The vast majority of travel advice usually centers around flying, airports and airlines, hotels, budgets, various destinations, etc. This article is intent on exposing some tips that most people would never think of – housekeeping items mainly. They may not save you a lot of money as most travel tips seem to do but they are invaluable when you are traveling. Especially if you have a business presentation or meeting to go to the following day.Gum – you perhaps already know this trick. To get gum out of hair (beside cutting it), off a garment or a shoe, you ice it with ice cubes and then break it off when it hardens. Do you know how to get ring around the collar stains out though? Put hair shampoo on it and spread it around the collar. Shampoos are designed to remove oils from hair so they are a natural for skin oil as well.Need to wash some clothes in the sink but the hotel doesn’t have a laundry to dry them? Try hanging them in the bathroom with the light on. They will be dry by morning. For faster drying turn on the heat lamp (but don’t put the clothes under it or too near it!). Want to rid your room of flies but you have no bug spray? Use hair spray instead. And if you really think ahead, take some laundry detergent with you in a plastic sandwich bag (NOT in your carry-on however) and a small spray bottle. If your clothes need ‘freshening’ , you can spray the detergent in the obvious places (underarms, down the front, etc) and then rinse them off and dry them as directed here.If you are suspicious about a hotel room or cruise cabin having Legionnaires disease spores, immediately run a hot shower (with the bathroom door open) for 5 minutes and leave the room. It will dissipate any possible spores. A money saving tip: most people know if you forget a toothbrush or need any assorted toiletries, ask the front desk before venturing off to buy anything. Many hotels have toothpaste, deodorant, combs, razors, etc for free. One final tip that MIGHT save you money. Buy a collapsible cooler and pack it in your suitcase. When you arrive at your hotel, if it doesn’t have a fridge in the room (or they charge extra for them), fill it with ice and you can keep food and drinks for days. Really helps cut down on the bar and restaurant tab when you can buy a beer for less than $1 in a 6-pack versus $2.75 (plus tip) at a lounge.These tips are valuable when you need them but are not ones you would normally think of so re-read this article several times. One day when you need some help along these lines, you will probably remember them by accident.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Digital Photography – Digital Cameras and Its Benefits
Although photography has been in the market for quite some time, some people still ask “how much it’s going to cost me?”, “what a digital camera can do?” and “why do I need photography?”Let’s look at each of them in detail:As digital photography is getting more popular, things are going to get cheaper. One of the reasons is that manufacturers are competing for market share and they are more likely to launch cheaper cameras with more functions. Just look at the compact digital camera in the market now, you can get a camera with at least 9 megapixels and 10x optical zoom at the price of less than $300. Even the DSLR cameras nowadays are getting more and more affordable.Also when competitions are getting stronger, manufacturers will try to make cameras with as many features as possible. It is like an unwritten rule that compact digital cameras nowadays must be able to record video and audio. When you launch a point and shoot camera without this feature, your potential clients might not even want to look at it.Also some digital cameras nowadays are equipped with sophisticated editing software and touch screen capability. You can now add stars, fog it up or add other wacky stuff on the camera.Since you can operate your camera with touch screen, you can expect that one day, you will see the LCD screen big enough to occupy the back of your camera. Can you imagine how much fun it is to look at your pictures in such a big screen and it will be more breath taking when the manufacturers throw in wide angle lens together.Now, when you are going into digital photography, it is only logic that you have a digital camera. Photography is more than a hobby. It is about keeping the memory of that special moment. You want to remind yourself that you were once there at that period. You want to be able to show your child that you were young once and how life was back then. It is a different experience when you look back at your photos 10 years ago. Go have a look at them now.
Where Not to Finance Your Semi Truck
Just a quick search of Yahoo, Google, or MSN can provide truckers with thousands of lenders who are willing to finance most semi-trucks. In the same search, you can find many articles about how and where to finance that truck, but you might not find a great deal of information about where you should avoid when you’re looking for a loan company.Buying a new semi-truck, whether new or used, is both an exciting and nerve racking for seasoned and new truckers. Because of the emotion and stress involved in the process, you might be ready to jump at the first company who pledges to support your business, but there are still some lenders that you should avoid. Many truckers with many different kinds of businesses and vehicles exist, so these companies might occasionally satisfy the needs of some truckers. But truckers should at least consider them carefully, bearing in mind that they might not be the best decision.1. The physical office of a loan provider who also has an online businessAlthough many people, especially those who are on the road for much of their lives, enjoy taking care of their business online, some think they can get better deals by showing up at the store in person. Because Internet providers have a much lower overhead than companies who have storefronts, they can usually offer better deals. Even if you’re going to go with a large, corporate finance, you can probably get a better deal online because the company spends less money on signing you up online than signing up a customer in the store.2. A loan company that offers high interest ratesIf you have a low credit score, or a history of poor credit decisions, then you might be excited that you can get financing at all, but high interest rate loans can leave you still paying on a truck that has broken down or been sold years ago. High interest rates mean you ultimately pay more for the cost of a loan, and this not only harms your own financial portfolio, but it can also be a poor business decision. In addition, loans that have high interest rates may also have other stipulations that make them difficult to deal with. For instance, certain penalties for paying late or missing payments can cause real financial distress.3. An institution with which you have a bad relationshipThe institution that you choose for your loan can be just as important as its interest rate or whether or not the company can be accessed online. Whether you’re going through a traditional bank, a company that you’ve used in the past, or a company that you have used in some other capacity, make sure you consider your previous interactions with this company. Negative issues between you and this institution can affect your interest rate, or if you’re approved for a truck loan at all. Also, if you haven’t been happy with the company in the past, odds are you won’t be happy in the future, even if it is offering you instant approval.Although some truckers may find that using these methods and institutions can benefit their businesses, these institutions are generally the ones to avoid.
Accounts Receivable Financing – Get a Job
Until the early 1900′s staffing agencies, also known as employment agencies, generally did not exist. Communities were smaller, and because there was no telephone or internet, people communicated face to face. People in small towns knew each other and hiring was based on that personal knowledge. One of the first staffing agencies was created in 1906 in response to the enormous calamity of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. With an entire city of people displaced, there was an urgent need to hire workers on a mass scale to re-establish businesses that had been destroyed by the earthquake and fire, and to rebuild the city. Out of this urgent need to match workers to jobs the staffing agency industry was born.Today the staffing industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are many staffing companies with more than $1 Billion in sales; the number of companies with over $100 Million in sales grew in 2006. According to the American Staffing Association, “America’s staffing companies employed an average of 2.96 million temporary and contract workers per day in 2006…and they added an average of 52,000 jobs per day in 2006″.Why are staffing agencies so popular? In a word, it’s because of flexibility. Staffing agencies help workers to find work when they want, and they help business hire workers when they are needed. Staffing agencies provide workers to fill in when regular workers are absent, to provide extra help during busy times such as Christmas, and to work on special projects. The variety of jobs provided by staffing agencies is enormous.A partial listing of staffing agency jobs include the fields of engineering, aviation, environmental services, architecture, administrative services, automotive services, energy, manufacturing, construction, mortgage banking, contact centers, science, health care, secretarial, manual labor, accounting, finance, executive recruitment, temporary staffing and student employment. One staffing agency specializes in administrative staffing by Microsoft Office Certified Professionals.Most parents encourage their children to go to college and learn something that will help them get a job after they graduate. After four or more years of college, many graduates would prefer to take some time off to see the world, or just find themselves. In the movie, Back to School, Rodney Dangerfield was cast as a parent who goes back to school primarily to get his son to stay in school so his son can get an education and a job. Rodney is invited to give the college commencement address. ”It’s a jungle out there,” he says. ”So my advice is don’t go. Live at home. Let your parents worry about it.” Perhaps this is the sociological reason for the growth of staffing agencies to provide people with jobs.According to MSN Encarta, the word job is a “noun and a verb:noun (plural jobs) Definition: 1. paid occupation: an activity such as a trade or profession that somebody does regularly for pay, or a paid position doing thisShe’s got a new job.2. task: something that remains to be done or dealt withI have a couple jobs to do this afternoon.several jobs around the house3. assignment: an individual piece of work of a particular natureWe managed to complete the job in under a week.4. function: the role that somebody or something fulfillsIt’s her job to look after the finances.5. difficulty: something that is difficult to accomplishI had quite a job getting it to start.6. quality of work done: a completed piece of work of a particular qualityThey did a very good job on the exterior.7. particular kind of object: a particular kind of object, especially a manufactured item ( informal )one of those big four-wheel-drive jobs8. crime: a criminal act, especially a robbery ( informal )a bank job9. computer programming task: a computer programming task run as a single application or unit”All of the nouns, with the exception of crime, relate to what staffing agencies provide. As a verb, with the exception of a jobber who deals in wholesale merchandise, most of the definitions relate to what staffing agencies do:
“verb (past and past participle jobbed, present participle jobobing, 3rd person present singular jobs) Definition:1. intransitive verb work occasionally: to take occasional or casual workHe jobs as a gardener from time to time…2. transitive verb distribute work to others: to subcontract portions of contract work to othersjob out the plumbing work on the house”It would be unusual for most staffing agencies to provide a songwriter or an artist to a business. This is a pity because there are so many songwriters and artists that need jobs. One of the greatest vocal rock and roll songs ever written was called Get A Job by the Silhouettes. It was recorded in the late 1950′s. It was a number one hit on the pop charts and it sold over one million copies. The song was written by Richard Lewis after he completed his military service. When he came home he had no work and his mother told him to “Get A Job” and this inspired him to write the song.The lyrics are:”CHORUSSha na na na, sha na na na na(repeat 4x)Yip dip dip dip dip dip, bum bum bum bum bum bumSha na na na, sha na na na naWell, from about the time every morning when she wakes me up and cries,”Get a job!”Well, after breakfast every day, she throws a polish on my way and never fails to say (bass)Get a jobREPEAT CHORUSOh, oh, and when I get the paperI read it through and throughAnd my girl never fails to seeIf there is any work for meBRIDGEAnd when I go back to my houseI hear my woman’s mouthPreachin’ and a-cryin’, tell me that I’m lying ’bout a job”Whoa-ooh-oh, and when I get the paperI read it through and throughAnd my girl never fails to seeIf there is any work for me”If Mr. Lewis had other marketable skills he might have joined the legions of people working for the staffing agency industry. One of the biggest concerns of a growing staffing agency is cash flow. To grow into a multimillion dollar business, it takes a considerable amount of cash. Payroll obligations must be met every two weeks to pay staffing agency employees, but the actual employers (i.e. the companies that are using the staffing agency people) may take 30 to 60 days to pay their bills. Accounts receivable financing can provide staffing agencies with virtually unlimited cash for growth. The main requirement is to have staffing agency employees working for creditworthy businesses.This financing technique can accelerate cash flow for exponential growth because the cash for the invoices is available immediately every time an employer is billed for services rendered. Commercial finance companies are the primary providers of accounts receivable financing for staffing agencies; some banks are involved in financing larger, multi-million dollar transactions that are low risk. As a general rule, banks will not provide accounts receivable financing for a staffing agency that is a start-up or for one that is growing very rapidly in the early years of their business.The bottom line: if you need to get a job, a staffing agency may be an excellent choice to find work on your terms; if you need cash flow to grow a staffing agency, accounts receivable financing may be an excellent choice for financing growth without bank terms.Copyright © 2007 Gregg Financial Services
Accounts Receivable Financing – Help
Success is not an overnight occurrence for most businesses. Years of hard work and struggle are a common denominator for most enterprises. Success as a concept can be complicated because it may involve more than profits on a balance sheet. The MSN Encarta dictionary defines success as:1. Achievement of intention: the achievement of something planned or attempted;2. Attainment of fame, wealth, or power: impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth, or power;3. Something that turns out well: something that turns out as planned or intended;4. Somebody successful: somebody who is wealthy.What is business failure? It may be that most businesses don’t die or fail; the owners close them for reasons unrelated to whether the business is making money. According to David Birch, former head of a research firm specializing in studying small business data, would-be entrepreneurs don’t realize what’s truly involved with running a business. He estimated survival rates:o First year: 85%o Second: 70%o Third: 62%o Fourth: 55%o Fifth: 50%o Sixth: 47%o Seventh: 44%o Eighth: 41%o Ninth: 38%o Tenth: 35%”Once you’ve hit five years, your odds of survival go way up,” Birch said. “Only two to three percent of businesses older than five shut down each year.” Hard statistics on business success vs. failure rates are hard to establish. Mark Twain once said, “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” The same may be true for many businesses.Accounts receivable financing can help to make the difference between success and failure for many B2B businesses that need capital to grow. The terminology: invoice financing, invoice funding, factoring, factoring receivables and accounts receivable financing are all terms that mean essentially the same thing: the process of selling your invoices, your accounts receivable, to a commercial finance company to accelerate cash flow. You sell the account receivable. The commercial finance company advances you 70% to 90% of face value. Your customer pays the invoice to the commercial finance company. They rebate to you the difference between their fees and the remaining cash. If your business sells products or services to other businesses or to the government, with a gross margin of 25% or more you can grow profitably with accounts receivable financing; and you can give terms to your customers.Asset based financing is a form of accounts receivable financing for larger transactions. The main difference between asset based financing and accounts receivable financing is price: larger transactions may be priced with a spread of 2% to 4% over the prime rate plus an administrative fee compared to factoring fees of 1.5% to 4% per month. The actual amount of charges depends on the contract terms which vary widely. In this author’s article, Financial Myths vs. Financial Facts there is an extensive discussion regarding various pricing methods and outcomes.Imagine if your business were like a flower with the chance to bloom the first time in years. There is a plant known as Agave parryi, also known as the Century Plant. They often take forty to sixty years to flower. Then they die. Few businesses can wait that long to flower.The asset based lending industry is a multi-billion dollar business. Companies large, small, and startups participate in accounts receivable financing and asset based lending. Purchase order financing is available to pay for the cost of goods when purchase orders are too large for the business to self-fund the product. If you need help with capital to grow, these are important financing techniques to consider for your business’ success.In August 1965 The Beatles released a Studio Album called: Help! The song was a number one hit single. The song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. At this point in the career of the Beatles, they had not personally made much money and they may have been on the brink of failure because of artistic differences and financial naivety. John Lennon said that the lyrics to Help! were a cry for help and a clue to the confusion and despondency he felt. He also regretted the commercial pressures to make a successful upbeat record that compromised his artistic sensibilities. The Beatles succeeded in writing many of the most popular songs in music history; they were one of the most successful recording artists of all time. Nevertheless, the Beatles failed to stay together as a live performing group after 1970. There were only ten years of live performances. Decades of royalties and riches followed.Here are the lyrics to The Beatles – Help! by John Lennon and Paul McCartney:Help, I need somebody,Help, not just anybody,Help, you know I need someone, help.When I was younger, so much younger than today,I never needed anybody’s help in any way.But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.Help me if you can, I’m feeling downAnd I do appreciate you being round.Help me, get my feet back on the ground,Won’t you please, please help me?And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,My independence seems to vanish in the haze.But every now and then I feel so insecure,I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.Help me if you can, I’m feeling downAnd I do appreciate you being round.Help me, get my feet back on the ground,Won’t you please, please help me.When I was younger, so much younger than today,I never needed anybody’s help in any way.But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.Help me if you can, I’m feeling downAnd I do appreciate you being round.Help me, get my feet back on the ground,Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.The bottom line: if you need help with your cash flow for your B2B business, accounts receivable financing may be the answer for your success.Copyright © 2007 Gregg Financial Services
Process Management – A Key to Successful Project Management
Can process management and project management actually co-exist? Not only have I found that they co-exist, but that they actually drive one another’s success.Have you ever heard the phrase “the devil is in the details”? I always thought that this saying was a little strange…until I began to work in project management. The funny thing is that once I got into project management this phrase made so much sense. I can remember being on one project where the project manager was much too myopic. All she cared about was data storage requirements and virtually nothing else. For this project manager, the devil in the details was never thought about, outside of the confines of data storage anyway. On another project, the project manager was so sure of his own abilities to “do his job” that he completely ignored the details altogether. The latter project had some disastrous outcomes…including Social Security deposits being returned to the state that sent them, which in turn resulted in that state discontinuing those payments. In other words, major customer impacts occurred because people were overly confident in their own ability to adapt to a changing process.So what does this have to do with project management? Everything. If a project is creating something unique, then it stands to reason that there are variables that are known and some that are unknown. Think of throwing a rock into a lake. You know that the rock hitting the water will cause a rippling effect on the water’s surface. What you don’t know is how many ripples it will cause or how far the ripples will disperse beyond the initial impact. Process management is a way of taking into account all that may happen as a result of the ripples in the water.Let’s say that there is a project is to implement new processing software into an existing data processing center. On the surface, this looks fairly easy. The processing center already exists and the technology is already in place. So other than information technology and/or information systems installing the new software and some training on how to use it, this is a fairly easy undertaking. This is equivalent to throwing the rock into the water. We have a rock, we have water, and we know that the rock hitting the water will create a rippling effect. Problem solved, right? What happens if all of the users of the new software are not physically located in the same processing center? What if there are individuals that send work to the processing center, via courier, because they are remotely located and therefore not able to use the technology that is available to others? Maybe this seems farfetched to you since we live in the 21st century, but I can assure you that it’s not.Here’s the crux of the problem. It’s human nature to make assumptions based on limited knowledge and/or lack of information…especially when dealing with a project. This is why in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which is one of the standards for project management, process improvement is included in its Project Quality Management section. Process improvement, whether you call it process management, process design, or process engineering, is critical to ensuring that your project is implemented according to scope. If the project is designed according to scope, but fails when put into production, the project is a failure and its scope was never met. A basic assumption of a project is that it will work once fully implemented.Let’s look at process improvement from more of an organic standpoint. I use the term organic because we rarely think of process management and project management together. Like project management, process management has evolved into its own discipline. At its roots though, process management is simply a series of shapes and arrows used to illustrate a process. This is the intrinsic value of process management. It allows you to illustrate the process before it is even in place. Put another way, you can lay out the process before the project is even close to being completed.I stated that at its roots, process management is simply a series of shapes and arrows used to illustrate a process. You can map a process (also called a flowchart) using as little as three shapes, an oval, a rectangle, and a diamond. Each shape represents a specific part of the process. An oval represents the beginning or end of a process…the first or last step. A rectangle illustrates an activity. If you place a rectangular box under another box, the second box identifies a task. A diamond is a call out for a decision. It demonstrates that there is a yes or no question within the process that has to be answered. Interestingly enough, this simple shape often is one of the most powerful in identifying gaps (one or more breaks in a process that can cause rework, customer impact, failure, or any other number of issues) within a project and/or process. The arrows are used to direct the “flow” of the process from one point to another.As an example of the win-win of using process management during a project, I was recently on a project where data was being converted from one system to another. The process for this is often referred to as data mapping. You map the data and the fields in the system where they currently reside and map them to where they will reside in the new system. When this was process mapped, the diamond shape was used to ask if the data from our department had been mapped to the new system. The answer was yes. The next activity was to determine how that data would be identified in the new system, to which no one knew the answer. This was a huge gap. If the data had been mapped, then someone should have been able to tell us what that data would look like in the new system. We quickly found out that no one could validate that our area had been included in the original data mapping. What would the impact had been if after the project no one could find the data in the new system? Once again process mapping paid for itself, as it usually does.Another benefit of process mapping is the ability to flowchart the conceptualized process. Let’s say that there are a number of activities that you know need to happen and how they will be done. What you may not know is who will do all of the actual work. Think of a loan being originated. Someone is going to take the loan application; someone is going to process the loan application; someone is going to underwrite the loan; and someone is going to close the loan. But who is going to file the documents and will they be scanned into an imaging application? This is an unknown. By flowcharting the process you are able to take the activities you know will happen and then the activities you “think” will happen and create a picture of the process. By using the same shapes, but changing the color or texture of the “conceptual” ones, you are able to illustrate the know activities from the “how we think it will be” activities. This allows others to opine on the process before there is a conflict, such as incorrect procedures being written or worse yet, that part of the process being totally neglected.Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of process mapping, within the context of project management, is that it allows you to better control the work of the project. When the core processes are placed in flowcharts, it is much easier to identify control gaps within the process itself. Control gaps are, in and of themselves, risks within the project. Let’s use the above example of a loan being originated. A decision point (diamond shape) in the process is validating that the loan has been underwritten correctly. What happens if no one validates the underwriting? Or, what if the one validating the underwriting is the same person that underwrote the loan in the first place? Segregation of duties has to be a part of the process in order to protect the integrity of the process itself. A flowchart would show if this control has been sufficiently setup or if there is potential for a control failure.Finally, the use of swim lanes is another value added dimension of process mapping. Swim lanes are used to track a process through all of the areas that need to be a part of it, in order for the process to be completed. Think of an Olympic pool. You automatically picture a pool with swim lanes, each one belonging to a different swimmer. Again, let’s use the loan origination example. In most cases the origination of a loan takes several areas (called cross-functional areas) working together for a loan to be completely processed. This could entail various areas such as sales, loan application processing, underwriting, closing, and file management. While no single area owns the entire process, they all work a part of the process to ultimately complete a single loan. By employing swim lanes, you segregate each area in the process into its own lane. Then, using the shapes already discussed, you track the process moving from one swim lane to another. This not only illustrates the areas responsible for the entire process, but also the decision points, controls, and ultimately the interdependencies. Getting the process map validated by all of the areas involved seals the deal. Once all agree on the process, a responsibility matrix can be developed and the project is in a better state of control because of it.
The 2 Most Deadly Sins of B2B Marketing
There are two major reasons why marketing is failing at your small- or medium-sized B2B firm:You view marketing as business triage. Your company applies a collection of tactics (often labeled as a “marketing campaign”) only in response to a problem; typically involving the loss of a key client, or decline in revenue. When business is good, little or no time is invested in marketing. When business (inevitably) takes a dip, only then does marketing becomes a priority.You expect marketing to deliver immediate results. Either because your company always views marketing on a “cause & effect” tactical basis, or because marketing triage must be applied quickly to revive an ailing company, the marketing function is given insufficient time to produce tangible results. It’s no surprise that marketing professionals have the shortest tenure of any corporate function in the asset management business.The hard truth is that very few B2B business owners either understand the marketing function, or have the discipline to design, implement, measure and adhere to a consistent marketing approach that builds brand equity and market engagement over a sustained period.To establish the infrastructure and internal culture necessary for the marketing discipline to succeed, we offer the following simple path:
Create a Written Marketing Plan. This need not be in a 3-inch binder; a two-page document is often sufficient. Include goals, strategies, responsibilities, timelines, budgets and ways to measure results. Without a Marketing Plan you’ll waste lots of time and money. And unless it’s a written document, you won’t have commitment or accountability.
Gain Senior Level Commitment. The honcho in corner office (which might be you) must understand, endorse and support the Marketing Plan. This involves more than lip service. If your Plan isn’t properly staffed and funded at the outset, there’s no real commitment to marketing.
Do a Few Things Very Well.Your marketing success will be based on the quality and effectiveness of a limited number of strategies / tactics. Firms sometimes go overboard, thinking there’s a correlation between the size of its marketing investment and business results. But less is usually more, in terms of marketing ROI.
Build and Nurture your Database.Direct and easy access to your company’s clients, prospects, referral sources and opinion leaders is essential. Without an email pipeline, the marketing value of the content you create is close to zero. If your firm’s thought leadership simply sits on its website or social media, you’re missing the opportunity to build relationships with people in your target audiences.
Create Meaningful Content. Self-serving, long-winded white papers and research reports have very limited appeal. Generate content that validates your company’s intellectual capital, that’s easy to read, and focuses on timely topics that people have a genuine interest in.
Drive Top-of-Mind Awareness. To be included on the short list of candidates for an assignment or sale, you need to build awareness with key decision-makers. To accomplish that goal, share your content directly with target audiences on a quarterly basis. (More frequently than that, and you may be viewed as a pest.)
Most importantly – with apologies to Glengarry Glen Ross – B2B firms must commit to:A… AlwaysB… BeM… Marketing… for the discipline to be effective. Otherwise, the traditional short-term, hair-on-fire approach to business development will keep your company from ever reaching its full potential, regardless of its quality or reputation.
How Can Digital Marketing Work for Your Business?
There is no question that we live in the digital world and from this perspective; it is significant that your business has magnificent presence in the digital space. Internet marketing or digital marketing is the marketing future across the world with full of advantages as compared to traditional marketing. Here are the few reasons why digital marketing is important for every business:
Provides equal opportunity to all kinds of businesses.
More cost effective as compared to traditional Marketing.
Delivers more conversions.
Helps in generating more Revenues.
Facilitates interaction with targeted audience.
Also caters to mobile customers.
It helps in earning people trusts
All these reasons show that digital marketing or digital modes of communication are quicker, result driven and more adaptable. To optimize your business and drive conversions, it is essential to know about all the digital marketing elements, which are as follows:SEO (Search Engine Optimization)In the layman’s terms, SEO is a marketing discipline, which focuses on organic (non-paid) visibility on search engines. SEO is not only related to making your website or online presence better for search engines but also about making it better for people. To provide relevant results to its audience, Google regularly updates its algorithms. Because of this regular updates by Google, many experts say that their effort is futile but their results or SEO is dead. However the truth is that Google tries to filter the websites that don’t deserve to be on the top of search Engine Result Pages (SERP’s).SEO is one of the most cost-effective strategies that will bring organic traffic to your website. So, there is no doubt in investing in SEO work.SEM (Search Engine Marketing)It is the most effective and comprehensive strategy to grow your business and drive more traffic to your website in an increasingly competitive market. With lots of business presence on digital platform and all of them keeping their eyes on the same, it is significant to advertise online, and SEM is one of the best ways to promote or advertise your business. It is done primarily through paid effort, which is why it is also called as Paid Search Marketing.The SEM domain is diverse and complicated, so on the basis of the structure of your business, you may choose PPC (Pay per Click) or CPM (Cost Per-Thousand Impressions) or CPC (Cost per Click). Google AdWords (Google) and Bing ads (Yahoo) are the most popular platforms for SEM.Content CreationContent creation is an effective marketing method and even after the changes in Google’s algorithms like Penguin, Panda or Humming bird update, content is still the most significant metric while measuring the search results. Content can be presented in many ways, such as blogs, e-books, case studies, how to guides, question & answer articles, banners, infographics, images, news updates, videos or content for social media sites.You can create content on any topic related to your business (if you are creative), and then skillfully link it to your business indirectly. The content should be professional and search engine optimized. It is always better to leave certain things in hands of professionals to achieve success in your business. There are many Content Writing as well as Content Marketing agencies which not only write the content in the professional way but also promote it on digital media to create brand awareness and bring traffic, which in turn convert to your customers.SMM (Social Media Marketing)Social Media Marketing uses social networking sites (like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest etc.) as a tool of promoting websites and bringing traffic towards your business.The basic goal of SMM is to engage or communicate with the users, increase brand visibility and reach more customers. Having an active Social Media Presence (engage on daily basis) has become an invaluable part to expand your reach, which as a result will build your own reputation and brand.Mobile MarketingThe consistent use of smartphones in daily life has brought this technique of marketing. This technique would definitely give more exposure to your business as mobile has become an integral part of our life. Mobile marketing can be done in various ways. Some of them are as:
App-Based marketing
In-Game Mobile Marketing
SMS
Mobile Search Ads
Mobile Image ads
Email MarketingEmailing is one of the easiest and inexpensive ways to advertise your business and products or services as compared to all other digital marketing strategies. Below are some of the reasons how email marketing can help in growth of your business:
Email has wider reach
Email delivers your communication
Email drives conversions
Email results in higher ROI(Return on Investment)
It is an open platform and will remain there forever
All the above reasons, shows that email marketing is the most effective marketing channel that can help you to connect with audience and drive sales and revenue for your business.ConclusionAs a marketer, you have many channels and strategies to promote your business online and reach your audience. It is important to choose different marketing strategies for your business to succeed online. However, the truth is the combination of different strategies can only serve your objectives better. A digital marketing agency offers all online solutions that can help you in achieving a high ROI. These agencies consult, strategize and execute to deliver the best. So, it is highly recommended to opt for professional digital marketing services to achieve online business success.
Free Foreclosure Listings – Top 3 Websites For Free Lists of Foreclosures
There are many good places to look for homes to buy but if you also want to save money, going through a foreclosure listing service may give you the results you are looking for. Many homes are available due to the economy, bankruptcies, or tax problems. These homes can be bought for a fraction of their original cost. Buying a foreclosed property can save you a lot of money and allow you to choose homes in the location you prefer. Homes are listed by location, size and price range.These are deals that you will not find listed in the newspaper. The listings are obtained from many different real estate and financial sources. Many websites offer a trial period to the prospective customer to show what services are available. The listings are free and you pay no additional charges other than your once a month membership fee. You will have access to hundreds of available properties in popular locations and at a discount.You can also search for homes in areas of interest like school location or properties that are close to shopping areas or parks. The website gathers information from a variety of sources to give the consumer the latest information available.The top 3 recommended foreclosure listings websites:1. Foreclosure.comForeclosure.com is one of the largest foreclosure listing services on the internet. Their database of available properties is updated daily. They are partners with hundreds of financial lenders, banks, and government agencies and have the most accurate information available. They have listings for all kinds of foreclosed properties in every city. Listings include: tax sales, bankruptcies, auctions, foreclosures, and homes that have been reduced for quick sale. Sign up for free email alerts when properties in your area are available.2. Zip RealtyZip Realty offers a large database of foreclosed and distressed properties. Search their listings for homes in popular cities and receive email alerts when new properties become available. The company has recently included an iPhone application to help their customers stay informed.3. Realty TrackRealty Track offers a large properties listing database with over one million properties for sale. Sign up for a free trial membership. Search foreclosed homes, auctions, tax sales and more. Free email alerts available. Search available properties by city, state or zip code.Compare the different property listing services to find the one that meets your needs. You will save time and money with up to date foreclosure listings.
Best computer science papers online
Computer science papers are part of the diverse types of assignments that students will encounter in their academic endeavor. Student undertaking engineering and computer science course will write computer science papers before they complete their course. It is important that student familiarize themselves with the right skills needed to complete such papers. The first vital skill in writing any academic paper is practice. Student should practice how to write different computer science papers. Some of the academic papers that students may encounter include computer essays, term papers, research papers, thesis and dissertation. It is vital for the student to practice the writing process depending on his academic level. Unfortunately, not all students have the ideal skills to complete an academic paper. Some students may have the right ideas regarding the completion of the paper, but they lack the skills to out the ideas into a sensible computer science paper. Such students risk failure if they persist to present poorly written papers.
Computer science papers services gives students a chance to complete their assignment in a way that guarantees excellent scores. The affordability of the computer science writings that we write makes us an ideal choice for students. We have affordable rates that suit students of varied financial statuses. The low pricing of the service is attributed to the desire of the company to serve all students. We have retained a standard fee throughout the years. We rarely hike the prices of computer science papers. The quality of the computer science papers also makes the company the ideal choice for many students. We have excellent writers who are dedicated to serving all students. The writers are well trained and certified. This means that we engage the service of professionals in the completion of the writing. We also operate 24/7 ensuring that the company does not experience any backlog in terms of completion of computer science papers.
The 24/7 operations also ensure that we are capable of handling urgent papers. Sometimes a client may place computer science papers that are very urgent. In such scenarios, we ensure that the client finds a reliable service provider who will ensure that the urgent computer science papers are completed. The company remains open throughout the year regardless of the holiday in question. The timely delivery of completed computer science papers makes the company an ideal choice for many students. We are known to deliver completed papers on time. This is attributed to many factors. We, for instance, have a dedicated team of writers who work tirelessly to ensure there is no backlog of computer science papers. We also have a first-come-first served strategy in which writers work on computer science papers that student sent first. The earlier the client sends a writing request, the sooner he shall receive a completed paper.
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Clients who require a plagiarism report can request for one from the customer service. The
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