There are the purists out there who live and die by plain text, right through to those who swear by a nicely formatted HTML newsletter. But the fact is that if done correctly, email is one of the most effective forms of online marketing available to your clients. This in turn makes it a very profitable service to add to your portfolio. So, why get into email marketing?
Reason 1: You can already do it
Sure, there are some subtle differences, but if you can design and code a web page, you’ve got the basic skills required to build and send a HTML email. There are plenty of tools available today that make sending and measuring email marketing campaigns a painless process. Provided you can get the creative right and follow best practice for acquiring permission, you can start offering email marketing as a service in no time.
Once you understand email design, you can start extending your knowledge beyond creating templates. Learn more about growing your customer’s subscriber lists, avoiding spam filters, designing effective landing pages and a range of other areas that will ensure you maximise results for your clients.
Reason 2: It complements your current services
Email marketing is the perfect add-on product to package with your existing web design services. Once you launch a new web site for a client, why not help them drive traffic to the site and make the most of their investment.
Add a newsletter subscription form to each page of their site and start building a house list. Add an opt-in checkbox to their online store’s check-out process. Include paper-based sign up forms at all their offline stores. Do everything you can to encourage interested customers and subscribers to join your client’s list.
A few months after the site is launched and you’ve (hopefully) started growing a decent house list for your client, you might begin designing and sending a monthly newsletter or a latest specials email to this list, which leads us to the next point…
Reason 3: It’s a new and recurring revenue stream
Just like most web sites, an email marketing program is an organic thing that changes over time. Each issue needs to include new content or a new offer, there might be a design tweak you need to make or a new email client to test in. As well as improving your clients relationship with their customers or driving sales, an email marketing program can also provide a great cashflow injection each month.
The good news doesn’t stop there. A recent survey found that 40% of senior executives in the Western US planned to increase their spending on email marketing in 2009, and more than half were outsourcing their email marketing to designers and creative agencies.
Reason 4: It works
Actually, works is an understatement. Based on research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing is predicted to return an incredible $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. To put this in perspective, that’s more than double the average return for other forms of online marketing and more than 6 times the return from print catalogs.
Why email marketing works
It’s cost effective – While the cost of actually designing your email creative can be comparable to direct mail, the big savings start when you consider there are no printing costs and you can get your message delivered for around a cent per recipient.
It’s immediate – Email generates an immediate response, instead of waiting for a subscriber to visit your site you can get your message to them when it counts. The majority of your recipients will see your message in the first 24-48 hours.
It’s relevant – Email makes it easy to segment your subscribers using a variety of criteria like demographics and past campaign behaviour (such as clicking a certain link). This way you can ensure your message goes to the individuals most likely to be interested in your offer.
It’s completely measureable – More than any other form of marketing, email can provide actionable data on the results it generates. Keep track of who opened your email and when, what topics they were interested in, who forwarded it on to a friend, how many sales were generated and much more.
There’s always a “but”
Like most things, you’ll only get true results from email marketing if you’re prepared to put the effort in. It’s incredibly important to get the foundation right. Make sure every one of your client’s subscribers gave acceptable permission to hear from them. Ensure the newsletter or offer is relevant to them and displays correctly in each email client. Make sure you use a reputable service to ensure the message gets delivered.
If you fall short in any of these areas then you may end up doing more harm than good, or even land yourself and your client in legal trouble. Once you get the basics right for your clients, you can start experimenting with more advanced email marketing techniques.
Taken from(http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/entry/560/4-reasons-why-designers-should-offer-email-marketing/)
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
8 Ways to Use Business Cards to Network and Market Your Business
You've had the finest, most eye-catching business cards printed. Now, what do you do with them? Networking with business cards is one of the most cost effective means of marketing your business--and yourself.
Don't leave them sitting in the box, they do you no good there. Get them into the hands of your prospects! If you think of your business card as a mini-billboard for your company, you'll realize that you need people to see it in order for it to be effective. Here are a few ideas to get you started...
1) Keep them in your pocket, purse, briefcase, and wallet, on your desk, and at the reception area of your office
Leave some in your car. Always have them on hand so you can introduce yourself to new people when the moment is right. They should be a necessary part of your routine before you leaving home every day. When checking for your wallet and keys, check for a stack of business cards too. Keep replenishing your supply.
2) Store your cards in a nice holder so they don't get bent
Keeping your cards in a stylish business card case makes for a better presentation when you hand your cards out. Likewise, treat others' cards well when you accept them. For example, spend a few moments reading the card closely before you put it away. You won't impress the person by mishandling their business card. If your contact information should change, have new cards printed immediately. Writing in your new email address or phone number leaves a bad impression.
3) Place business cards on bulletin boards at local restaurants, supermarkets, libraries, and your children's schools
At your place of business, have a bulletin board where others can post their cards in return for passing out your cards to others. If you see a fishbowl offering a drawing for a prize, throw your business card in. Somebody important might see it and contact you.
4) Include business cards with all of your correspondence, including bills you pay
You never know who might open the mail that day. If realtors can sell houses this way, why can't you generate business the same way? If you ship products, for example, include a card with every package. Send business cards with all thank you notes and letters you send out. Include your contact information in your email signature as well. It serves as an electronic business card.
5) Use them as scrap paper when you need to jot down a note
Instead of a napkin, use the back of your business card to write in your cell phone number. "This is my direct line," you might say, making the prospect feel important and giving him or her a reason to keep your card.
6) Give people a reason to hold on to your card
Print something unique on the back of it--a calendar, a list of your services, important measurements, or anything relevant to your industry. You could also print a coupon on it, and ask them to return the card with their order, so again they have a reason to keep your card.
7) As a business owner or manager, have business cards printed for all staff members, right down to the lowest ranking person
The novelty of the cards for those who usually don't have them will entice employees to hand them out. At the same time, you'll make them feel appreciated. Your employees are part of your network, so use their networks to generate business for your company.
8) Use your business cards to introduce yourself to prospects you meet at networking functions, in the park or at your children's soccer games
However, don't be pushy. Make sure the time is appropriate. One way to do this is to ask for the other person's card. He or she will likely ask you for your card in return. Another idea is to hand out two or three cards at a time--one for the person you meet, and extras for him or her to hand out to referrals. (Offering to do the same would be the polite thing to do here.) When you go to the doctor or dentist, present your card to the receptionist to announce your presence.
Leaving your business cards to sit in a box or a drawer collecting dust defeats the purpose of having them. They are inexpensive enough to print by the thousands, so hand them out liberally. It's a cost-effective way to market yourself and your business.
Taken From (http://www.greatfxbusinesscards.com/articles/using-business-cards-to-network-market.htm)
Don't leave them sitting in the box, they do you no good there. Get them into the hands of your prospects! If you think of your business card as a mini-billboard for your company, you'll realize that you need people to see it in order for it to be effective. Here are a few ideas to get you started...
1) Keep them in your pocket, purse, briefcase, and wallet, on your desk, and at the reception area of your office
Leave some in your car. Always have them on hand so you can introduce yourself to new people when the moment is right. They should be a necessary part of your routine before you leaving home every day. When checking for your wallet and keys, check for a stack of business cards too. Keep replenishing your supply.
2) Store your cards in a nice holder so they don't get bent
Keeping your cards in a stylish business card case makes for a better presentation when you hand your cards out. Likewise, treat others' cards well when you accept them. For example, spend a few moments reading the card closely before you put it away. You won't impress the person by mishandling their business card. If your contact information should change, have new cards printed immediately. Writing in your new email address or phone number leaves a bad impression.
3) Place business cards on bulletin boards at local restaurants, supermarkets, libraries, and your children's schools
At your place of business, have a bulletin board where others can post their cards in return for passing out your cards to others. If you see a fishbowl offering a drawing for a prize, throw your business card in. Somebody important might see it and contact you.
4) Include business cards with all of your correspondence, including bills you pay
You never know who might open the mail that day. If realtors can sell houses this way, why can't you generate business the same way? If you ship products, for example, include a card with every package. Send business cards with all thank you notes and letters you send out. Include your contact information in your email signature as well. It serves as an electronic business card.
5) Use them as scrap paper when you need to jot down a note
Instead of a napkin, use the back of your business card to write in your cell phone number. "This is my direct line," you might say, making the prospect feel important and giving him or her a reason to keep your card.
6) Give people a reason to hold on to your card
Print something unique on the back of it--a calendar, a list of your services, important measurements, or anything relevant to your industry. You could also print a coupon on it, and ask them to return the card with their order, so again they have a reason to keep your card.
7) As a business owner or manager, have business cards printed for all staff members, right down to the lowest ranking person
The novelty of the cards for those who usually don't have them will entice employees to hand them out. At the same time, you'll make them feel appreciated. Your employees are part of your network, so use their networks to generate business for your company.
8) Use your business cards to introduce yourself to prospects you meet at networking functions, in the park or at your children's soccer games
However, don't be pushy. Make sure the time is appropriate. One way to do this is to ask for the other person's card. He or she will likely ask you for your card in return. Another idea is to hand out two or three cards at a time--one for the person you meet, and extras for him or her to hand out to referrals. (Offering to do the same would be the polite thing to do here.) When you go to the doctor or dentist, present your card to the receptionist to announce your presence.
Leaving your business cards to sit in a box or a drawer collecting dust defeats the purpose of having them. They are inexpensive enough to print by the thousands, so hand them out liberally. It's a cost-effective way to market yourself and your business.
Taken From (http://www.greatfxbusinesscards.com/articles/using-business-cards-to-network-market.htm)
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Business Card Marketing: Improving Your Business Cards
Your first contact with prospective customers would likely be done through your business cards. When people see your cards, they will most likely see who you are and what you do. Your cards will serve as your visual identity, so you need to make sure your cards are designed well. You need to position yourself and your business effectively in a piece of paper.
Essentially, there is only one great chance you have to make a good first impression. And that is through a well designed business card printing. Your cards are actually effective tools that will help identify and express your message to your customers. But if your cards are boring and unattractive, people will not even give you their time and attention. This is why it is important that your cards are designed creatively and interestingly.
As much as possible, your cards should reflect your good image. Unfortunately, a lot of cards are designed terribly. They are incorporated with bad designs that do not help in giving your business a good impression. Among the bad things people do with their cards are the following:
1. They insist on creating their cards on their own. Because it is much cheaper to create cards on your own, some business owners just buy a paper stock from the local office supply store and print their contact details on it.
2. They try to print on the edges of the card. This does not help in giving your cards a good image.
3. Printing contact details in large and bold font style, making it hard for people to understand the message.
Keep in mind that business cards are only small, making it hard to create a design that delivers the best impact. There is basically no rule on how to design your cards. Your imagination is the limit. You can create any design you want as long as it best represent your business and the products or services you provide. The tough part is creating an attractive design that gives your customers a good and positive idea about you and your business.
Here are some tips to help come up with the best business cards:
1. Make sure your logo is present in all your cards. Your logo will help establish your identity and make it easy for people to remember you.
2. Your company name has to be prominent in your cards. People should easily know the name of your business and recognize it whenever they see your card or your logo.
3. If your business name does not easily tell the type of business you provide, you need to include a tag line in your cards. It should be clear and concise so people will easily understand it.
4. Your name should also be present in your cards. This is the main element that should be present in your cards so people can easily contact you.
5. Your physical address should also be present to give credibility to your business. People who are interested in your will usually look for an address, so make sure your address is in your business card templates.
6. Of course, your phone number(s) should also be present so people can contact you easily. Do not forget to put your area code to make it easy for people to find you.
Taken from(http://proarticlesdaily.com/advertising/print-advertising/business-card-marketing-improving-your-business-cards.html)
Essentially, there is only one great chance you have to make a good first impression. And that is through a well designed business card printing. Your cards are actually effective tools that will help identify and express your message to your customers. But if your cards are boring and unattractive, people will not even give you their time and attention. This is why it is important that your cards are designed creatively and interestingly.
As much as possible, your cards should reflect your good image. Unfortunately, a lot of cards are designed terribly. They are incorporated with bad designs that do not help in giving your business a good impression. Among the bad things people do with their cards are the following:
1. They insist on creating their cards on their own. Because it is much cheaper to create cards on your own, some business owners just buy a paper stock from the local office supply store and print their contact details on it.
2. They try to print on the edges of the card. This does not help in giving your cards a good image.
3. Printing contact details in large and bold font style, making it hard for people to understand the message.
Keep in mind that business cards are only small, making it hard to create a design that delivers the best impact. There is basically no rule on how to design your cards. Your imagination is the limit. You can create any design you want as long as it best represent your business and the products or services you provide. The tough part is creating an attractive design that gives your customers a good and positive idea about you and your business.
Here are some tips to help come up with the best business cards:
1. Make sure your logo is present in all your cards. Your logo will help establish your identity and make it easy for people to remember you.
2. Your company name has to be prominent in your cards. People should easily know the name of your business and recognize it whenever they see your card or your logo.
3. If your business name does not easily tell the type of business you provide, you need to include a tag line in your cards. It should be clear and concise so people will easily understand it.
4. Your name should also be present in your cards. This is the main element that should be present in your cards so people can easily contact you.
5. Your physical address should also be present to give credibility to your business. People who are interested in your will usually look for an address, so make sure your address is in your business card templates.
6. Of course, your phone number(s) should also be present so people can contact you easily. Do not forget to put your area code to make it easy for people to find you.
Taken from(http://proarticlesdaily.com/advertising/print-advertising/business-card-marketing-improving-your-business-cards.html)
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Top 4 Ways To Leverage Small Business Micro Loans
When it comes to finding ways to start a new business, micro loans can mean the difference between failure and success. Micro loans are just that. Small loans $35,000 or under that don’t need a lot of vetting in order to pass muster. Many small businesses don’t need a lot of start-up capital as there may not be a lot of equipment or production stock that has to be purchased, which means the loan may only be needed to establish a store front or convert a home based business into a “real” small business. Leveraging micro loans into a successful business will depend on just how you need to apply it.
Here’s a few ways to leverage a small business micro loan to improve your business:
Buy essential equipment or upgrade outdated equipment to help your business grow. For instance, if you’re doing thermal and screen printed t-shirts, upgrading to new, faster equipment can help you improve production
Utilize or improve marketing techniques to penetrate deeper into existing markets and reach out for new ones. If you do t-shirts, expanding from local markets to a national, internet based market can bring in all sorts of new sales
Purchase needed production materials to meet order needs. For example, to meet orders, purchase t-shirts and materials to take care of the order, using profits to either pay on the loan or to expand.
Use funds to create a place for a new employee. Added help can pay off in marketing, production and in infrastructure as each position plays an important part of growing any business Keep in mind micro loans aren’t huge, but do have rather long payoffs. Up to 6 years to pay off up to $35,000 means you can continue to leverage the profits for a while. But being able to use these micro loans to reach new levels of productivity or reach out with new marketing strategies that pay off is well worth the investment in time and effort we make as small business owners.
When starting a new business, being able to borrow the funds for the initial investment can make the business actually happen. Too many potential small businesses never get started because the money isn’t available directly from banks, relatives or even investors, but a small business micro loan can give you the leverage you need to make your dream business come to life.
Taken from(http://www.freearticlesinc.com/view_article-id-37762-at-Top-4-Ways-To-Leverage-Small-Business-Micro-Loans.html)
Here’s a few ways to leverage a small business micro loan to improve your business:
Buy essential equipment or upgrade outdated equipment to help your business grow. For instance, if you’re doing thermal and screen printed t-shirts, upgrading to new, faster equipment can help you improve production
Utilize or improve marketing techniques to penetrate deeper into existing markets and reach out for new ones. If you do t-shirts, expanding from local markets to a national, internet based market can bring in all sorts of new sales
Purchase needed production materials to meet order needs. For example, to meet orders, purchase t-shirts and materials to take care of the order, using profits to either pay on the loan or to expand.
Use funds to create a place for a new employee. Added help can pay off in marketing, production and in infrastructure as each position plays an important part of growing any business Keep in mind micro loans aren’t huge, but do have rather long payoffs. Up to 6 years to pay off up to $35,000 means you can continue to leverage the profits for a while. But being able to use these micro loans to reach new levels of productivity or reach out with new marketing strategies that pay off is well worth the investment in time and effort we make as small business owners.
When starting a new business, being able to borrow the funds for the initial investment can make the business actually happen. Too many potential small businesses never get started because the money isn’t available directly from banks, relatives or even investors, but a small business micro loan can give you the leverage you need to make your dream business come to life.
Taken from(http://www.freearticlesinc.com/view_article-id-37762-at-Top-4-Ways-To-Leverage-Small-Business-Micro-Loans.html)
Saturday, 23 July 2011
9 New Website Ideas To Make Money
In reality, people don’t pay attention to their ideas at most of the time. We could not predict, how a “silly idea”may change your own life. That too applicable for online based web site businesses. With the evolution of blogs and social media tools, there are tremendous growth in field of online business.
Interestingly, not all of your idea may work well. A bit of luck you need, at the same time, based on the market needs (that’s demand), the value of your idea varies. So i thought of sharing my own ideas which are most common yet worthy to try out as your next website.Idea
#1 Trending Topics Are Meant For Profits.
Trending topics are always hot in Internet. It spreads faster and gains attention of people quickly. People do follow trends in any industry and every one wants to stay tuned with the latest information, news.
The idea is to focus a specific market, and share the latest trends. This way, you could bring a wider audience under your control by making them to follow your web site. You could drive more targeted visitors to these kind of Trending Websites.
#2 Discussion Forums (on future hot topics) That Grows By Itself.
Discussion happens on a topic and it never ends. Every one will have different opinion and always some one there to trigger debates. The idea is to start a forum on a “future hot topic”.Find out the such future topics in Internet to start from today.
For example, 3D television’s are emerging and in 1-2 years the complete world will move into 3D entertainment.
Keeping that in mind, this will be right time today to launch a “forum on 3D” to get into the market earlier. So that after 1-2 years, your forum will lead the 3D television industry.
Think such future hot topics and launch a forum today itself.
#3 Simply, Build Niche Websites.
The simplest of all ideas, building niche web sites. Many of the successful affiliate marketers are applying this business strategy. Build a tiny web site on a micro market and sell products focusing a small audience. Build 5-10 such websites, sit and earn money. This is a most common idea but it works only when you play the wise game of SEO.
An article on how to make money from a new website ? may help you further.
#4 Web store To Sell Android/iPhone/Tablet Apps On Focused Market.
The market of Android, iPhones are trending a lot. It is expected to grow even wider in the up coming years. Even now its late to get into this market, but you could easily fill gaps in the market. Focus a particular audience and sell hand-held applications to them.
For example, start an app store focusing “teenagers” or “woman’s” or “kids gaming industry” or focus “tablet-pc market (emerging one)” which definitely works well. Now-a-days, people are going crazy behind these kind of hand-held applications.
An article on how to start iphone app business ? may help you on this topic.
#5 Amazon Product Website – Still it works !
Amazon still tops the race. The conversion rate on Amazon is higher when compared to other networks. People are more comfort to buy products from Amazon. Simply, become an Amazon affiliate and promote all kind of Amazon products through your website. This business still works as along as you are able to drive visitors who are looking for products online (i mean buyers).
A course on building Amazon web sites may help you further.
#6 Simple Problem Solving Utility Websites.
Internet users are mostly looking for solution to their problems. The idea is to take such problems and provide solution.
A simple utility web site which takes input from the user and helps them to solve their problem. Few examples, a simple online tax calculator, online insurance calculator etc. focusing a particular audience works well.
These are “build and forget” kind of web sites which consistently grows in the market.
#7 Social Media Application Sites.
Social Media application or utilities are still on demand. Shall develop a simple web application which helps to manage social media tools like Twitter, Facebook on a single page. All you need to use their exposed developer API’s to build such tools. These kind of tools are almost saturated in the market but still you could narrow down to a specific market/audience’s.
Further, you could go up steps further in linking multiple social media tools at one place.
#8 Market of Health Care – Still it works !
Whatever technology changes, the market of Health care dominates everywhere. There are always room to enter this competitive market but its worth investing your time and money. Again, you should always be focused in your idea towards a specific audience.
A simple directory to locate Specialized Doctors in your location or a directory to locate Specialized Consultants in your locality are few of the examples.
#9 Always Think, “Outside the Box”.
This is a general point, always think out of box. Don’t go by others directly instead, show a “slight variance” in what you are doing. That variance brings you the winning situation. Websites are meant for profits provided you are able to bring the right audience and make them satisfied.
To conclude, don’t just start a new website with an idea. Instead, spend quality time to analyze which idea works? which idea busts? and take wiser decision, there’s no hurry !
Taken from(http://emoneymakingonline.com/2011/03/01/new-website-ideas/)
Interestingly, not all of your idea may work well. A bit of luck you need, at the same time, based on the market needs (that’s demand), the value of your idea varies. So i thought of sharing my own ideas which are most common yet worthy to try out as your next website.Idea
#1 Trending Topics Are Meant For Profits.
Trending topics are always hot in Internet. It spreads faster and gains attention of people quickly. People do follow trends in any industry and every one wants to stay tuned with the latest information, news.
The idea is to focus a specific market, and share the latest trends. This way, you could bring a wider audience under your control by making them to follow your web site. You could drive more targeted visitors to these kind of Trending Websites.
#2 Discussion Forums (on future hot topics) That Grows By Itself.
Discussion happens on a topic and it never ends. Every one will have different opinion and always some one there to trigger debates. The idea is to start a forum on a “future hot topic”.Find out the such future topics in Internet to start from today.
For example, 3D television’s are emerging and in 1-2 years the complete world will move into 3D entertainment.
Keeping that in mind, this will be right time today to launch a “forum on 3D” to get into the market earlier. So that after 1-2 years, your forum will lead the 3D television industry.
Think such future hot topics and launch a forum today itself.
#3 Simply, Build Niche Websites.
The simplest of all ideas, building niche web sites. Many of the successful affiliate marketers are applying this business strategy. Build a tiny web site on a micro market and sell products focusing a small audience. Build 5-10 such websites, sit and earn money. This is a most common idea but it works only when you play the wise game of SEO.
An article on how to make money from a new website ? may help you further.
#4 Web store To Sell Android/iPhone/Tablet Apps On Focused Market.
The market of Android, iPhones are trending a lot. It is expected to grow even wider in the up coming years. Even now its late to get into this market, but you could easily fill gaps in the market. Focus a particular audience and sell hand-held applications to them.
For example, start an app store focusing “teenagers” or “woman’s” or “kids gaming industry” or focus “tablet-pc market (emerging one)” which definitely works well. Now-a-days, people are going crazy behind these kind of hand-held applications.
An article on how to start iphone app business ? may help you on this topic.
#5 Amazon Product Website – Still it works !
Amazon still tops the race. The conversion rate on Amazon is higher when compared to other networks. People are more comfort to buy products from Amazon. Simply, become an Amazon affiliate and promote all kind of Amazon products through your website. This business still works as along as you are able to drive visitors who are looking for products online (i mean buyers).
A course on building Amazon web sites may help you further.
#6 Simple Problem Solving Utility Websites.
Internet users are mostly looking for solution to their problems. The idea is to take such problems and provide solution.
A simple utility web site which takes input from the user and helps them to solve their problem. Few examples, a simple online tax calculator, online insurance calculator etc. focusing a particular audience works well.
These are “build and forget” kind of web sites which consistently grows in the market.
#7 Social Media Application Sites.
Social Media application or utilities are still on demand. Shall develop a simple web application which helps to manage social media tools like Twitter, Facebook on a single page. All you need to use their exposed developer API’s to build such tools. These kind of tools are almost saturated in the market but still you could narrow down to a specific market/audience’s.
Further, you could go up steps further in linking multiple social media tools at one place.
#8 Market of Health Care – Still it works !
Whatever technology changes, the market of Health care dominates everywhere. There are always room to enter this competitive market but its worth investing your time and money. Again, you should always be focused in your idea towards a specific audience.
A simple directory to locate Specialized Doctors in your location or a directory to locate Specialized Consultants in your locality are few of the examples.
#9 Always Think, “Outside the Box”.
This is a general point, always think out of box. Don’t go by others directly instead, show a “slight variance” in what you are doing. That variance brings you the winning situation. Websites are meant for profits provided you are able to bring the right audience and make them satisfied.
To conclude, don’t just start a new website with an idea. Instead, spend quality time to analyze which idea works? which idea busts? and take wiser decision, there’s no hurry !
Taken from(http://emoneymakingonline.com/2011/03/01/new-website-ideas/)
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Job Interview Tip - Improve Your Interview Technique
A job interview gives you a chance to shine. What you say and what you do is going to either move you to the next round of consideration for employment or knock you out of contention. It doesn't take much to make an impression - good or bad. If you haven't taken time to dress appropriately or if you say the "wrong" thing, it will be over.
Take the time to prepare your interview technique including knowing what's on your resume, being able to present why you are qualified for the job, why you are interested in the company, and practicing staying calm and focused. It's important to remember that the image the interviewer has of you when he first meets you is the one that is going to last.
Know the Facts
I've been surprised when applicants weren't able to tell me their dates of employment or what they actually did on a day-to-day basis at their job. Review your work history - and make sure what you say matches what's on your resume. Take the time to learn about the company and about the job you're applying for.
What You Don't Say
What you don't say can - and will - be used against you in a job interview. If you come to an interview chewing gum or drinking coffee, you will already have one strike against you. Too much perfume or not enough deodorant won't help either. Not being dressed appropriately or having scuffed shoes will give you a second strike. Talking or texting on your cell phone or listening to an iPod while waiting to be called for the interview may be your final strike and you could be done with your candidacy before you even say a word.
What You Do Say
Your verbal communications are important. Don't use slang. Speak clearly and definitely. If you need to think about a response to an interview question, that's fine. It's better to think before you talk than to stumble over your words. Practice answering some interview questions so you're comfortable responding the basics.
Listen
It can be easy to get distracted during a job interview. It's stressful and you're in the hot seat when it comes to having to respond to questions. That said, if you do your best to listen to what the interviewer is asking, it will be easier to frame appropriate responses.
Taken From (http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviews/qt/interviewtiptechnique.htm)
Take the time to prepare your interview technique including knowing what's on your resume, being able to present why you are qualified for the job, why you are interested in the company, and practicing staying calm and focused. It's important to remember that the image the interviewer has of you when he first meets you is the one that is going to last.
Know the Facts
I've been surprised when applicants weren't able to tell me their dates of employment or what they actually did on a day-to-day basis at their job. Review your work history - and make sure what you say matches what's on your resume. Take the time to learn about the company and about the job you're applying for.
What You Don't Say
What you don't say can - and will - be used against you in a job interview. If you come to an interview chewing gum or drinking coffee, you will already have one strike against you. Too much perfume or not enough deodorant won't help either. Not being dressed appropriately or having scuffed shoes will give you a second strike. Talking or texting on your cell phone or listening to an iPod while waiting to be called for the interview may be your final strike and you could be done with your candidacy before you even say a word.
What You Do Say
Your verbal communications are important. Don't use slang. Speak clearly and definitely. If you need to think about a response to an interview question, that's fine. It's better to think before you talk than to stumble over your words. Practice answering some interview questions so you're comfortable responding the basics.
Listen
It can be easy to get distracted during a job interview. It's stressful and you're in the hot seat when it comes to having to respond to questions. That said, if you do your best to listen to what the interviewer is asking, it will be easier to frame appropriate responses.
Taken From (http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviews/qt/interviewtiptechnique.htm)
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
50 Ways to Save Money in Your Business
On a shoestring budget (and what entrepreneur isn't?), it really pays to scrimp and save. Just in case you've forgotten the value of a hard-earned penny, we've come up with a slew of money-saving ideas to boost your business's bottom line-from cutting your legal bills to inexpensive ways to draw in customers. Though some tips will save you more money than others, the end result of your overall spendthrift strategy could add up to a bundle.
Penny-Pinching Promotions
1. Piggyback your advertising. Including advertising material in other mailings, such as in invoices, saves postage and other costs, says J. Donald Weinrauch, co-author of The Frugal Marketer. Likewise, make the most of your point-of-purchase opportunities by tucking coupons, newsletters or other promotional fliers in the bag with customers' purchases.
2. Be a good neighbor. Split advertising and promotion costs with neighboring businesses. Jointly promote a sidewalk sale, or take your marketing alliance further by sharing mailing lists, distribution channels and suppliers with businesses that sell complementary goods or services.
3. Ask the people you know for help. The kind of support you'd most like to get from your contacts is referrals-the names of specific individuals who need your products and services. So go ahead and ask! Your contacts can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals.
4. Got a happy customer? By telling others what they've gained from using your products or services in presentations or informal conversations, your sources can encourage others to use your products or services.
5. Make a special TV appearance. Local cable TV stations often have very reasonable advertising rates at time slots throughout the day and night. Though you won't necessarily reach prime-time viewers, you will make an impression where it counts-in the comfort of potential customers' homes.
6. Offer expert advice. Teaching a class, speaking at a community meeting, or writing an article for a local paper not only makes you look like an expert but garners low-cost attention for your business.
Read more online here.
Internet Ideas
7. Start your search engines. Research your market and find potential visitors for your Web site by looking through Usenet newsgroups (forums on the Internet where people post messages for public viewing) and special-interest groups related to your target market, product or service. Or, if you have America Online, visit their Small Business Center, which includes libraries of small-business information you can download at no charge.
8. Cut costs when setting up your online store. Think going online has to cost an arm and a leg? You can start out by selling items for next to nothing on online auction sites like eBay and Yahoo! Auctions . If you want to create a professional storefront, there are several "Web site in a box" solutions available, usually for a low monthly fee.
Read more online here.
9. Start chatting. Find newsgroups that cater to your audience, and join the fray. "I didn't start [participating in online discussion groups] to generate business, but as a way to find information for myself on various subjects," says Shel Horowitz, owner of Northampton, Massachusetts-based Accurate Writing & More and author of several marketing books, including Grassroots Marketing. "But it turned out to be the single best marketing tool I use. It costs only my time. [One] list alone has gotten me around 60 clients in the past five years." Always include your URL in your signature, but don't do any hard selling-most groups will ban you immediately. Instead, provide useful information that'll make people will want to click on your site.
10. Spread the word yourself. Are you letting people know what your URL is? Try putting it on your letterhead and business cards and in e-mail signatures-wherever potential visitors are likely to see it. Include it on employee uniforms, any promotional items you give away, all press releases, in your Yellow Pages ad and on company vehicles.
Location Logic
11. Get a suite deal. You don't have to run your office full-time from an executive suite to benefit from its services. Many homebased entrepreneurs find executive suites meet a range of needs, including access to a private mailbox and a receptionist to answer or forward calls to your home office. Visit the Office Business Center Association International Web site for more information.
12. Be mobile. While the costs of establishing a permanent retail location can be steep-you may spend up to $100,000 or more, with leases spanning three to 10 years-carts, kiosks and temporary spaces can be an easier way to get a foot in the door with a lot less risk. The upfront investment for a kiosk or a cart ranges from just $2,000 to $10,000, according to Patricia Norins, publisher of Specialty Retail Report. License agreements for carts and kiosks are shorter and are usually renewed every month up to one year depending on the location. This arrangement makes it easy for entrepreneurs to "come in, try it out for a month, and if their product isn't working, shift to a new product line or close up shop and move to a new location," Norins says.
Office Overhead
13. Buy recycled printer cartridges. Check Google or your Yellow Pages for a local recycled printer cartridge supplier. Or if you want to mix your charitable instincts with your printing needs, visit www.lasermonks.com , a remanufactured printing supply company run by a group of monks in Wisconsin who, after business expenses are paid, donate their profits.
14. Fill it out for free. Instead of buying forms at your local office supply store or spending time creating them yourself, you can find tons of free forms online that you can download, customize and print. Our free forms on Formnet can get you started.
15. Get free software. Visit Download.com to try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, freeware and limited versions of the full product. Visit our Complete Guide to Software to find the best software options for small businesses, including many links to the free trials of those brands. Another tip: If you haven't found what you're looking for through Download.com or our software guide, check out the manufacturer's site. Most offer free trial downloads.
16. Buy used equipment. Save up to 60 percent by buying used computer equipment, copiers and office furniture from stores such as the nationwide Aaron Rents & Sells chain. Auctions and newspaper classifieds are other good sources of used equipment.
Insurance Intelligence
17. Save by association. When looking for insurance, check with your trade association. Many associations offer competitive group insurance.
18. Be prepared. Buying appropriate insurance upfront saves money in the long run, says Jeanne Salvatore of the Insurance Information Institute , a nonprofit organization in New York City. Consider what situations would be catastrophic to your business and protect yourself with adequate insurance. "Disaster recovery," says Salvatore, "is one area where business owners shouldn't scrimp."
19. Make a foul-weather friend. By arranging for an alternative place to run your business in case of a major disaster, you may be able to save on business interruption insurance, advises the Insurance Information Institute. For instance, you could arrange with a firm in the same industry to use their facilities in case of damage, and vice versa.
20. Check up on your medical insurance. Before choosing a medical insurance carrier, ask for information on past claims and the loss ratio of paid claims to premiums, advises the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Virginia.
21. Raise your deductible. Raising the deductible on your insurance usually lowers your premiums. Even if you end up having to pay the deductible, it's likely to be less than the amount you save.
Employee Economics
22. Aim to lease. Employee leasing-in which you turn over your work force to a professional employer organization that leases your employees back to you-can save you substantial cash on employee benefits, says Bruce Steinberg at the American Staffing Association (ASA). For referral to a leasing company near you, visit the ASA online at www.staffingtoday.net .
23. Go with the flow. Rather than paying for employees who sit idle when business is slow, consider hiring temporary employees to handle surges in business.
24. Make experience count. Get free or low-cost help-and give local college students a chance to learn the ropes-by hiring interns.
25. Use independent contractors. Employers generally don't have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors. But be very careful that your independent contractors fit the definition provided by the IRS or you could face penalties.
26. Commission your sales force. Overhead, salaries, incentives, training costs, fringe benefits and expenses add up when you're hiring your own sales representatives. Contracting independent manufacturers' sales reps, paid on commission only, is less expensive-and often equally effective.
Shipping Savings
27. Clean up your mailing list. The U.S. Postal Service will clean up your mailing list for free, correcting addresses, noting incomplete addresses and adding ZIP+4 numbers so you'll be eligible for bar-code discounts.
28. Prune that mailing list even more. The Direct Marketing Association offers this checklist of cost-cutting ideas. Eliminate nonresponders and marginal prospects; print "Address Correction Requested" on the face of your mail; investigate co-mingling your mail with that of other small mailers to take advantage of discounts available mainly to large mailers; and stockpile mail to build up larger volumes.
29. Be an early bird. Send mail early in the day, and you can usually expect to get one- to two-day delivery for the price of a first-class stamp.
30. Shop around for an overnight courier. Overnight delivery rates for the major couriers are competitive; however, if you're willing to wait a few hours-or even an extra day-you could save.
Tax Tactics
31. Mind some petty pointers. Don't get careless about your petty cash account. "Though you don't need receipts for expenses under $75, you should still track these expenses since they can add up," advises Holmes Crouch, author of 18 tax books.
32. Hire your children. If your children are at least 14 years old and pay their own taxes, it pays to take advantage of their lower tax bracket. "You can essentially transfer income from your business to them [to save money]," says David L. Scott, author of The Guide to Saving Money (The Globe Pequot Press).
33. Take a stand on taxes. If your business is new in the neighborhood, you may be at a higher tax rate than those who have been there longer. "Go to city hall to determine what your neighbors are paying, and use this to negotiate a better rate," says Pete Collins of New York City-based Price water house Coopers LLP. "Expanding businesses can often negotiate with community authorities, who want them to stay in town rather than move and take jobs elsewhere."
34. Homebased? Don't overlook crucial tax deductions. In addition to being able to deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage interest and utilities as a business expense, you can also deduct a percentage of various home maintenance expenses, along with a portion of the cost of services such as house cleaning and lawn care. Check out the IRS's Web site , or check with a knowledgeable tax advisor for more information.
35. Get out on the town. If much of your business is conducted at restaurants or you find yourself driving to clients' offices, make sure you take those deductions. If you entertain clients or potential clients to discuss a current or future project, you can deduct a portion of your entertainment costs. To qualify for this deduction, you must maintain a log of entertainment-related expenses you plan to deduct. For mileage, you can deduct 37.5 cents per mile in 2004. This figure usually changes annually, so check with your accountant at the beginning of each year.
Financial Focus
36. Make credit comparisons. If you tend to run unpaid balances on your credit cards at the end of the month, shop for a card with a low interest rate. If you pay in full, it's more important to avoid an annual fee and look for a longer grace period. "Often credit card issuers waive the annual fee or reduce the interest rate if you ask," says Scott. "Just tell your credit card company you've had several solicitations from other companies with more favorable interest rates or no annual fees, and ask if they will reduce yours."
37. Avoid cash advances. "Credit card companies usually charge an upfront fee of up to 2 percent of the advance, with interest accruing immediately," says Scott.
38. Bank on an early deposit. Make bank deposits early enough in the day so you get credit (and start earning interest) that day.
39. Get checks in the mail. Ordering your checks from a printing company often costs less than getting them from a bank. Options include Checks in the Mail and Designer Checks .
40. Form a buying alliance. Join with another business or a trade association for bulk purchasing discounts.
41. Take it with you. If you're near your suppliers, pick up your order yourself-or perhaps have a friend or family member do it for you, suggests Sarah Williams Steinman, president of Casco Bay Herb Co., an herbal soap manufacturer in Cumberland, Maine. For example, Steinman's husband travels throughout the Northeast. "He keeps me updated as to when he might be near one of my suppliers," she says. "He often travels through the town where my olive oil supplier is, and he'll pick up a few hundred pounds of oil on his way home. That saves me about $75 in shipping." Caution: Pick up supplies yourself only when it truly saves you money. If it's taking you away from a revenue-producing activity, you're not really saving.
42. Be reluctant to give credit. If you do extend credit, thoroughly check the client's credit background, says Collins. For less-than-creditworthy accounts, Collins advises considering the following actions: Collect cash in advance; send partial shipments; request letters of credit, personal guarantees and a pledge of assets; take out credit insurance; or think about factoring (see below).
Professional Policies
43. Query your consultants. The professionals you work with regularly are often easy to bargain with, thanks to the rapport you've developed with them. Ask your insurance agent, accountant or attorney how you can cut back on their costs. You'd be surprised at the suggestions they might offer on ways to cut your premiums, reduce billable hours or avoid huge retainers. You might also barter your services.
44. Be a legal eagle. When hiring an attorney, make sure you have a written fee agreement to prevent surprises. It should include an estimate of the time to be spent on your case and specify what's covered in the fee-including typing or copying-and what is not.
45. Learn something new. Rather than pay a consultant to write your press releases, for example, hire one for an hour or so to show you how to do it yourself.
46. Run from the law. "Avoiding lawsuits is a big factor in business success," says tax book author Crouch. "Even arbitration can get expensive." The best alternative: Try to work out any problems before they grow to the point that attorneys get involved. "Don't ignore any written or phone complaints."
Buying Brainpower
47. Stretch your budget with barter. Swapping one product or service for another is a good way to avoid cash outlays-and unload slow-moving inventory. If you'd rather not bargain with other businesses directly, hire a commissioned barter broker (listed in the Yellow Pages under "Barter"), or join a commercial barter club or exchange. The National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) is a clearinghouse for member exchanges across the country, allowing business owners to swap just about anything with anyone. Participants typically receive "trade dollars" for their goods or services, which are brokered across cities nationwide with the help of NATE. Visit NATE at www.nate.org .
48. Time your payments. Ask suppliers if they give discounts for early payment. If not, it's to your advantage to pay your bills-including utilities, taxes and suppliers-as late as possible without incurring a fee, advises Scott. "The longer funds are under your control," he says, "the longer they're earning a return for you rather than someone else."
49. Join an association. Many trade and business associations have reasonable membership fees and offer discounts on everything from insurance, travel and car rental to long-distance phone service, prescriptions and even golf course fees.
50. Seek at least three bids on everything. Even mundane purchases merit shopping around. If you quote a competitor's lower price, a supplier or vendor will often match that price to win your business.
Taken From (http://www.entrepreneur.com/money/howtoguide/article71318.html)
Penny-Pinching Promotions
1. Piggyback your advertising. Including advertising material in other mailings, such as in invoices, saves postage and other costs, says J. Donald Weinrauch, co-author of The Frugal Marketer. Likewise, make the most of your point-of-purchase opportunities by tucking coupons, newsletters or other promotional fliers in the bag with customers' purchases.
2. Be a good neighbor. Split advertising and promotion costs with neighboring businesses. Jointly promote a sidewalk sale, or take your marketing alliance further by sharing mailing lists, distribution channels and suppliers with businesses that sell complementary goods or services.
3. Ask the people you know for help. The kind of support you'd most like to get from your contacts is referrals-the names of specific individuals who need your products and services. So go ahead and ask! Your contacts can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals.
4. Got a happy customer? By telling others what they've gained from using your products or services in presentations or informal conversations, your sources can encourage others to use your products or services.
5. Make a special TV appearance. Local cable TV stations often have very reasonable advertising rates at time slots throughout the day and night. Though you won't necessarily reach prime-time viewers, you will make an impression where it counts-in the comfort of potential customers' homes.
6. Offer expert advice. Teaching a class, speaking at a community meeting, or writing an article for a local paper not only makes you look like an expert but garners low-cost attention for your business.
Read more online here.
Internet Ideas
7. Start your search engines. Research your market and find potential visitors for your Web site by looking through Usenet newsgroups (forums on the Internet where people post messages for public viewing) and special-interest groups related to your target market, product or service. Or, if you have America Online, visit their Small Business Center, which includes libraries of small-business information you can download at no charge.
8. Cut costs when setting up your online store. Think going online has to cost an arm and a leg? You can start out by selling items for next to nothing on online auction sites like eBay and Yahoo! Auctions . If you want to create a professional storefront, there are several "Web site in a box" solutions available, usually for a low monthly fee.
Read more online here.
9. Start chatting. Find newsgroups that cater to your audience, and join the fray. "I didn't start [participating in online discussion groups] to generate business, but as a way to find information for myself on various subjects," says Shel Horowitz, owner of Northampton, Massachusetts-based Accurate Writing & More and author of several marketing books, including Grassroots Marketing. "But it turned out to be the single best marketing tool I use. It costs only my time. [One] list alone has gotten me around 60 clients in the past five years." Always include your URL in your signature, but don't do any hard selling-most groups will ban you immediately. Instead, provide useful information that'll make people will want to click on your site.
10. Spread the word yourself. Are you letting people know what your URL is? Try putting it on your letterhead and business cards and in e-mail signatures-wherever potential visitors are likely to see it. Include it on employee uniforms, any promotional items you give away, all press releases, in your Yellow Pages ad and on company vehicles.
Location Logic
11. Get a suite deal. You don't have to run your office full-time from an executive suite to benefit from its services. Many homebased entrepreneurs find executive suites meet a range of needs, including access to a private mailbox and a receptionist to answer or forward calls to your home office. Visit the Office Business Center Association International Web site for more information.
12. Be mobile. While the costs of establishing a permanent retail location can be steep-you may spend up to $100,000 or more, with leases spanning three to 10 years-carts, kiosks and temporary spaces can be an easier way to get a foot in the door with a lot less risk. The upfront investment for a kiosk or a cart ranges from just $2,000 to $10,000, according to Patricia Norins, publisher of Specialty Retail Report. License agreements for carts and kiosks are shorter and are usually renewed every month up to one year depending on the location. This arrangement makes it easy for entrepreneurs to "come in, try it out for a month, and if their product isn't working, shift to a new product line or close up shop and move to a new location," Norins says.
Office Overhead
13. Buy recycled printer cartridges. Check Google or your Yellow Pages for a local recycled printer cartridge supplier. Or if you want to mix your charitable instincts with your printing needs, visit www.lasermonks.com , a remanufactured printing supply company run by a group of monks in Wisconsin who, after business expenses are paid, donate their profits.
14. Fill it out for free. Instead of buying forms at your local office supply store or spending time creating them yourself, you can find tons of free forms online that you can download, customize and print. Our free forms on Formnet can get you started.
15. Get free software. Visit Download.com to try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, freeware and limited versions of the full product. Visit our Complete Guide to Software to find the best software options for small businesses, including many links to the free trials of those brands. Another tip: If you haven't found what you're looking for through Download.com or our software guide, check out the manufacturer's site. Most offer free trial downloads.
16. Buy used equipment. Save up to 60 percent by buying used computer equipment, copiers and office furniture from stores such as the nationwide Aaron Rents & Sells chain. Auctions and newspaper classifieds are other good sources of used equipment.
Insurance Intelligence
17. Save by association. When looking for insurance, check with your trade association. Many associations offer competitive group insurance.
18. Be prepared. Buying appropriate insurance upfront saves money in the long run, says Jeanne Salvatore of the Insurance Information Institute , a nonprofit organization in New York City. Consider what situations would be catastrophic to your business and protect yourself with adequate insurance. "Disaster recovery," says Salvatore, "is one area where business owners shouldn't scrimp."
19. Make a foul-weather friend. By arranging for an alternative place to run your business in case of a major disaster, you may be able to save on business interruption insurance, advises the Insurance Information Institute. For instance, you could arrange with a firm in the same industry to use their facilities in case of damage, and vice versa.
20. Check up on your medical insurance. Before choosing a medical insurance carrier, ask for information on past claims and the loss ratio of paid claims to premiums, advises the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Virginia.
21. Raise your deductible. Raising the deductible on your insurance usually lowers your premiums. Even if you end up having to pay the deductible, it's likely to be less than the amount you save.
Employee Economics
22. Aim to lease. Employee leasing-in which you turn over your work force to a professional employer organization that leases your employees back to you-can save you substantial cash on employee benefits, says Bruce Steinberg at the American Staffing Association (ASA). For referral to a leasing company near you, visit the ASA online at www.staffingtoday.net .
23. Go with the flow. Rather than paying for employees who sit idle when business is slow, consider hiring temporary employees to handle surges in business.
24. Make experience count. Get free or low-cost help-and give local college students a chance to learn the ropes-by hiring interns.
25. Use independent contractors. Employers generally don't have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors. But be very careful that your independent contractors fit the definition provided by the IRS or you could face penalties.
26. Commission your sales force. Overhead, salaries, incentives, training costs, fringe benefits and expenses add up when you're hiring your own sales representatives. Contracting independent manufacturers' sales reps, paid on commission only, is less expensive-and often equally effective.
Shipping Savings
27. Clean up your mailing list. The U.S. Postal Service will clean up your mailing list for free, correcting addresses, noting incomplete addresses and adding ZIP+4 numbers so you'll be eligible for bar-code discounts.
28. Prune that mailing list even more. The Direct Marketing Association offers this checklist of cost-cutting ideas. Eliminate nonresponders and marginal prospects; print "Address Correction Requested" on the face of your mail; investigate co-mingling your mail with that of other small mailers to take advantage of discounts available mainly to large mailers; and stockpile mail to build up larger volumes.
29. Be an early bird. Send mail early in the day, and you can usually expect to get one- to two-day delivery for the price of a first-class stamp.
30. Shop around for an overnight courier. Overnight delivery rates for the major couriers are competitive; however, if you're willing to wait a few hours-or even an extra day-you could save.
Tax Tactics
31. Mind some petty pointers. Don't get careless about your petty cash account. "Though you don't need receipts for expenses under $75, you should still track these expenses since they can add up," advises Holmes Crouch, author of 18 tax books.
32. Hire your children. If your children are at least 14 years old and pay their own taxes, it pays to take advantage of their lower tax bracket. "You can essentially transfer income from your business to them [to save money]," says David L. Scott, author of The Guide to Saving Money (The Globe Pequot Press).
33. Take a stand on taxes. If your business is new in the neighborhood, you may be at a higher tax rate than those who have been there longer. "Go to city hall to determine what your neighbors are paying, and use this to negotiate a better rate," says Pete Collins of New York City-based Price water house Coopers LLP. "Expanding businesses can often negotiate with community authorities, who want them to stay in town rather than move and take jobs elsewhere."
34. Homebased? Don't overlook crucial tax deductions. In addition to being able to deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage interest and utilities as a business expense, you can also deduct a percentage of various home maintenance expenses, along with a portion of the cost of services such as house cleaning and lawn care. Check out the IRS's Web site , or check with a knowledgeable tax advisor for more information.
35. Get out on the town. If much of your business is conducted at restaurants or you find yourself driving to clients' offices, make sure you take those deductions. If you entertain clients or potential clients to discuss a current or future project, you can deduct a portion of your entertainment costs. To qualify for this deduction, you must maintain a log of entertainment-related expenses you plan to deduct. For mileage, you can deduct 37.5 cents per mile in 2004. This figure usually changes annually, so check with your accountant at the beginning of each year.
Financial Focus
36. Make credit comparisons. If you tend to run unpaid balances on your credit cards at the end of the month, shop for a card with a low interest rate. If you pay in full, it's more important to avoid an annual fee and look for a longer grace period. "Often credit card issuers waive the annual fee or reduce the interest rate if you ask," says Scott. "Just tell your credit card company you've had several solicitations from other companies with more favorable interest rates or no annual fees, and ask if they will reduce yours."
37. Avoid cash advances. "Credit card companies usually charge an upfront fee of up to 2 percent of the advance, with interest accruing immediately," says Scott.
38. Bank on an early deposit. Make bank deposits early enough in the day so you get credit (and start earning interest) that day.
39. Get checks in the mail. Ordering your checks from a printing company often costs less than getting them from a bank. Options include Checks in the Mail and Designer Checks .
40. Form a buying alliance. Join with another business or a trade association for bulk purchasing discounts.
41. Take it with you. If you're near your suppliers, pick up your order yourself-or perhaps have a friend or family member do it for you, suggests Sarah Williams Steinman, president of Casco Bay Herb Co., an herbal soap manufacturer in Cumberland, Maine. For example, Steinman's husband travels throughout the Northeast. "He keeps me updated as to when he might be near one of my suppliers," she says. "He often travels through the town where my olive oil supplier is, and he'll pick up a few hundred pounds of oil on his way home. That saves me about $75 in shipping." Caution: Pick up supplies yourself only when it truly saves you money. If it's taking you away from a revenue-producing activity, you're not really saving.
42. Be reluctant to give credit. If you do extend credit, thoroughly check the client's credit background, says Collins. For less-than-creditworthy accounts, Collins advises considering the following actions: Collect cash in advance; send partial shipments; request letters of credit, personal guarantees and a pledge of assets; take out credit insurance; or think about factoring (see below).
Professional Policies
43. Query your consultants. The professionals you work with regularly are often easy to bargain with, thanks to the rapport you've developed with them. Ask your insurance agent, accountant or attorney how you can cut back on their costs. You'd be surprised at the suggestions they might offer on ways to cut your premiums, reduce billable hours or avoid huge retainers. You might also barter your services.
44. Be a legal eagle. When hiring an attorney, make sure you have a written fee agreement to prevent surprises. It should include an estimate of the time to be spent on your case and specify what's covered in the fee-including typing or copying-and what is not.
45. Learn something new. Rather than pay a consultant to write your press releases, for example, hire one for an hour or so to show you how to do it yourself.
46. Run from the law. "Avoiding lawsuits is a big factor in business success," says tax book author Crouch. "Even arbitration can get expensive." The best alternative: Try to work out any problems before they grow to the point that attorneys get involved. "Don't ignore any written or phone complaints."
Buying Brainpower
47. Stretch your budget with barter. Swapping one product or service for another is a good way to avoid cash outlays-and unload slow-moving inventory. If you'd rather not bargain with other businesses directly, hire a commissioned barter broker (listed in the Yellow Pages under "Barter"), or join a commercial barter club or exchange. The National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) is a clearinghouse for member exchanges across the country, allowing business owners to swap just about anything with anyone. Participants typically receive "trade dollars" for their goods or services, which are brokered across cities nationwide with the help of NATE. Visit NATE at www.nate.org .
48. Time your payments. Ask suppliers if they give discounts for early payment. If not, it's to your advantage to pay your bills-including utilities, taxes and suppliers-as late as possible without incurring a fee, advises Scott. "The longer funds are under your control," he says, "the longer they're earning a return for you rather than someone else."
49. Join an association. Many trade and business associations have reasonable membership fees and offer discounts on everything from insurance, travel and car rental to long-distance phone service, prescriptions and even golf course fees.
50. Seek at least three bids on everything. Even mundane purchases merit shopping around. If you quote a competitor's lower price, a supplier or vendor will often match that price to win your business.
Taken From (http://www.entrepreneur.com/money/howtoguide/article71318.html)
Monday, 18 July 2011
Money Saving Tips & Ideas
Building a savings can mean the difference between sink and swim in money management. However, sometimes finding money to save is like trying to walk on water.
Ben Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Here are few money saving tips that help cut expenses and add cash to your coffers.
Here's another old adage - "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Before you decide to trash something, find out if it has value. Sell it at E-bay, sell it on consignment, sell it at a garage sale. You can always throw it away later if it doesn't sell!
When you need to buy, shop and save by planning your shopping trips in entirety.
Always comparison shop for large ticket items. Subtract coupon and rebate offers from prices before you buy and check sale priced items against competition's regular priced items to see if the offered discount really is a bargain.
Buy groceries and department store items at the store that offers the most savings overall. With gas prices these days, it just isn't practical to drive across town to save a nickel on a can of vegetable soup.
If you wouldn't buy it without a coupon, don't buy it with one. If you are shopping with coupons, be sure to check and see if a comparable brand (or a generic item) is less expensive even with no coupon. If it is, toss that coupon out. You won't be needing it!
Using a shopping list can eliminate return trips for forgotten items and also help you resist impulse buying. Crossing off items as you find them lets you know when it's time to go to the checkout.
Pay cash when you can and chalk up the savings on credit card interest. However, pay attention to fees when withdrawing cash at ATMs with debit cards. Look for ATMs that offer free cash withdrawals.
Credit card balance transfers and debt consolidation offers may look very lucrative at first glance, but before you transfer that balance or roll your debts into one loan, make sure the total package, including fees and future interest rates adds up on the plus side of your budget. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has a wealth of tips on finding and doing business with reputable companies.
Many insurance companies offer significant discounts when you bundle your insurances with them. Before you decide to purchase lower priced vehicle insurance, add up the totals for house (or renters), vehicle, life, and medical insurance policies and go with the company or companies that offer the best overall plan.
Useful utility savings.
Set your thermostat to the temperature where you feel most comfortable and leave it there. Furnace and air conditioner stops and starts are big power drains, especially when they need to reheat or re-cool your home.
Before you turn on air conditioning in warm weather months, spend a few days with open windows and doors.
Before you turn up the heat, put on a sweater. When sitting idle while reading or watching television, stay cozy with a lap robe or small blanket.
Turn off the lights!
Turn off your computer when you're finished for the night. That e-mail will download in the morning.
Unless you frequently use long-distance, you can cut long-distance fees by dropping long distance services from your monthly phone bill and using a phone card or a long-distance connection service like 1010-321 or 1010-987. Internet services like Vonage and Skype also offer affordable ways to reach out and talk to someone.
Cable and satellite dish television connections are wonderful luxuries. However, do you really need 30 premium channels? Frequently check with your provider to see if new packages might better suit your needs at a lower price.
Keep your checkbook in balance. Aside from the embarrassment of reclaiming a bad check, bank and merchant overdraft fees can quickly bust your budget. In addition, banks do sometimes make errors. If it's only a nickel - well, it's your nickel. Make your bank make it right!
Track your spending for 30 days. Then decide what items you are willing to sacrifice to save money. Would you be just as happy with a glass of water at lunch or is that $2.00 cup of coffee or soda necessary to your diet? However, the important phrase is "willing to sacrifice". Although all of us could sacrifice a few things, the truth is that often we just won't. Don't make promises to yourself that you won't keep.
Taken From (http://www.moneymanagementtips.com/saving.htm)
Ben Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." Here are few money saving tips that help cut expenses and add cash to your coffers.
Here's another old adage - "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Before you decide to trash something, find out if it has value. Sell it at E-bay, sell it on consignment, sell it at a garage sale. You can always throw it away later if it doesn't sell!
When you need to buy, shop and save by planning your shopping trips in entirety.
Always comparison shop for large ticket items. Subtract coupon and rebate offers from prices before you buy and check sale priced items against competition's regular priced items to see if the offered discount really is a bargain.
Buy groceries and department store items at the store that offers the most savings overall. With gas prices these days, it just isn't practical to drive across town to save a nickel on a can of vegetable soup.
If you wouldn't buy it without a coupon, don't buy it with one. If you are shopping with coupons, be sure to check and see if a comparable brand (or a generic item) is less expensive even with no coupon. If it is, toss that coupon out. You won't be needing it!
Using a shopping list can eliminate return trips for forgotten items and also help you resist impulse buying. Crossing off items as you find them lets you know when it's time to go to the checkout.
Pay cash when you can and chalk up the savings on credit card interest. However, pay attention to fees when withdrawing cash at ATMs with debit cards. Look for ATMs that offer free cash withdrawals.
Credit card balance transfers and debt consolidation offers may look very lucrative at first glance, but before you transfer that balance or roll your debts into one loan, make sure the total package, including fees and future interest rates adds up on the plus side of your budget. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has a wealth of tips on finding and doing business with reputable companies.
Many insurance companies offer significant discounts when you bundle your insurances with them. Before you decide to purchase lower priced vehicle insurance, add up the totals for house (or renters), vehicle, life, and medical insurance policies and go with the company or companies that offer the best overall plan.
Useful utility savings.
Set your thermostat to the temperature where you feel most comfortable and leave it there. Furnace and air conditioner stops and starts are big power drains, especially when they need to reheat or re-cool your home.
Before you turn on air conditioning in warm weather months, spend a few days with open windows and doors.
Before you turn up the heat, put on a sweater. When sitting idle while reading or watching television, stay cozy with a lap robe or small blanket.
Turn off the lights!
Turn off your computer when you're finished for the night. That e-mail will download in the morning.
Unless you frequently use long-distance, you can cut long-distance fees by dropping long distance services from your monthly phone bill and using a phone card or a long-distance connection service like 1010-321 or 1010-987. Internet services like Vonage and Skype also offer affordable ways to reach out and talk to someone.
Cable and satellite dish television connections are wonderful luxuries. However, do you really need 30 premium channels? Frequently check with your provider to see if new packages might better suit your needs at a lower price.
Keep your checkbook in balance. Aside from the embarrassment of reclaiming a bad check, bank and merchant overdraft fees can quickly bust your budget. In addition, banks do sometimes make errors. If it's only a nickel - well, it's your nickel. Make your bank make it right!
Track your spending for 30 days. Then decide what items you are willing to sacrifice to save money. Would you be just as happy with a glass of water at lunch or is that $2.00 cup of coffee or soda necessary to your diet? However, the important phrase is "willing to sacrifice". Although all of us could sacrifice a few things, the truth is that often we just won't. Don't make promises to yourself that you won't keep.
Taken From (http://www.moneymanagementtips.com/saving.htm)
Making Extra Money
Are you interested in making extra money? Of course, we all are.
Whether you are looking to start your own business so you can one day quit your job or you are just looking to have a few extra bucks in your pocket each month, there are many ways to make money from home. And most won't cost you anything to get started.
Listed below are some suggestions on how you can earn extra money. My family has done extensive research on this topic. Since my wife is now a stay-at-home mom, we are always looking for ways to increase our income.
Online survey websites are an easy way to make a few extra bucks. You can sit at home in your pajamas and get paid cash for filling out fun surveys or even watching movie trailers for new films that haven't even been released yet! Just use caution as there are lots of scam sites out there that don't deliver.
If you have your own blog (and these days who doesn't?) are you making money from it? If not, you're crazy. Blogs are here to stay and they are still relatively untapped when it comes to advertising. So why not get in on the ground floor and start making money from your blog? To learn everything you need to get started I strongly recommend you check out ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. I've read it myself and highly recommend it.
Starting a business on eBay is an increasingly popular way to make money. You can start by selling off items from your basement, attic, or garage. Then, branch out into other areas. Search local newspapers and stores for items that you can buy and then resell online. Once you get the ball rolling, the money will start pouring in.
If you don't have much money or want to get payday loans to start up a business and don't want to be bothered with shipping and inventory, you should consider Affiliate Programs. You recommend products to consumers and earn a commission on their purchases. Thousands of online merchants have affiliate programs and the potential is virtually limitless. Anyone can set up a profitable website for less than $50 a year.
Mystery Shopping is a great way to earn extra income and also get loads of free merchandise. You can make your own schedule and work as much or as little as you want.
Writing and selling your own eBook is a fantastic way to make extra money, and it is a lot easier than you would think. I didn't know the first thing about creating eBooks when I decided to write and publish my Saving 101 eBook. (No longer for sale I'm afraid). But I was able to do it easily with a little help from an online friend.
Kevin Riley is an internet marketer who lives in Japan. He's a really bright guy that I have spoken to in marketing forums. He's written several eBooks, including a step-by-step instructional manual on how to Create Your Own eBook. In it, Kevin walks you through the process of writing the eBook, publishing it using software that is available for free on the internet, and selling it online for a profit.
I've read it several times and I even printed it out and keep it on the shelf next to my desk for easy reference. It's the best resource I've found for creating eBooks for profit.
Home Based Business Opportunity
Working from home is an option that many stay-at-home moms enjoy. It's also great for retirees. There are many different options, but one I recommend is PartyLite Candles. My wife signed up as a Consultant about five months ago and has done pretty well so far.
Basically someone throws a 'candle party' and my wife brings some samples for everyone to see. She takes orders from a catalog and earns a healthy commission on each sale. Everyone has fun at the parties and my family earns some extra money.
They are pretty much like the old Tupperware parties you may remember. By the way, Tupperware parties are still going strong.
Another choice is Pampered Chef, which is all sorts of kitchen gadgets. For those parties, a consultant will usually prepare a meal for the guests too!
Now you should be ready to start making money at home today!
Taken From(http://www.saving-money-and-living-debt-free.com/making-extra-money.php)
Whether you are looking to start your own business so you can one day quit your job or you are just looking to have a few extra bucks in your pocket each month, there are many ways to make money from home. And most won't cost you anything to get started.
Listed below are some suggestions on how you can earn extra money. My family has done extensive research on this topic. Since my wife is now a stay-at-home mom, we are always looking for ways to increase our income.
Online survey websites are an easy way to make a few extra bucks. You can sit at home in your pajamas and get paid cash for filling out fun surveys or even watching movie trailers for new films that haven't even been released yet! Just use caution as there are lots of scam sites out there that don't deliver.
If you have your own blog (and these days who doesn't?) are you making money from it? If not, you're crazy. Blogs are here to stay and they are still relatively untapped when it comes to advertising. So why not get in on the ground floor and start making money from your blog? To learn everything you need to get started I strongly recommend you check out ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. I've read it myself and highly recommend it.
Starting a business on eBay is an increasingly popular way to make money. You can start by selling off items from your basement, attic, or garage. Then, branch out into other areas. Search local newspapers and stores for items that you can buy and then resell online. Once you get the ball rolling, the money will start pouring in.
If you don't have much money or want to get payday loans to start up a business and don't want to be bothered with shipping and inventory, you should consider Affiliate Programs. You recommend products to consumers and earn a commission on their purchases. Thousands of online merchants have affiliate programs and the potential is virtually limitless. Anyone can set up a profitable website for less than $50 a year.
Mystery Shopping is a great way to earn extra income and also get loads of free merchandise. You can make your own schedule and work as much or as little as you want.
Writing and selling your own eBook is a fantastic way to make extra money, and it is a lot easier than you would think. I didn't know the first thing about creating eBooks when I decided to write and publish my Saving 101 eBook. (No longer for sale I'm afraid). But I was able to do it easily with a little help from an online friend.
Kevin Riley is an internet marketer who lives in Japan. He's a really bright guy that I have spoken to in marketing forums. He's written several eBooks, including a step-by-step instructional manual on how to Create Your Own eBook. In it, Kevin walks you through the process of writing the eBook, publishing it using software that is available for free on the internet, and selling it online for a profit.
I've read it several times and I even printed it out and keep it on the shelf next to my desk for easy reference. It's the best resource I've found for creating eBooks for profit.
Home Based Business Opportunity
Working from home is an option that many stay-at-home moms enjoy. It's also great for retirees. There are many different options, but one I recommend is PartyLite Candles. My wife signed up as a Consultant about five months ago and has done pretty well so far.
Basically someone throws a 'candle party' and my wife brings some samples for everyone to see. She takes orders from a catalog and earns a healthy commission on each sale. Everyone has fun at the parties and my family earns some extra money.
They are pretty much like the old Tupperware parties you may remember. By the way, Tupperware parties are still going strong.
Another choice is Pampered Chef, which is all sorts of kitchen gadgets. For those parties, a consultant will usually prepare a meal for the guests too!
Now you should be ready to start making money at home today!
Taken From(http://www.saving-money-and-living-debt-free.com/making-extra-money.php)
Sunday, 17 July 2011
How to Trick Yourself into Saving Money
Saving money always sounds like a good idea, but far too often we end up spending what we intend to put away. There's always something that needs to be paid now, or something that needs to be purchased. Sure, you plan to save for a rainy day next week. But what if the rain starts falling over the weekend?
Here are some tried-and-true painless tips for fluffing up your financial cushion. With these small tricks, you'll be amazed at how quickly cents turn into dollars and dollars turn into signficant savings.
1. Save before you see the money.
Make arrangements with your employer to have a percentage of each paycheck automatically deposited into a high-yield savings account, like the HSBC Direct Online Savings Account, which earns you a 1.45% APY. Another option is to set up an automatic transfer through your bank that coincides with payday.
2. Round up your expenditures, round down your income.
This simple concept will pad your bank account quicker than you can imagine. Each time you enter an expense into your budget, round up to the nearest dollar. If your electric bill is $67.78, enter it as $68. Likewise, round down your income. A paycheck of $802.47 would be entered as $802.
The tricky part is balancing your checkbook. You will no longer be comparing your bottom line to the bank's bottom line in order to confirm that all deposits and expenditures are accounted for. Your personal balance will remain in range, while the total in your bank account is actually growing, cent by cent. Every 3 to 6 months, take the difference between your bottom dollar and the total your bank shows and transfer it into a high-interest savings account.
3. Save for and between miscellaneous purchases.
If you really want that $120 mp3 player, don't let yourself buy it until you can pay in cash. Build a category into your budget specifically for such short-term savings. Then make it standard procedure to put a designated amount of money into a mid-to-long-term savings account before you start saving for your next miscellaneous purchase.
For instance, you would save $120 to purchase the mp3 player, then put $200 in a high-interest savings account. Save $60 for the next computer game you're longing for, then add another $200 to the high-interest savings account. This helps you avoid feeling deprived by giving yourself "treats" on a regular basis. It also encourages you to stick to the overall budget so that you can save faster and buy yourself toys more frequently.
4. Take advantage of compound interest External Link.
Even the minimal interest that can be earned on a checking account at some banks and most credit unions is preferable to no interest at all. It's free money! Take advantage of online savings accounts for the higher interest rates they offer. Pay your bills on time and keep your credit record clean so you can qualify for fee-free banking. Shop around for a bank and demand an account that doesn't charge you to use your own money and allows you to earn interest.
5. Recycle for dollars when possible.
There is absolutely no excuse for throwing anything recyclable in a landfill. Forget the environment; what many people don't realize is that a lot of reusable materials have a market value External Link. Most towns have at least one business that will pay for various metals, old cell phones, obsolete computers, computer parts and car batteries, among other things. Clothing that is in good shape can be sold at resale shops. Many objects found around your home might make good sales on eBay. Money gained through recycling can be an excellent source of "play" for the budget-conscious, or a good addition to a rainy day account.
6. Always check online before buying.
Do your research when you're preparing to make a purchase by checking prices and deals online. You'll be surprised how often you can find a better price or deal at a site like Offers.com External Link, and you'll save the legwork of shopping around in physical stores. If you do make your purchase online, always find and use a coupon code External Link. Many stores also have printable coupons which are available online. There are certain items -- like clothing, computers, electronics and software -- you should only buy with a coupon. You'll notice that products like these almost always have promotions and coupons available if you take the time to look, so there's no good reason to buy them without that savings.
Taken From (http://www.moneysavingguide.com/saving-tricks/)
Here are some tried-and-true painless tips for fluffing up your financial cushion. With these small tricks, you'll be amazed at how quickly cents turn into dollars and dollars turn into signficant savings.
1. Save before you see the money.
Make arrangements with your employer to have a percentage of each paycheck automatically deposited into a high-yield savings account, like the HSBC Direct Online Savings Account, which earns you a 1.45% APY. Another option is to set up an automatic transfer through your bank that coincides with payday.
2. Round up your expenditures, round down your income.
This simple concept will pad your bank account quicker than you can imagine. Each time you enter an expense into your budget, round up to the nearest dollar. If your electric bill is $67.78, enter it as $68. Likewise, round down your income. A paycheck of $802.47 would be entered as $802.
The tricky part is balancing your checkbook. You will no longer be comparing your bottom line to the bank's bottom line in order to confirm that all deposits and expenditures are accounted for. Your personal balance will remain in range, while the total in your bank account is actually growing, cent by cent. Every 3 to 6 months, take the difference between your bottom dollar and the total your bank shows and transfer it into a high-interest savings account.
3. Save for and between miscellaneous purchases.
If you really want that $120 mp3 player, don't let yourself buy it until you can pay in cash. Build a category into your budget specifically for such short-term savings. Then make it standard procedure to put a designated amount of money into a mid-to-long-term savings account before you start saving for your next miscellaneous purchase.
For instance, you would save $120 to purchase the mp3 player, then put $200 in a high-interest savings account. Save $60 for the next computer game you're longing for, then add another $200 to the high-interest savings account. This helps you avoid feeling deprived by giving yourself "treats" on a regular basis. It also encourages you to stick to the overall budget so that you can save faster and buy yourself toys more frequently.
4. Take advantage of compound interest External Link.
Even the minimal interest that can be earned on a checking account at some banks and most credit unions is preferable to no interest at all. It's free money! Take advantage of online savings accounts for the higher interest rates they offer. Pay your bills on time and keep your credit record clean so you can qualify for fee-free banking. Shop around for a bank and demand an account that doesn't charge you to use your own money and allows you to earn interest.
5. Recycle for dollars when possible.
There is absolutely no excuse for throwing anything recyclable in a landfill. Forget the environment; what many people don't realize is that a lot of reusable materials have a market value External Link. Most towns have at least one business that will pay for various metals, old cell phones, obsolete computers, computer parts and car batteries, among other things. Clothing that is in good shape can be sold at resale shops. Many objects found around your home might make good sales on eBay. Money gained through recycling can be an excellent source of "play" for the budget-conscious, or a good addition to a rainy day account.
6. Always check online before buying.
Do your research when you're preparing to make a purchase by checking prices and deals online. You'll be surprised how often you can find a better price or deal at a site like Offers.com External Link, and you'll save the legwork of shopping around in physical stores. If you do make your purchase online, always find and use a coupon code External Link. Many stores also have printable coupons which are available online. There are certain items -- like clothing, computers, electronics and software -- you should only buy with a coupon. You'll notice that products like these almost always have promotions and coupons available if you take the time to look, so there's no good reason to buy them without that savings.
Taken From (http://www.moneysavingguide.com/saving-tricks/)
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Modern Ways Of Saving Money: 4 Tricks That Can Make You Rich
Saving has always been a way of life for people who believed on its power. These people know that they have to save more money in order to create a more established future.
However, as time goes by, more and more people find it hard to save money. They contend that saving is no longer a way of life but a resolution that they have to strictly adhere to just to salt away some amount of money.
Some people even insist that it is no longer possible for a person to save more money because most of them are already living paycheck to paycheck. With all the high-prices of commodities these days, saving more money is no longer workable.
But the point is that people can indeed save more.
How? Here is a list of some modern ways that will let you save more money:
1. Save Some Percentage From Your Salary
Most money-savers automatically take at least 30% from their salary and save them into their savings account. The basic concept here is that most of us spend whatever amount we have on our paycheck, and maybe even more. If you are able to limit that amount, your expenses will unexplainable get smaller.
2. Pay Everything In Cash
Credit cards had always been a way of life for most consumers. The problem is that they become so comfortable with it that they tend to spend everything on credit. In fact, statistics show that the average family has an average outstanding balance on their credit cards amounting to $7,000. And they even pay almost $1,000 in each year just on the interest charges alone.
Hence, because of this comfortable shopping, they forget to keep track of their expenses and accumulate more payable than what they can afford to pay.
3. Set Goals
Create goals that you really want and not be fickle-minded about it. If there’s a certain amount involved, be specific with the amount, like saying “I will save $5,000 in a year and not around $5,000.”
Try to set your goals based on your priorities. Have a period for every goal.
4. Check Your Company’s Retirement Plan
With your employer plan such as the 401(k) or the 403(b), you can definitely save more money for the future. Here, your company will deduct a percentage of your salary from each paycheck and invest the amount in your choice of instruments—mainly mutual funds.
The bottom line is that saving is not just a way of life or a resolution. It’s the ultimate gratification that you get as a fruit of your labor.
Taken From (http://www.freearticles.com/article/Modern-Ways-Of-Saving-Money-4-Tricks-That-Can-Make-You-Rich/2240)
However, as time goes by, more and more people find it hard to save money. They contend that saving is no longer a way of life but a resolution that they have to strictly adhere to just to salt away some amount of money.
Some people even insist that it is no longer possible for a person to save more money because most of them are already living paycheck to paycheck. With all the high-prices of commodities these days, saving more money is no longer workable.
But the point is that people can indeed save more.
How? Here is a list of some modern ways that will let you save more money:
1. Save Some Percentage From Your Salary
Most money-savers automatically take at least 30% from their salary and save them into their savings account. The basic concept here is that most of us spend whatever amount we have on our paycheck, and maybe even more. If you are able to limit that amount, your expenses will unexplainable get smaller.
2. Pay Everything In Cash
Credit cards had always been a way of life for most consumers. The problem is that they become so comfortable with it that they tend to spend everything on credit. In fact, statistics show that the average family has an average outstanding balance on their credit cards amounting to $7,000. And they even pay almost $1,000 in each year just on the interest charges alone.
Hence, because of this comfortable shopping, they forget to keep track of their expenses and accumulate more payable than what they can afford to pay.
3. Set Goals
Create goals that you really want and not be fickle-minded about it. If there’s a certain amount involved, be specific with the amount, like saying “I will save $5,000 in a year and not around $5,000.”
Try to set your goals based on your priorities. Have a period for every goal.
4. Check Your Company’s Retirement Plan
With your employer plan such as the 401(k) or the 403(b), you can definitely save more money for the future. Here, your company will deduct a percentage of your salary from each paycheck and invest the amount in your choice of instruments—mainly mutual funds.
The bottom line is that saving is not just a way of life or a resolution. It’s the ultimate gratification that you get as a fruit of your labor.
Taken From (http://www.freearticles.com/article/Modern-Ways-Of-Saving-Money-4-Tricks-That-Can-Make-You-Rich/2240)
Friday, 15 July 2011
Advantages of Internet Marketing
Marketing is an essential component for product proliferation and adoption across the targeted audience. Conventional marketing strategies have always been associated with a hefty budget and market research requirements. As the world is becoming smarter and more efficient people across the globe have started realizing the benefits of Internet Marketing. Internet has been able to penetrate all parts of the globe. Businesses and humans are not limited to a particular geography and all corners of the world are facilitating from the ease and use of Internet marketing initiatives.
There are too many advantages of using Internet marketing as the modern tool and strategy to draw more customers to trigger unprecedented growth. Let’s explore some of the key ones:
Internet marketing has been more effective when measured on the aspect of product meeting the eyes of an end user.
You can design and woo your customers in a better way without much time and investments on an Internet Marketing enabled campaign. With less cycle time you can meet more needs of your customers when compared to conventional channel.
One of the best aspect of an Internet Marketing campaign is that it meets the eye of the target much faster and in a concentrated way.
You can manage your leads and convert them into opportunities in a faster manner too.
It has proven to provide a clear cut communication between the customer and the service provider.
Internet marketing leads to product innovation. Vendors are informed about the preferences and likings of the end user and they manufacture or present the services in a desired manner.
Proliferation of your service portfolio is pretty easy and simple online. Within no time you can create a campaign and send it across to major social networks including LinkedIn. Twitter or Stumble Upon. You can better your online revenues and increase your bottom-line over the period of time.
With better customer satisfaction and increased bottom-line you are sure to become a prominent entity in the segment of your industry.
More people admit to the fact that Internet marketing and an online presence can provide a more trustworthy image of self or business online. It has helped in new customer acquisition and growth even in the challenging times of recession.
Internet as an arena is growing year by year. More number of users are buying or are interested in buying products and services online than ever before. Challenges will lie ahead for the vendors to differentiate themselves in order to stay in the hunt of customer acquisition, Retention and growth. Innovation through Internet and Internet marketing can help companies to stay afloat and nurture their talent pool and strengths in correct direction.
So if you have been interested all this while in carrying out Internet Marketing efforts, make an attempt now. Just ensure that you know your niche and the demands of customers well enough. You are sure to grow your online business if you can offer value to your customers online.
Taken from(http://www.brandonsheley.org/advantages-of-internet-marketing/)
There are too many advantages of using Internet marketing as the modern tool and strategy to draw more customers to trigger unprecedented growth. Let’s explore some of the key ones:
Internet marketing has been more effective when measured on the aspect of product meeting the eyes of an end user.
You can design and woo your customers in a better way without much time and investments on an Internet Marketing enabled campaign. With less cycle time you can meet more needs of your customers when compared to conventional channel.
One of the best aspect of an Internet Marketing campaign is that it meets the eye of the target much faster and in a concentrated way.
You can manage your leads and convert them into opportunities in a faster manner too.
It has proven to provide a clear cut communication between the customer and the service provider.
Internet marketing leads to product innovation. Vendors are informed about the preferences and likings of the end user and they manufacture or present the services in a desired manner.
Proliferation of your service portfolio is pretty easy and simple online. Within no time you can create a campaign and send it across to major social networks including LinkedIn. Twitter or Stumble Upon. You can better your online revenues and increase your bottom-line over the period of time.
With better customer satisfaction and increased bottom-line you are sure to become a prominent entity in the segment of your industry.
More people admit to the fact that Internet marketing and an online presence can provide a more trustworthy image of self or business online. It has helped in new customer acquisition and growth even in the challenging times of recession.
Internet as an arena is growing year by year. More number of users are buying or are interested in buying products and services online than ever before. Challenges will lie ahead for the vendors to differentiate themselves in order to stay in the hunt of customer acquisition, Retention and growth. Innovation through Internet and Internet marketing can help companies to stay afloat and nurture their talent pool and strengths in correct direction.
So if you have been interested all this while in carrying out Internet Marketing efforts, make an attempt now. Just ensure that you know your niche and the demands of customers well enough. You are sure to grow your online business if you can offer value to your customers online.
Taken from(http://www.brandonsheley.org/advantages-of-internet-marketing/)
Marketing Online - Men and Women Use the Internet Differently
When it comes to marketing online, you must understand your consumers. This means learning what they look for, and how they use the internet. This can help you grab their attention and get your marketing message in front of the right audience.
It's also important to realize that when it comes to online habits of men and women - they differ. I know, surprise! In the past there has been a lag with women when it came to the adoption of the internet, that is no longer the case. Truth is, studies show that women under the age of 65 are quicker to use the internet than men. As women we love to use the internet for research, where men prefer to use it as an entertainment tool. Do you see how this information can help?
When we review studies that have been done on the different ways that men and women use the internet, we can gain a greater deal of knowledge on how to position our products online.
Let's take a look at what a past study done by Pew Internet and American Life showed, while this study was done in 2005 I still believe much of the knowledge is applicable and can be used today.
Men are more likely to use the internet to:
Read the news
Buy travel services or make reservations
Check sports scores and gather sports information
Stay updated on political news
Participate in online auctions, such as ebay
Write content to publish online
Download music
Buy and sell stocks, bonds and mutual funds
A Forrester study done in 2007 also showed that on the average men tend to stay online longer and devote more time to online entertainment and researching technical gadgets.
Women use the internet to:
Get health information
Read spiritual and religious information
Gain access and participate in support group websites
A few other interesting statistics that were provided in a different study done by Burst Media in the beginning of 2009 stated the following:
62.3% of women use the internet as their primary source for information on the products they were considering purchasing.
51.7% of the women studied use the internet as the primary way to keep in touch with their families
As you can see men go online to be entertained and hunt down information, where women tend to go online to gather information that assists them in nurturing, themselves and those around them. Clearly while both men and women generally spend allotments of time online, gender stereotypes are prevalent in what they do with their time online.
Putting it to Use: Think about who your potential customer is online. Is the majority male or female? Can you see how this information can assist you in not only where but how to position your product or service in order to increase the conversions you gain online? How will you use this information in upcoming marketing campaigns?
Taken From (http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/a/genderdifferences.htm)
It's also important to realize that when it comes to online habits of men and women - they differ. I know, surprise! In the past there has been a lag with women when it came to the adoption of the internet, that is no longer the case. Truth is, studies show that women under the age of 65 are quicker to use the internet than men. As women we love to use the internet for research, where men prefer to use it as an entertainment tool. Do you see how this information can help?
When we review studies that have been done on the different ways that men and women use the internet, we can gain a greater deal of knowledge on how to position our products online.
Let's take a look at what a past study done by Pew Internet and American Life showed, while this study was done in 2005 I still believe much of the knowledge is applicable and can be used today.
Men are more likely to use the internet to:
Read the news
Buy travel services or make reservations
Check sports scores and gather sports information
Stay updated on political news
Participate in online auctions, such as ebay
Write content to publish online
Download music
Buy and sell stocks, bonds and mutual funds
A Forrester study done in 2007 also showed that on the average men tend to stay online longer and devote more time to online entertainment and researching technical gadgets.
Women use the internet to:
Get health information
Read spiritual and religious information
Gain access and participate in support group websites
A few other interesting statistics that were provided in a different study done by Burst Media in the beginning of 2009 stated the following:
62.3% of women use the internet as their primary source for information on the products they were considering purchasing.
51.7% of the women studied use the internet as the primary way to keep in touch with their families
As you can see men go online to be entertained and hunt down information, where women tend to go online to gather information that assists them in nurturing, themselves and those around them. Clearly while both men and women generally spend allotments of time online, gender stereotypes are prevalent in what they do with their time online.
Putting it to Use: Think about who your potential customer is online. Is the majority male or female? Can you see how this information can assist you in not only where but how to position your product or service in order to increase the conversions you gain online? How will you use this information in upcoming marketing campaigns?
Taken From (http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/a/genderdifferences.htm)
Thursday, 14 July 2011
9 Ways to Make Your Boss Happy
One of my friends used to say, “Happy wife, happy life.” The same could be said about having a happy boss.
When your boss is happy with your performance, your stress is much less. People who are working – especially those in companies that have gone though several lay-offs – are under too much stress already.
Here are a bunch of ways to make sure your boss is happy. Doing so is to your own benefit – so have at it!
1. Be proactive
Anyone can take orders. It’s more important to see what needs to be done and do it. Get whatever buy-in is needed. Be a make-it-happen type and the boss will be wearing a smile.
2. Ask for her feedback and knowledge
Formal training may be hard to come by in difficult economic times. If so, start unlocking the treasure chest in your boss’ head. If you’re working for someone with 10 years of experience and you’ve got 5, there are 5 years of knowledge you can dig for.
Ad hoc questioning can help you build your own knowledge base. Use it all you can. Take notes when you get back to your desk. Think about it, then ask clarifying questions. Get every bit of knowledge you can out of your boss.
This applies to everyone you come in contact with at work. Titles don’t matter – unlock everyone’s brain and get the info that will help you grow.
3. Take on one of his projects
Your boss is drowning in work. Don’t believe it? Think all he does is delegate and sit there reading USA Today’s coverage about March Madness? Think again.
Pry a project out of his hands and get it done. Make sure you’re not ignoring your own work. Then turn around and see what else he’s got around that you can help him with. When you give him the completed report, get some knowledge or information as a return on your work. Ask a question. Find out his plans. Get a deeper understanding of what your department means to the company.
4. Find out what’s important to them
If you don’t know what your supervisor wants, you’re missing the boat. Not having that knowledge is the prime reason people get surprised in their performance reviews. And let’s face it – though no one likes giving or getting reviews, they’re not going away any time soon.
Don’t have a clue? Ask today and get the top 3-5 items that are musts. Then go back to your last review and see if you’re in alignment with what’s critical to your boss.
5. Know which numbers matter
If the boss likes revenue, you’d better too. Work is a numbers game. Are they concerned about how many full time employees the company has? Do they want to see a bigger product line with more ACME Widget products spread across the shelves at Best Buy and Fry’s?
Know the Big Three for your boss and determine how your business unit can move them in the right direction.
6. Communicate the way your boss does
One of my bosses loved to shout over to me from his office. Yes, I had to get up and go stand in his office 20+ times a day. It was irritating – and a personal foible. But it worked, was quick, and I always knew where I stood.
Every boss has a preferred method of communication, whether it’s in person, via phone or using email. Find out what works for them and use it.
7. Tell her it’s complete
Closure is critical. In fact, it’s one of the most important things in business – any business.
When the task or project is done, make sure she knows it. Don’t leave managers hanging. Report back as soon as it’s finished – cross it off the list. Move on to the next thing at hand.
8. Ask what your boss reads
Maybe she reads Sports Illustrated because she’s a dyed-in-the-wool Chicago Cubs fan. If so, you need to know that. And if she’s checking out the Harvard Business Review daily, you’d better read up.
It’s as simple as asking for five sites the boss reads daily at the end of a meeting. Read what they’re reading and be both ahead of the game and informed. Reference what you’ve read and find ways to use it on the job.
9. Initiate solutions
All jobs are about finding solutions to problems. Whether you’re a surgeon trying to stop the bleeding or a security guy trying to keep people from getting into the Bruce Springsteen concert for free, you’re looking for a solution.
One of my VPs once had a sign on his desk that read “DBMP-BMA.” It stood for “Don’t bring me problems – bring me answers.” Do it and your boss will love you for it.
Make your boss happy. You’ll get huge benefits from it. By the way, Penelope Trunk also has quite a bit to say about managing up. If you’re not familiar with her work, read it today.
Taken From (http://mintresumes.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/9-ways-to-make-your-boss-happy/)
When your boss is happy with your performance, your stress is much less. People who are working – especially those in companies that have gone though several lay-offs – are under too much stress already.
Here are a bunch of ways to make sure your boss is happy. Doing so is to your own benefit – so have at it!
1. Be proactive
Anyone can take orders. It’s more important to see what needs to be done and do it. Get whatever buy-in is needed. Be a make-it-happen type and the boss will be wearing a smile.
2. Ask for her feedback and knowledge
Formal training may be hard to come by in difficult economic times. If so, start unlocking the treasure chest in your boss’ head. If you’re working for someone with 10 years of experience and you’ve got 5, there are 5 years of knowledge you can dig for.
Ad hoc questioning can help you build your own knowledge base. Use it all you can. Take notes when you get back to your desk. Think about it, then ask clarifying questions. Get every bit of knowledge you can out of your boss.
This applies to everyone you come in contact with at work. Titles don’t matter – unlock everyone’s brain and get the info that will help you grow.
3. Take on one of his projects
Your boss is drowning in work. Don’t believe it? Think all he does is delegate and sit there reading USA Today’s coverage about March Madness? Think again.
Pry a project out of his hands and get it done. Make sure you’re not ignoring your own work. Then turn around and see what else he’s got around that you can help him with. When you give him the completed report, get some knowledge or information as a return on your work. Ask a question. Find out his plans. Get a deeper understanding of what your department means to the company.
4. Find out what’s important to them
If you don’t know what your supervisor wants, you’re missing the boat. Not having that knowledge is the prime reason people get surprised in their performance reviews. And let’s face it – though no one likes giving or getting reviews, they’re not going away any time soon.
Don’t have a clue? Ask today and get the top 3-5 items that are musts. Then go back to your last review and see if you’re in alignment with what’s critical to your boss.
5. Know which numbers matter
If the boss likes revenue, you’d better too. Work is a numbers game. Are they concerned about how many full time employees the company has? Do they want to see a bigger product line with more ACME Widget products spread across the shelves at Best Buy and Fry’s?
Know the Big Three for your boss and determine how your business unit can move them in the right direction.
6. Communicate the way your boss does
One of my bosses loved to shout over to me from his office. Yes, I had to get up and go stand in his office 20+ times a day. It was irritating – and a personal foible. But it worked, was quick, and I always knew where I stood.
Every boss has a preferred method of communication, whether it’s in person, via phone or using email. Find out what works for them and use it.
7. Tell her it’s complete
Closure is critical. In fact, it’s one of the most important things in business – any business.
When the task or project is done, make sure she knows it. Don’t leave managers hanging. Report back as soon as it’s finished – cross it off the list. Move on to the next thing at hand.
8. Ask what your boss reads
Maybe she reads Sports Illustrated because she’s a dyed-in-the-wool Chicago Cubs fan. If so, you need to know that. And if she’s checking out the Harvard Business Review daily, you’d better read up.
It’s as simple as asking for five sites the boss reads daily at the end of a meeting. Read what they’re reading and be both ahead of the game and informed. Reference what you’ve read and find ways to use it on the job.
9. Initiate solutions
All jobs are about finding solutions to problems. Whether you’re a surgeon trying to stop the bleeding or a security guy trying to keep people from getting into the Bruce Springsteen concert for free, you’re looking for a solution.
One of my VPs once had a sign on his desk that read “DBMP-BMA.” It stood for “Don’t bring me problems – bring me answers.” Do it and your boss will love you for it.
Make your boss happy. You’ll get huge benefits from it. By the way, Penelope Trunk also has quite a bit to say about managing up. If you’re not familiar with her work, read it today.
Taken From (http://mintresumes.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/9-ways-to-make-your-boss-happy/)
Internet Business Marketing Tip: Learn The Basics
Many people want to know what the secret is to successful internet marketing. They are looking for one internet business marketing tip that will help them make money online quickly and bring them online business success. There is one great tip and it is not what many expect to hear. There is no secret. Internet marketing is a business and as long as you treat it like a real business you will have success. Let’s just think about that for a minute. What would be your first step if you were starting a business in the offline world? Do you think you would you just throw open the doors and hope for the best? I highly doubt, if you do not have more money than sense.
Before actually setting foot in the building is more likely that you learn a lot about the business they were starting. Without you learn the skills necessary for success in your chosen profession? Something that always amazed me about trading online is that it seems like there’s something on the internet that encourages people to throw common sense to the wind. Learn the basics before you start your business if you want to be successful online. The core includes: 1. Deciding what kind of business you want to run. Because it is cheap and easy to start beginners tend to do well with affiliate marketing. 2. Once you and decide on what kind of business you want to start and then choose a product or service you want to sell.
The majority of people do this because they take back their products like and then they hope to find a market. So instead of finding a market first and then take a product that they can not resist. 3. Learn how to get traffic to your website is your responsibility to the next. It’s actually quite easy to do and in many cases is free, so do not let this scare you. It’s a good idea to start off by using only free methods such as SEO and marketing techniques of the article. 4. Next you need to create a list. Although often overlooked, this is a simple and useful. The fact is that most people find your site will not make the purchase of the first visit and most of them never visit again. So get the most out of your guests want to be able to build trust with them so they can buy you some time. Internet Marketing Coaching ProgramThe only way to do it is to get them to sign up or opt into your email list.
Then you can contact them again and again for as long as you want and eventually they learn of your faith and they buy from you. All that is necessary to worry about right now. This is the basic you need to get started with and you can start making money while you learn and expand your knowledge. Never stop learning when it comes to internet business as there are always new methods and techniques you can use to promote your business even higher. So the one internet business marketing tip that can truly have a positive impact on your online success is: learn the basics. Do not make the mistake of holding off doing something until you know it all, because you will never know it all. Once you have the basics in place just get started and you can add to your knowledge over time.
TAken From (http://www.earnmoney.pk/)
Before actually setting foot in the building is more likely that you learn a lot about the business they were starting. Without you learn the skills necessary for success in your chosen profession? Something that always amazed me about trading online is that it seems like there’s something on the internet that encourages people to throw common sense to the wind. Learn the basics before you start your business if you want to be successful online. The core includes: 1. Deciding what kind of business you want to run. Because it is cheap and easy to start beginners tend to do well with affiliate marketing. 2. Once you and decide on what kind of business you want to start and then choose a product or service you want to sell.
The majority of people do this because they take back their products like and then they hope to find a market. So instead of finding a market first and then take a product that they can not resist. 3. Learn how to get traffic to your website is your responsibility to the next. It’s actually quite easy to do and in many cases is free, so do not let this scare you. It’s a good idea to start off by using only free methods such as SEO and marketing techniques of the article. 4. Next you need to create a list. Although often overlooked, this is a simple and useful. The fact is that most people find your site will not make the purchase of the first visit and most of them never visit again. So get the most out of your guests want to be able to build trust with them so they can buy you some time. Internet Marketing Coaching ProgramThe only way to do it is to get them to sign up or opt into your email list.
Then you can contact them again and again for as long as you want and eventually they learn of your faith and they buy from you. All that is necessary to worry about right now. This is the basic you need to get started with and you can start making money while you learn and expand your knowledge. Never stop learning when it comes to internet business as there are always new methods and techniques you can use to promote your business even higher. So the one internet business marketing tip that can truly have a positive impact on your online success is: learn the basics. Do not make the mistake of holding off doing something until you know it all, because you will never know it all. Once you have the basics in place just get started and you can add to your knowledge over time.
TAken From (http://www.earnmoney.pk/)
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Make Money Online (Without Spending a Dime)
Making money online used to pretty much require you to have your own Web site, products to sell and some marketing savvy. But a new generation of dot-com have arisen that will pay you for what you know and who you know without you having to be a web designer or a marketing genius.
But it's hard to tell hype from the real deal. I did a search on "make money online" and "making money online", and much of the information out there is just promoting various info products, mostly about Internet marketing. I see why people sometimes ask, "Is anyone making money online besides Internet marketing experts?"
So I put together a list of business opportunities with legitimate companies that:
Pay cash, not just points towards rewards or a chance to win money
Don't require you to have your own Web domain or your own products
Don't involve any hard-selling
Aren't just promoting more Internet marketing
Give a good return on your time investment
In the interest of objectivity, none of the links below are affiliate links, and none of them have paid or provided any other consideration for their presence here. These are legitimate companies with business models that allow you to get paid for a wide range of activities.
Help friends find better jobs.
Sites like Refer Earns, Zyoin, Who Do You Know For Dough?, and WiseStepp connect employers with prospective employees, many of whom are already employed and not actively job-hunting, via networking - the people who know these qualified candidates. Rewards for referring a candidate who gets hired range from $50 on up to several thousand dollars - not chump change. If you know a lot of job-seekers (and who doesn't these days?), this is a great way to break into the recruiting business with no overhead.
Connect suppliers with buyers.
Referral fees are a common practice in business, but they haven't been used much in online networking sites because there was no way to track them. Sites like Salesconx, Inner Sell and u Refer now provide that. Vendors set the referral fees they're willing to pay (and for what), and when the transaction happens, you get paid. u Refer also allows merchants to set up referral programs for introductions and meetings, as well as transactions.
Write.
A growing number of sites will pay for your articles or blog posts. Associated Content and Helium will "pay for performance" based on page views for just about anything you want to write about. Articles on specific topics they're looking for can earn direct payments up to about $200. The rates are probably low for established writers, but if you're trying to break into the field and have time on your hands, they're a great way to start. Also, a lot of companies are looking for part-time bloggers. They may pay per post or on a steady contract. Our Weblogs Guide posts blogging jobs weekly in the forum.
Start your own blog.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google Ad Sense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
Related: Monetizing Your Blog
Create topical resource hubs.
Are you an expert on a particular niche topic? Can you put together an overview of the topic and assemble some of the best resources on the topic from around the web? Then you can create topical hubs and get paid through sites like Squidoo, Hug Pages and Google Knol. Payments are based on a combination of ad revenue and affiliate fees. You'll get higher rates doing it on your own, but these sites have a built-in supply of traffic and tools to make content creation easier.
Advertise other people's products.
If you already have a Web site or a blog, look for vendors that offer related but non-competing products and see if they have an affiliate program. Stick to familiar products and brands - they're easier to sell. To promote those products:
Place simple text or graphical ads in appropriate places on your site
Include links to purchase products you review or recommend in a blog, discussion forum or mailing list you control
Create a dedicated sales page or Web site to promote a particular product
They all work - it just depends on how much time you have to spend on it and your level of expertise with Web design and marketing.
Related: How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site
Micro stock photography.
You don't have to be a professional photographer to sell your photos for money. People are constantly in need of stock photography for websites, presentations, brochures and so on, and are willing to pay for the right image. People generally search for images on stock photography sites by keywords, not by photographer, so you have the same chance as anyone else of having your image picked. Just be careful that you don't have images of trademarked brands, copyrighted art or people's faces that are readily identifiable (unless you have a model release), but just about anything else is fair game, and I promise - you'd be amazed what people need pictures of, so don't make any assumptions. If it's a decent photo, upload it. Some sites to get you started include Fotolia, Shutter Stock, Dreams time and iStockphoto. The great thing about this is that it's truly "set it and forget it".
The above list is by no means comprehensive, but it highlights some of the new and interesting ways to make money online without investing any money, without having a product of your own, and without having expert sales and marketing skills. Most of all, unlike taking surveys or getting paid to read e-mail, the potential return on your time investment is substantial.
Taken From (http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/homebasedbusiness/a/makemoneyonline.htm)
But it's hard to tell hype from the real deal. I did a search on "make money online" and "making money online", and much of the information out there is just promoting various info products, mostly about Internet marketing. I see why people sometimes ask, "Is anyone making money online besides Internet marketing experts?"
So I put together a list of business opportunities with legitimate companies that:
Pay cash, not just points towards rewards or a chance to win money
Don't require you to have your own Web domain or your own products
Don't involve any hard-selling
Aren't just promoting more Internet marketing
Give a good return on your time investment
In the interest of objectivity, none of the links below are affiliate links, and none of them have paid or provided any other consideration for their presence here. These are legitimate companies with business models that allow you to get paid for a wide range of activities.
Help friends find better jobs.
Sites like Refer Earns, Zyoin, Who Do You Know For Dough?, and WiseStepp connect employers with prospective employees, many of whom are already employed and not actively job-hunting, via networking - the people who know these qualified candidates. Rewards for referring a candidate who gets hired range from $50 on up to several thousand dollars - not chump change. If you know a lot of job-seekers (and who doesn't these days?), this is a great way to break into the recruiting business with no overhead.
Connect suppliers with buyers.
Referral fees are a common practice in business, but they haven't been used much in online networking sites because there was no way to track them. Sites like Salesconx, Inner Sell and u Refer now provide that. Vendors set the referral fees they're willing to pay (and for what), and when the transaction happens, you get paid. u Refer also allows merchants to set up referral programs for introductions and meetings, as well as transactions.
Write.
A growing number of sites will pay for your articles or blog posts. Associated Content and Helium will "pay for performance" based on page views for just about anything you want to write about. Articles on specific topics they're looking for can earn direct payments up to about $200. The rates are probably low for established writers, but if you're trying to break into the field and have time on your hands, they're a great way to start. Also, a lot of companies are looking for part-time bloggers. They may pay per post or on a steady contract. Our Weblogs Guide posts blogging jobs weekly in the forum.
Start your own blog.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google Ad Sense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
Related: Monetizing Your Blog
Create topical resource hubs.
Are you an expert on a particular niche topic? Can you put together an overview of the topic and assemble some of the best resources on the topic from around the web? Then you can create topical hubs and get paid through sites like Squidoo, Hug Pages and Google Knol. Payments are based on a combination of ad revenue and affiliate fees. You'll get higher rates doing it on your own, but these sites have a built-in supply of traffic and tools to make content creation easier.
Advertise other people's products.
If you already have a Web site or a blog, look for vendors that offer related but non-competing products and see if they have an affiliate program. Stick to familiar products and brands - they're easier to sell. To promote those products:
Place simple text or graphical ads in appropriate places on your site
Include links to purchase products you review or recommend in a blog, discussion forum or mailing list you control
Create a dedicated sales page or Web site to promote a particular product
They all work - it just depends on how much time you have to spend on it and your level of expertise with Web design and marketing.
Related: How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site
Micro stock photography.
You don't have to be a professional photographer to sell your photos for money. People are constantly in need of stock photography for websites, presentations, brochures and so on, and are willing to pay for the right image. People generally search for images on stock photography sites by keywords, not by photographer, so you have the same chance as anyone else of having your image picked. Just be careful that you don't have images of trademarked brands, copyrighted art or people's faces that are readily identifiable (unless you have a model release), but just about anything else is fair game, and I promise - you'd be amazed what people need pictures of, so don't make any assumptions. If it's a decent photo, upload it. Some sites to get you started include Fotolia, Shutter Stock, Dreams time and iStockphoto. The great thing about this is that it's truly "set it and forget it".
The above list is by no means comprehensive, but it highlights some of the new and interesting ways to make money online without investing any money, without having a product of your own, and without having expert sales and marketing skills. Most of all, unlike taking surveys or getting paid to read e-mail, the potential return on your time investment is substantial.
Taken From (http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/homebasedbusiness/a/makemoneyonline.htm)
2011 Top 10 Small Business Ideas
This year is probably the best time to start a business. Businesses have proven once again that they can survive under heavy pressure – they have adapted well.
Although some big companies are going out of business in 2010, the natural selection has done its job: Giving chances to creative small businesses to strive and thrive. This happens due to some obvious reasons: They are nimble, running on low overheads, and using tech trends to their advantages.
Budding entrepreneurs – to give you some ideas on what business to start this year, here are some small business ideas for you to consider:
Online business and make money online
You can tell that this is my personal favourite. I continue to root on online business/make money online because of two obvious reasons: Cost-effective and lucrative. With many industries are going online, the future is darn bright! Online tutoring, online store, website flipping, etc. – all look promising.
Personalised products and/or services
Personalisation is trendy. People no longer really want to wear a Mark Ecko t-shirt – you want “YOUR” t-shirt printed with YOUR choice of image; you don’t want a Hallmark greeting card – you want “YOUR” greeting card made especially for you; starting a business offering clients uniqueness and individualistic flavour will give you a best chance to succeed.
Social media consultant/promoter/marketer
Having an established business website for your small business is no longer effective – you need to go social in your effort to promote your business. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) not all small business owner are “social-media-literate” – this is clearly a gap in the market. Starting a social media consulting business helping small business owners to promote their products and services to Twitter, Facebook and the likes will bring you a lucrative opportunity as demand is very high.
Cloud business / cloud working services
The cloud or cloud computing is probably only a buzz word or marketing gimmick, but the benefits are there: Migrating part or all of your business process to the cloud can help you cut costs and increase productivity. Starting a business offering cloud services is a great opportunity to reach huge, untapped market of business owners. What is cloud business, anyway?
Small business with a cause
“Do business with us and we will plant a tree on your behalf” is a great small business idea. People basically love to give to others, in many different ways. Some don’t really want to help others directly; they are more interested in getting what they want while doing something worthwhile in the process. Offering your products and services with an embedded social cause(s) can offer you a win-win situation: Happy customers, happy charities and happy business.
Crowdsourcing services
Your business is only as good as what your target market think of you. That’s why crowdsourcing makes sense. Offering an opportunity for the crowd (passer-bys website visitors, etc.) to decide what’s best for you can eliminate your need for market research. This makes a powerful business idea: Offering a service to meet businesses with the crowd. Kiva.org is an example of crowdsourcing service – it is a crowdfunding business allowing people to fund budding entrepreneurs with limited budget.
Services to Home-based business
Home based business is good, but offering services to those who work at home is terrific. Some small business ideas: An online community for home-based business owners, delivery services for home-based businesses, home office maintenance services, etc.
Natural disaster recovery business
There are plenty of floods and earthquakes, including wildfire and other force majeure issues in 2010. The aftermath is devastating for those impacted by the disasters, and helps are much needed in those events. Offering a natural disaster recovery services to the public is not only a noble deed, but also a lucrative one, due to the possible partnership with the Government; the Gov’t will seek for recovery partners and you’d better be there to answer the call! A quick-construction business, amenities supply business, etc. can be both helpful and profitable.
Green and organic business
Green energy, green construction, organic foods, organic clothing, etc. make great business in 2011, as people are becoming more and more aware toward the impact of carbon and other non-degradable materials to the earth.
Real-time online-off line combo business
Child safety plastic tags that are connected to the GPS and online system to avoid child abduction and interactive restaurant menu with touchscreen are a couple of examples of online-off line combo products/services. Starting a business offering products and services that integrate both worlds flawlessly is well sought after.
There you go – Noobpreneur.com’s top 10 small business ideas to help you out in either starting a business or discovering other business ideas well-suited to your aspiration. If you have a small business idea or two to share, please share yours by commenting to this article.
Taken from(http://www.noobpreneur.com/2011/01/03/2011-top-10-small-business-ideas/)
Although some big companies are going out of business in 2010, the natural selection has done its job: Giving chances to creative small businesses to strive and thrive. This happens due to some obvious reasons: They are nimble, running on low overheads, and using tech trends to their advantages.
Budding entrepreneurs – to give you some ideas on what business to start this year, here are some small business ideas for you to consider:
Online business and make money online
You can tell that this is my personal favourite. I continue to root on online business/make money online because of two obvious reasons: Cost-effective and lucrative. With many industries are going online, the future is darn bright! Online tutoring, online store, website flipping, etc. – all look promising.
Personalised products and/or services
Personalisation is trendy. People no longer really want to wear a Mark Ecko t-shirt – you want “YOUR” t-shirt printed with YOUR choice of image; you don’t want a Hallmark greeting card – you want “YOUR” greeting card made especially for you; starting a business offering clients uniqueness and individualistic flavour will give you a best chance to succeed.
Social media consultant/promoter/marketer
Having an established business website for your small business is no longer effective – you need to go social in your effort to promote your business. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) not all small business owner are “social-media-literate” – this is clearly a gap in the market. Starting a social media consulting business helping small business owners to promote their products and services to Twitter, Facebook and the likes will bring you a lucrative opportunity as demand is very high.
Cloud business / cloud working services
The cloud or cloud computing is probably only a buzz word or marketing gimmick, but the benefits are there: Migrating part or all of your business process to the cloud can help you cut costs and increase productivity. Starting a business offering cloud services is a great opportunity to reach huge, untapped market of business owners. What is cloud business, anyway?
Small business with a cause
“Do business with us and we will plant a tree on your behalf” is a great small business idea. People basically love to give to others, in many different ways. Some don’t really want to help others directly; they are more interested in getting what they want while doing something worthwhile in the process. Offering your products and services with an embedded social cause(s) can offer you a win-win situation: Happy customers, happy charities and happy business.
Crowdsourcing services
Your business is only as good as what your target market think of you. That’s why crowdsourcing makes sense. Offering an opportunity for the crowd (passer-bys website visitors, etc.) to decide what’s best for you can eliminate your need for market research. This makes a powerful business idea: Offering a service to meet businesses with the crowd. Kiva.org is an example of crowdsourcing service – it is a crowdfunding business allowing people to fund budding entrepreneurs with limited budget.
Services to Home-based business
Home based business is good, but offering services to those who work at home is terrific. Some small business ideas: An online community for home-based business owners, delivery services for home-based businesses, home office maintenance services, etc.
Natural disaster recovery business
There are plenty of floods and earthquakes, including wildfire and other force majeure issues in 2010. The aftermath is devastating for those impacted by the disasters, and helps are much needed in those events. Offering a natural disaster recovery services to the public is not only a noble deed, but also a lucrative one, due to the possible partnership with the Government; the Gov’t will seek for recovery partners and you’d better be there to answer the call! A quick-construction business, amenities supply business, etc. can be both helpful and profitable.
Green and organic business
Green energy, green construction, organic foods, organic clothing, etc. make great business in 2011, as people are becoming more and more aware toward the impact of carbon and other non-degradable materials to the earth.
Real-time online-off line combo business
Child safety plastic tags that are connected to the GPS and online system to avoid child abduction and interactive restaurant menu with touchscreen are a couple of examples of online-off line combo products/services. Starting a business offering products and services that integrate both worlds flawlessly is well sought after.
There you go – Noobpreneur.com’s top 10 small business ideas to help you out in either starting a business or discovering other business ideas well-suited to your aspiration. If you have a small business idea or two to share, please share yours by commenting to this article.
Taken from(http://www.noobpreneur.com/2011/01/03/2011-top-10-small-business-ideas/)
Monday, 11 July 2011
What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence (BI) systems are used to improve an enterprise's decision making by combining tools for gathering, storing, accessing, and analyzing business data. While traditional features for querying, reporting, and analytics have long been the core focus of these tools, BI has evolved in recent years to become comprehensive, enterprise-wide platforms, and newer trends, such as self-service BI, have helped to continue interest in this technology.
BI is a combination of the tools and systems involved in an enterprise's strategic planning that aid in its analysis.
These solutions provide a single source through which to analyze a company's disparate data sources, permitting users to execute queries without the assistance of technical staff. Over the past several years, they have evolved from narrowly focused query and reporting tools to enterprise-wide platforms. The resulting single source offers not only current, but also historical and predictive views of operations.
Sometimes referred to as decision-support software, BI applications analyze patterns in sales, trends, pricing, and customer behavior to assist in the business decision-making process. The expanded use of data warehouses, e-commerce tools, CRM packages, and other enterprise software has created a proportional need to easily view and use the information stored within these systems.
The continued evolution of this software genre encompasses new trends, including self-service techniques, and ongoing acquisitions that represent a major market consolidation. The major players in the sector range from a dwindling supply of pure-play vendors to enterprise software suppliers that include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP.
Market Dynamics
While applicable to organizations of any size, business intelligence solutions are most relevant to industries with large numbers of customers, high levels of competition (with the resultant need for differentiation), and large volumes of data. Common business intelligence functions include, but are not limited to, the following:
Analyzing sales trends.
Tracking customer buying habits.
Managing finances.
Evaluating sales and marketing campaign effectiveness.
Predicting market demand.
Analyzing vendor relationships.
Assessing staffing needs and performance.
Non-traditional market segments are also driving the need for enterprise-wide, cross-application business intelligence solutions. The healthcare industry in particular is a key area of focus for software developers. Rather than tracking customer buying habits and other factors that are part of business intelligence for the corporate world, products used within the healthcare sector analyze data on drug studies, enable data on patients to be exchanged in accord with HIPAA privacy regulations, and let patients schedule procedures through self-service modules built into the software. Functions that are not industry-specific, such as managing finances, are performed as well.
Within government agencies, business intelligence software tracks tax revenues and monitors the delivery of public services. For instance, Information Builders reports that NASA's Shuttle Business Office uses the company's solutions to oversee its relationships with the third-party contractors it employs.
Prospective users of business intelligence solutions today show a preference for suites that address all business intelligence functions across an organization. Solution providers have responded to this trend by further developing their own software and by executing mergers with one-time rivals.
The significant efforts that leading software companies are making to expand their business intelligence lines, both organically through in-house development and "artificially" through acquisitions, suggests that they see strong demand for the technology. The outcome of these changes is taking shape as a market dominated by companies with complete business intelligence suites. Developers that specialize in a narrow sub-category, such as reporting tools, will likely find themselves squeezed out of many sales opportunities or will be acquired by larger players that are looking to broaden their own suites.
Growth of the business intelligence market has slowed somewhat from previous years, but it continues nonetheless. Estimates of its size vary widely, with some sources placing the size of the BI market at about $10 billion. Analyst firm Gartner forecasts that the market will grow, in spite of the current economic conditions; however, the growth is expected to be only in single digits, with a compound annual growth rate through 2013 of 6.3 percent.
Market Leaders
As with other aspects of the technology industry, the business intelligence market has long been segmented into two major parts: standalone solutions and products that are part of larger, enterprise suites. However, that is changing as enterprise vendors acquire the standalone ones. In the past couple of years, SAP acquired Business Objects, IBM acquired Cognos, and Oracle acquired Hyperion.
IBM Cognos
Cognos, around since the 1970s, entered the BI market in the 1990s. In late 2005, Cognos re-architected its BI product and released Cognos 8 BI. The product includes reporting, analysis, scorecarding, dashboards, business event management, data integration, and a strong searching feature. Cognos acquired Applix, a well known vendor of performance analytics, in October 2007.
Cognos itself then was acquired by IBM in early 2008, allowing IBM its entry into the BI market. IBM stated that the acquisition took place in order to "accelerate its ‘Information on Demand' strategy." Now known as IBM Cognos 8, the product line has seen additions and updates to it since its acquisition. For example, Cognos was updated to include a self-serve flash-based dashboard and new mobile and search capabilities, as well as compatibility with devices including BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Cognos Express, introduced in September 2009, provides integrated BI and planning for midsize companies; Cognos TM1 provides complete planning, analysis, and reporting with advanced personalization and real-time response; Cognos Analytic Applications provide packaged reports and analysis; and other Cognos software applications are available for consolidation, planning, and dimension management.
Information Builders
Information Builders' BI product is called WebFOCUS. It uses Ajax technology, which combines asynchronous JavaScript and XML. The latest release, WebFOCUS 8, was introduced in April 2010. It fully integrates a Performance Management Framework (PMF) interface; includes a new BI Portal for developers to build and deploy dashboard solutions; allows users to create portable BI applications; offers an Activity Monitor for business activity monitoring (BAM) and the CEP Enable capability for complex event processing; and includes two new advanced analytic components, Visual Discovery 8 for visual analytics and RStat 1.2 for predictive analytics. The product will be generally available in the fourth quarter of 2010.
The company offers related products, as well. IWebFOCUS FLEX Enable, released in early 2008, uses Adobe Flex technology to incorporate interactive features, such as animation, into BI dashboards, which Information Builders calls "Flashboards." The company states that the product will work with any current or future version of WebFOCUS. In October 2008 the vendor introduced WebFOCUS InfoAssist, an ad hoc reporting solution built on AJAX technology with a Microsoft Office-like user interface.
Microsoft
Microsoft's BI product line comprises SQL Server 2008 R2 for data storage and management (encompassing data mining, data warehousing, data quality, and ad-hoc analysis); SharePoint Server 2010 for information delivery (encompassing dashboards, collaboration/search, managed reporting, visualization, and scorecards); and Excel, along with SQL Server, for query, reporting, and analysis (encompassing ad-hoc analysis, production reporting, and OLAP analysis).
Microsoft released SharePoint Server 2010 and Office 2010 on May 12, 2010; however, both products were involved in a large beta program. By the time of the products' release, 8.6 million people were already using Office 2010 and related products, and more than 1,000 partners were already building solutions for the products.
MicroStrategy
Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy's latest BI release is MicroStrategy 9, released in March 2009. The product includes adaptive caching technology called In-memory ROLAP, which utilizes large addressable memory and provides a middle-tier database that can respond directly to data requests from reports, dashboards, and OLAP analyses. Additionally, MicroStrategy 9 offers SQL generation optimizations to improve performance for queries involving complex metrics.
MicroStrategy has announced a new application platform called MicroStrategy Mobile. Due to be launched in July 2010, the platform is designed for the Apple's iPad and iPhone, as well as the BlackBerry mobile device. The platform will allow an organization to develop specific applications that can run on those mobile devices, allowing users to access information in what MicroStrategy has billed "mobile intelligence."
Oracle
Oracle's BI focus is based on its Business Intelligence Suite. This product line comprises Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition Plus, Oracle BI Standard Edition One, and Oracle BI Oracle Publisher (formerly XML Publisher), an enterprise reporting solution for authoring, managing, and delivering highly formatted documents. The Oracle BI product line integrates the Oracle database with Fusion middleware and analytics software and also includes analytics software originally from Siebel Systems, another Oracle acquisition. The product family works with both Oracle and non-Oracle environments.
Oracle took another step in the direction of BI supremacy with the acquisition in March 2007 of Hyperion System 9 BI+. This product, originally called Hyperion Essbase (derived from Extended SpreadSheet database), was developed by Arbor Software, which Hyperion acquired in 1998. Oracle has now renamed it Oracle Essbase. The product includes reporting capabilities, dashboards, and an analysis feature that also can be used in Microsoft Excel. Additionally, it combines its BI functionality with financial applications, making it more of a Business Process Management (BPM) system than "just" BI.
The company includes another product in with those pertaining to BI: Oracle's Real-Time Decisions (RTD) platform combines both rules and predictive analytics, enabling real-time intelligence via a high-performance transactional server. This server automatically renders decisions within a business process and creates actionable intelligence from data flowing through the process in real time.
SAP
Business Objects was acquired by SAP in a "friendly takeover" completed in 2008. At its completion, SAP announced the release of nine packages, combining solutions from both companies in various groupings that are being sold by the sales departments of both companies as well. The packages fall into three categories: performance optimization applications, including Financial Performance Management (FPM) and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC); business intelligence platform packages that include Visualization and Reporting, Enterprise Query, Reporting, and Analysis, Data Integration and Data Quality Management, and Master Data Services; and packages geared to small and midsized companies, including SAP Business All-in-One with BusinessObjects Edge Standard, Crystal Reports Server, and BusinessObjects Edge Series, which now includes integration for SAP Solutions. According to Gartner, the combination of SAP and Business Objects formed the largest installed base in the market, with an estimated 46,000 customers.
However, even before its acquisition of Business Objects, SAP began to expand its BI capabilities via acquisition. In February 2007 the vendor acquired Pilot Software, a privately held company specializing in strategy management software, and its flagship product, PilotWorks. SAP has integrated PilotWorks with its own applications. Additionally, the company continues to market another BI product line. SAP's Business Intelligence software package is a component of the company's NetWeaver platform, which also includes an enterprise portal, tools for integrating SAP software with barcode readers and Bluetooth devices, and data management software, as well as tools for custom application development. The Business Intelligence component offers a full line of extraction, analysis, and reporting tools with the capability to publish information to an intranet portal or mobile device.
SAS
The vendor's solution, called SAS Enterprise BI Server, includes both BI tools and a BI architecture. Its features include Web and desktop reporting interfaces, self-service query interfaces, a Web-based interface, OLAP data storage, and a suite of graphic data presentation options, and a centralized management framework. Additionally, the vendor offers a variety of specific industry solutions, including three geared for financial services, two aimed at manufacturing, three intended for retail, and two for telecommunications.
In April 2007 SAS announced its Visual BI software that allows the creation of what the vendor calls "data movies" by manipulating a motion-enabled, graphical environment. The product includes a graphics library for presentations and customizable graphics generation accessible through a dashboard that displays all content in a customizable environment. It is powered by SAS' JMP statistical discovery software. JMP, developed by SAS in-house, can dynamically link statistics with graphics on the desktop, allowing what the vendor bills as interactive data exploration.
Market Trends
Self Service
The latest trend in this technology area is called "self-service BI." Analyst firm Forrester refers to it as "the only way to make BI more pervasive, delivering insights into every decision-important or mundane-that drives your business. It's the key to empowering users with actionable insights while removing many mundane BI development and maintenance tasks from IT's crushing workload."
Information Today's "Unisphere Media" concurs on the importance of this trend, stating that "organizations that make BI tools more readily accessible to a larger number of decision makers... report faster delivery of reports and models." That is, indeed, the gist of self service: it allows business decision makers to build their own business performance reports, instead of waiting, sometimes for weeks, for IT resources to deliver reports, as has been traditional in the BI world. However, organizations that make BI tools more readily accessible to a larger number of decision makers report faster delivery of reports and models.
Consolidation
One trend that has slowed recently, likely due to the economic turndown, is the market consolidation that happens when enterprise vendors acquire best-of-breed, smaller vendors. An example of what is sometimes called Big Fish-Little Fish, whereby large companies gobble up smaller ones, only to be gobbled up themselves by even larger companies, began in late 2007 when Cognos acquired performance analytics firm Applix, and then was itself acquired by IBM several months later. IBM isn't alone; many of the major enterprise vendors have been busy acquiring smaller ones to increase their BI portfolio. Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP all have acquired former best-of-breed BI vendors as well.
The trend to acquisitions is not a new one. It can be traced back over the years, but one of the first of major importance was when Business Objects acquired Crystal Decisions, a specialist in reporting tools, in December 2003. Likewise, Hyperion acquired Brio to integrate the latter's reporting technology software into its own product suite. Other activity of note included Business Objects' acquisition of Firstlogic and Hyperion's acquisition of Upstream Software. Many acquisitions occurred in 2006: Oracle acquired Siebel Systems, best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) products; Microsoft acquired ProClarity; and Business Objects acquired Firstlogic, Inc., a provider of enterprise data quality software, and Nsite, a "software-as-a-service" (SaaS) provider.
In 2007 the previously mentioned Cognos and Applix acquisition happened, SAP acquired Pilot Software, and Oracle continued its buying frenzy by acquiring a major BI vendor, Hyperion Solutions. In 2008 SAP acquired Business Objects, IBM acquired Cognos, and Microsoft acquired Fast Search & Transfer ASA and DATAllegro.
Software as a Service
Often referred to by the acronym "SaaS," this software application delivery model was previously called "hosting." A vendor offers an application for use by customers over the Internet, and charges customers for its use, precluding the need for them to buy a similar application. Most BI vendors-particularly those courting the mid-size market-now support some type of on-demand service. For example, Business Objects, now an SAP company, specifically acquired a SaaS provider, Nsite, in November 2006 in order to offer a stronger on-demand service.
In 2007 Microsoft introduced its idea of "software plus services," defined as a blended model that includes desktop software, the Internet, and data and applications on servers that can be delivered as services. Microsoft's point is to ensure that its Office suite can be used as a front end to other SaaS applications.
In spite of the trend of major vendors to offer their own SaaS solutions, interest continues in business intelligence and data warehousing services offered through third-party ASPs,. Hosted services are particularly attractive to small and mid-size firms, who were traditionally shut out of the business intelligence market, since data-analysis capabilities can be delivered without the time and cost associated with client-based implementations.
Search Functionality
Vendors have begun adding to their BI products the ability to search throughout corporate data sources, including financial and operational reports, by anyone within an organization. Cognos, now owned by IBM, first added its own search capability, called Cognos Go! Search Service; shortly thereafter, the vendor announced an alliance with Google, where searching was made even easier via Google technology. Additionally, even before its acquisition, another alliance with IBM allowed users of Cognos Go! Search Service and those of WebSphere Information Integrator OmniFind Edition (a key component of the IBM WebSphere Content Discovery platform) to locate and analyze information by including Cognos BI information as part of IBM enterprise search results. In addition, Information Builders also announced an Intelligent Search capability that uses its subsidiary IWay's connectivity capability to link WebFOCUS with Google's Search Appliance.
Microsoft joined in on the belief in the importance of enterprise searching capabilities. In 2008 Microsoft acquired Fast Search & Transfer ASA, a provider of enterprise search solutions. The company, which now operates as a Microsoft subsidiary, refers to the solution as "business intelligence built on search (BIBOS)."
Dashboards
Dashboards, which have fallen in and out of favor several times in the information technology world over the past 15 years or so, are another trend to impact the BI market. These snapshots of data, resplendent with graphs, charts, and gauges, have changed since the days when they were intended for executive use only and the information they presented was static. Now they are quickly created, with no programming expertise necessary. Data is updated in real time, delivered to workers throughout the enterprise who can then drill down and analyze metrics as needed. Furthermore, today's dashboards are laden with drag-and-drop personalization features that assure pertinence to anyone's role. Virtually all of the standalone BI vendors offer some dashboard capabilities as part of their product suites, and an entire industry of add-on dashboard software products has sprung up as well.
Business Activity Monitoring
Similar in some respects to dashboards because it also captures data and process events, Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) allows the real-time monitoring of business processes. It compares and combines them into business metrics. Then it displays the real-time status of those metrics. An enterprise solution primarily intended for use by operations managers and upper management. BAM is being integrated into many of the top BI packages.
Mobile Access
Some companies are building wireless access and alerting into their products in order to allow the growing numbers of mobile workers to keep abreast of critical business issues from their handheld devices. BusinessObjects Mobile, for example, allows viewing and manipulating reports from BusinessObjects XI via mobile devices such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile. Cognos Go! Mobile offers wireless access to Cognos BI data via a mobile client. SAP's offering includes the capability to publish information to an intranet portal or mobile device. And Microsoft is touting mobile device support to its BI products by third parties.
Enterprise Information Portals
Increasingly, information from disparate and disconnected systems is being accumulated and presented through enterprise portals, which are accessible via ordinary desktop browsers. A portal can provide decision makers with a real-time, customized view of the business, thereby providing the ability to manage key processes. Delivery over a Web interface improves ease-of-use, which is a significant decision criterion for organizations that are evaluating business intelligence solutions.
Strategic Planning Implications
In many cases, organizations considering the implementation of a business intelligence solution will already have in place a business intelligence platform, such as an Oracle database. Adding business intelligence capabilities to an existing platform could significantly minimize learning curves, implementation difficulties, and costs. The alternative would be to patch-on a third-party product.
Enterprise-wide solutions from database vendors are not the best option in all situations, however, and other considerations weigh in favor of the best-of-breed approach. For example, BI vendors are looking to expand into smaller and mid-sized businesses (SMB); for this segment, a standalone BI product, rather than an enterprise solution, is probably a smarter choice.
In theory, a business intelligence tool with complex analytic and reporting tools offers the most value to an organization; in practice, however, an application with a narrowly defined set of functions may prove the most beneficial. Business intelligence tools can be narrowly defined by focusing on only one area of decision-making, such as product development, or by being delivered to a limited group of users as opposed to an entire organization. Although the prevailing trend is toward solutions that provide access to business intelligence information across an entire enterprise, to executive and end-users alike, department-level solutions remain a viable option in many circumstances.
Business intelligence solutions aim to reduce the confusion produced by maintaining data in disparate systems across multiple departments. Often the tools only add to the confusion, however, creating an additional layer of complexity for users. As a result, solution providers are spending significant development resources to ensure that their tools can deliver effective printed reports and can integrate well with common applications such as Microsoft Excel. Ultimately, the primary consideration in selecting a business intelligence solution is whether it will provide information that is useful in making strategic decisions; information will be useful only to the extent that it can be easily and quickly accessed.
Taken From (http://www.dbta.com/Articles/Editorial/Trends-and-Applications/What-is-Business-Intelligence-73502.aspx)
BI is a combination of the tools and systems involved in an enterprise's strategic planning that aid in its analysis.
These solutions provide a single source through which to analyze a company's disparate data sources, permitting users to execute queries without the assistance of technical staff. Over the past several years, they have evolved from narrowly focused query and reporting tools to enterprise-wide platforms. The resulting single source offers not only current, but also historical and predictive views of operations.
Sometimes referred to as decision-support software, BI applications analyze patterns in sales, trends, pricing, and customer behavior to assist in the business decision-making process. The expanded use of data warehouses, e-commerce tools, CRM packages, and other enterprise software has created a proportional need to easily view and use the information stored within these systems.
The continued evolution of this software genre encompasses new trends, including self-service techniques, and ongoing acquisitions that represent a major market consolidation. The major players in the sector range from a dwindling supply of pure-play vendors to enterprise software suppliers that include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP.
Market Dynamics
While applicable to organizations of any size, business intelligence solutions are most relevant to industries with large numbers of customers, high levels of competition (with the resultant need for differentiation), and large volumes of data. Common business intelligence functions include, but are not limited to, the following:
Analyzing sales trends.
Tracking customer buying habits.
Managing finances.
Evaluating sales and marketing campaign effectiveness.
Predicting market demand.
Analyzing vendor relationships.
Assessing staffing needs and performance.
Non-traditional market segments are also driving the need for enterprise-wide, cross-application business intelligence solutions. The healthcare industry in particular is a key area of focus for software developers. Rather than tracking customer buying habits and other factors that are part of business intelligence for the corporate world, products used within the healthcare sector analyze data on drug studies, enable data on patients to be exchanged in accord with HIPAA privacy regulations, and let patients schedule procedures through self-service modules built into the software. Functions that are not industry-specific, such as managing finances, are performed as well.
Within government agencies, business intelligence software tracks tax revenues and monitors the delivery of public services. For instance, Information Builders reports that NASA's Shuttle Business Office uses the company's solutions to oversee its relationships with the third-party contractors it employs.
Prospective users of business intelligence solutions today show a preference for suites that address all business intelligence functions across an organization. Solution providers have responded to this trend by further developing their own software and by executing mergers with one-time rivals.
The significant efforts that leading software companies are making to expand their business intelligence lines, both organically through in-house development and "artificially" through acquisitions, suggests that they see strong demand for the technology. The outcome of these changes is taking shape as a market dominated by companies with complete business intelligence suites. Developers that specialize in a narrow sub-category, such as reporting tools, will likely find themselves squeezed out of many sales opportunities or will be acquired by larger players that are looking to broaden their own suites.
Growth of the business intelligence market has slowed somewhat from previous years, but it continues nonetheless. Estimates of its size vary widely, with some sources placing the size of the BI market at about $10 billion. Analyst firm Gartner forecasts that the market will grow, in spite of the current economic conditions; however, the growth is expected to be only in single digits, with a compound annual growth rate through 2013 of 6.3 percent.
Market Leaders
As with other aspects of the technology industry, the business intelligence market has long been segmented into two major parts: standalone solutions and products that are part of larger, enterprise suites. However, that is changing as enterprise vendors acquire the standalone ones. In the past couple of years, SAP acquired Business Objects, IBM acquired Cognos, and Oracle acquired Hyperion.
IBM Cognos
Cognos, around since the 1970s, entered the BI market in the 1990s. In late 2005, Cognos re-architected its BI product and released Cognos 8 BI. The product includes reporting, analysis, scorecarding, dashboards, business event management, data integration, and a strong searching feature. Cognos acquired Applix, a well known vendor of performance analytics, in October 2007.
Cognos itself then was acquired by IBM in early 2008, allowing IBM its entry into the BI market. IBM stated that the acquisition took place in order to "accelerate its ‘Information on Demand' strategy." Now known as IBM Cognos 8, the product line has seen additions and updates to it since its acquisition. For example, Cognos was updated to include a self-serve flash-based dashboard and new mobile and search capabilities, as well as compatibility with devices including BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Cognos Express, introduced in September 2009, provides integrated BI and planning for midsize companies; Cognos TM1 provides complete planning, analysis, and reporting with advanced personalization and real-time response; Cognos Analytic Applications provide packaged reports and analysis; and other Cognos software applications are available for consolidation, planning, and dimension management.
Information Builders
Information Builders' BI product is called WebFOCUS. It uses Ajax technology, which combines asynchronous JavaScript and XML. The latest release, WebFOCUS 8, was introduced in April 2010. It fully integrates a Performance Management Framework (PMF) interface; includes a new BI Portal for developers to build and deploy dashboard solutions; allows users to create portable BI applications; offers an Activity Monitor for business activity monitoring (BAM) and the CEP Enable capability for complex event processing; and includes two new advanced analytic components, Visual Discovery 8 for visual analytics and RStat 1.2 for predictive analytics. The product will be generally available in the fourth quarter of 2010.
The company offers related products, as well. IWebFOCUS FLEX Enable, released in early 2008, uses Adobe Flex technology to incorporate interactive features, such as animation, into BI dashboards, which Information Builders calls "Flashboards." The company states that the product will work with any current or future version of WebFOCUS. In October 2008 the vendor introduced WebFOCUS InfoAssist, an ad hoc reporting solution built on AJAX technology with a Microsoft Office-like user interface.
Microsoft
Microsoft's BI product line comprises SQL Server 2008 R2 for data storage and management (encompassing data mining, data warehousing, data quality, and ad-hoc analysis); SharePoint Server 2010 for information delivery (encompassing dashboards, collaboration/search, managed reporting, visualization, and scorecards); and Excel, along with SQL Server, for query, reporting, and analysis (encompassing ad-hoc analysis, production reporting, and OLAP analysis).
Microsoft released SharePoint Server 2010 and Office 2010 on May 12, 2010; however, both products were involved in a large beta program. By the time of the products' release, 8.6 million people were already using Office 2010 and related products, and more than 1,000 partners were already building solutions for the products.
MicroStrategy
Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy's latest BI release is MicroStrategy 9, released in March 2009. The product includes adaptive caching technology called In-memory ROLAP, which utilizes large addressable memory and provides a middle-tier database that can respond directly to data requests from reports, dashboards, and OLAP analyses. Additionally, MicroStrategy 9 offers SQL generation optimizations to improve performance for queries involving complex metrics.
MicroStrategy has announced a new application platform called MicroStrategy Mobile. Due to be launched in July 2010, the platform is designed for the Apple's iPad and iPhone, as well as the BlackBerry mobile device. The platform will allow an organization to develop specific applications that can run on those mobile devices, allowing users to access information in what MicroStrategy has billed "mobile intelligence."
Oracle
Oracle's BI focus is based on its Business Intelligence Suite. This product line comprises Oracle BI Suite Enterprise Edition Plus, Oracle BI Standard Edition One, and Oracle BI Oracle Publisher (formerly XML Publisher), an enterprise reporting solution for authoring, managing, and delivering highly formatted documents. The Oracle BI product line integrates the Oracle database with Fusion middleware and analytics software and also includes analytics software originally from Siebel Systems, another Oracle acquisition. The product family works with both Oracle and non-Oracle environments.
Oracle took another step in the direction of BI supremacy with the acquisition in March 2007 of Hyperion System 9 BI+. This product, originally called Hyperion Essbase (derived from Extended SpreadSheet database), was developed by Arbor Software, which Hyperion acquired in 1998. Oracle has now renamed it Oracle Essbase. The product includes reporting capabilities, dashboards, and an analysis feature that also can be used in Microsoft Excel. Additionally, it combines its BI functionality with financial applications, making it more of a Business Process Management (BPM) system than "just" BI.
The company includes another product in with those pertaining to BI: Oracle's Real-Time Decisions (RTD) platform combines both rules and predictive analytics, enabling real-time intelligence via a high-performance transactional server. This server automatically renders decisions within a business process and creates actionable intelligence from data flowing through the process in real time.
SAP
Business Objects was acquired by SAP in a "friendly takeover" completed in 2008. At its completion, SAP announced the release of nine packages, combining solutions from both companies in various groupings that are being sold by the sales departments of both companies as well. The packages fall into three categories: performance optimization applications, including Financial Performance Management (FPM) and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC); business intelligence platform packages that include Visualization and Reporting, Enterprise Query, Reporting, and Analysis, Data Integration and Data Quality Management, and Master Data Services; and packages geared to small and midsized companies, including SAP Business All-in-One with BusinessObjects Edge Standard, Crystal Reports Server, and BusinessObjects Edge Series, which now includes integration for SAP Solutions. According to Gartner, the combination of SAP and Business Objects formed the largest installed base in the market, with an estimated 46,000 customers.
However, even before its acquisition of Business Objects, SAP began to expand its BI capabilities via acquisition. In February 2007 the vendor acquired Pilot Software, a privately held company specializing in strategy management software, and its flagship product, PilotWorks. SAP has integrated PilotWorks with its own applications. Additionally, the company continues to market another BI product line. SAP's Business Intelligence software package is a component of the company's NetWeaver platform, which also includes an enterprise portal, tools for integrating SAP software with barcode readers and Bluetooth devices, and data management software, as well as tools for custom application development. The Business Intelligence component offers a full line of extraction, analysis, and reporting tools with the capability to publish information to an intranet portal or mobile device.
SAS
The vendor's solution, called SAS Enterprise BI Server, includes both BI tools and a BI architecture. Its features include Web and desktop reporting interfaces, self-service query interfaces, a Web-based interface, OLAP data storage, and a suite of graphic data presentation options, and a centralized management framework. Additionally, the vendor offers a variety of specific industry solutions, including three geared for financial services, two aimed at manufacturing, three intended for retail, and two for telecommunications.
In April 2007 SAS announced its Visual BI software that allows the creation of what the vendor calls "data movies" by manipulating a motion-enabled, graphical environment. The product includes a graphics library for presentations and customizable graphics generation accessible through a dashboard that displays all content in a customizable environment. It is powered by SAS' JMP statistical discovery software. JMP, developed by SAS in-house, can dynamically link statistics with graphics on the desktop, allowing what the vendor bills as interactive data exploration.
Market Trends
Self Service
The latest trend in this technology area is called "self-service BI." Analyst firm Forrester refers to it as "the only way to make BI more pervasive, delivering insights into every decision-important or mundane-that drives your business. It's the key to empowering users with actionable insights while removing many mundane BI development and maintenance tasks from IT's crushing workload."
Information Today's "Unisphere Media" concurs on the importance of this trend, stating that "organizations that make BI tools more readily accessible to a larger number of decision makers... report faster delivery of reports and models." That is, indeed, the gist of self service: it allows business decision makers to build their own business performance reports, instead of waiting, sometimes for weeks, for IT resources to deliver reports, as has been traditional in the BI world. However, organizations that make BI tools more readily accessible to a larger number of decision makers report faster delivery of reports and models.
Consolidation
One trend that has slowed recently, likely due to the economic turndown, is the market consolidation that happens when enterprise vendors acquire best-of-breed, smaller vendors. An example of what is sometimes called Big Fish-Little Fish, whereby large companies gobble up smaller ones, only to be gobbled up themselves by even larger companies, began in late 2007 when Cognos acquired performance analytics firm Applix, and then was itself acquired by IBM several months later. IBM isn't alone; many of the major enterprise vendors have been busy acquiring smaller ones to increase their BI portfolio. Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP all have acquired former best-of-breed BI vendors as well.
The trend to acquisitions is not a new one. It can be traced back over the years, but one of the first of major importance was when Business Objects acquired Crystal Decisions, a specialist in reporting tools, in December 2003. Likewise, Hyperion acquired Brio to integrate the latter's reporting technology software into its own product suite. Other activity of note included Business Objects' acquisition of Firstlogic and Hyperion's acquisition of Upstream Software. Many acquisitions occurred in 2006: Oracle acquired Siebel Systems, best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) products; Microsoft acquired ProClarity; and Business Objects acquired Firstlogic, Inc., a provider of enterprise data quality software, and Nsite, a "software-as-a-service" (SaaS) provider.
In 2007 the previously mentioned Cognos and Applix acquisition happened, SAP acquired Pilot Software, and Oracle continued its buying frenzy by acquiring a major BI vendor, Hyperion Solutions. In 2008 SAP acquired Business Objects, IBM acquired Cognos, and Microsoft acquired Fast Search & Transfer ASA and DATAllegro.
Software as a Service
Often referred to by the acronym "SaaS," this software application delivery model was previously called "hosting." A vendor offers an application for use by customers over the Internet, and charges customers for its use, precluding the need for them to buy a similar application. Most BI vendors-particularly those courting the mid-size market-now support some type of on-demand service. For example, Business Objects, now an SAP company, specifically acquired a SaaS provider, Nsite, in November 2006 in order to offer a stronger on-demand service.
In 2007 Microsoft introduced its idea of "software plus services," defined as a blended model that includes desktop software, the Internet, and data and applications on servers that can be delivered as services. Microsoft's point is to ensure that its Office suite can be used as a front end to other SaaS applications.
In spite of the trend of major vendors to offer their own SaaS solutions, interest continues in business intelligence and data warehousing services offered through third-party ASPs,. Hosted services are particularly attractive to small and mid-size firms, who were traditionally shut out of the business intelligence market, since data-analysis capabilities can be delivered without the time and cost associated with client-based implementations.
Search Functionality
Vendors have begun adding to their BI products the ability to search throughout corporate data sources, including financial and operational reports, by anyone within an organization. Cognos, now owned by IBM, first added its own search capability, called Cognos Go! Search Service; shortly thereafter, the vendor announced an alliance with Google, where searching was made even easier via Google technology. Additionally, even before its acquisition, another alliance with IBM allowed users of Cognos Go! Search Service and those of WebSphere Information Integrator OmniFind Edition (a key component of the IBM WebSphere Content Discovery platform) to locate and analyze information by including Cognos BI information as part of IBM enterprise search results. In addition, Information Builders also announced an Intelligent Search capability that uses its subsidiary IWay's connectivity capability to link WebFOCUS with Google's Search Appliance.
Microsoft joined in on the belief in the importance of enterprise searching capabilities. In 2008 Microsoft acquired Fast Search & Transfer ASA, a provider of enterprise search solutions. The company, which now operates as a Microsoft subsidiary, refers to the solution as "business intelligence built on search (BIBOS)."
Dashboards
Dashboards, which have fallen in and out of favor several times in the information technology world over the past 15 years or so, are another trend to impact the BI market. These snapshots of data, resplendent with graphs, charts, and gauges, have changed since the days when they were intended for executive use only and the information they presented was static. Now they are quickly created, with no programming expertise necessary. Data is updated in real time, delivered to workers throughout the enterprise who can then drill down and analyze metrics as needed. Furthermore, today's dashboards are laden with drag-and-drop personalization features that assure pertinence to anyone's role. Virtually all of the standalone BI vendors offer some dashboard capabilities as part of their product suites, and an entire industry of add-on dashboard software products has sprung up as well.
Business Activity Monitoring
Similar in some respects to dashboards because it also captures data and process events, Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) allows the real-time monitoring of business processes. It compares and combines them into business metrics. Then it displays the real-time status of those metrics. An enterprise solution primarily intended for use by operations managers and upper management. BAM is being integrated into many of the top BI packages.
Mobile Access
Some companies are building wireless access and alerting into their products in order to allow the growing numbers of mobile workers to keep abreast of critical business issues from their handheld devices. BusinessObjects Mobile, for example, allows viewing and manipulating reports from BusinessObjects XI via mobile devices such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile. Cognos Go! Mobile offers wireless access to Cognos BI data via a mobile client. SAP's offering includes the capability to publish information to an intranet portal or mobile device. And Microsoft is touting mobile device support to its BI products by third parties.
Enterprise Information Portals
Increasingly, information from disparate and disconnected systems is being accumulated and presented through enterprise portals, which are accessible via ordinary desktop browsers. A portal can provide decision makers with a real-time, customized view of the business, thereby providing the ability to manage key processes. Delivery over a Web interface improves ease-of-use, which is a significant decision criterion for organizations that are evaluating business intelligence solutions.
Strategic Planning Implications
In many cases, organizations considering the implementation of a business intelligence solution will already have in place a business intelligence platform, such as an Oracle database. Adding business intelligence capabilities to an existing platform could significantly minimize learning curves, implementation difficulties, and costs. The alternative would be to patch-on a third-party product.
Enterprise-wide solutions from database vendors are not the best option in all situations, however, and other considerations weigh in favor of the best-of-breed approach. For example, BI vendors are looking to expand into smaller and mid-sized businesses (SMB); for this segment, a standalone BI product, rather than an enterprise solution, is probably a smarter choice.
In theory, a business intelligence tool with complex analytic and reporting tools offers the most value to an organization; in practice, however, an application with a narrowly defined set of functions may prove the most beneficial. Business intelligence tools can be narrowly defined by focusing on only one area of decision-making, such as product development, or by being delivered to a limited group of users as opposed to an entire organization. Although the prevailing trend is toward solutions that provide access to business intelligence information across an entire enterprise, to executive and end-users alike, department-level solutions remain a viable option in many circumstances.
Business intelligence solutions aim to reduce the confusion produced by maintaining data in disparate systems across multiple departments. Often the tools only add to the confusion, however, creating an additional layer of complexity for users. As a result, solution providers are spending significant development resources to ensure that their tools can deliver effective printed reports and can integrate well with common applications such as Microsoft Excel. Ultimately, the primary consideration in selecting a business intelligence solution is whether it will provide information that is useful in making strategic decisions; information will be useful only to the extent that it can be easily and quickly accessed.
Taken From (http://www.dbta.com/Articles/Editorial/Trends-and-Applications/What-is-Business-Intelligence-73502.aspx)
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