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A Beginner’s Guide To Starting A Vending Business

If you are looking for a source of income that allows you to have flexible hours and be your own boss, a vending business opportunity might be right for you.  How does one get started with a vending business opportunity?  Here are a few practical tips.

Unless you are using your vending business opportunity to sell very small ticket items (such as fifteen cents each or less) you will most likely need some type of seller’s license or permit for doing business.  It would be wise to inquire about this and find out about any time and cost involved before getting started with your vending business opportunity.

There are different ways to go about pursuing your vending business opportunity.  Some people feel most comfortable starting out with one or two small machines, such as gumball machines, and placing them in strategic locations.  Others prefer to kick off their vending business opportunity by looking for bigger machines that have previously been used and are being resold.  When embarking on your vending business opportunity, sometimes you can find used machines in the classified section of your local newspaper.

When you are looking to begin or expand your vending business opportunity, another idea is to look for vending routes.  Many times, you can also find these advertised in your local paper.  This means that someone else is looking to sell their established vending business opportunity, and you could buy the entire thing and begin it without having to start from the ground up.  For some, this may be an excellent way to get into their vending business opportunity of choice.  However, others may prefer to start a bit smaller and build a vending business opportunity up by themselves at a slower pace.

Since deciding which machines to buy first can be a challenge, it is a good idea to plan out your vending business opportunity on paper before making any purchases.  Write down which machines you are considering for your vending business opportunity, as well as how much the trinkets or candy they use will cost.  Then figure out how many sales you would need to make a profit that is worth your while.  Seeing these details on paper will help enable you to make the wisest decisions for your potential vending business opportunity.

When it comes to a vending business opportunity, the place where you put your machines is of extreme importance!  Location can be the one factor that causes a vending business opportunity to fail or succeed.  If you find a good location and begin to make a satisfactory profit, it is a worthwhile idea to expand your vending business opportunity by putting more machines in the same area.  There are a few reasons why this would be a smart move for your vending business opportunity.  First, putting all the machines in the same general area will save your vending business opportunity time and money, since you only need to make one stop to replenish each of the machines.  Second, if you are sure that you have picked a profitable area, adding more machines will likely only increase the amount of money that your vending business opportunity generates.

A vending business opportunity does take a certain amount of time and work, especially in the beginning.  However, it can be a very profitable and rewarding experience to pursue your own vending business opportunity, if care is taken to build it wisely.

800 Thread Count Sheets – A Complete Shopping Review.

Perhaps you can call me a man’s man. Well, no – that is not quite true. That sort of implies that I am a dude – I am not. For starters I don’t enjoy watching football; neither do I like to sock my friends in the arm except if they really have it coming, nor do I have any trouble talking about my feelings. It is just that, well, if it is a difference between living in squalor and taking the time to clean up and decorate my room, 9 times out of 10 I will chose the squalor. Surely what a difference getting engaged has made.

A few days back, we had gone out for shopping. All along the way to the store, my wife couldn’t help but talk about the 800 thread count sheets that she wanted. In spite of her insistence, I had no clue about what 800 thread count sheets are. Oh no, they sure cannot be the 300 thread count sheets, like the ones that I had when we first met that she was so grumpy about from about the time that we got serious. Frankly speaking, I really can’t see the difference. In fact she has 800 thread count sheets on her bed, and at all times asserts that they are so much nicer than mine. As far as I m concerned a sheet is a sheet. Well I suppose if it really makes her feel content to get 800 thread count sheets, God bless her shopping trip, but it is a bit of a hassle to be dragged along on such an outing.

It is not just the reason behind that she needs her expensive 800 thread count sheets. On my part I m willing to spilt-up the expenses with my dear fiancée for house goods, as for everything else. Most importantly she needs the special 800 thread count sheets in just the right color made out of real Egyptian cotton. As we spent all day browsing from store to store, looking through sheet after sheet that, in my opinion, all looked identical, and still, no perfect 800 thread count sheets. By the end, I think I was going a bit insane after spending so much time gaping through endless aisles of soft, fluffy pastels that looked more or less the same to my eye. After our marathon 800 thread count sheets trip, I simply wanted to switch onto some football just to spite her; needless to say I was dead beat. I dozed off even before she could put her new 800 thread count sheets on the bed.

27 Reasons To Invest In People: The Evidence Keeps Mounting

• 67 percent of customers leave because of an attitude of indifference on the part of a company employee. (American Society for Quality, 2000)

• Enthusiastic workers often increase the quality of work by huge percentages-up to a 75 percent reduction in defect rates. (Sirota, Mischkind, and Meltzer, The Enthusiastic Employee, 2005)

• Business units with employee engagement scores in the top half compared to those in the bottom half reported 86 percent higher customer ratings, and 50 percent higher productivity (Coffman and Gonzalez-Molina, Follow This Path, 2002)

• The average cost of losing, replacing, and restoring equivalent productivity when a valued professional leaves, is on the average, one times salary. (Saratoga Institute study, 1997)

• Companies in the top quarter in training expenditure per employee per year ($1,500 or more) average 24% higher profit margins than companies that spend less per year.(Susan J. Wells, HR Magazine, 4/19/2001)

• Organizations that view their people strategy as a source of competitive advantage outperform those that do not by a margin of more than two to one, delivering a median shareholder return of 109 percent between 1996 and 1998, versus 52 percent for other employers. (Watson Wyatt,1998)

• The 20 percent of Taco Bell stores with the lowest turnover yielded double the sales and 55 percent higher profits than the 20 percent of stores with the highest turnover rates (Jac Fitz-Enz, The ROI of Human Capital, 2000)

• GTE found that a one percent increase in its Employee Engagement Index resulted in nearly a .5 percent increase in customer satisfaction with service. (Ulrich and Smallwood, Why The Bottom Line ISN’T, 2003)

• Based on a comprehensive review of the research, revenue gains of 40 percent or so can be realized by companies implementing work practices that result in high employee commitment. (Pfeiffer, The Human Equation, 2000)

• Public companies in the top 25 percent based on number of performance management best practices in use achieved a 7.9 percent higher total shareholder return (Hewitt Associates, 1996)

• Stock growth of public companies on Fortune magazine’s Great Places in America to Work outperformed companies on Standard & Poor’s by 133 percent to 25 percent for the five-year period 2001-2005. (Great Place to Work Institute, 2005)

• An additional 26 percent of shareholder value was attained by companies with significantly better people management practices. (Watson-Wyatt Human Capital Index, 2002)

• 41% of employees at companies with poor training plan to leave within a year vs. 12% of employees at companies with excellent training (American Society for Training & Development, 2003)

• A five-point improvement in employee commitment on a Sears employee survey drove a 1.3 percent improvement in customer satisfaction, which in turn drove a .5 percent improvement in revenue growth. (Rucci, Kern, and Quinn, “The Employee Customer Profit Chain at Sears”, Harvard Business Review, 1998)

• Over a five year period (1996-2001) companies with effective human capital management practices (human capital index scores) achieved a 64 percent total shareholder return vs. 21 percent for low human capital index scores (Watson Wyatt, 2002)

• A five percent increase in employee retention at advertising agency Leo Burnett increased productivity by more than 20 percent and profits by 50-100 percent. (Reichheld and Teal, Bain & Company, 1996)

• A study of 30 steel mini-mills, some characterized by a “control” management approach, and other based on a “commitment” style with more training, decentralized decision-making, small-group team problem-solving, higher wages, and a higher-skilled workforce, concluded that “commitment” mills required 34 percent fewer labor hours to produce a ton of steel and showed a 63 percent better scrap rate. (Ichniowski, Shaw, and Prennushi, 2000)

• Human capital practices that most drive shareholder value are: Above-market pay, linking rewards to performance, competitive benefits with choice, commitment to performance management, flexible/collegial workplace, high trust in senior leadership, and managers that demonstrate company values. (Watson Wyatt Human Capital Index Study, 2002)

• Companies that successfully implemented “high performance work practices” and increased the use of such practices by one standard deviation achieved, on average, a seven percent decrease in turnover, and, on a per-employee basis, $27,004 more in sales, and $18,641 and $3,814 more in market value and profits, respectively. (Huselid, 1995)

• After factory floor workers were given the training and freedom to make repairs to their own equipment rather than having to call a supervisor every time they had a problem, they reported fewer occupational injuries and increased job satisfaction. (University of Sheffield, 1990)

• High-performance people systems are those that include “rigorous recruitment and selection procedures, performance-contingent incentive compensation systems, management development and training activities linked to the needs of the business, and significant commitment to employee involvement. (Becker and Huselid 1998)

• Top performers, or “A” players” in any function (not just employees in sales generating or billable positions) create from 80 to 130 percent more value than “C” players (Michaels, Handfield-Jones, and Axelrod, 2001)

• Companies that spend $273 per employee per year on training average 7% voluntary turnover compared to 16% for companies that average $218 per employee per year. Carroll Lachnit, Training magazine, September, 2001)

• High-performing companies share a set of general practices that lead to superior economic results: 1. reasonable job security, 2. highly selective hiring, 3. higher pay, 4. strong autonomous teams with decentralized decision making, 5. reduced status distinctions, 6. extensive training, 7. open information sharing, 8. linking of performance and reward (Pfieffer, 1998)

• Non-financial human performance, culture, and leadership factors drive at least 35 percent of a company’s evaluation by stock analysts and investors.(Ernst & Young)

• According to one long line of research, differences in the quality of enterprise-wide people systems can increase a firm’s market value by as much as $73,000 per employee (Huselid, et.al.)

• 50 percent of HR executives report that their companies are increasing their investments in tracking the impact that metrics such as turnover rates, productivity, and employee morale have on the bottom line. (Workforce Management, 2004)

Enlightened CEOs already understand one undeniable conclusion from all this research-that investing in people is the surest path to business success, especially in a time when there are more jobs than people to fill those jobs. Other CEOs, who focus more on short-term returns than long-term success, who still believe in the “cannon-fodder” theory of human resources, who still insist that money is the main motivator, who are distracted from the organization’s best interests by their own greed, or whose leadership ability is hampered by the limits of their emotional intelligence, may never be persuaded.

Even so, smart, caring, and well-informed HR leaders must not give up the fight to educate and influence executives to do what is in their own intelligent self-interest and the long-term interest of the business to do. And when senior leaders respond by saying, “but we are already successful” the appropriate reply must be: “and think how much more successful we can be!”

17 Ways To Instantly Increase Your Online Business Profits

1. Advertise your web site with banner ads that are animated and include a call to action. You must grab people’s attention to make them want to click.

2. Use pop up windows or advertisements on your web site. They grab your visitors attention because they jump right out at them.

3. Buy internet business books, ebooks, private site memberships, etc. Study and learn all the new web site promotional ideas that you can.

4. Track the numbers for all your promotional efforts. Concentrate on the ads & promotions  that work and drop the ones that don’t work. Don’t waste your valuable time and money!

5. Have an informative FAQ page at your web site. Anticipate questions your prospects or visitors may have; this will help improve your sales ratio.

6. Use text links if your banner ads are not pulling traffic. People don’t ignore text links as much as they do banner ads.

7. Trade content with other ezine publishers or web sites. This is a powerful and effective way to place your links on other targeted web sites.

8. Keep your product available to your customers at all times. If you have to backorder it, they may end up canceling their order.

9. Use content on your web site so people can skim through it easily. Most people have little time so try using lists, short tips, short articles,etc

10 Add a message board or chat room to your web site. If people enjoy it, they will revisit your web site to participate regularly.

11. Gain an advantage over your competition. You should find one benefit your competition doesn’t offer and use it as your main selling point. You can also beat your competition by giving away a similar product or service that they charge for. It could be add on products, warranties, servicing, etc.

12. Design your e-zine so it creates multiple free advertising streams. Ask readers to forward it to people they know, offer ad trades, etc.

13. Allow your visitors to subscribe to an update e-zine. Anytime you make changes to your web site they can receive an informative e-mail.

14. Focus your articles on information the targeted readers and e-zine publishers want. They will get published more often, which means free publicity.

15. Use problems to attract online traffic. Find a common online problem and use your web site to solve it. People will visit and see your ads.

16. Improve your negotiation skills. This’ll improve your business because you’re always negotiating ad swaps, supply prices, joint ventures, wages, etc. If you advertise in newspapers, ALWAYS negotiate on price.  When you pay for the following month, RENEGOTIATE again, and tell them that your ad didn’t get nearly the traffic you were hoping for.

17. Get the most from each one of your visitors. Automatically subscribe your customers to your e-zine, & give them incentives to participate on your message board, bookmark & refer your site, etc.

12-Step Plan For Promoting Black Owned Businesses During National Black Business Month

It’s been said there’s more happiness (and success) in giving than in receiving. This is especially true of giving of yourself during National Black Business Month.

Here’s a plan for getting more growth for your business during this special month of activity.

1) Give Of Yourself

What can you give to others that will bring genuine appreciation from prospects and clients? To come up with ideas ask yourself if you can offer any of the following:

• A free product or service
• A special discount or gift
• A valuable report or other information product related to the services or products you offer

The ideas for giving to others are endless.

By focusing on giving instead of focusing on receiving, your business will automatically attract new clients and new opportunities.

Attracting new clients through giving is just one way to grow. Several marketing methods used simultaneously can be just as powerful for increasing profits for established companies.

2) Increase The Frequency Of Client Purchases

Apply as many profitable marketing methods as possible for increasing the number of times throughout the year your clients buy.

The more frequently your clients buy, the more money your company generates. For ideas on how to increase buying frequency, grab my checklist of 101 marketing methods. You’ll find the checklist at www.AndreBell.com/articles/

3) Increase The Volume Of Purchases

Adopt marketing methods that will increase the average dollar amount of each client transaction. Begin using point of purchase incentives. Promote “one time offers” to encourage spontaneous purchases. Also, try imitating Mc Donald’s way of combining multiple items together as a “value” purchase. In other words, encourage clients to “Supersize”.

4) Increase Customer Retention/Reduce Attrition

Clients drift away for a number of reasons. Often complacency of business owners and staff is the cause. And sometimes clients drift away for reasons that have nothing to do with us.

“Salvaging” clients from leaving has the same impact on your bottom line as increasing sales by that same percentage. This is as close to getting free money as a business is likely ever to find.

And it’s easier and cheaper to improve your bottom line by preventing attrition, than prospecting or advertising to generate sales through new clients.

An excellent example of a powerful client retention program (though leaning towards the dark side) is America Online’s Retention Manual

Copies of AOL’s client retention program are floating around the internet.

Simply go to Google.com and type in “AOL Retention Manual”. You’ll come across the manual fairly quickly by visiting consumer awareness sites.

Study AOL’s client retention program for ideas on how to ethically adapt their guidelines into your business. Also, start a client loyalty program. Regular, ongoing communications help clients see you are thinking of them and care about them.

5) Increase Sales Conversions

Increasing inquiry-to-sales conversion will increase a company’s income without increasing costs.

To improve sales conversion rate first target and market to only the highest probability prospects. Also provide formal sales training to sales staff.

Though many companies have seen huge 300% increases in sales as a result of sales training, typically, adding a sales training program has proven to immediately increase sales by 15%. That’s immediate, the same month the training is initiated.

Sales training is clearly worth the reward. Unfortunately though few small to medium sized companies have a systematic or scheduled training system. Perhaps a fear of unknown costs holds them back.

The thing is, sales training doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive.

A company can simply record the top sales reps during actual selling situations. Determine what top sales reps are saying and doing that other employees are not saying and doing. Then train all sales staff to implement those same sales processes.

Of course you’d want to take into consideration the legalities of recording live sales situations before doing so.

If you prefer a formal sales training system, there are many to choose from. Not all are of value. Stick to proven sales training systems.

6) Increase Response Rate To Existing Offers

In a nutshell this involves writing better and better ads, sales letters, and marketing pieces. A key factor in improving response to offers is removing common marketing mistakes

Unfortunately there isn’t enough time or space to list here all the steps needed to improve your marketing communications. So I recommend reading my book, “31 Overlooked Marketing Mistakes That Can Cripple Your Business.” I’m giving this book away 100% absolutely free this month. Get a free copy at www.AndreBell.com

7) Calculate And Increase The Lifetime Referral Value Of Clients

This involves calculating and tracking the average referral value of your clients. Once you know how much each customer is worth to your bottom line in terms of referral value, you’ll know how much money you can invest in a formal referral system and still profit.

The beauty of referral systems is the clients and customers who come your way are presold. They have less resistance, they spend more, and they’re more loyal than clients acquired through advertising.

A referral program can be as simple and informal as creating a basic referral recommendation form and asking for referrals at the point of purchase. Or you could get fancy by implementing a formal referral program that involves a series of postcards and sales letters asking for referrals, and thank you gifts to existing and past clients, vendors, and even competitors.

Find New Uses For Your Existing Products And Services

Sometimes when we are so close to our businesses we tend to think one way and do things only one way. One client I consulted with had a struggling business that was excellent at providing their products and services.

The problem was their marketing sucked. The owner couldn’t see past making occasional personal sales calls or just paying his monthly “due” for his yellow pages ad. Outside of those two activities they simply sat back and hoped and waited for something magical to happen. It didn’t.

If that wasn’t enough, a very aggressive multi-billion dollar national franchise moved into the area. This sent my client’s already shaky business careening down hill even faster.

My client could not afford to go head-to-head with such a large competitor. So we looked for overlooked opportunities. One solution we found was to stop fighting solely on a local level but to go global. We covertly set about putting in place systems for helping people across the country and abroad launch independent businesses in this same industry.

We set things up so each of these independent companies had to outsource to my client. No other option would work.

The obvious win to my client is they get ongoing revenues their major competitors are clueless to. The win to the independent business owners is they get to run their own businesses without the typical six to seven figure debt that comes from correctly starting a business in that industry.

There are many other ways to create new uses for your existing products and services too.

9) “Package” And Profit From Your Specialized Knowledge

This involves publishing and marketing your specialized knowledge. I have yet to find anyone in business who hasn’t generated unique experience or methods that others wouldn’t be dying to pay to learn.

Your experience can save someone else valuable time and money.

For example, repackaging my 29 years of specialized knowledge is how I primarily earn my living today. It’s what I do daily and help others do too. I’ve consulted with doctors and dentist, service business owners, authors, entrepreneurs, technology companies, landscapers, and others.

The ironic thing is…I’m a college drop out.

Don’t get me wrong. I love learning. I’m a perpetual student. But college moved too slow for me. What I could learn in a week from delving into sp[eed reading books and speaking with others who were already in an industry, would take several months or years to accomplish in college.

Despite quiting my first year of college, I now advise some of the brightest minds on earth.

It’s not because of being brighter than others. It’s simply because of the specialized knowledge I’ve acquired over the past 29 years of attending numerous independent workshops and courses, studying some 2,000 books, videos, and recordings on nearly every business subject under the sun, from directly working in ten different industries, and from advising hundreds of business owners in seven countries.

An employer would need to hire seven to ten people (or more) to gain the same benefit of my specialized knowledge. Plus there’s no guarantee after wasting time recruiting that they’ll find someone qualified in each area.

That makes the gray matter between my two ears a valuable asset to business owners, as well as to others I’ve advised and trained to enter the consulting field.

You too have acquired specialized knowledge. Consider licensing to others what you know. Your knowledge can be ‘packaged’ into books, videos, seminars, teleseminars, and even through consulting and teaching.

10) Community Development

This involves the often dreaded “V” word. Volunteering.

Volunteering falls back to what I originally said in step number one: gain more success by focusing on giving instead of receiving.

Look for ways to boost your image in your community. If your business is a retail organization, likely your community is the area within a 20 mile or so radius of your business or office.

But a community can be much larger than that. Especially if you own a business-to-business company or market your business globally via the internet. In those cases your business may in fact be global.

Are there appropriate donations or sponsorships that could improve your image in your community? If there are, then reach out to your community by giving.

11) Publicity And Promotions

Closely related to community development is self-promotion.

Every business has something newsworthy to say. Come up with ideas for workshops or seminars, or unique owner expertise, or interesting client experiences that would benefit or interest your community.

Consider what is occurring now, has occurred in the past, or might predictably occur in the future that would be newsworthy to your community. Then inform your community of these events, ideas, experiences, and predictions.

Having your name dislayed as an authorityy in media your community trusts will improve your image and attract qualified clients and customers.

Also consider publishing articles or books. The purpose of publishing is to generate leads and increase company credibility.

Publish within your industry trade journals. But an even better and often overlooked opportunity for self-promotion are the official trade publications of your most profitable client’s.

12) Determine A Unique Selling Position (USP)

A USP defines and communicates what makes your business new, unique, or different than everyone else in your industry. It’s your competitive advantage.

For example, think of FedEx.

FedEx’s USP is: “When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight”.

That USP defines everything about how FedEx operates and positions itself among competitors. No one else on earth is able to use that phrase. Not the U.S. Postal Service, not UPS, not DHL. No one.

Here’s another example: “Fresh and hot and to your door in 30 minutes or it’s free”. Who’s that? Yep. Dominoes Pizza. That USP took a failing community pizza company and made it into the world’s largest pizza franchise.

Here’s my USP: My company is the nation’s only wholly black-owned business growth firm specializing only in ethical and honest business growth strategies for businesses earning from $500,000 to $10,000,000 annually.

A USP can be a single sentence, a paragraph, or even an entire page. What a USP isn’t is a worthless slogan or vague and intangible mission statement.

A USP is much more powerful than both. It truly sets the company apart. It says something that is impossible for others to claim.

Your USP defines what makes your company unique. Consider what you can say about your business that will set it apart from your competitors…not only this month but for years to come.

12 Amazing Ways To Sell Your Slow-moving Products

1. You could giveaway the product for free from your web site. Just because it won’t sell doesn’t mean people won’t visit your web site to get it for free. Give it away with a minimum purchase order.

2. Try auctioning off the product at an online auction like Ebay. You may make part of your investment back. If you’re lucky, you may even make a profit because people sometimes get into bidding wars and will bid a higher price than the product is worth.

3.  Tie the product in as a free bonus for one of the more popualar products you sell. This will increase the perceived value of the
product you’re selling. People will feel they’re receiving more for less.

4. Contact businesses with the same target market and see if they would be interested in using your product as a free bonus for their product. You could place your ad on the product and get free advertising.

5. Sell your product to businesses at wholesale cost as a promotional product. Businesses are always looking for products they can giveaway to their customers with their advertising on the product. You could make part of your investment back.

6. You could create an online contest so people could win your product. This will attract traffic to your web site. You also could get free advertising by listing it on online contest directories.

7. Ask businesses with the same target audience if they would be interested in combining your product with their product. You could then sell them together as a package deal and split the profits. You may have better results selling your product this way.

8.  If you are a internet-only business, see if one of the local smaller shops in your area would like to display your product.  Use one or more of the above strategies to get them to retail your product.

9. Offer a future discount.  Instead of giving away the product, offer a future discount on other products if they purchase your slow-moving product.

10. Offer a free service.  If you owned a beauty shop, offer a free haircut or a style if they buy this product.  Tie it in with another product so the consumer doesn’t see that you are trying to get rid of that product.

11. Offer a quantity discount when they purchase more than one of that item. You can increase the discount by how many products they order. If they order 3 it’s a 10% discount, if they order 5 it’s a 20% discount.

12. When you’re selling a product you could offer similar products in a package deal. Tell the people the other products are cheaper with the
package deal versus purchasing them separately.

10 Ways To Indirectly Get To The Top Of Search

There are millions of web sites trying to get listed in the top 20 spots of the major search engines. That amounts to a lot of competition! I say if you can’t get listed at the top, indirectly get to the top.

How do you do this? Look up the top 20 web sites on the major search engines under the keywords and phrases people would find your web site. The key would be to then advertise on those web sites.

The most expensive way would be to buy ad space on those web sites. If you don’t want to spend any money, you could use the ten strategies below. These strategies may not apply to every web site.

1. Participate on their discussion boards. You could post questions, answer other peoples questions, and join in on conversations. Just include your signature file and link at the end of your messages.

2. Ask the web site owner if they would like a free ebook to giveaway to their visitors. You could have them link to your web site or include your ad in the free ebook.

3. Submit content to their web site. You could write articles for their web site and include your resource box and link at the end of the article. If they publish it, you’ll indirectly be at the top of the search engines.

4. Write an excellent article review of their web site, products or services. Then publish the review on your web site. E-mail the web site owner and tell him or her about it. They may link to your web site so their visitors read it.

5. Ask the owner of the web site if they would want to trade advertising. If you don’t get as much traffic as they do, you could throw in some extra incentives.

6. Propose a cross promotion deal with the web site. You both could promote each others products or services together in one package deal. This means a mention and link back to your web site.

7. Give the web site a testimonial for their product or service. Include a little text link for your web site with the testimonial. You never know; it could end up on their ad copy.

8. Post your advertisement on their free classified ad section on their web site. You want to be sure you have an attractive headline so they will read your ad.

9. Post your text link on their free-for-all links page. You want to go back and post your link regularly so it stays towards the top.

10. Sign their guest books. You could leave a short compliment about their web site on their guest book. Just include your signature file and link at the end of your message.

10 Tips To Keep Visitors On Your Site Longer And Increase Conversions

There are a number of ways to get visitors to your website but what can you do to keep them there? Below we are going to discuss 10 things you can implement to make your visitors stick around.

The number of visitors who land on a site and quickly move on is called the bounce rate. Most websites that have a high bounce rate are not currently using these techniques or have no clue as to what their market really wants and needs.

Here are 10 proven tips to keep visitors on your site longer.

1. Teach your visitors something. Visitors don’t want loads of hype, they want to learn and increase their knowledge of your product or industry so they can make an informed decision.

Provide informational content about your product or services. Teach your visitors and this will help them create a good opinion about your site.

2. Keep the navigation simple. Navigation links should be large and clearly labeled. Have you ever been to a cultural restaurant but couldn’t tell the men’s restroom from the women’s? While you may think themed titles are cute, your visitors may become confused and end up leaving your website. If in doubt, always go with the more common title.

3. Keep your content updated. Try to update times, dates, and news articles as much as possible. You don’t want your website to sound like it was published in the stone age do you? If you’re running an information based site than it is important to consistently add fresh and unique content.

4. Add a blog. Blogs can be added to your site with a few clicks if your web host includes the option within your hosting package. If not, you can always start a free blog at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com and link it back to your website.

Blogs are an easy way to add new content. It’s a great way to add user-generated content and it’s a amazing way to build a dedicated group of visitors who visit your blog everyday. Since blogs create interaction with your visitors it also builds trust and creates the feel that there is actually someone on the other side of the website.

Blogs that offer quality content always carry a loyal group of followers and often create a hefty income.

5. List and describe product benefits. Most site owners describe the product’s features, example: Rubber coated speaker, 2-ohm total impedance , etc., Your visitors don’t purchase features, they purchase the benefits that the product or service will provide for them. Is your product a time saver? Is it easier to use than most competing products? Make sure you describe how the product will make the visitors life more productive, more fun, easier, or better.

6. Provide product pictures and related images. People like to visualize things. Ever wonder where day dreaming came from? Websites with relevant images help stimulate the visitors emotions and emotions drive sales. Remember a picture is worth 1,000 words.

7. Make sure your visitor knows their purchase is secure. More than one-half of all buyers won’t buy online because they’re afraid of getting scammed.

Proudly display signs of trust like BBB Online and Verisign logos. Make sure your visitors know your site is secure or most will not feel comfortable making the purchase.

8. Make sure your informational content is accurate. Your visitors will stick around to read your message especially when you back it up with references and third party awards.

9. Ask for site feedback. Provide your visitor with a way of leaving feedback for you and other readers.

Testimonials are a powerful tool because they give your product credibility from a third party. Testimonials can be a trust builder, especially if you provide a reference (phone number, email address, ect. ) for them to contact the user that gave the testimonial. Most of the time your visitors will not contact the person that gave the testimonial but it helps build trust and provides a more authentic feel.

10. Test and Tweak. Not every site will be a home run the first time it steps to the plate. Use tools like Google Analytics to determine what makes your visitors stick around and what makes them “bounce”. You then proceed to build on the good and drop the bad.

Tweaking your website will improve the performance of your sales funnel and link popularity over time. The difference between a site that generates 100% ROI (return-on-investment) and 500% ROI is usually a matter of split testing and tweaking.

Successful sites keep their visitors interested with easy-to-find information that fulfills the visitors wants and needs. That is what separates the beauty from the beast.

10 Surefire Money-making Tips

Are you tired of scraping for resources day in and day out? Are you one of those who would like to have more than one job to be able to augment your family’s needs? Or are you just scouting for a little extra to pay for those wants? Then here are some tips that would surely earn you some bucks. Read on:

1. This is an ancient rule but as was always said, make a list of your expenses. Too often, people just make budgets without realizing that they have to make a list of their ‘actual’ expenses, too. This would also teach you wise spending in the long run, as you would start to see where your bucks go. When you already know how to track your expenses, you will start to notice that you are saving and earning more, really!

2. Avoid debts as you would avoid a plague. The average American nowadays has, $7000 in debt. That is a shocking truth but it remains true. Control your credit card expenditures.

3. Recycle and sell those things that can still be salvaged. Garage sales can be great. It clears the house clutter plus it rakes in some profit.

4. Try to scrape at least 10 percent of your income and make some savings. No matter how small the amount is, it is still savings. You don’t have to start big on saving money. In fact, starting small and seeing it grow is very rewarding. Aside from this, knowing that you have some savings will make you feel a bit secure as compared to a savings-less life. And, in fact, the greatest way to stay out of debt is to have your own savings.

5. What are your talents? Bank on them and earn from them. If you are good in writing, you can start working as a freelance writer or a ghostwriter. There are a lot of jobs online that could provide you some income while you do the thing that you love doing the most.

6. Make use of your computer at home. Aside from writing jobs, you can do a lot more with your computer such as desktop publishing, transcription services, home-based call center jobs, online surveys that pay, or selling info through mails.

7. Know your short-term and long-term goals. Be organized. Know which ones to accomplish first and go for it with all of your energies. It is also important to put your plans in writing. A study was done before where the more successful students were the ones who wrote down their goals.

8. If you have the heart and the guts, you can invest some of your money on financial firms that offer high ROI’s. There is a risk, yes, but when the money multiplies, you will more financial freedom.

9. Do you want to have a taste of ‘Hollywood’ life? Then you can sign-up as an extra. There are a lot of needs for extras that are over the age of 18.

10. Auction or trade your items on eBay. A lot of people earn by doing this.

These are simple and very basic ways of earning some bucks. Coupled with perseverance and a little risk, you are well on your way to successful moneymaking and a success-filled life.

10 Most Important Questions To Ask Your Web Host NOW!

So, you’re looking to build a web site or so fed up with your current web host that you are desperate to transfer your site elsewhere? You may not even be aware of your current host’s vulnerabilities in an industry where each week there is news about a host going down for one reason or another. Your first problem is narrowing the thousands of choices down to a few that you can research further. Seek friends or associates that have a web site and ask for their advice. Visit one of the many forums about web hosting, ask the members for advice or search threads from those that have asked before you. Once you’ve located a few hosts to research, the ten questions below will take you a long way towards making an informed decision. You may be able to find many of the answers to these questions on the hosts’ web sites, but always feel free to call the host and quiz them about their operations. The quality of the answers and degree of professionalism you get from a potential host often transfers to the type of support you’ll receive once you become a customer. Without further ado, the ten question to ask your web host:

1. How long has the web host been in business?
2. Does the web host own its data center?
3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?
4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?
5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 phone and email support?
6. What levels of redundancy does the web host’s architecture provide?
7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?
8. What is the web host’s billing policy?
9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?
10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?

1. How long has the web host been in business?
The length of time that a host has been in business can be related to their ability to provide a quality, reliable product. If your host can satisfy its customers, then those customers are likely to stick with the host’s service. Therefore, stay in business. There are, of course, situations where this is not applicable or becomes a bit hazy. Be sure to also inquire about whether a host has recently been involved in a merger, acquired what was once a well-known brand name, or launched a new brand. If any of these apply, then delve deeper into the story behind what has happened and determine whether quality resources are still with the company.
• Complete a domain name “whois” lookup on the web host: http://www.internic.net/whois.html. Type in the web host’s domain name and determine what year the domain was registered. If only registered in the recent past, ask the host about it. If the domain name was recently registered this is not necessarily a red flag. Simply inquire with the host about it. They may have recently launched an affinity-based brand to cater to your market.
• Type the host’s name into a search engine and check out the results that you get, other than those from the host itself. You may run across reviews, interviews, or industry articles about the host.

2. Does the web host own its data center?
A data center is the foundation from which all products and services are built upon. If your host owns its own data center, then they are likely quite entrenched in the hosting business. They also have an experienced staff and knowledge base from which to draw from when supporting your web site and building new products. In other words, if a host owns its own facility, then it controls more of the variables that can make or break your web presence.

3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?
Your web site performance is not just a measure of your web server’s speed. The ability of your web host to route traffic through the cleanest Internet connections is also of great importance. It is crucial that your provider have multiple connections to the Internet. Accidental fiber cuts in construction or telecom work and data center equipment failure can cause your site to go offline for an extended amount of time. This can be avoided if your web host has other connections to the Internet that will reroute traffic that would have normally been carried on the failed circuit. Yes, this means your host must also have extra capacity on hand to handle normal traffic levels when one connection is lost; which is another area where a host can attempt to cut cost. This is much like when driving your car, there are several streets that you can take to get to your desired destination. Sometimes you will encounter construction or an accident that will require you to take an alternative street. Well, the Internet works the same way. There are several routes that traffic can take to a destination. Your host should be able to choose the cleanest, or most efficient, route to your web site visitor. In fact, your host should be able to continually tune these routes to find the best path to your visitors. Another way to achieve this is by minimizing the number of different networks traffic will pass through before reaching its destination. It is extremely important for your host to have direct connections to networks that have lots of eyeballs. In other words, your web site will be served better if your web host is using connections with networks that facilitate Internet access to large volumes of subscribers.

4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?
There are a couple of factors that can influence the answer to this question. Does the host own its own data center? If not, then they are physically removed from their servers and likely paying a co-location company to provide monitoring for them. When another company controls the environmental systems that provide the home for the host, one can argue that you’ve created another potential point of failure; that being the communication of an issue from the data center to the web host. That point of failure can increase the latency between an issue and its resolution, resulting in increased downtime for your web site. Second, if your web host has an issue with its own infrastructure, then there may be travel time associated with their engineers getting to the data center to resolve it or, once again, increased latency by trying to remotely resolve an issue.

5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 toll free phone and email support?
You might be surprised at how many web hosts don’t provide 24/7/365 support. The industry’s hosts run the gamut from only email support to providing phone and email support 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. The best way to eliminate not having support when you need it, is to choose a host that can assist you whenever you need it. When an idea wakes you from a slumber at 3 A.M., it’s nice to have your host on the other end of the phone to discuss it. When your site malfunctions due to a programming glitch the night before your store is to open, it’s wonderful to have your web host on the phone to decipher the issue with you. When your cat accidentally deletes some important files, know that your host is there to help recover them. Also make sure that your host is providing support over the major holidays. Many web hosts will close their support center, decrease their support to only email, or send their support team home with a pager to be called in case of emergency. All of these decreases can create latency if your web site goes offline. And, holidays are often days which persons will spend time on the Internet after they’ve completed all of their social plans. Matter of fact, word-of-mouth business is one of the most effective means to customer acquisition. When people get together, they exchange ideas.

6. What levels of redundancy does the web host provide?
Failures that cause your site to lose connection can happen. Therefore, it’s crucial to find a provider whose hosting architecture provides the least-risk of failure. Redundancy is necessary. Single points of failure are very bad, but many hosts attempt to cut costs by risking single points of failure. Ask your web host about their redundancy in server architecture (web, email, and DNS servers), load-balancing, and file storage.
A web server is the hardware and software combination that serves requested web pages, files, or other information. Servers answer requests from web browsers to provide information from web sites, email, and databases. They then send that information to the requesting browser. Load balancing divides the amount of work that a server has to do between multiple servers, which also adds redundancy, so that more work gets done in the same amount of time and, in general, all web sites requests within the network get served faster. The load balancers stay in constant contact with the servers to determine how busy they are and/or if one of them has failed. It may sound like a no-brainer, but having your site connected to the Internet is the whole reason for having a web site and a load-balanced, redundant network is vital to that endeavor.

Has your email server ever been down? Redundancy is also vital for email and DNS servers. A Domain Name System (DNS) server translates requests to locate a web site. As you can imagine, keeping email and DNS servers online is a mission-critical task for a web host. For file storage, seek a host that uses a reliable storage solution with multiple auto-fail over and hot-swappable drives to ensure continuous delivery of your web site.

7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?
Backing up web sites should be a routine part of your web host’s operation. Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or any other catastrophe.

8. What is the web host’s billing policy?
Look for a web host that provides a money-back guarantee. This will allow you to try out the host’s service. Should you find that the service is sub-par in site performance, reliability, or lacking the features that you seek, the ability to request your money back, within the parameters of the guarantee, is priceless and liable to save you from later trouble. It is always a good to idea to inquire about the web host’s cancellation procedures. There are many out there who require you to send them an email or make a phone call to cancel, which can extend the time frame to cancellation. A host who is confident in their service will have a cancellation form or online avenue within their control panel. Now, they will likely also have a retention program, so don’t be surprised when they call or email you to ask why you are leaving. After all, your feedback helps them to evaluate their service.

9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?
Sometimes people choose a host because it has the exact feature set that they need, but later find that feature set means nothing when access to those features is unreliable. Make sure that a host has your desired features and is also reliable. To make sure that the host you are evaluating has everything you need, use the following list:
• A domain name, but be sure to look for hidden registration fees or renewal fees
• An ample amount of versatile email accounts including web-based, POP3, and IMAP
• Email spam filtering and virus protection are a must these days, unless you are providing this on your own
• Enough disk space to meet your site’s needs
• Monthly bandwidth allotments that will cover your traffic and the ability to increase that allotment based on your site’s success
• Site building tools such as extensions for FrontPage or other online/downloadable site building programs
• Ease of upload to your site via FTP or other means
• Access to a robust traffic analysis program or the raw logs for you to process yourself
• Programming languages, including CGI, PHP, MIVA (if needed)
• Ecommerce shopping cart alternatives
• Database capability, dependant upon your application preference

10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?
You might be surprised how many sites that once started for fun or as a hobby have grown into some of the most popular sites on the Internet. Hence, you never know when you’ll outgrow your current product or service and need to move up the ladder to the next rung. Make sure that your web host can meet your anticipated growth, not only within the product range of shared hosting, but should you ever need a dedicated server or co-location solution, your host is there to discuss and provide the best solution.

Do your homework by using the above questions as a template and you will likely save yourself some major headaches down the road. If you’ve gathered information about multiple hosts, you can now compare apples to apples and decide on the best host for your needs. Hopefully, the work that you’ve done will avoid forcing you to use your gut, but rather make an informed decision based on the facts. Perhaps, the best piece advice that you will find in any article or forum about choosing a host is, if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.