KOLKATA, India -- A fire broke out at an illegal six-story plastics market in the Indian city of Kolkata early Wednesday morning, killing at least 19 people, police said.
The blaze, which started before 4 a.m., was likely caused by a short circuit, said West Bengal fire minister Javed Khan. The fire was under control by mid-morning, he said, but toxic gases being released by the blaze were hampering rescue efforts.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said at least 19 people had died. He said police were looking for the owner of the building, which was filled with dozens of small shops selling various plastic products.
Another 10 people were hospitalized in critical condition and the death toll was expected to rise, Khan said.
He called the scene of the fire "an illegal, unauthorized market."
However, local residents said the market had been operating in the building for nearly 40 years. They said there was only one entrance to the building, which made rescue efforts difficult.
The building housed several warehouses on its upper floors, where chemicals, paper and plastics were stored.
Police said the victims were porters working in the market, who also slept there at night. Eighteen of the dead were men.
Mamata Banerjee, the state's top elected official, who visited the site soon after the blaze was brought under control, issued an ultimatum to the building's owners to install fire safety equipment within two months.
Banerjee said the previous government that ruled the state for more than three decades had allowed the building to operate without any permits or safety measures.
She said she has ordered police, fire service and the city administration to file a report on the cause of the blaze and take steps to prevent the recurrence of such fires.
In December 2011, at least 93 people died in a deadly fire in a hospital in Kolkata. Soon after that, Banerjee had promised that her government would crackdown on lax safety procedures in public buildings.
Safety regulations are routinely ignored in India, where fire stairways and evacuation drills are rare. Even if fire extinguishers are present, they are commonly several years old and almost never serviced.
Apple (AAPL) shares got a boost Tuesday afternoon on rumors that the company may announce a split on Wednesday during its annual shareholder meeting. The rumor comes from former money manager and current TheStreet.com contributor?Douglas Kass, who did not disclose his source. ?High above the Alps my Gnome is hearing a rumor that Apple will announce a stock split at tomorrow?s shareholder meeting,? Kass wrote in a post on Twitter, providing no further details. Apple shares rose more than 1.4% on the rumor after nearing a new closing low.
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Figure of List Building -?List building is all about connecting with your target audience by offering them high quality information in exchange for their subscription and in affiliate marketing, a laser targeted, responsive email list will be the key element to your success.
Once a subscriber is a confirmed member of your list, you can begin sending promotional based follow up emails in balance with relevant and useful content based on your overall market.
Email marketers collect leads using a combination of squeeze pages and opt-in forms.? These forms are generated by your autoresponder provider and are embedded into the HTML code of your squeeze page template.
Each time a visitor to your squeeze page enters in their name and email address, they are added to your mailing list database, and become an active subscriber of your newsletter.
List building helps faciliate the process of converting subscribers into active customers, since once your prospect has been added to our mailing list, you are able to develop a relationship with them, that will encourage sales as well as repeat sales (which will make up the larger majority of your email marketing income).
In order to begin building a profitable email marketing campaign however, you will need to make sure that you have all of the tools that are required, including:
1) Professional Autoresponder Account?
With autoresponder services like www.GetResponse.com and www.Aweber.com, you are able to set up an unlimited number of mailing lists, each one featuring customized code that serves as your opt-in box.
By segmenting your lists, you will be able to tailor your emails so that they directly communicate with targeted groups of subscribers who are interested in specific information or topics.
An autoresponder is a mailing list system set up with pre-loaded messages due to go out on scheduled times.? This means that you can write all of your messages at once but have them trickle out to your subscribers on various days.
Being able to pre-create this content makes life a lot easier as an email marketer because you can set it up on auto-pilot and spend your time and effort consistently driving traffic to your squeeze page in order to continuously expand your list.
The autoresponder service provider you choose will provide you with an account where you can log in and create unlimited email campaigns as well. This means that you can cater to a dozen or more niche markets but keep things organized and well managed by emailing these groups individually as to avoid confusion.
For instance, perhaps you are interested in the dog training niche market as well as the golfing market. You would simply create two autoresponder campaigns. One titled golfing and one title dog training.
You would create your content separately for these two markets, pre-fill your autoresponder account and it would instantly send out your notices, news and updates to each group of subscribers.
2) Squeeze Page
A squeeze page houses your opt-in form and provides a place for your contacts to find you, evaluate what you are offering and make the decision to become an active subscriber of your list.
A squeeze page is very similar to a salespage in terms of its primary function is to pull in customers and motivate them to take action, in this case, subscribe to your list.
That call of action is essential in creating high preformance squeeze pages, and you must place emphasis on ensuring that your visitors are directed to fill in the opt-in form, otherwise they will not be added to your list.
You need to clearly direct visitors to enter in their name and email address as well as instruct them to confirm their request to join your list (if you are using double opt-in).
One thing to keep in mind when developing your squeeze page is that it should motivate visitors in the same way that a traditional sales page should, however, the actual structure of your squeeze page will be very different.
With sales pages, they are typically designed to offer as much information about a particular product or service as possible, since the main focus is on transforming a visitor into a customer.
With a squeeze page, you aren't asking your visitor to make a decision to purchase or committ to anything other than to subscribe to your mailing list where they are rewarded with a free product.
Keeping this offer or giveaway in mind, when you develop a squeeze page, you need to have a strong focus on your market, and design your offer around an existing problem, need or question.
To come up with the best incentive offer possible, you'll need to thoroughly evaluate your market, as well as competing offers so that you can create? a relevant product that is in demand and likely to capture attention from your target audience.
Squeeze pages should be designed to offer a clear navigation system, basic structure and template and a compelling offer.
To summarize, your list building funnel consists of three major parts:
1: ?Squeeze Page With Opt-In Form 2: ?Compelling High Quality Offer or Incentive 3: ?Follow Up Emails And Broadcasts
We will discuss the anatomy of a successful squeeze page in an upcoming chapter, so that you can begin to develop your own.
Click here to get professional squeeze page
3) Giveaway (Incentive)
Your giveaway is essentially, the most important element on your squeeze page.?If your offer doesn?t motivate visitors into subscribing, all of your marketing efforts will be lost.? This means that you need your offer to be of interest to the majority of your target market, rather than to a small group of subscribers.? The higher the quality of your giveaway as well as the more relevant your offer is to your market, the easier it will be to recruit new subscribers.
There are many different ways to ensure that the product you are giving away is of a high-perceived value by your subscriber base and likely to be successful in converting new subscribers.
To start, consider the different types of products that are being successfully sold in online marketplaces and create a shorter version of a hot selling product, and offer it for free to anyone who subscribes to your list.
If competitors are successful in selling a similar product and you are giving away a high quality product based on the same topic, imagine just how easy it will be to recruit visitors and subscribers to your site.
And better yet, what better way to begin building a relationship with an active subscriber base than by offering them something of equal value with no strings (or price tag) attached!
You could offer:
Free Reports
Free Ebooks (full length of leaked chapters)
Free Tutorial Guides
Video Tutorials
Free or Trial Access To a Membership Program
Free Booklet with ?Top Tips?
Free Weekly Newsletter Subscription
Free templates or graphics
Free Audio Interviews, Lessons, Tutorials
The key to creating a successful giveaway product is in its overall relevancy and existing demand.
You want to make sure that your target audience is actively searching for similar information, and that it is being sold successfully in the marketplace.? If you do that, you will have little difficulty building a massive list of targeted prospects who will be eager to receive your emails and broadcasts.
If you plan to promote an ebook or e-course of some kind, a very powerful method of? building a massive mailing list while generating new business for your product is by offering a leaked chapter of your info product.
By offering this free chapter, you are able to provide new subscribers with a sample of the quality of your work, as well as generate buzz around your upcoming product launch.
If your product is well written, you will find it exceptionally easy to build a subscriber base of people who will likely purchase the full length version when it launches.
This is also a savvy method of creating a viral campaign for your upcoming launch as people pass around the 'leaked chapter' to everyone they know.
If you are interested in outsourcing your project to experienced freelancers, you can easily find a trustworthy professional from the following freelance marketplaces:
http://www.Guru.com
http://www.Elance.com
http://www.Scriptlance.com
4) Domain And Hosting Accounts
There are many different domain registrars available to choose from. Personally, I use www.namecheap.com and www.godaddy.com however, one thing to keep in mind however, is that you should have a good idea as to the niche or market that you are intending on targeting prior to registering your domain.
That way, you can register a domain name that incorporates relevant keywords pertaining to that target audience.
For example, if I wanted to build a mailing list that targeted the work at home job niche, I would consider registering a domain name that incorporated the keywords 'legit online jobs', such as? www.Legit-Online-Jobs.com where I would offer a free report focusing on how to find a legitimate work at home job. The domain and the content both speak directly to my target audience. In order to streamline your ability to build targeted lists, you also need a web hosting account, making it easy to capture your visitor?s information, and add them to your list by showcasing a squeeze or landing page.
When it comes to choosing a hosting provider, you need to make sure that you go with a service that allows for flexibility and fast upgrades.
You can start out with a smaller package, and as your marketing expands, you can upgrade your account to a larger package.
With your hosting provider, make sure that they offer the ability to use sub domains, so that you can create multiple interior pages for every squeeze page you create.? I recommend using www.HostGator.com
You?re in the correct place if you?re concerned about you can grow personally. With a positive outlook and a little research on your part, you can become prepared to create and embark upon your own personal development plan, tailored just for your needs.
If you want to improve yourself, set some goals first. Write down everything you aspire to be or to change about yourself. Next, analyze each goal one by one and decide how you can change yourself to meet those goals. You would then put yourself into the situations that would make it happen. By methodically tackling it, you have a higher chance of success.
Pay attention to your physical limitations when you are trying to reach a goal. While no one can argue the importance of giving 100 percent, you must nonetheless take care of yourself. Your body still needs attention, maintenance and care while you are pursuing an objective. This will end up being counter-productive in your personal development.
A necessary component of personal development is an understanding of your life?s ambition. You can perceive life differently if you have long term goals.
Figure out your goals in life, and go after them. You?ll never have the life you want if all you do is sit around in your armchair and dream about it. Identify your goals and take the necessary actions to make it happen.
The first step in any personal development program is the realization that you have room for improvement. In the big picture, we are simply bits of dust floating in the universe. Everyone has gaps in their understanding, and can benefit from the wisdom of others. New insights and potential will be yours if you embrace this concept. Keep an open mind and you will find that others are more than willing to share their information with you.
While it is essential that you have people in your life, you should not depend on others for your happiness. Focus on making yourself happy. You are responsible for making yourself happy. While it is important to remember this, you shouldn?t step on other people. Being sure to stay true to yourself can really enhance your path to personal development.
In order to succeed and become a champion, it?s imperative to have a great coach. A coach is necessary to advise and keep the bigger picture in mind. There always needs to be someone who is willing to show new members exactly how things are done and to provide them with the information necessary to achieve success. This is the way knowledge is passed down, and human progress happens. The better the coach, the more likely their student is to win.
One approach to personal development is to view yourself as one who has not yet learned all there is to know. When you realize your place in the universe, you realize that you have a lot to learn. Once this concept is ingrained in your brain, you will be eager to learn new skills and expand your knowledge in order to improve yourself.
Treat yourself right by respecting your body. Never allow yourself to become dehydrated or overly hungry. Start to listen to what your body is telling you, and act on what you?re hearing. You?ll become better attuned, and the result will be better overall personal development. If you disregard your body?s intelligence, you might find in the future that it will not be able to take care of you.
Now that you know some things to help you personally develop yourself, feel better about starting out! Apply this information to your life and stay willing to learn new things as they come along; this is the key to a lifetime of personal growth.
The much delayed partnership deal between the German automakers, Volkswagen and Porsche has finally come through. The matter which has spanned over many years, saw legal battles being fought and even a failed hostile takeover attempt by Porsche but it has now finally come to a peaceful conclusion with the Integrated Automotive Group being formed.
?The unique Porsche brand will continue to develop successfully under Volkswagen?s multibrand strategy and proven decentralized management structure. Porsche will retain its own identity and operational independence, just like all of the other Group brands? said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft?s Board of Management.
This deal will be profitable to both companies, with a combined expected savings of 700 million euros or US$856 million and will also wipe out Porsche?s 2.5 billion euros or US$3.1 Billion debt.
Prior to today?s deal VW already had 49.9 percent of Porsche?s sports car operation from its 3.9 billion euros purchase from back in December 2009 and both companies have even collaborated on projects such as Cayenne SUV and Panamera coupe, with VW providing the bodies for the SUV and the four-door Porsche. They are also working on the MUV Macan, scheduled to be launched in 2014.
?The path is now finally clear for a bright future together. Even closer cooperation will enable us to significantly strengthen Volkswagen and Porsche, and further expand the Group?s product portfolio with fascinating new vehicles?, Winterkorn said.
Volkswagen is currently Europe?s largest car maker, with a long list of high-end luxury brands such as Audi, Lamborghini, and now Porsche under its banner. This year also saw Volkswagen get into the motorcycle business, to compete against BMW, by acquisition of the legendary Italian superbike brand, Ducat, through its Audi.
Currently, world?s third largest car manufacturing company behind Toyota and General Motors, VW aims to get to the top by year 2018.
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Newsflash: You wouldn't know what to do without your cellphone, but it's still a P in the B. As unsurprising as that finding may be, a study by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project illuminates the four?key points of stress that come from human/phone interaction.
And they are ... (drum roll please) ...
Dropped calls! 72 percent of users experience them at least occasionally, says Pew, and 32 percent of cell owners say they get them a few times a week or more.
As a survivor of some pretty shabby service from the carrier whose name starts with an "A," I am gonna make my own assumptions about who that 32 percent use for service (and what shiny little phone, whose name starts with an "i," they may be carrying.)
Sales and marketing intrusions! 68 percent of cell owners complain of calls, and a quarter of cell owners say they get them at least weekly.?
It's official. The decade of peace and quiet that came from the fact that cellphone numbers are inherently unlisted is over. How? Because when you got rid of your landline, and started writing down your cell number on every random form, you?surrendered?its stealth and?anonymity.
Text spam! About the same number of people suffering from verbal S&M are also getting it via text messages, probably for the same basic reasons.
And the final giant problem facing today's phone owners?
Slow connections to the Internet!?Of the 55 percent of cellphone users who do stuff on the Web, or use email and apps, over three quarters of them occasionally find slow download speed to be a pain.
Regarding the slow speed, I have two thoughts: First, do these people turn on Wi-Fi when at home or work? That tends to help a lot. And second, the rollout of 4G on the iPhone may make this pain point subside a bit. 4G is a lot faster, though the burden is on the relationship between hardware maker and?carrier:?Networks are only good if your phone can connect to them ? and stay connected.
"The big change that mobile connectivity has brought to users is the instant availability of people and data," wrote Jan Lauren Boyles, a Pew Internet Project researcher who authored this report.
"As mobile owners become fond of just-in-time access to others and as their expectations about getting real-time information rise, they depend on the cellphone's technical reliability. Any problems that snag, stall or stop users from connecting to the material and people they seek is at least a hassle to them and sometimes is even more disturbing than that in this networked world."
And there you have it. The more necessary, the more evil. Am I right?
Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.
Figure of List Building -?List building is all about connecting with your target audience by offering them high quality information in exchange for their subscription and in affiliate marketing, a laser targeted, responsive email list will be the key element to your success.
