Thursday, February 12, 2009

Logo Merchandise Makes Your Business Credible

Advertising is a form of promotion that can be delivered through a number of media outlets.It usually costs money, which means it can be expensive.It can also be seen as one of the best ways to promote a business to a large number of people.

Unfortunately, there is a down side to this method.Although the message is going out to a large audience, it may not be going out to the target market, which can be seen as a mismanagement of the funds set aside for promotion.

The use of promotional products is one of the most widely used methods for sales promotions.The item distributed serves as a reminder for the actual product.This can be done in many forms, including calendars, coffee cups, pens, wine keys, mouse pads, key chains, awards, tools, office and desk set items, and framed posters and prints.

There are many important functions promotional products serve for a business.The more a product will be used by a consumer, the more that item with its information will be seen, and the more likely a sale can be made.They can also be used after the sale because it gives the customer a reminder and a way to contact the business.

By having information readily available on a product, the consumer saves time by not having to look up information on the Internet or in the yellow pages.This also prevents them from seeing information and specials from the competition.Just be sure when placing information on a promotional product, that the item chosen is of good quality, because if it isn't it will be more likely to be thrown away.

Logos are important because without them the business will not look stable.It will look like the set up wasn't complete and will make clients less confident about wanting to do business.There is also the possibility it will make the company look very small.

Larger businesses will almost always use professionally designed marketing materials.Without this, it can make a company seem like they won't be able to perform or meet the standards required.

The lack of a logo can also give a business an unpolished look, which can be construed by the consumer that the owners don't care - if you don't care about your business, then you don't care about the quality of work you put out.

When starting a business, one needs to create the quickest possible route to get that business to succeed.A logo can help create this.A good logo will meet three requirements: it will be appropriate, aesthetically pleasing, and reflect the company's credibility.

An appropriate logo will reflect the main features of the company or product.It also should be visibly pleasing and avoid visual difficulties since the visual perception is a very important factor that needs to be considered when designing.The credibility is also important because people need to identify with the logo and recognize the company's seal is one that they can trust.

If a logo is properly designed, it will act as the company's presentation card.The higher of quality of product the company puts out, the more the consumer will want that product.Then, when customers are looking for that product, they will search out the company's logo before purchasing to assure they are buying what they were looking for.


About the Author

A good logo can create branding and credibility for your company and products.

For corporate logo merchandise that is targeted to your audience and promotion, contact a professional consultant at www.logo411.com.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

How To Generate An Endless Stream Of Niche Product Ideas

Generating niche product ideas require a certain amount of creativity; however, the steps that I outlined in this article could help you in your quest to locate new niche business ideas.Before you start to read the article, get a pocket notebook and a pen ready first because you may get some great niche ideas during your reading process.

1.Look at the objects around you and analyzing them


Looking around your house, the stuff you are using, your kitchen, the food you like to eat, your garden, your local park or shops or whenever you are out at a new place.

For example, when I look at my room, I see there are few antiques in the corner, then I got a new idea pop up - why not write a product about buying and selling antiques for profit?

2.Your own hobbies and passions


This is my favorite method for generating new niche product ideas because it is based on what you love to do; the things that you want to do instead of what you have to do.

Think about what subjects you like to talk about, or read about, or even you are very knowledgeable about.Then use five or ten minutes do your brainstorm and write them all down on your pocket notebook.Once you've brainstormed the list of your hobbies and passions, it is the time to think about how you could turn that into a product.

You can also generate new niche ideas by involve your friends and families, their passion and interests to dominate a certain micro-niche market.A micro-niche market is one that is very small in comparison to other markets.This kind of market is much easier to get in and penetrate than a broader niche and the customers are often more passionate and more willing to buy.

3.Utilize the power of media


Since the media have had an ever increasing affect on our lives and it can be used as an excellent tool for generating new product niche ideas.

Analyzing TV adverts, the program they are playing, analyzing current affairs, read magazine adverts, content and newspapers.You can quickly spot potentially lucrative niche markets.

Global warming, example, have been widely broadcast in the past few years, more and more people are trying to do their bit to help reduce the effects and emphasis on go green.You can easily do a research towards how to reduce global warming and save money in the process, compile it into an eBook and sell it for a lot of money.

4.Utilize the power of online tools


If you are interested to sell products on eBay, one method that will help you find out the niche and what is hot right now is using the eBay pulse.

The eBay pulse is identifies the keywords that have been searched most frequently on the eBay search engine.You can also use free keyword research tools from Google to find out the market trends.

Using online tools are a good way of identifying niche markets, which one are on the up and which niche markets are in decline.They also show you what events in the press will affect the major increases or decreases in search numbers.Those numbers help you identify how media speculation will affect that niche.

Finally, look at categories in a number of websites (like eBay or any directory sites) and see whether or not you can sub-categorize that niche and develop a site from there.Then click on a category that interests you, such as click on "Collectibles" and you will see there a load more sub-categories will pop up.This method can enable you conjure up a few more niche ideas.

After you done your niche ideas initial generating (let's say you got approximately 20-30 new niche ideas, possible many more), then put them into an Excel spreadsheet to start to analyzing your niche for profit potential.

Following are some example questions that you should ask during the process of your niche product ideas profitability analysis.

a) Is there any potential to create info products that people will want to buy?
b) Are your potential customers truly passionate about the subject?
c) Do they have money to spend?
d) Are there other list owners in your niche?
e) Are there competing products in the niches that you want to get in?
f) Are there affiliate programs that would be related to your potential niche product?

Alright, you done a number of potential niche ideas brainstorm, and you also evaluated their potential.It is the time for you to take action, start your first niche business and attack into that niche market.Once you see it success, and then just repeat the step above and start your second, third and fourth niche business to generate an endless stream income.


About the Author

Ann Liu, a certified professional Internet marketer and author of Online Profiting.

To learn how YOU too can succeed in Internet and affiliate marketing, please visit http://www.marketingbyann.com


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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Why Keywords Are Critical For Your Website And Business

According to MYOB's recent survey of small businesses in Australia, only 41% of all small businesses have a website.The vast majority of the small businesses with a website wouldn't know whether or not they have any keywords, let alone what they were if they did have them.And yet keywords are the most important element of any website.

So what exactly are keywords and why do you need them?When you are looking for something on the internet you go to your nearest friendly search engine such as Google and type in a few words to help you find what you are looking for.Congratulations!You have just typed in keywords.

Google looks at the words you have typed in and using amazingly complex algorithms brings back web pages that it thinks best matches the words you typed in.

To put it another way, keywords are the difference between being found in the search engines and remaining in the wilderness.They are the difference between making money and your website gathering electronic dust.

The number one spot on a page of results from Google gets approximately 40% of all people who look for that particular term clicking on it.Once you get below number one spot, the numbers drop off significantly.If you want more customers you need more people visiting your site.One way to do this is to appear higher in the search engine results.

If you are serious about your website as a business tool, you have to have and use the right keywords in the right way.

Let's start with where Google looks for keywords when it wants to find matches for a search term.Google first of all looks at the title of your website, then the title of your page, your keywords metatag (a line of code at the top of your web page where your keywords are listed out), your page description (another line of code which described the contents of your page), the words on your page and the alt tags for any of your pictures.

Put simply, the more places Google finds matches with the term it is looking for then the higher you will rank in the returned results.(There are a whole lot of other things it considers, but the focus of this article is only on the impact of keywords).

So before we go any further, a bit of detective work for you.Go to your business website in your browser.If you are using Explorer click on View at the top of your page, then click on "source".You will see all of the lines of code that go into your website.See if you can find your metatags for your keywords, title and description.Look down the code to see if you can see all of your copy.

Many businesses that do this are horrified to find they have nothing at all in the keywords line, a description that says "Joe Bloggs website", a page title that says "home" and all of their copy hidden in a flash file or Javascript file (which renders it invisible to search engines).And they wonder why search engines can't find them!

Now you know a little bit of what you are up against, how do you find the right keywords for your business?

The idea when selecting keywords is to find words or phrases that are directly relevant to your business, that don't have too many competing web pages in the world and those that are competing are not fully optimised for those words.

Keywords are like a homing beacon, from which people can find your business.If you use the wrong words your website is more like a pilot light rather than a beacon.Setting your keywords is both a science and an art and you generally need someone skilled to help you choose the right ones for your business.

Many people first turn to their web designers to help, but not all web designers know about the importance of keywords.Many designers are graphic artists who enjoy using the electronic media for their art.The problem is they are focused on the beauty side of the equation rather than the hard edge side of websites - the keywords and correct site navigation.There is nothing wrong with that as a specialisation, it just means you need to find someone who can help you with the SEO (search engine optimisation) of your website.

If your web designer is happy to help you with keywords or if you find an SEO expert, you need to do some more digging to see how much they really know.

Some people dabble in keywords, but they don't have the tools or the experience to choose the right ones.They don't understand the difference a single letter can make to search engine returns.For example which website would you prefer to own number one spot on Google for: "write business letter" with 249 hits per day or "write business letters" with 22 hits per day?

Some will set you keywords that are so highly competitive that you have no snowball's chance in hell of hitting the top of Google for, such as internet marketing or weight loss.Some will not understand your industry and will miss refining the search by location.For example many coaching clients look for someone local rather than international, so will look for "Brisbane business coaches" rather than "business coaches".

Ask questions about how they find out what words are the most useful for your business, see if you can get some examples of their reports or ask if they can give you examples of where they have made a difference to website rankings through their work.

After you have chosen the person to help you with your keywords, you will end up with a list of words, your number one keyword word or phrase you are targeting as well as secondary words.

These words need to be used throughout your website in the correct code places as well as in your copy.From a copywriting perspective, you need to have your keywords placed in the correct places in your copy on your web page.

Too many uses of keywords can get you banned from Google (the dreaded Google slap), not enough and you disappear.

You need to work with an SEO copywriter who understands the importance of keywords and can work with you to maximise the potential of your website.

Your SEO copywriter can also help you with keyword rich articles that can drive traffic back to your website, as well as a number of other web strategies using keywords to build your credibility and boost customer numbers.

Keywords should be the foundation upon which all your other web strategies are based.Get them right and your website (and your business) will grow.


About the Author

Ingrid Cliff is a freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - a writing services studio that helps put your business into words.

For a free copy of the "7 Secrets of Compelling Copy & Powerful Words" visit her website http://www.heartharmony.com.au "> www.heartharmony.com.au .

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Credit's Like Crack, Highly Addictive and Very Dangerous

Should borrowers be held responsible for their own decisions?If I'm unable to afford the repayments on a loan or spend it all on high living, is the bank at fault for being an irresponsible lender or is it my fault for asking for the loan in the first place?
Who will ever forget the man who sued McDonald's successfully because he wasn't warned that hot coffee could burn him?This is an extreme example of how companies are being held responsible for their actions (or in this case inaction) rather than their customers.

The McDonalds case is absurd, but it serves to underline the principle, that if companies want to sell a product they must treat their consumers fairly.This ethos becomes even more important when financial products are being sold.If customers don't understand what a product offers through the lender being economical with the truth, then they could lose thousands and even have their lives ruined.

Therefore the Office of Fair Trading's investigation into reckless lending is very welcome.It intends to look into the procedures and sales tactics which banks employ when offering a personal loan or mortgage.Before the recession became reality, banks were offering customers credit cards and loans which they could ill afford.Even mortgages were on offer, which were over six times the customer's income.Chickens are now coming home to roost, as the cost of mortgages rise and the price of houses fall, there are an ever increasing number of people having their houses repossessed or even becoming bankrupt.

You may think that credit is a bit like crack, extremely addictive and very dangerous.For far too long banks have been handing it out (I don't mean crack but credit) to all and sundry, so it is hardly surprising that we have become a nation of addicts.Once this horrible recession is over, you will find that credit is much harder to find and very much more expensive, but banks should have learnt their lesson and know that if they hand out loans to high risk customers they will be held responsible and the world will be better for it.

So what should you do if you have become a victim of irresponsible lending and have fallen deeply into debt?

These are the steps you need to take.

1.Don't bury your head in the sand and ignore the bills.Contact each of your creditors and discuss whether you can make reduced payments over a given period.

2.If you fail to reach agreement, contact a debt management company who will make a 'voluntary arrangement'.You will have to pay an agreed sum each month to your creditors, which will be much lower than your original payments unless the creditor has issued a Court Order, when they will be in line with the Court's judgement.The debt management company will charge you a set up fee and a monthly handling fee.A voluntary arrangement has no standing in law, so your creditors can demand repayment in full at any time.

3.An 'Individual Voluntary Arrangement' (IVA) is similar to a voluntary arrangement except that it is binding in law and has a set period to run.At the end of that period your debts have to be paid off in full.

4.Bankruptcy is a last resort.You have minimal assets and cannot see how you will ever pay off your debts.


About the Author

Secure-secured-loans.

co.uk provides great deals on Cheap Personal Loans for its clients in the uk.Please visit our site for helpful information to aid you in making the right decision, first time.Brokers Online offers cutting edge articles and information about Loans, life insurance and other great financial products.

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