Amazing discovery by Keyhan Mohmand from Almere Stad, Holland. We have verified this image with several other images of Africa from NASA website and all of them (without cloud covers) show the name of Allah clearly. SubhanAllah! Picture 1 Picture 2 The following websites also verifies the above pictures: http://www.worldcountries.info/Africa.htm http://www.africasunnews.com/nasa.html (not a great angle but you can still point out the lines) Source : www.islamcan.com
By : Glenn Murray
People don’t want to read your post. Chances are, they’ve dedicated the first hour of their morning to staying in touch, and even that’s more than they really have time for. They checked out 4 or 5 posts before they stumbled across yours, and they know they face at least as many after. Not to mention emails, tweets and voicemails.
So they’re really just looking for an excuse to move on. Don’t give them that excuse.
It’s not enough that your posts are relevant and informative. In fact, even if your content is unique – or even groundbreaking – your posts still have to be sticky and memorable. Fortunately, it’s quite an easy thing to do. Let me explain…
It all comes down to 7 Signals in your Copywriting
There are 7 simple signals that you can include in your copywriting, that will get your visitors reading, keep them reading, and help them retain your message.
1. Signal that your post is relevant to your visitor
Make sure your headline is relevant. Don’t make it obscure in an attempt to be clever (or keyword-rich). An obscure headline is just one more obstacle to a busy reader. KISS is the best approach (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). Also, make sure you include an explicit statement, fairly early in the post, describing your subject matter and main point. (It’s not always possible to be this explicit in your headline.)
Examples from this post: My headline isn’t fancy. “7 Tips on How to Write Sticky, Memorable Blog Posts.” It’s straight to the point, but still engages because it promises something the reader wants. And my explicit early statement? “There are 7 simple signals that you can include in your copywriting… retain your message.” Once again, not fancy, but promising.
2. Signal that it’ll be easy to read
We all know that most people scan. Nothing new there. But it’s easy to overlook in the rush to post. Don’t. Always make sure you make it very clear to your visitors that your post is going to be easy to read. Make your first sentence succinct and friendly. Perhaps even raise an eyebrow or two. And consider using bulleted lists, numbered lists and sub-headers in your post body. Also, if your post is structured around a numbered list (as this one is), say so in the headline.
Examples from this post: My first sentence is only 7 words long, with just 1 multisyllabic word (and that word is just 2 syllables). It contains a contraction and addresses the reader directly (“your”), suggesting that the entire post will be fairly conversational and direct. The first sentence is also a little confronting, which may cause readers to ask, “Why don’t people want to read my post?” My entire post is delivered in bite-size chunks (tips), and this is promised in the headline. What’s more, I’ve used the magic number, 7, which is supposed to strike a chord with more readers (thanks to @schebesta for that tip!).
3. Signal that it’s got personality
People don’t want to read the same old conservative ho-hum they read everywhere else. They want to read something engaging. More to the point, they want to engage with the blogger who wrote it. That’s what blogging’s all about, after all. So make sure your post reflects your personality. Write how you talk. Allude to your own quirks. Show you don’t take yourself too seriously (maybe be self-deprecating, but not obsequious). In fact, unless you’re a writer, even your spelling and grammatical errors can reflect your personality. (But be careful here, as this can also undermine your professionalism.)
Examples from this post: I’ve used a conversational style (contractions, “you”, short sentences). I’ve even used an informal acronym (“KISS”), a colloquialism (“fancy”) and a bit of slang (“ho-hum”). I’ve thanked someone in an informal way (@schebesta). I’ve used metaphors to color the copy (“raise an eyebrow”). I’ve even broken some rules of grammar (I’m pretty sure “Don’t” isn’t a full sentence, nor is “Nothing new there” – grammarians’ opinions???). There are bound to be plenty of other examples too.
4. Signal that there’s more to come
People know that each paragraph links logically to the next. But by making that link explicit, you’ll increase the likelihood that they’ll read on. (This is a trick I learned from Joseph Sugarman.) So, every couple of paragraphs, finish off with an explicit lead-in to the next paragraph. Lead-ins like, “I’ll tell you how…”, “He wasn’t the first…”, “This is just the first of many…”, and “You’re about to find out how…”. But don’t over-use them. Otherwise you’ll sound like an infomercial offering steak knives! (“But wait, there’s more…!!!”)
Examples from this post: “Let me explain…” That’s about the only one I’ve used, because most of the post is in the numbered list, and lead-ins would get in the way down here.
5. Signal where the meat of the post is
Scanners know that most of your intro can be skipped. So long as you’ve used Signal 1, above, many will scan the page looking for the meat of your post. Make it easy for them to find. You might use a numbered list or a bulleted list, for example. Or some sub-heads. Often, longer paragraphs suggest meat too.
Examples from this post: The numbered list is the most obvious cue. But I’ve backed it up with a sub-head (“It all comes down to 7 signals in your copywriting”).
6. Signal your professionalism
Even if you adopt a conversational style, some colloquialism, slang, humor, or whatever, you should always make sure your reader knows you’re a professional writing to your audience (not just a bumpkin bangin’ some words onto the page). Intersperse your post with some language that your reader will perceive as professional. Whether it’s a certain way of phrasing things, some meaningful jargon, or just a big word or two.
Examples from this post: There are heaps, but here are a few. I started out pretty casual: “People don’t want to read your post. Chances are…” But paragraph 3 is slightly more serious: “…not enough that your posts are relevant and informative.” Then each numbered item is a mix of casual and professional. E.g. Casual: “Once again, not fancy, but promising.” Professional: “An obscure headline is just one more obstacle to a busy reader.”
7. Signal when the reader can stop reading
This isn’t as obvious as it sounds. We’ve already established that readers are in a hurry, and that they don’t want to read your whole post. The important thing to realize is that this applies not just to the START of your post, but also to the END. If your reader can glean everything they want without reading right to the end, they will. This point is really the corollary of Signal 5, above. Just as you signal where the meat starts, signal where it ends. For a simple numbered list post, without a trailing discussion, the stop-reading signal is the end of the list. For other posts, a ‘Conclusion’ sub-head is a good idea.
Examples from this post: I didn’t feel any further discussion was needed for this post. The numbered list is enough. And without much following the numbered list, it’s clear that when it ends, the meat ends.
Don’t assume your subject matter will hook readers. Always craft your copy so that it gives readers the cues they look for. They’ll not only be more likely to read on, but also more likely to come back.
PS. There are, no doubt, other copywriting signals that readers heed when deciding whether to persist with a post. If you can think of any, please share…
Source : www.divinewrite.com
1 The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
2 Never say die: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (a Star Trek favorite).
3 No American has died of old age since 1951.
4 That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.
5 The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the "agonal phase," from the Greek word agon, or contest.
6 Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
7 So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
8 Alternatively . . . A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations, and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
9 Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures.
10 The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.
11 Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.
12 If this doesn't work, we're trying in vitro! In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called famadihana. The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.
13 During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.
14 Well, yeah, there's a slight chance this could backfire: English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.
15 For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.
16 Waiting to exhale: In 1907 a Massachussets doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It's not.
17 Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in "hospitals for the dead" while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.
18 Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.
19 If you can't make it here . . . More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.
20 It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.
Source : www.discover.com
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