“My Yellow Page ad just isn’t bringing in the calls I need!” I’ve worked with Yellow Pages advertising (in one form or another) for 30 years and of all the complaints I’ve heard about this unique medium, this is by far the curse most often thrown at them. It’s no surprise. Flip through your directory and you’ll see why. Same dusty ads… telling the same tired story… to the same undefined audience (everyone). Of course prospects aren’t responding – these ads speak to NO ONE powerfully!

Blame “the message” dear friends, not the messenger! When every ad speaks the same tired phrases to the same “generalized buyer,” prospects have no reason to choose one ad over another, and your competitors are just as likely to be chosen and called as you are. Poor ad response is the inevitable result. But not to worry! Learn to speak to the prospects needs and fears and you’ll bring competitors to their knees, while plumping up your wallet for the next 365 days.

Want to speak to the prospect? Well, who are you trying to persuade? Exactly who do you want to call you? I know, I know… you want as many calls as possible, so your answer is “everyone in town”. The problem is, Yellow Page ads that try to persuade EVERY reader wind up motivating very few. People are looking for someone “special” who genuinely cares about solving their specific problem… someone they can truly trust. Speaking specifically about these needs as a specialist will allow you to connect powerfully with your target audience and create these warm, fuzzy feelings – carving a unique place in the market for your business.

Here’s an example. Let’s say your baseball obsession has left you with a painful arm injury and your doctor tells you that chiropractic care may help ease your pain. Soon, you’re flipping through the chiropractor heading in your Yellow Page directory. Your eyes quickly glaze over as you’re bombarded with a boatload of ads that look and say basically the same thing… “Are You In Pain?” Uh no, I’m browsing here because I have a thing for chiropractors! Don’t waste precious space telling your prospects what they already know!

Odds are there isn’t a single message that makes a personal, emotional connection with YOUR specific problem. But what if you came across an ad with the following? (Headline) “Quick, Gentle Relief For Your Sports Injury…” (Subhead) “From the Chiropractor Professional Athletes Rely On.” The body copy goes on to explain how this chiropractor has earned a glowing reputation with the local sports teams AND it even includes a few of their testimonials. The ad’s large, unexpected graphic (a batter smashing a ball into space) reinforces the ad’s headline and conveys the benefit of calling this doctor (regained mobility). So, are you going to call one of the many chiropractors that promise pain relief for “everything under the sun” (including migraines, ear infections and scoliosis) or are you going to place your trust in a sports injury specialist who you perceive to be a sports nut, just like you?

The more tightly focused your ad is, the greater response you can expect to achieve. It’s far better to persuade 10% of the audience 100% of the way, than 100% of audience only 10%. Speak only to the people you most want to attract and they WILL answer you. You’ll differentiate your business from all the rest in a powerful way and basically eliminate the competition!

Speaking of being different. What kind of graphics are you using in your Yellow Page ad? Does your “unexpected” image grab the reader’s eye and set you apart from the rest in a meaningful way? Or are you running the same yawn-inducing, expected images everyone else is using? The image you choose should leap off the page, reinforce your headline concept (benefit) and highlight the “solution” to the prospects problem, NOT the problem itself.

It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many chiropractic Yellow Page ads depict sad, aching individuals clutching their backs in agony! What are these doctors thinking? Probably the same thing personal injury attorneys are thinking when they place horrific car wreck photos in their ads. Or plumbers who show a panic-stricken homeowner standing in knee-high toilet water!

The image you choose for your Yellow Page ad must be positive and make your prospects feel comfortable (and safe) about calling you. There are exceptions of course, but unless you’re a Yellow Page direct response ad design expert, steer clear of any images that could carry negative connotations. Show prospects an image that reinforces the reason to call you (the solution to their problem) and they WILL be much more likely to notice your ad, read it entirely, and call you!

How about the overall visual impact of your Yellow Page ad? Does your ad stand head and shoulders above all the clutter and “invite” readers in? If not, you’re wasting money. Learning the secrets of effective ad design will make your ad leap off the page and draw readers into the meaty content they’ll need, in order to make an informed decision. Successful Yellow Page ads usually contain 4-5 main elements. They are: a powerful headline (and possibly a sub-head), emotion-based body copy, a striking visual and a compelling call-to-action. The way in which these key elements are presented and interact with one another will largely determine your success or failure in the Yellow Pages. So hold on… Yellow Page ad design primer straight ahead…

Your primary objective in the Yellow Pages is to get noticed amidst a slew of competitors. After all, they won’t ever read your content if they don’t even notice your ad. Don’t worry, it’s not that difficult.
Run your headline BIG and bold at the very top of your ad. Use a large, unique, unexpected graphic that grabs the eye and reinforces your main headline concept. Keep your body copy fairly small (9 to 11 point) to conserve space for your large, eye-grabbing graphic and headline. Watch your white space! Empty space in your ad is just as critical as the content because it makes your message stand out that much more. Ample white space also makes the layout easier to navigate, giving it an uncluttered and inviting presentation.

As you lay out the main elements of your Yellow Page ad, try to create a logical visual “eye flow” that directs the reader’s eye from the “point of entry” (your main headline) at the very top, to the body copy in the middle and then gently deposits them at the call to action, which should appear at the bottom of the ad. Make note that the visual point of entry can also be your unique graphic image. Whatever your eye-grabber is, just make sure it helps identify your target audience, commands attention, conveys the solution and makes the reader want to continue reading.

These are just a few suggestions to help make your phones buzz big time. There are dozens more on the way, so stay tuned! Contrary to what most Yellow Page marketers claim, there really are no “secrets” to successful Yellow Pages advertising design. High-performance Yellow Page ads contain a few key elements that are put together using established, time-proven strategies. Incorporate them into your very next Yellow Page ad campaign and you will reap stellar results. If you could use a few pointers along the way, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Have you ever typed “how to knock someone out with one punch” or “knockout punches” into a search engine, like Google? Were you searching for a free article on these power punches?

Recently, I read an esoteric article about developing a single, knock-out punch.

The author was OK, when he talked about “brain rattling.” It’s that jarring motion that often cause a total knock out in boxing. (I think I would have been happier, if he had explained the dangers of knocking someone unconscious by rattling the brain against the skull.

Knockout Punch Dangers Missed By Author

Where the esoteric author stepped over the line was when he started discussing hitting the temple. Sure, the advice read as though it was lifted from one of my ebooks or ecourses on devastating punching, minus all of the warnings.

This author talked about Dim Mak (The Death Touch) as though it were just another intellectual discussion for his web site.

Is he so naive that he doesn’t understand that a sharp blow to the temple can kill someone?

Hasn’t he read about the fatal accidents that have happened to actors when they fire blanks or rubber bullets at their temple?

Punching to the temple is very dangerous.

The Responsibility of Knowing How to Knock Someone Out with a Single Punch

This may sound as corny as a Spiderman movie, but with the knowledge of being able to knock someone out every time comes the awesome responsibility to … avoid knocking someone out!

My philosophy is “Those that can, don’t. Those that can’t … claim that they can.”

How to Develop a Single Knockout Punch

Look, you don’t need to learn a punch to the temple, in order to knock someone out. Don’t risk it. Don’t risk the life of another in an attempt to “knock someone unconscious.”

It just doesn’t make sense.

If you need to incapacitate someone in a fight, you have a lot of options. A light tap to the groin for example, may or may not cause someone to pass out. Either way, you will probably successfully defend yourself.

I could give other examples, too. Just think vulnerable areas.

I agree that devastating punches are very useful … but you need to know how to use them. Most fights don’t warrant such a risk.

Your life would have to be in dangerous before you’d consider such a drastic move as a “knockout punch.”

It is actually not as hard as many people think to knock someone out with one punch. Watching a boxing match, mixed martial arts fight, or other combat sports you can get the impression that a knockout punch is something very difficult to get right. But in real life, in a street confrontation with no gloves and fighting against someone who is probably not trained to take a punch, getting a k.o. is much, much easier.

If you want to learn how to knock someone out with one punch the first thing you have to do is to think about what it actually is which causes the loss of consciousness. Some types of punch can be very effective at hurting your opponent, opening up cuts on their face or breaking their nose, but may still have little or no chance of knocking them out.

When a person gets knocked unconscious by a punch it is not the immediate force of the impact which does this, but rather the force of the brain being rattled against the inside of the skull.

This means that a punch which causes the head to jerk and move rapidly will be much more likely to knock someone out than a punch which causes less movement of the head, even if it is not as hard. It also means that speed is paramount. A very fast strike with just enough power to move the head will be more likely to knock someone out than a slower punch which has more power and weight behind it.

The need to create this movement of the head is the reason why you are more likely to knock someone out with a punch which they don’t see coming. If you see a punch coming towards you you will tense your neck muscles and brace yourself against the impact, reducing the movement of your head when the punch lands. If your neck muscles are relaxed when a punch hits you then you will almost always get knocked out, whatever kind of punch it is.

Once a fight has started it is very difficult to engineer a situation where your opponent will not see a punch coming, however if you are in a situation where you are being threatened and a fight seems inevitable, but hasn’t yet started, you can take advantage of this by suddenly throwing the first punch at an unexpected moment, such as while you are in the middle of a sentence, and by striking from a direction where they will not see it until it is too late.

When it comes to the actual punch a strike from the side, such as a hook, is more likely to knock someone out than a straight punch to the front of the face, simply because it will be harder for the neck muscles to prevent the head from being jerked. For the same reason an uppercut is generally better than a straight punch, but probably not as good as a hook. When trying to knock someone out with a hook the further away from the neck you can land the punch the more movement there will be and the more likely it is to knock them out. This means that the best place to land a hook is right on the end of the chin.

The ultimate knockout punch, however, uses and entirely different method. Rather than jerking the knead it uses the principles of Dim Mak pressure point fighting. The ultimate knockout punch is a strike to the temple. You have to be very accurate to get this right, but with practice you can do it every time.

The only trick you must know in order to knock someone out with a strike to the temple is how to hold your hand. It should be clear that an ordinary fist is much bigger than the area of the temple, and so it is very poor at focusing force on this pressure point.

There are two hand forms you can use instead. The first is the phoenix fist, in which you hold an ordinary fist but with the middle finger raised up a little out of the bunch. When using this you strike with the middle joint of the raised finger, rather than the knuckle.

The other option, which I personally prefer, is to use a sword hand. To do this hold your hand out flat with the palm facing downwards and turn your wrist so that your fingers are pointing outwards. This creates a fairly sharp point from the joint at the very base of the thumb, just above the wrist. With this hand form you strike using a swinging motion of the arm.

When practicing either of these strikes power is virtually irrelevant, and accuracy is everything. If you land a strike with the whole force focused on the temple you will knock your opponent out every time, no matter how hard the strike is.

I’ve just recently known about Catherine Coulter and her new book KnockOut: An FBI Thriller when I got in the mood of reading crime novels. I’ve never heard of her before I got into crime novels, and now that I think about it, it’s a shame that I didn’t because she really has good books.

Catherine Coulter is a New York Times best-selling author, with her previous novels from the FBI Thrillers series topping the list. KnockOut is the thirteenth installment in the series, and a much anticipated one at that. The novel opens very strongly, a factor which I like the most about Coulter. Agent Dillon Savich comes at us while he was on the move stopping a group of robbers from robbing First Union Bank of Washington clean.

A few days later when a little girl sees him on TV, she sends him a telepathic message saying her life is in danger and asking him to help her. But before he can help the little girl, she flees with her mother in fear of her uncle. Meanwhile, Dillon is still on the case of the bank robbers, one of which escaped and is now leaving a trail of bodies.

The book is full of manhunt and exciting twists in the plot. There’s no doubt you can get hooked reading the novel, as it is delivered very well and the characters are very well rounded. With Catherine Coulter’s years of experience writing romantic thrillers and historical romances, this one is undoubtedly a work of a master.

If you’re interested with Catherine Coulter’s other works, I found out that she has also a number of romantic thrillers that are critically acclaimed as well. I’m not much a fan of anything romantic, but I find that KnockOut is a good read, so maybe some other time, I’ll evolve into romantic-thriller reader because of her. Ultimately, Catherine Coulter’s KnockOut: An FBI Thriller is worth your money and time, and will have you at the edge of your seats.

Birthdays are a great opportunity to try new things you might not do every day. Teens love activities that combine camaraderie, indulgence and a great time. These 10 suggestions are sure to provide teenagers (as well as adults) with an unforgettable birthday.

1. Glamour/Hollywood: A dress-up event in an elegant setting complete with photographers and even a limousine ride.  Do a drive-through at your favorite fast food joint.

2. Dancing: A nightclub theme where you’ll dance til dawn. Create your own party mix or hire a dj to keep the party going.

3. Pool/Beach Outing: If your birthday falls in warm weather, invite your friends for swimming, barbecue and outdoor fun.

4. Karaoke: Rent a karaoke machine or reserve a karaoke room and sing your hearts out.

5. Salon/Makeover: Book a session for you and your friends at a beauty salon. Nails, makeup, tanning – make yourselves beautiful!

6. Art/Graffiti: Wait!  It’s not what you think.  Rather than defacing property, create a template on wall-sized heavy paper. Have the group design and create a mural together that can be saved and hung as artwork remembering the day.

7. Cooking Class: Reserve a kitchen session at a local cooking school.  Have a professional chef teach cooking techniques and guide the group in preparing a gourmet meal themselves.  Then, of course, enjoy the meal together.

8. Amusement Park: Give all party attendees a full-day pass to an amusement park. Think roller coasters, free falls and thrills!

9. Fine Restaurant Meal: Select a classy restaurant and invite your friends. Reserve a party room at the restaurant for large groups and have a special, personalized dining experience.

10. Helping Others: Spend a day helping those less fortunate. It’s an unusual but rewarding event that will make you and your friends feel good while giving back to your community. Then, treat yourselves to a pizza party for all your hard work!