Adobe's Portable Document Format or PDF is now being recognized as truly universal file format - one that saves all the original formatting in a document including the layout, graphics and fonts. This makes it possible for users across various computer platforms to view and print the document as it was originally laid out, even though the user may not have the software used to create the document. As a result, PDF format files are now increasingly used for sharing of information, especially over the Internet with many organizations offering their standard reports, feedback forms and white papers as downloadable PDF files. In fact, PDF format files are also being used for ebook publishing, prepress documents, document review and by major institutions for document archiving.
At times when PDF documents are used frequently, they can get corrupted leading to loss of data. If an organization is using PDF files to archive important financial or customer data, they have to ensure that there is a quick way of recovering this valuable data from damaged PDF files. Advanced PDF Repair is a powerful recovery tool, which can be of immense use to both developers as well as end-users of PDF files. It is designed to enable users to scan and repair corrupt or damaged Acrobat PDF documents thereby recovering valuable data. Advanced PDF Repair now uses a highly advanced repair engine that employs a quick file recovery algorithm to find and recover as many objects as it can from a corrupted PDF file. You can use Advanced PDF Repair on your local computer to find and select the PDF format files that need repairing. Since this tool seamlessly integrates with Windows Explorer, you can use the context menu of Windows Explorer to quickly access the files you suspect of being damaged. Just a few mouse clicks and you can start the recovery process to restore data from corrupt, damaged or even inaccessible PDF files. You can even use this software to repair PDF files on corrupt media like flash drives, for example. This recovery tool can recover all versions of PDF format files and even those files that do not comply with the PDF specification. Best of all, this software comes with a very user-friendly interface that makes the entire recovery process a breeze. With this tool, you will never have to face the problem of not being able to access or of losing valuable information stored in your PDF files.
For more information about Advanced PDF Repair, please visit http://www.pdf-repair.com/ or http://www.datanumen.com/apdfr/
Sunday, November 22, 2009
When You Need a Good Web Host
If you are a website owner, you should be familiar with the importance of a web host service provider. Getting a good web hosting company is a very important strategy for your online business to grow. Never be in a haste to choose a web host company because it's what will guarantee your online business success. There are things you really have to analyse here, the quality of your web host will reflect in the web experience on your website. If you are keen about your online business, you cannot afford to toy with this as any mistake will affect your business negatively. Take your time and choose a web host service provider that his known for its standard services and reliability.
If you are not sure of the consistency of your web host company you may notice some funny services and this will definitely lead to loss in sales. Also you might lose visitors and customers in the advent that you suffer frequent server downtime. If your clients cannot view your site they will surely go away. So make no mistake in your choice. How will you know a web hosting company that will ensure and guarantee your website objective? If you want to start a search for a web host service provider, you can start by using a search engine like Google or Yahoo to find the best web hosting service provider. The internet will give you very recent ratings of the top web host service providers. This is a very reliable way. Another is by checking for online reviews posted by satisfied customer, this is usually on the company's website, there are also professional ratings by experts, this kind of reviews are not speculative but they are based on experience in dealing with the company.
There basic things that you should consider before making your choice.
Features of web host package
Quality of web host package
Cost
A reliable web hosting company will first of all look at your website before recommending a plan for your site. The web host will serve as technical partners for your site, by telling you the amount of disk space, bandwidth requirement, maximum and minimum storage requirements and other forms of support that they can provide. Not all web hosts can serve as technical partners but this is a feature that the best web hosting services possess. Other supports includes the web host offers you uptime of more that 99% this will make sure that the accessibility of your website is fast on a web browser.
Also you can check out discussion forums, where they discuss web hosting topics. Here you can get sincere views about a web host service provider. One of such forum is the Warrior Forum, here the member help with sincere judgments and they are ready to answer your questions. Most of the members are usually past and current users. Though it's not wise to base your judgment on the discussion forums, but they can give you good analysis to help aid your decision.
If you are not sure of the consistency of your web host company you may notice some funny services and this will definitely lead to loss in sales. Also you might lose visitors and customers in the advent that you suffer frequent server downtime. If your clients cannot view your site they will surely go away. So make no mistake in your choice. How will you know a web hosting company that will ensure and guarantee your website objective? If you want to start a search for a web host service provider, you can start by using a search engine like Google or Yahoo to find the best web hosting service provider. The internet will give you very recent ratings of the top web host service providers. This is a very reliable way. Another is by checking for online reviews posted by satisfied customer, this is usually on the company's website, there are also professional ratings by experts, this kind of reviews are not speculative but they are based on experience in dealing with the company.
There basic things that you should consider before making your choice.
Features of web host package
Quality of web host package
Cost
A reliable web hosting company will first of all look at your website before recommending a plan for your site. The web host will serve as technical partners for your site, by telling you the amount of disk space, bandwidth requirement, maximum and minimum storage requirements and other forms of support that they can provide. Not all web hosts can serve as technical partners but this is a feature that the best web hosting services possess. Other supports includes the web host offers you uptime of more that 99% this will make sure that the accessibility of your website is fast on a web browser.
Also you can check out discussion forums, where they discuss web hosting topics. Here you can get sincere views about a web host service provider. One of such forum is the Warrior Forum, here the member help with sincere judgments and they are ready to answer your questions. Most of the members are usually past and current users. Though it's not wise to base your judgment on the discussion forums, but they can give you good analysis to help aid your decision.
The 5 Secrets That Can Increase Your AdWords Click Through Rate
Your AdWords click through rate (ctr) is an important statistic for any advertising campaign. A good ctr will reward you with a higher Quality Score. And the better your Quality Score, the less you'll pay in bids, saving you money.
It may suprise you to know that improving ctr is easy. Yet incredibly, many advertisers don't pay it much attention.
What Is Click Through Rate?
You're probably wondering how Google calculate ctr values for your account? Well, there is no great mystery. Your AdWords Click Through Rate is calculated by dividing the number of clicks on a keyword or ad by the number of impressions.
For example, imagine your ad has shown 100 times and was clicked on 4 times. Your click through rate would be 4/100 or 4%.
Keep in mind that any ctr above 1% is acceptable, 5% is good and a 10% ctr or more is excellent.
If you're like everyone else, you'll easily be able to name two instances where Google measures ctr. But, what most people don't realise is that AdWords measures ctr in five different ways. And each has an impact on your Quality Score.
Keywords
Everybody knows that all your keywords have a ctr. To improve any keywords ctr, you need more people to click on the ad that your keyword triggers.
You can achieve higher keyword ctr by:
+ bidding more so your ad appears higher on the results page.
+ writing a new ad that is more appealing to your audience.
Ads
Every ad in your campaign also has its own ctr value.
To improve an ads ctr:
+ Add more relevant keywords to the ad group so your ad gets seen more often.
+ Write an ad that is more appealing to your audience.
Campaign / Account
Many AdWords advertisers don't realise it, but Google also measures the ctr of all your campaigns and your entire account.
The easiest way to improve your campaign's ctr is to remove keywords that are not performing. Try removing all keywords that have less than 200 impressions a month and don't convert.
Why is this important? Consider this example:
Picture a campaign that regularly gets 1000 impressions a week and 50 click through's. Your campaign's ctr is 5% (50/1000).
Now, let's suppose that 20 of your keywords get 150 impressions and 5 click through's a week between them. None of these keywords are converting, so removing them from your campaign is going to do no damage to your sales.
You now get 45 clicks per week and 850 impressions. The ctr for your campaign is 5.3% (45/850).
This represents an increase of 0.3%. A small rise, but every increase in efficiency can be significant. And if the keywords are not contributing to your sales, then they are not useful anyway.
Domain
Many advertisers, when they experience problems with their Quality Score, believe they can fix the problem by closing their account and opening a new one, They are shocked when this makes no difference.
The fact of the matter is that AdWords tracks your domain performance and will apply a low Quality Score to all the keywords in your new account if you haven't fixed the underline problem.
The reality is that you should never try to trick AdWords into giving you a good Quality Score, it won't work.
Historical Keyword Performance
The fifth characteristic of any AdWords campaign for which Google record ctr is the historical performance of your keywords.
Millions of people use AdWords, and trillions of keywords have been tried in advertising campaigns. There are few keywords that have not been tried previously by other advertisers.
The ctr that others have achieved with any keyword you select will have a big influence on your Quality Score.
I know what you're now thinking, how do you know if the keyword you're about to select has a poor historical ctr?
Start by typing the keyword into the "Traffic Estimator" tool. This will tell you how many clicks your keyword might expect per day. Multiply this value by 30 to determine how many clicks your keyword will get per month.
Now switch to the "Keyword Tool" and enter your keyword again. This tool will return the number of searches you'd expect per month.
Divide the number of clicks a month by searches and you'll get Google's ctr for that keyword.
If a keywords ctr is low then beware. Google is trying to tell you that your chances of success are small.
The important thing is that if your keyword has a low historical ctr, but you're certain it's right for your campaign, then you can still use the keyword. And if you start to achieve a good ctr, then your Quality Score will soon rise and your bid prices drop.
Last Thoughts On Ctr & Quality Score
All five measurements of ctr are important to the success of your AdWords campaign. And each can be improved by the changes you make.
The 2 most important things to remember when using ctr to improve Quality Score are:
+ Ctr is only part of the Quality Score equation. To improve, you'll need to work on every part of the equation.
+ Google reviews performance over time. If your AdWords click through rate for any keyword or ad has been poor to date, then it may take a week or two for any changes you make to fully take effect.
It may suprise you to know that improving ctr is easy. Yet incredibly, many advertisers don't pay it much attention.
What Is Click Through Rate?
You're probably wondering how Google calculate ctr values for your account? Well, there is no great mystery. Your AdWords Click Through Rate is calculated by dividing the number of clicks on a keyword or ad by the number of impressions.
For example, imagine your ad has shown 100 times and was clicked on 4 times. Your click through rate would be 4/100 or 4%.
Keep in mind that any ctr above 1% is acceptable, 5% is good and a 10% ctr or more is excellent.
If you're like everyone else, you'll easily be able to name two instances where Google measures ctr. But, what most people don't realise is that AdWords measures ctr in five different ways. And each has an impact on your Quality Score.
Keywords
Everybody knows that all your keywords have a ctr. To improve any keywords ctr, you need more people to click on the ad that your keyword triggers.
You can achieve higher keyword ctr by:
+ bidding more so your ad appears higher on the results page.
+ writing a new ad that is more appealing to your audience.
Ads
Every ad in your campaign also has its own ctr value.
To improve an ads ctr:
+ Add more relevant keywords to the ad group so your ad gets seen more often.
+ Write an ad that is more appealing to your audience.
Campaign / Account
Many AdWords advertisers don't realise it, but Google also measures the ctr of all your campaigns and your entire account.
The easiest way to improve your campaign's ctr is to remove keywords that are not performing. Try removing all keywords that have less than 200 impressions a month and don't convert.
Why is this important? Consider this example:
Picture a campaign that regularly gets 1000 impressions a week and 50 click through's. Your campaign's ctr is 5% (50/1000).
Now, let's suppose that 20 of your keywords get 150 impressions and 5 click through's a week between them. None of these keywords are converting, so removing them from your campaign is going to do no damage to your sales.
You now get 45 clicks per week and 850 impressions. The ctr for your campaign is 5.3% (45/850).
This represents an increase of 0.3%. A small rise, but every increase in efficiency can be significant. And if the keywords are not contributing to your sales, then they are not useful anyway.
Domain
Many advertisers, when they experience problems with their Quality Score, believe they can fix the problem by closing their account and opening a new one, They are shocked when this makes no difference.
The fact of the matter is that AdWords tracks your domain performance and will apply a low Quality Score to all the keywords in your new account if you haven't fixed the underline problem.
The reality is that you should never try to trick AdWords into giving you a good Quality Score, it won't work.
Historical Keyword Performance
The fifth characteristic of any AdWords campaign for which Google record ctr is the historical performance of your keywords.
Millions of people use AdWords, and trillions of keywords have been tried in advertising campaigns. There are few keywords that have not been tried previously by other advertisers.
The ctr that others have achieved with any keyword you select will have a big influence on your Quality Score.
I know what you're now thinking, how do you know if the keyword you're about to select has a poor historical ctr?
Start by typing the keyword into the "Traffic Estimator" tool. This will tell you how many clicks your keyword might expect per day. Multiply this value by 30 to determine how many clicks your keyword will get per month.
Now switch to the "Keyword Tool" and enter your keyword again. This tool will return the number of searches you'd expect per month.
Divide the number of clicks a month by searches and you'll get Google's ctr for that keyword.
If a keywords ctr is low then beware. Google is trying to tell you that your chances of success are small.
The important thing is that if your keyword has a low historical ctr, but you're certain it's right for your campaign, then you can still use the keyword. And if you start to achieve a good ctr, then your Quality Score will soon rise and your bid prices drop.
Last Thoughts On Ctr & Quality Score
All five measurements of ctr are important to the success of your AdWords campaign. And each can be improved by the changes you make.
The 2 most important things to remember when using ctr to improve Quality Score are:
+ Ctr is only part of the Quality Score equation. To improve, you'll need to work on every part of the equation.
+ Google reviews performance over time. If your AdWords click through rate for any keyword or ad has been poor to date, then it may take a week or two for any changes you make to fully take effect.
Playing Internet Games on Dial-up
The Internet provides a vast variety of entertainment. Its options are nearly endless and is expanding and improving daily. With the development of broadband services, the gaming and entertainment world online has revolutionized from its early beginnings only a short decade ago. Many people, unfortunately, do not have access to broadband and many real-time online games require higher speeds than dial-up can provide.
One type of popular online games today are role playing games, or RPG's. This means that each player is playing the part of a character in a virtual world. Many times, the game sequences in real time, and dozens or even hundreds of people can also play the same game from all over the world, and the events of the game are happening at the same time for everyone. Dial-up and other slow connections often cannot display passing events in real time because of latency, the delay experienced because of long loading times. RPG's can be played on dial-up if it is not in real time, or if the graphics are simple and easy enough for dial-up to load. An example of this is GuildWars.com.
There are many fun and engaging games that can be played on a dial-up connection, many of which are very popular for dial-up and broadband users alike. The key to finding a dial-up compatible game is to look for flash games. Flash games are games that are loaded by adobe flash player and are run from the website itself. This means that once the game is loaded, it runs completely without using your Internet connection. Usually, flash games do not require you to leave the webpage you are on when it loads. The means you can play the games offline! The following are some websites that offer free online flash games that work great with dial-up Internet connections:
* Addictinggames.com
* Flashgames247.com
* Games.Yahoo.com
* Miniclip.com
* Popcap.com
These are only a few of the hundreds of gaming websites. Other gaming websites can be found by searching for “flash games” or “free online games” on a search engine like google.
The games may take much longer to load on dial-up than they would on broadband connections, but once they do, you can play for hours without experiencing any problems because of having a slow connection. In fact, you can even disconnect from the Internet after the game has loaded, and continue playing the game from the cached webpage. This means that you don't have to tie up your phone line in order to play for extended periods of time.
Here are a few other tricks and tips:
Save your favorite games to your bookmarks or favorites list so you can access them quickly.
Load a new game on a separate window while you play another game. This way, you don't have to sit and wait for the new game to load. It can load in the background while you are playing on another window.
There are hundreds of gaming websites, and some are better quality or load games more quickly than others. If you find a game you like, but the game window is very small or takes too long to load, run a search query for that game's name to find other websites that have that game. Chances are, you'll find a website that plays the game better than the other one.
Minimize a game window rather than closing it. This way, if you have other work to do or need to leave the computer for some time, you can set your computer to “Stand by” and come back later. You can then open the window you have minimized and your game will still be there. You won't have to start over or wait for it to load again.
Don't let having dial-up get you down, there's still so much fun to be had!
One type of popular online games today are role playing games, or RPG's. This means that each player is playing the part of a character in a virtual world. Many times, the game sequences in real time, and dozens or even hundreds of people can also play the same game from all over the world, and the events of the game are happening at the same time for everyone. Dial-up and other slow connections often cannot display passing events in real time because of latency, the delay experienced because of long loading times. RPG's can be played on dial-up if it is not in real time, or if the graphics are simple and easy enough for dial-up to load. An example of this is GuildWars.com.
There are many fun and engaging games that can be played on a dial-up connection, many of which are very popular for dial-up and broadband users alike. The key to finding a dial-up compatible game is to look for flash games. Flash games are games that are loaded by adobe flash player and are run from the website itself. This means that once the game is loaded, it runs completely without using your Internet connection. Usually, flash games do not require you to leave the webpage you are on when it loads. The means you can play the games offline! The following are some websites that offer free online flash games that work great with dial-up Internet connections:
* Addictinggames.com
* Flashgames247.com
* Games.Yahoo.com
* Miniclip.com
* Popcap.com
These are only a few of the hundreds of gaming websites. Other gaming websites can be found by searching for “flash games” or “free online games” on a search engine like google.
The games may take much longer to load on dial-up than they would on broadband connections, but once they do, you can play for hours without experiencing any problems because of having a slow connection. In fact, you can even disconnect from the Internet after the game has loaded, and continue playing the game from the cached webpage. This means that you don't have to tie up your phone line in order to play for extended periods of time.
Here are a few other tricks and tips:
Save your favorite games to your bookmarks or favorites list so you can access them quickly.
Load a new game on a separate window while you play another game. This way, you don't have to sit and wait for the new game to load. It can load in the background while you are playing on another window.
There are hundreds of gaming websites, and some are better quality or load games more quickly than others. If you find a game you like, but the game window is very small or takes too long to load, run a search query for that game's name to find other websites that have that game. Chances are, you'll find a website that plays the game better than the other one.
Minimize a game window rather than closing it. This way, if you have other work to do or need to leave the computer for some time, you can set your computer to “Stand by” and come back later. You can then open the window you have minimized and your game will still be there. You won't have to start over or wait for it to load again.
Don't let having dial-up get you down, there's still so much fun to be had!
How to Get Readers to Stay on Your Blog
Blogging is a great tool for increasing your internet presence and getting your business’s name and message out to members of your target market. A well written, regularly updated blog can turn your website into an valuable informational resource that will make visitors want to tell others about you and keep them coming back to check for updates. But creating a blog that manages to grab reader’s attention and keep it is not easy. It requires you to come up with regular, compelling content that is presented in an equally compelling way.
Here are a few tips to help you along from a Dallas, Texas SEO service.
Cover the Hot Topics
Write about the things that people what to read. Whatever your field is, look for topics that are currently abuzz by searching for the latest industry news online and make use of resources like Technorati’s popular search term list and Yahoo! Buzz Index’s Top 20 Overall Searches.
Make Your Writing Clear and Readable
Nothing will make readers lose confidence and interest in your writing than confusing sentences and grammatical and spelling mistakes. Keep your sentences simple and clear and stay on topic. Take the time to check all of your posts for typos and syntactical errors before you put them online.
Use Pictures!
Internet users are especially visual creatures. If you want to keep their attention, give them something to look at as well as something to read. Inserting compelling or funny or interesting pictures along with equally compelling/funny/interesting written content is a good way to pace your blog post and guide readers’ eyes easily down the page.
Subheadings
Divide your blog post, especially if it’s on the long side, into subsections with their own individual subheadings. This will make each section more easily digestible and will thus help you keep your reader’s interest longer. And, like pictures, subheadings also help give your blog post a good pace.
Encourage Interaction
Including interactive features in your posts, like polls, surveys and meters, is another excellent way to get readers to stay on your blog site longer. With the capabilities of today’s web applications, there is a lot more that you can do with your blog than just text. Videos and other stimulating content will help make your blog a full media resource.
Here are a few tips to help you along from a Dallas, Texas SEO service.
Cover the Hot Topics
Write about the things that people what to read. Whatever your field is, look for topics that are currently abuzz by searching for the latest industry news online and make use of resources like Technorati’s popular search term list and Yahoo! Buzz Index’s Top 20 Overall Searches.
Make Your Writing Clear and Readable
Nothing will make readers lose confidence and interest in your writing than confusing sentences and grammatical and spelling mistakes. Keep your sentences simple and clear and stay on topic. Take the time to check all of your posts for typos and syntactical errors before you put them online.
Use Pictures!
Internet users are especially visual creatures. If you want to keep their attention, give them something to look at as well as something to read. Inserting compelling or funny or interesting pictures along with equally compelling/funny/interesting written content is a good way to pace your blog post and guide readers’ eyes easily down the page.
Subheadings
Divide your blog post, especially if it’s on the long side, into subsections with their own individual subheadings. This will make each section more easily digestible and will thus help you keep your reader’s interest longer. And, like pictures, subheadings also help give your blog post a good pace.
Encourage Interaction
Including interactive features in your posts, like polls, surveys and meters, is another excellent way to get readers to stay on your blog site longer. With the capabilities of today’s web applications, there is a lot more that you can do with your blog than just text. Videos and other stimulating content will help make your blog a full media resource.
Podcast Creation in 3 Easy Steps
For a long time I was reluctant to add podcasting to my list building arsenal thinking it was simply another task on my already long To Do list and, to be honest, it sounded tedious ... manually submitting my podcast episodes to the various podcast directories so that people knew they were there; I didn't have time for that!
Little did I realize how easy it was to implement this strategy, and reach a whole other audience too - those who prefer to learn by listening! But now that I know how easy it is to create a podcast, I want to share that information with you!
What is a podcast?
A podcast is a collection of individual audio recordings saved as a digital file
, such as an Mp3 or WAV audio file. Each individual audio recording is called an episode. People can listen to your podcast (collection of episodes) on the Internet, on their PC, or transfer the file to their portable device such as an iPod or MP3 player. You can also create your own radio show through using podcasts... think about all the Internet Radio Shows you've listened to online or read about.
People can subscribe to your podcast using RSS feeds and therefore receive new episodes automatically whenever they become available.
You can easily create your podcast episodes from your newsletter articles and once you've recorded several articles you'll have a well-stocked podcast.
So now you know what a podcast is, let me tell you how you can create your own podcast in three easy steps!
Step 1: Create your template
When you record a podcast episode (i.e. your article), you need to include an introduction and a closing paragraph. It's not enough to simply record your article without any beginning and end - even though the article itself has a beginning and end!
You need to tell your listener who you are, what you do, what your podcast is about, and at the end tell them where they can go for further information, i.e. your newsletter sign-up URL.
Step 2: Choose your recording medium
If you're already using one of the online streaming media services check out their services. I'd been using my service for over a year before I realized that I could use the same account to create my podcast.
And the best bit... my service will automatically syndicate each new episode to the various podcast directories meaning that my episodes are published and accessible immediately - even to iTunes! I don't need to manually submit each episode to the various podcast directories.
Step 3: Use a cueprompter
Now, I could just print out my podcast template (complete with article) and read off that into my microphone and record my episode. But the danger here is that you might not sound natural; in other words, you may sound like you're reading from a page. What you want to do is let your authentic self come through to your listener.
And the best way I've found for doing this is to use a CuePrompter - like newsreaders do when they're reading the news, or presenters when they're presenting a TV program. Search "cue prompter" and you'll find several to choose from!
So now you've created your podcast template, chosen a recording medium, and loaded everything into a cue prompter, you're ready to record and create your very first Podcast episode!
The whole process takes me about 15 minutes tops! And reaches a whole new target audience too.
Little did I realize how easy it was to implement this strategy, and reach a whole other audience too - those who prefer to learn by listening! But now that I know how easy it is to create a podcast, I want to share that information with you!
What is a podcast?
A podcast is a collection of individual audio recordings saved as a digital file
, such as an Mp3 or WAV audio file. Each individual audio recording is called an episode. People can listen to your podcast (collection of episodes) on the Internet, on their PC, or transfer the file to their portable device such as an iPod or MP3 player. You can also create your own radio show through using podcasts... think about all the Internet Radio Shows you've listened to online or read about.
People can subscribe to your podcast using RSS feeds and therefore receive new episodes automatically whenever they become available.
You can easily create your podcast episodes from your newsletter articles and once you've recorded several articles you'll have a well-stocked podcast.
So now you know what a podcast is, let me tell you how you can create your own podcast in three easy steps!
Step 1: Create your template
When you record a podcast episode (i.e. your article), you need to include an introduction and a closing paragraph. It's not enough to simply record your article without any beginning and end - even though the article itself has a beginning and end!
You need to tell your listener who you are, what you do, what your podcast is about, and at the end tell them where they can go for further information, i.e. your newsletter sign-up URL.
Step 2: Choose your recording medium
If you're already using one of the online streaming media services check out their services. I'd been using my service for over a year before I realized that I could use the same account to create my podcast.
And the best bit... my service will automatically syndicate each new episode to the various podcast directories meaning that my episodes are published and accessible immediately - even to iTunes! I don't need to manually submit each episode to the various podcast directories.
Step 3: Use a cueprompter
Now, I could just print out my podcast template (complete with article) and read off that into my microphone and record my episode. But the danger here is that you might not sound natural; in other words, you may sound like you're reading from a page. What you want to do is let your authentic self come through to your listener.
And the best way I've found for doing this is to use a CuePrompter - like newsreaders do when they're reading the news, or presenters when they're presenting a TV program. Search "cue prompter" and you'll find several to choose from!
So now you've created your podcast template, chosen a recording medium, and loaded everything into a cue prompter, you're ready to record and create your very first Podcast episode!
The whole process takes me about 15 minutes tops! And reaches a whole new target audience too.
Google AdWords - How To Track Conversions
As I'm sure you know; when a visitor to your website signs up for your newsletter, buys a product or even fills out a form this is classed as a conversion. The reason you're probably paying for traffic to your website is to increase your conversions.
It's important to track your conversions. But why?
Let's say you're running a campaign to increase the number of subscribers to your weight loss newsletter. You might be paying $20 per day and getting 100 new subscribers per day - but how do you know these subscribers are coming from AdWords?
By tracking your conversions you can see where the visitor came from and therefore which campaign is performing at its best.
You can also make your campaign more efficient by removing keywords that don't convert well - thus reducing your costs.
So how do you track conversions in Google AdWords?
It's really quite simple. All you need to do is setup conversion tracking in AdWords and then copy-and-paste some code into your website.
Let's get started!
1) Login to your AdWords account
2) Select a campaign you want to setup conversions for
3) Under "Reporting" select "Conversions"
4) Select "+ New conversion"
5) Choose an action name e.g. "newsletter signup" and select a purpose for the conversion e.g. "signup"
6) Your security level for the page will probably be http unless you're using a secure certificate (SSL)
7) Enter any revenue for the conversion. If it's a newsletter signup it will probably be zero
8) You can also change the look of the tracking indicator. Under the terms of the AdWords conversion tracking you must tell the user of your website that you are tracking conversions
9) All you need to do now is copy-and-paste the code produced into the page on your website where the conversion is completed. Personally, I insert the code on the page where the user is taken to once they confirm their email address. That way I know their conversion is 100% complete.
There you go, that's all there is to is! Now all the clicks that turn into conversions will be tracked on AdWords. This is especially useful for keywords effectiveness.
After a few days of running a campaign, view your keywords for the campaign and sort the keywords in order of clicks. Then look to see how many of those clicks turned into conversions. If there are some keywords that have high clicks but low or even zero conversions, remove them from your campaign. There just wasting you money!
It's important to track your conversions. But why?
Let's say you're running a campaign to increase the number of subscribers to your weight loss newsletter. You might be paying $20 per day and getting 100 new subscribers per day - but how do you know these subscribers are coming from AdWords?
By tracking your conversions you can see where the visitor came from and therefore which campaign is performing at its best.
You can also make your campaign more efficient by removing keywords that don't convert well - thus reducing your costs.
So how do you track conversions in Google AdWords?
It's really quite simple. All you need to do is setup conversion tracking in AdWords and then copy-and-paste some code into your website.
Let's get started!
1) Login to your AdWords account
2) Select a campaign you want to setup conversions for
3) Under "Reporting" select "Conversions"
4) Select "+ New conversion"
5) Choose an action name e.g. "newsletter signup" and select a purpose for the conversion e.g. "signup"
6) Your security level for the page will probably be http unless you're using a secure certificate (SSL)
7) Enter any revenue for the conversion. If it's a newsletter signup it will probably be zero
8) You can also change the look of the tracking indicator. Under the terms of the AdWords conversion tracking you must tell the user of your website that you are tracking conversions
9) All you need to do now is copy-and-paste the code produced into the page on your website where the conversion is completed. Personally, I insert the code on the page where the user is taken to once they confirm their email address. That way I know their conversion is 100% complete.
There you go, that's all there is to is! Now all the clicks that turn into conversions will be tracked on AdWords. This is especially useful for keywords effectiveness.
After a few days of running a campaign, view your keywords for the campaign and sort the keywords in order of clicks. Then look to see how many of those clicks turned into conversions. If there are some keywords that have high clicks but low or even zero conversions, remove them from your campaign. There just wasting you money!
3 Ways To Learn How To Use Twitter
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 12 months, then you would have heard about the phenomenon that is Twitter. Everyone seems to be using it these days, including celebrities and big companies. Does this mean that you too should be using it?
That?s right, you should be using it. You would be crazy to miss this boat. But in order to use something and use it successfully, you have to learn how.
There are several methods to learn about Twitter. Below are a couple of suggestions you may choose to take up.
Books
Twitter is now part of the mainstream that you can go into any bookshop and find books offering a user?s manual on how to use Twitter. For some people going to the bookshop may be a hassle, which is why you should probably use a service such as Amazon.
Websites
If you do a search on Google for the term ?how to use Twitter? then you will find a big number of websites which explain how to do different things on Twitter. Most are comprised of text mixed with screenshots demonstrating each step of the process.
Video Tutorials
Possibly the best and most common way to learn how to use Twitter is through video tutorials. It's a popular method because it allows a lot of information to be consumed much quicker. The fact that you can visually see each step of the process creates little confusion in the mind of the viewer about how to do something. How great is that?
At the end of the day, you?re the one who chooses which method to use to learn about Twitter. Everyone learns differently and at a different speed so choose the method which most suits you. You may prefer one method over another but the most important thing is to go out there and learn about Twitter today if you haven?t yet done so. You can do anything if you are willing to put in the time and effort to know how to use one of the best online marketing tools.
That?s right, you should be using it. You would be crazy to miss this boat. But in order to use something and use it successfully, you have to learn how.
There are several methods to learn about Twitter. Below are a couple of suggestions you may choose to take up.
Books
Twitter is now part of the mainstream that you can go into any bookshop and find books offering a user?s manual on how to use Twitter. For some people going to the bookshop may be a hassle, which is why you should probably use a service such as Amazon.
Websites
If you do a search on Google for the term ?how to use Twitter? then you will find a big number of websites which explain how to do different things on Twitter. Most are comprised of text mixed with screenshots demonstrating each step of the process.
Video Tutorials
Possibly the best and most common way to learn how to use Twitter is through video tutorials. It's a popular method because it allows a lot of information to be consumed much quicker. The fact that you can visually see each step of the process creates little confusion in the mind of the viewer about how to do something. How great is that?
At the end of the day, you?re the one who chooses which method to use to learn about Twitter. Everyone learns differently and at a different speed so choose the method which most suits you. You may prefer one method over another but the most important thing is to go out there and learn about Twitter today if you haven?t yet done so. You can do anything if you are willing to put in the time and effort to know how to use one of the best online marketing tools.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Blog Traffic: The Only Type of Traffic You Would be Thankful For
The term “traffic” would almost always lead one to the idea of congested highways, roads, and streets with vehicles situated bumper to bumper without space to breathe. Of course, all motorists and non-motorists alike would not want this kind of stressful situation causing problems. Little do many people know that “traffic” can be seen in a positive light. This can be made possible only through the knowledge of Internet terminologies and systems involving the World Wide Web and what you can find by surfing it. Besides website traffic, blog traffic is another thing that is beneficial for the avid user of the Internet through blogging.
Blogging has become extremely popular nowadays as more and more people have accustomed themselves to the extensive use of the Internet. Through blogging, an individual can post articles or any form of written compositions or posts made available online for the whole world to see. This is not limited to text alone. Posts can come in the form of videos, images, and other types of multimedia streams. The more interesting and relevant your posts are, the more people will view them; and this is where the tabulation or measuring of blog traffic comes in. Like website traffic, this determines the visitors’ behaviour towards your blog page as it counts and monitors how many views have been made on your blog site. This activity is not for expression alone, as one can make money through blogging.
There are many ways with which you can increase the public’s interest on your articles and blog posts. The primary step is to make sure you write relevant stuff, or be creative in order to attract more viewers. Research well and do brainstorming to come up with the best ideas. Allot as much time for this as you can. Be active with other bloggers’ pages. You can post comments or create links with other blog sites so your audience range is widened. Initiate discussions or post interesting links so your viewers can get hooked. Follow these steps, and you are sure to be able to increase blog traffic in no time.
Blogging has become extremely popular nowadays as more and more people have accustomed themselves to the extensive use of the Internet. Through blogging, an individual can post articles or any form of written compositions or posts made available online for the whole world to see. This is not limited to text alone. Posts can come in the form of videos, images, and other types of multimedia streams. The more interesting and relevant your posts are, the more people will view them; and this is where the tabulation or measuring of blog traffic comes in. Like website traffic, this determines the visitors’ behaviour towards your blog page as it counts and monitors how many views have been made on your blog site. This activity is not for expression alone, as one can make money through blogging.
There are many ways with which you can increase the public’s interest on your articles and blog posts. The primary step is to make sure you write relevant stuff, or be creative in order to attract more viewers. Research well and do brainstorming to come up with the best ideas. Allot as much time for this as you can. Be active with other bloggers’ pages. You can post comments or create links with other blog sites so your audience range is widened. Initiate discussions or post interesting links so your viewers can get hooked. Follow these steps, and you are sure to be able to increase blog traffic in no time.
Top 5: Social Media Lessons from PodcampAZ
from Wordpress to crowdsourcing to personal branding, fellow digital gurus shared their best tips at PodCampAZ. It started off with tips from a millenial talking about blogging and included the story behind the famed ShalerJump.
Here’s the top 5 outtakes from a great PodCampAZ Conference:
1. Wordpress Blog Development. As blogging continues to expand it’s popularity (with over 250,000 bloggers on WordPress today), there are a few tips that can take your game to the next level. First off, you should update your Wordpress as the latest version has additional security. Top recommended plugins include All-in-One-SEO, Wickett-Twitter-Widget, Podpress, and WpTouch.
2. Personal Branding. Fame is subjective: the second that one person that you don’t know, comes to admire you, you have begun your road to fame. Brian Shaler shared his tips on paving the road to a higher profile, “Be creative and interesting, do some experiments, and make it talk-worthy. Above all, actively manage your personal brand by giving people a way to summarize you in a memorable way. Taglines help.”
3. Social Audience Segmentation. Your social marketing efforts will work better if they are targeted and relevant. Of course, it’s a little more difficult to target in social media than it is using direct mail. To help you think about your audiences, you can use Forrester’s Groundswell tools (free) which is a social technographer based on audience participation in social media: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, and inactives.
4. Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding can help lower the barriers to entry by providing you with greater access to resources. Ariel Ferreira of Local Motors shared tips on getting the community involved, “Have an open call to engage customers in making something together. You want to get active participants who are invested. Once the crowd is involved, you might be surprised at some of the outcomes, so keep an open mind.” For those who haven’t heard of Local Motors, they are a cool auto startup that crowdsources their design so that they are literally...
To read more about PodCampAZ, go to Sparxoo, a digital marketing, branding and business development blog.
Here’s the top 5 outtakes from a great PodCampAZ Conference:
1. Wordpress Blog Development. As blogging continues to expand it’s popularity (with over 250,000 bloggers on WordPress today), there are a few tips that can take your game to the next level. First off, you should update your Wordpress as the latest version has additional security. Top recommended plugins include All-in-One-SEO, Wickett-Twitter-Widget, Podpress, and WpTouch.
2. Personal Branding. Fame is subjective: the second that one person that you don’t know, comes to admire you, you have begun your road to fame. Brian Shaler shared his tips on paving the road to a higher profile, “Be creative and interesting, do some experiments, and make it talk-worthy. Above all, actively manage your personal brand by giving people a way to summarize you in a memorable way. Taglines help.”
3. Social Audience Segmentation. Your social marketing efforts will work better if they are targeted and relevant. Of course, it’s a little more difficult to target in social media than it is using direct mail. To help you think about your audiences, you can use Forrester’s Groundswell tools (free) which is a social technographer based on audience participation in social media: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, and inactives.
4. Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding can help lower the barriers to entry by providing you with greater access to resources. Ariel Ferreira of Local Motors shared tips on getting the community involved, “Have an open call to engage customers in making something together. You want to get active participants who are invested. Once the crowd is involved, you might be surprised at some of the outcomes, so keep an open mind.” For those who haven’t heard of Local Motors, they are a cool auto startup that crowdsources their design so that they are literally...
To read more about PodCampAZ, go to Sparxoo, a digital marketing, branding and business development blog.
5 Rules for Blog Posting
Blog posting serves two very important roles insofar as it is not only expected to attract new site visitors but also keep them continually returning. All popular blogs have one thing in common and that is they keep the blog reader happy with fresh and frequent updates. This may seem like trying to be on the 'top of your game' 24/7 but there really is a way to handily keep your blog entries interesting and fresh! Nobody said having a successful blog was easy but it is also not as overwhelming as it may seem.
Here are 5 simple rules to follow to maintain a steady stream of popular posts to your blog.
Keep it Short and Sweet
Unless you have got a blockbuster post chock full of so much information that the post needs to be article length or longer keep your post short. Most popular posts are of 300 words or less.
The blog reader by nature is like a hummingbird in that they want to quickly drift in read what you got to say they dart off. By keeping your post short they will be able to accomplish this and you also won't have to labor over a 500 plus word post.
Learn to say more with fewer words!
Supply Content That 'Serves'
What I mean here is that your content needs to appeal to the reader for some reason or the other. Your content can be of useful information or perhaps something insightful or thought provoking. Even the use of humor is a good idea since everybody ( I hope) enjoys a good laugh!
The point is you always want your reader coming away with something after they have read one of your posts.
Visual Aids
The use of pictures of graphics helps to break up the page somewhat allowing eyes a little less strain. Continuous reading of tightly packed words puts a tremendous strain on the eyes.
By 'inserting' a picture or possibly even a short video that may help get your point across you are 'killing two birds with one stone.'
Guest Blogger
If you experience an occasional brain freeze fear not. You can always 'enlist' the aid of a guest blogger who will lend a new perspective to your site. This will also be a fresh experience for your readers and we all know they love fresh!
Down the road you can return the favor and fill in at their site.
Use Links
If you happen across interesting content on another blog do not be afraid to link to it by referring your readers to the material over there. Your readers will appreciate it as will the site owner of the blog you have referred them to.
In the future that blogger could very well return the favor bringing you a new stream of traffic.
Your blog posting is a key factor in attracting both the new blog reader while maintaining the loyalty of the old ones. Site visitors want content that is of interest to them and they want it often. Most of the popular blogs have realized this and are able to appease their followers with frequent blog entries that serve readers in some way. Whether your post are thought provoking, useful, humorous, or maybe even shocking it doesn't matter. You just want to be sure they serve some sort of purpose and that your readers know they won't have to wait long for a new post. By combining the 5 rules above with just a little effort you should be able to easily maintain a steady flow of content to keep your blog alive and flourishing.
Here are 5 simple rules to follow to maintain a steady stream of popular posts to your blog.
Keep it Short and Sweet
Unless you have got a blockbuster post chock full of so much information that the post needs to be article length or longer keep your post short. Most popular posts are of 300 words or less.
The blog reader by nature is like a hummingbird in that they want to quickly drift in read what you got to say they dart off. By keeping your post short they will be able to accomplish this and you also won't have to labor over a 500 plus word post.
Learn to say more with fewer words!
Supply Content That 'Serves'
What I mean here is that your content needs to appeal to the reader for some reason or the other. Your content can be of useful information or perhaps something insightful or thought provoking. Even the use of humor is a good idea since everybody ( I hope) enjoys a good laugh!
The point is you always want your reader coming away with something after they have read one of your posts.
Visual Aids
The use of pictures of graphics helps to break up the page somewhat allowing eyes a little less strain. Continuous reading of tightly packed words puts a tremendous strain on the eyes.
By 'inserting' a picture or possibly even a short video that may help get your point across you are 'killing two birds with one stone.'
Guest Blogger
If you experience an occasional brain freeze fear not. You can always 'enlist' the aid of a guest blogger who will lend a new perspective to your site. This will also be a fresh experience for your readers and we all know they love fresh!
Down the road you can return the favor and fill in at their site.
Use Links
If you happen across interesting content on another blog do not be afraid to link to it by referring your readers to the material over there. Your readers will appreciate it as will the site owner of the blog you have referred them to.
In the future that blogger could very well return the favor bringing you a new stream of traffic.
Your blog posting is a key factor in attracting both the new blog reader while maintaining the loyalty of the old ones. Site visitors want content that is of interest to them and they want it often. Most of the popular blogs have realized this and are able to appease their followers with frequent blog entries that serve readers in some way. Whether your post are thought provoking, useful, humorous, or maybe even shocking it doesn't matter. You just want to be sure they serve some sort of purpose and that your readers know they won't have to wait long for a new post. By combining the 5 rules above with just a little effort you should be able to easily maintain a steady flow of content to keep your blog alive and flourishing.
Home Security Systems: Its Importance And Usefulness
Home Security Systems has become one of the prime necessities in our household taking into consideration of the fact that we aren’t any safer even in our house. Now days, we usually come across a many situations where miscreants tries to break into our home while we are at our home or away from home and causing damage to our property. So the reason why, installing an electronic home security system can provide you the relief to remain safe and thereby helping you to lead a much more healthy and as well as a well being life.
There aren’t many people who visualize the importance of installing the electronic system until and unless they are into a major security threat which sometimes leads their life and property in danger. It’s only after getting threatened; people feel the high value of the system and thinks if they had installed the electronic system before the mishaps.
Understanding the utility of the electronic home security system beforehand is very much essential.
Once installed, you will feel much more protected and will be thankful in coming days. This modern electronic security system ensures your safety and alarms you in advance from any unwanted happenings. We can find in some cases that the electronic security system is being linked to a station from where the alarm is set up and calls for company which provides much more protection at the time someone trying to get into your home. Now days, there exists a number of companies offering home security systems. You need to consider one among them to get protected all the time around.
The electronic security system has become a barrier among abusive neighbors preventing them to continue with their unsocial activities. With the advent of this useful electronic system, we can find that the cases like robbery and other unwanted happenings have got decreased to a remarkable extent.
The electronic home security system has already proved as a boon among many people. It’s better to get protected installing the system and leading a tension free life. This system helps to make your home a safer place for your family and as well as your friends to visit without having any fear. You can now get up to date information’s about its latest products through home blog reviews websites. You can always choose one of the systems among the may available which suit your needs.
There aren’t many people who visualize the importance of installing the electronic system until and unless they are into a major security threat which sometimes leads their life and property in danger. It’s only after getting threatened; people feel the high value of the system and thinks if they had installed the electronic system before the mishaps.
Understanding the utility of the electronic home security system beforehand is very much essential.
Once installed, you will feel much more protected and will be thankful in coming days. This modern electronic security system ensures your safety and alarms you in advance from any unwanted happenings. We can find in some cases that the electronic security system is being linked to a station from where the alarm is set up and calls for company which provides much more protection at the time someone trying to get into your home. Now days, there exists a number of companies offering home security systems. You need to consider one among them to get protected all the time around.
The electronic security system has become a barrier among abusive neighbors preventing them to continue with their unsocial activities. With the advent of this useful electronic system, we can find that the cases like robbery and other unwanted happenings have got decreased to a remarkable extent.
The electronic home security system has already proved as a boon among many people. It’s better to get protected installing the system and leading a tension free life. This system helps to make your home a safer place for your family and as well as your friends to visit without having any fear. You can now get up to date information’s about its latest products through home blog reviews websites. You can always choose one of the systems among the may available which suit your needs.
Nigeria Scam
The Nigeria scam is a common type of internet fraud also known as the “advanced fee fraud” or the 4-1-9 fraud. The fraud is perpetuated through email messages, letters and can even be sent through fax. These types of fraud messages are usually postmarked as coming from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and other foreign nations. The recipient address is usually taken from random mailing lists. The fraudsters work by appealing the receiver of the message to aid a government, a bank, a quasi-government entity and members of a prominent family out of a legal problem or a financial embarrassment. The pitch in such Nigeria scams usually include a multi-million dollar promise that should the receiver help the sender, then he (receiver) would benefit from some of the money. Read more on email hoax.
Should the unsuspecting receiver agree to participate in this Nigeria scam, something usually goes wrong from the sender’s side thus requiring the mail recipient to intervene by sending a specified amount of money to bribe some official in the named country for them to agree on releasing the money. The money required from the mail recipient is usually some insignificant amount of money, which considering the amount in question, does not always seem suspect. Once the mail recipient sends the first sum of money, the excuses start coming, usually requiring a little more contribution from his part in order to set the process rolling. All the mail recipient gets in response after sending the money to the fraudsters are more excuses usually requiring a bit more money from them. Unless one recognizes this is a fraud well in advance, the small amount of cash sent to the fraudsters could end up milking their accounts dry. Moreover, when there is no more money coming from their targets, the fraudsters disappear forever, and so do the money they received.
Recognizing the Nigeria scam is quite easy. First, mail recipients should be on the lookout for promises of great fortunes that are usually contained in such mails. Without parting with the small amount as requested by the fraudsters, target mail recipients should first consider the possibility of “what if I never get the promised amount even after parting with my money?” The Nigeria scam usually takes different forms. The fraudsters may decide to contact a religious organization with the pretense of being charitable and wanting to leave some of “his fortune” to the organization. The script usually runs as above usually requiring the organization to send some amount of money to solve some delays. Again, the money never materializes. Read more on ebay fraud.
The general principle applied in the Nigeria scam mails is that the someone in a different country (does not necessarily have to be Nigeria) contacts their target prey wanting some kind of help to move large amounts of money from some place. The Nigeria scams usually look so obvious after exposure that one wonders why people fall for the trick. However, some people blinded by the promise of wealth ignore the telltale signs that scream “Fraud!” Every year, hundreds of people are swindled of their money through the Nigeria scam, whose undisputed base is Nigeria. In some extreme cases, the fraudsters have their targets fly to the country to meet the people they are dealing with. All this is done in an attempt to extort as much money from the victims as is possible.
Should the unsuspecting receiver agree to participate in this Nigeria scam, something usually goes wrong from the sender’s side thus requiring the mail recipient to intervene by sending a specified amount of money to bribe some official in the named country for them to agree on releasing the money. The money required from the mail recipient is usually some insignificant amount of money, which considering the amount in question, does not always seem suspect. Once the mail recipient sends the first sum of money, the excuses start coming, usually requiring a little more contribution from his part in order to set the process rolling. All the mail recipient gets in response after sending the money to the fraudsters are more excuses usually requiring a bit more money from them. Unless one recognizes this is a fraud well in advance, the small amount of cash sent to the fraudsters could end up milking their accounts dry. Moreover, when there is no more money coming from their targets, the fraudsters disappear forever, and so do the money they received.
Recognizing the Nigeria scam is quite easy. First, mail recipients should be on the lookout for promises of great fortunes that are usually contained in such mails. Without parting with the small amount as requested by the fraudsters, target mail recipients should first consider the possibility of “what if I never get the promised amount even after parting with my money?” The Nigeria scam usually takes different forms. The fraudsters may decide to contact a religious organization with the pretense of being charitable and wanting to leave some of “his fortune” to the organization. The script usually runs as above usually requiring the organization to send some amount of money to solve some delays. Again, the money never materializes. Read more on ebay fraud.
The general principle applied in the Nigeria scam mails is that the someone in a different country (does not necessarily have to be Nigeria) contacts their target prey wanting some kind of help to move large amounts of money from some place. The Nigeria scams usually look so obvious after exposure that one wonders why people fall for the trick. However, some people blinded by the promise of wealth ignore the telltale signs that scream “Fraud!” Every year, hundreds of people are swindled of their money through the Nigeria scam, whose undisputed base is Nigeria. In some extreme cases, the fraudsters have their targets fly to the country to meet the people they are dealing with. All this is done in an attempt to extort as much money from the victims as is possible.
SPAM - Facts you need to know!!
The amount of SPAM in circulation is increasing exponentially year on year. This fact sheet is designed for those who have a spam email Torquay problem and need to know how to reduce it.
Everything you need to know about SPAM can be found at the SPAMHAUS website. http://www.spamhaus.org/index.lasso
* Source - Spamhaus.org - 75% of the worlds email is SPAM.
* Source - Microsoft.com - Hotmail filters more than 3 billion SPAM emails daily.
* SPAMMING is legal in the USA - http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=150
* SPAMMING is illegal throughout the European Community - http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=
* The USA is the worlds top Spamming country.
ROKSO (Register Of Known Spam Operations)
80% of spam received by Internet users in North America and Europe can be traced via aliases and addresses, redirects, hosting locations of sites and domains, to a hard-core group of around 200 known spam operations, almost all of whom are listed in the ROKSO database.
See the ROKSO list: http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/index.lasso
Spamhaus guide to SPAM filtering
Spamhaus guide to SPAM filtering - for businesses using a mail server - used by more than 260 million Internet users.
http://www.spamhaus.org/effective_filtering.html
Spam Solutions
Email is scanned for viruses and SPAM before it arrives at the company network. During collection, email is scanned again and after passing two completely separate tests it is delivered. Many businesses waste a lot of time removing SPAM.
With Ponticello it's all part of the service.
Email solutions
A reliable email system is essential to any business. Whether you use Outlook, Exchange or an online mailbox we can help get the most from your email. If you need email on your palm device, spam filtering or anti virus protection, call Ponticello.
Ponticello is an ICT and Computer Support Devon company, which is based in Torquay and operates in Devon and the surrounding area. They have a team of highly qualified and experienced Microsoft certified professionals who can support for your business to provide a 'one stop shop' for your ICT and Computer support needs. If you require Computer Support Devon please do not hesitate to contact us.
Everything you need to know about SPAM can be found at the SPAMHAUS website. http://www.spamhaus.org/index.lasso
* Source - Spamhaus.org - 75% of the worlds email is SPAM.
* Source - Microsoft.com - Hotmail filters more than 3 billion SPAM emails daily.
* SPAMMING is legal in the USA - http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=150
* SPAMMING is illegal throughout the European Community - http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=
* The USA is the worlds top Spamming country.
ROKSO (Register Of Known Spam Operations)
80% of spam received by Internet users in North America and Europe can be traced via aliases and addresses, redirects, hosting locations of sites and domains, to a hard-core group of around 200 known spam operations, almost all of whom are listed in the ROKSO database.
See the ROKSO list: http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/index.lasso
Spamhaus guide to SPAM filtering
Spamhaus guide to SPAM filtering - for businesses using a mail server - used by more than 260 million Internet users.
http://www.spamhaus.org/effective_filtering.html
Spam Solutions
Email is scanned for viruses and SPAM before it arrives at the company network. During collection, email is scanned again and after passing two completely separate tests it is delivered. Many businesses waste a lot of time removing SPAM.
With Ponticello it's all part of the service.
Email solutions
A reliable email system is essential to any business. Whether you use Outlook, Exchange or an online mailbox we can help get the most from your email. If you need email on your palm device, spam filtering or anti virus protection, call Ponticello.
Ponticello is an ICT and Computer Support Devon company, which is based in Torquay and operates in Devon and the surrounding area. They have a team of highly qualified and experienced Microsoft certified professionals who can support for your business to provide a 'one stop shop' for your ICT and Computer support needs. If you require Computer Support Devon please do not hesitate to contact us.
Earn Money Blogging
Creating a Blow for Your Business Can Help You Increase Your Profits
one of the more searched for terms among the major search engines is blow. The word blow is meant to describe a web log, or online journal, that is used to post personal thoughts on the products and services offered by your business. A blow can also be used to make announcements to your customers and provide them a place to give feedback and make comments. You may include any information you desire in your posts to your blow that are related to your line of business. Articles, questions, and opinions are all appropriate blow gung subjects.
Starting a blow is simple and there are several logging tools available to you. Some are free to use and other, more powerful logging tools can be found for a small monthly fee. In general, blogging tools are user friendly and do not require the knowledge of HTML or complex computer skills. Creating a blog can give your business increased visibility and give your subscribers a forum in which to receive product updates, advice on how to effectively use your products, and post questions or comments about your line of business. To bring your blog to the attention of your target audience, you can link your blog to other blocs, include links to your blog in newsletters or on your web site, and you may even want to include a link to your blog in your email signature.
Blogging can help you increase your profits due to increased visibility, which will undoubtedly lead to increased web site traffic and lead to you earn money blogging. Make sure to only include pertinent information about your niche or line of business in your blog. Most bogglers are happy to link their blog to those belonging to others. The sharing of information and ability to post thoughts and comments makes for a winning situation for all concerned. Starting a blog for your business can be a great way to help you increase your profits and share important information with the public.
one of the more searched for terms among the major search engines is blow. The word blow is meant to describe a web log, or online journal, that is used to post personal thoughts on the products and services offered by your business. A blow can also be used to make announcements to your customers and provide them a place to give feedback and make comments. You may include any information you desire in your posts to your blow that are related to your line of business. Articles, questions, and opinions are all appropriate blow gung subjects.
Starting a blow is simple and there are several logging tools available to you. Some are free to use and other, more powerful logging tools can be found for a small monthly fee. In general, blogging tools are user friendly and do not require the knowledge of HTML or complex computer skills. Creating a blog can give your business increased visibility and give your subscribers a forum in which to receive product updates, advice on how to effectively use your products, and post questions or comments about your line of business. To bring your blog to the attention of your target audience, you can link your blog to other blocs, include links to your blog in newsletters or on your web site, and you may even want to include a link to your blog in your email signature.
Blogging can help you increase your profits due to increased visibility, which will undoubtedly lead to increased web site traffic and lead to you earn money blogging. Make sure to only include pertinent information about your niche or line of business in your blog. Most bogglers are happy to link their blog to those belonging to others. The sharing of information and ability to post thoughts and comments makes for a winning situation for all concerned. Starting a blog for your business can be a great way to help you increase your profits and share important information with the public.
Common Reasons of Blogging..
Blogging is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. This is particularly true when you consider the number of weblogs online in 1999 and the number online today. There are almost as many new blogs created each and every day as there were in total before blogs became the media darlings they have become in the last five years.
There have been blogs about many interesting topics, ideas, and pursuits. There are blogs about politics, humor, movies, movie stars, shoes, home improvement projects even hobbies such as knitting and bowling have made blog rolls.
The question becomes what are the reasons that people blog. The reasons vary from person to person, however, there are a few that seem to stand out among the masses of reasons and are among the most often stated.
Here are five reasons people blog
1 Bloggers enjoy feeling as though they have been heard. This is actually an important part of the blogging process. You have a message to share and an audience with which to share your message. Feedback from readers provides you, as the blogger, with validation and occasionally healthy debate for your statements, opinions, and beliefs.
2 Blogging allows bloggers to establish a virtual identity. For many this is their way of announcing their presence to the world. Not only are they able to make themselves heard, they are also able to be seen for a person that stands out among the many and is at the same time very much like the many. Hopes, fears, dreams, ambitions, talents, and failures define us all. Many of us use our blogs to expand on those definitions with which we measure ourselves.
3 Some people are wise enough to use their blogs for introspective purposes. By blogging we learn more about ourselves. By challenging ourselves to grow, expand, and experience new things, we are also inviting ourselves to look within for insights as to our own natures. We often learn about our own feelings, misconceptions, ideals, and values when we open mindedly study the thoughts and feelings of others, we learn so much more when we take the time to seek our own thoughts and feelings and not only put words to them but also to place them in context.
4 To learn. It sounds quite simple really and yet is something that so many people overlook as a valid reason for blogging. By studying the material that we write about, we often learn things we didn't know in the beginning. Every new nugget of information leads to another and then another.
5 To keep records of our history. Whether your blog is a politic blog that is recording current events in politics or a blog of your favorite bands, music groups, songs, books, etc. It is a record that can be kept for the future. It is an account of your history and a keeper of your memories.
Everyone has a different reason for blogging and some people actually have several reasons for blogging and none of those mentioned above are required. Your reasons for blogging are yours and yours alone and just as valid as any other. The best possible reason to blog, in my opinion, is to have fun and meet new people.
There have been blogs about many interesting topics, ideas, and pursuits. There are blogs about politics, humor, movies, movie stars, shoes, home improvement projects even hobbies such as knitting and bowling have made blog rolls.
The question becomes what are the reasons that people blog. The reasons vary from person to person, however, there are a few that seem to stand out among the masses of reasons and are among the most often stated.
Here are five reasons people blog
1 Bloggers enjoy feeling as though they have been heard. This is actually an important part of the blogging process. You have a message to share and an audience with which to share your message. Feedback from readers provides you, as the blogger, with validation and occasionally healthy debate for your statements, opinions, and beliefs.
2 Blogging allows bloggers to establish a virtual identity. For many this is their way of announcing their presence to the world. Not only are they able to make themselves heard, they are also able to be seen for a person that stands out among the many and is at the same time very much like the many. Hopes, fears, dreams, ambitions, talents, and failures define us all. Many of us use our blogs to expand on those definitions with which we measure ourselves.
3 Some people are wise enough to use their blogs for introspective purposes. By blogging we learn more about ourselves. By challenging ourselves to grow, expand, and experience new things, we are also inviting ourselves to look within for insights as to our own natures. We often learn about our own feelings, misconceptions, ideals, and values when we open mindedly study the thoughts and feelings of others, we learn so much more when we take the time to seek our own thoughts and feelings and not only put words to them but also to place them in context.
4 To learn. It sounds quite simple really and yet is something that so many people overlook as a valid reason for blogging. By studying the material that we write about, we often learn things we didn't know in the beginning. Every new nugget of information leads to another and then another.
5 To keep records of our history. Whether your blog is a politic blog that is recording current events in politics or a blog of your favorite bands, music groups, songs, books, etc. It is a record that can be kept for the future. It is an account of your history and a keeper of your memories.
Everyone has a different reason for blogging and some people actually have several reasons for blogging and none of those mentioned above are required. Your reasons for blogging are yours and yours alone and just as valid as any other. The best possible reason to blog, in my opinion, is to have fun and meet new people.
Traditional vs. Web Mail
One of the most useful and innovative web applications that is beginning to create a buzz is Web Mail. The application (which is used on the Internet) allows it users to access, send, receive and manage their email all through a web browser.
The great thing about web mail is the ability to access your email from almost any computer around the world, as long as you have an Internet connection and web browser.
The difference between traditional electronic mail and web mail is that with traditional mailing the messages are stored on an email client’s one computer while web mail allows access from anywhere via the Internet. Users are attracted to this benefit a lot more than any other.
Web mail is becoming very popular within many technology companies including search engines and portals. A few of the more popular web mail services available include:
* Yahoo! Mail
* Google Gmail
* Hotmail
* AT&T
All of these service providers offer web mail for free. They tend to do this in order to encourage their users to keep coming back to their web site.
Advantages of Web Mail
* Email stored centrally
* Registration is fast and free
* Multiple email addresses can be created for one user
* Large storage capacity
Disadvantages of Web Mail
* Online accessibility
* Advertisements
* Spam and security problems
Numerous web mail users check their email on a daily basis. The more a user visits a specific site the more revenue a company such as Google and Yahoo can make off of advertisements.
About CODANK Charlotte Web Design
CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.
For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com
The great thing about web mail is the ability to access your email from almost any computer around the world, as long as you have an Internet connection and web browser.
The difference between traditional electronic mail and web mail is that with traditional mailing the messages are stored on an email client’s one computer while web mail allows access from anywhere via the Internet. Users are attracted to this benefit a lot more than any other.
Web mail is becoming very popular within many technology companies including search engines and portals. A few of the more popular web mail services available include:
* Yahoo! Mail
* Google Gmail
* Hotmail
* AT&T
All of these service providers offer web mail for free. They tend to do this in order to encourage their users to keep coming back to their web site.
Advantages of Web Mail
* Email stored centrally
* Registration is fast and free
* Multiple email addresses can be created for one user
* Large storage capacity
Disadvantages of Web Mail
* Online accessibility
* Advertisements
* Spam and security problems
Numerous web mail users check their email on a daily basis. The more a user visits a specific site the more revenue a company such as Google and Yahoo can make off of advertisements.
About CODANK Charlotte Web Design
CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.
For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com
Free Tv Watching On The Internet
So you want to know how to do free TV watching on the Internet? Yes, it's a dream come true for many people since they can finally ditch the cable bill.
Unfortunately, while much of the material is there, it is still a geek's world when it comes to watching TV this way. So what are your options? Well there is of course Hulu, which allows you to see pre-recorded shows, but believe it or not, there are numerous other options out there as well. For example, in 2007, Joost, a venture of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, two founders of Skype decided to try their hand at the business of TV over the 'net.
They used a similar peer to peer sharing system like they had used for making the wildly successful Skype and they tried to get people to load up a software program which would then connect itself to the Internet through a proprietary system.
The program was elegant looking and popular early on, especially when compared to it's main competitor, Hulu. The trouble was that people who wanted to do free TV watching on the Internet really didn't want to have to load up a new program on their computers. Instead, they simply wanted to surf to a site, pick something and start watching.
In 2008, realizing their mistake, Zennstrom and Friis decided to try to mimic Hulu, by offering their material online at a flash based website. The trouble was that by then Hulu had already come to dominate the scene and there was no way for the duo to overcome that advantage.
Joost is still around and the dynamic duo who created it still insist it can succeed, but the future does seem to be doubtful. The one saving grace they have for their site is that they offer some content (albeit very little of it) to people overseas (Hulu very famously is only available in the United States, causing all kinds of people to look for creative ways to get around their protections).
Ironically, even though the people at Joost came up with the idea of a software program which would make the experience of watching Internet TV more graphical and less text based, they dropped their graphical software and switched entirely to a web based experience while Hulu recently began flirting with a new interface which would use a desktop program to allow for free watching of TV on the Internet.
Unfortunately, while much of the material is there, it is still a geek's world when it comes to watching TV this way. So what are your options? Well there is of course Hulu, which allows you to see pre-recorded shows, but believe it or not, there are numerous other options out there as well. For example, in 2007, Joost, a venture of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, two founders of Skype decided to try their hand at the business of TV over the 'net.
They used a similar peer to peer sharing system like they had used for making the wildly successful Skype and they tried to get people to load up a software program which would then connect itself to the Internet through a proprietary system.
The program was elegant looking and popular early on, especially when compared to it's main competitor, Hulu. The trouble was that people who wanted to do free TV watching on the Internet really didn't want to have to load up a new program on their computers. Instead, they simply wanted to surf to a site, pick something and start watching.
In 2008, realizing their mistake, Zennstrom and Friis decided to try to mimic Hulu, by offering their material online at a flash based website. The trouble was that by then Hulu had already come to dominate the scene and there was no way for the duo to overcome that advantage.
Joost is still around and the dynamic duo who created it still insist it can succeed, but the future does seem to be doubtful. The one saving grace they have for their site is that they offer some content (albeit very little of it) to people overseas (Hulu very famously is only available in the United States, causing all kinds of people to look for creative ways to get around their protections).
Ironically, even though the people at Joost came up with the idea of a software program which would make the experience of watching Internet TV more graphical and less text based, they dropped their graphical software and switched entirely to a web based experience while Hulu recently began flirting with a new interface which would use a desktop program to allow for free watching of TV on the Internet.
3 Ways To Learn How To Use Twitter
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 12 months, then you would have heard about the phenomenon that is Twitter. Everyone seems to be using it these days, including celebrities and big companies. Does this mean that you too should be using it?
That?s right, you should be using it. You would be crazy to miss this boat. But in order to use something and use it successfully, you have to learn how.
There are several methods to learn about Twitter. Below are a couple of suggestions you may choose to take up.
Books
Twitter is now part of the mainstream that you can go into any bookshop and find books offering a user?s manual on how to use Twitter. For some people going to the bookshop may be a hassle, which is why you should probably use a service such as Amazon.
Websites
If you do a search on Google for the term ?how to use Twitter? then you will find a big number of websites which explain how to do different things on Twitter. Most are comprised of text mixed with screenshots demonstrating each step of the process.
Video Tutorials
Possibly the best and most common way to learn how to use Twitter is through video tutorials. It's a popular method because it allows a lot of information to be consumed much quicker. The fact that you can visually see each step of the process creates little confusion in the mind of the viewer about how to do something. How great is that?
At the end of the day, you?re the one who chooses which method to use to learn about Twitter. Everyone learns differently and at a different speed so choose the method which most suits you. You may prefer one method over another but the most important thing is to go out there and learn about Twitter today if you haven?t yet done so. You can do anything if you are willing to put in the time and effort to know how to use one of the best online marketing tools.
That?s right, you should be using it. You would be crazy to miss this boat. But in order to use something and use it successfully, you have to learn how.
There are several methods to learn about Twitter. Below are a couple of suggestions you may choose to take up.
Books
Twitter is now part of the mainstream that you can go into any bookshop and find books offering a user?s manual on how to use Twitter. For some people going to the bookshop may be a hassle, which is why you should probably use a service such as Amazon.
Websites
If you do a search on Google for the term ?how to use Twitter? then you will find a big number of websites which explain how to do different things on Twitter. Most are comprised of text mixed with screenshots demonstrating each step of the process.
Video Tutorials
Possibly the best and most common way to learn how to use Twitter is through video tutorials. It's a popular method because it allows a lot of information to be consumed much quicker. The fact that you can visually see each step of the process creates little confusion in the mind of the viewer about how to do something. How great is that?
At the end of the day, you?re the one who chooses which method to use to learn about Twitter. Everyone learns differently and at a different speed so choose the method which most suits you. You may prefer one method over another but the most important thing is to go out there and learn about Twitter today if you haven?t yet done so. You can do anything if you are willing to put in the time and effort to know how to use one of the best online marketing tools.
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Friday, November 20, 2009
how to draw a proportional hand
many people who struggle to draw hands. can be hand drawn to be slightly larger, or smaller than the size of the image. The following are tips on how to draw a proportional hand.
Step 1
Step 3
source : anime
Figure circle oval like the picture above. Put the point in a circle round the oval. This point is useful to facilitate determining the center of the finger the finger which will be drawn.
Step 2
Figure 5 fruit straight line centered on the central point, where the longest line is the line for the middle finger. Figure circle oval ovals over the first circle.
Step 3
Figure 4 line arcs across the four lines long. Outermost arc lines to determine the length limit of the finger. Give the points to determine the books of the fingers.
Step 4
Start with a hand sketch BASED on line help lines that have been previously dibat. The result can be seen as a picture above.
Step 5
From the picture can be seen that above the thumb bent inwards. In order images look more natural then the first set of rotation center point on the base of the thumb.Then make a circle with a radius that is used is the thumb (thumb).
Step 6
above hand drawing can be modified by changing the position of the fingers into a huddle, so long finger and ring finger look the same height. See picture above!
Black and White Image Comics!
on this occasion, I will give tips, how to give black and white on the manga. black and white coloring is very important, and it also affect the appearance of the manga itself.When drawing manga, this is what you must consider is the contrast of the image.In the section where you will give a black color and the part where you will give the white color, is something that must pentng you first think when you draw.
To better understand I select a tree and the human as an example. Because trees and people will come in every manga.
Trees are depicted with colors reversed (which should be part black, became white color). By doing this, the image will give the impression that exciting atmosphere to the reader, except that the image will appear to flow. In the picture above, the tree is described more white color, it is intended that the reader focused on the two images.
Bright or white color is more dominant in the image above this, it is to give the impression of tension before the climax of the story. This image is very appropriate if placed at the end of the story in the manga, and continued on the other parts. So that the reader was curious and wanted to get to know the next event.
Drawing in silhouette (shadow), where the background image can liven tree. Figure shadow man can memberian certain impression, look at the picture above what you're impression of the image is captured? maybe this person has a calm nature and relax.
Although the picture looks sedernana, but we already can see his point. This person was thinking about this thing can be known with a black background.
source : anime
To better understand I select a tree and the human as an example. Because trees and people will come in every manga.
As if the pictures are drawn without using a black color that is visible only white color. Drawing in this way can create an atmosphere of winter.
source : anime
Thursday, November 19, 2009
kenshin, a kind samurai
if you're a fan of the manga, would you know about kehnsi, samurai x. yupz, I'll tell you more details.
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚, Rurō ni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan?),also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to protect the people of Japan. Watsuki wrote this series upon his desire of making a shōnen manga different from the other ones that were published in that time, with Kenshin being a former assassin and the story taking a more serious tone as it continued. Although the tragic tone was highly expanded as the manga advanced, Watsuki became determined to give it a happy ending as it was aimed at teenagers.
The manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 2, 1994, to November 4, 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes, while years later it was reprinted into twenty-two kanzenban volumes. Studio Gallop, Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime series which aired in Japan from January 10, 1996 to September 8, 1998. Besides an animated film, two series of original video animations (OVAs) were also produced. The first adapted stories from the manga that were not featured in the anime, while the second was also a sequel of the manga. Writer Kaoru Shizuka has authored three official Rurouni Kenshin light novels which were published by Shueisha. Several video games have also been released for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles.
The United States release of the manga has been completed by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English releases, as a rough translation of "Rurō ni" (流浪に, lit. "Wandering"?). The TV series later licensed in North America and released on DVD by Media Blasters. The first two seasons aired on the United States Cartoon Network as a part of the Toonami Block, while the third season was only featured in DVD . The English-language versions of the OVAs as well the film is released as Samurai X, although the original title was included in the DVD releases. The first light novel has been translated by Viz and distributed in the United States and Canada. None of the video games of the series have been released in North America.
The series has been highly popular in Japan, the United States and Europe. The manga has sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007 while the anime has ranked between the 100 most watched series in Japan multiple times. The anime and manga have received praise and criticism from various publications for anime, manga and other media, with both having received good response on the characters' designs and the historical setting. The OVAs have also received praise due to their animation and music.
Rurouni Kenshin characters
The story of Rurouni Kenshin takes place during the early Meiji era in Japan. It tells the story of a peaceful wanderer named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai". After participating during the Bakumatsu war, Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who was in the middle of a fight with a murderer who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai from her swordmanship school. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai. After discovering that Kenshin is the real Battōsai, she offers him a place stay at her dojo as she notes Kenshin is a gentle person instead. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family; and a doctor named Takani Megumi. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including his rival from the Bakumatsu Saitō Hajime and the former leader from the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi.
After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin discovers that his successor as assassin of the shadows, Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that his friends may be attacked by Shishio's faction, Kenshin goes to meet Shishio alone in order to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, decide to help him in his fight. He decides to accept their help and defeats Shishio in a fight, who dies in the process due to the rise in body temperature caused by his burns. The anime adapts the manga until this part, later featuring new story arcs which were not featured in the manga.
When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, Kenshin finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans to take revenge by killing his friends. At this point it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin used to be married to a woman called Yukishiro Tomoe, who initially wanted to avenge the death of her fiancé, whom Kenshin had killed, but instead both fell in love and got married. When it was discovered that Tomoe was part of a group of assassins that wanted to kill Kenshin, Kenshin blindly swings his sword, killing both his assailant and Tomoe, who jumps in at the last minute to save Kenshin from a fatal attack. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a tortured figure bearing a stunning resemblance of the girl for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set to rescue her. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and when Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Five years later, Kenshin has found true peace; he is married to Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji.
Production
A prototype series titled Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story first appeared as a pair of separate short stories published in 1992 and 1993 in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump Special. The first story featured an earlier version of Kenshin stopping a crime lord from taking over the Kamiya family dojo. Watsuki described the first Rurouni story, echoing the "Megumi Arc," as a "pilot" for Rurouni Kenshin. According to Watsuki, the final Rurouni Kenshin series was not composed entirely from his free will. Describing the creation of historical stories as "hard," Watsuki initially wanted to make his next series in a contemporary setting. An editor approached Watsuki and asked him to make a new historical story. With the historic concept, Watsuki intended to use the Bakumatsu time period from Moeyo Ken (Burn, O Sword) with a story akin to Sugata Sanshirō. Watsuki experimented with various titles, including Nishin (Two-Hearts) Kenshin, Yorozuya (Jack-of-All-Trades) Kenshin, and variations of "Rurouni" and "Kenshin" with different kanji in that order.
The second Rurouni story, released one half of a year after the first story, features Kenshin helping a wealthy girl named Raikōji Chizuru. Watsuki recalled experiencing difficulty when condensing "everything" into 31 pages for the first Romantic Swordsman story. He said that he "put all my soul into it" but sighs when looking at the story from his perspective after the publication of the Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 graphic novel in Japan. Watsuki describes the first Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story as receiving mediocre reviews and about two hundred letters. Watsuki described the second Rurouni as a "side story."
During his childhood, Watsuki used to practice kendo which influenced him in the making from the series. Although, Watsuki developed various one-shots prior to the official serialization from the series, he mentioned he based the series from Crescent Moon in the Warring States, a story which introduced Kenshin's fighting style and his teacher. While naming the characters, he based some of their names from places he used to live such as Makimachi Misao's "Makimachi" and Sanjō Tsubame, who are named after places from Niigata.
Being fascinated by the Shinsengumi, Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of the real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan.The historical characters were considered to be a hard task by Watsuki. Due to problems with the characterization from Sagara Sōzō, Watsuki decided to illustrate Saitō Hajime in his own style avoiding the historical figure. He felt very good with Saitō's character having noted he fit very well in the manga. However, Watsuki mentioned that many Japanese fans of the Shinsengumi complained about the personality of Saitō, as he was made sadistic.
When questioned about the series' theme being Kenshin's self-redemption, Watsuki mentioned that when he was young he used to read shōjo and that it influenced in the story from Rurouni Kenshin. He added that he wanted to make a story different from other comics as he considers the main character [Himura Kenshin] is neither a good or evil character. Since volume 7, Watsuki mentioned the series took a more adult tone due to the various conflicts in the story, but commented it was influenced by the shōjo manga he read. Through the series' development, Watsuki was deciding if Kamiya Kaoru's character was going to die prior to the end. However, he later decided to keep Kaoru alive as he came to the conclusion he wanted a happy ending and that the manga is aimed at young readers. Watsuki said he was an "infatuated" type of person rather than a "passionate" kind of person, so therefore Rurouni Kenshin is a "Meiji Swordsman Story" as opposed to being a "Meiji Love Story."
When the manga series started to be published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Watsuki had little hope in the development of the series. He planned to finish the story in approximately 30 chapters, ending with Kenshin's departure from Tokyo in a similar manner to the one from volume 7. Kenshin's enemies would have been people from Kyoto who would send an assassin to kill Kenshin. When the Oniwabanshū were introduced during the serialization, Watsuki noted that the series could be longer as he had created various main characters. In that time, there was a survey, and the series had become very popular.
When the series reached seven volumes, Watsuki's boss suggested him that it was time to make a longer story-arc, which resulted in the creation of the fights between Kenshin and Shishio Makoto. The arc was only meant to be serialized for one year, but it ended up being one year-and-a-half long. This arc was also done to develop Kenshin's character as he considered him not to have a weak point. Watsuki commented that his artistic skills were honed with this arc, as he could draw everything he wanted to. The last arc from the manga was meant to be much shorter, but it turned out to be a fairly long one as he could not present in a simplistic manner. This arc was originally made by Watsuki prior to the series' start, having already thought about how would Kenshin's scar had been made. Watsuki also planned to create a Hokkaido arc and a sequel, but felt it would be better to start with another manga and so ended the series with the last arc he made.
In a manga volume prior to the release of the anime, Watsuki said that while some fans might object to the adaptation of the series into anime, Watsuki looked forward to the adaptation and felt it would work since the manga was already "anime-esque." He had some worries about the series since he felt since the creation of the series was sudden and the series had a "tight" production schedule. In another note in the same volume Watsuki added that he had little input in the series, as he was too busy with the publishing. In addition his schedule did not match the schedule of the anime production staff.Watsuki said that it would be impossible to make the anime and manga exactly the same, so he would feel fine with the anime adaptation as long as it took advantage of the strengths of an anime format.
After the anime began production, Watsuki said that the final product was "better than imagined" and that it was created with the "pride and soul of professionals." Watsuki criticized the timing, the "off-the-wall, embarrassing subtitles," and the condensing of the stories; for instance he felt the Jin-e storyline would not sufficiently fit two episodes. Watsuki said that he consulted a director and that he felt the anime would improve after that point. The fact that the CD book voice actors, especially Megumi Ogata and Tomokazu Seki, who portrayed Kenshin and Sanosuke in the CD books, respectively, did not get their corresponding roles in the anime disappointed Watsuki. Watsuki reported receiving some letters of protest against the voice actor change and letters requesting that Ogata portray Seta Sōjirō; Watsuki said that he wanted Ogata to play Misao and that Ogata would likely find "stubborn girl" roles more challenging than the "pretty boy" roles she usually gets, though Watsuki felt Ogata would have "no problem" portraying a "stubborn girl." Watsuki said that the new voice actor arrangement "works out" and that he hoped that the CD book voice actors would find roles in the anime. Watsuki said that the reason why the CD book voice actors did not get the corresponding roles in the anime was due to the fact that many more companies were involved in the production of the anime than the production of the CD books, and therefore the "industry power-structure" affected the series.
The second series of the TV anime had some original stories not in the manga. Watsuki said that some people disliked "TV originals," but to him the concept was "exciting". Watsuki said that because the first half of the original storyline that existed by the time of the production of Volume 10 in Japan was "jammed" into the first series, he looked forward to a "more entertaining" second series. Watsuki added that it was obvious that the staff of the first series "put their hearts and souls" into the work, but that the second series will be "a much better stage for their talents."
Rurouni Kenshin chapters
Written and drawn by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the first chapter of Rurouni Kenshin premiered in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1994 and was serialized in the magazine until 1999. The 255 individual chapters were collected and published in 28 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first volume released on September 9, 1994 and the last on November 4, 1999. In July 2006, Shueisha began re-releasing the series in a twenty-two kanzenban special edition volumes. A single chapter follow up to the series that follows the character of Yahiko Myōjin, Yahiko no Sakabatō (弥彦の逆刃刀, ("Yahiko's Reversed-Edge Sword")?), was originally published in Weekly Shōnen Jump after the conclusion of the series. Left out of the original volumes, it was added as an extra to the final kanzenban release.
Rurouni Kenshin was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. The first volume of the series was released on October 7, 2003. Although the first volumes were published on a irregular basis, since volume 7 Viz established a monthly basis due to good sales and consumer demands. Therefore, the following volumes were published until July 5, 2006, when the final volume was published. Yahiko no Sakabatō was also serialized in Shonen Jump during 2006. In January 2008, Viz began re-releasing the manga in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition", which is a collection of three volumes in one. Viz uses the actual ordering of Japanese names, with the family name or surname before the given name, within the series to reduce confusion and because Rurouni Kenshin is a historical series.
Anime
See also: List of Rurouni Kenshin episodes
The anime, directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, began airing on Japan's Fuji TV on January 10, 1996 and ended on September 8, 1998. It was produced by Aniplex and Fuji TV, and was animated from episode 1 to 70 by Studio Gallop, whereas the episodes from 70 onwards were animated by Studio Deen. The final episode, episode 95, did not air in Japan, but was a bonus episode for the VHS and DVD releases.Since its premier of Japan, episodes from the series have been collected in DVDs various times: two DVDs series with both of them featuring four episodes per volume and three DVD boxes.
In 1999 Sony tried and failed to market the series in the United States as Samurai X via an existing company. The TV series was later licensed in North America and released on DVD by Media Blasters. It started airing in the US on the Cartoon Network as a part of the Toonami Block on March 17, 2003, but ended at the completion of the Season 2. Episodes 63-95 did not air, but were included in the DVD release. The twenty-two English DVDs from the series were released from July 18, 2000 to September 24, 2002. Each of them contain four episodes except for the volume 22 which contains five episodes. The seasons were later released in three premium "Bento box" DVD boxes on November 18, 2003, March 30, 2004 and July 27, 2004. They were released again, but in new packaging as "economy box" sets on November 15, 2005, January 17, 2006 and February 14, 2006. Sony Pictures Television International created an English-language version of the series, titled Samurai X, that airs outside of the United States.
Film
The series also has a movie called Samurai X: The Motion Picture, known in Japan as Ishin Shishi e no Requiem (―維新志士への鎮魂歌, Requiem for the Ishin Patriots?) which tells a story where Kenshin meets a samurai who was very close to a man Battosai murdered in the war. The samurai is trying to start a revolution to overthrow the Meiji government. The film was directed by Hatsuki Tsuji and it premiered in Japan on December 20, 1997. The Japanese DVD was released on August 21, 1998. It has been republished twice in 2000 and 2002, adding new content to the DVD. It was also released on December 7, 2005 on Universal Media Disc format.In North America, the film was released in DVD on March 27, 2001.
Original video animations
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal and Samurai X: Reflection
There are also two Rurouni Kenshin original video animation (OVA) series which have respectively four and two episodes. The first of them, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, collectively known in Japan as Tsuiokuhen (追憶編, Recollection?) and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal -Director's Cut, was released in 1999 in Japan and in 2003 was collected into a two hour feature-length motion picture with new animated sequences and released in North America as a Director's Cut DVD. It is set during the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and during Kenshin's job as an assassin.The second OVA is Samurai X: Reflection, known in Japan as Seisōhen (星霜編, Time?) and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Reflection -Director's Cut, composed of two episodes. The first episode was originally released on December 12, 2001 in Japan and the second on March 20, 2002. It is set both during and after the timeline of the series and tells of Kenshin and Kaoru's later years, much of which is not derived from the manga.It was later released in the United States by ADV Films in DVD in March 25, 2003, while a Director's Cut edition was later released.
Cover of Rurouni Kenshin OST 1.
All of the series music was composed by Noriyuki Asakura and several CDs have been released by Sony Records. The first, Rurouni Kenshin OST 1 was released on April 1, 1996 and contained twenty-three songs that were used during the first episodes of the series.The second one, Rurouni Kenshin OST 2 - Departure was released on October 21, 1996 and contained fifteen tracks that were first used before the start of the Kyoto Arc. The next one, Rurouni Kenshin OST 3 - Journey to Kyoto was released on April 21, 1997 and contained the thirteen tracks that originally used in the Kyoto Arc. For the next arc, Rurouni Kenshin OST 4 - Let it Burn was released on February 1, 1998 and contained twelve tracks.
For the OVAs series, all themes were composed by Taku Iwasaki and the CDs were released by Sony Visual Works. The first, Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku Hen OVA OST was released on March 20, 1999 and contained sixteen tracks that were used in Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal. For the Reflection OVA a sondtrack called Rurouni Kenshin Seisō Hen OVA OST was released on January 23, 2002 and contained eighteen tracks.
Several compilations of the anime songs were also released in collection CDs. Thirty tracks were selected and joined in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin - The Director's Collection, that was released on July 21, 1997. Rurouni Kenshin Best Theme Collection was released on March 21, 1998 and contained ten tracks. All of the opening and ending themes were also collected in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin OP/ED Theme Collection. The Japanese voice actors of the series also composed songs that were released as two Cds Rurouni Kenshin Songs Album. All of the anime tracks, including OVAs and films tracks were collected in Rurouni Kenshin Complete CD-Box that was released on September 19, 2002. It contains the four TV OSTs, the two OVA OSTs, the movie OST, the two game OSTs, an opening & closing theme collection, and the two Character Songs albums.
Several drama CDs, which adapted stories in the Rurouni Kenshin manga, were also released in Japan. Each of them featured different voice actors from that one that worked in the anime adaptation. In Volume 5 of the manga Watsuki stated that he anticipated that the script of the third volume, which has the stories involving the character Udō Jin-e, would be "pretty close" but would have additional lines belonging to Sanosuke and Yahiko.
Art and guidebooks
Two encyclopedias of the Rurouni Kenshin manga were released in Japan. The first one, Rurouni Kenshin Profiles (原典?), was released first in Japan in July 4, 1996 by Shueisha and in the United States by Viz Media.Kenshin Kaden (剣心華伝?), released on December 15, 1999 includes the story Haru ni Sakura, which details the fates of all of the Rurouni Kenshin characters. The story takes place years after the manga's conclusion, when Kenshin and Kaoru have married and have a young son, Kenji. Many of the series' major characters who have befriended Kenshin reunite or otherwise reveal their current whereabouts with him in a spring picnic. For the anime, three Kenshin Zoushi artbook were published from 1997 to 1998. While the first two were based on the TV series, the third one was based on the film. The film one was named Ishin Shishi No Requiem Art Book which was released along with the movie. Additionally, it was released Rurouni-Art book that contianed images from the OVAs. A guidebook from the kanzenban imprint of the series was published on June 4, 2007.
Light novels
The Rurouni Kenshin light novels were originally from Shueisha's Jump j-Books. They were co-written by Kaoru Shizuka. Most of them are original stories which were later adapted in the anime. Others are adaptations of manga and anime stories. Only Volume 1 has been translated into English so far. The first novel, Rurouni Kenshin: Voyage to the Moon World, was published in Japan on October 10, 1996 and in North America on October 17, 2006. The second, Yahiko's Battle, was released on October 3, 1997. It retells various stories featured in the manga and anime series. The last novel is TV Anime Shimabara Arc which was published on February 4, 1999.
Video games
There are two Rurouni Kenshin games released for the PlayStation console. Neither game has made it out of Japan. The first, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Ishin Gekitōhen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 維新激闘編?) was released on November 29, 1996. The game is a 3D fighter game with 5 playable characters, while the plot focuses in the first seven volumes from the manga. The second one, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Jūyūshi Inbō Hen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 十勇士陰謀編?) was released on December 18, 1997 and was re-released in the PlayStation The Best lineup on November 5, 1998. The game is a console role-playing game with a story unrelated to either the manga or anime.
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Enjō! Kyōto Rinne (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 炎上!京都輪廻?) is the only video game for the PlayStation 2 console. Its Japanese release was slated at September 14, 2006. The game has sold over 130,000 copies in Japan. Himura Kenshin also appeared in the 2006 Nintendo DS game Jump Ultimate Stars as a battle character, while others were support characters and help characters.
Merchandise
Watsuki commented that there was a lot of Rurouni Kenshin merchandise released for the Japanese market. He reccommended that buyers consider quality before paying for merchandise items and for them to consult their wallets and buy stuff that they feel is "worth it." Watsuki added that he liked the protoype for a stuffed Kenshin doll for the UFO catcher devices.
Reception
The manga has been highly popular with the original release having sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007,while in 2008 it increased to 51 million.Rurouni Kenshin also ranked at tenth place in the Web's Most Wanted 2005, ranking in the animation category.Volume 27 of the manga ranked second in the Viz Bookscan Top Ten during June 2006, while volume 21 and 20 ranked second and tenth, respectively, in the Top 10 Graphic Novels of Viz of 2005. Rurouni Kenshin volume 24 also ranked in 116th position in the USA Today's best selling book list for the week ending February 26, 2006. During the third quarter from 2003, Rurouni Kenshin ranked at the top of ICv2's Top 50 Manga Properties. In the same poll from 2005, it was featured at the top once again based on sales from English volumes during 2004. In the Top Ten Manga Properties from 2006 from the same site, it ranked ninth.
The manga has received praise and criticism from various publications. Mania Entertainment writer Megan Lavey found that the manga had a good balance between character development, comedy and action scenes. The artwork of Watsuki was said to have improved as the series continued, noting that characters also had reactions during fights. Zac Bertschy from Anime News Network (ANN) praised the story from the manga, but noted that by volume 18 of the series, Watsuki started to repeat the same type of villains who were united to kill Kenshin. Although she praised Watsuki's characters, she commented that some of them needed some consistency due to various "bizarre" antagonists. IGN reviewer A.E. Sparrow liked the manga's ending, praising how the storylines are resolved, and how most of the supporting cast end up. He also praised the series' characters, remarking that Kenshin "belongs in any top ten of manga heroes."
When TV Asahi, a television network in Japan, conducted a nation-wide survey for the one hundred most popular animated television series, Rurouni Kenshin anime came in sixty-sixth place. They also conducted an online web poll, in which Rurouni Kenshin was placed at number 62. Nearly a year later, TV Asahi once again conducted an online poll for the top one hundred anime, and Rurouni Kenshin anime advanced in rank and came in twenty-sixth place. The fourth DVD of the anime was also Anime Castle's best selling DVD in October 2001.[98] Rurouni Kenshin was also a finalist in the American Anime Awards in the category "Long Series" but lost against Fullmetal Alchemist.
The anime has also been commented on by Chris Shepard from ANN noting a well crafted plot and good action scenes. However, he also criticized that during the first episodes the fights never get quite interesting as it becomes a bit predictable that Kenshin is going to win as the music of moments of victory is repeated many times. However, Mark A. Grey from the same site mentioned that all those negatives points disappear during the Kyoto Arc due to amazing fights and a great soundtrack.Tasha Robinson from SciFi.com had a similar opinion on the anime, and added that the characters' personalities' allowed the plot to develop into a good variety of interesting stories. She also liked the historical setting as it makes all the situations seem authentic.[103] Although Them Anime's Carlos Ross also liked the action scenes and storyline, he added that the number of childish and violent scenes make the show a bit unbalanced, saying it is not recommended for younger children.
The OVAs of the series have had several good reviews. In a review from Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal Mike Crandol from ANN noted it as one of the greatest OVA series of all-time, celebrating the new characters designs as well as the fights scenes which were also noted to be "terribly bloody" and beautiful at the same time. Although DVD Talk reviewer Don Houston mentioned the OVAs were very violent for teenagers, he found the story and music to be "solid". The director's cut version received positive comments by how the four OVAs were arranged with Houston commenting it "seems more like a movie that stands alone, rather than just the precursor to a long lasting series." However, Crandol later commented that fans from the manga may be disappointed when seeing Samurai X: Reflection since most of the fighting scenes have been deleted in the OVA. Another negative point was the number of out-of-character performances, with Kenshin's character being unable to laugh when in the manga he always used to. Nevertheless, the music and animation featured in the OVAs were highly praised again as one of the best ones from Japan.
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Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚, Rurō ni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Romantan?),also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The story is about a fictional assassin named Himura Kenshin, from the Bakumatsu who becomes a wanderer to protect the people of Japan. Watsuki wrote this series upon his desire of making a shōnen manga different from the other ones that were published in that time, with Kenshin being a former assassin and the story taking a more serious tone as it continued. Although the tragic tone was highly expanded as the manga advanced, Watsuki became determined to give it a happy ending as it was aimed at teenagers.
The manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 2, 1994, to November 4, 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes, while years later it was reprinted into twenty-two kanzenban volumes. Studio Gallop, Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime series which aired in Japan from January 10, 1996 to September 8, 1998. Besides an animated film, two series of original video animations (OVAs) were also produced. The first adapted stories from the manga that were not featured in the anime, while the second was also a sequel of the manga. Writer Kaoru Shizuka has authored three official Rurouni Kenshin light novels which were published by Shueisha. Several video games have also been released for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles.
The United States release of the manga has been completed by Viz Media. Rurouni Kenshin is subtitled "Wandering Samurai" in some English releases, as a rough translation of "Rurō ni" (流浪に, lit. "Wandering"?). The TV series later licensed in North America and released on DVD by Media Blasters. The first two seasons aired on the United States Cartoon Network as a part of the Toonami Block, while the third season was only featured in DVD . The English-language versions of the OVAs as well the film is released as Samurai X, although the original title was included in the DVD releases. The first light novel has been translated by Viz and distributed in the United States and Canada. None of the video games of the series have been released in North America.
The series has been highly popular in Japan, the United States and Europe. The manga has sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007 while the anime has ranked between the 100 most watched series in Japan multiple times. The anime and manga have received praise and criticism from various publications for anime, manga and other media, with both having received good response on the characters' designs and the historical setting. The OVAs have also received praise due to their animation and music.
Rurouni Kenshin characters
The story of Rurouni Kenshin takes place during the early Meiji era in Japan. It tells the story of a peaceful wanderer named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai". After participating during the Bakumatsu war, Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who was in the middle of a fight with a murderer who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai from her swordmanship school. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai. After discovering that Kenshin is the real Battōsai, she offers him a place stay at her dojo as she notes Kenshin is a gentle person instead. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family; and a doctor named Takani Megumi. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including his rival from the Bakumatsu Saitō Hajime and the former leader from the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi.
After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin discovers that his successor as assassin of the shadows, Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that his friends may be attacked by Shishio's faction, Kenshin goes to meet Shishio alone in order to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, decide to help him in his fight. He decides to accept their help and defeats Shishio in a fight, who dies in the process due to the rise in body temperature caused by his burns. The anime adapts the manga until this part, later featuring new story arcs which were not featured in the manga.
When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, Kenshin finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans to take revenge by killing his friends. At this point it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin used to be married to a woman called Yukishiro Tomoe, who initially wanted to avenge the death of her fiancé, whom Kenshin had killed, but instead both fell in love and got married. When it was discovered that Tomoe was part of a group of assassins that wanted to kill Kenshin, Kenshin blindly swings his sword, killing both his assailant and Tomoe, who jumps in at the last minute to save Kenshin from a fatal attack. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a tortured figure bearing a stunning resemblance of the girl for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set to rescue her. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and when Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Five years later, Kenshin has found true peace; he is married to Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji.
Production
A prototype series titled Rurouni, Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story first appeared as a pair of separate short stories published in 1992 and 1993 in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump Special. The first story featured an earlier version of Kenshin stopping a crime lord from taking over the Kamiya family dojo. Watsuki described the first Rurouni story, echoing the "Megumi Arc," as a "pilot" for Rurouni Kenshin. According to Watsuki, the final Rurouni Kenshin series was not composed entirely from his free will. Describing the creation of historical stories as "hard," Watsuki initially wanted to make his next series in a contemporary setting. An editor approached Watsuki and asked him to make a new historical story. With the historic concept, Watsuki intended to use the Bakumatsu time period from Moeyo Ken (Burn, O Sword) with a story akin to Sugata Sanshirō. Watsuki experimented with various titles, including Nishin (Two-Hearts) Kenshin, Yorozuya (Jack-of-All-Trades) Kenshin, and variations of "Rurouni" and "Kenshin" with different kanji in that order.
The second Rurouni story, released one half of a year after the first story, features Kenshin helping a wealthy girl named Raikōji Chizuru. Watsuki recalled experiencing difficulty when condensing "everything" into 31 pages for the first Romantic Swordsman story. He said that he "put all my soul into it" but sighs when looking at the story from his perspective after the publication of the Rurouni Kenshin Volume 1 graphic novel in Japan. Watsuki describes the first Rurouni: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story as receiving mediocre reviews and about two hundred letters. Watsuki described the second Rurouni as a "side story."
During his childhood, Watsuki used to practice kendo which influenced him in the making from the series. Although, Watsuki developed various one-shots prior to the official serialization from the series, he mentioned he based the series from Crescent Moon in the Warring States, a story which introduced Kenshin's fighting style and his teacher. While naming the characters, he based some of their names from places he used to live such as Makimachi Misao's "Makimachi" and Sanjō Tsubame, who are named after places from Niigata.
Being fascinated by the Shinsengumi, Watsuki designed the characters by basing their characteristics to that of the real Shinsengumi members and also used fictional representation of them and other historical characters from the Bakumatsu period of Japan.The historical characters were considered to be a hard task by Watsuki. Due to problems with the characterization from Sagara Sōzō, Watsuki decided to illustrate Saitō Hajime in his own style avoiding the historical figure. He felt very good with Saitō's character having noted he fit very well in the manga. However, Watsuki mentioned that many Japanese fans of the Shinsengumi complained about the personality of Saitō, as he was made sadistic.
When questioned about the series' theme being Kenshin's self-redemption, Watsuki mentioned that when he was young he used to read shōjo and that it influenced in the story from Rurouni Kenshin. He added that he wanted to make a story different from other comics as he considers the main character [Himura Kenshin] is neither a good or evil character. Since volume 7, Watsuki mentioned the series took a more adult tone due to the various conflicts in the story, but commented it was influenced by the shōjo manga he read. Through the series' development, Watsuki was deciding if Kamiya Kaoru's character was going to die prior to the end. However, he later decided to keep Kaoru alive as he came to the conclusion he wanted a happy ending and that the manga is aimed at young readers. Watsuki said he was an "infatuated" type of person rather than a "passionate" kind of person, so therefore Rurouni Kenshin is a "Meiji Swordsman Story" as opposed to being a "Meiji Love Story."
When the manga series started to be published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Watsuki had little hope in the development of the series. He planned to finish the story in approximately 30 chapters, ending with Kenshin's departure from Tokyo in a similar manner to the one from volume 7. Kenshin's enemies would have been people from Kyoto who would send an assassin to kill Kenshin. When the Oniwabanshū were introduced during the serialization, Watsuki noted that the series could be longer as he had created various main characters. In that time, there was a survey, and the series had become very popular.
When the series reached seven volumes, Watsuki's boss suggested him that it was time to make a longer story-arc, which resulted in the creation of the fights between Kenshin and Shishio Makoto. The arc was only meant to be serialized for one year, but it ended up being one year-and-a-half long. This arc was also done to develop Kenshin's character as he considered him not to have a weak point. Watsuki commented that his artistic skills were honed with this arc, as he could draw everything he wanted to. The last arc from the manga was meant to be much shorter, but it turned out to be a fairly long one as he could not present in a simplistic manner. This arc was originally made by Watsuki prior to the series' start, having already thought about how would Kenshin's scar had been made. Watsuki also planned to create a Hokkaido arc and a sequel, but felt it would be better to start with another manga and so ended the series with the last arc he made.
In a manga volume prior to the release of the anime, Watsuki said that while some fans might object to the adaptation of the series into anime, Watsuki looked forward to the adaptation and felt it would work since the manga was already "anime-esque." He had some worries about the series since he felt since the creation of the series was sudden and the series had a "tight" production schedule. In another note in the same volume Watsuki added that he had little input in the series, as he was too busy with the publishing. In addition his schedule did not match the schedule of the anime production staff.Watsuki said that it would be impossible to make the anime and manga exactly the same, so he would feel fine with the anime adaptation as long as it took advantage of the strengths of an anime format.
After the anime began production, Watsuki said that the final product was "better than imagined" and that it was created with the "pride and soul of professionals." Watsuki criticized the timing, the "off-the-wall, embarrassing subtitles," and the condensing of the stories; for instance he felt the Jin-e storyline would not sufficiently fit two episodes. Watsuki said that he consulted a director and that he felt the anime would improve after that point. The fact that the CD book voice actors, especially Megumi Ogata and Tomokazu Seki, who portrayed Kenshin and Sanosuke in the CD books, respectively, did not get their corresponding roles in the anime disappointed Watsuki. Watsuki reported receiving some letters of protest against the voice actor change and letters requesting that Ogata portray Seta Sōjirō; Watsuki said that he wanted Ogata to play Misao and that Ogata would likely find "stubborn girl" roles more challenging than the "pretty boy" roles she usually gets, though Watsuki felt Ogata would have "no problem" portraying a "stubborn girl." Watsuki said that the new voice actor arrangement "works out" and that he hoped that the CD book voice actors would find roles in the anime. Watsuki said that the reason why the CD book voice actors did not get the corresponding roles in the anime was due to the fact that many more companies were involved in the production of the anime than the production of the CD books, and therefore the "industry power-structure" affected the series.
The second series of the TV anime had some original stories not in the manga. Watsuki said that some people disliked "TV originals," but to him the concept was "exciting". Watsuki said that because the first half of the original storyline that existed by the time of the production of Volume 10 in Japan was "jammed" into the first series, he looked forward to a "more entertaining" second series. Watsuki added that it was obvious that the staff of the first series "put their hearts and souls" into the work, but that the second series will be "a much better stage for their talents."
Rurouni Kenshin chapters
Written and drawn by Nobuhiro Watsuki, the first chapter of Rurouni Kenshin premiered in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1994 and was serialized in the magazine until 1999. The 255 individual chapters were collected and published in 28 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first volume released on September 9, 1994 and the last on November 4, 1999. In July 2006, Shueisha began re-releasing the series in a twenty-two kanzenban special edition volumes. A single chapter follow up to the series that follows the character of Yahiko Myōjin, Yahiko no Sakabatō (弥彦の逆刃刀, ("Yahiko's Reversed-Edge Sword")?), was originally published in Weekly Shōnen Jump after the conclusion of the series. Left out of the original volumes, it was added as an extra to the final kanzenban release.
Rurouni Kenshin was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. The first volume of the series was released on October 7, 2003. Although the first volumes were published on a irregular basis, since volume 7 Viz established a monthly basis due to good sales and consumer demands. Therefore, the following volumes were published until July 5, 2006, when the final volume was published. Yahiko no Sakabatō was also serialized in Shonen Jump during 2006. In January 2008, Viz began re-releasing the manga in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition", which is a collection of three volumes in one. Viz uses the actual ordering of Japanese names, with the family name or surname before the given name, within the series to reduce confusion and because Rurouni Kenshin is a historical series.
Anime
See also: List of Rurouni Kenshin episodes
The anime, directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, began airing on Japan's Fuji TV on January 10, 1996 and ended on September 8, 1998. It was produced by Aniplex and Fuji TV, and was animated from episode 1 to 70 by Studio Gallop, whereas the episodes from 70 onwards were animated by Studio Deen. The final episode, episode 95, did not air in Japan, but was a bonus episode for the VHS and DVD releases.Since its premier of Japan, episodes from the series have been collected in DVDs various times: two DVDs series with both of them featuring four episodes per volume and three DVD boxes.
In 1999 Sony tried and failed to market the series in the United States as Samurai X via an existing company. The TV series was later licensed in North America and released on DVD by Media Blasters. It started airing in the US on the Cartoon Network as a part of the Toonami Block on March 17, 2003, but ended at the completion of the Season 2. Episodes 63-95 did not air, but were included in the DVD release. The twenty-two English DVDs from the series were released from July 18, 2000 to September 24, 2002. Each of them contain four episodes except for the volume 22 which contains five episodes. The seasons were later released in three premium "Bento box" DVD boxes on November 18, 2003, March 30, 2004 and July 27, 2004. They were released again, but in new packaging as "economy box" sets on November 15, 2005, January 17, 2006 and February 14, 2006. Sony Pictures Television International created an English-language version of the series, titled Samurai X, that airs outside of the United States.
Film
The series also has a movie called Samurai X: The Motion Picture, known in Japan as Ishin Shishi e no Requiem (―維新志士への鎮魂歌, Requiem for the Ishin Patriots?) which tells a story where Kenshin meets a samurai who was very close to a man Battosai murdered in the war. The samurai is trying to start a revolution to overthrow the Meiji government. The film was directed by Hatsuki Tsuji and it premiered in Japan on December 20, 1997. The Japanese DVD was released on August 21, 1998. It has been republished twice in 2000 and 2002, adding new content to the DVD. It was also released on December 7, 2005 on Universal Media Disc format.In North America, the film was released in DVD on March 27, 2001.
Original video animations
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal and Samurai X: Reflection
There are also two Rurouni Kenshin original video animation (OVA) series which have respectively four and two episodes. The first of them, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, collectively known in Japan as Tsuiokuhen (追憶編, Recollection?) and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal -Director's Cut, was released in 1999 in Japan and in 2003 was collected into a two hour feature-length motion picture with new animated sequences and released in North America as a Director's Cut DVD. It is set during the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and during Kenshin's job as an assassin.The second OVA is Samurai X: Reflection, known in Japan as Seisōhen (星霜編, Time?) and later edited into a movie as Samurai X: Reflection -Director's Cut, composed of two episodes. The first episode was originally released on December 12, 2001 in Japan and the second on March 20, 2002. It is set both during and after the timeline of the series and tells of Kenshin and Kaoru's later years, much of which is not derived from the manga.It was later released in the United States by ADV Films in DVD in March 25, 2003, while a Director's Cut edition was later released.
Cover of Rurouni Kenshin OST 1.
All of the series music was composed by Noriyuki Asakura and several CDs have been released by Sony Records. The first, Rurouni Kenshin OST 1 was released on April 1, 1996 and contained twenty-three songs that were used during the first episodes of the series.The second one, Rurouni Kenshin OST 2 - Departure was released on October 21, 1996 and contained fifteen tracks that were first used before the start of the Kyoto Arc. The next one, Rurouni Kenshin OST 3 - Journey to Kyoto was released on April 21, 1997 and contained the thirteen tracks that originally used in the Kyoto Arc. For the next arc, Rurouni Kenshin OST 4 - Let it Burn was released on February 1, 1998 and contained twelve tracks.
For the OVAs series, all themes were composed by Taku Iwasaki and the CDs were released by Sony Visual Works. The first, Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku Hen OVA OST was released on March 20, 1999 and contained sixteen tracks that were used in Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal. For the Reflection OVA a sondtrack called Rurouni Kenshin Seisō Hen OVA OST was released on January 23, 2002 and contained eighteen tracks.
Several compilations of the anime songs were also released in collection CDs. Thirty tracks were selected and joined in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin - The Director's Collection, that was released on July 21, 1997. Rurouni Kenshin Best Theme Collection was released on March 21, 1998 and contained ten tracks. All of the opening and ending themes were also collected in a CD called Rurouni Kenshin OP/ED Theme Collection. The Japanese voice actors of the series also composed songs that were released as two Cds Rurouni Kenshin Songs Album. All of the anime tracks, including OVAs and films tracks were collected in Rurouni Kenshin Complete CD-Box that was released on September 19, 2002. It contains the four TV OSTs, the two OVA OSTs, the movie OST, the two game OSTs, an opening & closing theme collection, and the two Character Songs albums.
Several drama CDs, which adapted stories in the Rurouni Kenshin manga, were also released in Japan. Each of them featured different voice actors from that one that worked in the anime adaptation. In Volume 5 of the manga Watsuki stated that he anticipated that the script of the third volume, which has the stories involving the character Udō Jin-e, would be "pretty close" but would have additional lines belonging to Sanosuke and Yahiko.
Art and guidebooks
Two encyclopedias of the Rurouni Kenshin manga were released in Japan. The first one, Rurouni Kenshin Profiles (原典?), was released first in Japan in July 4, 1996 by Shueisha and in the United States by Viz Media.Kenshin Kaden (剣心華伝?), released on December 15, 1999 includes the story Haru ni Sakura, which details the fates of all of the Rurouni Kenshin characters. The story takes place years after the manga's conclusion, when Kenshin and Kaoru have married and have a young son, Kenji. Many of the series' major characters who have befriended Kenshin reunite or otherwise reveal their current whereabouts with him in a spring picnic. For the anime, three Kenshin Zoushi artbook were published from 1997 to 1998. While the first two were based on the TV series, the third one was based on the film. The film one was named Ishin Shishi No Requiem Art Book which was released along with the movie. Additionally, it was released Rurouni-Art book that contianed images from the OVAs. A guidebook from the kanzenban imprint of the series was published on June 4, 2007.
Light novels
The Rurouni Kenshin light novels were originally from Shueisha's Jump j-Books. They were co-written by Kaoru Shizuka. Most of them are original stories which were later adapted in the anime. Others are adaptations of manga and anime stories. Only Volume 1 has been translated into English so far. The first novel, Rurouni Kenshin: Voyage to the Moon World, was published in Japan on October 10, 1996 and in North America on October 17, 2006. The second, Yahiko's Battle, was released on October 3, 1997. It retells various stories featured in the manga and anime series. The last novel is TV Anime Shimabara Arc which was published on February 4, 1999.
Video games
There are two Rurouni Kenshin games released for the PlayStation console. Neither game has made it out of Japan. The first, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Ishin Gekitōhen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 維新激闘編?) was released on November 29, 1996. The game is a 3D fighter game with 5 playable characters, while the plot focuses in the first seven volumes from the manga. The second one, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Jūyūshi Inbō Hen (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 十勇士陰謀編?) was released on December 18, 1997 and was re-released in the PlayStation The Best lineup on November 5, 1998. The game is a console role-playing game with a story unrelated to either the manga or anime.
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Enjō! Kyōto Rinne (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- 炎上!京都輪廻?) is the only video game for the PlayStation 2 console. Its Japanese release was slated at September 14, 2006. The game has sold over 130,000 copies in Japan. Himura Kenshin also appeared in the 2006 Nintendo DS game Jump Ultimate Stars as a battle character, while others were support characters and help characters.
Merchandise
Watsuki commented that there was a lot of Rurouni Kenshin merchandise released for the Japanese market. He reccommended that buyers consider quality before paying for merchandise items and for them to consult their wallets and buy stuff that they feel is "worth it." Watsuki added that he liked the protoype for a stuffed Kenshin doll for the UFO catcher devices.
Reception
The manga has been highly popular with the original release having sold over 47 million copies in Japan as of 2007,while in 2008 it increased to 51 million.Rurouni Kenshin also ranked at tenth place in the Web's Most Wanted 2005, ranking in the animation category.Volume 27 of the manga ranked second in the Viz Bookscan Top Ten during June 2006, while volume 21 and 20 ranked second and tenth, respectively, in the Top 10 Graphic Novels of Viz of 2005. Rurouni Kenshin volume 24 also ranked in 116th position in the USA Today's best selling book list for the week ending February 26, 2006. During the third quarter from 2003, Rurouni Kenshin ranked at the top of ICv2's Top 50 Manga Properties. In the same poll from 2005, it was featured at the top once again based on sales from English volumes during 2004. In the Top Ten Manga Properties from 2006 from the same site, it ranked ninth.
The manga has received praise and criticism from various publications. Mania Entertainment writer Megan Lavey found that the manga had a good balance between character development, comedy and action scenes. The artwork of Watsuki was said to have improved as the series continued, noting that characters also had reactions during fights. Zac Bertschy from Anime News Network (ANN) praised the story from the manga, but noted that by volume 18 of the series, Watsuki started to repeat the same type of villains who were united to kill Kenshin. Although she praised Watsuki's characters, she commented that some of them needed some consistency due to various "bizarre" antagonists. IGN reviewer A.E. Sparrow liked the manga's ending, praising how the storylines are resolved, and how most of the supporting cast end up. He also praised the series' characters, remarking that Kenshin "belongs in any top ten of manga heroes."
When TV Asahi, a television network in Japan, conducted a nation-wide survey for the one hundred most popular animated television series, Rurouni Kenshin anime came in sixty-sixth place. They also conducted an online web poll, in which Rurouni Kenshin was placed at number 62. Nearly a year later, TV Asahi once again conducted an online poll for the top one hundred anime, and Rurouni Kenshin anime advanced in rank and came in twenty-sixth place. The fourth DVD of the anime was also Anime Castle's best selling DVD in October 2001.[98] Rurouni Kenshin was also a finalist in the American Anime Awards in the category "Long Series" but lost against Fullmetal Alchemist.
The anime has also been commented on by Chris Shepard from ANN noting a well crafted plot and good action scenes. However, he also criticized that during the first episodes the fights never get quite interesting as it becomes a bit predictable that Kenshin is going to win as the music of moments of victory is repeated many times. However, Mark A. Grey from the same site mentioned that all those negatives points disappear during the Kyoto Arc due to amazing fights and a great soundtrack.Tasha Robinson from SciFi.com had a similar opinion on the anime, and added that the characters' personalities' allowed the plot to develop into a good variety of interesting stories. She also liked the historical setting as it makes all the situations seem authentic.[103] Although Them Anime's Carlos Ross also liked the action scenes and storyline, he added that the number of childish and violent scenes make the show a bit unbalanced, saying it is not recommended for younger children.
The OVAs of the series have had several good reviews. In a review from Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal Mike Crandol from ANN noted it as one of the greatest OVA series of all-time, celebrating the new characters designs as well as the fights scenes which were also noted to be "terribly bloody" and beautiful at the same time. Although DVD Talk reviewer Don Houston mentioned the OVAs were very violent for teenagers, he found the story and music to be "solid". The director's cut version received positive comments by how the four OVAs were arranged with Houston commenting it "seems more like a movie that stands alone, rather than just the precursor to a long lasting series." However, Crandol later commented that fans from the manga may be disappointed when seeing Samurai X: Reflection since most of the fighting scenes have been deleted in the OVA. Another negative point was the number of out-of-character performances, with Kenshin's character being unable to laugh when in the manga he always used to. Nevertheless, the music and animation featured in the OVAs were highly praised again as one of the best ones from Japan.
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