Grant Surname Meaning and Origin

The origins of the Grant surname are uncertain, but the following theories are the most widely accepted: A nickname from the Anglo-Norman French graund or  graunt, meaning tall, large bestowed due to the individuals size, or to distinguish two bearers of the same personal name, often different generations within the same family.Clan Grant says that tradition suggests that the name comes from Sliabh Grianais - the moor above Aviemore, believed to be the first land in Scotland occupied by the Grant progenitors. Grant may also be a spelling variant of the German surname Grandt or Grant Surname Origin: Scottish, English, FrenchAlternate Surname Spellings: GRAUNT, GRAWNT, GRANTE Where the Grant Surname is Found According to Forebears, the Grant surname is most prevalent in the United States (used by over 156,000 people), but most common in Jamaica (where the surname ranks as 10th most common) and Scotland (ranked 29th). Grant is also common in Guyana (46th), New Zealand (49th), Canada (88th), Australia (92nd) and England (105th). Historical surname distribution data from Scotland identifies the areas where Grant was most common in 1881 as Moray, where it was the most used name, as well as Banffshire (2nd most common), Nairn (6th), Inverness-shire (9th) and West Lothian (10th). WorldNames PublicProfiler identifies the Grant surname as being especially popular in Donegal, Ireland, as well as Australia, New Zealand and most of northern Scotland. Famous People Ulysses S. Grant:  U.S. general and commander of the Union armies; 18th U.S. presidentCary Grant: British-American film actorHugh Grant: British actorAmy Grant: American singer-songwriterAnne Grant: Scottish poetJedediah Morgan Grant: leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsNatalie Grant: American singer-songwriter Genealogy Resources Clan Grant: Explore a wealth of resources made available by Clan Grant, including history, genealogy, gatherings, membership and more.Grant DNA Project: Join over 400 individuals with the Grant surname who are interested in combining Y-DNA testing with genealogical research to help identify various Grant genetic lines and ancestries.Grant Family Crest: Contrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Grant family crest or coat of arms for the Grant surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted.FamilySearch: Explore over 2.9 million historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Grant surname and its variations on the free FamilySearch website, hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Grant Surname Family Mailing Lists: RootsWeb hosts free mailing lists for researchers of the Grant surname.DistantCousin.com: Explore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Grant.The Grant Genealogy and Family Tree Page: Browse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the popular last name Grant from the website of Genealogy Today. References Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997.Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Essay on The Journey of Human Life - 909 Words

Some people may describe their lives as being ordinary while others may say that their life is extraordinary in comparison. People at some point in their lives will have to make decisions that will take them down different paths, and the paths people choose will determine what journey they may face and what will become of their future. While human life can be described as a journey, it is often described as being either a physical or spiritual one for its travelers. First, human life can be depicted as a spiritual and physical journey for people in life. In the short story â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† by Ambrose Bierce, it tells of a man being hanged over the edge of the bridge and the events that transpire after the noose around†¦show more content†¦Phoenix says, â€Å"‘Ghost,’ she said sharply, ‘who be you the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by† (Welty 315). This shows that she is imagining things in her own way by thinking that death may have come for her. The ghost may also be considered the bringer of death and she is not ready for it. When Phoenix reaches the city and is questioned about her grandson’s health she states, â€Å"My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip† (Welty 318). Phoenix throughout her journey is waging a battle between her mind and reality. By the time she reaches her destination her mind wa s in question on why she was there and for what reason. The illusion of the scarecrow as a ghost and her mind forgetting her reasons for her journey represent a spiritual battle for phoenix. These are some reasons why life can be depicted in a journey. Furthermore, people can experience a physical and spiritual journey in life. In the poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost, it tells of a journey that a person has to take when they are encountered with decisions. Frost writes, â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,† (Line 1). This line describes a metaphorical situation where a person comes to a point where they have to choose between two things. Here in the poem he is describing the choice in the way a person should live life or which path he should make hisShow MoreRelatedAthanasia: Human Impermanence and the Journey for Eternal Life in the Epic of Gilgamesh1740 Words   |  7 PagesAthanasia: Human Impermanence and the Journey for Eternal Life in the Epic of Gilgamesh â€Å"Will you too die as Enkidu did? Will grief become your food? Will we both fear the lonely hills, so vacant? I now race from place to place, dissatisfied with whereever I am and turn my step toward Utnapishtim, godchild of Ubaratutu† (Jackson â€Å"Gilgamesh Tablet IX† 4-9) Gilgamesh so much feared death that he threw away his honor as a warrior in order to obtain immortality. For centuries there have existed individualsRead MoreAnalysis Of Christina Rossetti s Poem Up Hill 990 Words   |  4 Pagesspeaker is about to start the journey for the very first time. The speaker is asking the questions seems fearful about the journey and also curious to know everything before the journey starts. On the other hand, the speaker who is answering those questions seems calm while answering those questions. Every questions raised by the speaker has given a simple answer by the second speaker. Actually, the poet has presented the poem symbolically and connected it to the journey of life, death and heaven. The mostRead Moreâ€Å"a Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step†1014 Words   |  5 PagesExpository SAC- Inner Journeys â€Å"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step† The purpose of this expository piece is to explore various effects of a journey that is initiated from a single step. The argument will be presented using previous texts studied in class in relation to the prompt â€Å"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The intended audience is to people of all ages, but specifically to students studying the concepts of inner journeys. All human beings experienceRead MoreIt s A Nomad World1571 Words   |  7 Pagesvalue of travel in a human’s life and how one can benefit from it. A thesis to take away from the text is that humans are travellers at heart. When humankind is presented with a challenge, they are not prone to shying away; furthermore, once humans have started a journey they are admirably resilient to quitting, and finally; humans are constantly searching to experience new sights and sounds. Because of these traits, it is evident why humans are often found on journeys. As John Steinback once saidRead MoreThe Myths Of The Underworld1405 Words   |  6 Pagesmany ideas in regard to the journey through hell. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, readers are able to take a deeper look at how myths are represented at a psychological level through the importance of death and rebirth.As Dante progresses through the imaginary journey of Hell, Hell’s inferno is represented by the nine regions arranged around the wall of a huge funnel in nine concentric circles. As the hero, Dante starts his journey by losing his way on the true path of life. Dante is then placed on aRead MoreA Summary Of The Torah And Tao Te Ching1270 Words   |  6 Pagessuccessful human.  ¬There is a God who oversees the life of humans and determines if they have lived successfully. The Gods have all the power so it is necessary to get on their good side. The Torah is the story of creation and the beginning of time. The Tao Te Ching is the great book of the way of virtue. The Torah and Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching show that to be a successful human being it is necessary to be loyal to the God figure in their religion, through following covenants, taking journeys, and beingRead MoreLife Of Pi Discussion Questions1401 Words   |  6 PagesEmily Stehr Rea H. English 10 19 August 2014 Life of Pi Discussion Questions 1. Examine Pi’s harmonious relationship with both religion and science. How have his upbringing and life experiences contributed to this balanced worldview? Readers are introduced to Pi’s appreciation of both religion and science in the first paragraph of the novel when he speaks of his majors in both religious studies and zoology at the University of Toronto. His choices of majors are ironic given the long-standing frictionRead MoreA Reflection On Confucius Philosophy1555 Words   |  7 Pagesdisciples how to follow the path to goodness. In The Analects, Confucius’s disciples describe the actions of their â€Å"Master,† and his journey to achieve goodness by performing rituals in his everyday life in order to break out of patterns. By taking steps to break out of the patterns of everyday life, one can more fully strive for goodness. But Confucius was clear that this journey of self-cultivation was not easy or temporally limited. Indeed, the very first chapter of The Analects highlights the preceptRead MoreFreedom And The Transformative Process Of Life1614 Words   |  7 Pagesdemographics. Generally, freedom is d efined as to be free is to express your opinion and beliefs towards a subject within society, without fear of being judged or punished on account of your personal ideals. Freedom has always been integral to all human beings, in both historical and contemporary contexts. Although, freedom is seen through different perspectives in religious and secular society. Catholic define freedom as the capacity to do what is right or good, which is susceptible to external andRead MoreAnalysis Of Hollow Men And Heart Of Darkness 1464 Words   |  6 PagesSimilarly, ‘Hollow men’, challenges the social conventions arising from historical transformations, expressing his concern of an acutely disconnected society, enhancing my view of the complex loneliness with the human condition, giving it an enduring quality. A dramatic monologue, Eliot’s poem mirrors his personal views on the modernist’s rejection of traditional literary writing, whilst the fragmented, free verse structure reveals the fractured ‘Hollow men’. In the epigraph, Elliot alludes to

Product Development Strategy Volkswagen

Questions: 1.What led to Volkswagens past-orientated marketing campaign and to what extend did price play a part in the campaign? 2.What kind of quantitative and qualitative outcomes can be used to evaluate the success of campaign? 3.What were the impacts of the viral marketing activities used in this marketing strategy? To what extent do you think they may have had an impact in terms of pricing? 4.What role should marketing managers play in helping to formulate marketing strategies in line with business-level strategies in a large and diversified firm such as Volkswage? 5.How important do you think the social networking sites, such as facebook were in influencing the actions of Volkswagens past consumers in the Goodbye Citi Golf marketing campaign? Do you think these social networks did influence Volkswagens long term consumers in South Africa? Answers: 1. Volkswagen Citi Golf was launched by Volkswagen in South Africa in 1984. It was one of the best-selling cars in the history of South Africa. The concept to introduce a hatchback was to earn some extra money for Volkswagen. Citi Golf was a major success in Africa. The Citi Golf was one of iconic cars in South Africa and has been voted as The South Africa Motorist year on year. In 1994, this entry level car had only 4 models and by 2005 20 different models were offered to the customers. The market share was approximately 20% in this segment in 2005 (Claiborne Joseph, 2015). Citi Golf being one of the low prices segmented car. But the manufacturing of the car was not economically effective, due to which the production of the car has to be stopped. Apart from the economic factor, there were many other reasons which led to close the manufacturing of the car such as the safety standard were not as per standard and it was no longer satisfying. The production rules of Citi Golf were not longer as per the norms according to the South African Government. Due to these reasons, Volkswagen thought of replacing the car and bid goodbye for its service of 25years. The marketing campaign was designed with a creative idea to take the last ever Citi Golf for its final Journey through South Africa giving the whole nation to chance to bid goodbye. The marketing campaign was developed with the unique idea using the full range of different communication. The route map designed to ensure the fans of Citi Golf an opportunity to remind the unique value of the entry level-priced car that served several families for long time. The consumers were given a chance to sign goodbye on Citi and follow the whole event live online on their homepage of Citi Golf official website. There was also the use of Social media, such as the profile of Golf Citi were created on Facebook to keep all the customers updated about the event virtually. The Citi golf was more success due to certain reasons such as Aggressive Pricing Strategy, contact innovations, high resale value and low cost of ownership/running costs. The cars entry level pricing strategy became a unique symbol to the iconic brand in South Africa. This car did not only solve the problem of mobility but also was very affordable for the people living in South Africa. 2. The marketing campaign of Goodbye Citi Gold was huge a success. This campaign touched the emotions of lot of people. The City Golf tour reminded the memory of the car of lot of people. There are certain measures through which one can measure the marketing activities in a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The factors that come under Quantitative approach are: Exposure Awareness Preference The factors that come under Qualitative approach are: Liking Message Awareness Intention to buy The campaign has successfully used the above methods to measure the marketing campaign of Citi Golf. Qualtatitive Approach: Liking- Do the consumer liked the advertisement and the consumer relate to the advertisement. In the Citi Golf Campaign, the consumer not only but also realted to the advertisement emotionally. Message Awareness- The message that an advertisement was suppose to give should be clear to all its consumers. Intention to Buy- After the advertisement any of the consumers among the targeted audience interested in buying the product. Since, In Citi Gold Campaign, it was designed to bid the goodbye to all their consumers and to build their potential customers for their new launch car. Quantitative Approach: Exposure- The medium through which the campaign should reach out to all the target audience. This can be done through different ways of marketing such as print media, social media, blogs, viral marketing etc. In Goodbye Citi Golf campaign, there were several marketing media were used so that all the people can bid goodbye to their long served car. There were blog introduced, the homepage was made for the people who werent able to attend the live event. Awareness- The awareness is measured in terms of number of views that were increase through the campaign. In the campaign of Goodbye Citi Golf, there were lot of people who participated in the journey of Citi Golf. This campaign also earned the brand loyalty of the customers. Preference- This measure means that through the campaign how many of views actually turned into a potential customer. There no such tools that can measure the outcomes of the social media marketing apart from the how an customer gets attracted to any particular brands (Hoffman and Fodor, 2010). 3. Viral marketing is a marketing technique that induces websites or users to pass on the messages of marketing to other websites or users creating an exponential growth in the messages visibility and effects. Viral marketing can be a stand- alone marketing or a part of a larger marketing campaign. This kind of marketing can be used for both large as well as the small firms. This type of marketing can be more effective for the smaller size companies as it can be more cost effective than the traditional marketing. The various social media tools that are available such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have helped the firms to create an effective viral marketing. With the number of users being increased day by day the amount of time spends on social media is also exceeding including time spent on emailing. This kind of marketing campaign can shift the focus of any product from the traditional email campaign to more creative social campaign. There are various advantage and disadvantages of viral marketing. The advantage include that they have low advertising costs, faster growth and rapid lead generations. The disadvantage of the viral marketing can be-currently, the exchange of emails is very high therefore the viral marketing messages can be viewed as a spam. This type of marketing can be considered as the negative marketing buzz. There arent any quantitative tools to measure the success rate of viral marketing (Wilson, 2000). Volkswagens long term objective was to be a global automotive leader by 2018. The unit sales of Volkswagen were increasing every year. Every year there were number of new cars were getting released from the group. There are nine different brands under the Volkswagen groups - they are Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Bentley, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Scania. The high standard that were maintained by the group were recognized globally which has led to create its brand image and reputation for quality. The pricing strategy of Volkswagen has also assisted Volkswagen to increase its high brand value. The Volkswagens global market campaign helps in consumers perception of good values. Volkswagen launched Citi Golf in South Africa in the low budget car. The car was an entry level vehicle. However, being a low budget car it was getting difficult for Volkswagen economically manufacture this car. Due to which Volkswagen stopped it manufacture and stopped bringing these car in the market. The company used all kind of marketing tools such as viral marketing as well as the social media marketing to make the marketing campaign successful of Goodbye Citi Golf. This campaign was very emotional campaign for all the people living in South African. Being one of the longest served cars for 25years, people were personally associated with this car. The campaign used all the mode of media to ensure that all the people around the country can view the journey of Citi Golf live or through the videos. There were videos posted on Youtube, blog were written about the car and its journey. The Marketing also made a website dedicated to this campaign to ensure that everyone can be a part o f this campaign. This campaign helped Volkswagen in creating a brand loyalty among the people (Subramani and Rajagopalan, 2003). 4. A marketing manager looks after the marketing department of the organization. The marketing manager coordinates all the marketing activities for any product or service. They are one who identifies the potential customers, developing market research and designs all the marketing campaign. To design an effective marketing campaign of a product or a service, the manager needs to research demographics, various trends and execute the plan accordingly. All these kinds of advertisements online or offline print or verbal are the executed with the approval of the marketing manager. Every marketing plan should be different from other marketing plan, whether it is being designed for the existing user or for the new users. These marketing campaigns are the one which attracts the new customers to introduce any product or service. The manager need to use their experience of marketing and research as it directly affects the business in terms of sales (Moorman and Rust, 1999). There are several roles that a marketing manager needs to fulfill. They are: Managing all the marketing activities for the company. Developing the marketing strategies for the company according to the company objectives and goals. Create and publish all the marketing material according to the marketing plan. The responsibility of sales and marketing of any product or service is of marketing manager. To ensure that all the relevant company functions are informed about the marketing objectives of the company through an effective internal communication. Analyzing the potential and strategic partner relationships for the company marketing. Analyzing the competition in the market and their activities. Preparing or planning the online and print marketing campaigns for the company. Sales are also in scope of work of marketing manager. The manager along with his team needs to ensure that all the marketing plans should be effective enough achieve the sales targets of the organization (Richey, Kiessling, Tokman, and Dalela, 2008) In the larger firms such as a marketing manager along with their team would be segregated in their different line of cars. There would a marketing team who would be responsible for the marketing and sales of budgeted car, for medium ranged cars and one for luxury cars. Each team would be responsible for advertising the product in the marketing and ensuring that their product can stand out in the market among the products of competitors. The team also needs to check that the all the marketing plans are being executed as per the plan that was designed so that the sales rates can be increased (Williams, 2014). In the Goodbye Citi Golf, The marketing was given to long time marketing partner of Volkswagen. The marketing manager had to ensure that the companys objective of identifying its potential customer should be fulfilled with the marketing campaign that is designed for it (Anderson He, 2015). The team ensures that all mode of marketing are involved including the social media. 5. The car was one of the bestselling cars and the marketing team wanted that the whole country should get a chance to say goodbye. The car was specially designed for the South African people according to their demand and economic status. Social media was used by Volkswagens team to communicate not only with all their past customers but also to their potential customers. Volkswagen wanted to increase the potential influence of social media marketing and proving it to be a unique marketing campaign. The marketing was done through social media were Facebook, twitter and Youtube. The entire journey of Goodbye Citi Golf was covered by few sites (Yong Heng, 2013). The coverage of the event done through social media was a perfect chance to create a stronger brand image in the mindsets of potential customers (Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi, 2012). There are lots of benefits of social media marketing for a brand to build its image among their customers. As per research, there are more than 51% of facebook fans and 67% twitter followers get attracted towards the brand and are most likely to buy the brands that they follow. The social media platform helps the companies to build a trust among their customers. People only buy the things from the brand that they trust. Trust, perceived usefulness of a product and intend to buy are directly correlated to each other. The trust perceives the product as useful which indirectly influences the buyer to intend to buy. Social media marketing helps in increase in brand recognition and also in enhancing the image of brand through the strong marketing plan and review that are provided by the other related customers. It also influences the purchase decision of any product, as all the benefits are listed on the blogs that are easily available online. It can also help in increasing the customer e ngagement through various contests available and few related blog that are being posted by the companies (Scott, 2015). With the same motive, the marketing through GoodBye Citi Golf was designed. This campaign is an example of how public relations can be used to create more or less publicity for free. There were several social media marketing tools were used to bring in the attention of all their existing and potential customers such facebook post, videos and blogs. These social media tools had the higher credibility in spreading the message loud and clear with no much of the cost that is needed. Reference Anderson, P.M. and He, X. Consumer behavior in East/West cultures: Implications for marketing a consumer durable. In Proceedings of the 1996 Multicultural Marketing Conference (pp. 3-8). (Springer International Publishing, 2015) Claiborne, C. B., and M. Joseph Sirgy. "Self-image congruence as a model of consumer attitude formation and behavior: A conceptual review and guide for future research." InProceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, pp. 1-7. (Springer International Publishing, 2015). Goh, Khim-Yong, Cheng-Suang Heng, and Zhijie Lin. "Social media brand community and consumer behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated content." (Information Systems Research 24, no. 1: 88-107, 2013) Helm, S. Viral marketing-establishing customer relationships by'word-of-mouse'.(Electronic markets,10(3), pp.158-161, 2000) Hoffman, D.L. and Fodor, M. Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing?.(MIT Sloan Management Review,52(1), p.41, 2010) Jurvetson, S.,. What exactly is viral marketing.(Red Herring,78, pp.110-112, 2000) Moorman, C. and Rust, R.T.. The role of marketing.(The Journal of Marketing, pp.180-197, 1999) Richey, R.G., Kiessling, T.S., Tokman, M. and Dalela, V. Market growth through mergers and acquisitions: The role of the relationship marketing manager in sustaining performance.(Industrial Marketing Management,37(4), pp.394-406, 2008) Subramani, M.R. and Rajagopalan, B.,. Knowledge-sharing and influence in online social networks via viral marketing.(Communications of the ACM,46(12), pp.300-307, 2003) Scott, D.M.The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. (John Wiley Sons, 2015) Saravanakumar, M. and SuganthaLakshmi, T. Social media marketing.(Life Science Journal,9(4), pp.4444-4451, 2012) Wilson, R.F. The six simple principles of viral marketing.(Web Marketing Today,70(1), p.232, 2000) Williams, P. "Emotions and consumer behavior." (Journal of Consumer Research 40, no. 5: viii-xi, 2104)

Sunny days free essay sample

My restless roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long. One day I will travel the world, leaving a trail of memories behind me. We will write a custom essay sample on Sunny days or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I will capture the true beauty of the earth we live on. Everyday we wait is another day we wont get back. Think of all those hours you have wasted the days where youve Just sat on a couch all day. Sometimes youve Just goat get up and try things. The world Is waiting for you patiently. One day you will have to stop hating who you are.Beauty Is not In the face, but the light in the heart. Dont let people change you. This Is your life. Are you who you want to be? Any road will take you somewhereMy restless roaming split would not allow me to remain at home very long. One day I will travel the world, leaving a trail of memories behind me. I will capture the true beauty of the earth we live on. Everyday we Walt Is another day we wont get back. Think of all those hours you have wasted the days where youve Just sat on a couch all day.Sometimes eve just goat get up and try things. The world Is walling for you patiently. One day you will have to stop hating who you are. Beauty Is not In the face, but the light In the heart. Dont let people change you. This is your life. Are you who you want to be? Any road will take you somewhereMy restless roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long. One day I will travel the world, leaving a trail of memories behind me. I will capture the true beauty of the earth we live on. Everyday we wait is another day we wont get back.Think of all those hours you have wasted the days where youve just sat on a couch all day. Sometimes youve Just goat get up and try things. The world is waiting for you patiently. One day you will have to stop hating who you are. Beauty is not in the face, but the light in the heart. Dont let people change you. This is your life. Are you who you want to be? Any road will take you somewhereMy restless roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long. One day I will travel the world, leaving a trail of memories behind me.I will capture the true beauty of the earth we live on. Everyday we wait is another day we wont get back. Think of all those hours you have wasted the days where youve just sat on a couch all day. Sometimes youve Just goat get up and try things. The world is waiting for you patiently. One day you will have to stop hating who you are. Beauty is not in the face, but the light in the heart. Dont let people change you. This is your life. Are you who you want to be?

5 Reasons You Might Want to Switch WordPress Hosting Providers

It can be tempting to think any working web host will provide you with a top-notch experience, but that, unfortunately, isnt always the case. No two hosting providers are the same, and performance can vary wildly between different hosts.  All that means that even if youre feeling happy with your WordPress host (and definitely if youre not!), you might not necessarily be getting the  best service possible. And thats why its important to look at some metrics that indicate when its time to  switch WordPress hosting providers.The good news is that  moving to a new hosting service isnt as difficult as it sounds.  So even if youre ambivalent about your current host, we encourage you to consider these metrics because theres a decent chance you might be able to improve your sites hosting situation without much hassle or money.Because of how important metrics like uptime and page load times are to your sites success, every little improvement counts. For that reason, whether youre ha ppy with your current host or not, were going to walk you through five reasons you might want to switch WordPress hosting providers and explain what makes each important. Lets get started! If your site takes less than one second to load, youre well ahead of the pack.As a rule of thumb, if your website takes more than two seconds to load, roughly 40% of your audience is going to leave. 30% of eCommerce shoppers are even more demanding and want sites to load in under one second. If that isnt bad enough, a majority of users say they wont consider shopping at your site again if its too slow.(Chart by Visualizer Lite.)One second is  fast. So you might not even notice that your current host isnt performing as well as it is. Thats why its important to look for potential issues that are slowing your site down more than necessary, even if your site doesnt feel especially sluggish. These issues can include:Poor server configuration. For example, your server might not support PHP 7, which is roughly twice as fast as PHP 5.Too many users on the same server. Shared hosting is a stepping stone for many websites, and it doesnt necessarily correlate with bad performance. However, if your provider oversells its resources, every subscriber will suffer for it.A lack of strategically placed data centers. The greater the physical distance is between visitors and your servers, the longer it will  take for your site to load.The easiest way to figure out if this is an issue for your site is to run multiple speed tests and average their results. If your site is consistently taking over two seconds to load, youll need to  work on optimizing its speed or switch WordPress hosting providers. Even if you optimize your site, getting better hosting still might be the most important factor.2. Youre dealing with a  sluggish WordPress dashboardThe WordPress dashboard is where the magic happens, and if its slow youll be less productive.Your  WordPress dashboard is the main interface th rough which you  interact with your sites. You need it for everything from uploading new content to customizing your pages. If your web host is poorly optimized, however, you might end up with a  slow WordPress dashboard.Weve already established how frustrating it is for users to deal with slow-loading sites, and the same applies to you and your dashboard. If you need to wait a few seconds for your dashboard to load each time you click on a new tab, that lost time can add up quickly. A quick dashboard, on the other hand,  makes you more productive instead of sapping your time.Whereas long loading times on your front end can be the  result of poor optimization, a slow dashboard is typically  the fault of your provider (though certain plugins and caching configurations can also be culprits). If youre dealing with this problem, switching to a more WordPress-friendly host is the obvious choice.3. Too much downtime is hampering your sites growthIf your website isnt reachable, y our visitors will go elsewhere.At the risk of sounding clichà ©, time is money, and every minute your site spends out of commission is a loss. In hosting terms, any period where your site is unavailable to users is referred to as downtime.The problems with  downtime are easy to grasp, so lets go through them quickly:It leads to a loss of traffic.You miss out on potential customers and conversions.An unavailable site makes you look unprofessional.Fortunately, most web hosts these days are excellent at  minimizing downtime. In fact, your website shouldnt spend more than  one tenth of a percent of the entire year down (about nine hours  total), and its possible to reduce that even further. So even if your host reaches a 99.00% uptime,  thats not necessarily good enough. You need a host that can go even further and hit 99.90% uptime (at a minimum).You might not think thats a huge deal, but that extra 0.90% of downtime per year can mean  3+ days per year where your site isnt available.  Thats a long weekend of downtime!To measure your sites actual uptime percentage, you can use free tools like Uptime Robot or UpDown.io. If your sites actual uptime is less than 99.90% after a few months of monitoring, you may want to switch  WordPress hosting providers.4. High hosting costs are hurting your budgetIts easy to find affordable WordPress hosting plans with great performance.Thanks to WordPress popularity, many  web hosts offer robust WordPress-optimized  plans at incredibly low prices. In practice, that means you should expect top performance even if youre paying less than $5 a month for your plan.Of course, more expensive plans tend to boast even better performance and more features (especially as your sites traffic increases), but you should only ever pay for what you need. Lets break down why:Long-term savings. Even a few  dollars each month  can add up over the long term, so you dont want to overpay for your hosting.More expensive doesnt alw ays mean better.  For  example, SiteGround is one of the cheapest hosts in the business at only $3.95 per month for their starter WordPress plan. However, theyre still near the top of the pack when it comes to performance.In some cases, youll need something more comprehensive than a basic plan, but you can always upgrade at any time. The logical move is to choose a provider with a good cost-to-performance ratio, and upgrade only when you need the added performance or extra features.5. Migrating your website is easier than you thinkMigration services can help you move your site painlessly and quickly.One of the main reasons a lot of people dont consider switching hosting providers is that they believe it will  be too difficult. After all, building a site from scratch is complicated enough, so it stands to reason that moving it would be  similarly challenging.Fortunately, that just isnt the case. In fact, here are three reasons moving your WordPress site doesnt have to be a bi g deal:There are migration plugins that enable you to do handle the process yourself.If you migrate your site during off-hours, your downtime should be minimal.A lot of hosting providers will migrate your site for free.In many cases, your new web host will be happy to handle your sites migration at no cost after youve signed up with them. That way, they ensure themselves a happy new customer, and you save some time on your end. Its a win-win situation. If you want to do it yourself, here is a quick video-guide about how you can safely migrate your website without losing SEO rankings.Sometimes you really need to switch WordPress hosting providersIf you want your website to succeed, youre going to need a web host you can rely on. Even if youre generally happy with your current host, that doesnt mean switching hosting providers cant get you a better situation. After all, WordPress hosting is a highly competitive field, and chances are youll be able to find a better provider that meets all your criteria (no matter if youre looking for an affordable shared hosting setup or a more advanced managed hosting heres the difference).Here are just five reasons you might want to switch WordPress hosting providers:Your site takes too long to load.Your dashboard feels sluggish.Theres too much downtime on your current provider.Your hosting costs are too high.Migrating your site is easier than you think.Do you have any questions about how to switch WordPress hosting providers? Ask away in the comments section below! 5 reasons it might be time for a new #WordPress #host

Teenage Pregnancy And Social Exclusion Social Work Essay Essay Example

Teenage Pregnancy And Social Exclusion Social Work Essay Essay Example Teenage Pregnancy And Social Exclusion Social Work Essay Essay Teenage Pregnancy And Social Exclusion Social Work Essay Essay production ( taking portion in economically or socially valuable activities including voluntary work ) , political interaction or engagement ( engagement in local or national decision-making ) and societal interactions ( integrating with household, friends and the wider community ) as the four cardinal elements of societal engagement. These elements separately can stand for an result step for societal exclusion or inclusion. Adolescent gestation is a hazard factor for societal exclusion. Social disadvantage refers to a scope of societal and economic troubles an person can confront such as unemployment, poorness, and favoritism and is distributed unevenly on the footing of socio-demographic features such as ethnicity, socioeconomic place, educational degree, and topographic point of abode ( Wellings and Kane, 1999 ) . Social exclusion can go on to anybody but is more prevailing among immature people in attention, immature people non in school and among adolescents turning up in low income families, or those turning up with household struggles and people from some minority cultural communities are disproportionately at hazard of societal exclusion. people are besides most vulnerable at periods such as go forthing place, attention or instruction. Adolescent birth rates in the UK are the highest in Western Europe and gestation among misss under 16 old ages of age in England and Wales have increased since 2006, more than four in 10 misss still get pregnant before the age of 20. Two-thirdss of all pupils have sex before graduating from school and are exposed to gestation and sexually familial diseases. ( ONS, 2009 ) . Social exclusion Unit ( 2001 ) in their study to cabinet said that In England, there are about 90,000 constructs a twelvemonth to adolescents ; about 7,700 to girls under 16 and 2,200 to misss aged 14 or under. Roughly three-fifths of constructs 56,000 consequence in unrecorded births. Although more than two-thirds of under 16s do non hold sex and most adolescent misss reach their mid-twentiess without acquiring pregnant, the UK has teenage birth rates which are twice every bit high as in Germany, three times every bit high as in France and six times every bit high as in the Netherlands. Teenss that get pregnant are less likely to finish their instruction therefore hazards doing their future worse. They are more likely to be individual parents and are more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. Every twelvemonth there are new entrants into adolescent universe. The hazard factors that affect early teenage gestations are economic disadvantages, equal force per unit area, emotional hurt, sexual beliefs, attitude and accomplishments, household construction, community disadvantages, sexual hazard pickings and hapless preventive usage. ( Kirby, 2007 ) . The chief policy enterprises ( 750 ) New Labour ( 1997 ) introduced policies that aim to cut down immature people s hazards of low educational attainment, hapless or no occupation chances, criminalism and offending, adolescent gestation and sexually familial infections ( STIs ) . Tony Blair ( PM, 2001 ) in a preface to the Report by the Social Exclusion Unit on Preventing Social exclusion said Preventing exclusion where we can, reintegrating those who have become excluded, and puting in basic minimal criterions for all and we have worked in a new manner developing partnerships around common ends with the populace services, communities and charities, concerns and church administrations that have been fighting with the causes and symptoms of poorness for so long. The policy used hazard direction attacks as a manner of cut downing hazards of teenage gestation and sexually familial diseases amongst immature people by utilizing schemes that gives the single picks, duties and do them portion of the solution. New Labour s policies on teenage gestation centres around adolescent gestation and gender utilizing Knowledge Acquisition, Shifting Blame and Constituting Knowing Active Welfare Citizens as strategic Risk Management options. The New Labour authorities set up a Adolescent Pregnancy Strategy overseen by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit and the scheme centres on cut downing the rate of teenage constructs, with the specific purpose of halving the rate of constructs among under 18s by 2010. Geting more adolescent parents into instruction, preparation or employment, to cut down their hazard of long term societal exclusion. The Social Exclusion Unit was setup by the New Labour authorities to co-ordinate policy-making issues like school exclusion and hooky, unsmooth sleeping, teenage gestation, young person at hazard and deprived vicinities through, forestalling societal exclusion go oning in the first topographic point by cut downing the Numberss who go through experiences that put them at hazard or aiming action to counterbalance for the impact of these experiences, reintegrating those who become excluded back into society, by supplying clear ways back for those who have lost their occupation or their lodging, and missed out on acquisition and acquiring the rudimentss right by presenting basic minimal criterions to everyone in wellness, instruction, in-work income, employment and undertaking offense. Critically analyse policies-SID, RED, MUD Critical analysis of the Policy, ( 2000 ) Action to forestall societal exclusion is presenting consequences: the proportion of kids in places where no-one is in work has fallen from 17.9 per cent in 1997 to 15.1 per cent in 2001 ; over 100,000 kids are profiting from the Certain Start programme to guarantee they are ready to learn by the clip they reach primary school ; school exclusions have fallen by 18 per cent between 1997 and 1999 ; under-18 construct rates have fallen in four out of the last five quarters ; more 16-18 twelvemonth olds are remaining on in instruction ; the Care Leavers scheme has been introduced ; the Rough Sleepers Unit is flying new attacks to stop the fast path to homelessness from prison and the Armed Forces ; Drumhead Stakeholder Pensions will assist chair earners build up better pension entitlements from this April. Some 18 million people stand to derive from the State Second Pension, supplying more support than under the State Net incomes Related Pension Scheme ( SERPS ) for modest and low paid workers, and for carers and the handicapped ; and the personal revenue enhancement and benefit steps introduced over this Parliament mean that by October 2001, a single-earner household on half mean net incomes and with two immature kids will be ?3,000 a twelvemonth better off in existent footings compared with 1997. Families with person in full-time work will hold a guaranteed minimal income of at least ?225 a hebdomad, ?11,700 a twelvemonth. And households with kids in the poorest fifth of the population will on norm be ?1,700 a twelvemonth or around 15 per cent better off. And programmes to reintegrate people who have become excluded are entering successes: since 1997 more than 270,000 immature unemployed people have moved into work through the New Deal for Young People ; over 6,000 people have found work through the New Deal for Disabled People and over 75,000 people had found work between October 1998 and December 2000 through the New Deal for Lone Parents ; all Local Education Authorities ( LEAs ) have increased proviso for excluded students, a 3rd already make so, and two-thirds program to offer them full-time instruction in 2001 ; between June 1998 and June 2000, the figure of unsmooth slumberers fell by 36 per cent ; and the proportion of teenage parents in instruction, employment or preparation has increased from 16 to 31 per cent between 1997 and 2000. And alterations in basic public and private services are concentrating betterments on the poorest: higher criterions than of all time before in Key Stage 2 English and maths with a 10 and 13 per centum point betterment in each topic severally between 1998 and 2000 ; 44 Local Education Authorities ( LEAs ) in the 88 most deprived areas2 improved their Key Stage 2 maths consequences by 14 per cent or more between 1998 and 2000. The most improved country was Tower Hamlets, with an addition of 23 per cent ; 24 LEAs in deprived countries improved their Key Stage 2 English consequences by 11 per cent or more over the same period ; between 1998 and 2000 kids from most minority cultural communities saw a rise in accomplishment of GCSEs. This includes an eight per centum point addition in the figure of black students accomplishing five or more GCSE grade A*-C, against an norm for all students of three per centum points ; unemployment has fallen faster than the national norm in 19 of the 20 highest unemployment countries ; the combined effects of Minimum Income Guarantee ( MIG ) , Winter Fuel Payments and free telecasting licenses for those aged 75 and over mean that from April 2001 around two million of the poorest pensionary families will be at least ?800 a twelvemonth better off compared with 1997 a existent footings rise in life criterions of 17 per cent. together with revenue enhancement and benefit reforms, the national lower limit pay has helped to do work wage and promote persons to travel from benefits into work ; and by the terminal of 2000, all the high street Bankss offered a basic bank history available to all. Preventing societal exclusion These betterments are a good start. Tendencies on literacy, school exclusion, post-16 engagement and rough kiping are on path. Incomes for the poorest pensionaries and households, and for low-paid workers, have risen well. Where programmes have been slow to present consequences, for illustration on hooky, the Government is escalating action. But many of the programmes in this papers are merely in their babyhood, and are on class to present more significant consequences over clip. At the same clip, policy invention has been accompanied by new constructions and new ways of working within Government. These have created clearer answerability for cross-cutting topics such as rough sleeping, vicinity reclamation and young person policy ; set the footing for a new relationship of Partnership with groups outside Government ; organised services around the demands of the client ; and helped people to assist themselves Policy can worsen and non relieve Conclusion ( 500 ) The 1999 UK authorities s study on adolescent gestation concluded that the following were risk factors for gestations among adolescent misss: socioeconomic disadvantage, holding been oneself the kid of a adolescent parent, hapless communicating with parents, non being in instruction, preparation or work after age 16 old ages, equal force per unit area to hold sex early, educational jobs such as low accomplishment and hooky, intoxicant usage, low cognition about sexual wellness, and larning about sex from beginnings other than school However, these decisions were based on grounds that was instead old or from cross-sectional surveies, which are non the best usher to current tendencies

Learning and development in the workplace Essay

Learning and development in the workplace - Essay Example It has become a collaborated effort between the employer and the employee where they go through the learning process together so as to maximise the effects of the existing skills and competences. This paper will consider some flexible learning strategies that enhance the concept of workplace learning and development with short case studies as examples. Personal Development Plan Personal planning is approached by people differently based on the differences that individuals exhibit. Personal planning requires a great deal of individual effort for it to be effective. Not many people in the workplaces pay attention to developing personal plans despite being aware of their immense benefit toward personal development. In the workplace many employees feel that in developing a personal plan they are just but showing what the employer wants to see and term it as hypocritical or fail to see its value. Other employees who understand the benefits tend to take it pretty seriously. Personal develo pment plans are actually the efforts that one put in place aiming at tracking their education and performance paths. These plans assist an employee in developing their career path better. This plan includes events and benchmarks along a career path which may be long or short term depending on the goals to be achieved therein (Makinson 2001). This development plan usually encompasses learning as one works towards set goals and objectives. Personally I take a Personal Development Plan as an avenue through which am able to know myself better. A plan streamlines daily activities and compresses them within a specified timeframe. As such personal discipline is cultivated which enables one to easily surpass their initial targets on performance or even learning. PDP allows one to uncover their underlying strengths and weaknesses which in the past acted as major hindrances to efficiency and general performance at work (Rughani 2001). Personal development plans offer one a chance to evaluate performance in relation to the set targets. When this is done an individual employee is able to engage in corrective measures that include further training, acquiring of new skills while developing existing ones and acquisition of more knowledge and competence to perform various tasks at the workplace. A PDP outlines the timeframe within which achievements are to be made. As such one is able to know with certainty how far they have gone with the plan, how effective it has been and the timeframe left together with what remains pending (Cottrell 2003). This way an individual is able to analyse clearly the skills, knowledge and competences they have acquired and compare this with the set targets. One of the most important benefits of the PDP is the realisation of the skills and knowledge needed to attain unachieved objectives which in turn make an employee to develop themselves towards their attainment (Clifford & Thorpe 2007). Use of PDP is a sure way of identifying how one is learnin g and whether this process is bearing any fruits. It does that by offering evidence that is vital in analysing the required knowledge and skills in ultimately achieving particular objectives. This brings in the need for goals to follow the SMART model which stipulates that goals have to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based (Cottrell 2003). An individual following a laid out PDP needs to constantly evaluate the viability of their goals in respect to the elements of this model as failure to do so