7 Steps That Will Power Up Your Brain

Whether you are a student looking for more efficient ways to digest what your teachers say, an adult trying to become more efficient at work or a senior citizen striving to maintain an active lifestyle, keeping your brain in shape is an important part of any self-improvement project.

Good news is that there are ways to make yourself smarter, improve your memory and physically develop your brain – and here are some of them.

1. Exercise

No, we don’t mean any kind of cognitive exercise, although these certainly won’t hurt. What we mean is just plain old physical jerks, preferably done regularly.

Performing physical activities increases blood flow to the brain, encourages the production of nerve-protecting compounds, lessens the risks of cardiovascular diseases that hamper brain function and can lead to stroke – in other words, you simply can’t go wrong by moving about, the more the better.

2. Consume Omega-3 Fats

Omega-3 fats such as Docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, are extremely important for the proper functioning of your entire organism and brain in particular – and, at the same time, they cannot be synthesized by your body.

The only way to get them is to consume them with food – but, unfortunately, products that contain high amounts of Omega-3 fats (e.g., fish, liver, brain) don’t play an important role in an average person’s diet. Low Omega-3 intake can even lead to an early onset of Alzeimer’s disease, and vice versa – people consuming high amounts of DHA are significantly less susceptible to it.

3. Use Nootropics

For a long time, people have been looking for a wonder drug that would heighten their brain capacity, make them cleverer and improve their efficiency in other ways. Perhaps nootropics cannot quite be called wonder brain drugs, but they are certainly the closest thing we have to this ideal.

Different nootropics have different sets of effects, but in general, they are known to improve memory, both long-term and short-term, spatial awareness, learning capacity, logical thinking, coordination, reflexes and much more.

4. Write by Hands

In our hectic age of texting and printing, advising somebody to write by hand may sound ridiculous, but facts cannot be changed by our attitude. And the facts suggest that writing by hand and reading handwritten notes develop brain areas that remain dormant when we type and read printed text.

In short term, you are likely to better remember the things you’ve written down. In the longer term, you will get generally better memory retention, analytical skills and pattern recognition.

5. Eat More Products with Vitamin D

Vitamin D is crucial for developing and maintaining areas of the brain responsible for planning, memory formation and information processing. You can boost your vitamin D simply by being in the sun more – proper sun exposure increases the rates at which your body produces this vitamin.

If it is impossible in your circumstances (for example, if you live in a location where sunny days are few and far between), you should consider taking a vitamin D supplement.

6. Try out a New Experience

For example, master a completely new skill, take part in an activity you’ve never tried before, start learning a foreign language – whatever takes your fancy. Perhaps there is something you keep putting off until you have more time – why not do it right now, and benefit from it as well?

Mastering a new skill creates new neuron routes in your brain – in addition to the new skill per se, you will get an improved ability to learn in general.

7. Exercise Your Brain

Finally, about some brain exercises. If you don’t use something often, you forget how to do it – which is just as true for using your brain. It is amazing how dependent on various devices we became in a fairly short period of time.

So, if you want to use any opportunity to improve your brain, stop using your smartphone for all these trivial operations: doing sums and finding your way around using GPS immediately come to mind.

There are many ways to improve the work of your brain, ranging from simple exercises to dramatic changes in lifestyle – but if you really care about your health and efficiency, no price or effort is too big to pay.

5 Ways to Improve the Loading Speed of Your Website

We all know that how quickly your website loads up is important, but did you know that even as little as a second can have a big impact upon your user experience and conversions.

In fact, 47% of consumers expect a site to load within two seconds or less, and a one-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.

As you can see, the loading time of your website is really really important to your customers, and load speeds are getting quicker and quicker!

So, what can you do about it? We’ve taken a look at five things which you could be doing to improve your loading speed, even if it’s just by a couple of seconds!

1. Enable compression

We’ve all heard about how high-quality content is king, but all of this content takes up valuable memory on your web page.

This makes your pages and content bulky and slow to download, and the best way to combat this is to compress (also known as zip) them. This reduces the bandwidth of your pages, making them easier and quicker to load. You can compress your pages using tools such as Gzip.

Doing so could reduce download time by as much as 70% so it’s definitely worth considering!

2. Enable browser caching

Whenever a user visits a website, the elements of the page are stored onto their hard drive in a temporary ‘cache’ so that the next time they visit, it will load without having to send another HTTP request to the server.

This means that once a user has visited your site once, any subsequent visits will take a fraction of the time to load, so it’s essential that you allow caching on your site.

For more information on how exactly to do this, head to this article on Microsoft’s help section.

3. Prioritise above-the-fold content

Making sure to prioritise your above-the-fold (top of the page) content to make it load faster is important, as this is the content that your user is going to see first.

Even if the rest of your page is going to take a little longer to load, the chances are that your users won’t notice as their focus will be above the fold.

4. Reduce the amount of plugins your site uses

We spoke to North East-based web design agency ‘Way Fresh’ who said: “Having too many plugins on your site is a surefire way to slow it down, and it can also create security issues, as well as causing crashes and other technical difficulties.

“Make sure to regularly browse through your plugins and delete or deactivate any which you deem to be unnecessary, and measuring whether they improve your speed.”

5. Optimise your images

There are two main ways in which you can optimise your site images to improve your load speed: size and format.

Obviously, the bigger your images are, the longer they’ll take to load, so keep them as small as you feel you can get away with, reduce colour depth and remove image comments. As for the format, we’d recommend JPEG or PNG (although some older browsers don’t support PNG).

At the end of the day, with Google placing a greater emphasis on user experience and using page loading speed as a ranking signal, it’s more important than ever to take the time to improve this aspect of your website.

Consumers in 2017 are expecting faster loading times, especially on mobile devices, and there’s a whole host of arguments to justify your decision to prioritise improvements in this area.

At the end of the day, for many businesses, their website is what drives their sales and is the experience isn’t right, consumers will simply look elsewhere and you’ll lose out on sales.

4 Things you Can do to Become your Own Life Coach

Everybody needs a champion. In the midst of life’s ups and downs, ebbs and flows, a champion is there to pull you up along the way and force you to go further; to not give up. Obstacles happen along the path of life, and without that voice to keep your drive determined and steady, moving forward can be a difficult thing to do. Many people hire life-coaches to help them with short and long-term goals, especially if they are getting ready to make a change in their lives. But did you ever think that you could be your own life coach and your biggest fan? Here are some ways in which you can become your own life coach and become successful in your journeys.

#1. Identify Areas of Improvement

You have probably been thinking about finding a life coach or wondering what you can do to better yourself. In that case, the first step to take is to reflect upon yourself, honestly, about what you can improve. Perhaps you want to improve your health by exercising more, or improve your finances by strategizing a budget that you can really stick to, or even making a career change. Whatever you want to improve in your life, make a list and focus on the items, one at a time.

#2. Recognize Your Challenges

While you will need to focus on your strengths to make any changes in your life, it is equally important to recognize your weaknesses, or challenges. Being honest with yourself and acknowledging your challenges are both crucial in developing a plan of action. For example, if you feel you fall short in willpower, your inner-coach will need to address that challenge in order to make you resist the temptation of giving in. We all have challenges, but with the right mindset and strategies, they are able to be overcome. That is where you, as your own life coach, come in. Your role is to be honest with yourself and remain positive with an “I can do it!” attitude and steamroll right over those recognizable weaknesses in order to achieve the change you want to see, or be!

#3. Educate Yourself

An educated mind is such a powerful mind, and doing research and learning about different tactics you can apply to your daily life, tactics that work for you, can help you reach your improvement goals. Finding information on how to deal with challenges, how to adopt a positive mindset and keep it going, and how to set specific short-term goals to reach your dream can help you along the way. As your own life coach, taking the time to learn as much as you can about what you need to do in order to make an important change (or changes) in your life will be beneficial.

#4. Learn From Others

Listen to or read about other individuals that have changed their life for the better. Learn from them. Life coach Tony Robbins said that the surest way to become successful is to model someone who is already successful.  Many people who have achieved a major life goal are very proud and are open to sharing their story. Many people also give tips and methods they used to help them along the way. You can also learn from their mistakes to help you in your decision-making process as you make your way in your journey. Of course, recognizing that your needs are different and unique to you is important; however, it is still nice to hear stories of inspiration from others that have succeeded.

Being your own life coach will bring you closer to your inner-self and give you the strength you never knew you had. Being intrinsically motivated to attain your new life goals will give you a sense of inner peace and happiness within yourself, which will in turn shine through for others to see!

One Simple Sign To Tell If Someone Is Intelligent

Many times we need to figure out if someone is smart enough, to be on the team or to hang out with. How do we know is someone is intelligent without even checking academic records, social, and career achievements, or having to look for the lines on their forehead?

They keep asking questions.

But you ask when you don’t know, so how can someone who questions too much be intelligent?

Because they ask, and they learn. The Chinese proverb  of wisdom states it clearly: ‘He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, he who does not question, stays a fool forever.’

Intelligence is, without question, all about questions. Nobody will know it all. No matter how educated they are, nobody comes close to ever knowing it all. Even if you learn everything from top to bottom, tomorrow changes what you know today. We are all flawed, stumbling through life, with unrealistic expectations. So we need to keep questioning to stay afloat.

Intelligent people question everything, after getting answers, they question more. If you use words they can’t understand, they request clarification. They ask you to explain to the as if they just turned five when they do not understand what you are saying. If you say anything intriguing they make a note of it.

Be humble. Ask questions to reflect genuine intelligence.  

So the next question is, ‘Do intelligent people make mistakes?’

The simplest way of judging intelligence is when someone accepts mistakes. Intelligent people accept mistakes, they welcome them, they know these are life lessons.

Intelligent people know that mistakes are part of life. Nobody is perfect and we are all free to err. Learning comes from struggling and making a flow of mistakes. Mistakes are agents of education. Mistakes are never any fun but are totally unavoidable. People who evaluate and learn from mistakes, self-reflect, and are aware that mistakes are a process of personal investment.

12 Reasons You Should Have Sex With Your Partner Every Day

Are you stressed? Struggling to sleep? Turns out there are a number of ailments that can be cured simply by having sex regularly. Here are twelve reasons why you and your partner should be having sex daily!

1. Sex Reduces Stress.

If you’ve had a long day at work or you’re simply feeling a little overwhelmed, then sex will help you relax and reduce your stress levels! During sex our bodies produce dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin which together help us to de-stress, increases our natural happiness levels and enhances desire.

2. Sex Is An Enjoyable Exercise.

When faced with the word ‘workout’ many of us will recoil in horror, unless of course that workout involves sex. Throughout sex our bodies are continually experiencing physiological changes that are consistent with an exercise routine. Our breathing rates rise which in turn burns calories, which means that if you have sex just three times a week you can burn around 7,500 calories a year. That’s the same as running 75 miles!

3. Sex Helps Your Immune System.

Researchers at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that their students who stated they had sex at least twice a week had higher levels of particular antibodies than those who had no sex at all. During sex, antigens like immunoglobulin A are released which are proven to fight the common cold and even flu! Even more good news: the more frequently you engage in sex the more antigens will be released and the healthier you’ll get.

4. Sex Lowers Your Blood Pressure.

Even if it’s just a quickie, some forms of physical contact can improve your blood pressure significantly. A study conducted by the University of Paisley found that sex reduces diastolic blood pressure – which is the bottom number on a blood pressure reading – making us healthier all around!

5. Sex Helps a Healthy Heart.

As our bodies burn calories, it also improves our heart health. Researchers from the New England Research Institute found that men are 45% less likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases if they have regular sex.

6. Sex Helps Pain Relief.

If you’re experiencing aches, pains or migraines then sex may be a better form of pain relief than pills! Arthritis specialist Dr. George Erlichconducted a study on his patients and found that those who had sex often experienced significantly less pain than their counterparts who went without.

7. Sex Ensures Regular Periods.

If your periods are a bit erratic, it could be down to a stressful lifestyle. As mentioned previously, sex reduces stress and so will also have an impact on your menstrual cycle!

8. Sex Creates Powerful Pelvic Muscles.

As well as quads, back and core muscles, sex also works out your pelvic muscles! Is there a better way of building muscle? I don’t think so! By creating stronger pelvic muscles you also benefit by having better orgasms according to the National Health Service (NHS).

9. Sex Reduces The Risk Of Cancer.

Particularly for men, regular sex reduces the chances of developing cancer. In an Australian study published the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was found that men who ejaculated at least 21 times a month were much less likely to suffer form prostate cancer.

10. Sex Makes You Sleep Well.

Like exercise, sex increases your heart rate which leads to relaxation. In addition to this, it’s common knowledge that male ejaculation leads to lethargy which can make men extremely sleepy after sex.

11. Sex Makes You Look 10 Years Younger.

Having sex three times a week can apparently make you appear 10 years younger than your real age! In his book Secrets of the Superyoung, Scottish researcher and clinical neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, David Weeks states: “It’s good for you to have good sex.” What more incentive do you need?

12. Sex Lengthens Your Life.

The ultimate culmination of all of these wonderful, positive effects regular sex has on our health and minds is that we will add years to our life spans. In fact, a study published in the British Medical Journal revealed that male participants who had sex regularly lived twice as long as those who rarely got any action!

So there you have it: there are officially no downsides to having sex regularly, so get at it!

We’re Born To Want To Put Things Off But Here’s What You Can Do To Get Over It

We all know the feeling of having to do something and putting it off. I’ll do it tomorrow, you say to yourself, but you said that yesterday. That book you meant to write, that running habit, getting to work on time – whatever it is that you have been putting off, you can change it.

And here’s one idea that might help you change your behaviour so you can get to doing what you really want to do.

Temporary rewards are always more tempting to our brain.

There’s a term to describe the human nature of always wanting to put things off - Akrasia. It is a word created by ancient philosophers Socrates and Aristotle to describe that dissonance we feel when our higher self is telling us to do one thing, and our immediate self is vying for another activity.

An example of this would be the feeling you get when you hear the words in your mind telling you not to eat another slice of chocolate cake when you’ve already had a piece. Our desire in the moment for the temporary reward often overwrites the deeper desire to be healthy and to choose fresh fruits and veggies instead.

This is simply how humans work, for the most part. However, there are some strategies we can incorporate into our lives when dealing with Akrasia. So what can you do about it? Well, you could try this strategy.

The “If…then…” strategy helps you decide the exact actions you will take in advance.

Using the “if…then” strategy can help clarify what you are going to do and ensure that you are focused on it.

Besides defining the specific steps you need to take, the “if…then” strategy also helps you to think about where and when you will take those actions. When there is no other options than doing what you have planned, it becomes extremely likely that you will do it.

This is because then, there is no deliberation. It becomes a certainty, so procrastination isn’t able to rear its ugly head.

To use this simple strategy, plan what you are going to be doing in a certain situation, time, or place:

• If it is 8am, then I will get up and do some yoga and meditation.
• If it is 10am, then I will begin writing my novel.

The if-then strategy has shown to increase levels of productivity by 200-300% on average. If you ask me, that’s some pretty good stats.

This is because it cuts out any thoughts that of tomorrow you might have, which means you can’t listen to the many excuses your mind will come up with to get you to put things off for a bit.

Establishing a new habit is always challenging, so don’t be too hard on yourself about whether you make it to the gym or not every single time. The simple fact that you are trying to change is enough for now. And the easiest way to begin is to make starting as easy as possible.

4 Hidden Islands The World Needs To Know

The world is a wide and mysterious place. Even though our technology is meant to make it smaller, the world is somehow expanding in different ways. Different untouched lands and islands exist in various parts of our planets. Some of these islands may pose danger while a majority of them just scream adventure and beauty.

If you’re a person who enjoys adventure and the water, some of these islands are meant for you. However, if you’re planning on enjoying a nice glass of red wine and visiting spas, then there definitely are islands which tend to those needs. These places are usually unexplored or often too exclusive to be a traditional tourist destination.

So, we have put together four islands that will be intriguing to your interest and you’ll definitely have fun exploring them.

1. Pitcairn Island, Pacific Ocean

Pitcairn Island is one of the unique islands that’s located among a few volcanic islands around the British Islands. It’s a small island which consists of about 4 families and about 50 inhabitants. If you’re planning to head there, you might have to stay with the locals instead of hotels or hostels; as there are none on that island.

If you’re a technology dependent person, then you definitely are up for a challenge because most people on that island are strangers to technology. However, it’s definitely a place worth visiting because, for once, you get to unwind and let yourself go. If you love culture and heritage, then you would enjoy being part of the Polynesians and Bounty Mutineers.

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By end of this trip, whether you’re traveling with a partner or alone, you’ll enjoy the calmness and indulge in a completely different culture which can be refreshing.

Note: If you get lost, try describing the buildings because there are no street names.

2. Monuriki Island, Fiji

The Monuriki Island is a tiny island located among a cluster of islands. This cluster of islands is also known as Mamanuca. The beauty of this island is breathtaking as it’s surrounded by beautiful flora and fauna as well as amazing coral reefs. It’s no surprise that this island became the Castaway Island that hosted the lost and lonely Tom Hanks.

If you’re wondering if you’re going to be stranded, don’t worry. There are inhabitants on that island. However, this island isn’t a typical tourist destination due to its isolation as well as the obscure way to get there. Just like the previous island, you would be able to unwind and enjoy your holidays far from technology and constant communication.

If you enjoy the flora and fauna, you’ll be amazed by all the plants and animals you can find there. From the Fiji Chameleon to the ripe beautiful coconuts. You’ll find yourself in for a treat.

3. Lanzarote, West Africa

Lanzarote is an island that’s located among the cluster of the Canary Islands. This island is heavily influenced by the Spanish regime allowing it to not only adopt its language but also its culture. Unlike the other islands, this island is an island of luxury. It’s much better suited to be explored with a partner or on a honeymoon.

You’ll not only be able to enjoy a fine glass of wine cultivated from the best vineyards, but you would be living a life of luxury. You’ll be able to explore the nature as well as the beautiful scenery. If you’re a person who enjoys exquisite luxury, then don’t forget to visit the cactus garden to embrace the beauty of the cactuses from all around the world. The highlight of this place is, however, its pristine blue waters as well as its beautiful corals.

Swimming there will not only create a sense of peace, but it will also rekindle the romance between you and your partner.

4. Pig Beach, Bahama

The Pig Beach, or better known as Major Cay, is located on the coast of Bahamas. Its unique name is due to the fact that this island’s inhabitants are all pigs. You can notice pigs swimming on the beach and getting a tan on the side. Some say that these pigs escaped from a ship while others say they were the original inhabitants. However, these rumors were never proven.

This beach isn’t for someone to spend a night, however, there are various tours that go there to observe these happy pigs. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy watching pigs acting like humans? So if you’re ever in the Bahamas, make sure that this beach is part of your bucket list.

You won’t regret it.

In Conclusion

The world is a wonderful place, so never view it from a single point of view. Escape reality for some time and explore these amazing islands.

6 Most Powerful SEO Tricks That’ll Boost Your Traffic

80% of a website’s traffic begins with a search query. Here are the six most powerful search engine optimization tricks to improve your rankings even more.

1. Link Building

This is the first part of common SEO tactics and it can be broken down into several techniques or methods. But the basic principle here is that you spread links going to your website throughout the internet. This is done because one of the factors that affect search engine rankings is the number of links leading to the site. Basically, each link is a “vote”. The idea behind this from a search engine standpoint is that if a lot of websites link to a particular website, then that means the receiver has good content and is deserving of a higher spot in the rankings. Link Building is done in order to replicate this effect.

2. Directory Submission

This is the first and probably the most common link building method there is. Almost any website today uses this method and all SEO specialists are at least familiar with this method. It is the fastest and easiest way to gain links from all over the internet. So how does this go?

First off, there are websites on the internet designed to provide people a service similar to that of the Yellow Pages. The main difference is that instead of providing the address and phone number of a particular business, it provides the URL of a particular website. These sites are called Directories and they are huge compilations of various sites all over the internet.

What’s great about Directories is that they also categorize the sites listed in them. Although categorization can differ from one Directory to another, it’s still very helpful that they are categorized. And, another great thing here is that you can use them to gain links for your site.

Basically all you have to do is to look for a Directory (which isn’t very hard). Next, look for the button to submit a site to their directory. You are then instructed to fill up a form containing information such as website name, the URL address, a quick description, e-mail of the submitter for verification, etc. After you do this, click on submit and it will be posted after the owners of the directory approve it.

Accomplish this process a couple of times every day and you’re sure to gain good backlinks for your website.
Now there are good directories and bad directories to submit to. You can identify a good directory if it has a high page rank and if it does not use a “no follow” tag on the links. Bad directories, on the other hand, are the exact opposite. They have zero page rank, which could also indicate that they are blacklisted by Google, and they implement “no follow” tags.

Manually register your site with DMOZ, also known as the Open Directory Project.The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors and feeds other leading web directories.

3. Content

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, the content will play a huge role in your rankings. As they say, “Content is King, Link Building is Queen”. Remember, all the hard work you do in building up your links will be for naught if your content is garbage. Search engines love websites that have good content and that only. If you can build good backlinks, you have to offer good content as well to achieve proper optimization and success.

Actually, it’s not just for optimization’s sake. SEO is about bringing in traffic, and how can you get people to go to your website if you have nothing significant to share? How can you convince people to stay on your website and buy something or click on an affiliate link if you have no articles, videos, or at least pictures in there? Simply put, you can’t do any of that without proper content.

That being said, Search Engine Optimization should start with creating and uploading content. This can include a lot of things but the most basic piece of content that you will use is articles.

When writing your articles, you need to keep in mind two things: first is your reader, next are the search engines. You need to make sure that both aspects are taken care off. Make it easy for your readers to understand and digest what you have to say. You can have different approaches to writing your articles; it’s up to you in which method you’ll be comfortable in. The important thing is that you express what needs to be expressed. You let the readers understand where you are coming from. And, in a sales point of view, you have to convince them that they need to buy or avail of what you are offering. It’s all about convincing your reader that what you say is true.

Next, you also have to treat search engines in the same manner and importance as your readers. This is because if you treat search engines right, they will place your content in a higher ranking. As mentioned earlier, they love good, unique content. That been said, how do you make them happy? First, make sure that your article is not plagiarized or simply copy and pasted onto your website. There are a lot of free online tools that lets you do that.

Next thing to remember is to make use of your keywords in your articles. Sprinkle them all over the place, but do not overdo it. Using your keywords too much can result in search engines not liking your site due to Keyword Stuffing. Use it a lot but in a smart way.

Other things that can make search engines happy about your article are the use of tags like bold tags for your keywords, header tags, and title tags. This can significantly improve the looks of your article in the eyes of search engines.
Of course, there’s more than one type of content that you can use for your website. The main one would be articles, but you can also use pictures or images to enhance the look and feel of your website. It can also add emphasis to whatever you are saying in your article. Images are a great way to catch your reader’s eye and get the message across faster.
Audio and video content are also good choices for certain websites. You can add audio messages or even background music for your website just to give it a better feel or ambiance. Plus, it lets your visitors remember the site. Videos, on the other hand, give you a faster and easier way to communicate with your visitors.

4. Competitor Reverse Engineering

Nowadays, it’s very difficult to have an original idea on the internet. You think it, it could already be there. Do you want to sell something on the internet? Most likely you have a direct or at least an indirect competitor. Some of the most congested niches on the net right now are diet drugs, pharmaceutical products, travel services, selling software of various kinds, and selling t-shirts to name a few. Now, of course, you what you can do is offer a better product or service so that you will sell. But the problem is, how will people find you? You will have to do SEO.

The problem with that is these people are on top for a reason. For one, their product or service must be good. If you are confident that what you have to offer is better than the current leader, then the only problem you have now is SEO. More often than not, the leader of any niche would have done SEO as well. To combat this, you need to do a lot more than what they have already done. You have to find your edge SEO-wise. You need something to get you ahead. But before you get ahead, you must catch up first. And you have a lot of ground to cover. That’s where Competitor Reverse Engineering comes in.

Competitor Reverse Engineering is the process of checking what your competitor has done SEO wise and doing it yourself. The main question now is, how exactly do you do that? Well, first of all, there are tools that you can use to check their backlinks. These are the same tools that you would use to check your own backlinks. Basically, you do to their site what you would do to your site in order to see how SEO friendly or how properly optimized the website is. In doing so, you get an idea on where they post to get their backlinks. Truth be told, this can take a very, very long time. You have to be really meticulous in doing this in order to get every last drop of information and every last detail on what they did. You will spend hours doing search engine queries and looking at their website.

Gather all the information that you can and take note of them. Now that you have this written down, it is time to analyze them. The first useful information you will get out of doing this is to get an idea of how massive or how strong their SEO team is. You will see this in the number of backlinks they have and the number of indexed pages there are in search engines. With this information, you now have a benchmark on how big the workload you have in order to catch up with your competitor.

The next useful bit of information is you will find where to place your links. Check the backlinks. Not just the note of where they are, but actually look for them in the site they are published in. Look at where they are placed. Is it a comment? Is the link part of a signature in a forum post? Or is it a simple directory post? Whatever it is, list it down. Take note of every single detail of where the link is, how was it posted, etc. This will serve as your guide.

Now that you have the information in your hands, it’s time to act using it. You know how your leading competitor got to his spot. In order to position yourself to take that spot, you have to be right behind them. You can do that by using this information in one of two ways. First, you can do it in the exact, same way they have done it.

5. Link Exchange

Since the dawn of link building, this method has been done in order to get backlinks. As a matter of fact, this is the simplest way to get link building done. So how does it go?

Well, the name says it all. It is an exchange of links. You do this by messaging another website asking if he or she is willing to post a link on their site to yours and you will do the same. Of course, looking for a willing webmaster can be a pain. You have to surf the internet for hours looking for websites and messaging them. Ideally, the sites you do Link Exchange with should be relevant to your website. For the motorcycle parts scenario, do Link Exchange with sites selling motorcycles or organization sites for motorcycle riders.

If you go on and ask several SEO specialists about Link Exchange, you will find that some of them, especially the new ones, have never tried this method. This is because exchanging links does not really produce that much success anymore. For one, there are a lot of factors that can hinder the other site from agreeing. One such factor is the page rank. A high page rank website will certainly not agree to Link Exchange if your site is new. They will gain nothing from it.
Another problem with Link Exchange is that since it is one of the earliest methods of increasing backlinks, Google and other search engines have found a way to counter its effects. They do not give a lot of credit to a link if it goes to a site that simply links back to the first website. Each link counted by search engines is “graded” for quality. And if they see it as a Link Exchange between one site and another, they give the link a poor grade thus not giving much effect to the ranking of your site.

6. Social Bookmarking

This is a unique method because it combines Link Building and Social Media in one. Social Bookmarking has been created as a service for people to use anywhere they are. Basically, in these websites, you can save your favorite web pages for reference or a read later on. Yes, this function is already built in browsers. But, what if you’re on the go and don’t use the same computer every time? What if your machine breaks down? Social Bookmarking sites give you the opportunity to save your favorite web pages and access it anywhere you are, whichever computer you are using.
So, how does this help in Search Engine Optimization? The answer is quite simple actually. In order to save web pages in Social Bookmarking websites, you enter the URL in them. This is then placed on your profile page or wall along with all the other pages you’ve saved. And there you have it, instant links.

Another great thing about Social Bookmarking is the fact that it is SOCIAL. This means that you can add friends on the website and you can share your list of favorite web pages with them. Much like in Facebook and Twitter, this can easily spread thus giving you a lot of links to your website.

However, there are limitations in making use of Social Bookmarking. Much like in Article Submission and Directory Submission, you cannot submit just any link. If the link you are trying to submit contains adult related materials or inappropriate content, then it will be removed later on and your profile can get banned. So remember not to do that.
Other than that, Social Bookmarking is a great way to spread links. It uses the power of Social Media in order to help Link Building.

11 Benefits of Lemon Water You Didn't Know About

I was first introduced to the concept of lemon water when I started doing yoga. An avid drinker (of water!), it was refreshing to learn a new spin on an old favorite. When I started having a glass of lemon water every morning, it was after learning only two of the benefits of lemon water. Little did I know just how many there are!

Why lemons?

Lemons are packed like a clown car with nutrients, including vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and fiber. (Fun fact: they contain more potassium than apples or grapes!)

Because of how hard lemon juice can be on the enamel of your teeth, it’s important to dilute it with water of any temperature (though lukewarm is recommended). Drink it first thing in the morning, and wait 15 to 30 minutes to have breakfast. This will help you fully receive the benefits of lemon water, which are listed below.

11 Benefits of Lemon Water

1. Gives your immune system a boost.

Vitamin C is like our immune system’s jumper cables, and lemon juice is full of it. The level of vitamin C in your system is one of the first things to plummet when you’re stressed, which is why experts recommended popping extra vitamin C during especially stressful days.

2. Excellent source of potassium.

As already mentioned, lemons are high in potassium, which is good for heart health, as well as brain and nerve function.

3. Aids digestion.

Lemon juice not only encourages healthy digestion by loosening toxins in your digestive tract, it helps to relieve symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, burping, and bloating.

4. Cleanses your system.

It helps flush out the toxins in your body by enhancing enzyme function, stimulating your liver.

5. Freshens your breath.

It also helps relieve toothaches and gingivitis (say wha?). Because the citric acid can erode tooth enamel, either hold off on brushing your teeth after drinking lemon water or brush your teeth before drinking it.

6. Keeps your skin blemish-free.

The antioxidants in lemon juice help to not only decrease blemishes, but wrinkles too! It can also be applied to scars and age spots to reduce their appearance, and because it’s detoxifying your blood, it will maintain your skin’s radiance.

7. Helps you lose weight.

Lemons contain pectin fiber, which assists in fighting hunger cravings.

8. Reduces inflammation.

If you drink lemon water on a regular basis, it will decrease the acidity in your body, which is where disease states occur. It removes uric acid in your joints, which is one of the main causes of inflammation.

9. Gives you an energy boost.

Lemon juice provides your body with energy when it enters your digestive tract, and it also helps reduce anxiety and depression. (Even the scent of lemons has a calming effect on your nervous system!)

10. Helps to cut out caffeine.

I didn’t believe this until I tried it, but replacing my morning coffee with a cup of hot lemon water has really done wonders! I feel refreshed, and no longer have to deal with that pesky afternoon crash. Plus, my nerves are thankful.

11. Helps fight viral infections.

Warm lemon water is the most effective way to diminish viral infections and their subsequent sore throats. Plus, with the lemon juice also boosting your immune system, you’ll simultaneously fight off the infection completely.

How much?

For those who weigh less than 150 pounds, squeeze half a lemon’s worth of juice into a glass of water. If over 150 pounds, use an entire lemon’s juice. You can of course dilute the lemon juice more, depending on your personal taste.

Not only are the benefits of lemon water endless, it’s one of the most substantial yet simple changes you can make for your health.

Is lemon water part of your daily routine? Let us know in the comments!