Here’s a quick question for you: Think about the websites, blogs and newsletters that are most valued. What do they all have in common?

The answer is that they all have something to say, which is not just a generic rehash of popular opinions. They dare to be different. The writers have the courage to state an opinion, which is not always in line with popular thinking.

As soon as you think about it, it makes perfect sense.  After all, no one is going to recommend a website to someone if it’s just saying what everyone else says.  These recommendations are how blogs like this one grow. I rely on you sharing my content for the vast majority of my readership.

It seems I’m in good company too.  I was listening to an interview with Chris Brogan yesterday, where Chris explained that most of his readers come via recommendation too. People (including me) share his content because it’s worth sharing.  Like me, Chris does not rely on Google to help him reach people. We rely on people instead.

The technology blogger Louis Gray is a great source of original ideas and insights. As a result, his blog is one or the most respected in his field.  Louis has a new feature on his blog, where once a month, he recommends a small number of less well-known blogs to his readers.  He told me recently that a key part of his selection process, is that the blog must have something original to say. If it hasn’t, no matter how cleverly it’s written, he won’t waste his readers time recommending it to them. He’s totally right – I mean, how many times does someone want to read the same opinions?

I have written a few times recently about the importance of having the courage to be yourself - to have your own authentic voice.  I believe that when it comes to developing a readership or even a community, it’s essential to let the real you shine through.

In a recent blog post, Seth Godin says:

In our desire to please everyone, it’s very easy to end up being invisible or mediocre. Far better to please the right people.

The majority of small business blogs, websites and newsletters are all-but invisible; because they are so similar to one another.  Their similarity acts as camouflage, which ensures they blend into the background and don’t get noticed.

Whilst I don’t advocate being ‘different’ just for the sake of it, I very strongly encourage fellow newsletter providers and bloggers to have the courage to be themselves and plough their own unique furrow.

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This post is all about how to safeguard and grow your online network.

How frustrated do you feel, when you’ve just washed your car, you take it out for a spin and a massive truck goes buy and covers it in dirt?  What about when you’ve been working on a document for 20 minutes, your computer crashes and you suddenly realise you lost all that work!

Frustrating isn’t it?

Then just imagine how frustrated you will feel, if that social network you have spent months building on your favourite social networking site, gets trashed; following an unpopular acquisition or mass user exodus!

I wrote a post yesterday, about FaceBook buying FriendFeed.  Within hours of the acquisition, many established FriendFeed users told me they will stop using the service.  Others are posting messages, telling people how to get in touch with them – because they believe FriendFeed will be closed by the new owners.

No one outside FaceBook know’s what they are planning to do with FriendFeed, but that’s not the point.

The point is, this perfectly demonstrates how exposed we can be, is we decide to rely too heavily on any single, third-party, for the development of our online network.

I believe there are two lessons here:

• Firstly, make sure you have at least 2 places online, where you can connect with your network – not just one!
• Secondly, develop a central hub for your online presence, which YOU control – Not something governed by a third-party, who could pull the plug on you, suspend your account (or go broke) at any time.

My online network is spread between my blog, my FriendFeed account and my Twitter account.  I am reviewing adding another contact point shortly and I will let you know more closer to the time.

Self hosted blogs

In my experience, the best hub for your online network is a self-hosted blog.  By hosting your own commercial blog, you maintain control. Host it for free on someone else’s platform and they control it.  Through your blog, you can connect with people, share ideas and grow a community. Plus, with plugins and tools like Google Friend Connect, you can enjoy many of the features of a social networking site, on your blog.

No matter what happens with your account at; Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn or FriendFeed – your blog will remain a constant contact point for your online community.

If you are investing a lot of your time and energy developing a single, online network, this might be a good time to consider how future-proof your strategy is.

Image credit: Avolore

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I was just telling someone about a chat I had a couple of weeks ago, with a VERY stressed out Twitter user.  This person, who shall remain nameless, had (for no reason) seen his Twitter account suspended.

He was absolutely distraught and called my office (here in the UK) from his office in San Francisco.

He introduced himself to me, explained what had happened and then told me that he relied on Twitter for 75% of the traffic to his company’s website and most of their sales enquiries.

“If I can’t get my Twitter account back Jim, I don’t know what I will do!”

In case you don’t already know, the reason he asked for my help, is that I write a very widely read Tech News Blog, have a few influential friends and almost 20,000 people following my Tech News Blog on Twitter @thetechnewsblog .

The reason I mention this guy’s predicament, is that it’s a PERFECT example of two common marketing mistakes.

Too many eggs in one basket is a bad idea

Firstly, he was relying too heavily on just one marketing activity.  It’s always better to have a broad marketing mix, with at least half a dozen, high leverage marketing activities.  By the way, I recommend you take a look at FriendFeed and add it to your marketing mix!

Your house, your rules!

Secondly, he placed his company’s primary source of new business, directly out of his control.  This blog is owned by me and I have a community of brilliant people, who comment here, email me and recommend the blog to their friends.  So, as long as I work hard to provide interesting content, the success of the blog’s community is within my control.  It can’t be suspended in error, like this poor guy’s Twitter account.

If you are in business and have developed an online community that you value, I strongly recommend you encourage them to engage with you on YOUR TURF!  Get a blog or add a forum to your website – or do both.  Don’t allow all that hard work and value to go to waste, just because some third-party screws up your account or goes broke!

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I have always been a keen reader of blogs, not only because of the actual blog posts – but because of the gold dust you can find in a blog’s comments section.

For example, no matter how knowledgeable a blogger is on his or her subject, there will usually be people reading a post, who can add important additional information.  These comments are often just as likely to provide you with the ideas and information you need, as the original blog post!

Blog comments offer targeted feedback

If you want to know what your target market thinks about something, take a look at what they are ‘saying’ in the comments section of relevant blogs.  This kind of snapshot can provide you with a useful way to spot trends.

It can also help you identify common problems that your potential customers have, which YOUR business could solve for them!

Your blog comments

An excellent way to develop a blog, is to take note of the comments people leave.  It’s a great way to ensure your messages are resonating with your readers and that you are giving people want they want.  Many of the changes here on this blog, have been made in response to comments people have made.

Thank you

I would finally like to say “THANK YOU” to everyone who comments here.  Your feedback is, as you can see, massively valuable to both my readers and myself.

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This post is all about how you can increase your sales and enquiries, by using a targeted approach to your marketing.

A great product or service, with an excellent marketing message, will still fail to generate sales – unless that message is reaching a targeted group of prospective customers.  That’s why it’s so important for you to target the marketing of your services, to the right people.

Targeted marketing

If Bob gets a well-written marketing message in front of 10,000 people, who have no need for his services and no ability to pay or obtain credit – he’s unlikely to make a single sale.  However, if Bob gets that same great message in front of just 10 people; each with a real need for his services and the ability to pay – he’s likely to make a number of sales!

Blogging and targeted marketing

Fortunately, one of the best ways to get an extremely valuable, targeted audience for your business, is either free or very inexpensive.  I’m talking about blogging!

Whilst it takes time to set up a blog and add regular, interesting content – the financial cost of blogging is extremely low. Great news for any small businesses who are struggling financially right now, yet still have time available for marketing.

So, how do blogs attract targeted prospects?

There are two main reasons why blogs attract such targeted prospective customers / clients.

Firstly, there’s SEO
A nicely designed blog, with good SEO, (search engine optimisation) and interesting content relating to your profession, will attract people who are interested in your area of expertise.  Although the numbers will be low to begin with, you can develop a great audience or marketplace for your services over time.

Secondly, blogs are read by bloggers
I read stacks of blogs each day and it seems I am not alone!  I’ve been running a Reader Poll on jimsmarketingblog.com for the past 2 weeks; asking my readers if they own a blog.  Interestingly, around 90% of the 300 or so people who voted, said “YES!”

So, someone reads something of interest on your blog, which they then mention on their blog.  Suddenly, their readership is alerted to your work and you get a stack of new, targeted readers!  Many of these new readers will be bloggers too – helping you reach more and more people.

This kind of targeted readership is ‘marketing gold dust’ for you and your business.  These people are reading your blog because they already have an interest in, or need for, your subject.  So, if they see you as someone with the answers they need in your area of expertise, who better for them to call / email when they want to hire someone?

Targeted readers come from focused content

In my experience, the blogs that attract the most targeted readers, are the blogs that offer the most focused content.  Some blogs suffer from diversifying too much.  As a result, they attract a fractured readership.

Conversely, by blogging about subjects directly relevant to your services / products, you get to attract not only a readership, but a community!  Jimsmarketingblog.com is an example of a community blog. That’s because the blog’s readers, commentor’s and myself all share a common interest in sales, marketing and business development.

How well do you target your marketing?

If you want to improve your sales figures, a great place to start is by looking at how well you target your prospective customers / clients.  If you are a commercial blogger, (blog as part of your business), and you want to attract a more targeted readership, ensure your posts are ‘on topic.’

If you are not already blogging, this might be a great time for you to start! Just make sure you are committed to investing the time required.

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This post is all about how to get yourself some highly effective, FREE advertising!

One of the main reasons most small and medium-sized businesses don’t advertise, is that they lack the finances.

They know they need to get their message in front of a wider number of targeted, prospective clients / customers; but they just don’t have the cash to invest in high quality advertising.

So, what do they do?

Free advertising

There are many great ways to promote or advertise your services to prospective clients, which cost nothing (other than a little of your time and some creative thinking!)

Here’s one I saw recently on twitter.  It’s a very simple but effective ‘free’ advertising technique that’s used by Hugh Briss, from twitterimage.com.  Hugh currently offers people like myself, who have more than 3,000 followers on twitter, a free, professionally designed twitter background.

Now, each background comes with a ‘credit’; showing that the background was designed by his company, with their URL clearly visible. I noticed that as well as myself, Hugh has also designed backgrounds for Darren Rowse, Chris Pirillo and Chris Brogan .  Between us, we have almost 100,000 followers.  That’s 100,000 people who have a twitter account – and who might want to buy one of his twitter background designs!

So, Hugh invests however long it takes to design the background and in return, he gets a sample of his work and his contact details in front of thousands of highly targeted, potential clients every day.  I’m sure a few have also blogged about him, as I have just done, which gives him even more free publicity!

More free advertising

We all like to win awards don’t we?  And when we win an award, what do we do?  We tell people!

An effective but underused form of free Internet advertising, is to offer a monthly award for something; which is appropriate for your business.

Here’s how it works! For this example, imagine you offer a service, which is targeted at ‘women in business’ and you wanted to reach thousands of new potential clients.

You start off by offering a ‘site of the month’ award – for the site you think is best serving the women in business community that month.  You offer the award with a ‘button’ they can add to their site, which confirms that they won your award and links back to the article on YOUR site; where you tell the world how great their site is.

There are many outstanding sites on every topic you can imagine. By honouring these sites with your awards, you both spread the news about them AND potentially develop valuable links back to YOUR site too. Win, win as they say.  Also, it’s quite likely the recipient of your award will want to share the news with their readers; which can be an extremely powerful way to introduce new prospective clients to your work!

I used this approach for a client of mine a few months ago and got a link back from The BBC; which instantly generated a stack of new visitors to my client’s blog and an increase in their Google PageRank.

Creative advertising can out-perform paid advertising

When people read an advertisement, they are aware that they are being sold to.  This places an additional barrier between your message and your marketplace.  However, when you creatively get your message in front of that same targeted group, without an advertisement, the barrier is removed.

There are many, many more ways to reach people, without investing in paid advertising; which I will share with you in future posts.

If YOU have any ideas for generating effective, free advertising; please share them in the comments section below!

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The results are in and I can now let you know what’s happened since I started this exciting marketing experiment!

As many of you already know, jimsmarketingblog.com offers everyone who comments here a special reward; something called a do-follow link.  This is great for my readers, as it means when you comment here, your link actually tells Google to visit your website or blog; which can help boost your Search Engine Optimization.

Sadly, over 99% of blogs and almost every well-read blog, offers the exact opposite – they offer ‘no-follow links’; which tell Google NOT to follow the link to your website or blog.

The 2 main reasons people give for not offering do-follow links are as follows:

1. Google ‘penalise’ sites like mine, which offer them, by lowering our page rank.
2. Blogs offering do-follow links are more likely to be targeted by spammers, because links from do-follow blogs are so much more valuable to them.

So, what REALLY happens when you offer do-follow links?

I have seen no drop in traffic from Google. This blog’s only a few months old and it gets around 50 – 60 unique visitors each day via Google. When I started the experiment, I was getting around 40 a day. There are lots of reasons why this number has gone up – but for a very new blog that only posts a few times a week, that’s an ‘ok’ response from Google. I can’t see that I am being punished for offering the links; not yet anyway!

Spam? Well, 99.9% of the spam here is the kind of automated spam that every blog gets and it goes straight into the blog’s spam filter.  There has been no increase in this kind of spam at all.

Spam from people using my comments section to pimp their website/blog has increased very slightly – but mainly because spammers know how well read this blog is. They see posts with over 200 comments and that’s like a magnet for comment spammers.

Thus, I can say with a high degree of certainty that the blog has suffered no ill effects from Google or from spammers, because of my use of do-follow links!

So, I am going to keep offering them to you – every time you comment here!

Benefits of offering do-follow links?

There are a lot of very compelling reasons to offer do-follow links. If you look at the kind of comments I got here when I announced what I was doing, you will see how warmly it was welcomed by the online community.

This blog is all about developing a community, based around our mutual interest in marketing and social media. So, what better way to show my commitment to our community, than to reach out and help promote everyone who comments here?

I have also seen a massive surge in visitor numbers, RSS subscribers and in the number of people who contact me via jimsmarketingblog.com. I believe a big reason for this, is that people really embrace the concept of a blog that actually gives them something tangible every time they comment.

We live in an age where marketing and social media guru’s keep on talking about how important it is to connect and share – yet they do so behind blogs that deliberately tell Google NOT to visit YOUR website or blog!

I really like the phrase that’s used to describe do-follow links.  They call it Link Love. As we approach what is sure to be a very challenging year for small businesses in 2009, I hope more people reach-out to THEIR readers with links that are actually worth having.

Over to you!

So, what do you think about ‘Link Love?’  Do you find yourself more likely to comment on blogs that show they value your comments?  Do you offer link love to your readers already – if so, what has your experience been? Whatever your thoughts are, share them here (and get some Link Love too!!)

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Recently, I have started getting a lot of emails from people; asking me a version of the same great question.

Here’s the question:

Jim, I hear that you don’t use any form of paid advertising or link exchanges – yet your posts often get dozens and dozens of comments. According to alexa.com (or whoever), this new blog gets lots of traffic. How are you doing this?

So, what’s my ‘secret’ then?

My secret is simple. It’s all down to Equality and Attraction!

Equality

I provide marketing material for people just like me; small business owners and those who work in sales / marketing.  If I know what I am doing, you should fit into that group too.  We are all totally equal here.  I don’t buy into that Internet celebrity or marketing guru bullshit. I’m just a normal person who happens to run a successful marketing business. I have the marketing answers you need and I work hard to get as many of them to you, in as clear and interesting a way as possible.  I don’t have a tribe; I have a network of friends and great contacts.

This is a level playing field, where you and I are part of the same marketing community.

Guess what?  That means when you email me, I always email you back.  When you comment on this blog – if your comment requires or requests an answer, I give one, always.  If I like your work, your blog or your product, I promote it for free – you won’t even know most of the time, until you check your stats, sales (or Twitter follow numbers!)

My readers seem to like my guru-free approach to delivering the marketing information they need and helping them succeed.

As a result, you recommend this blog, my RSS feed and my newsletter to your contacts.

You are the reason a 3 month old blog is attracting so much attention. You are the reason I don’t need any paid advertising.  You are also the reason I continue to do this; even though I have been financially secure for life since I was 29 years old (I’m 43 now).

That’s despite starting off in life broke; with no connections, the son of immigrants and covered in scars and even a gunshot wound from a violent childhood in the slums. I’m proud to say that I earned my money selling millions of pounds and dollars worth of ‘goods and services’ – NOT selling books or seminars on ‘how to sell!‘

Although my primary focus is always on giving, I have already generated thousands of pounds / dollars worth of sales for my business, from this new blog.  I did over £7,500 worth of business from enquiries here in the first 10 days alone. If you have a website or blog and you would like to attract more business or leads, here’s how I do it.

Attraction

My work is all about attracting sales and enquiries -  not chasing them.

Why?

Simple – people hate being pestered by salespeople!  They hate being pursued by overzealous networkers (online and offline.)  They hate having unwanted advertising thrust upon them.

People LOVE to buy things but they HATE being sold to!

Here’s how people often get it wrong
This morning, I decided to help my Twitter followers build their follower numbers and get some traffic to their blogs.  I asked them to send me the URL of their blog.  Then, I sent another message out to around 4,500 people – with a link to all the blogs that had been sent to me.

What do you think happened?
Within minutes a couple of people decided to send THEIR blog over and over again; so their blog address appeared multiple times in the link I sent!  I received over a dozen messages from people telling me they had blocked these users and some had even advised their followers to block them as well.

That’s because people hate being pushed, pestered, chased or pursued.  Whenever someone tries to use these tactics to generate sales, they come up against resistance. What a hard way to generate new business!

People come to this blog looking for free marketing ideas, strategies and information.  They come here to connect with people and ask questions through the comments section.  So, that’s what I provide.  I don’t ‘push’ anything.  In fact, there is only ONE page on this entire blog where you can learn about my marketing services.

You attract sales, leads and referrals by being attractive.  In the online world, this means making your site or blog as valuable to your ideal profile of client / customer as possible.  You do this by focusing on delivering quality and quantity. It requires a mindset, where you are prepared to give high quality information away for free; not just the watered down free stuff you see on most websites or in free ebooks!

If you keep all the good stuff back for your paying clients, how is a prospective client going to know how brilliant you are?

You need to make your blog or website an Aladdin’s cave. This means, when your prospective clients or customers arrive, they need to believe they have just stumbled upon a goldmine of great information.

If you sell widgets, make YOUR site or blog THEE place to find out everything they need to know about widgets!  If you sell a service (like I do), use your blog or site to showcase your expertise. Show you really know your subject, answer people’s questions and position yourself in their mind as an expert in your field.

Of course, we are not only attracted to people, groups, blogs and sites that offer great value – we love to SHARE them with our friends and contacts too.

I always advise people to take a look at their marketing and decide if it is genuinely attractive to prospective clients / customers or not.  If you are not sure or you just want to make your marketing even more attractive, ask yourself the Aladdin’s cave question, which I touched upon earlier.

“Would someone visiting my website or blog immediately think they have just stumbled upon a goldmine of great information?”

If the answer is no, look for as many ways as possible to add massive value!

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There are some exceptional websites and blogs out there. Today, I would like to share one of them with you – and give my ‘Highly Recommended’ award to
The BBC’s dot.life blog.

The dot.life blog

Like many small and medium-sized businesses, I rely heavily on technology.  I use technology to support the work I do for my clients and to help me be as productive as possible.  Over the years, the dot.life blog has been invaluable to me; as a way to discover emerging technologies and stay ‘ahead of the curve.’

The blog is written by three superb technology journalists;

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Rory Cellan Jones

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Maggie Shiels

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Darren Waters – Editor

The dot.life blog has a truly international reach – with Maggie Shiels based in Silicon Valley and Darren and Rory reporting from all over the globe.

If you are interested in technology and the impact it has on people and businesses, I believe you will throughly enjoy the dot.life blog!

Photos credit – The BBC

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If you want to lower your costs, increase your sales and boost your profits, you need to get the most from online marketing.  This post focuses on 2 forms of FREE online marketing, which you can use to achieve amazing results for your business; Blogging and Newsletters!

Online marketing is changing

Not that many years ago, online marketing reached a relatively small, fairly select group of people.  These were either technology enthusiasts, businesses run by technology enthusiasts or multinationals.  Because only certain groups of consumers and businesses used the Internet regularly, online marketing was of limited use to the average small business.

Of course today, that’s all changed! Almost everyone in a ‘developed’ country now has Internet access at home, work or both. This means it’s now possible for you to use online marketing to generate either sales or leads, for just about any kind of product or service.  It also means it has never been quicker, easier or less expensive to market your business!

Free online marketing

Right now, armed with nothing more than an Internet connection and a blog, you can generate leads or sales for your business for free.  Moreover, these can be highly targeted leads and highly profitable sales too.

Practising what you preach

I have not used any form of paid marketing for my business for years.

That’s right – 100% of my non-referred business comes from either my newsletter, my website or this blog!

All I have to do is make sure I give away as much valuable marketing information as possible, to as many small businesses as possible.  Then, when these small businesses want someone to help them market their products or services, they give me a call.  When they want their blog or website transformed into a goldmine, they already know my work and that I get results – so they get in touch!

Fast results?

Oh yes – You can see results in seconds! For example, once you build a list of newsletter subscribers or a group of regular blog readers, you can start generating either sales or leads, less than a minute after you send a message or post something to your blog!

Of course, most people with newsletters or blogs have very few readers. Just as with everything else, you need to do the right things, in the correct way, if you want to achieve the desired results.  That’s why it’s important that you spend a little time doing some research, before you start!

Blog marketing

There are lots of online networking sites and ‘social media’ tools you can use, to build up a targeted network of prospective clients or valuable contacts.  In fact, the number of websites offering these facilities is so vast, that it has become a problem in itself.

In my experience, the foundation of your free online marketing should be a blog.

A simple blog, if used correctly, can help you develop a massive community and allow you to showcase your talents to your prospective clients / customers.  It can help you find out about the needs of your marketplace and also develop a special relationship with thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of prospects.

Getting a blog

You can get yourself a free blog right now, from wordpress.com or blogger.com, and be blogging in minutes.  Each blog platform has pro’s and con’s.  I use a paid-for version of wordpress for this blog – you can see the benefits of a paid wordpress blog here.

However, before you invest your time starting a blog, make sure you get some advice from someone with a successful blog.  I recommend you take a look at Chris Brogan’s blog, which covers business blogging (and also other forms of social media.)  It’s a great resource and well worth a read.

Blog marketing is a massive subject and I can only scratch the surface in this post, but there’s going to be a LOT more information to come – So subscribe to my RSS feed, using the button on the top right of the page and make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Newsletters

By far, my biggest ‘network’ is the readership of my marketing newsletter.  The newsletter has been going for almost three years and has thousands of valued readers, spanning over 100 countries around the world.  Each newsletter is sent just a couple of times a month and contains an original marketing article (like this one).

I use the same principle to grow my newsletter, as I use to grow this blog.

I provide high value content, so people share it with their contacts. These contacts then subscribe and they share it with their contacts…

Which businesses can benefit from Newsletters & Blogs?

Any business, in any industry can benefit from a Newsletter and / or a blog.  That’s because the same process outlined above is universal.  Just make sure your blog or newsletter content is designed exclusively for YOUR target market.

In other words, if your business offers web design – write about great web design ideas, tips and tricks.  If your business offers insurance, write about how people can lower their premiums or get better cover or share some funny insurance stories.  If you are a coach or consultant, blog about your subject and give great tips and ideas to your readers. Most newsletters are little more than advertisements and because of this, people do not forward them on and they fail to grow.

Make sure you pump as much valuable information as possible into everything you write.  This showcases your talents, positions you as an expert and shows the real value of your products or your services.  It also makes choosing you as a provider almost risk-free to your readers.

Conclusion

I know people in just about every industry, who get the vast majority of their leads or sales through free online marketing.  I also get emails from people every day; who are wondering how to generate the leads or sales their business needs in order to survive.

If you want to know more, take a look at the free resources mentioned above and also check out the guides and articles in this blog.  You might also want to look that this, it’s all about how to build a successful newsletter.

If you have found this post useful or you have anything to add, please leave a comment and share your feedback with everyone!

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