- 2010
- Jun
- 27
Buy some precious metal?
I think I might need to get into bullion trading. All the prices of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and also palladium are going up. But as we all know metal trading is pretty much harder than trading in other investments. People seems more in favor of buying stuff like gold jewelery because they could use it and maybe sell it later at a much higher price if they can. But storing them can be a problem - you will need a vault in either your house or rent one in the bank. I am thinking of using e-gold.
- 2009
- Jan
- 9
Office Furniture Guide
Does the appearance of your office design really influence the quantity of your business partners and your good mood in the whole?
Of course, it may be asserted that the interior of your office leaves an impression on your partners and, of course, if it is crowded with different pieces of office furniture, it is not for your credit. So, the modern office furniture adds elegance and confident to your working place. By the way, nowadays the manufacturers start to produce the office furniture, which “care” about the state of health of employees.
Well, perhaps, you suppose that it is unnecessary to provide your staff with the high quality office furniture, because your office is a place where people work, but not relax. But you should admit that if a person doesn’t pay attention to different uncomfortable factors, his labor productivity is higher. As usual, we spend the most part of our days in office, and sometimes we usually feel exhausted at the end of a working day. Of course, it may be connected with some individual health problems, but as usual “wrong” modular office furniture may cause back pains and head aches. All these are not very good for the productivity. So, we offer you advice to purchase ergonomic office furniture, which are created specially for preventing different health problems.
Nowadays the home office furniture market is very competitive and you may choose really high quality product for appropriate price. First of all, investigate the market and visit several companies, in order to see the product you are going to buy. If you want to save your money, we offer you to buy in bulk all the necessary pieces of office furniture at one company. By the way, ask if this company has all the necessary certificates and provides you with such services as logistic management, storage, delivery and installation.
The other very important service which are provided by such companies is space planning. It is very necessary for every person to has his own territory just within several meters. Of course, as usual, in office it is impossible, so space planning helps you to create appropriate conditions for everybody. So, your office will seem spacious enough and there will be a lot of shelves, where everybody may keep all the necessary things without cluttering up a room.
The designer office furniture are represented in different forms and colors. Choose the right color scheme where light blue or beige predominate. Or on the contrary, buy the bright contemporary office furniture. Perhaps, green or red title chair adds more energy to your lifestyle. If you admire everything light and unusual, the office furniture desk, which is made of glass is just the best choice for. This item of furniture just floods the room with sun light and inspires you for new fulfillments. Create a world of comfort in your office, because it is only up to you to design the atmosphere of energy and prosperity.
Great office furniture is not only comfortable, it is also very practical and helps you stay organised: a place for everything and everything in its place.
So much so that your office could become as comfortable as your bedroom, the only thing missing would be your actual beds.
- 2008
- Nov
- 24
Sell your Used Cisco Gear: Helpful Tips
by Razvan Marian Jr @ articlesbase.com
Cisco Systems has become a name synonymous with high-quality networking hardware. It’s no wonder that many companies build their network around this brand. In addition to their robust feature-set and useful product life, Cisco products also have great investment protection and can be resold to help recoup a portion of their cost.
There are many reasons companies get rid of hardware. Sometimes companies replace dead equipment that is no longer functioning properly. In this instance, equipment can be salvaged or recycled, which amounts to getting small amounts of money for the value of the raw materials. However, more often companies are either upgrading or downsizing, in which case the equipment they are selling on the secondary market is still functioning perfectly but is no longer an integral part of a network.
There are a number of ways to go about selling your equipment on the secondary market.
EBAY
eBay is the world’s garage sale. Not only that, eBay is a great place to buy and sell used networking hardware. If you perform a search for terms like “cisco router” you will find a slew of models, both new and used to choose from. Often listed at low starting bids or “buy it now” prices, products can be acquired for a fraction of the cost of new. While these prices can sometimes be lower than what would be paid when sourcing from a reputable vendor, there are some risks that go hand in hand with buying and selling any network hardware on eBay.
For one, many eBay users post items that they may or may not currently have in stock. If an order comes in, they search the inventory of other brokers to find it at a lower cost than it was sold. This means that if they can’t source it immediately, you may be forced to wait for more time than you expected, while they source one. If you are selling used equipment, you will have to deal with buyers who may be suspicious about your listing. You should use clear language in your description, assuring the prospective buyer that the item you listed is physically in stock.
Secondly, there may be significant costs associated with freight and shipping. A fully loaded Catalyst 6500 model weighs a lot. You may end up paying a large amount of money to ship it to the buyer. This can sometimes be an unexpected cost the buyer may not be comfortable with. If you are shipping a piece of networking gear, make sure to always require insurance. This prevents any liability for items that are damaged in shipping. Since the shipper is the one who has to file a claim, this can be a real headache. Conversely, you can avoid the whole issue of shipping by stipulating that your auction will be “local pick-up only.” This means that you will not be required to complete the sale of your item if the winning bidder is not able to pick-up.
Lastly, you may be competing against vendors/members who offer a product guarantee. Most reputable vendors offer some sort of warranty for end-users, ranging from 90-days to 1-year. By not including a guarantee on your item, you may lose potential bidders who feel more comfortable having some kind of warranty on a large investment.
You can sometimes offload equipment quickly and easily on eBay; however, because of this fact, a number of established vendors utilize this service as well. In this instance, you are competing against a technology specialist who has the experience, inventory, and leverage to appeal to a large segment of buyers. In the end, your greatest weapon is price.
SECONDARY MARKET
The secondary market is a great, safe way to purchase used Cisco hardware. There are many vendors spread out across the country offering discounted gear and product guarantees. Because most companies actually house inventory, buyers stand a good chance of getting a required order filled quickly and packaged professionally. However, distance is still a factor when placing an order, as shipping charges can add substantial cost to an out of state transaction.
Finding the right company for you can be accomplished by performing specific searches in any of the major search engines. Instead of simply searching for “buy used cisco” or some other relatively general term, you can modify your search by adding a qualifying geo-specific keyword such as “San Francisco” or “sf.” The search phrase “San Francisco used cisco” will return a number of companies that are located in your geographic region, and thus will minimize shipping costs and transit time. Also, by using Yahoo’s local search filter, you can perform a general search like “buy used cisco” and then filter results to show only those companies that are physically located close by. All you need is to be logged into a Yahoo account to take advantage of this feature.
Specialized technology vendors may also offer full-service liquidation services to manage all aspects of the buying process, which minimizes the effort required on the part of the seller. Liquidation services make the most sense for companies with large amounts of hardware that they need to unload. Instead of finding buyers for individual pieces and sourcing a salvage company to recycle the unusable equipment, you can work with one point of contact who will manage all the logistics, transportation, and valuation of an entire lot of gear. This allows you to focus your energy on your core, revenue-producing activities.
The timeline from your initial communication and RFQ to an offer and full payment can depend on both the company and the size and type of the lot. Some companies offer a quote and deposit payment in as little as 48-hours of a RFQ, with the remaining balance paid upon receipt and inspection of all equipment. Your final offer will take into account the model/make, condition, and the current market demand for the used hardware. The entire process can take anywhere from 5 working days to 2 weeks. Make sure to find a company that you feel comfortable working with, as there a quite a few small brokers that do not have the capital or bandwidth to efficiently handle your business.
With adequate research and due diligence, you can find the appropriate marketplace to sell your used cisco hardware and receive fair value for your surplus equipment.
- 2008
- Nov
- 19
Conversion Rate Optimization
The importance of the target market
Ask any marketing student, and he will tell you that it is constantly drilled into them to always remember and have the target audience in mind. A product or service may be the best in the world but if it is not known to its target market much less the public then the quality that is being brought by that product or service would not matter. The most powerful force is the consumer and they should never be forgotten in any kind of plan in order for a business to be successful. Many businesses have closed shop not because they were selling an inferior product or service but because they have forgotten their market and have not been effective in bringing the company’s message out to the public.
This marketing tenet has permeated not only the traditional markets but also new markets and new media as well. The tenets of marketing apply to whichever market or sector that I have discovered that the tenets of marketing still apply to the internet. In fact, the internet is such a new form of media and practically a new frontier for businessmen and marketers that a number of new concepts and philosophies are being formed as a way of trying to put well established marketing beliefs and then apply it in innovative ways to new media.
The importance of conversion rate optimization
A good example of the use of marketing techniques in new media is the concept of conversion rate optimization. It is considered as an important tool in ensuring the success of a website. This new type of conversion rate optimization is now a well established service being offered by some top website content and design companies with the purpose of helping website owners make their websites more effective in drawing customers while also ensuring that customers’ experience in the website is also enhanced. Conversion rate optimization is both a science and an art that seeks to improve the online experience of a visitor who visits a website or sees a web based ad. The ultimate goal of this is to turn a website visitor into a customer.
What is conversion rate optimization
Conversion rate optimization is borne out of the discovery that human behavior – particularly ones that would influence a sale or susceptibility to positively react to an ad campaign – is not at all consistent as it fluctuates at any given time or set of circumstances. Using statistics, studies are made on large population samples in order to determine particular patterns where none would usually exist. The resulting conversion rate optimization methods are then applied to a real time environment and the data collected as well as the messaging that is the product of it would serve to further increase the effectiveness of the online ad.
The foundation of conversion rate optimization
Conversion rate optimization is actually rooted in actual mathematics and analytical thinking using various elements that include data collection and processing, optimization goals, rules in business, real time learning as well as decision making. Marketing a website is not as easy as it looks and that for any website owner or business owner it will always a good idea to improve the whole browsing experience of a visitor because it will ultimately be for the benefit of his business.
Conversion Rate Optimization is also the fastest and easiest strategy to increase your sales without spending more money on increasing your traffic.
In fact, the most successful companies test everything. For example, www.GoToMyPC.com increased their conversion rates by 400% by testing the following:
* Headlines
* Call to Action
* Copy
* Images
* Graphics
* Button Look
* Button Text
* Button Location
* No Links
* Press Quotes
* Testimonials
* Pricing
* Flow Through Process
* And more
Optimizing Your Landing Page’s “Conversion Funnel”
If you review your web site statistics (called “log files”) you’ll notice the following 4 things are happening on your landing pages:
* The largest percentage of your visitors are bailing within 0-8 seconds after briefly viewing your landing page.
* The second largest percentage of visitors bail when they decide your landing page does not prove compelling.
* A small percentage of visitors attempt to convert (buy or use a contact form to become a lead) but fail. Many of these people will call.
* A small percentage of visitors convert.
Conversion rate optimization is the process of optimizing your landing pages to minimize your “bail out rate” and maximize your “conversion rate” (CR).
The Top 6 Landing Page Components to Optimize for Maximizing Your Conversions
The following are the top 6 conversion components that should be tested and improved to boost your conversion rates:
Headline - Since your headline is the first line that your visitors will read, the headline of your web page offers the biggest opportunity (about 80% of the opportunity) for improvements in conversion rate. Use headlines that clearly state the biggest benefit(s) that your product offers.
Offer - Since your offer is the “call to action” that asks your visitors to act (purchase, sign up, opt-in), your offer accounts for the second the biggest opportunity for improvements in conversion rate.
Lead - The “lead” or first paragraph is the third biggest opportunity for improvements in your conversion rate. Leads must be written with strong benefits that capture your visitor’s attention and make them want to read more.
Benefits - The “benefit bullets” (bullet-point format) are the forth biggest opportunity for improvements in conversion rate. List your benefits in the order of your product’s “value hierarchy” to your target market. In other words, state your product’s strongest benefit first, and its weakest benefit last.
Images - The images you use have a big impact on your conversion rates. The best practice is to use images that clearly portray the biggest benefit your product offers your customer (rather than generic “feel good” stuff like unknown logos and clip art). Studies show that product images work best when placed to the left of your product description (or lead paragraph) since it makes it easier to read your copy from left to right. Plus, people like to reads “captions” under your images almost as much as they read your headlines. So, add powerful captions and make your images clickable to the order/sign up page.
“Look & Feel” - According to a recent study by Stanford University, 46% of Web sales are lost on web sites that lack the critical elements that build value and trust with website visitors. The number one reason the people indicated why they wouldn’t buy from a web site was because it had an unprofessional “look and feel” that lacked credibility and did not “feel” trustworthy. Having a professional look, and trust building tools (such as VeriSign and BBBOnline certifications) help convert significantly more of your web site’s qualified visitors into new customers.
Other Important Conversion Elements to test:
* Buttons – Button text, color, look, etc.
* Pricing
* Formatting and placement of page elements, images and copy
* Navigation links versus no navigation links
* Press Quotes
* Testimonials
Other Conversion Best Practices and Tips:
* Reduce your “bail out” rate by optimizing your web pages to download within 5 seconds on a 56k modem
* Add a Logo and a powerful “Value Proposition” to the top left
* Instead of letting visitors click off your landing page, put all your information on one page (This tactic alone increased the conversions of a landing page by 55%)
* Use colors that fit your target customer’s personality
- 2008
- Nov
- 13
Money, money everywhere - but not a cent for me…
My sites are supposed to get some advertising revenue.. other people seems to - but seems that money that I get from advertising is very less… Good thing is that my web site is hosted on 110mb - so I don’t have to spend too much on hosting..