Website Not Performing As It Should? Ask These 7 Questions To Find Out Why

In preparing to design and write my new website, I visited hundreds of other sites to get a feel for what I did/did not want.

For example, "squeeze pages" are all the rage these days. You know, those pages which require you to enter your name and email just to get a peek at the actual website (or you can check the always-too-tiny "enter site" button to skip the squeeze page).

I've decided, at least for now, not to have a squeeze page, but fully understand why you would want one (it strongly encourages, we won't say "forces", people to get on your mailing list in order to see your website).

Regardless of whether or not you choose to incorporate a squeeze page on your site, here's a list of the top 7 questions you need to ask your website in order to determine if it's performing as well as it could.

1. What problem(s) do you solve and what result(s) can I expect?

Your website must focus on the results, not the benefits that you offer -- your prospects want to know how you can help them solve their problems. Include results-based testimonials sprinkled throughout your site if possible.

2. Do you offer an email newsletter or "tip-zine"?

If you offer an email newsletter, be sure to have your sign-up box with privacy policy on every page and on the "top" screen (in the event your readers need to scroll down to read your full page). If you don't currently offer an email newslettter or tip-zine, you really need to check out Jumpstart My Ezine.

3. Is your site "clean"?

By "clean", I mean is the text easy to read without TOO much formatting? Do all your links work? Are your navigation buttons easy to find and understandable? Is your site free of typos?

4. Is your contact information easy to find?

I recommend putting your contact information on the bottom of every page -- you want it to be easy for your readers to find you if they have a question. Do this even if you have a "Contact Us" page.

5. Is your domain name intuitive?

When it comes to domain names (your URL, what people type when going to your site), it's more important to be intuitive than to be cute. You could have the cutest name in the world and it means nothing if people don't "get it" and visit your site. Keep it simple.

6. WIIFM

In addition to your email newsletter or tip-zine, what do you offer your readers? What's In It For Me (WIIFM) as a reader of your site? Do you share a no cost special report, audio tips, e-course? Give your readers the chance to get to know you through your giveaway item.

Note: You should still get your email newsletter up and running even if you don't currently have a giveaway item -- you can add that afterwards.

7. Do you have a picture?

If you are a solopreneur (single, small business owner) and you want to generate leads or sell products through the internet, it helps to have your picture either on your site or in your email newsletter/tip-zine.

When working "virtually", your readers will come to know and trust you through the words that you write. It helps for them to have a picture to connect to -- as people, we like to do business with people, not with faceless companies.

These are just a few strategies to insure that you have a client attractive website which enhances your online presence.

An Assignment For You. . .

Your assignment for this week is to take a hard look at your website and see if it measures up. Forget all the work you've put into it, forget that your best friend helped you put it together and look at it as a prospective client who wants to know more about your business would.

A Physician Practice with EMR Software

Even though the concept of electronic medical records has been around for a while, not every clinic or doctors office has embraced this new powerful technology. When used as a fully integrated system, electronic medical records can have a positive influence on both the quality of patient care and the revenue cycle.

Emr software has come along way from when it was first invented. Many systems are now voice controlled and require no transcription. The list of advantages to using an emr system is long and there is no reason why any medical practice shouldn't be taking steps to installing it in the near future. Emr software ministers improved clinical decision support. From the secretary to the doctor him or herself, there is something in the emr software for everyone to benefit from.

Ultimately, it is the documentation of how the patient is doing healthwise and the care that they are getting that generates the cycle of revenue. Without indubitably documented patient conditions, the document cannot be coded befittingly and fully, which will cause defective bills to be sent.

While it is prevalent for have all charges incorporated into the bill by waiting until after the discharge, ofttimes documentation is poor to support the medical necessity for the process being charged. If documentation is lacking, then the chore of getting vital info from paper records is very disheartening, and can take a long time.

There are many benefits to both the medical staff and the patients to using emr software. From document management to recording private but important information, the list is endless of things that can be done with an emr system. Not only does going from a paper to digital practice give patients more security with medical offices remembering vital information, but there are many features of emr software that are designed specifically for the benefit of the physician. Most emr software systems are voice operated which completely eliminates the need for transcription. From the examine room to the secretary's office, emr software can be used anywhere in the practice.

One must wonder then why it is that there are so few number of medical practices that use top of the line software solutions. Perhaps one reason to why this is the case is the difficulty or headache it would be to transfer all medical records to a digital format. Also, another reason may be the time it would take to train the medical staff on using emr software. Nevertheless, this change is taking place all of the time.

One factor that has been part of the cause for the slow implementation of emr software is the fact that some suppliers are not compatible with other providers of emr software. This has created a problem, for example, when a person moves to another location and their new family physician is unable to or has a hard time of receiving their medical records from the person's last physician. Nevertheless, there is much hope for the future that all medical practices and hospitals will become interoperable. In 2004, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was created by President Bush. This was set up with the sole purpose of trying to create interoperability between different ehr software providers.

Here are some astounding numbers: Only about one third of hospital emergency rooms, twenty nine percent of outpatient departments, and seventeen percent of doctors offices are currently using electronic medical records or emr software. Less than 10 percent of doctors use a digital provider order entry system. One more interesting fact: doctors over the age of fifty are twice less likely to use electronic medical records than doctors younger than 50.

Branding to Rebranding - The Art of Marketing Reinvention

When Rebranding is Your Only Saving Grace I find myself watching commercials lately, not fast forwarding through them. The difference is, I'm doing it on my computer, and I choose the ones I want to watch. Marketing 2.0 at its best.

Anyway, the commercial I'm watching is from Burger King The company, which has changed hands several times (as well as marketing firms) in the past few years, seems to be onto something with its bizarre Burger King showing up in bed with people and dancing in the desert. Whopper eaters mysteriously grow handlebar mustaches. It's a crazy burger world.

The company must be doing something right. While its stock bottomed out last August at $12.41, it has now doubled since then. You used to not have any particular image in mind when you thought of Burger King a few years ago.

Now they have rebranded to become something funky that people want to be a part of. Even back in 2004, when the Subservient Chicken came out, people spread the viral marketing campaign like wildfire. (Many an hour did I spend trying to figure out if it was live or manual. Didn't that chicken ever need to use the bathroom??)

The point is, sometimes you have to step back and look at your brand. You may like it, but if sales are dropping faster than, well, Subservient Chicken droppings, you may need to consider a rebrand.

· Take a fresh look (best to hire outside help) at your brand and create an image that is fun and fresh.

· If your target market is 13-25, try viral marketing. It's cheap and can be extremely effective.

· Examine what catches your eye in marketing and advertising. Play off of that.

And do it in a non-conventional way. I still fast forward through commercials on television (thank goodness for digital video recording) but I will deliberately watch a commercial posted on YouTube if I hear it's amusing. And who knows? Maybe I'll go buy a Whopper at the end of the day. I'd like to see what I look like with a 'stache.

Opening a Dollar Store - Purchasing Drives Sales Success

In today's fast-paced world of business one thing that seems to be constant is the ever-increasing cost that is associated with being in business. That is certainly true if you are planning on opening a dollar store. The longer you wait to begin your business, the more it will cost to start that business. The longer you are in business the higher the costs associated with operating that business become.

As a result many store owners find it necessary to cut costs. One of the easiest costs to cut is for the purchasing of replenishment merchandise. Purchasing is not matched to sales by these 'cost-cutting' entrepreneurs. Soon they discover that there is absolutely a balance that must be maintained when it comes to these actions. Don't make this mistake if you are opening a dollar store.

If you are opening a dollar store remember that there are some items that must be in stock at all times. These are the daily essentials that customers count on finding when they need them. Included are paper products, cleaners and health and beauty items. These consumables are a cornerstone for your success and an inventory must be maintained at all times. Running out of these items is literally asking customers to shop elsewhere.

If you are opening a dollar store it is important to recognize that all other merchandise that sells must also be in stock at some level. While it is not critical that slow-selling merchandise or merchandise that does not sell at all be replenished, other consistent selling items must be replenished in a timely manner.

One of the keys to success when opening a dollar store is having the right merchandise in stock for customers. Consumables must always be available. Other less frequently required merchandise cannot be allowed to run out unless replenishment is in transit and available for sale quickly.

To Your Dollar Store Success!

Article Submission Strategy - Read Before Your Submit Another Article!

Article submission strategy is important when it comes to submitting articles to online article directories. I would explain why. In the past, you can just write and post an article and there is a high chance that your article can get lots of traffic. The traffic comes from the search engines and the visitors of the article directories. It was easy because there are not many online authors, so there isn't much information to compete with you for reader's attention. Life was so simple then. Now, the competition is so stiff that you really got to use a bit of article submission strategy and tricks to get to the top which you would learn here.

Old Way Of Article Submission

The traditional way of article submission is to look at your product, and come up with a few keywords related to your product and start to write an article containing these keywords. In a few weeks to months, your article gets ranked high in the search engines and there you go, instant traffic that comes streaming in like mad. And we all know that such traffic often also brings in an avalanche of sales and subscribers because it is targeted traffic. There are not many online authors as well and you probably are one of the few. People who search the article directories have a high chance of finding and reading your articles.

Times Have Changed, We Need To Refine Our Article Submission Strategy

Yes, this is correct. We need to think of new ways and an article submission strategy. With so many competing articles in our niche, online articles are appearing from everywhere. The difficulty in getting traffic escalates and we need to do beyond just writing and submitting articles the way we did previously. We need to target new keywords for our articles. Recently, there has been an ongoing discussion about longtail and LSI (Latent Semantic Index) keywords.

It pays to use such words in our article submission strategy. Longtail keywords are long extensions of the main keyword related to our product or service. These keywords typically have a moderately decent amount of searches and are not difficult to rank for. LSI keywords, the hottest now are really keywords that are synonyms of the more commonly used keyphrases. Examples of longtail and LSI keywords for the main keyphrase "article submission" are "best article submission strategy" and "top article posting plan". Notice that these words are synonyms? Google now recognizes LSI as a way to check relevancy of your content and to sieve away spam content especially among blackhat SEO webmasters who proliferate keyword spamming.

Other than using longtail and LSI keywords as part of our overall article submission strategy, our content should take LSI into account. LSI is a big word but what it simply means is the content needs to stay relevant and on topic. Using our example of keywords, basically, Latent Semantic Indexing means that we write content that is related and relevant to our main topic. Think of article submission strategy and you would probably link it to building link popularity, article writing, SEO, web traffic and so on. Our articles need to be written such that it is both on main topic and carries some other related content.

Finally, it also does pay to plan the kind of article submission strategy we adopt in submitting a freshly written article. Do we submit to one or many article directories? Both have their advantages. Submitting to one is easy but you do not get much traffic. Submitting to many article directories improves traffic tremendously but unfortunately, it would take days to do so. There are modern tools like article submission software that does an excellent and fast job of submitting articles. Another is article submission services where you subscribe monthly, quarterly or yearly.

These are the few aspects that are critical to your overall article submission strategy. Discover the fastest and most effective article submission strategy and tool from my article blog to put your article marketing traffic on turbo booster.

3 Online Sales Tactics to Stop Using Now

Online selling is all about credibility. In an instant, potential customers judge your business by what they see on your website, and put you into 1 of 2 categories:

- A website I can trust


- A website I wouldn't dare buy anything from

If you offer your product or service in a way that is aligned with the sales practices of current market leaders, you are well on your way to establishing the credibility you need in the mind of your prospect to facilitate a sale.

Unfortunately, many attempts at selling online are derailed by outdated, ineffective, and credibility-damaging sales tactics. Here are a few of the most common that you must avoid in order to appear credible in the eyes of your potential client:

The "Outrageous Guarantee"

Many small business owners are making outrageous guarantee promises on their website. "Buy my product and if it doesn't change your life, I'll give you double your money back!"

Outlandish promises like a double your money back guarantee actually lower the perception of your business in the eyes of potential clients. The reason – leading retailers are the yardstick by which your business is measured, and none of them offer such outrageous guarantees.

Who are some of the most reputable retailers around? Sears. Wal-Mart.

All of them stand behind their products with a money-back guarantee in most cases. But none of them have blinking red signs in their stores or online, promising double your money back if you're not satisfied. It's a gimmick that immediately tells a potential client that they are dealing with a small player in their industry.

The Flash Intro

Some small business marketers load their site with all kinds of flashy graphics that hit you like a ton of bricks when you first visit the site. It's a classic example of "inside out" thinking. The owner puts the company name and logo first, before the good content.

It's a bit like a car salesperson showing you a video of the car you want to buy rather than letting you take a test drive.

The trouble here is that the value of the online experience is in the eye of the beholder. The potential client surfing the web is thinking "outside in", not "inside out". They are thinking of themselves first. And they weren't surfing for a flash presentation or your glitzy logo when they visited your site.

Amazom.com sells tons of books each year. And when you visit Amazon.com, what's on their home page – books.

Glossy flash intros might look great, but they smack of amateurism. After all, if you have a great product and a great offer, why bury it behind a glitzy flash intro?

The "Order Before Midnight or you Miss It" Sale

This is my personal favorite.

You've likely seen this automated script used by many websites that automatically updates the date to convince readers that if they don't order by midnight tonight, the special offer on the site will be lost forever. Of course, a return trip to the same site tomorrow gives you the same message, only with tomorrow's date in place of today's.

Give it up. If you want to offer a reduced price as part of a promotion, go right ahead. Put a time frame on the offer that's reasonable – perhaps the sale ends at the end of the week, or the end of the month. Then stick to it – pull the offer when you said you would.

Leading retailers don't outright lie about the dates and times of their limited time offers (although they are prone to "extending" them by "popular demand".)

Online Sales is all about Credibility

The Internet gives every small business owner the chance to compete effectively with larger, established retail brand names. A key part of being perceived as credible is acting like a market leader.

And market leaders don't engage in any of the above online sales tactics.

Land That Job!

Many eager job-seekers are resorting to online job search sites in hopes of landing that position they've wanted since childhood. Dreams of becoming a lawyer, veterinarian or even a graphic designer can be accomplished with just a click of a mouse.

Going door-to-door begging employers for a job may illustrate your current employment status, but it's not ideal. Using a job search engine is a useful solution, as many employers check email several times a day and hopefully they'll find your resume sitting in their inbox!

Job Search Advice:

• Check job search sites everyday if you can—they're often updated several times a day.

• Don't only apply to jobs under your designated career category—more often than not, many career categories hold positions you'd be compatible with.

• Check to see if a prospective employer wants your resume sent via email or in an attached Word document—this will make or break your chances at getting the job.

• If the job listing says, "No phone calls," they mean it.

• Don't assume that a long wait means an employer is disinterested—they may have applicant pools in the thousands.

• If you receive an automated, "We were impressed by your resume, but you don't fit what we're looking for," don't be afraid to follow-up and ask why! This could aid you in future applications.

• When typing in career keywords, make your list as versatile as possible.

• Try out several job search services—not every employer posts to the same job bank.

• Sign up to receive automatic career matches by email—some services offer this free-of-charge, saving you the hassle of weeding through jobs that aren't of interest to you.

Of course, with every life-changing decision such as beginning a new occupation, it's best to compare job search engines. 6StarReviews.com is a site that looks favorably on Monster, a prominent career-everything oasis. Monster allows eager applicants to Network Now and fill out their profiles based on job desired, compensation requirements, location and education history.

Another leading job search engine is The Ladders, whose target demographic is executives and $100k plus positions. Although you may not fall into this employment bracket, SnagAJob offers more diverse positions and part-time opportunities. The Web has changed our way of being and surely searching for jobs online is no exception.

For PR and Marketing Pros - 4 Simple Steps for Managing Revisions to Squeeze More From Your Budget

In these lean times, every company wants to squeeze maximum value out of each dollar spent on marketing or public relations materials.

When producing marketing or public relations campaigns, one of the best ways to get more for your money is to manage your projects to reduce cycle time and costly rework and revision. A certain amount of revision is to be expected, but managing the project to keep rework to a minimum is the key to making the most of your budget.

On some marketing or public relations projects that require lots of graphic work, revisions typically account for 50% of the graphics charges. In other words, if you knew the first time exactly what you needed and communicated this vision precisely to the artist or designer, and got it "right" the first time, your costs would be about half. In the real world, this is seldom possible, but you can come close with effective project management.

Revisions are costly because in addition to the labor of making the change, each revision requires a series of handoffs and coordination, plus administrative work, adding to the general complexity of project management. The work usually must be re-routed and re-proofed, too. So you can see that the "general overhead" attributed to revision work can add greatly to your costs.

Here are some ways to get more for your money:

Text revisions. Negotiate this when you secure a writer. Text revisions require that the writer rework the text, and that the team reproof the copy. Ask about your writer's policy on revisions. If the writer works on an hourly basis, you'll be responsible for all revision costs. Some firms work on a flat-fee basis. In this case, ask about their policy on reworks and revisions. For example, our firm includes two sets of revisions at no charge, as a means of guaranteeing satisfaction with our work. After that, revisions are charged proportionally.

Graphics revisions. Here's where your costs can really jump if you have a lot of back-and-forth. What may seem like a minor change can actually be a fairly time-consuming encounter for the artist. Their charges for original artwork and revision incorporate the significant cost of the sophisticated computer equipment they use. So think ahead, and when you see the first proof, examine it closely and try to communicate all your changes at once. Retouching, stripping, proofs and alterations all add to your cost basis. When you get a quote from a designer, explain that you anticipate at least one round of revisions, and ask them to quote on that basis. Then add 25% for contingencies.

Printing revisions. Revisions by the printer will cost lots of money. That's because every step in production has to be retraced, and physical property like plates and negatives have to be destroyed and redone. The way to eliminate these costs: proof, proof, proof. Proof again. Double check. You get the point. Make sure you are happy with the piece before it goes to the printer.

Bottom line tips:

1. Inquire about vendors' revision policies. Build in a certain expectation for revisions, and ask for that to be specified in your quote. Ask some key questions when getting quotes, such as, "How much do you charge for revisions? How many revisions do most of your projects go through?" Not every customer asks these questions, so vendors may not have standard answers. Shop around until you find vendors you are comfortable with.

2. Budget wisely for contingencies. Ask, "What other variables, based on your experience, should I be budgeting for? What contingencies do your customers regularly encounter that may affect this project?" This question puts some of the burden on the vendor to anticipate your needs.

3. Take each proof seriously; treat each draft as "final." Don't treat them as rough drafts; try to incorporate all your changes in the initial draft. And proof your projects in a timely fashion. If several people have to proof the document, follow up with them to return the proof quickly. The more time that elapses between the draft and the next stage, the higher your revisions costs will be.

4. Proof, proof, proof, early and often. Don't rush your proofs just to "keep the project moving." Take the time to assure your satisfaction at each step of the process.

These steps will not only reduce your final cost, but will reduce the start-to-finish cycle time of your projects, too, allowing you to take your message to the market sooner.

Finally, by spending more time on the "front end" to get it right the first time and reduce fruitless re-work, you'll be improving the overall level of your quality greatly, even while you reduce your costs. Your customers – and your accountant – will notice a big difference!

Auto Repair Shop Key To Success

A good service manager candidate for an automotive shop would really be the technician who knows a lot about the motor vehicle but has been able to mentally switch gears and now learn how to sell the knowledge he posses and the knowledge and services his team will provide. I am adamant about the knowledge part as I feel that the customer from the very first contact requires guidance right away when recommending service. Example being the other day I interviewed a person whom wanted to service manage and he after a few questions seemed credible but revealed to me that on his own vehicle he required an alignment for the shimmy that occurs at a particular speed. To the trained person this would now tell me that this person would book a car for the wrong service and this would start a chain reaction of a comedy of errors, possibly a technician would have to diagnose the service managers mistake then the vehicles real problem, I will be willing to bet a lot of alignments are done.

A good manager would have a knowledge of what his team members were capable of and also what tools and equipment the shop has to do the repairs. A good SM would also know time frames for jobs as to book properly and also parts availability as to again book and inform customer of completion times. Sometimes the SM has to participate with the tech for drive ability by actually driving with the customer until problem is verified and also asking the right questions to draw out clues to aid in the repair.

The SM must be a people reader as to only fill the bays with informed customers , getting the proper signatures on the repair order as to sell diagnostics to only those whom have authorized them. believe this is a tough spot because far too many techs love to just get into the testing and before you know it problem almost found car all apart , time has flown by and no invoiceable hours accounted for. The SM
must know time is to be guarded.

Thank you for reading I will continue my thoughts on next ezine.

Make Money Free Online

I am on the Internet since 1996, and I have witnessed a lot of changes to it since then. At first the Internet was used by people to discover new things, and talk to other people from different parts of the world. Now, the Internet is a great source of income, and more and more people make money from selling products online, or participating in on-line money making programs.

Lately, I have been searching on various search engines for things like: make money free online, business Internet make marketing money online business Internet make money online opportunity system, make money taking online survey web site software ad, in hope I will find a decent program to make money from, with out paying anything to start. That is a bit hard to find now a days, because there are a lot of programs for that, but they ask you for an initial payment.

After some heavy searching on Google, Yahoo and MSN, I finally found what I was looking for, the program is called CashCrate, and it is totally free. You just need to sign up for it, and you can start making money in minutes. They do not ask you for any financial info when you sign up, just for the address where they need to send the checks.

At first it seemed to good to be true, because there are also a lot of scams out there, and they are allowed to be because they are especially crafted so you can not make money from them. For example, you need to reach $100 to receive your check but that will be very hard, and it will take you a lot of time.

CashCrate is not one of those programs, it will send your check when you reach the sum of $10, every month on the 20TH. You can make those $10 right away, I made them in about 1 hour after signing up. Also, CashCrate has a forum, where you can ask questions about the program, and a special section where people are asked to publish a scanned picture of their checks. This has proved to me it is not a scam, and people get their money monthly.

CashCrate is for me, the easiest way to make money online, you just need to join, and start completing tasks. The tasks consist in participating in free surveys, and you will receive from $0,50 to $2,5 by doing so. The number of the tasks is presented by CashCrate in a list where you can pick them from, and after you have finished them, you just need to submit them and wait for the money to be credited to your account. For the United States residents by completing these tasks, could make them an extra $1000 a month.

There is also a daily survey, which if you complete you will get $0,80 into your account. I also want to mention the very good referral program, which will pay you 20% of what your referrals make, and 10% from the people that they refer make. Important it is here that this money will not be taken out of their accounts, it is just extra money added to your account, so basically if you sign up from a referral link or the main web site it is the same thing.

A last thing I would like to mention about the program is that you do not need to be 18 to enter it, you just have to be 13 years old, which is a pretty great way for all the kids out there to make money on the Internet.

If you want to learn more about CashCrate, or sign up for the program please go to the blog I dedicated to it, there you will find a tutorial and more information on how to make money online for free using CashCrate.

Heating and Micropower Products Don't Look Too Hot

The heating and micro-power industry is responding to the challenges of climate change and energy security by developing a diverse range of renewable and high efficiency products such as condensing boilers, CHP and wind turbines. However, aside from condensing boilers, the technologies are struggling to break into the mainstream. There are many barriers to widescale uptake of the new technologies, including high costs and low consumer awareness, but one element that seems almost entirely overlooked is aesthetics – the look and feel of the products.

The current industry attitude is that there is little or no need for attractive designs because they are producing building products, not consumer products. But what they are overlooking is the fact that people spend huge amounts of money to make the interiors and exteriors of their homes look good and in many cases would be prepared to pay more for products that enhance, or at the very least do not detract from the appearance of their homes.

This is true throughout the market, but in the renewable and micro-power market, the incentives may be even stronger because whether they'll admit it or not, many customers want to make a statement about their environmental responsibility or pioneering attitude to new technology. They want something that will impress their friends and neighbours. And why not? They are after all investing their own money in environmentally responsible technologies. But many of the current products look distinctly unimpressive.

Besides increasing the desirability and perceived value of products, aesthetics has an important part to play in developing brand value. It's hardly surprising that in a market where nearly all products look the same as their competitors, most people don't know the manufacturer of their own boiler. The industry is overlooking a well-established fact that superior aesthetics provide a significant competitive advantage.

Think of how Apple's imac transformed the PC industry, which had for years insisted that computers were functional products and that beige was the ideal neutral colour. The imac was sleek and colourful, and it was famously joked that the back looked better than the front of any other computer. It gained massive media attention and helped turn a loss making company into one of the world's leading technology companies and an icon of popular culture.

Even the typically conservative GE has stated that product quality is now generally so high and prices so low that we are entering an era in which the look and feel of products will be the main factor in determining their success. Factors such as performance, quality and customer service are still important, but they only meet the modern consumers minimum expectations.

Home energy systems are almost entirely purchased through necessity, but this is because they don't offer anything more than necessity. Products in many other sectors are often replaced before the end of their useful life simply because the owner desires a new, exciting model. Encouraging the premature replacement of products should not normally be advocated as responsible business, but in an industry that is trying to promote high efficiency and renewable technologies, it would be to benefit of the industry, society and environment.

Virginia Postrel, in her book 'The Substance of Style' suggests that aesthetics is no longer something for designers to create and a fashionable elite to buy. It is something that all managers and engineers should be taking seriously because customers demand it. People do have widely varying tastes but what matters is not so much "what style is used, but that style is used, … even in areas where function used to stand alone".1

The heating industry itself has a fantastic example of the value that aesthetics can bring. Fireplaces preceded central heating as the primary heat source in a home. A fundamental, functional aspect of the home, just as the boiler is today. However, the decorative fire surround was developed during the renaissance period to create an aesthetic feature from the functional fireplace and led it to become the decorative focal point of millions of homes across the world. As a consequence the industry survives even now, decades after becoming technologically obsolete.

Heating and micro-power manufacturers are missing a massive opportunity to stimulate customer demand, build valuable brands and gain a clear advantage over the competition. Sooner or later a manufacturer will take the industry by surprise and launch a range of exciting products that gain attention and which people dream of installing in their homes. Until then, we'll just try to forget about the anonymous white box in the utility room.

- Tom Greenwood

Online Video - How to Use It to Boost Your Sales and Your Buzz

I used to hate watching videos on the Internet because the small, grainy images were headache-inducing. For many years, the online viewing experience was so far removed from television that I doubted whether it would ever become a serious threat to the broadcast industry. However, with software improvements and high speed Internet connections, online videos have become a raging success (e.g. more than 38 million Americans watched YouTube videos in April 2007) and a great marketing opportunity for businesses especially small ones that need to leverage limited promotional budgets.

Consumers are making buying decisions based on what they're seeing. A recent Kelsey Group's User View study indicated that 59 percent of American consumers claimed to watch online video, and more than half said they engage in some sort of response activity, such as visiting a Web site, going to a physical location or making a purchase.

Eight years ago, I recorded a welcome video on Galvins Workspace Furniture, the website for my family's office furniture business. At the time, I was proud of the video since we were one of the first local furniture stores to launch one. The message, which was designed for viewing on a 56K connection (a snail's pace compared to today's screaming broadband speeds), was very basic. The production guys suggested that I use a plain background and not move my head too much while taping the segment. It reminded me of the way that pictures were taken in the early days of still photography when people poised with back braces to keep them from moving and blurring the finished images.

Regardless of their best efforts, the finished product looked pretty herky-jerky, and my head resembled a bobble-head doll. Yet, even though the quality wasn't great, people would come into the store regularly and tell me that they had seen me on television - especially amusing since we never advertised on TV.

As you'll see from the welcome video below which now runs on Galvins Workspace Furniture (www.galvins.com), the new version is compelling. It features my father giving a one-minute tour of one of his two stores and explaining what makes his business unique. He thinks it's a bit strange when people come into the store calling him by his first name since they remember seeing him on their computers. But, he's thrilled that his newfound celebrity is driving floor traffic and sales.

Now is a great time to consider adding video to your website, and I recommend keeping three things in mind:

1. Shop around. My father's video was produced for $285, and he pays $20/month to have it streamed over a server that is optimized for high-speed video playback. It pays to shop around for a video production company since I've received quotes ranging from $250 to $1,000 for a short web video that I wanted to do for one of my clients.

2. Focus on what makes your business unique. A good welcome video on you home page should be from one to two minutes long so it's important to grab people attention right away with what distinguishes your business from others. In an age of impersonal and mediocre service, I'm firm believer that business owners can highlight their uniqueness better than any actor or employee (think David Oreck selling his vacuum cleaners or Donald Trump promoting his enterprises).

3. Tie your video into long term PR objectives. A well planned video should highlight key information that you want to communicate to the media and your customers. Try to create a message that will sound fresh and interesting one year from now unless you're committed to changing your video with greater frequency.

Lastly, once you've created your video, don't forget to let your existing customers know via your print newsletter, ezine, or emailed announcement and encourage them to send a link to the video to their friends.

Marketing Story - A Room Without Number

In a well established company, all the employees were used to follow company rules and regulations. One day, the General Manager of this company has given an instruction that employees were not allowed to enter a room in 8th floor which has no number on the
door. It is significantly recognized which room is not allowed to go in. There
is no reason from General Manager. Since then, every one always followed this
rule and nobody will enter the room without number at the 8th floor.

Few months later, company has recruited a few new employees. And it is also given instruction by General Manager to all new employees that they are not allowed to enter the room without
no at the 8th floor.

This time, there was a young guy, called Alan.

Alan asked the General Manger: "why?"

General Manager replied in a serious voice, "No reason"

When back to working, Alan was still keep thinking why General Manager giving such unreasonable order. However, other colleagues telling Alan do nothing but just follow the rules and
regulations of the company.

But, Alan still kept asking other elder colleagues, what was the reason why General Manager gave the order? Other colleagues this time warned him by quoting the rules and regulations stated in
the company policies.

But, this Alan paid no heed to their advice, and decided to enter the room to see what the reason was.

He at first knocked at the door first lightly and waiting if anyone inside would gave him response.

However, there was no response from the room inside. Hence, Alan pushed the door open lightly, and entered the room without number. There was only one table in the middle of the empty room. A red envelope was found on the table. On top of the envelope was written that "pass this envelope to
General Manager".

Alan was confused and took the red dusty envelope and went out of the room. At this moment, other colleagues were worried about Alan and asked him to put back the red envelope and pretended never enter the room. They would cover for him.

However, Alan thanks for his colleagues good help, but he directly walked to General Manager's office and handed over the red envelope to him.

General Manager was smiling and announced to everyone that Alan was promoted to Sales and Marketing Manager from the very second.

Alan was confused and asked General Manager, "why I was promoted by just took the red envelope to you?"

General Manager replied, " Yes, I have been waiting almost 6 months, and nobody pass this envelop to me, I believe you are capable of this position!"

It is truth that after few months, there is an increase in company sales and marketing under the leadership of this young man.

After that, General Manager explained to everyone that:" Sales and marketing requires creativity. It needs people think out of the box and more creative. All of you are just used to be obedient and it
has killed your creativity and your curiosity. But this is not suitable for a good sales or marketing executive! Curiosity may probably kill a cat , but if you are just a automatic working machine, isn't very sad?"

P/S: Sales and Marketing job requires us to think out of the box. To be creative, it
requires our curiosity and courage.

What Is A Promotional Item?

We have all seen the little things that some companies give out to their customers and prospective customers – pens, and other small items – but what is a promotional item and what can it do?

To answer the question, what is a promotional item, you first have to think about the word "promote". Most companies promote themselves in a variety of ways: advertising on TV, the Internet, radio and the papers; word of mouth and promotional items are all important to getting information out about your company. The promotional items portion of this usually consists of small, inexpensive items that can be handed out to people – items with your company's name and contact printed on them.

Perhaps the most popular promotional item of all time is the pen. Almost every company can afford to give out pens with their name and information printed on them, but these pens can also range up to much more ornate and interesting writing utensils. Some companies opt for thin, basic ballpoint pens – these cannot hold much information, and they are often thrown away due to the fact that they stop working quite quickly. Other pens, some with elaborate silk screening and comfort grips, are more likely to be kept.

Of course, promotional items are not just limited to pens. Depending only on your imagination and budget, promotional items can range from such things as coffee mugs and Frisbees, to t-shirts and tote bags – all with your company's name and logo, of course. In general, the larger the company, the more expensive and complex their promotional items can be. You will often see these larger companies putting out promo items that are directly related to their company – such as computer related items for a computer company.

Some people call all of these free promotional items "swag", and they take pride in collecting as much of it as they can. In instances like trade shows and other business to business promotional opportunities, the amount of swag can be pretty large – and the items given away can be much more expensive. When thinking of items to give to the average public, however, most companies stick with less costly promotions to save money and get their name out to as many people as possible.

What is a promotional item? It's anything you want to give out with your name and information on it – a way of promoting your company with a more long-term advertisement and a way to build a brand name for yourself.

Cell Phone and Mobile Marketing Coming Of Age Thanks to "QR Code" Technology

HR Activities and Objectives

Efficient and effective Human Resource management is a challenge to all HR professionals. Staffing, training and helping to manage people so that the organization is likely to increase the performance level is imperative to work in a productive manner. Normally, human resource functions are tracking data points on each employee. These might include experiences, capabilities, skills, data, personal histories and payroll records. In the most general sense businesses carry out different activities dealing with managing their approaches to employee benefits and compensation, as well as employee records and personnel policies.

Among the core HR activities there are payroll, time and labour management, benefit administration and HR management. These activities correlate with the HR objectives which are largely the responsibility of Human Resources.

The foremost objectives of Personnel services are an efficient and effective personnel and payroll system responsive to staff needs together with the flexible remuneration system. These objectives can be attained by implementation of different modules, such as budgets and commencements module, applicant tracking module, occupational health and safety module, etc.

None the less important HR objective is the industrial relations services implying establishing effective relationships between the employer and the staff. Complete and comprehensive policy framework should be established for risk management, safety and health issues. Staff should be well informed about safety and health issues in the workplace. What is required to gain this objective is the staff's participation in a wide range of training and awareness programs in the area of safety and health. Staff development objective can be realized through different skills development courses designed to encourage further skills development necessary to carry out their responsibilities.

Some organizations consider equity and diversity services as their objective and provide information about the procedures for sexual harassment, racial harassment and equity grievances, thus making the staff well aware of the policies. The initiatives include awareness programs in relation to equity and diversity. In the long run it leads to an increase in the number of staff who have attended the training sessions and know the issues.

Human Resource services provision is closely connected with strategic policies, planning and coordination of an organization. A wide range of human resource strategies aimed at more flexible planning can include improved links between performance and remuneration, improved performance measurement procedures for all staff, improved recruitment and retention strategies, and encouragement of skills development. One more objective results in consultancy support provided on the basis of improved information about both the employer and HR staff needs and working requirements.

HR objectives stimulate the development of people to be their best in order to meet the needs of an organization. A successful performance management system including department, team and individual business objectives, personal development plans, performance appraisal, career planning, etc., aims at enhancing the personnel's commitment to developing the business long-term and can give challenges which will enhance the staff personal growth. Moreover, if an organization can assess the workforce changes needed by business, implement the necessary optimization and measure the results using up-to-date technology systems, it will get data having a critical role in monitoring and controlling overall performance.

Promotional Marketing - How To Generate Better Ideas

I walked into the office of my Chiropractor/Acupuncturist and signed in. There on the desk were three pens. One looked like a syringe, another was a crooked pen and the third looked like a bone.

"What are these," I asked, knowing full well they were pens.

"They're pens," the doctor replied. "I'm trying to decide which one to promote my practice with. What do you think?"

It took me a minute to respond. I was dismayed that someone was trying to sell him such cliché' ideas. Who ever this someone was, had little understanding of the good doctor or his practice. I was also a little irritated that he hadn't called me in the first place.

"Let me guess," I said, holding up the syringe pen. "Our patients love it when we needle them."

"Yeah," he blurted out in amazement.

I held up the crooked pen and said, "We'll get you back on the straight and narrow."

"Well, yeah," he exclaimed.

I picked up the bone-shaped pen and said, "The imprint involves the phrase, no bones about it."

The doctor came to the sudden realization that the ideas he thought were so clever only moments before, were neither clever or original.

"You're always talking about blood flow, energy flow and balance, that's your message." I said. "So when it comes to your promotional marketing, why is your message suddenly bones, needles and crookedness?"

I told him if he wanted ideas that supported his message and what he was really about, we'd have to look beyond the obvious.

Promotional marketing professionals often stop at the first idea they think of when developing creative ideas to promote their business, event or brand. And while the first thing they think of may indeed make sense, these ideas are usually cliché and tired. But by digging deeper, better promotional marketing ideas can be discovered. The key in this case is to focus not on the "tools of the trade" such as needles and bones, but to focus on the philosophy of the doctor: balance and flow.

Several promotional marketing ideas came to mind. Imprinted mugs and imprinted packets of tea with multiple tea bags inside. Patients could think of the doctor numerous times when they enjoy the tea. And, he can always offer them more tea bags on return visits, reminding patients to share with a friend.

Mugs make great sense for doctors and other medical professionals. They serve as a nice handout to first-time patients. But often their real promotional marketing value becomes evident when a few mugs are stored at the local florist. When the doctor learns of a patient illness, an arrangement is created and delivered in the doctor's imprinted mug. This also works great for congratulatory events.

As far as pens go, there are pens that contain a liquid with a custom float inside. As the liquid flows back and forth, the logo or some other icon flows back and forth as well. A blood flow or energy flow message is now appropriate.

Stretching is also an important part of a Chiropractic therapy regime. So an exercise band might fill the bill.

Then I thought of bandannas. Bandannas are being used creatively in a broad range of venues. Festivals, communities and businesses are printing maps, schedules and take out menus on them. Along that line, a Chiropractor or Acupuncturist can imprint a map of the body on a bandanna. The map could show how and where an imbalance creates pain. Or I could show acupuncture points and to what part of the body those points relate.

Thinking creatively is something that can be learned. There are two books I discovered early in my career that have been especially helpful in generating new and better ideas for my clients. The books, both by Roger von Oech, are, "A Whack On The Side Of The Head" and "A Kick In The Seat of The Pants".

As for the Chiropractor? We co-branded a body-map themed bandanna with other businesses such as a fitness center, a drug store and a massage therapist to offset the higher cost of the item.

Perfect! Creative, relevant, useful and affordable promotional marketing.

Risk Factors in Implementing Total Quality Management in Your Organization

This TQM article is about Implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) in an organization. It is quite known to the business world that this is not an easy task. However, there is a systematic approach to assess its likelihood of success in implementing TQM provides an early sign for actions. Below are a set of questionnaires to assess 5 critical success factors for a Implementing Total Quality Management in an organization. It is a simple and direct questions asked to draw the readiness of an organization in its sate of preparedness. The questions should be answer in a skill of 0 to 10, being 0 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest score. when allocating score, the instantaneous answer in mind should be taken instead of think through too thoroughly. There are 2-3 questions to each of the Critical Success Factors.

Strategic Focus

To what extent are team improvement objective focused on strategic organization goals?

To what extent are team success related to the organization financial success?

Management Commitment

To what extent do senior managers review the progress of improvement teams?

How often senior management involve in the team activities?

How often are team improvement recommendations approved by senior management

Links to the Line Organization

How well are team improvement recommendations executed by the rest of the organization (other department with similar processes

To what extent improvement recommendations are derived from a systematic tools?

To what extent are team improvement recommendations piloted before a solution is launched?

Organizational Versus Functional Focus

To what extent are employee in your organization rewarded for meeting organization goals?

How well do employee work across functions and departments in your organization?

To what extent are team emphasize on organization improvement project as opposed to functional projects?

Methods and Support

To what extent do your teams get training and support from trained facilitators on a regular basis?

To what extent do your teams follow a consistent Improvement Methodology?

To what extent do your sponsor understand the Improvement Methodology?

In summary: Upon completion of all the questions, you can draw the score into a radar chart with the high score at the outer sphere of the radar chart. The shape of the radar chart would provide a clear indication which is the area of focus for improvement. These questionnaires should be taken as an indicators for success in Implementing Total Quality Management.

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Disclaimer: This article is written by the author based on his practical application experience. All definitions and interpretation of terminology are his point of view and has it has no intention to conflict with experts in similar topic. The author holds no responsibility for the use of this article in any way.

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Free to reprint or re-publish: All rights reserved. You are free to reprint or re-publish this article as long as you include my resource box at the end of this article. Please ensure that the URL in the resource box remain intact and it is linked to the author's website.

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Can Forgetting Something Help Market Your Business?

Yep, it can.

I know, I know...you probably thinking "Huh?"

Please allow me to explain...

Have you ever been on a phone call or at a face to face meeting with a client, ended your conversation, and that was that?

All the time...right?

Not if you want to capitalize on the lesson in this post.

When you finish your next conversation on the telephone with a client of yours...hang up as usual. But don't end your contact there.

Call them back, and say "Oops, I forgot something, we are having a special on/offering at a discounted rate for/extending a limited time offer on etc... this widget/service for our current clients only. Would you be interested?"

You would be surprised to find out how many take you up on the offer. Now, obviously, if hanging up and calling back doesn't get the person you just spoke with...then you can still do the same thing in the same conversation. Just change the script to:

"Oops, before you go, I forgot something..." and continue with the same script.

In a face to face meeting, you do what Columbo (an old TV Detective) used to do very well.

Get up, and walk just outside the door, just before the door shuts behind you...walk back in. Then, use the first script above.

This little trick will pick up extra sales, which all businesses need in our current hyper - competitive business world. For you online folks...you can actually do the same thing with an exit pop up window. But that is for another post.