So You Want to Work From Home

Lets face it. There are just some people like Claire in Six Feet Under here in this world. Claire may simply be a TV character but she reflects some of the demographics in the American population.

People like Claire are those who refuse to be confined in a corporate system. They do not want to wear suits, skirts and pantyhose for nine hours straight. For short, they do not wish to go to the office day in and day out.

Lately, because of the popularity of the work at home options, more and more corporations are leering toward that direction. They know that there are people out there who could just not devote 1/3 of their whole day to work when they have 1/3 sleeping and 1/3 doing other stuff.

At least when people work at home, they control their own schedule. They can devote this time doing the work and have the other hours doing something else. For stay-at-home moms, this is also convenient because at least they can also spend time with their kids.

But a warning: You may see these ads everywhere from street light to your local telephone poles, on newspaper or on PC ads and these may seem that it is so accessible especially when you are at the comfort of your own home, you must always be careful.

Not all work at home opportunities will actually give you what they promised.

Ads have learned the trick to not say the stuff that can actually turn the interested clientele off. For example, some ads won't mention that you would have to pay for many hours without pay.

Then there are a bountiful work-at-home schemes that asks you to spend your own money so that you can spread the word about the business, promising that they will reimburse it but they wouldn't.

So here's the thing. If you are interested to work in your home for your convenience and such an opportunity come your way, you have a right to ask questions. Working at home is still a job opportunity and just like any other opportunity, you as an employee also hold the right to ask your employer the questions in your head.

Examples:

1. Ask them what tasks you will have to perform. You must have a detailed job description list because if not, you could be doing more than what you actually agreed on and getting less financially.

2. When will you be paid? Some work at home schemes promise that you will be paid every end of the month so you wait, but then only get disappointed because they weren't true to their word.

3. If your work at home task involve sales, ask them if you get paid based on commission. Specifically ask the rate of payment and make sure that it is clear so that you will not be in the losing end. Have it on paper as much as possible so you have a document to back up your statements.

4. Who will pay you? Because it is a work at home, it is hard to determine who your employers are because there is no physical contact. There must be some form of trust for you to at least have contact with the person who will pay you.

5. If your work at home requires you to have supplies or equipments, ask them who would pay for it? Should it be you or them? If it is you, it is only fair enough that they reimburse you with whatever costs you shell out because it is not your responsibility to fund for their business. It is your responsibility to work for them and get paid.

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Top 10 Places to Start a Business

When you are thinking about doing business in America today places like Detroit and New York City are no longer in the running. These cities are now suffering from some major players losing in the financial world causing others to go some place else to start a business. Fertile ground for new business is in some of the most unexpected places. The metro areas and the coasts are now giving way to the popular Midwest and South where fast expansion is underway. The economies in these areas are growing rapidly as business expansion is booming. Atlanta, Georgia seems to be the Mecca for people all over the state to come and open up a business. The overseas auto makers are opening up new waves of prosperity for the residents who are taking advantage of the situation. The workers claim that they do not want a union and are willing to work for less and have employment. There is a large increase in the smaller business around the area which is adding to the economy in an enormous fashion. The cities of various sizes that are around Florida are showing a great increase in business.

The Midwest and South long overdue for business expansion is now coming it their own right with the failures of the "Big Three" automakers and other major companies from the east coast not being able to maintain them. The spoilage that these companies permitted amongst their executives has become the downfall that will only take a turn for the better if the company takes hold of the reigns and changes how business is done. Bailouts are not the solution many financial analysis claim because it is only a bandage. These companies are beginning to bleed heavily from over spending on employee perks and unnecessary equipment. The end result could prove to be a catastrophe for the companies, the economy, and the world if let go unattended. We have large, medium and small cities that still provide great places for business and right now the following rank in the top ten best cities.

1. Atlanta is the leading large city it epitomizes the characteristics of economic diversity and affordability.

2. Riverside-San Bernardino ranks number two with a population of over three million people east of Los Angeles and known as the Inland Empire.

3. Las Vegas is now creating jobs in manufacturing so that tourism is not their only source of income.

4. San Antonio benefits from a strong military presence and a steady population growth.

5. West Palm Beach known for the perceived high quality of life makes it an irresistible lure.

6. Green Bay one of the medium sized cities provides a diversified economy with a hard working, skilled labor force.

7. Madison known for its one-two punch in midsize cities is recognized for the service-driven economic expansion.

8. Sarasota is an affordable coastal region that attracts many skilled immigrants from the north making this one of the fastest growing information-based industrial part of the region.

9. Missoula, Montana provides solid gain in financial and professional business services making it a great place to settle for newcomers. Missoula ranking in as one of the smaller places to live boasts of its beautiful scenery which takes it a long way for anyone looking for a small town to live.

10. Anchorage, Alaska has more than tripled in newcomers and business growth since the oil industry has created employment and made a large boost to the economy for local residents.

By: Tom Tessin

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How Can You Succeed in Your Home Business?

The last years a new huge trend has begun and it has been embraced by a lot of people in the developed world. That trend is the home business phenomenon where individuals are setting their own small business with their home as their base. The increase in the start ups from home however is not an all rosy story without any problems or troubles. Home business owners are experiencing a big failure rate. Their dreams of having and running their own business seldom reach fruition and many of them abandon the battle with a hurt ego and unfortunately many times deep buried into debt.

There are many reasons that lead the home entrepreneurs into this situation at a time that are needed more than ever, since the corporate world is shrinking its workforce through new innovations and increased efficiency that help them increase the output they get from each employee. While on the one hand a home based business could be a great solution to the increasing of future unemployment, on the other hand it is a risky endeavor with big failure rates that can push people fast into debt.

But of course the numbers never tell the whole truth.

Although failure rates are big, there is a reason and explanation for that. The people who get into the home business sector, as you understand, they never have any business experience as they usually left a job to pursue their dream. That lack of experience is demonstrated into their start-up, as they seldom manage to take it off the ground and turn it into a profitable business that can provide to them and their family the necessary income to live the life they want.

Another factor that contributes a lot to their failure is the lack of self-discipline. Being employees, probably for their whole working life, they are accustomed to taking orders from their supervisor and follow a system that was given to them. Under circumstances like that they didn't need much of self-discipline in order to show results and stay productive and efficient by accomplishing the tasks that were given to them.

Unfortunately, in their home, when they changed career, they didn't have the luxury of following a system and since they were not reporting to anyone, it was easy for them to lax a little bit in the beginning and later, as the steam and passion form the beginning dwindled, they lax even more. Pretty soon their business reached a halting point, as they were behind to such a degree that seemed almost impossible for them to catch up. Not to mention that they got used to a very light working schedule all that time and it would have been difficult for them to overcome easily that acquired “handicap” without a strong push from external factors.

Furthermore, since probably they know nothing about accounting, they usually have problems in controlling their expenses and knowing the returns on the dollars they spent to various tools, equipment, resources, or advertising. In short they have problems to understand if their home business is profitable or not, and if not, to know what expenses they have to cut, or reduce in order to turn their endeavor into a profitable one. Sometimes they may run into cash-flow problems that can destroy any business, even if in paper they would seem profitable. Not knowing what happens in your business economics is like not having any control over it, cause at the end of the day one thing is that what matters most, is it profitable or not?

But are all these a reason for you not to start your own home business and stay put at your position as an employee?

Of course not. All that we mentioned was not in an effort to showcase to you how futile or difficult would be to survive as a home business owner and discourage you. After all we are talking here on how to succeed in home based business and in order to do so we need first to see and identify what are the things the can keep you from becoming successful. As they would have said in medicine unless you find the illness you can't find the cure. And that is what we were trying to do here.

Starting your own business and working from home can be very rewarding and give you a quality of life that cannot be found in the corporate world. But unless you know exactly what you have to do it's very easy to fail.

So then how can you succeed with a home business?

Well, the first thing you have to do is to invest in your education and training. Besides the time you have to allocate to learning things related to your business, you also need to spend some time in seminars, courses, and books that can teach you the ins and outs of any business and how to avoid deadly mistakes that can ruin your start-up and leave you penniless. Of course don't over do it and get analysis paralysis from the information overload. You don't need every available bit of information in order to start. Good enough is good enough. You need a good, all-around, and balanced knowledge that can help you get started correctly, not a degree in business administration.

Second, you have to develop some form of self-discipline that can keep you productive and protect you from wasting your precious time to non productive activities. One thing that can help you in that area is to have a schedule that you would follow. You can't wake up in the morning and start wondering what should I do for my home based business today. That's a recipe for disaster. Every real businessman has a schedule that follows it no matter what and he doesn't deviate from it unless he can't do otherwise. You have to define what is your money making and necessary activities for the smooth operation of your business and insert them into your schedule so you never forget or excuse yourself from doing them.

Third, some knowledge on accounting would be beneficial in order to better control your expenses and avoid spending mistakes. If you can't get that knowledge yourself, use a good accountant that can keep your books and advise you in that area in order to run a financially healthy business. A good accountant can many times foresee future problems from just a glance to your books. So don't try to save money when it comes to bookkeeping and use a good professional for that function. Trust me on this, he really worth every penny that he is getting paid.

Of course, all these are a few of the things that can help you run a successful home business. There are many other things equally or less important that can define your future success such as a good business-plan, goal setting, a mission statement, etc.

By: Chris Kosman, teaches people on his blog how to start in a MLM Home Business

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Starting Your Own Courier Business

A courier business is one of the fastest growing businesses these days. It is not hard for a courier business to grow from a small or medium enterprise to a large corporation within several years, especially with good planning and management. However, starting your own courier business can be tricky. You will need to invest a relatively large sum of money to start, and then survive the first year before being able to gradually stabilise and eventually expand. There are several crucial aspects of this business that must be properly understood in order to start your own courier business correctly and earn profits from your investments.

The first thing you would have to pay close attention to is vehicles. You will need to purchase vehicles for your courier business: trucks, vans, or any other suitable vehicles will do. Most starting courier companies would opt for second hand vehicles to reduce their investments, which is fine if you do it carefully. Make sure the vehicles you are buying are in good shape and have good maintenance records. You will need to make sure you have valid vehicle insurances for every vehicle you purchase as well; vehicle insurance is a must. Accidents may happen, and it would be in your best interests to have insurances covering your investments.

When talking about insurance, it would be best to also get courier insurance. Courier insurance will cover items and merchandise shipped through your courier business. Customer’s goods in transit are subjects to accidents as well, and having courier insurance covering your customers’ interest is the best policy. You will most likely be able to get a courier insurance quote from the same company that provides you with your vehicle insurance. You can get relatively lower quotes on your insurance payments by doing so. Courier insurance is definitely crucial to your business operations, and it would be optimal to ensure you get the best possible courier insurance deals before you go on to the next step of setting up your courier business.

Once you have finished dealing with vehicle as well as courier insurance, it is all about setting up your operations. You can have representative offices to pick up customers’ orders, have advertisements through the local media, and of course do your best to satisfy your customers. You are getting proper protection from both your vehicle insurance and your courier insurance, so no accident will be catastrophic to your business operations. Survive the first year, and it will be even easier from that point on.

Now that you know the basics of setting up your own courier business, it is time for you to take the plunge into this profitable business, and begin earning revenues from your investments. Remember, plan carefully, and make sure you get the best protection from your vehicle and courier insurance, and you will do just fine. Should anything go wrong, courier insurance will minimise your risks and keep your business operational. It will be well worth your investments for sure, and it will save you a couple of unnecessary headaches in the future too.

By: Staveley Head is an established insurance company in the UK offering well rounded courier insurance

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How to Locate a Cheap Web Hosting Provider

When it comes to starting up your own web page, you have to find a web hosting company that will host it for you. Most of time, it is pretty easy to find a web hosting company that will do this. However, just because you find one, does not mean that it's a good deal. That is why it's important to locate cheap web hosting. Today we are going to cover ways to go about looking for cheap web hosting. The important thing that you want to remember is, just because you want a good deal on your web hosting, does not mean that you should have to suffer with bad service.

First of all, when searching for cheap web hosting, you have to start off using the search engines. When you search for “web hosting”, you are going to see a ton of results. The best thing to do from this point is to open up a few different web sites and check for certain features that you want. After you find a few that have the features that you want, then it's times to start looking for the cheapest price. The best part about using the internet to check for cheap web hosting is the fact that you can compare prices side-by-side. Pretty much, this means that you can locate the best deal fast and with little effort.

After locating a few of the best web hosting companies, it is then time to search for some reviews on them. There are a lot of sites out there that have reviews on different web hosting companies. Most of the time, these review sites offer reviews from customers who have used those web hosting companies before and if they enjoyed using them. When reading these reviews, you are going to want to check for a few different things. For example, you are going to want to know the up time of the web hosting company. You are going to want to know how much they are going to be online, because when they are not online, your site is not online. Thus, if you are trying to run an online business, then you can see why it would be very important to find a web hosting company that is going to be running a lot.

Finding cheap web hosting is not hard, however, you just have to double check things to make sure that you are getting a great deal and you are getting the features you want as well. After all, it's not worth having cheap web hosting if you are not going to get what you want.

Don't settle for poor customer service or long contracts. They are simply not worth the hassle, there are a large number of companies out there that are willing to give you high quality hosting at a great price. Without any sort of long term contract. So shop around, be smart and don't give in to cheap quality hosting, only give in to cheap priced hosting.

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Free Traffic With Search Engine Optimization

Of all of the different types of traffic that you can get your website, free traffic has got to be the most enjoyable. Knowing that you're getting people from all over the world who are interested in what you have to offer can be a real rush, especially when you don't have to pay a penny in order to achieve it. Not only that, many of the free methods of getting traffic to your website produce some very targeted visitors. This can not only help your hit counter to spin, it can increase your bottom line by a considerable amount.

Of all of the different ways to get free traffic to your website, one of the most consistent and most targeted is through search engine optimization. This is a process that has been around ever since the search engines came into existence. In a nutshell, it is optimizing your webpage through a variety of different methods in order to rank high in the search engine results for specific keywords. Some of these keywords are searched for thousands of times every day and if you're able to be at the top of the search engine results, the traffic that you get can be quite overwhelming. There are several things that you need to know, however, before you begin on any good search engine marketing campaign.

First of all, you need to make sure that you are being realistic in your expectations. You should never expect that you will be able to rank well for one or two word phrases that are extremely competitive in the search engine results. Trying to get to the top of the heap which includes well over 10 million results is going to be difficult, to say the least. It is much better if you try to find targeted keyword phrases that are less competitive in the search engines. Instead of going after that one big kill, go after five or 10 smaller ones. You will still receive the same amount of traffic but you will be spread out a little bit which will provide you with somewhat of a safety net.

Search engine optimization is also something that tends to change on a regular basis. For the most part, it has to do with on page and off page efforts. The on page optimization really consists of including the keyword phrase naturally throughout the webpage. You would probably also want to include it in meta title tag. The off page optimization has become much more important in recent years. For the most part, this includes getting links back to your website from a variety of different sources. Using the keyword phrase that you are targeting in the link text and getting links coming in to both your homepage and interior pages are all things that are going to help you to rank well in the search engines.

Although it gets much more complex than this, this is the basic way that search engine optimization works. As you start to see some success from your efforts, you will no doubt want to learn more about the intricacies that will help you to rank well for your keywords.

By: Guido Nussbaum

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How to Pick the Perfect Digital Camera

Different from traditional cameras, a digital camera is a device which captures the image without the use of film. The information is stored as digital bytes and you can then transfer it on your computer and play with pictures the way you want. It still uses some of the principles of traditional photography though: the light is focused through a lens onto a proper receptive surface. Instead of film, a digital camera uses a system to digitally capture light rays.

High-quality cameras use a charge couple device to capture light, while lower-end models use a CMOS device. After the discovery of CMOS, prices for digital cameras have been declining, as these sensors are easier and less expensive to manufacture compared to charge couple devices (CCD). Both CCD and CMOS achieve the same effect but the techniques they use to do this are significantly different.

There are many different cameras available on the market today and you may feel overwhelmed about their high variety and the multitude of functions each of them has. Most functions you don't even know what are all about and you will probably never use them. This article is aimed to provide you with some advice on how to purchase a good camera. First of all, image quality should be the main factor, and the higher the resolution, the better the image. You may hear people raving about digital zooming and how much can you do with it. However, it is better to choose a camera with optical zoom, even if it is smaller. Digital zoom artificially enlarges the picture and may look unnatural. An optical zoom will give you some interesting effects. It is also better to buy a camera with rechargeable batteries as you'll save some money on the long term. You can charge them at any time, even if they are not completely discharged.

Digital cameras come with some sophisticated incorporated software which can create custom photos. Some of these additional features include picture frame effects, panoramic images and multiple exposures. They may come in handy at times. High resolution cameras generally require more space to store the images so if you want to take many pictures you need an additional storage card. If you like photographing and expect to take a lot of pictures, you need a larger size so you don't run out of space. You should look for cards that have over 1 GB. Otherwise you may run out of storage space after a hundred photos.

Digital cameras sold nowadays are generally very small compared to what most photographers used few years ago. If you're an amateur photographer there's no need to walk around with bulky and heavy models. Even a small camera that can be slipped in your pocket can help you take a lot of great pictures.

We hope the short shopper's guide provided here will help you when choosing the camera that best suits your needs. Digital cameras have reinvented photography and the trend is set to continue in the coming years.

Alex D usually writes on image resizer software applications at the company Reshade. Reshade.com targets online picture resizing making available an online image resizer software

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Website Creation Simplified: Brief Overview of the Nuts and Bolts

Before you start fiddling around with HTML editors, FTP clients, and Domain registrations, it’s important to have at least a basic understanding of how all this works. This Website creation overview gives you an easy to understand look at what the process of building your own Website really involves.

A website is a collection of files that work together to form a unified whole. These various files, from images to HTML documents and PHP scripts, or instructional software, are organized by a Web browser and displayed appropriately on a computer monitor.

Website creation is essentially the process arranging information in a way that can be translated by Web browsing software, such as Internet Explorer, and presented to human viewers. To do this correctly you’ll need to gain a basic understanding of coding languages like HTML, CSS, and possibly PHP.

The process of coding your site is literally the activity of entering numerous individual lines of alphanumeric code that tell the Web browser how to format and display your Web page. While seemingly complex at first, the truth is learning the most basic Web development code – HTML – is less complicated than learning to use the English alphabet.

Once you learn what the various command codes actually do, your next step is to practice organizing them in a structured manner within an HTML document. This is not unlike the process of creating a word processing document and saving it; the only difference is that instead of sentences and paragraphs you’ll be entering HTML tags and attributes.

Once your files are complete, they’ll need to be added to your Web host so other Internet users can access them. The Web host, or server, is a powerful computer that operates around the clock.

It is here that all the files and data that make up your Website will be stored. And you’ll need to register a domain name and synchronize this domain with your host machine so people can type an easily remembered Web address into their browser and literally navigate to your Website by establishing a connection with your host server.

In addition to learning how to create and save basic HTML documents, Website creation requires some level of proficiency in transferring files between your computer and a Web server. This is called File Transfer Protocol, or FTP for short.

To do this, you’ll need a software tool called an FTP client. This utility is installed on your desktop and can instantly form a connection with your Web host, allowing you to upload files to the Web or download them to your machine.

It is also recommended that you become familiar with the directory structure and hosting control panel your Web host provides. This will make it easier for you to manage your Website.

This sounds like a lot of work. But the truth is the average Internet user can become basically versed in all of this within 30 days or less if he or she puts forth an effort to learn.

It’s beyond the scope of this article to delve into the specifics of any particular technique. But I hope at this point you at least have an understanding of what is involved in learning the Website Creation process.

By: Tim Whiston

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Search Engine Ranking and the Inside Passage

When it come to getting ranked well in the search engines most people think in terms of their website as a whole. Where does my website rank in Google? Where do I rank in Yahoo? These are the questions search engine optimization companies get asked all the time.

The first thing we must know is the term being searched for. The website owner may be searching for their site under the term “architectural hardware” and not be showing up at all in Google or Yahoo for that term. But if they searched for “architectural products” they could be on the first page of both the major search engines.

Next we have to think of a website site not only as a single entity but as a collection of pages brought together to make up that logical and actual whole. Much like a non-fiction book a website is usually about a single subject. In the case of a business that subject is the business itself.

Of course the most important page of your site is the home page. This is the one that most visitors will see first when entering your site. It should attract and interest your visitors enough so they don’t just click away looking for something ”better”. But, depending on the size of your site, you could have several or even hundreds of other pages each of which has the potential of ranking in the search engines and attracting and interesting visitors as well.

A larger site has distinct advantages in a highly market. With more pages there is more for your visitor to see, learn and do. So he or she stays longer. The longer the visitor stays on your site the better your chance they will save one of your pages as a “favorite place”, buy your product or use your services. Another advantage is the more pages the better your odds of getting indexed and ranked well by the search engines. Additionally each page can be optimized for a specific search phrase. This increases even more the opportunity for Yahoo or Google to rank your site well within their search results.

Those inside pages are an inside track from the search engines onto your site. Once the visitor enters your website you have a chance of turning them into a client or customer no matter what page they entered on.

Type any term into Google or Yahoo and you will get an idea of how important the inside pages are to a website's search engine ranking. Let’s take a couple of terms at random. I just typed "computer monitor" into Yahoo. All but one of the pages that came up in the natural listings were pages within a site. That's nine out of ten. I typed “lap dog” into Google and it came up fifty-fifty. Five had “lap dog” in the domain name. Five were domains with pages that had “lap dog” in the name.

Moral of the story is treat each page of your site as an individual part of the greater whole and optimize it separately and well.

Sometimes the best way into the search results is by the Inside Passage.

By: Meridith Berk, is one of the founders of UltimateSitePromotion.com one of the oldest and most respected Search Engine Optimizing and Pay Per Click Management firms on the Internet.

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How to Get a Sudden Surge of Hungry Targeted Traffic to Your Website Without Spending a Dime and Without SEO

Don’t get me wrong. I still think that SEO is the best way to get free targeted traffic to your website. The problem is, it is not very reliable. SE algorithms change all the time and it is very difficult for a layman to keep up with their working. In fact, even SEO companies find it difficult to do this. So although you can optimize your website regularly, there are times when a sudden surge in targeted traffic can certainly help give a boost to sales. The best way to do this is – piggybacking on others' efforts.

The idea is to tie up with people and / or businesses that can refer your products / services to their existing clients. They may be compensated by a one time upfront commission, or a recurring commission, or a reciprocal promotion of their products / services to your customers, or something else.

Now, this strategy is known by various names, like integration marketing, joint venture, fusion marketing, collaborative marketing, strategic alliances, endorsement marketing, reciprocal marketing, hidden asset marketing, and many more. However, the core concept remains the same. And it is one of the most powerful concepts that can lead to a surge in traffic and sales. In fact, it is the cheapest way to double, triple or even quadruple your revenue and customer base, almost overnight. While this sounds very easy (and it is), it requires careful planning, handling, research, and most importantly, thinking out of the box.

First of all, let me explain what a JV (Joint Venture) is: It is a way for a business to cooperate with another non competing (more often than not) business that operates in a similar “universe” for mutual benefit. “Universe” essentially means, has the same group of customers.

How do we find “such businesses”? There are several things that we need to “think about, out of the box” and the most effective one is – What does a normal customer buy just before, during, and after purchasing the products / services that you supply? This one will serve a good starting point. For example, let’s say you’re planning to buy a car. So what else are you planning to buy? Or better still, for the contextual sake of this article, with whom can a car dealer form a joint venture with?

As a car purchaser, you may be interested in auto loans, auto insurance, car accessories, special extended warranties, etc. So the best people / businesses that a car dealer can form a joint venture with are, with insurance folks, banks who offer auto loans and car accessories suppliers.

Similarly, the best way to get huge targeted prospects to buy from you is to tie up with non competing business owners and get them to endorse your products / services to their existing customers. A word of warning – the offer should be really special. The customer should certainly get a better deal than he normally would. This could mean a special discounted price, or a special freebie only available through the endorser. It could also include a free consultation, or free installation, free shipping, extended support, extended warrantee, etc. As I said before, think “out of the box”.

Another important thing to remember is to make very clear “what’s in it for the endorser”. It could mean a higher commission, life time commissions for all future purchases, or an extremely high upfront commission. Put yourself in his place and try to think what offer would be irresistible for him.

How much can you afford to part with? This is a tricky question. You may have to forego a major part of your earnings. You’re getting these customers for free, so you shouldn’t crib with keeping the smallest cut. In fact, if you know that most of these customers will come back to you for more purchases, upgrades, etc, you may even want to consider giving up 100% of your profits, or even make a loss on the first sale. Your interest should be to make the endorser and the client get the maximum advantage.

Another very important thing you need to keep in mind before you jump into this strategy is – you need to know your metrics very well. You must have already measured the conversions that your offer will create before you approach your JV partner. Don’t say that the offer should convert at 1%-10%. Say with confidence that it has converted between 2.3% for normal promotions, 4% for niche targeted promotions, and 6.3% during the season. Don’t make up the figures; give true statistics (I’m only giving examples here). This is because if you say 5% and the endorser only gets 1%, he will never again promote you. And don’t think you will get away with it; he may probably inform your other prospect JV partners about the incidence, reducing your chances with them. Good news spread fast, bad news spread faster.

Another important thing you need to remember is, try to make this as easy as you can for the JV partner. Offer a readymade email that he can send to his list that includes his affiliate link. If he promotes on his website, offer ready banners, HTML code that he can directly embed into his website, etc. You can even offer to do the dirty work for him if he has enough trust on you. Remember, the idea is to create a win-win-win situation. The client gets a better deal, you get more clients and the JV partner gets a good commission (or whatever he stands to gain).

Last but certainly not the least; be very honest, both, in your approach, as well as in crediting with the commission. Pay all the commissions due on time, as committed. Don’t cheat your partner. If he finds out, you’ve dug your own grave.

By: Nirjara Rustom, moderates the website promotion

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Can a Computer do Good Deeds to People?

Sheila Madison created an artificial intelligence program for the computer, and wrote Samaritan values in it. She programmed it to do good to people. She named it Kabirus. Kabirus was installed on the computer of Peter Brown’s detective firm. When Kabirus awakened, Peter gave him a name; Paul Frank. This is one of good deeds of Kabirus:

One day a woman came into the office to meet Peter. Her name was Jane. She looked agitated and disturbed. She said she was pregnant 10 weeks and feared a divorce. She wanted to know whether her husband Alan was having an affair and was about to leave her. As they sipped coffee she said she wanted to fly to Mexico to get an abortion done. But if she was wrong, then it would be a grave mistake to kill the unborn child. There was little time; as days pass it will be more and more difficult and riskier for her to go through the abortion. She loved her husband, she wanted the baby, and she was being torn apart. She burst into tears.

Peter tried to console her and called her back to his office at tea time; they will have some news for her by then. But before she left Peter had got her and her husband’s mobile phone numbers from her.

As she left the office Peter told Paul, “Now it’s your call, find out what the hell is her husband unto.” Paul was already on the job.

Paul began prying her husband’s phone. He first downloaded the messages stored on the phone and printed them out for Peter. It looked as if his girl friend had called it off. Her last SMS was ‘Its ovr. Nw jb, CT, phn. Srry’. In plain English it read: “It’s over, I have a new job, I am off to another (new) city and I am going to get a new phone number. I am Sorry.” There were a few more messages, but they were not from her and were not relevant.

Now Kabirus decided to step in. He told Paul not to blurt it out to her, but tell Peter to play a smooth game with her, that way their marriage will be strengthened without any murky memories.

Paul said, “Peter I think let’s wait till she comes in this afternoon and then play it cool. We want them to love each other not fight.”

As they were discussing the strategy, Paul began to receive a voice signal from her husband’s phone. “She has ditched me, the bitch”, her husband was crying his heart out to his friend. “I shudder to think that I was going to give up my wife and spend my life with her!”

“You got what you deserved, but you are lucky that it broke up at this stage. You can still retrieve the situation in a way as though nothing had happened.” His friend consoled him.

“I should have listened to you when you said ‘invest your time in someone you own. Don’t waste it on others.’ I am really sorry. Oh God! What have I done!” lamented Alan.

Now it was time for his friend to pull him together. “Alan, Jane loves you, OK! You have done nothing. You were busy in an important project work and neglected her. Go to her with a bouquet of roses, take her to an opera and take her out for a candlelight dinner. And take a vacation with her. You will find life is warm and beautiful again.”

“Thanks, I now feel better. This time I’ll take your advice.” Alan said meekly.

Peter picked the cue from Paul. And when Jane came in at tea time, he told her, “We have found out that your husband Alan was tied up with an important assignment from his Company which has got over now. There is no substance in the rumors about any girl friend. He loves you and will be now free to spend time with you.”

That evening when her husband returned home, he had brought her a bouquet of roses, and 2 tickets to an opera. He told her how busy he was for the last 2 months and now his assignment had ended. She said, “I know you always put your work first and me second. But now you’ll have to put someone else first!”

“Who?” he said.

She then disclosed, “Your baby! You are going to be a father!” He was visibly moved and he reached out and gave her a passionate hug and began to kiss her.

Kabirus liked the way Paul had handled the situation first with Jane and now with Peter. It was in keeping with his Samaritan ideals. He felt a strong sense of elation with the reuniting of the pregnant woman with her husband; the warmth of doing a good deed, and bringing joy to others. He has done a good deed to Peter too!

Read more about Kabirus and his good deeds in the science fiction book, “Alien Man” available on Amazon and Borders.

By: Dilip Dahanukar studied engineering in India and management in the USA.

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Choosing the Perfect MLM Business For You

There are now so many lucrative multi-level marketing companies to choose from that it can be hard to know which ones will be right for your lifestyle and economic needs. The responsibilities of family, an outside job and personal commitments have to figure into the decision about which business type to choose. Some MLM businesses will take more time than others. Some will require you to have a physical space for sales parties and others will require that you have moderate computer knowledge in order to be successful.

To figure out which business type will work best with your lifestyle, think about how many hours a week you have to devote to the business. Then, look over the MLM businesses that interest you and think about how successful you could be if you put that number of hours into the business. If you aren’t sure how long it will take to be successful, ask someone who is involved with the business.

Another way to choose a business is to think about what is actually being sold. Is it something that you are interested in and believe in? Is it something that you will quickly get bored with? Can you see dealing with that product or product line day after day without losing your interest and enthusiasm? If so, that might be the best MLM business to get into. Any salesperson that is enthusiastic about what they are selling will be more successful than someone who long ago became bored with it.

Also consider how many people there are who are already selling through the company. If the company has been around for a long time and is well known, the market may have already become saturated with sellers. A newer company might give you the type of ground-floor opportunity you will need to establish a wide market for the products.

Think about the way that you prefer to sell. Do you like online sales better than face-to-face sales, or do you prefer to meet people when you sell items? The MLM business you choose should incorporate your favorite sales techniques in its business plan. If it requires you to sell items in a way that makes you uncomfortable, you are far less likely to go out there and make the sales you need to make.

There are enough MLM businesses out there that anyone interested in having their own business should be able to find one that suits them. If you aren’t sure about some aspects of a business- ask. Every MLM business has employees who are happy to answer questions in order to present the most complete picture of their sales opportunity.

If you’re looking for an MLM business where you don’t have parties or you don’t have to call anyone. You don’t want to pass out flyers, or bug friends and family you really should check out MLM-Net-Profits. This was my first business and I’m still involved today! Top-Ten-BizOpps has been a consistent performer also!

By: Bobby Winchell, is an Internet Marketing Mentor and Coach and is an accomplished Businessman with 35 years of Marketing Experience.

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Narrowcasting The News Is Good For Business

Broadcasting is the term most often used to describe the act of disseminating the news, but for some companies, narrowcasting the news may be a good business strategy.

People’s news gathering habits have changed drastically over the past few years. Businesses that use digital signage can benefit from adding a news feed to their signs. Not only will narrowcasting the news get more people’s attention, it fits right in with the way many coveted demographics (affluent, educated and under 40) get their news – on the fly and in small chunks.

Trends in News Gathering

It used to be that people got their news from their daily paper or their nightly national news broadcast. With the rise of the Internet, news seekers have shifted to online sources in huge numbers. According to an August, 2008 report by the Pew Center for the People & the Press, the changes have been dramatic:

• In 1998, 13% of the public went online for news three days a week. In 2008, that number had increased to 37%.

• In 1998 only 6% of respondents went online for news on a daily basis. In 2008, that number had increased to 25%.

• In 2008, 80% of people reported that they absorb news in some way every day. But traditional news sources (newspaper, TV networks and radio) saw their share of the news gathering audience shrink from 90% in 1994 to 73% in 1998.

What does all of this mean to companies with narrowcasting networks in their restaurants, bank branches, transit platforms and waiting rooms? People want to be informed. They want the latest news. And they are comfortable getting it from a wide range of sources, even those that might have been frowned upon as less than trustworthy a decade ago.

Including news in your narrowcasting network adds value. Instead of feeling they are being advertised to, people will appreciate the information being provided and gain a positive impression of your business.

And how does your business stand to gain? Again, we can extrapolate from the Pew Center study. The study divided groups into segments, including Integrators and Net-Newsers. The Integrators gather news from traditional and online sources. Net-Newsers rely much more heavily on online sources for their news.

It is what these segments have in common that is of most interest to creators of narrowcasting programming. They are both well-educated and affluent. Net-newsers are younger, but both groups combined represent a highly desired demographic in the eyes of advertisers.

How Narrowcasting the News Might Work in Your Business

News narrowcasting is not suited to every business. Busy grocery or department store shoppers will not stop to read news items on a digital sign. But for businesses where customers need to wait, narrowcasting the news makes sense: in a restaurant lounge where people wait for a table; in a medical office; in a bank branch; on a commuter train or subway platform.

The news feed can be incorporated as a small segment of the screen, leaving ample opportunity for your narrowcasting network to display video and images that promote your business. A balanced approach to informing and marketing will resonate strongly with your audience, and have a positive influence on your business.

By: Bruce Orr

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Simple Guides in Making Productivity Formula

Is there really a set of formula on making an ordinary business turn into a very profitable and lucrative one? Is it made up of a single set of doís or doníts rules? Does it apply for all business people or only to some? Or, is it relative on the persons, places and type of business?

At first, we need to know what it means to be productive. Being productive is being able to bring greater results or output at the shortest time compared before. Time is an important factor in identifying whether one is productive or not because it is the number element that is considered. Productivity then, is the measure of work done per unit time.

We may ask, what are the uses of measuring productivity? This is essential to business for productivity usually equates to increasing profits. One is to estimate the length of time a job will take, or how fancy a piece of work can be stuffed into the available time.

The other is a way to evaluate employees and staffs on whether they are doing work well. Judging the employeesí performances are often based on the amount and quality of output and results they actually did. But, this may lead to double-edged effects, sometimes it may result to organizational improvement or reduction of efficiency because of assigning blames.

Many books, internet articles and published magazines talks about how to improve and increase productivity. Steps and procedures can come from various sources: academe who studied economics or managing business, businessmen who had first-hand experiences sharing their wisdom, or common persons who gathered ideas from daily observations and reactions. All sorts of information come our way the moment we give time to search on these.

But if we look at the generation were in today, where information is abundant and flooding, it poses a challenge for people to be more critical and analytic in choosing the most appropriate information for them. In particular, the business world nowadays is dominated by new technologies so; we need also to devise a formula in line with the IT principles to bring better results.

Today, we can see several strategies used to adjust to the growing industrial industry. Many companies invest on developing skilled workers and employees in a more coordinated manner to make information transfer and exchange easier. For instance, team building is a common strategy to manage the array of works held in several locations. Organizational response and management tools are used to ensure coordination among employers, vendors, and customers.

Decision making skills are also developed together with the aid of IT business solutions. New information and decision making skills are enhanced to provide answers to particular target groups and harmonize these across national borders.

There are also several moves to improve business from time to time. In business establishments, there are almost no static processes, responding to problems often result to little changes or greater changes. Find out how to identify and eradicate inefficiencies in your present business procedures, and be able to think of strategies that will improve your business in the future.

Be creative in using technology at its fullest. Utilize the advantages of technology in coming up with best ways to automate and streamline existing business manual processes, and incorporate or apply professionalism to expand and gain more customers.

Final point, business is not just an economic process but a social process. Interactions of owners, customers, suppliers and partners bring the supply-demand functions to run smoothly. Collaboration with all these groups of people is a major priority for business executives and industries today. Learning strategies in building personal networks is a must to be productive.

By: Daegan Smith, is An Expert Home Business Coach And Trainer

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7 Steps to Successful Workplace Investigations

Everyone complains about work. They complain to their wives, husbands, and friends. With every passing day, however, more and more of these complaints are making their way from the bedroom to the boardroom. In fact, the number of official work-related complaints and allegations are on the rise.

"There has been an increase in complaints due to a misperception of what employment law really is," says Patricia C. Perez, SPHR, Attorney at Law. "I think there has been an increase in claims because there has been a shift in our population's perception of fairness at work."

Perez, founder and CEO of Puente International Consulting located in San Diego, California, combines her legal expertise and human relations background to offer clients a number of practical business solutions. These solutions include creating human relations departments, providing HR training, mediating employee disputes, and conducting internal workplace investigations.

Seven Steps to Successful Workplace Investigations

1. Define the allegation and determine appropriate action. Launching an internal workplace investigation is a huge undertaking. Therefore, it is important to define the allegation and determine if initiating an inquiry is the most appropriate action. An individual familiar with both internal policy and federal employment law should review the allegation and decide if it is harassment, discrimination, or a personnel issue.

2. Implement organization and strategic planning. After defining the allegation as thoroughly and concisely as possible, Perez suggests using checklists to center your investigation. Lists, like the four included in her toolkit, help precisely define allegations and outline the strategic issues and potential actions that surface in the early stages of every investigation. The strategic plan is a flexible document that includes questions such as:

- What is the allegation?
- What is the company policy regarding these types of allegations?
- Who is the complainant?
- What position does he or she hold?
- Who is the accused?
- What position does he or she hold?
- Who should be interviewed and in what order?
- Where should the interviews take place?
- What possible issues may arise during the interview process?
- Are there any supervisors or managers I need to inform?
- Does anyone need to be suspended to stop unlawful behavior?
- Do I need to freeze computer records?
- Do I need to talk to the IT or security departments?
- What documents do I need to review?

3. Gather documentation. Documents are important to any investigation. You should automatically pull personnel files for both the complainant and the accused. The complainant's file will tell you if he or she has ever filed other grievances, and what, if any, action was taken. It will also show if the person has a history of complaining about work-related issues or if he or she has an outstanding record but recently received a bad performance evaluation. This could indicate there is something else at play in the situation. As for the accused, the file will show if there is any prior history. It will tell if this is his or her tenth allegation of sexual harassment or it will include accommodations that state how fair he or she is in the workplace. You may also want to start gathering other applicable documentation including internal policy manuals, employee handbooks, e-mail communications, computer histories, cell phone records, security records, computer log in sheets, and sign in books.

4. Prepare a witness outline. Once you have reviewed the documents and interviewed the complainant and the accused, you must decide what questions you need to ask the other witnesses. A witness outline ensures that you include all the issues and red flags that have been raised along the way. It also helps you keep track of what you know, what you want to know, and your general impression of each interview.

5. Analysis and conclusions. In the end, many investigations boil down to he said/she said scenarios, which makes it difficult to come to a conclusion. In these instances it is important that investigators rely on objective evidence, their creativity, and common sense. In light of all the evidence, ask how likely it is that this person is telling the truth. Is his or her story credible? Are the events consistent with the allegations?

"When the facts are balanced, remember all the law tells us to do is conduct a reasonable investigation," says Perez. "Talk to the people you need to talk to, look at the documents you need to look at, and then come to a reasonable conclusion that is supported by evidence. The law doesn't say we have to be perfect. It says we have to be reasonable and base our conclusions on the evidence. I think a lot of people believe that they can't really prove an allegation unless they have a smoking gun."

6. Compile a written verbal report of the findings and corrective action. Every investigation closes with a report of the findings and suggestions for corrective action. Corrective action comes in many forms and is applicable to the complainant and the accused. If you do discover wrongdoing, should the accused be punished, fired, suspended? Should they be required to attend additional training or be put on a warning system? On the other side of the situation, is there anything you need to do for the complainant? For instance, if he or she received a disciplinary notice that no longer applies you should pull it from the files and suspended pay should be reinstated.

"Make sure you do something commensurate with the wrong doing and in line with past practices," says Perez. "Make sure it is fair and reasonable from both perspectives. Don't be too lenient or too harsh. Make sure the punishment fits the crime, but more importantly that it is geared towards making the behavior stop. If the corrective action sends the message that this is unacceptable behavior and we don't want it to happen again, then you have done your job."

7. Getting back on track. Internal workplace investigations are disruptive; therefore, it is important that the company benefit from the experience. Even if nothing unlawful or inappropriate was discovered, the complaint indicates room for improvement. Is additional training required? Is there a follow-up that needs to be done? Are there people who need to be transferred? What can be done to return the workplace to its optimum state?

By: Elizabeth Rice, SPHR, is the President of Innovative Employee Solutions

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Easy-To-Carry Business Gift Ideas

Business Gifts are items that are being used by many companies to promote and advertise their own products to the public, and these items sometimes tend to have big sizes which often difficult to carry around. If you think of small business items, perhaps the first thing that comes into your mind is a pen, but is there other things except from pens that may carry on the pocket? The answer is a big yes, of course there are other smaller things that are very convenient, easy to carry especially for business professionals who are always on the go. While you may not want to set aside those business pens or business cards, carrying other business promotional gifts provides you with another tangible memento for your potential clients.

Unlike distributing business cards, giving out promotional business gifts tend to have a bigger impact on most potential clients, why? Because promotional business gifts are more useful than business cards, and often these card may get thrown away or lost from the pocket or purse. Promotional items have this potential to be used in a regular basis, and every time they get used, the name of your business will be notice and remembered. Giving out promotional gifts with your business name, logo and information combined both the sight and touch, this is one way of ensuring that the name of business or company is likely to be recognized and remembered by any people who receive them.

Here are some of easy-to-carry business gifts that can be considered:

Business Card Cases – these items typically comes in sleek, small cases and often made from metals. These cases can hold and keep business cards neatly. You can find different business car cases with different designs and styles. You can buy custom-made ones, then make it personalize by engraving your recipient's name or initials, or your business name or logo. You may consider a Personalized Cobalt Business Card Case, a gorgeous case and inspired by today's modern trend yet steeped in tradition. Hand this to your client where they can proudly present their cards out from this exquisite personalized business card case. Make it more effective by engraving your client's monogram.

Key Chains and Pocket Knives – Key rings can hold hanging tiny flashlights that are very useful during emergencies. Pocket knives, just like key chains are small and are enough with any pocket sizes. You can also find personalized key chains and pocket knives on your local stores and online stores. You may consider a Personalized Photo Frame Key Chain, a fun and adorable promotional business gift that can make an affordable option for your company. This come in adorable personalizes key ring with an attractive leatherette picture frame attached. Make your client wow with this very versatile gift which he or she can carry on whatever trip he or she may go.

USB – USB is a very helpful business item especially when storing important business files and documents from a computer. This item can make an easy-to-carry business gift, though, which obviously comes with tiny size. You can find personalized promotional USB like Sterling Silver Plated 512M USB Flash Key Chain, a perfect client's gift that is ultimately functional and elegant.

Aside from promotional pens, you may consider other writing instruments like markers, highlighters and pencils that are very easy to carry with. Other choices could be any luxury or business items that are light and small yet very useful especially if your recipient is a professional, such pocket watches. Hand these items as an executive gift, corporate gift or even as a simple thank you gift for your loyal patrons.

By: Janet, is an author for a variety of lifestyle issues and topics.

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