Saliva protects teeth against cavities more than we thought

Mucus - part of the 0.5% of saliva that is not water - contains salivary mucins, compounds that actively protect teeth from damage by the cavity-causing bacterium Streptococcus mutans, according to a new study.

The new study suggests salivary mucins play an active role in keeping our oral microbiomes healthy.

Previously it was thought that salivary mucins - large glycoproteins - did little more than keep mucus in saliva slippery and elastic, contributing to its gel-like properties. But now it seems they play an active role in defending against pathogens and keeping the human microbiome healthy.

First author Erica Shapiro Frenkel, of Harvard University, and principal investigator Katharina Ribbeck, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in Cambridge, MA, report their findings in the journalApplied and Environmental Microbiology.

Frenkel says their findings suggest boosting the body's natural defences might be a better way to prevent tooth decay than relying on external agents like sealants and fluoride treatments.

The researchers found that salivary mucins do not alter levels of S. mutans nor kill the bacteria over 24 hours. Instead, they keep the bacteria suspended in a liquid medium, and this in turn reduces their ability to form biofilms on teeth.

"This is particularly significant for S. mutans," Frenkel explains, "because it only causes cavities when it is attached, or in a biofilm on the tooth's surface."

A biofilm is a densely packed community of microbes that grow on surfaces and surround themselves with sticky polymers that they secrete.

Frenkel also points out that the oral microbiome - the collection of friendly bacteria in the mouth - is better preserved when naturally present species are not killed. "The ideal situation," she adds, "is to simply attenuate bacterial virulence."

Salivary mucins prevent tooth decay bacteria from forming a biofilm

S. mutans causes tooth decay by first attaching itself to teeth by forming a biofilm from sticky polymers that it produces. As the bacterium grows under the protection of the biofilm, organic acid byproducts of its metabolism attack the tooth enamel, causing cavities.

For their study, the researchers focused on how the salivary mucin MUC5B affects the ability of S.mutans to attach to teeth and form a biofilm. These are the two key steps necessary for cavities to form, Frenkel explains.

The investigation grew out of previous work looking at gastric mucins in pigs that protected against lung pathogens. The researchers wondered if salivary mucins might also play a protective role.

Frenkel says common diseases like cystic fibrosis, ulcerative colitis and asthma have been linked to problems with mucin production.

"There is increasing evidence that mucins aren't just part of the mucus for structure or physical protection, but that they play an active role in protecting the host from pathogens and maintaining a healthy microbial environment," she adds.

Prof. Ribbeck says this kind of research is important because it changes scientists' views on host-microbe interactions:

"It is generating a paradigm shift from the textbook view of mucus as a simple catchall filter for particles, towards the understanding that mucus is a sophisticated bioactive material with powerful abilities to manipulate microbial behavior."

Meanwhile, Medical News Today recently learned that Roman Britons had less gum disease than modern Britons. The surprising discovery provides further evidence that modern habits like smoking can be damaging to oral health.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/285285.php

The Unique Difficulties that Women Face With Weight Loss

If you're a woman who has tried to lose weight, you may have noticed something: it's hard. Much harder than simply cutting your calories and watching the weight fall off.

Disclaimer: This article is geared towards women, but I am not a woman. I'm basing the following on the hundreds of women that I've coached and the patterns that I've seen. I empathise with many of these issues and have thought deeply about them as a coach, but I'm never going to claim that I have lived through them. I am, however, hoping that I can use my experiences to help you.

There are complexities beyond simple math; emotional, physical and social barriers that simply aren't addressed by a male-dominated fitness industry. This became apparent to me when working with my client, Jane (not her real name):

I have been dieting for 15 years. I would always do really well for a month, two months, even six months, on various detoxes, juice cleanses and a bunch of cardio. Then I would have an off day, and spiral out of control. I would gain back all of the weight I lost, plus more. Fast forward to last year, I ended up at 311 pounds after torturing myself with the yoyo dieting. I felt permanently guilty and disgusted with myself.

I've always felt that I relate better to my female clients than male ones. Having spent most of my life obese, I've struggled with issues around binge eating, yoyo dieting (rapidly losing and gaining weight), and lacking self-compassion.

Even then, my experiences probably pale to the particular set of difficulties that women face when it comes to weight loss. If you are a woman, highlighting these challenges isn't meant to discourage you, but to empower you. Knowing the magnitude of this battle will allow you to be kinder to yourself when you stumble.

Weight Loss is Biologically Harder for You

Before talking about why weight loss is harder for women, we'll first need to understand how your calories are burned in a given day.

Total calories burned in a day = Resting metabolism + Thermic effect of intentional activity + Thermic effect of food + Thermic effect from non-exercise activity

Resting metabolic rate (RMR): The amount of calories that are required in order to maintain normal bodily functions, hormones, etc.

Thermic effect of intentional activity: Activities burned from moving around all day.

Thermic effect of food (TEF): Calories burned from the process of eating your food and turning it into usable substrates.

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): Calories burned from spontaneous activity that your body undertakes. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to directly impact NEAT, so we're going to save this for another day.

In your average person, resting metabolism accounts for about 70% of total calories burned in the day. Yep, that means most of your calories are spent just "staying alive," even if you just lie in bed all day. Of the calories required by the RMR, a large majority (85%) can be explained by fat free mass as muscle requires more energy to maintain than fat. Accordingly, people with more muscle have higher resting metabolic rates, and this accounts for most of the explained variation in RMR between individuals.

So what happens when people over-consume calories with no additional exercise? Most people know that your body stores most of these calories as fat. What you might not know, however, is that your body partitions some extra calories as muscle—even without additional exercise. Yes, some people gain muscle by just overeating, as seen in one study where participants were overfed 1000 Calories per day for 10 days.

Hurray! Cici's Pizza Buffet for everyone, right? Not so fast. Those are the lucky few, and if you're female, chances are this doesn't apply to you. This is because the amount of muscle you gain from overfeeding seems to depend on the amount of testosterone that you have, and women have about 10% of the testosterone of men.

This is why women physiologically get the short end of the stick.

You're Less Self-Compassionate and More Self-Critical

I've written before about the importance of self-compassion and how it's a common trait in my successful clients. Research has corroborated this observation; self-compassionate people are less likely to make the same mistake again.

Unfortunately, according to Dr. Kristin Neff, one of the pioneers in self-compassion research,women tend to be less self-compassionate and more self-critical:

Women tend to be a little less self-compassionate and more self-critical than men. From an evolutionary perspective, this is because women are more threat-focused—focused on dangers in order to keep their babies alive and pass on their genes. Women are also a lot more compassionate toward others than men are. The discrepancy between how women treat themselves and how they treat others is bigger than it is with men.

This isn't at all alleviated by our societal values, which unfairly (and somewhat arbitrarily) place greater weight on women's appearances than men.

This is detrimental to progress. Self-criticism, in place of self-compassion, acts to foil positive progress. It leads to over-aggressive dieting and exercise, then self-punishment and guilt upon the realisation that it isn't sustainable—classic yoyo dieting mentality.

You Have to Deal with Monthly Hormones

Menstruation and dieting isn't talked about very much, but it's a conversation that needs to be had, because it can affect your progress in multiple ways.

The first issue is water retention. Unlike men, female body weight typically oscillates by a few pounds up and down on an intra-monthly basis due to the ongoing endocrinological shitstorm that's occurring.

Aside from (what I've been told is) unwelcome discomfort, the phenomenon also creates an immense amount of frustration and confusion. Imagine if you were dieting hard and exercising religiously only to find that you not only gained weight but "look and feel fatter." (I use the quotations because this is something that clients often say.) It makes it harder to develop a positive feedback loop, and the sense of backtracking takes a huge psychological toll.

Adding to this, appetite control tends to worsen as a symptom of PMS. A theorised cause behind this is serotonin, the "happiness hormone." Research has shown that serotonin levels are lower prior to menstruation. This gives rise to depressive symptoms and emotional eating, compounded by intense cravings and weaker self-control.

You Have More Decisions to Make Throughout the Day

As a guy, the hardest decision that I make in the morning is whether or not I hit snooze when my alarm goes off. Women, on the other hand, don't have it so easy. I interviewed my good friend Julie, who explained to me:

Even before I leave the door in the morning, I've made dozens of decisions. What to wear, what makeup to use, whether or not I'm going to need to re-apply makeup during the day, how to do my hair, etc. And you wonder why it sometimes takes us hours to get ready. Men don't have to deal with these issues.

Sure, these are societal issues, but they're there. How does this relate to weight loss? It's because decisions impact your available willpower. From The Serious Pony's Blog:

In 1999, Professor Baba Shiv (currently at Stanford) and his co-author Alex Fedorikhin did a simple experiment on 165 grad students.They asked half to memorise a seven-digit number and the other half to memorise a two-digit number. After completing the memorisation task, participants were told the experiment was over, and then offered a snack choice of either chocolate cake or a fruit bowl.

The participants who memorised the seven-digit number were nearly 50% more likely than the other group to choose cake over fruit. Researchers were astonished by a pile of experiments that led to one bizarre conclusion: Willpower and cognitive processing draw from the same pool of resources.

As a coach, it pains me when people slip up on their diet, then think "This is a moral failing and I'm just lazy." But you're not lazy. You kick ass, work hard, and bring home the goods. The truth is that willpower is a finite resource. Forgiving yourself for past mistakes, then learning how to manage it can make all the difference.

*There's relatively recent research to suggest that the concept of willpower may just be in your head. This is just one data point out of tonnes of research on the subject. Regardless, it still makes sense to believe that willpower is finite.

Your Environment Works Against You

Part of society's (unfortunate) patriarchal design bleeds into health and fitness: almost everything related to health and fitness is optimised for men.

Let's take portion size for example. Most people already know that portion sizes have increased over the years. But you probably haven't thought about how much more pronounced this is for women. That 3,000-calorie pasta dish might be a day's worth of calories for a man, but it's nearly two days worth of calories for many women, because women require less calorie per day. Think you'll know when to stop? Unfortunately, the amount of food on your plate dictates how much you'll eat, and for women, that means a higher percentage of their daily calories.

When it comes to exercising for weight loss, there's a difference between cardio and strength training. Cardio tends to burn more calories in the short run, but strength training increases lean mass, which we know increases your metabolism. Cardio is like paying off a credit card, whereas strength training is like paying a mortgage. With the latter, you're building an asset.

Everyone benefits from strength training, and while cardio is great for health, it doesn't do much for weight loss. Yet, look at how fitness is marketed towards men vs. women: men should be lifting weights, whereas women are constrained to stereotypically feminine activities, like running, spinning, and pink three-pound dumbbells. Granted, fitness marketers are shitty all around, but at least they get men to do something a bit closer to the right thing.

It's not just marketers that keep women away from strength training. The typical gym environment does so as well. My friend Alexa, former competitive bodybuilder and now nationally competitive powerlifter explains:

I wouldn't call the weight room the most inviting place in the world, hence why most females gravitate toward Soul Cycle and TRX bands and shit because they feel comfortable and with "like" individuals. Also, men in the gym can be intimidating by hitting on you in less than favourable ways, potentially interrupting a workout and making things more uncomfortable than they already are.

Detoxes, cleanses, and other scams tend to be marketed towards women as well.

Where to Go From Here

What ever happened to Jane, my client from the example at the beginning? Well, she started being kinder to herself:

I started being, gasp, NICE to myself. I forgave myself. I made the eating plan fit into my life, rather than fitting my life into the diet. When I fell off the horse, I would revisit my accomplishments and remind myself that I have come this far, and all I can do it try again. I have since lost almost 40 pounds. I have had times when I gained a few pounds back, but I haven't felt the shame that I used to feel. Being nice to myself has allowed me to forgive myself and stay on a positive path. Also, while I am eating well, I feel positive rather than punished. I can truly see myself continuing on this journey.

Operating under simplified assumptions like eat less, move more can easily lead to a feelings of weight loss failure when encountering difficulty. But saying the solution to weight loss is "eat less, move more" is like saying the solution to depression is "stop being so sad."

As a woman, you're facing a unique set of difficulties. Accepting and understanding this will allow you to appreciate progress, be realistic about expectations, and most importantly be kind to yourself.

To do this, the following advice may help:

• Be ok with only losing 0.5-1 lbs per week. Women need fewer calories than men, so any reduction in intake comes as a larger portion of your daily needs. Therefore, weight loss has to happen more slowly. Don't rush things through aggressive cardio or diet. Remember, even at this pace you're still losing 30-50 lbs in one year.
• Measure your weight month-over-month. This will account for your the hormonal impact on water retention. At the very least, don't step on the scale when you know that you're retaining water for hormonal reasons.
• Obsess over ROI. You're already making tonnes of decisions every day. Cut out all decisions that don't have a tangible impact on your results.
• Strength train. Be wary of "advice" dictating that women should have completely different fitness protocols. For the most part, women would get better results better lifting relatively heavy weights than anything that resembles a Tracy Anderson routine.
• Follow other women who have had fitness success. They'll understand some of your difficulties. I highly recommend FitNGeeky's YouTube videos, such as this one on women and strength training or the reasons she got into fitness. Communities like Reddit's xxfitness or Girls Gone Strong are great to follow as well.

Lastly, If you have weight to lose, realise that you are not your weight. Wipe the sentence "I am fat" from your vocabulary. You are not fat. You have fat. Having biologically necessary fat cells, even if it's in abundance, should in no way be tied to your identity.

Viewing weight loss as a challenge, in the most objective and non-judgmental way possible, allows you to keep progressing. If you're a woman, weight loss will be more challenging and take more time, but overcoming challenges isn't anything foreign to you. Besides, the time will pass anyway.

http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2015/01/27/unique-difficulties-women-face-weight-loss

You Can Heal Your Life

Best-selling author Gregg Braden says, “I was working as a defense systems computer engineer during the last years of the Cold War when I first read Louise’s book, You Can Heal Your Life.

“It came to me at a turning point in my life and I found it so beautiful, so powerful, and so true. Through the simple elegance that’s the hallmark of her work, Louise put words to my view of a life philosophy that includes compassionate self-healing.”

A number of luminaries in the fields of self-help and health and spirituality and new thought – including Doreen Virtue, Gregg Braden, Wayne W. Dyer, Gay Hendricks, Esther and Jerry Hicks, Leon Nacson, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Candace B. Pert, Cheryl Richardson, Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz, and many others – share their personal stories about Louise’s impact on their lives in You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie.

Here’s how Hay House author and cofounder of The Spiritual Cinema Circle Gay Hendricks explains it. (Gay was also instrumental in helping put this film together.)

“When I began making movies, I decided I would only work on projects that went beyond entertainment to become vehicles of positive life-change for people. Making a movie based on You Can Heal Your Life, which has been a beacon of inspiration, hope and healing for millions of people, is a dream come true for me.

“The miracle of this movie began almost from the day we started shooting it. Members of the crew—many of whom are new to the concept that changing your thoughts can change your life—have already experienced profound, positive changes in their lives just from working on the project. This is truly a movie that changes lives.”

[From www.youcanhealyourlifemovie.com]

Order the DVD for yourself from Hay House:

http://personalgrowthinformation.com/456/louise-hay-video-you-can-heal-your-life/

Create Your Personal Brand

Just as surely as building a powerful brand is the key to differentiating a product in the marketplace and thus building a successful business, so creating a strong personal brand is the key to differentiating yourself from your competitors, thereby ensuring your own success as well as that of your business.

Your personal brand determines how people respond to you, whether they listen to you, buy from you, how much they buy, what they are willing to pay, and so on.

Promises You Make

Your personal brand makes a promise: “If you buy from me, you will receive a specific value in return.”

This promised value will be born from the values, virtues, qualities, and attributes by which you become known.

For example, you may want to create a personal image—a brand—of a person who always operates at a high level of integrity, consistently walks the talk, is an exemplary leader, and goes the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.

Who is your ideal customer? What values, virtues, qualities, and attributes will [they] be looking for in a supplier of your product? Do you match this profile? If not, do you have a burning desire to be this kind of person?

These are the key questions you must ask yourself when beginning to build your personal brand.

The Power of Branding

Your company’s brand or even your own personal brand is what separates you from your competition. And it’s what will get your customers to buy from you over and over again.

Get more sales, be promoted quickly and earn MORE money than ever before when you spread the word about the best brand in town—YOURS!

Promises You Keep

Unmet expectations are the arch enemy of any relationship. This is no less true in the relationship between you and your customers.

Your brand as a person is determined in large part by whether you consistently deliver on your promises.

Do you keep your word? Do you follow up? Do your words and actions match with the image you want to create—that is, with the values, virtues, qualities, and attributes you claim as your own?

Constantly examine your behavior. When you slip, resolve to get back on track. To build and sustain a powerful personal brand, your message must be an accurate reflection on you, the messenger.

The Whole Package

Pay close attention to your entire image.

Of course, your character is of paramount importance. But you make an impact on people in other ways as well. Your appearance—the clothes you wear, your personal grooming, your posture—has an enormous emotional impact on how other people see you, think about you, and relate to you.

Your attitude is vital. If you are genuinely pleasant and cheerful in your interaction with others, they will enjoy being with you. They will be more inclined to trust you and do business with you.

Overall Behavior

Your overall behavior strongly influences the impressions others have on you. Be punctual for meetings and appointments. Be absolutely reliable, always keeping your word and your commitments.

Should you fail in this area, communicate with the other person as quickly as possible, offering your apology, explanation, and assurance that it will not happen again. Pay close attention to the quality of your work.

In the long run, there is nothing that will so determine your success in building and sustaining a powerful personal brand as turning out high-quality work, over and over again, and over a long period of time.

Action Exercise

What words do people use when describing you? What words do you want people to use when describing you?

http://theinnerentrepreneur.com/create-your-personal-brand/

Social Media Marketing: Don’t Stress Over It

“Social media’s not a hairnet. No one’s going to shut you down for not using it.”

Marie Forleo makes that comment in this video, and asks on her related post: “Do you ever feel pressured to be more active than you truly want to be on social media?”

In the video, Marie mentions this book:

Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today’s Consumer-Driven World by Pete Blackshaw.

And the article on Mashable she mentions:
10 Very Successful Small Businesses That Don’t Use Social Media.

The video comes from a post by Marie Forleo: “How To Use Social Media So It Doesn’t Overwhelm Your Life” at her site www.marieforleo.com [in June, 2013].

One of the comments on the post is from Connie [enchantingoccasionsllc.com] – “I teach social media marketing classes here in Tucson, AZ and the #1 complaint is “how do I keep up with all this?” We always recommend 2 things: #1 know your market and which platforms they are on (facebook, twitter, pinterest) #2 pick 3 platforms to become an expert in and stick to those. The purpose of social media is to engage and interact with your customers and to do that well you don’t want to spread yourself too thin.”

Entrepreneur mentor Marie Forleo says on her site: “I’m here to make you rich. Before we go further, let’s redefine rich, shall we? Because the rich I’m talking about reaches far beyond toys and cash. Rich means unlocking your spiritual potential, nurturing your health and happiness and using your unique talents to change the world.”

http://theinnerentrepreneur.com/920/social-media-marketing-dont-stress-over-it/

10 Questions to Jumpstart Your Dream Career

You know you want to make a change: You don’t want to be in the same place you are now in ten years, or even five years.

But what if you’re stuck and have no idea what to do next?

As a life and career coach, I’ve helped thousands of people discover a new direction full of passion and meaning.

One of the best tools is an inward search. The following questions can help you see your life and its possibilities through a completely new perspective.  Write your answers in your journal and  give yourself plenty of time to expand on  your insights.

1. As a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up?

It’s helpful to get in touch with your earlier fascinations. In early childhood, it was easier to live from our imagination without all of the interference from our
adopted limiting beliefs.

2. What are some of your favourite hobbies or activities—in the present and in the past—and why?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could turn your favourite pastime into your dream career? We choose hobbies and activities that most likely resonate with our unique personality as well as our physical, mental and emotional nature. They are an extension of our inner voice and a blast off to your dream career.

3. What do you do, or have you done, in your life that makes you the happiest?

What is it about this that you enjoy so much? What does it mean to you?

When you are in a state of joy or bliss, you are in complete alignment with your purpose. And when you’re in complete alignment with your passions, intention and actions, success is sure to follow.

4. What things have you always wanted to do, but were afraid to try?

These could be activities or ideas related to your personal life or career that you have seen on television, in books, or heard of others experiencing.

List anything that comes to mind that seems interesting, stimulating, exciting, meaningful or fun.

Many people self-impose limiting choices and circumstances on themselves and their lives. Once those obstacles are removed, the possibilities are boundless!

People often fear change, even if their current circumstances are not up to par with their capabilities.

The hardest part of change is the first step. Once you get through that, creating your new and successful career becomes so much easier. The fear will be released the more you practice taking action.

5. What is a cause that you could get behind?

Is there a cause or charity that you’re passionate about?

There may be some career ideas that will support and reflect the charities or causes that have meaning to you.

One of my clients, Leslie, felt stuck for years in a job that offered no challenge or mental stimulation whatsoever.

She was very over-qualified for the position, but stayed for the security. As the years went by, Leslie became more and more apathetic toward her work.

In the meantime, she was taking classes in homeopathy for animals and volunteering at the local animal shelter.

It was obvious that humane treatment and care for animals was a cause that she felt very strongly about. It never felt like work because she absolutely loved to connect with the animals.

Over time, Leslie began practicing natural medicine for animals on a part-time basis until she developed enough business to take the leap in creating her full-time dream career.

Now, instead of going to her boring job, she wakes up each day to a dream career that she is most passionate about.

6. What values do you hold most important in your life?

If you can incorporate some of the most important values of your character and your life into your work, you will be truly living a life of value and purpose.

For example, I have always felt a calling to help people in need.

At some point, I finally reconnected with my deeper values and life purpose to support and inspire others on their path.

Life coaching was a natural evolvement because it matched my inner values and purpose.

7. What are your strengths and talents?

By tapping into the special abilities that you were born with, you can consider translating them into your dream career.

My client, Kenneth, loves parasailing, so he is creating a charity that will help trauma victims heal through this sport. He has found a way to combine his passion and talent to give back to a cause he feels strongly about.

8. What movies and books have inspired you over the years, and why?

We are often drawn to books and movies that reflect our personalities and interests.

For example, history books may reflect your interest in travel or research. Action/adventure books and movies may mirror your desire for a career in an outdoor setting rather than being office-bound.

9. What does success mean to you?

Success can have many different connotations and can represent different things to different people.

What does the picture of success look like to you?

10. If you had plenty of money at your disposal to invest in your own dream career, what kind of business would you start?

Often the fear of not having enough capital, or an inheritance, or just-accepting-poverty thinking can dissuade people from reaching for their dreams.

Just by putting your dreams on paper, sending your intention out into the Universe and following up with action, the necessary avenues to remove these supposed limitations will appear. This is intention in action.

There are also many resources for small-business funding. Don’t let the financial aspect stop you, because there will always be a solution if you actively look for it.

The secret is to profess your dream, and then start taking action toward it today. You may begin to receive checks in the mail.

Stranger things have happened! The Universe has incredible ways of providing for us once we put out the intention, then believe that it will appear.

http://theinnerentrepreneur.com/10-questions-to-jumpstart-your-dream-career/

Authors – Have You Tried This Little Known Online Marketing Book Strategy?

If you already have self published books, chances are you’re looking for effective online marketing book strategies to help sell your book.

You’ve spent hours brainstorming, writing, editing and publishing your book.

Now what? Now it’s time to let people know that your book exists. Even if you have a great book, it doesn’t matter if no one knows about it.

So, how can you gain more fans and sell more books through online marketing book strategies?

Consider a “Virtual Book Tour” (Guest Blogging)

What is a “Virtual Book Tour” anyway? Basically it is a blog tour where you share guest posts on different blogs to promote you, your blog, your products and your books.

The Top 3 Reasons Why Should You Consider Guest Blogging

1) It’s free. Who doesn’t want free book marketing, right? However, you do have to spend your time researching and writing the posts, but you don’t have to pay for the advertising you will get from these posts.

2) It’s forever. Your guest post will remain on that blog forever to promote you, your products and your books.

3) It’s fun. Not only do you get tons of increased blog traffic, exposure, new fans and new customers but you also meet some amazing people in your field of expertise. I have found it fun to network and get to know the other key players in my niche. I have even done many self publishing interviews with them on my site as well.

Tips to an Effective Guest Blogging Tour

If you are going to invest the time into scheduling a guest blogging tour and writing the posts, you’ll want to make the most out of this online marketing book idea.

Here are three tips:

1) Do your research. Your tour will be much more effective if you choose high traffic, popular blogs. You know that a blog is popular by finding out their Google page rank and Alexa ranking. In the beginning, you may still want to target a few smaller blogs, but don’t be afraid to approach the authority blogs in your niche!

2) Provide high quality content. Be a great guest and provide unique, high quality content for your host. Don’t use PLR or an article you posted to a directory. Make yourself stand out by putting your best foot forward.

3) Develop a plan. You will need to plan how long your tour will be and develop a schedule for your tour. If you are doing a longer tour, you will need tools to help you stay organized. Use what works best for you whether it’s an Excel spreadsheet, a Word document or pen and paper.

To get started right away at planning your “Virtual Book Tour” to gain more exposure and more fans, download a FREE 20-page report from Shelley Hitz, of Self-Publishing-Coach.com called, “Guest Blogging Success.” You won’t want to miss out on this online marketing book idea that is growing every day in popularity.

http://theinnerentrepreneur.com/authors-%E2%80%93-have-you-tried-this-little-known-online-marketing-book-start