Siegfried & Roy A Life Journey of Fulfilling Your Dreams

Those who dare to dream accomplish great things. Just ask internationally acclaimed illusionists Siegfried & Roy. I had the honor of working for them for about 7 years, right up until Roy’s tragic accident in 2003. They were an amazing and inspiring team with a beautiful inner spirit. Roy always said to me, "If you can dream it, you can do it!"

Their story was a rags-to-riches one, because they chose to dream. Two teenagers from a war-torn Germany who had a pocketful of dreams and little else. They reached for the stars and never set any limits on what they could achieve. They are living examples that anything is possible, if you want it bad enough and believe in yourself. Stay focused on your dreams and don’t let others knock you down.

Many of us had hopes and dreams when we were younger. We had ideas of what we wanted out of life. When we were young, we could close our eyes and anything was possible. We were full of enthusiasm! Did you ever hear a child say, "When I grow up, I want to find a job I hate, work fifty hours a week, get out of shape, have a mediocre relationship, retire, and THEN have some fun?"

What is it you’re hoping for? What would you like to see happen in your life? There are no rules for dreaming and there are no limits. "Our souls speak to us with images," Siegfried told me once. "Our heads speak to us with thoughts. You have to listen to these clues and follow your heart."

"Everything begins in the heart and mind," says Roy. "Every great achievement began in the mind of one person. They dared to dream, to believe that it was possible. Don’t let negative thinking discourage you. Dream of the possibilities for yourself, your family and for others. If you have dream that you let grow cold, reignite that dream! Fan the flames! Life is too short to let it go!"

"You must work hard and be willing to give, and give and give," says Roy. "Don’t even think of receiving – nothing less than a 100% effort will do. After your first true experience of the inner satisfaction that comes from unrelenting effort, you will notice success begins to gain momentum."

"We all have the potential to fulfill our dreams. Start seeking your dream no matter what the consequences and you are already on the road to success. In all of us there is an elusive melody, which when heard and followed will lead you to the fulfillment of your dreams."

It has been nearly three years since Roy's tragic accident during a performance of their record-breaking show "Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage." When asked, "How did he survive when doctors had no hope?" Horn smiles, "The guy upstairs wasn't ready. I was always taught to be strong, that there was nothing I couldn't overcome. You just have to be positive; you just have to believe."

"Nothing is impossible," Roy always said to me, "You must believe in yourself, believe in change, and believe in your dreams, for there is magic within all of us."

Michael Snell, Guest Author / Web 2.0 Strategist, Blog coach, Blogger, Entrepreneur

Use your keywords in the anchor text of links.
Keyword in links have more importance than simple text.

Use your primary and secondary keywords in the anchor text of links when linking to other blog posts or to other pages on your main site.

Link keywords where they naturally appear in the body text, but again, don't overdo it,
or you'll end up with spammy  looking pages.

2. Get backlinks from other blogs or websites

Links pointing to your blog or posts are essential to build pagerank and make your blog rank higher in the search engine listings. Find other blogs that get great traffic and ask if they will link to you.

A lot of times, I will plug another blog, on my blog. And add them to my blogroll. Then I send them note, tell them how much I enjoy what there doing, tell them I just did a little feature on them and ask them if they would add me, to their blogroll.

Your traffic can skyrocket if high traffic sites start linking to you!

Derrick Sorles Blog Consultant

http://www.businessbloggingtips.com

http://www.officiallifebydesign.com

Submit your blog to general web directories such as DMOZ and Aviva. Links from DMOZ (The Open Directory), Yahoo! Directory, Aviva Directory and other quality general web directories provide you with what are considered "trusted links" by the search engines, a key to ranking well. Search engines value links from quality web directories because it means that your site has been checked and selected by a human being. But not all web directories are equal, and you want to be careful when submitting your site to not just throw good money(if they are charging) after bad links. Another nice thing about the top web directories is that they will send you relevant traffic, just like a search engine. Try all the free ones first!

Michael Snell

http://www.businessbloggingtips.com

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10. Blogs are one of the least expensive methods to create buzz and get the word out to the world on you, your company, and you areas of expertise. When compared to almost any other form of marketing, blogs are so reasonable to start and maintain that it is almost silly not to add the creation of one to your marketing mix. They don’t require you to learn HTML or to hire a designer or developer. They are template driven and so even the best bloggers that were recognized this year by Forbes Magazine, for example, used a templated tool that cost under $100 a year to build and maintain.

9. People doing key word searches via search engines will find your blog, not necessarily your website. Search engines index your ongoing knowledge sharing from your posts (entries). A blog should be full of activity, constantly updating with fresh information, key terms and search terms in your titles, body-text and permalinks, creating more ways for the search engine "spiders" to find your blog and lead customers and prospects to you.

8. Blogs humanize you and create an organic, powerfully evolving user experience. The personal nature of a blog helps humanize you and your organization. People who like and connect with what you have to say, your thoughts, feelings and beliefs, will want you speaking to them about your offerings on a regular basis. You can post daily or even just twice a week and still create connection with prospects and customers.

7. Blogs are an amazing tool and platform to showcase your knowledge and expertise interactively. A blog can be an incredible tool for sharing information and expertise regularly. Kathleen Goodwin, CEO of iMakeNews, says business blogs "Can offer organizations a platform where information, data, and opinions can be shared and traded among employees, customers, partners, and prospects in a way previously impossible: a two-way, open exchange."

6. Prospects are constantly searching the web for information, deals and opportunities-will they find you or your competition instead? No one listens anymore to sanitized marketing messages anymore (which most of us have on our websites). A blog allows you to grow trust and credibility with your customers and prospects by providing timely, important information that shows them why you are the one to choose over your competitors.

5. Develop yourself as the thought leader in your industry. If you know the best strategies for blogging, you will be able to grow your thought leadership exponentially. Just as with any amount of practice, the more you blog and know about blogs, the better you will be at it and, in doing so, you can become one of the top people blogging in your field. After all, if your prospects are the kind of prospects you would want—leading edge companies with fast growth that want leading edge thinking, you will find your best customers and keep them for life with tools like blogs.

4. The winners in the blogosphere will be those who host the very best content and conversations. You have to have great content and inspire conversation. A blog offers the best conversational vehicle for getting and staying connected- imperative to growing new business with your prospects and customers.

3. A blog allows you to be the producer and star of your own show-a business celebrity. This is the day and age of the business celebrity. You want to be the expert, the one people turn to for information. With today's digital technology, you can create your own combination of magazine and talk show quality messages to highlight yourself with a blog.

2. The shelf life of blog posts can remain on the web forever. Remember when the only choice you had for marketing was either to send out expensive direct mail pieces or advertise in a newspaper or magazine? What was the shelf life of those marketing pieces—a day or, at best, a month? Now the investment of good content on a blog is forever.

1. If you aren’t out there, your competitors will be. As you wait to decide what to do about blogging your competitors are out there connecting with your prospect base and growing loyalty positions for business today and tomorrow. They are also taking the time to find out what your other competitors are up to and matching or beating offerings.

Derrick Sorles

http://www.businessbloggingtips.com

derrick@networldingbusinessblogging.com