Reasons

Reasons to Finally Get Clean: Effects of Addiction on Your Health and Life

Are you struggling with addiction but can’t seem to get motivated to get clean? It’s important to understand how detrimental substance abuse is to your health and well-being.

In addition to causing countless illnesses and physical issues, addiction can be fatal. In fact, in 2016 alone, 63,632 people died in the United States as a result of an overdose. 

If you think you can continue using drugs and alcohol without serious side-effects, you’re wrong. Eventually, it will catch up with you.

Keep reading get a better understand of the effects of addiction on your health and quality of life.

Physical Repercussions

Depending on the type of drug you’re addicted to, there could be a number of physical risks. These could include injuries related to an overdose or long-term illness.

Alcohol and narcotics can wreak havoc on your liver. Years of abuse could lead to liver disease or cancer.

Hard drugs and alcohol can cause brain damage after years of heavy abuse. You could also become susceptible to hepatitis, heart disease, and stroke.

Finally, substance abuse weakens your immune system, making you more vulnerable to common illnesses.

Damage to Your Mental Health

Addiction doesn’t only harm your body. It can also lead to mental and emotional problems.

Most drugs have a “comedown” or withdrawal period associated with them. These periods can lead to serious depression and anxiety.

You may abuse drugs and alcohol to cover up preexisting mental problems or issues with self-confidence. This is a dangerous cycle to get caught in. Instead of addressing your problems, you’re making them worse by digging yourself into a hole.

The best thing you can do is to seek professional help. Places like this center can help you face your addiction head-on. 

Addiction Ruins Relationships

Addiction may cause you to isolate yourself. You may either want to hide your substance abuse or feel you can’t identify with your friends and family.

Abuse may also cause irritability, anger, or erratic behavior. This can lead to tension between you and loved ones, especially if you’re shutting them out.

If you notice your relationships starting to crumble, it’s time to seek help. Your family and friends are your biggest support system. It may be difficult, but reaching out to them for help could be just the thing you need to get on the path to recovery.

Financial Hardships

Nobody likes dealing with financial stress. Unfortunately, addiction and money issues go hand in hand.

Supporting a drug habit is expensive. Plus, once you’re addicted, paying for it takes precedence over everything else. Before you know it, you’re having trouble paying your bills.

To add to the problem, the more addicted you become, the more expensive your habit will be. That’s why it’s important to seek treatment before you’re in over your head.

Understand the Effects of Addiction

If you want to get clean but can’t seem to find the motivation or strength, it’s important to seek help. The longer you continue abusing drugs or alcohol, the more damage you’re doing to your body.

Understanding the effects of addiction is a good way to find the inspiration to get clean. Keep the points discussed above in mind when thinking about your future.

Check out more articles related to everyday health issues and general well-being.

Business Hack 2019: Top 7 Reasons SEO Website Design is Vital

If you’re a business owner, you know having a website is mandatory in today’s digital age. No one wants to get in touch with a company until they’ve had the chance to do some research on their website.

More importantly, how are folks finding out about your website if you’re not taking advantage of SEO techniques, better known as search engine optimization? 

SEO website design is important not only so people can find you easily on Google, but also so your website can achieve the high rankings needed to climb the top of the search results. 

Here are a few reasons why SEO web design is important, and why your company needs it today.

1. It’s Easy to Find Organic Traffic

Think about how most folks find the websites or information they’re searching for. Chances are, they type in a few words or a term, perhaps with a zip code or the words “near me”. Google, or the search engine of choice, then directs them over to a variety of websites that meet these criteria.

If you’re lucky, yours can be among them.

Using SEO connects you with people who are looking for solutions to their problem. Getting organic customers through SEO is not only a low-cost way of increasing business, but it is also effective to boot.

Check out a few ways to maximize SEO efforts on your website with little effort for a great return. 

2. SEO Website Design Makes it Easy to Convert Customers

Potential customers like to see that they’re dealing with an expert who can help them with their problem. By targeting certain terms, writing in-depth about them, and including additional information, you can build audience confidence in what you have to offer. 

Since you’re already showing up in search engines while presenting helpful information about a subject, potential customers will assume you know what they’re looking for and how you can make a difference.

If you’re not taking advantage now, it’s time to start.

3. It Improves Social Media Ads

Social media is one of the most common ways for all companies to advertise. Many people take to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find more information about a company, product, or service.

The same SEO you put to work on your blog posts and website can come in handy on social media, too. Knowing what key terms to target and how to apply them across the different platforms can help you gain additional followers with minimal effort. 

Before diving in, make sure to brush up on the use of hashtags in social media, and how they’re used across each platform. 

4. All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

Although peer pressure was something your parents taught you to avoid in childhood, anything goes as an adult in the business world. It’s important to keep on top of what the competition is doing, or risk getting left behind in the dust. 

Staying on top of trends means you can keep your website up-to-date and ready for consumer consumption before others catch on to what you’re doing. This can make your company seem even more appealing to people since you’re staying ahead of the trends.

Take a moment to view what your competitors have up their sleeve. Then find out more about how SEO design can improve business and help you grow. 

5. Updated SEO Website Design Makes it Easy to Convert Mobile Users

When working with search engine optimization, it’s important to test it and ensure it works on mobile devices, too. With so many people opting to access a website on their phone or tablet, you’ll find yourself losing out on leads, potenital customers, and even interested parties if your website doesn’t have SEO that reads well on mobile.

Once everything reads well across all devices, you can feel confident you’re ready to improve business and develop the clientele and connections you need for success. 

6. Improving Ranking is Easier When Using SEO

Climbing to the top of the Google search results is every webmaster’s dream. You want to be the go-to for folks who need help but don’t know where to turn. 

Google favors sites that are SEO optimized, putting them closer to the top. Avoiding issues such as Blackhat techniques (an industry name for dishonest practices) and focusing on delivering a quality website that targets and helps customers is the way to go for success. 

If you’re not using SEO in your current website design, you’re missing out on the free promotional opportunities that come from being closer to the top of Google results. 

7. You Can Build Connections With Others

SEO is more than standing out and looking at the top of your game. It’s necessary to develop relationships in order to increase your rank, too. 

By taking advantage of hot SEO trends, such as using external backlinks, you’ll not only promote other websites but can focus on creating relationships with the owner. Having an additional expert guest post or even mention you on their website goes a long way in obtaining credibility and getting your company’s name out there. 

Exchanging links and growing your profile makes it possible for others to see your business. And after all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? 

Discover More

Now that you know the benefits behind SEO website design, it’s time to get started. Between gaining new customers, building business connections, and creating a whole new name for yourself within your industry, you have nothing to lose.

Curious about learning more? Check out our blog post on how to make your website stand out. 

9 Reasons You Should Work with Job Recruiters

Are you on the hunt for a job?

Maybe you’re fresh off college and looking to enter the job market for the first time or you’re a seasoned pro looking for a new challenge. Or you just lost your job and need to find another one quick.

Regardless of your circumstances, one thing is certain: hunting for a job is not a fun activity – at least for most job seekers. Good jobs are getting harder to come by and scouring job boards to find an exciting opportunity can be frustrating.

The good news? Job recruiters take most of the trouble out of job hunting.

Keep reading to learn why you should absolutely work with job recruiters.

1. Get Access to More Job Opportunities

It’s an open secret in most industries that some employers don’t advertise open positions on public job boards.

Instead, they outsource that task of filling certain positions to recruitment agencies. Unless you have insider information, which is unlikely, you won’t even know those positions ever existed.

As such, one of the top reasons to use a job recruiter is to gain access to more job opportunities. You won’t have to rely on online job boards and public advertisements to know which companies are hiring and for what positions.  

With more opportunities at your disposal, you stand a strong chance of finding your ideal job.

2. Save Time

Looking for a job is a time-consuming activity.

You have to spend hours writing or sprucing up your resume and cover letter, and even more hours browsing through online job boards looking for openings that might interest you.

Depending on your career, it might take several days, weeks or even months before an opening crops up. So you have to keep refreshing the job boards and monitoring your email for job alerts.

And once you’ve submitted your applications, you have to wait for feedback from your potential employers. While some reply in a matter of days, others take their sweet time.

A job recruiter saves you time. Because they have a database of open positions, all they need to do is match your qualifications or suitability to the available jobs. This takes far less time than when you’re doing it on your own.

3. You Have Specialized Skills

Specialized skills call for a specialty career (a career that focuses on a particular subfield within a broader discipline). Think jobs like nuclear technologist, forensic psychologist, and nanotechnology engineer.

Whatever you make of these jobs, we can all agree they aren’t very common.

When you have specialized skills, you need a specialized approach when it comes to finding a job. There’s no point scouring through job boards like other job seekers when there’s little chance a vacancy will be listed there.

In most cases, companies with specialized positions source for candidates directly from training institutions or rely on the expertise of recruiting firms.

If you were not placed in a job by your college or university’s placement services, your best option is to work with a job recruiter.

4. Find a Job in Your Dream/Preferred Company

Considering that job seekers consider a company’s reputation and organizational culture before taking up a job, it’s fair to assume you already have a dream employer in mind.

However, unless you’re lucky, you’re unlikely to get a job in your dream company – at least not in your first try. But with a job recruiter on your side, it’s doable.

You see, the goal of a job recruiter is not just to get you hired. They also want to help you find job satisfaction, and one way to do this is to try and place candidates in their preferred positions.

So when you submit your resume to a recruiter, you’ll also indicate the companies you’d love to work for. With this information, the recruiter will submit your documents to your ideal employers, as long as they have active openings and you meet their qualification requirements.

5. Get Professional Help

Did you know hunting for a job is in itself a skill?

Look. You have to write a resume and a cover letter, ensuring it adheres to modern guidelines and meets acceptable standards. But if you’ve not mastered the art (or science) of writing these documents, do you think you’ll get it right the first or second time?

Then there’s the little matter of job interviews. From dressing right to knowing how to conduct yourself during the interview, you could easily make mistakes that can harm your chances of getting the job.

This is why resume writing and interview coaching services exist. But they cost money.

Lucky for you, when working with a job recruiter you gain free access to these services. Job recruiters get paid when they help their clients fill open positions, so it’s in their best interest to help job seekers become compelling candidates.

This means you can count on your job recruiter to help you polish up your resume and prepare you adequately for interviews.

6. Keep Your Job Search Discreet

On average, a person will hold 12 jobs over the course of a lifetime.

If you’re not on your 12th job yet, chances are you’re planning to hop to another job. But as you probably already know, nothing will irk your current employer than finding out you’re looking to jump ship.

Not only that, you risk getting fired, the legality of the matter notwithstanding.

When an employer figures you’re looking for another job, they could consider you a bad influence on the rest of the team. And they can take steps, such as assigning you more tasks, to set you up for failure and put you on the firing line.

With that in mind, it’s wise to keep your job search discreet. The best way to do this is to sign up with a recruitment agency, as opposed to, say, posting your intentions on LinkedIn, which is a public platform.

7. Avoid Overexposure

This point might look similar to the one described above, but there’s another angle to it.

When hiring, most employers prefer “exclusive candidates.” An exclusive candidate is one who isn’t accessible to multiple employers. It’s more like how elite law firms poach top talent from elite law schools.

The question is: how do you make yourself an exclusive candidate?

The solution is avoiding overexposure, which happens when you post your resume on several job sites to enhance your chances of catching the eyes of a potential employer.

Want to avoid overexposure? Work with a job recruiter.

You can rest assured knowing your resume and other personal details are in a private database, and you’ll be notified when it’s forwarded to a potential employer.

Also, overexposure increases your risk of falling prey to job scammers. When your resume is publicly viewable, scammers can use your details to email you fake jobs and lure you into giving them personal details such as your social security number.

With a legitimate job recruiter, you won’t have to worry about being a victim of a job scam.

8. Beat Job Search Anxiety

When will I get a job?

Will I get a good job?

Will my employer be nice to me?

If you’re asking yourself these questions, you’re certainly starting to get anxious about your job search. While you’re not alone in this, your fear of the unknown is enough to get you worried and restless.

A job recruiter can take some anxiety out of your job search. 

Especially when working with a recruiter with high job placement rates, you’ll be confident of finding your ideal job sooner than later. Plus, the coaching services provided by recruiters will help you learn to cope with job interview anxiety.

9. It’s Free, Yay!

The best things in life are free, and so are job recruiters.

Well, some recruiters will charge you a small fee to sign up, but don’t fall for them. The best recruiters in the business are free, and that’s because they get paid by firms to help them get the best talent. Others will take a percentage off your salary for a certain amount of time, meaning if they don’t get you a job, they won’t make money.

Job Recruiters Offer the Best Route to Your Dream Job

Let’s face it: although employment rates are down, getting a job quickly and conveniently still remains a tall challenge for millions of job seekers.

If you’re in this situation, it’s high time you worked with job recruiters. From shortening the duration of your job hunt to offering you professional coaching services at zero or little cost, you have every reason to try out their services.

Best wishes in your job search and explore our careers and jobs section for more insights.

5 Reasons You Need to Hire a Professional Website Designer for Your Blog

Having a basic Squarespace site for your blog is a good start, but it isn’t enough to help you fund your dreams.

Take Ariana Huffington’s word for it. The Huffington Post started out as a simple blog but is now worth around $1 billion.

If you’re ready to step up your blog game, you’ll need a bit of professional assistance. Here are five reasons why you should hire a website designer for your blog.

1. Hiring a Website Designer Gives You More Time to Blog

There aren’t enough hours in the day as it is. Between writing, editing, publishing, and mingling with your audience, there’s hardly a free moment.

Fortunately, pro web designers can alleviate some of the burdens.

By allowing them to work their magic, you’ll have more time to do what you do best — blog.

While they won’t be able to help you develop a website from scratch — website designers and website developers are two very different positions, which you can compare here — you’ll still save time.

Instead of spending hours learning CSS and hoping your newfound skills serve you well, use that time to come up with more content. In the long run, you may even save money this way.

2. A Professional-Looking Blog Brings in Revenue

According to Statista, there are over 4 million blogs on Tumblr alone!

Since that number doesn’t factor in blogs from professional and personal websites, you can rest assured that the actual number of blogs online at this moment is far higher.

Because of the competition, it’s vital for bloggers to gain their readers’ trust. Not only will this trust result in more readers, but it may help you make more money.
A quality blog with a proven readership is far more likely to attract advertisers.

3. Your Blog Will Load Faster

Few things are as frustrating as waiting for a website to load. Even a few seconds can seem like an eternity to most web users.

Web designers can help you optimize your images and tailor your URLs so that your readers can access your great content in a flash.

4. No Need to Worry About Sitewide SEO Compliance

Not only will the help of web designers speed your site up, but a redesign may result in better search rankings.

Website designers can help you improve your on-site SEO in a variety of ways, including adding markup structures that are web crawler friendly and creating sitemaps.

5. Website Designers Can Help Reinforce Your Brand

You may think of yourself as a blogger or content creator, but you’re also a brand. Everything you put on your blog reinforces or detracts from that brand.

Web designers can help your blog better represent the ideals and beliefs you’d like to portray through the use of color, fonts, and more.

Revamp Your Blog With Professional Assistance

Partnering with a website designer is a fantastic idea for bloggers of any scale.

Whether you’re a small blogger hoping to grow or an established blogger hoping to make it even bigger, a web designer can help you get where you want to be.

Now all that’s left is to create great content! Check out our article on writing SEO-friendly posts to learn more.

5 Reasons How a Great Smile Boosts Confidence in Business and in Life

People judge you within one-tenth of a second.

That’s according to Psychological Science, anyway. Indeed, in their research on first impressions, psychologists found that our reactions to people are almost instantaneous. And they’re tough to alter once they’ve been formed.

Smiling is one way to ensure this split-second judgment falls in your favor.

But a good first impression is only one confidence-boosting benefit of a great smile. In reality, there are many other reasons that smiling can help in business and life.

Keep reading to learn 5 key reasons smiling is so important.

5 Reasons a Great Smile Boosts Confidence

Here are 5 main reasons why smiling can boost your confidence.

1. It Makes You Feel Great

Smiling feels good.

When you smile, your brain releases neurochemicals called endorphins. And endorphins feel great. They’re responsible for feelings of happiness as well as stress reduction.

Oh, and they help in pain management too.

2. It Can Alter Your Mood

Ever had one of those days where you just feel glum?

Well, forcing yourself to smile anyway might turn things around.

Remember those endorphins we just mentioned? Well, thanks to something called the facial feedback hypothesis, as the muscles in your face contract into a smile, your brain notices.

And because those same muscles usually signal that you’re in a happy mood, your brain convinces itself you must be happy. Say hello to a brighter day!

Think of it like reverse-engineered happiness. It’s real-world, psychologically sound, ‘fake it ’til you make it’ methodology.

3. It Makes You More Likeable

Smiling is a sure-fire way to endear you to others.

In fact, it’s associated with positive traits such as openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. All of which are key components of likeability.

Which is crucial when it comes to business and workplace environments. For example, likeability has been linked to success in all manner of domains including marketing efforts and even presidential campaigns.

4. It Improves Your Relationships

People who smile a lot have better relationships.

Thanks to factors such as likeability, smiling has a big say in our interpersonal relationships. Think about it, what happens when you smile at someone? Nine times out of ten, they smile back.

Smiling is a building block of close connections between colleagues and future friends.

It’s a joy to spend time with people who know how to smile. And where business is almost always built on relationships, it’s clear that smiling is key to success.

5. It Makes You Healthier

Smiling is literally good for your health.

Seriously, it’s been shown that smiling can help your immune system, assist in pain relief and even make you live longer!

One way this is possible is because of all the positive things happening in your brain (remember the endorphins?!). For this reason, things like laughter (who doesn’t smile when they laugh?!) and positive thinking are an effective way of reducing stress and illness.

Time To Wrap Up

There you have it: 5 reasons that a great smile will boost confidence in business and life.

Reasons such as these explain why practices like cosmetic dentistry are becoming increasingly popular. It all starts with the happiness it brings.

The endorphins your brain releases feel fantastic. So much so that you can often improve your mood by just faking a smile. And that boost in positivity goes a long way in making you more likable, building strong relationships and even helping with physical health.

A great smile can introduce you to greater confidence in all domains of life.

Now, we’d love to hear from you. What sounds like the biggest benefit of smiling to you? Let us know in the comments.

10 Reasons All Businesses Need a Solid Social Media Marketing Campaign

If you want your business to be wildly successful, you need to have a killer social media presence.

Selling fancy socks to teenagers? You can grab their attention on Instagram.

Trying to market a new brand of medication to the elderly? A lot of older people have turned to Facebook for their social interaction.

Social media isn’t a passing fad, it’s a phenomenon that you need to master if you want your business to excel. It can be difficult, however, to know what to do if you’re inexperienced. Luckily, social media marketing isn’t an unconquerable subject.

Here’s why you need to start your campaign immediately.

Benefits of Social Media for Businesses

If you still aren’t convinced that you need to beef up your social media presence, you’ll probably change your mind after reading the rest of this post.

1. Web Traffic

Your product is wonderful. You know exactly who your audience is and what you want to say to them. There’s just one problem- how are you going to find them?

Solely relying on Google searches to find customers is risky. Yes, if you sell dog leashes and someone searches for a leash for Fido, you can buy advertising space to reach that person.

But what about the woman who’s casually browsing the internet, not thinking about her dog at all? Google isn’t going to be enough to open her wallet. But she might open her wallet when she sees pictures of awesome-looking leashes on Instagram.

2. Huge Conversion Rates

Traditional advertising is impersonal. Ads are targeted toward large swaths of the population and fade into the background.

Social media advertising, when done correctly, is aimed towards YOU. Your interests, your likes and dislikes are taken into account. This allows people to become more comfortable with your brand.

That familiarity with your brand can lead to impressive conversion rates.

3. Improved Customer Recognition

If you could, you would probably plaster your brand’s logo everywhere in sight. Obviously, that’s not practical in the real world.

Social media is different. Knowledge of your company can spread fast and organically. Because the posts that you share can be seen by thousands or even millions of people, you’ll be able to reach an audience that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Someone who’s just casually browsing their news feed might hear about your brand because one of their friends re-posted your ad.

4. More Authentic Customer Relationships

Social media allows you to connect with your customers directly. You can answer their questions, respond to their jokes. A lot of people love it when known brands contact them personally.

People buy more from companies that they feel a connection to. You can foster that feeling by engaging in natural social media interactions.

5. Decreased Costs

A solid social media marketing campaign is often a lot cheaper than traditional marketing efforts. The time commitment is less and even if you decide to pay for targeted advertising, the cost is usually less than, say, renting a billboard or magazine space.

You can even build a grassroots campaign and spend nothing at all first. Just devote an hour or two a day to trying to reach new customers.

6. Media Coverage

Tv networks and newspaper outlets scour social media sites to find out what’s trending. A lot of national news stories were born on sites like Twitter and Facebook. If you post the right witty response or impressive story, you might go viral.

If that happens, there’s a chance that your post will be picked up by a news organization. Your brand could blow up from a single post.

7. Better Customer Service

A disgruntled customer wants to the ability to contact you and get a response immediately. The days of waiting endlessly for a letter in the mail are over.

If you have a strong social media presence, this isn’t an issue. Make sure an employee is constantly monitoring your accounts and paying attention to alerts. A lot of unhappy customers is more likely to send you a tweet or direct message on Instagram than an email.

Your fast response can turn in an ugly situation into a happy. If your customer feels like their complaint has been heard, there’s a good chance that their anger will disappear.

8. Keep Up With Your Competition

If you’re not on social media yet, you can bet that your competition is. You really can’t afford to slack off in this direction or you’ll lose out on business.

The good news is that a lot of small businesses are butchering their social media campaigns, which gives you a lot of room to dominate your market. Many small business owners set up social media channels then barely use them.

They might post a coupon occasionally but they rarely interact with their followers and all of their posts are obviously intended to sell you something. If you can do it better, you can out-compete them.

9. Develop Brand Authority

Show off your expertise by answering questions about your industry on social media. If you sell organic cat treats and a Twitter user asks what’s the best food to feed your cats, you should answer.

This establishes your brand as a recognized authority in your field. In addition to exposure, you might even be able to snag a new customer.

10. Connect with Industry Leaders

Social media can help you reach the leading voices in your industry. You don’t need to cozy up with your competition but it might be useful to connect with important brands and individuals who are related to your business.

Your brand can develop a real presence. This will help to get the word out about your brand.

Social Media Marketing

You can’t avoid using social media marketing if you want your business to be great in 2018. There’s simply no way to get around it. So get started!

One way to boost your social media channels is to post interesting, shareable content. We can help with you that. We have countless articles designed to help you create content that people actually want to read.

10 Reasons You Should Consider Getting Braces

For many of us, the thought of getting braces for the first time invites feelings of pure dread rather than excitement.

Maybe you don’t want to dish out $3k-$7k for the treatment. Or maybe you agree with 92% of kids without braces who think a “brace face” will prevent them from fitting in.

While everyone knows the main purpose of the treatment is to straighten teeth, there are many other valid reasons to get braces. If you learn what these are, you might end up finding out that the benefits severely outweigh the costs.

For example, did you know having straight teeth comes with unexpected social perks? Or that braces could help you prevent dangerous health problems?

If you’re on the fence about getting braces, and you need some convincing, here are 10 reasons why you should run to the orthodontist right now!

1. Avoid Serious Health Issues

There are many different types of misaligned teeth, from underbite to crowding.

Most of them seem harmless, but they make it more difficult to clean your teeth properly. This leads to greater plaque buildup, which can eventually lead to gum disease. And gum disease could increase your risk for heart disease, the number one killer in the US.

If you want to make it easier to keep your teeth free from plaque, correct your bite with braces.

2. More Adults Are Getting Them

As an adult, you may stay away from braces due to the fear of how other people will perceive you.

That said, over 1.2 million American adults now get braces each year, nearly a 40% increase since the late 90’s. So you can rest assured that most people won’t consider you a weirdo for wearing them after high school.

Unlike when you get braces as a teenager, however, your jaw is no longer growing. As a result, jaw surgery may be necessary to fix severe malocclusions.

3. Nobody Has to Know

The stigma of wearing braces as adults is all but gone. But even still, you may not be too happy with how you look with fixed braces.

However, the good news is that Invisalign braces offer a way for you to keep your “brace face” a secret. Not only are they see-through, but they’re removable too.

Invisalign may seem like the perfect option, but prepare to fork over more cash for them. If you can’t decide between Invisalign and traditional braces, read more here before making your final decision.

4. Kickstart Your Self-Confidence

It’s not uncommon for people with crooked teeth to go out of their way to hide them. After all, you wouldn’t want anyone to catch a glimpse of your less-than-stellar smile, would you?

Whether you realize it or not, this mentality puts a damper on your self-confidence. Being self-conscious impacts almost every aspect of your life.

For example, did you know self-confidence is positively correlated with earnings?

If your teeth are at the root of your self-esteem issues, you can grow more confident by getting orthodontic treatment.

5. Take Advantage of Social Perks

Believe it or not, people are 38% more likely to view you as intelligent if you have straight teeth. Imagine how this can impact a job interview, for instance

By simply fixing our smile, we can get a bit of a boost in every interaction we have with others.

6. Improve Your Success in the Dating World

Today’s dating world can be challenging for some of us to navigate. Dating apps provide us with seemingly unlimited options. But this also means you have to compete against more people.

Both sexes admit that nice teeth are the number one characteristic they look for in a partner. So if you want to maximize your dating success, don’t just hit the gym. Visit the orthodontist as well.

7. Payment Plans Make It Easier on Your Wallet

Unfortunately, many dental insurance plans don’t cover braces. Not to mention, the average American doesn’t have thousands of dollars to spend on their smile.

But you shouldn’t let money prevent you from taking advantage of the benefits of braces.

Inform your orthodontist about any concerns you have regarding the cost of braces. They’ll be more than happy to sit down and discuss payment plans and treatment options with you.

8. Save More Money in the Long Run

Braces may seem expensive now, but imagine how much you’ll end up paying in the future if you fail to straighten your teeth.

Misaligned teeth can eventually cause tooth decay and periodontal disease. Both are costly to treat. In the end, you’ll most likely save more money if you get braces now.

9. Prepare to Live Longer

Thanks to medical progress, the average lifespan in the US continues to increase. Americans today can expect to live about 3 more years than in the 90’s.

Since you’re going to be around longer, you’ll need to make sure you take better care of your teeth in the meantime. The inconvenience of dentures and the pain of dental implants are two more reasons to get braces.

10. A Crooked Bite Can Cause TMJ Disorder

Do you ever feel pain around your jaw area or notice a popping sound when you chew?

If so, you may be suffering from TMJ disorder. In some cases, TMJ can lead to tinnitus or even recurring migraines.

Thankfully, orthodontists can use braces to treat TMJ caused by misalignment. This type of treatment may ease your symptoms.

Final Thoughts on Reasons to Get Braces

Remember that misaligned teeth can lead to both minor and major health issues. If nothing else, put this at the top of your personal list of reasons to get braces.

Once you get braces, you won’t notice any funny looks from others, as it’s no longer uncommon for adults to have them. But if you’re really worried, opt for Invisalign to go about your daily business without drawing attention to your teeth.

At the end of the treatment, not only will you have more confidence, but people will see you as more competent. Plus, you can expect to have more dating prospects as well.

If you made it this far into the article, chances are that you’re the type of person who puts their health above everything else. So be sure to head over to the health section of our blog for regular health-related updates!

9 Reasons Why You Need a Professional Web Designer

In this day and age, a business who doesn’t have a website is almost unheard of. Having a presence on the web is important to helping a business grow and maintaining visibility to potential customers. But if you’re just starting out or have never set up a website before, you may be wondering if it’s worth hiring a professional web designer.

Would a web designer be worth the money? Or would it be easier to simply create your website on your own?

Chances are there’s more benefits to hiring a professional than you may think. So before you spend too much time trying to set your site up on your own, let’s discuss 9 reasons why you need the help of a professional web designer.

1. Professional Experience and Resources

When you work with a professional web designer, you know that you’re getting someone with training and years of experience in the field. Not only that, they also have access to the latest resources which includes software, programs, and other web professionals.

It may be tempting to try to do it yourself or hire a grad student to design your page, but you could be wasting time and money by not getting a site that is optimized to its full potential.

A professional can create a powerful web design that can draw your audience in from the very first visit.

2. Custom Design

Your business is unique. Just like you, it has its own personality, its own purpose, and its own look, so it’s important that each of those come across clearly to your audience.

A web designer will sit down with you and learn about your brand, your products and services, and what you want people to be able to do on your site. Then they will design a page that is completely customized to your brand and your needs.

No cookie cutter websites allowed. This will ensure that your site stands out amongst your competition.

3. Saves You Valuable Time

Running a business takes a lot of time and work, time you likely don’t have available for designing your own website. Especially when you don’t know much about designing a site in the first place.

A professional web designer will already know the in’s and out’s of complete web design, which will save you an incredible amount of time trying to figure it out on your own. And when it’s done right the first time, you don’t have to worry about fixing any amateur mistakes later on, which also saves time.

Your attention and focus can stay on doing what you love, running and growing your business.

4. Webmaster Services

Just because your website is done doesn’t mean it’s complete. Just like many other aspects of your business, your website needs regular maintenance to run smoothly.

Technology is constantly changing. Things can malfunction. So using professional web design services gives you someone in your corner to help out when your site needs it. This can save you a lot of time and unneeded headaches.

5. Increases Web Traffic

The whole point of being on the web is to draw traffic to your site and to your business. That’s where SEO comes into play. A professional web designer will know how to get that job done right.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) enables your website to be ranked on search engines, such as Google and Bing. The more optimized your site is, the higher it will rank, which means people will be able to find your site easily. That will equal up to more traffic and more business for you!

A web designer who is knowledgeable in SEO techniques can optimize your website for search engine success.

6. Updated Technology

Web technology is changing and improving all the time. Having the resources and the know-how to keep up with it can be a daunting task.

Professional web designers will be able to create a site using the newest technology, the latest trends, and know when to update when newer technology is developed. This will give your site an advantage over your competitors while also giving your audience the best experience possible, ensuring return visits.

7. Improves Your Credibility and Reputation

Let’s face it, looks are everything when it comes to web design. A site that looks homemade is not going to get the same credibility and trust as a site that is professionally done.

You only get one chance to make a great first impression, so make sure visitors who come to your site feel that they are dealing with somebody who knows what they are talking about. That translates when your site is clean, easy to read, runs great, and looks polished.

And even if your company is a small one, a professionally designed site can make it look bigger than it actually is, putting you right up there with the big guys.

8. Ensures Your Site Is Mobile Friendly

Smartphones have made it easy for people to now have the internet available at their fingertips. So more and more people are browsing the web on their phones instead of a computer. Making your website mobile friendly is more important than ever.

A web designer will know how to ensure each and every aspect of your site is easily readable and user-friendly from a mobile device. That means keeping the format intact, making it easy to navigate from a smaller screen

9. It Will Increase Your Sales

When your site looks good and runs well, it will give your audience the confidence to buy your products and services.

Web designers know how to layout a products page or set up a services menu that will be easy for your customers to navigate and read. Product images and descriptions are properly displayed. Services are easily explained.

Plus, your site will be set up to correctly receive payments, which gives both you and your customers peace of mind.

Hiring a Professional Web Designer Is Good for Your Business

Your business’s website shouldn’t look like something that was an afterthought. By using the services of a professional web designer, you can properly show off your business to customers in a manner that will help your business grow.

Click here to find more tips about web design and development!

10 Reasons to Offer Employee Training Online

Online learning is now a billion-dollar industry. From students to hobby enthusiasts, training online has benefits for many different people. Offering online training for your employees can benefit your business, too.

In today’s digitized, global economy, work looks different than it once did. Hours are more flexible now, and many jobs can be done remotely.

You might no longer need your employees to come into the office for every aspect of the job. You don’t need them physically present for training, either.

From saving money to adding convenience, there are many benefits to offering employee training online. Let’s take a look at the top 10 reasons to start online training for your business – read on to learn more!

1. Helps Build Knowledge and Skills

The first and most important goal of employee training online is to help them build up knowledge and skills that will improve their ability to do the job.

This goes both for new employees and those who have been there a long time. For new employees, online training is a great way to make sure they are all getting the same knowledge. It allows you to train them no matter where they are or when they are available.

For older employees, online training is a great way to make sure they keep up to date as the job changes. If you implement new software or different customer service techniques, online courses can get everyone on the same page.

It’s also a good idea to make sure employees take regular refresher courses to refresh their knowledge from time to time.

2. Boosts Job Satisfaction

When your employees have access to online training, they’ll feel more confident about their ability to do the job. This helps increase job satisfaction across the board.

Your employees will know that you care about them enough to make important knowledge readily available. This can help keep them happy at their job, increasing employee retention rates.

Having better retention rates saves your business money since you won’t have to find and train new employees as often. An online training program is an inexpensive way to make sure your current employees stay interested and happy.

3. Pinpoints Strengths and Weaknesses

Often, it takes a long time on the job for an employee’s strengths and weaknesses to become apparent.

Online training speeds up this process, so you can quickly see what each employee is really capable of.

This is a great way to catch weaknesses and work on them before they become a problem. You can also put each employees’ strengths to work faster because how they perform in online training will highlight these things before they start working in earnest.

4. Keeps Everyone Up to Date

As your business grows and changes, there will always be new information for employees to learn. Online training helps make sure that everyone stays in the loop.

If there’s a new product launch coming up, offer an online course about its features. Maybe your company is unveiling a new app or logo design. No matter what it is, your employees will appreciate feeling like they’ve been kept in the loop.

5. Can Be Fun

There are many ways to make training online fun for your employees.

Try making a game out of the training. Offer rewards for completing courses, such as points or a leaderboard. Bring out the competitive spirit in your workers to keep them invested.

6. Gives an Opportunity for Feedback

It’s important for workers to feel like they can give feedback and be heard.

Online training can offer a great avenue for feedback. Employees may feel more comfortable communicating online than walking into an office. This allows your remote employees to add their voices to the conversation, too.

Try offering an online survey to gauge how your employees feel about the online training and the job overall. You’ll boost employee retention and gain valuable feedback from your workers.

7. Boosts Camaraderie

For remote workers, workplace friendships can feel like a thing of the past. Even for employees who do the job in person, having an online venue to bond with coworkers can be a great thing.

Allow your workers to chat with each other online. Offer a social media group or a Slack channel along with the online courses.

Job satisfaction will be higher when people can connect with each other. Employees can also learn from each other when they have an opportunity to ask questions of their coworkers.

8. Can be Personalized

Online training is a great way to offer personalized feedback and resources for your employees.

Offer courses that focus on people’s individual needs and goals. Let them choose some “elective” courses in addition to the mandatory ones.

Make sure to offer unique courses for different jobs or departments within the company. Although some courses should be taken by all employees, a “one-size-fits-all” approach actually isn’t ideal for online training.

9. Makes Learning Mobile

The best online training courses are mobile-friendly, so they can be accessed on tablets and smartphones as well as laptops.

If an employee can access your online training software while on a long train ride, or while on a working vacation, they’ll get them done faster. Employees appreciate the convenience, and mobile-optimized courses are a great way to keep learning within their reach.

10. Encourages Collaboration

The more the online training mimics the real job, the better employees will be able to perform. If group work is part of the job, make sure that it’s part of the training too.

Group training helps your workers think collaboratively. Encourage group work and problem-solving in your courses. This is a great idea for employees who will be working together on projects in the future.

Start Training Online Now

Employee training online is an essential part of running a successful modern business.

Whether your employees are remote, or in the office every week, online training is a great way to keep everyone on the same page while increasing job satisfaction.

If you haven’t tried online training for your employees yet, it’s time to make this a part of your training program. Want to learn more about how to write a great online course? Check out these tips to get started.

8 Reasons You Should Have an Escape Room Party

Another birthday rolling around and still have no clue how to celebrate?

If you’re tired of the same old birthday party options — renting a bowling lane, going out to a restaurant — try something different this year. Escape rooms are all the rage, and they make for a perfect place to party.

Below, we’ve given you eight reasons to throw an escape room party.

1. Having an Escape Room Party Is Unique

When you send out your birthday party invites, chances are you’ll be one of the first people to invite your guests to an escape room party.

Many people have not even been to an escape room yet, much less attended a party themed around one. Throwing an escape room party is a unique way to celebrate your birthday. It will be a sure hit and your guests will remember it for years to come.

It may not be a trip to Italy, but you’ll have so much fun it won’t matter.

2. You’ll Bond With Your Friends in a New Way

Can you imagine being locked in a room with your friends and family, having to work together to find a way out?

Of course, there’s no real danger, so the frantic mystery-solving is half the fun. Everyone plays his or her part to find clues, decipher hints, and think creatively to figure a way out.

You may see your guests use their talents in new ways. Perhaps your best friend is a genius at solving puzzles, while your mom is a whiz at cracking codes!

You will learn things about your closest companions that you may not have found out any other way. Bonding like that doesn’t occur at most standard birthday parties.

3. It Requires Teamwork

One of the main reasons you’ll bond so much at an escape room party is because teamwork is necessary. There’s no way you’ll find your way out of the room if you all work individually!

Coming together as a team is part of the process. You will have to divvy up tasks and trust that your teammates are all doing their part. You have to rely on others’ skills and strengths to make up for your weaknesses, and vice versa.

No other kind of party requires quite the sense of camaraderie that an escape room does. You’ll be talking, laughing, and helping each other out in no time. There’s no need to plan all sorts of things to try to break the ice.

4. It’s a Thrilling Adventure

Another reason escape rooms are getting so popular is that they are both scary and exciting! No one is in any true danger, but the adrenaline will be running high all the same.

The feeling of your heart rushing as the clock ticks down from an hour can be truly invigorating. Your brain will be kicked into high-gear as you frantically try to find your way out and solve the mystery!

Moreover, it doesn’t require extreme physical activity or cause undue exertion. Unlike hosting a birthday party at a theme park with roller coasters, those who are older or have impaired mobility will still be able to join in the fun.

5. Everyone Will Have Fun

No more of those parties where the non-dancers sit in the corner and some people leave early and the non-bowlers keep their flip-flops on. Sleepovers are great, but someone always ends up feeling left out.

When you throw an escape room party, everyone gets involved! Because you’re locked in a room with a small group of people, everyone must come together and work as a team.

There’s no room for anyone to not participate. Moreover, they won’t want to! In an escape room, everyone can choose a different role or goal and play a part. This makes sure everyone is having a good time.

6. It’s Good for Your Brain

At their core, escape rooms are just larger-than-life puzzles.

The same creative thinking and problem-solving skills you need for puzzles and strategy games are what you need to solve an escape room.

Escaping from an escape room in less than an hour requires you to explore many different possibilities. You have to assemble pieces of information in a way that makes sense. You have to think outside the box and make sure all your bases are covered.

All of these alternative ways of thinking are great for your brain health. These kinds of activities can help to boost memory and creativity, and can even help to reduce stress and anxiety.

7. All Ages Are Welcome

Unlike most birthday parties, escape rooms are truly fun for everyone.

Groups of kids love it. Groups of adults love it. Festive events from children’s parties to bachelorette parties are frequently held at escape rooms.

At an escape room party, you can invite everyone you love, both young and old, and trust that they will truly enjoy themselves. Escape rooms are great family fun.

Some rooms are harder than others, and that’s okay. Consider dividing your guests by age and letting the younger crowd do an easier escape room, while the adults try the hardest level.

Who knows? A surprising group may earn the bragging rights!

8. You’ll Be Excited Either Way

By the time the clock is up, you will either be on your way out of the escape room — or you’ll be making desperate attempts to try one last thing in order to get out.

That feeling of figuring out the puzzle and pouring out the door together will put a huge smile on your face! Your night may end in a thrilling victory. Even if you don’t manage to escape the room, you’ll have had so much fun that it won’t matter.

Compete with other rooms to see who can get out the fastest, and use those bragging rights you’ve earned if your team finds their way out while another team doesn’t.

The Bottom Line

There’s no party as fun and thrilling as an escape room party, and your guests are sure to leave with warm memories of laughter shared and celebrations well spent.

Want more lifestyle advice? Browse our blog for other interesting topics!