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Teach Enlish as a second language

One of my favorite things to do is to travel. I love getting to explore the world, from China to Israel to France and beyond. It gives you a chance to learn new cultures, meet people you’d never have encountered in your every day life, and expand your horizons both personally and professionally, if you’re so inclined.

The problem with traveling is that it’s somewhat hard to do on a budget. Unless you’re independently wealthy, you probably can’t just hop on a plane and spend six months in a new country, living as you please without regret or responsibility.

So the key, then, is to have a steady income in order to become worldly. If you’re an english speaker, then, you’re in luck, because there’s one profession that’s in demand nearly worldwide: Teach english as a second language.

For as much as certain segments of the world hate the west and Americans in particular, a far greater portion of the world has admiration for American culture and wish to experience part of it themselves. So whether you’re in Beijing or Tel Aviv or Marseilles, there will be people looking to learn english. And if you have the right mentality and command of the language, you can get a sustainable job almost anywhere to teach english as a second language.

Who’s looking to learn english? It depends upon the region. In the area of Alsace-Lorraine on the France/Germany border, they are near a NATO military base, called Rammstein, in the city of Kaiserslautern. Most of the soldiers there are either American or English, which means that it’s beneficial for the locals to know as much english as possible. Then there’s also intermarrying between American or English soldiers and the Alsacian locals, which means there will be kids needing to learn english as well.

In Beijing, you’re more likely to be teaching the kids of manufacturers, financiers and businessmen of all stripes. China is the world’s fastest growing economy, and its ceiling is pretty much off the charts in terms of where it could end up. As English is the de facto international language of the business community, these Chinese men and women all want to lean English themselves, and want their families to learn as well.

Elsewhere – say Brussels, or Buenos Aires – you’ll find the children of diplomats and politicians who want to learn language. Teach english as a second language to them, and you’ll have access to some of the most fascinating people in the world.

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A creative web design helps your website stand out from the crowd: a few pointers

No matter what business you’re in, you’re always facing some pretty stiff competition. In order to be successful, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd of competitors. A creative web design is one way to do just that.

You know, from personal experience surfing the net, that there are web sites which are just Plain Janes, visually speaking. Such sites don’t stimulate much excitement and for this reason alone, you may just move on to something more interesting. So many web site owners are not aware that sheer visual appeal is a powerful tool that makes a casual visitor want to stay and browse. While great content, a solid marketing plan and SE optimization are essential to good SE rankings, a creative web design can give you just the edge you need to gain and retain traffic.

Even if you choose to engage a professional to create your website, it pays to do a little research on the style, colors, special effects and theme you want to convey to your public. It will also end up costing you less for the services of a website designer if you can present them with a mock up of your own creative web design.

Take a look at your competition. If your site sells retro clothing, do a Google image search, something like ‘fashion retro clothing’.

Check out the top ranking sites and scrutinize their presentations. Each will have elements of creative web design which you’ll find appealing, as well as elements you’ll perceive as flaws. Take notes on the features and artistic character of sites you find particularly creative or visually striking.

Don’t limit your research to results on the first couple of pages in the search results. There are thousands of web sites selling retro clothing. Be willing to spend the time to go through multiple pages of results. While there will be sites which don’t make the top rankings in the search engines, this doesn’t mean you won’t find some quite creative web designs. These sites may lack good content, be poorly optimized, or not have developed a good marketing plan, which is why they show up on page ten. (Of course, your web site will address these points and thus gain a good ranking!)

Explore Google’s variety of tools and articles for more valuable tips on what constitutes a high ranking web site. Your research should also include a search on ‘creative web design fashion’. There are millions of web designers. In this highly competitive field, you’ll easily find web designers with portfolios of creative web designs you can peruse, to stimulate even more creative ideas for your own site design. These portfolios are often accompanied by case studies where you can read how a web site owner revamped his site, introducing new creative web design elements that literally turned the business around, from ho-hum to an exciting and popular site. Use this information to your advantage.

When you’ve decided on your preferred page layout, theme, color scheme and features, do a mock up, using either web design software, such as Visual Page (this is easy to learn) or simply make up a sketch in your word processor’s HTML file. Include a list of special features you want, such as drop down lists or slide shows. Take this material to your web designer and discuss the viability of your proposed design in terms of potential SE indexing problems and quick page loads.

Doing your homework on your competition and developing your own creative web design is most likely to result in a web design that can give you the edge you need to draw visitors who want to stay and explore your site, increasing your chances of making a sale, which is, after all, what it’s all about!