Touch typing is an essential life skill learnt at primary school age these days and the earlier you learn the faster you will type with time. But if you are like me who self taught yourself how to touch type and still not happy with your typing speed here are some tips to increase your touch typing speed.

It is rather frustrating to see your nephews and little cousins flying through the keyboard typing hundreds of keywords per minute without looking at the keyword, isn’t it? Yes, I know the feeling I’ve been there once.

Or at work when your boss asks you to digitalise a document and you take ages to do it because you can’t look at the paper and type at the same time.

Worry no more, your hunting and pecking days are over after you follow my tips to increase your touch typing speed you’ll be typing as fast as those little devils that were making fun of you.

Considering that you are already familiar with the keyboard place all ten fingers over the keyboard in a way that both thumbs are over the space bar. This is way you will start using all ten fingers when typing.

Customise your keyboard, this might sound childish by it does help improve your speed. Now a written text place it next to you and start typing only looking at the paper, you are allowed to occasionally look to the screen but not the keyboard. Aim for 40 words per minute and move yourself up as you feel more confident.

To make things a little harder, cover your keyboard with a piece of cardboard in a way that you can type but can’t see the keys. Repeat the same process as before with the written text.

Consider a touch typing tutor; don’t be ashamed of referring to one. There are touch typing programs specifically made for older people just like you and me. These tutors will help you increase your typing speed as well as improve your literacy as the senior versions of these software’s use more complex words than the ones used in their junior versions.

Computer games are very useful to help one increase speed, despite not using all keys when play they help your finger become more agile and since you can’t look at the keyboard while playing you develop the confidence you need to type without looking at the keyboard.

Going back to those typing tutors most of them offer “Speed Boosters” which are computer games aimed to help you increase your speed while having a bit of fun.

Last but not least we have practice. Despite everything suggested in this article only with daily practice you will increase your touch typing speed.

Popularity: 1% [?]

An essential skill to use a computer is to know how to touch type; it took me years before I learned how to type fast without looking at the keyboard. But nowadays there are typing tutors to speed up this process which led me to write this guide to help people looking for a touch typing tutor, be it downloadable software or a web-based tutor, find one that best suits your needs.

Computers are an essential part of our life nowadays, be it for leisure or professional use we can’t simply not live without it. Touch typing is an essential skill needed for anyone using a computer these days, whether they are simply using to chat with their friends on msn or to write professional articles like I’m doing right now.

Back in the days of the old typing machines you had to take classes to learn how to type faster. A lot has changed since those days but anyone that is looking to learn or improve their typing skills must make use of a typing tutor, the advantage today is that you can easily download one or even use a web-based tutor.

So what to look for in a Touch Typing Tutor?

First and foremost you need to decide what age group is the program aimed at, since there are specific software’s for each group (kids, juniors and seniors).

Will it be used at home or in schools? Most typing software suits both needs but make sure you choose the one that suits your needs best.

Does it offer educational benefits such as helping to improve reading, spelling and grammar skills? Depending on the age group that you are planning to use the program with this is extremely important.

Make sure it suits your language skills and literacy, we all know the spelling differences there are between American English and British as well as Australian.

Avoid typing tutors that market magic formulas such as type like a pro in less then a day. Generally a good typing program will improve keyboards skill within a week but that doesn’t mean that you or your pupils are then ready to give up the program. Remember practice makes perfect.

Is it special needs friendly? Children with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Autism/ASD and VI have great difficulty in writing but that doesn’t stop them from learning how to type and teaching touch typing for them can be life changing to say the least.

Does the program have tests to measure improvements? It is extremely important to measure the achievements after completing the learning levels. Normally the achievements are measured with a speed test (how many words one can type in a given period of time).

Now that you know what to look for in typing tutor you can rest assured that you won’t be wasting your money with ineffective programs and that you or your pupils will have their keyboarding skills improved.

Remember not knowing how to touch type is like writing with a feather and pot of ink to write – painfully slow! Stop hunting and pecking and start improving your typing skills right away.

Touch typing is an essential skill that must be mastered by everyone using computers and remember it is never to late to learn to touch type.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?What-to-Look-for-in-a-Touch-Typing-Tutor?&id=6386332

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mark Palmer, Green & Black’s Global Brand Director, has been talking to Paul Gallagher, Freelance Journalist  about how he helped turn Green & Black’s chocolate from a niche product into an international phenomenon.

Green & Black’s has come a long way since its inception in 1991 by the journalist Josephine Fairley and her partner Craig Sams, an organic foods specialist. The pair were inspired by the taste of the cocoa they savoured on a holiday in Belize. Fairley, a chocoholic, frequently returned from foreign assignments to complain that the dark chocolate she found in other countries was nowhere to be found in the UK. Green & Black’s was soon born.

Mark joined the company in 2001 when he moved from Burger King to become marketing director. At the time, Burger King’s turnover dwarfed Green & Black’s so many people may have questioned his decision to switch companies. But Mark had no doubts, knowing a move to a young, entrepreneurial company, would reap dividends.

“My advice to anyone is to work in a business where you can control your own destiny, somewhere you can be accountable and have an influence. That may involve downsizing companies, like I did, and it’s a real challenge for anyone, but you’ll never look back.”

Mark’s initial two years at Green & Black’s were spent working on a major brand positioning, moving from the chocolate company’s niche of its organic roots to a serious player in the premium confectionary market. By 2004, Green & Black’s turnover had jumped from £4.5m to £20m. His team’s efforts were extraordinary and the hard work was paying off.

As Mark explains: “We didn’t have the advertising budget in the early days so we had to take a long hard look at the product and ask ourselves whether it was as good as it could possibly be. I’d suggest that to every company.

“Many companies think throwing money at something, or having a decent marketing budget, is a short cut to success, but that’s a common mistake. There’s nothing wrong with spending money, but it’s important how you spend it. Ultimately, as with anything, it’s the quality of the product that drives everything. There’s no point in marketing something if it’s inferior.

“We spent a long time studying our target market and basically spent two years almost stalking customer groups. The ‘time poor, food rich group’ was particularly important to us. We wanted to know where these people shop, what they buy, which newspapers do they read. Everyone needs a robust case study.”

Focus groups were vital for Mark in getting public feedback. One early challenge was explaining what “organic” meant as it featured so prominently on the packaging. He also discovered many people didn’t like the packaging and that it was giving off the wrong image.

“We wanted to be known as an affordable luxury. People wanted fancy chocolates without the intimidation of going into a fancy shop so we adapted our packaging to reflect that.”

At the focus groups, some people didn’t even want to put it in their mouths confirming Mark’s idea that a great product was being presented in totally the wrong way. The decision was made to take the chocolate out of the organic aisles and place it among mainstream chocolate to compete on its own.

Good PR helped, with an Observer Food Monthly cover story in May 2006 entitled “How a Green & Black’s chocolate bar rescued the families of Belize from ruin” confirming the company’s stance on ethics and sustainability. This was emphasised when Green & Black’s Maya Gold chocolate became the first product in the UK to carry the fair trade logo.

Observer Food also gave away sample chocolate bars – something it had never done before. That year’s Green & Black’s Easter campaign ran with the slogan “disappoint the kids this Easter”. It was a brave move. But Green & Black’s were not prepared to target consumer groups who did not fit their model and reaped the rewards.

As sales improved, Green & Black’s were in a better position to invest heavily in sampling. In recent years, the company has given away more than five and a half million chocolate bars. “If we have a distinctive taste, then people need to have a chance to try it,” says Mark.

Sampling became a far more powerful tool than advertising.

In 2006, the Independent raved about “the greatest marketing triumph in recent years”. Green & Black’s had “come from nowhere to be the chocolate of choice on the office tea run”.

It took a long time to get there, as Mark, now Global Brand Director overseeing expansion into the USA, New Zealand and Japan, acknowledges: “It took us 7-8 years to get to the level we are at today. We have had a few products that didn’t work out but when we do something new, we try to do it on a small scale so if there are problems, we haven’t lost much time and money on them. So don’t invest too much on a new product, start slow before you build up.”

Today, not only Green & Black’s chocolate bars, but also ice creams, hot drinks, gift chocolates and biscuits, can be found in a wide range of supermarkets, delicatessens, from Harrods to health food stores and sandwich stores such as Pret a Manger, whose founder, Julian Metcalf, Mark considers a business mentor.

“He didn’t spend any money on advertising either so he was a great example of how to build a brand without a big budget. They used their own packaging to optimise their product, just as we then tried to do at Green & Black’s.

“Julian called us one day years ago and, because of the manner of our receptionist who didn’t even know who it was, ended up asking us to sell our chocolate bars in 180 of his stores around the country. So it’s vital to make the first point of contact as good as possible as you never know who might be calling.”

This interview and article was commissioned by Inside Business and is copyright protected.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Businesses that fail to see the value in communicating their corporate strategy and objectives with their existing customers are missing out on a golden opportunity to develop stronger relationships. Surely, argues Cris Beswick from Let’s Think Beyond and David Gallagher, B2B Copywriter at Chapter & Verse, all businesses should be striving to achieve this in tougher economic times.

You don’t need to read another article about whether we’re officially in a recession or not. Your brain starts to switch off the minute people preface their first sentence with ‘credit crunch’. And quite frankly, you’re sick of seeing the ‘top ten tips to marketing your way to success in an economic downturn’ that appear on virtually every blog, business page and unsolicited email you receive. Like it’s that easy.

So if you’ve read this faar you’ll be pleased to know this isn’t another of those articles. Because we think your time is more important than that. And ours certainly is.

Most businesses we work with, whether in the good times or the bad, are more focused on growing by attracting new customers. Develop the right products, target the right customers with the right messages in the right media and of course that is more than achievable. It’s good marketing practice after all. But few businesses we work with have anything that remotely resembles a strategy for increasing value from the existing client base. And even less have an overall strategic vision that their core stakeholders – employees and customers – can articulate.

Focusing time, effort and resource on your existing client base makes economic sense in any type of economy. By thinking more innovatively and more creatively, businesses retain existing customers, encourage them to cross and/or up sell and protect their revenue streams from the predatory new business activity of competitors. But such thinking doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen by attending a residential training course. It fails to permeate an organisation if only a handful of senior people buy in to the concept.

To create the right culture in a business, one that embraces creativity and innovation from the shop floor to the boardroom door, takes time. Done well, however, return on investment is always guaranteed and once a tipping point is reached, the new culture becomes self-perpetuating and sustainable. Business leaders need to be able to understand how their employees think, how they can be motivated, how to develop an entrepreneurial zeal and what will inspire them. By doing this, teams and individuals become more engaged and more productive. They get under the skin of their customers. They develop products to meet the future needs of customers. They develop needs that the customer sometimes didn’t even realise he had.

An innovative and creative culture doesn’t just stop at the factory door. Such businesses actively interact with and engage their customers to help them develop new products or new services. After all, if business leaders can see value in asking staff for their ideas, comments and opinions, it makes obvious sense to ask the same of their customers.

Ok, so we promised no ‘ten tips’ and we’ll stick to that promise. Improving the value of your existing customer database, what we have termed Old Business Development, can be undertaken by sole traders to multi-national organisations. Below is a roadmap for Old Business Development that we use to help our clients. Begin following this framework and your organisation will already be well ahead of many of the competitors in your industry.

1. Define relevant, strategic objectives
2. Get the whole business to engage and buy in to them
3. Begin to work on changing the culture of the business to make it more innovative and creative
4. Communicate internally to align the new culture to the company’s vision
5. Communicate externally to demonstrate how the new culture and strategy better understands and meets the needs of existing customers

Once you are on the journey it is vital to communicate it to both employees and customers. It shows confidence in your business, it shows how you are forging ahead of competitors, it shows where and how the business will grow and it identifies strategic opportunities that will be exploited. we have found that even businesses that have started such a journey, and are making headway, can forget about the importance of communication. In such instances it is often left to an individual or group in the organisation, not expert communicators with the added pressure of their days jobs to contend with. By not prioritising it to the same extent as strategic planning or cultural change, the quality of communication can be poor at best, non-existent at worst. As a result the full benefits of Old Business Development are left unrealised as employees disengage and customers become confused.

With more money and resource required to correct such a situation, isn’t it just simpler to do it right first time?

Cris Beswick is the Principal of Let’s Think Beyond, which helps businesses unlock their inherent creativity and innovation to deliver tangible commercial results.

David Gallagher is a Senior Copywriter at Chapter & Verse, a business communications agency.

Popularity: 56% [?]

The first, and often only, place many businesses look to boost innovation and creativity is to an external agency. But, argues Cris Beswick from Let’s Think Beyond, such an approach completely ignores the potential creativity and innovation within every business that is simply waiting to be unlocked.

When I was at school I certainly didn’t learn how to think. If asked a particularly difficult question in Maths, and sometimes if I’m honest not even a particularly difficult question, my reply of “Don’t know, Sir” would be met with the retort, “Well think boy! THINK!”. As if by shouting the word louder everything would suddenly become clear and I would instantly have the beautiful mind of John Nash.

And what I’ve found in business is that quite often the same school structures and approaches still apply. The ‘repeated shouting’ method of getting in an advertising or design agency, attending a residential workshop of going on a day’s training course doesn’t fundamentally change how a business can become more successful through harnessing the power of creative thinking by the people who really matter: all those who work in the business.

Looking externally to deliver creativity and innovation can of course work. But if no effort is made to improve creative and innovative thinking by people at all levels within the business, then every time a new problem comes along the business will default externally for help, advice and support. Longer term such an approach means spending more money to improve a market position, or sometimes simply just to maintain it.

Businesses that embrace innovation and creativity know that it is never just a one-off project, nor something only relevant to a particular team or department. Creativity and innovation in business is the adoption of a company-wide mindset wedded to the idea that only through constant questioning, constantly tweaking and constantly improving every aspect of the business can the organisation stay at the forefront of the market.

In Japan, such an approach is known as Kaizen and is synonymous with Toyota, where small improvements at every stage of production were led and delivered by small groups improving their own environment and productivity. The Kaizen methodology ensures that when any changes are made, they are monitored, evaluated and then adjusted. By breaking down the business and the issues it faces into bite-size chunks, the need to suddenly deliver large-scale, expensive improvement programmes is completely negated and the business is kept innovative and dynamic as a matter of course.

When it comes to your own business and your own people, don’t let anyone tell you – or believe it yourself – that creativity and innovation isn’t inside every single one of us. Every time a problem is solved or a new solution is delivered in your business, it’s because someone, somewhere has been creative and innovative. If you’re heading to an important business meeting in the car and on the radio you hear that the route you were following is closed, you will then program your SatNav to find an alternative, get out the map book and do it yourself of find a nearby hotel or business centre and have the meeting virtually through digital conferencing facilities. What I’m quite sure you won’t do is simply turn round and head back home because it’s too difficult to think of an alternative.

And yet, there are still many businesses that constrain their potential by doing nothing to eradicate the limiting beliefs of the people in their organisation when it comes to creativity and innovation. We’ve tried that before and it didn’t work; we did a brainstorming day and it generated little of value; we had an innovation project team in the past but they didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know. If you can get over that first hurdle of looking, and I mean really looking, at how the people in your organisation think, then you’re already significantly ahead of many of your competitors in becoming a more innovative and creative organisation.

Cris Beswick is the principal of Let’s Think Beyond, which helps businesses unlock their inherent creativity and innovation to deliver tangible commercial benefits.

Popularity: 29% [?]