commenting on blog and sites is still an effective way to get those backlinks. Many online marketers create Google Alerts for their targeted keywords and when any related links are indexed in Google, they get an email. They then thoroughly check out those links to see if it is worth their while to make a comment.

There you have it, some of the best places to help you build your all important authoritative one-way links. Many marketers simply take a few minutes of each day to build these types of links back to their sites. Over time these links will increase and you will receive more traffic and higher rankings as a direct result of these powerful one-way links.

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The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try:http://www.bizwaremagic.com If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day Marketing Course here: http://www.marketingtoolguide.com Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Social Media Management: Quality Social Experiences

Social Media Management: Quality Social Experiences
By Enzo F. Cesario (c) 2011

You've heard it before, here and probably elsewhere: Social media is about much more than exposure or coverage. Simply putting a friend request out and amassing a ton of retweets is not enough to achieve genuine social impact.

Now there's some additional evidence that bears this argument out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp#p/a/u/2/ofhwPC-5Ub4

In short, Google officials have said that while the search engine giant does use Facebook and Twitter as part of the input in determining a site's SEO ranking, it is a very small, low-key part. It's more of a modifier of other data than it is an actual contributor in and of itself.

But before you go slashing the budget to your social media marketing department, hear out these few issues that explain why this means more attention, not less, should be paid to social media efforts.

It's Social, not Digital

Despite being in the online realm (insert all the stereotypes about the cold, impersonal Internet here), social media is all about the first word. Social interactions are about relationships, conversations and, above all, respect and trust. Violate a trust or fail to provide respect, and you gain nothing at all. You could even find yourself blackballed as your reputation flies out of control online.

There is no magic formula to social media success, just as there is no magic formula to being socially acceptable and friendly. It involves politeness, attentiveness to the interests and needs of others (not just your own) and participation in the social scene as a whole. That's it - hard work, performed with an attitude of courtesy. It isn't complicated, just slow and requiring attention.

But Why Bother?

After all, it doesn't correspond to SEO, so why sink more effort into social media?

Because social media is the key motivating factor in whether a video, advertisement, or even random picture goes viral. The average user on Facebook has dozens of friends, and not all of those friends are the same. Say you have three people who are friends, each having 10 other friends. Only six of these friends are mutual friends among the three, which means there are 24 more people to reach. If each of them has the same ratio of friends... you get the picture.

So yes, adapting to social media does mean changing your perceptions of how marketing works. People can ignore it... they can block you online like they can't block most commercials on television. You have to engage with them directly, converse in intelligent fashion and have the respect not to bombard them with your product nonstop. You have to know when to provide helpful input about your material, and when simply to listen. But the value of it, the potential return of genuine word-of-mouth rather than abstracted "website performance" metrics, is something worth fighting for and investing the additional time and money in.

Why Does It Work?

People like to be talked to. We are social animals, by and large, and having the ability to discuss topics with others is of vital importance to us instinctively, even if not consciously.

Additionally, people can see through fakes. Everyone has a customer service story where they're told, "We appreciate your input," and realize they're just being read a line while their input is filed in the circular file. People respond far better to an honest comment, like, "We understand what you are saying, but for the following reasons we're going to do what we feel works," rather than being given the runaround. A genuine response reminds them there is another human being with their own restrictions and worries on the other side of the screen, and honesty gets a branding campaign point. Responsiveness and actual replies to commentary rather than rote recitations is also important, showing them you are listening and engaged, not just copypasting.

Indirect SEO

Believe it or not, engaging in good practices on social media sites while representing your brand will result in improved SEO for the brand whether Google directly ranks your Facebook performance in searches or not.

Word-of-mouth is still the strongest motivating factor in advertising. It's the coveted Holy Grail. As you engage with others in social media, you are harnessing this power for your purposes. People who think highly of you will be more inclined to check out your website, and tell others to do so as well. Someone to whom you provide an answer to a particular issue that your brand covers might respond favorably to a request to link to you on his site. Traffic will build in the background, enhancing your standing. A conversation might lead to an interview with an online publication, or an advertising spot with a site whose owner you've had chats with.

They key is to understand the value of delayed benefits that result from being a nice, reasonable person. Gain a reputation as someone who is worthwhile to talk to, and people will want to talk to AND about you. The effort is extensive and the value is delayed; however, it will result in long-term support to your reputation that will allow your short-term advertising campaigns to go further, with more weight and endurance than if they were performed alone.
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Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/
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Copyright © 2011 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

Six Popular Image File Formats

Six Popular Image File Formats: What Are They and How Are They Best Used? – A SPN Exclusive Article

As a business owner, you’re focused on your company’s products, services, and finding ways to grow and sustain your business. Your focus isn’t generally on image file formats and what’s needed in order to properly reproduce your company’s logo, letterhead, brochures, and business cards. But, if you’re a small business owner, you wear multiple hats and have the “joyous” task of managing not only the growth and success of your business, but all of the little, technical items associated with getting items printed for your company. And, you’re probably the head of your own “Online/IT Department” too.

So, in order to help you become more proficient with the IT hat that you wear, we thought it would be a good idea to introduce you to some basic file format information concerning images (for your logo/letterhead/business cards/etc).

Choosing the right file format for saving your images is of vital importance. There are six major image file formats used consistently in the design field – TIFF, GIF, JPG, BMP, WBMP, and PNG. Each format is well suited to a specific type of image, and by matching your image to the correct format, you should benefit from a fast-loading, high quality graphic. It’s also important to understand how these file formats work in certain applications. So, enjoy checking out these six image file formats:

TIFF – The TIFF (Tagged Information File Format) is a file format used for storing images such as line art and photographs. It was originally developed by Aldus (now Adobe Systems) and Microsoft. This is a popular format for high color depth images and it is supported by many image-manipulation programs such as Pagemaker, QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro, etc. Tiff is extremely high in its image quality, providing excellent compatibility with publishing and printing companies. Tiff can be modified and resaved, with the images being used an endless number of times without losing any image data. In addition, the image is extremely usable since it doesn’t require software post-processing during or after its download from a camera. It is a flexible and adaptable format.

GIF – The Graphic Interchange Format is an image file format that was originally developed in 1987 by Unisys using the LZW compression algorithm. For years it has been a standard image format used on the web. However, it has seen its share of difficulties due to licensing restrictions and requirements placed on it by Unisys. In 1989, they also developed Gif89a which allowed animated images. While GIF has enjoyed a significant presence on the Internet, it is being phased out by the emergence of PNG.

JPG/JPEG – JPEG is a commonly used compression method for photographic images. The name “JPEG” stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the name of the committee that created the standard. The group was organized in 1986, issuing this standard in 1992 and finally approving it in 1994. The degree of compression may be adjusted to allow a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. Typically, JPEG achieves 10 to 1 compression with little perceivable loss in image quality. In addition to being a compression method, JPEG is often considered to be a file format. JPEG is the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices. It is also the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web.

BMP – The BMP file format, sometimes called bitmap or DIB file format (for device-independent bitmap), is an image file format used to store bitmap digital images, especially on Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems. The simplicity of the BMP file format and its widespread familiarity in Windows and elsewhere makes it a very common format that image processing programs from many operating systems can read and write. Other reasons for its widespread use are that it’s well documented and free of patents. While most BMP files have a relatively large file size due to lack of any compression, many BMP files can be considerably compressed with lossless data compression algorithms such as ZIP since they contain redundant data.

WBMP – This is short for Wireless Bitmap, a graphic format optimized for mobile computing devices. This is a relatively new file format that only supports monochrome images at the moment. A WBMP image is identified using a TypeField value, which describes encoding information (such as pixel and palette organization, compression, and animation) and determines image characteristics according to WAP documentation. TypeField values are represented by an Image Type Identifier.

Currently, there is only one type of WBMP specified; the Image Type Identifier label for this is 0. 0 has the following characteristics:

- No compression
- One bit color (white=1, black=0)
- One bit deep (monochrome)

Any WAP device that supports WBMPs can only support type 0.

WBMP is part of the Wireless Application Protocol, Wireless Application Environment Specification Version 1.1.

PNG – Portable Network Graphics is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression similar to that of a GIF file. PNG was created to improve upon and replace the GIF format, as an image-file format not requiring a patent license. It was basically created in direct rebuttal of Unisys’ licensing requirements for using the GIF format.

PNG supports palette-based (palettes of 24-bit RGB colors), grayscale, or RGB images. PNG was designed for transferring images on the Internet, not professional graphics, and so does not support other color specs (such as CMYK). PNG works very well for geometric or line drawings, lettering, cartoons, and other images with flat color and sharp borders, such as computer screenshots.

PNG is mostly superior to GIF, since it is newer, supports more colors, and is free of patent restrictions. Unfortunately, PNG cannot be used for animation. However, it does offer highly sophisticated transparency and color support, among other features. In most cases where animation is not required, it is best to use PNG over GIF.

It’s interesting to note each format’s strengths and weaknesses. Overall, each of them definitely displays benefits in certain applications. The best way to approach these is to know ahead of time what the ultimate application and use for a certain image is going to be prior to creating it. As a business owner, it’s important to find a reliable printer that can service your company’s needs. CCA is able to accept and modify virtually any image file format in order to create a high resolution, quality image for use on your company’s business cards. If you have any questions or concerns about your logo or business card file format, please feel free to give us a call or inquire on our website.

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Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards website, we’re eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Cheap Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding online business cards design or business card management.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources The Power of Online Video for Your Company

The Power of Online Video for Your Company
A SPN Exclusive Article By Gayle Hawks (c) 2011

Using video to promote your website, services, or products has become an integral component of online advertising. With the explosive popularity of sites such as YouTube (now considered the number two search engine online), Vimeo, and others - it's time to embrace video and make it work on behalf of your company and your website.

Here are some amazing statistics about online video from 2010:
* 172 million U.S. viewers watched an average of 14.6 hours of video
* Over 40% of consumers watch online videos on a weekly basis - Over 70% watch monthly
* YouTube serves over 1 billion videos per day
* YouTube (owned by Google) is expected to hit $2 billion in revenue during 2011.
* Viral video marketing campaigns increase clickthrough rates by 750%. (MarketingExperiments.com, November 2006)
* E-commerce sites that use product videos sell up to 45% more. Onlineshoes.com says it sees a 45% higher conversion rate for customers who watch videos on its website. Zappos.com says it sells up to 30% more for products that it shows in videos instead of just static pictures.
(Sources: ReelSEO, Internet Retailer)

Online video marketing first surged in 2007 and has been growing exponentially every year since. Over $3 billion was spent on online video advertising during 2010. With online video becoming such a major marketing player, it's an important advertising genre to consider embracing.

Here are a few basic concepts to keep in mind when considering the use of online video to promote your website, company, products, or services:

1. If you're going to create video to showcase a product, your services, or just introduce your business...it has to be creative and compelling. Your video needs to spark some type of emotion from the viewer. Whether it's humorous, intriguing, or somewhat controversial, you need this "hook" to create a clip that people will want to see and recommend to others to watch. The hook is at the core of any good viral campaign. Get creative and come up with a catchy plan!

2. Online video offers another outlet to showcase your brand. Make sure that you include your site logo or company logo on any streaming video that is released. If you create and submit video to video sharing websites or other channels, then using branded video clips will further increase your website and company exposure to potential customers.

3. Testimonials. These are incredibly popular and important. Again, they need to be genuine and not manufactured. Having real customers discuss why they chose your products or services and how it has been beneficial to them displays a great deal of credibility for your company. These are the videos that you will definitely want to promote on multiple social media sites!

4. Be genuine and real. If you are going to create a video about your company...film your real employees, in your office, doing real work. Don't "manufacture" a video that is fake and staged. People will see right through it.

5. Use video as a platform for your products. Show people how they work. Detail how and why your product is superior to competitors and why people should purchase your products. Highlight the benefits that customers will receive by purchasing your products.

6. If your business is service oriented, then show viewers how your services are performed. Explain to them what makes your services superior to competitors. Tell them why they should call or email you to procure your services.

7. Webinars (Web Seminars). These are what I like to tag as "stage 2" videos. These are training videos that primarily work best for websites that sell products. These webinars should be created to train your customers on how to properly use your products. Most of the time, this type of video will be much more detailed and involved. However, they are extremely important as well. When a potential customer wants to purchase a product, yet they are unfamiliar on how to effectively use it, they will be reassured to know that you have online videos available to them for additional training.

8. Once you have videos in place, continue to get creative. With the emergence and popularity of QR codes, you can now offer potential customers the ability to watch a video by scanning a QR code with their smartphone. Create and print new business cards for your company that feature a QR Code that card recipients can scan and then watch a video about your company, your products, or whatever you want them to view.

This certainly isn't an exhaustive list by any stretch. However, I hope it will compel you to think about the myriad of ways that online video can be beneficial to your company. With the constant expansion of Internet users each year, creative marketing is going to always be needed in order to succeed in the World Wide Web. Online video is emerging as one of the best and most effective ways to reach potential customers. So...grab onto it and use it creatively!
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Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards website, we're eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Real Estate Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding business cards design or business card management from professional business cards company.
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Copyright © 2011 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

Your Guide to Google+, the Latest Social Network

Your Guide to Google+, the Latest Social Network

Unless you've been living under a rock this past week, then you would have heard what practically everyone (and I mean everyone!) is talking about, Google+. The search giant last week released a brand new social network and it wasn't long before it was given the label of "the Facebook killer". But will this really be the case? Let’s take a look at Google+ in detail and I will let you decide. What is Google+?

It is Google's latest attempt in gaining some market share in the social network area. Here i``s how Google explains the new service: We realize that today people are increasingly connecting with one another on the web. But the ways in which we connect online are limited and don't mimic our real-life relationships. The Google+ project is our attempt to make online sharing even better. We aren't trying to replace what's currently available; we just want to introduce a new way to connect online with the people that matter to you. Sounds pretty cool, huh? And it is. There are 5 main features to Google+: Circles, Hangouts, Instant Upload, Sparks and Huddle.

Circles
While most social networks are about sharing with a wide audience, Google has gone in the other direction. Circles allows you to group friends, family, and various associates into groups and optimizing the flow of information to each one. This is a great way to keep your professional and private life separate and something which Facebook doesn't easily provide.

Hangouts
In my opinion, this is the coolest feature of the project and it's what sets Google+ apart from Facebook. Hangouts lets up to 10 users simultaneously video chat with each other face-to-face.

Instant Upload
This is a simple way to ensure that all the photos you take on your phone are easily accessible. While you're snapping pictures, Google+ adds your photos to a private album in the cloud. This way they're always available across your devices-ready to share as you see fit.

Sparks
Think of it as anything that is meant to "spark" a conversation. Google+ will keep a feed of content that is based on your interests which you can view at any time and then share with your friends who have the same interests.

Huddle
Huddle is a group text-chat tool within Google+ for having private conversations within a Circle. You can use this feature directly from your phone - that's if you use an Android 2.0+ or iPhone 4.0+ phone.

Other things you should know about Google+:

An Android app is currently available for Google+. Google has submitted to Apple’s App Store an iOS app for using Google+ and it is awaiting approval
Businesses looking to market on Google+ won't be left out. “Pages” similar to Facebook "fan pages" will be coming soon, according to Google's Jeff Huber. Google has already been forced to tweak its privacy setting on Google+ by completely eliminating the ability to share certain semiprivate posts to your wider network of friends.
You still own everything you put on Google+ (unlike Facebook which takes co-ownership”). The Google+ Terms of Service state "You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services." Rumors of games in Google+ are already doing the rounds in the blogosphere.
Facebook has responded to the launch of Google+ with the announcement of "something awesome" tomorrow (Wednesday 6th July). We hear it is a deal with Skype to launch a video chat service.
Mashable have already provided instructions on how to import your Facebook contacts into Google+. Now that's keen! How can I get into Google+?

That's the tricky part. Unless you have already scored yourself an invite, then you're going to be waiting a while. As of late last week, Google closed any new sign-ups for invitations as it was overwhelmed with the number of people who had joined already (including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg - surprised?). So for the time being all you can do is sign-up to receive notifications of when new invites will be available. You can do so here.

Will Google+ really spell the end for Facebook?

In my opinion, NO. I think it will take a lot for Facebook users to jump over to Google+. Most users of Facebook are non-techy "followers" who are quite content with the Facebook network. They are simply on there because everyone else is. So unless Google+ can differentiate itself massively from Facebook which would compel users to switch across then I can't see it happening anytime soon. While most "techy" users will love Google+ and its features, they are certainly in the minority and it will take a big shift in consumer behaviour to see so many people move to Google+. I like how Robert Scoble summed it up:

...it's clear Google has turned a corner. They have now proven to everyone that they can do social and get on the playing field. But they haven't yet proven that they can convince your mom to use it...

Check out ineedhits for more articles by Courtney Mills
 
 

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