If your new to the internet marketing world, you might not understand how vitally important choosing the right keywords for your website is. Most people who put up a website (designers included) don’t realize that the right keywords on your website will improve your search engine rankability.

When a person goes to a search engine like Google or others, they type in a word or phrase that they want information on. This is what we call a keyword. For instance if the person was looking to buy a new golf club, he might type in ‘golf clubs’ or ‘golf shop’ or another variation. So if you were a golf store you would want to have those and other related keywords within your site.

So what if you understand the importance of keywords but don’t do any keyword research? Instead you simply think about your product or service and come up with keywords that you think people will search for? At first this might sound like a good idea but in reality you risk losing many potential customers.

What do you think happens if you pick a bunch of words or phrases that people aren’t actually searching for? Or you don’t think of all the hundreds of other keywords that relate to your product or service and therefore lose potential clients?

You might have the best of intentions when thinking of your own keywords, but it’s better to do a thorough keyword search before beginning any website project.

There are a few different places that you can perform these keyword searches.

1. Wordtracker is a great online tool found at www.wordtracker.com You can sign up for a free trial to test it out. This is the most thorough keyword research tool that I have found. You can easily find several thousand related keywords in one search. I created a free ebook that you can download that will help walk you through all the steps of doing an in depth keyword research with Wordtracker. You can download it at http://www.westmarketing-design.com/wordtracker.pdf

2. Overture is actually a paid per click advertising center, but they do offer a keyword search tool if you can find it.

They like to move it around a lot so it doesn’t get too abused. As of this article you can find it by going to www.overture.com then clicking on ‘advertiser center’ in the top right corner. Then under the tools table on the right click on ‘keyword selector tool’.

This tool is similar to the one at wordtracker but does not give you as in depth a search nor as many options. It is still good though to use different resources so that your making sure to get all the related keywords you possibly can.

3. Teoma is an often overlooked place to also gather keywords. It is actually a search engine of its own, but has a cool little feature that can help you choose more keywords.

When you type in a word or phrase to search it also gives you two sections on the right hand side that can help you out.

The first is ‘refine’ which shows related keywords to your search that you might also want to search on. These are extra keywords. You can keep clicking on the keywords in this section with each new page offering more related searches.

The second section is called ‘resources’ which provides websites that have gatheres links on your specific search topic. This is great to see what kind of competition you got going and check out what works and what doesn’t.

So there you go, three ways to conduct a really thorough keyword research.

Leah West
http://www.westmarketing-design.com
Providing complete search engine optimized website design and internet marketing services for your small business success.

Posted by admin as Better Traffic at 8:01 AM CDT

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Traffic. A source of income and motivation for some and frustration and annoyance for others. For me, traffic is like some kind of Nirvava: something you always want but can never get. Not anymore!

I am sick of trying to get people to read my work, my masterpieces. From this moment on I will post only for myself.

Before I made this decision I tried every possible method to attract visitors to this site. I put my blog in dozens of directories, I became a member of several forums, I linked to other blogs, I commented on other blogs, and I joined traffic exchange sites (Blog Explosion). These in particular became a place that I now direct my anger. To get one visitor you have to visit two other sites. And the visitors that you do get are more concerned with moving on to the next site so that they get their own visitors!

The one thing that really annoys me above all else is blogs that actually do get traffic (Good old Australian tall poppy syndrome). They seemingly do nothing and yet, they reap the rewards for it.

After reading many ‘How to get traffic’ articles and failing, I have decided to go the opposite direction, away from the popular path. In a phrase: ‘You can all get stuffed!’

Russ Egan
http://s-bend.blogspot.com

Posted by admin as Better Traffic at 12:30 PM CDT

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How Pantothenic Acid Works
Many people have commented before that I recommend vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) a lot to acne sufferers. There happens to be a reason for that: It is what cleared my acne. Totally. 100% Eliminated. If you haven’t tried it before, I strongly urge you to give it a go, it really is amazing stuff.

Pantothenic acid, also known as vitamin B5, is commonly supplemented in large doses to reduce oil production and help rid your skin of acne. It works like Accutane, in the sense that it reduces oil production. Pantothenic acid, however, works by helping your body to metabolize the fats in your body that later turn into sebum. Accutane actually shrinks the oil glands to block the oil from coming through to your face. Since pantothenic acid addresses the underlying problem, it is, in fact, the more efficient solution.

Let’s get into the details of how exactly pantothenic acid works. During your natural metabolism process, your body breaks down fats. When your body lacks enough coenzyme-A, not all of these fats can be broken down, and your body has to get rid of them some how, so they are ejected through your oil glands on your skin in the form of sebum (oil). By creating more coenzyme-A, these extra fats can be broken down with the rest, and oil production will be greatly reduced.

Coenzyme-A is made up of three things: Cysteine, ATP and Pantothenic Acid. Your body takes care of cysteine and ATP by producing it by itself, so vitamin B5 is the only thing that you have to take in through food. By supplementing with pantothenic acid, more coenzyme-A is producted, fats are broken down better, and less oil ends up on your skin. Without too much oil on your face, when a pore gets clogged, the p. acnes bacteria will have nothing to feed upon and can’t thrive to cause acne in the first place.

Considering that pantothenic acid works for more than 90% of the people who take it, including myself, it’s a very effective medication. Since it’s all natural and water soluble, it’s much safer than Accutane, which only works for 70%-80% of the people who take it. It’s also more efficient than Accutane, because it eliminates the problem, instead of covering it up by shrinking the glands and trapping the fats inside the body.

Supplementing with Pantothenic Acid
As I’ve said before, to address a pantothenic acid deficiency, you have to take large amounts of it, up to around 12 grams or so. Not everyone has to take quite that much though, so the recommended dosage is as follows: Start out with around 4 grams per day. Always divide the doses into 4 times per day, spreading them out as much as possible. To prevent stomach irritation, the only known side effect of pantothenic acid, try to take it with food or at least a glass of water.

If the 4 grams doesn’t work for you, slowly ramp it up until you start to see results, stopping at around 12 grams. When you find a dose that seems to be working for you, stay with it for about two months straight, continuing to divide the doses so that you are splitting the dose into 4 parts. After those two months or so, you should be able to slack back on it until you start seeing negative results to find out how much you will need to continue to take as a “maintenance dose”.

The only thing to watch out for is that pantothenic acid can deplete your body of other B vitamins, so a B-50 complex should be taken with it. Some say you should also take Zinc with it, though I only take B-50.

Since pantothenic acid has to be taken in large doses to see results, that means you can forget trying to get enough by eating foods high in it, or through a multivitamin or B vitamin complex. You can even forget about taking pantothenic acid pills, since that means you would have to take 20+ pills every day. There’s only really one reasonable way to take the amount of B5 you will need to treat acne, which is pantothenic acid powder.

Pantothenic acid pills can’t be found in most stores, much less the powder form of it. Some health food stores might have it, but the ones around my area didn’t. You might be able to talk to someone at the store and have them order it for you, though it’s usually marked up quite a bit. The easiest and cheapest way to get pantothenic acid powder is to just order it online. A Google search will uncover many websites, such as Amazon.com, which sell pantothenic acid powder at a great price.

Ryan Bauer is a former acne sufferer from Springfield, MO. He runs an Acne information website called Acne Elimination.

Posted by admin as Economy at 6:39 PM CDT

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Why is being big so important? Does being well endowed really make a difference in the sexual life between you and your sexual partner(s)? In our lifestyle the answer seems to point to a huge YES. Is that the truth however? A decision was reached that the best way to find out is to ask the people to whom it matters most…the ladies. We asked several ladies ranging from teenagers to ladies in their 40’s, ladies that are with just one partner to ladies who are promiscuous, and found that the answers were rather surprising.

When speaking publicly about the subject of penises it seems that most of the women tended to get embarrassed or shy at the beginning of the conversation. Yet we noticed that as the conversation continued these same people overcame the shyness and embarrassment rather quickly. What surprised us right away was that all of the women said that yes, penis size does play a role in their sex life. However we also learned that it’s not usually a desire to come in contact with a big penis. In fact only one of the ladies indicated that she is always looking for the biggest penis, and that she has a difficult time with being aroused and achieving orgasm unless it is a larger than average penis. The other women mentioned that the visual aspect of a large penis can be very arousing, and yet when it came down to actually “doing the dirty” these women would back down as they would be in physical pain if it was too long or too wide. Most women reported that a fully erect penis at 7 inches in length and about 5 inches in girth (circumference) was just about perfect. In retrospect the ladies reported that a penis that was shorter than 5 inches with a girth of 3 inches or less was neither arousing nor very satisfying.

The average penis size for men is 5.5 to 7 inches in length and 4.75 inches in girth. That accounts for about 80% of males, regardless of race (The Alfred C. Kinsey Institute for Sex Research.) For those of us that are a part of this average, for most women our size is perfect. What distinguishes the sexual experience for a woman from one male to the next is more about the “motion in the ocean.” This does not only imply how well you move your penis inside her vagina, but starts as early as when you see her for the first time that day, to your demeanor and confidence in front of her (not arrogance, but confidence), the way that she was seduced, the foreplay, and finally the quality and quantity of orgasms that we are able to provide for them. Yet quantity is fickle where as quality is much more important, if you can tease her enough, touch the right places for the right amount of time in the right kind of way, and basically cause an orgasm that drains all from her, then you will create a memory in her that she will remember for the rest of her life.

Again size is not the key here, in fact one lady claimed that she made love with a guy whose penis was only about 4 inches, and yet the orgasm that she experienced with him, to this day, has not been outdone. This makes one wonder, what if the guys with the short penises are better in bed, only because they have realized that they must compensate for their lack of penis size and have learned to satisfy a woman using other methods than just their penises. On top of this, what if the average sized guys, or especially the larger sized men, learned the methods that the 4 inch guys used? It is clear that our sexual experiences would never be the same again. It would be like upgrading from a Geo Metro to a Dodge Viper. So let’s learn those methods, so that we can make sure that we never again leave our women unsatisfied.

To learn everything that there is to know about the art of making your women satisfied it would require reading a book that is thicker than your dictionary. So obviously we will not include all of it here. We would be able to give you some useful info, hints and pointers, from the point where you are both naked together. We decided to break the information down into several specific areas:

• First we will discuss penis function and how we can improve on it.
• Second we will look into finger and hands ability and how we can use them to stimulate her to the max.
• Third we will go into tongue motion, and how we can make her have an unforgettable orgasm.
• Lastly we will see other methods that could be used to make sure that she has an experience that will make sure you are win her medal as the best lover ever.

Penis function

Our penises are infamous for being unruly. During sexual intercourse, we tend to ejaculate way too soon, or not at all. Sometimes we can’t even get an erection, much less ejaculate. A few things to remember:

• Do not attempt to create that amazing experience if you are drunk or high on drugs. It is not a problem to have a glass of wine or two, however being drunk or high does a couple of negative things.

  • It will be difficult to concentrate on what it is that you are doing.
  • You will probably have difficulty maintaining an erection, which would lead you to concentrate on doing everything you can to maintain that erection to make sure you achieve orgasm, and be less worried about her. On the other hand if you decide to concentrate on her, you would be prone to loose your erection and that will also keep you from achieving an unforgettable experience.
  • You will likely take much too long to achieve orgasm yourself and thus again create less of a pleasurable experience for her.
  • You may accidentally do things that are less than attractive, such as hiccupping, burping, farting, etc.

• Caffeine and nicotine shrinks your veins not allowing as much blood flow, which includes your penis, making it less firm. So avoid products that have those, well in advance of the sexual session.
• There are a couple of techniques and products that help you elevate your experience.

  • A technique known as the Kegel’s PC exercise helps to give you rock hard erections, enable you to ejaculate further than you ever dreamed, and also give you incredible power to hold back the urge to ejaculate until you feel the desire to. A free guide can be found here: (http://www.enhancementresearch.com/penis_enhancement.htm)
  • Ribbed condoms will create an added friction and sensation inside the vagina.
  • Viagra (http://www.viagra.com), or any of its counterparts, can help create a session that lasts hours instead of minutes. However it does require a prescription and thus is not readily available.
  • There are a number of other things such as cock-rings, however they may not necessary be pleasurable. In fact many women reported them to be painful more than anything.

Fingers and Hands

The power of touch, specifically using the fingers and hands, is incredible. There are many ways to use your hands and fingers to stimulate and increase the level of excitement with the sense of touch.

• Nipples are sensitive to the touch, try twisting them, pulling on them, rubbing the top of them, and rubbing around them. Nipples are sensitive so be careful to not over do it as that would turn the pleasure into some serious pain.
• Breasts can create great sensations if properly squeezed. Grab a hold of the breast, positioning the hand closest to the body (farthest away from the nipple) and squeeze. You can squeeze the breasts harder than the nipple, but they are still tender so be careful when doing so.
• The arms can be very stimulating to the woman, specifically the hairs on the arms. Glide slowly over the top of the arm, just barely touching the hairs. Certain parts of the arm will be more responsive than others, so it will probably take some time to master. It may also be necessary that she be already aroused before doing this, although some women respond to this anytime. We are not referring to her arm pit, which is probably ticklish. Doing this should rarely cause her to be ticklish.
• Sensual massage is almost always erotic to any lady.

  • Use sensual oils, do not use cooking oils.
  • A book is not necessary, but can make it that much better. We recommend “Idiot’s Guide to Sensual Massage”
  • Sensual massage is different from regular message, it is not used to get rid of the knots in the muscles (although it may.) This type of massage should be light pressure.

• Scratching the scalp is also something that can drive a woman crazy (in a good sense.)

  • This is something that some women respond better to than others, although most do enjoy it.
  • Some spots are more sensitive than others.
  • Do not scratch too hard, as that can be very painful, have her tell you whether she wants it to be scratched harder or to let off a bit.
  • Although this feels good, it is also more relaxing than arousing so this may be better suited towards after both of you have “done your thing,” although sometimes this can also be very sensual.

• Clitoral touching is definitely something that will turn her on.

  • Be sure not to over-sensitize the clitoris, that’s a great way to ruin the whole session.
  • Use some form of lubricant, whether it is natural, such as saliva or the lubricant from the vagina, or a chemical lubricant.
  • Use a circular motion around the clitoris, throwing in a few up and downs, and left and rights.

• The butt hole can be either a good thing, or a very bad thing.

  • Don’t sneak it up on her; let her know what it is that you are planning on doing. If she says no, try it one more time later in the session, if she says no again then just let it go, until the next session at least.
  • Do not stick your finger inside the butt hole. Place your finger over the top of the butt hole and apply some pressure, making some small and slow vibrating movements.

Tongue motion

Ah yes, the almighty tongue. First of all using your tongue should not only be amazing for her, but also at least comfortable for you. If you feel even remotely grossed out because of the smell or taste of that person’s genitalia you will not be able to perform as well. Suggest a coed shower to start off your session. Offer to shampoo her genitalia, and make it a sexually arousing experience.

• There are many ways to stimulate a woman with your tongue and we recommend a book for this as well. We like “Low Down on Going Down”
• Sometimes your tongue may get tired but whatever you do, do not give up or stop. Use your fingers for a while (make sure they are lubricated or at least wet) until your tongue recovers a bit.
• If you over-sensitize her clitoris, start slow and light again, and you should be able to slowly work your way back up, and get her to the “O” zone.
• It is usually best to get her to climax while using both your fingers and your tongue. Move your tongue in a circular motion around the clitoris, clockwise if possible. At the same time your two fingers (lubricated or wet) should enter into her vagina. Use your pointer and middle fingers and apply some pressure to the top of the inside of her vagina, palm up. Toward the back you should notice a “ribbed” area. Apply some pressure and “vibrate” your hand back and forth. At the same time move your two fingers slowly back and forth alternating between the two fingers. This will usually send her into orgasm heaven.

Other Methods

There are several other methods that could be used, however these methods usually are best with approval from your partner. There are many different methods; we will list the most common ones:

• Sex toys
• Sex games
• Whip cream, chocolate syrup, fruit, etc
• Tying the hands, and maybe the feet to the bed posts

Obviously this list can be much longer, but we will leave it at that.

Hopefully you are full of ideas, are already panning your evening or next date. We hope that you realize that penis size is not always the most important thing that a woman looks for in a man, now go out there and enjoy your sex life.

Serj Sagan is the CEO and owner of a Male Enhancement company. Dedicated to find the real truth about male enhancement products and companies and expose it to the consumer.

Copyright 2005 Serj Sagan of Male Enhancement. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Posted by admin as Economy at 4:52 AM CDT

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We all know that acne product manufacturers take advantage of the social stigma and suffering people have to go through because of acne. They can charge premium prices for their acne products because people like you and me are desperate to get a clean and healthy looking skin that we see every day in TV.

Luckily now there is a place where you can find thousands of acne products at incredible rates. I’m sure you have already heard of it.

Read on and I’ll tell you more.

Huge selection of products

The acne products selection is truly mind blowing. Currently there are more than 4000 listings for acne products. With so many products at one place you can be sure to find the product you are looking for quickly and easily. No need to waste time by surfing many different sites comparing prices.

One of the best things is that you can find many items that you haven’t even heard of yet. If none of the products you currently know have helped you can find new products there to try.

Maybe you have a favourite acne product, but it’s sold as a kit and you don’t like some of the products in that kit. So you always end up wasting that product and the money that you paid for it. Well at this place people are selling lots of single products that companies usually bundle up as a kit to sell you more of their stuff.

Incredible prices on acne products

Here are some price examples that I found while browsing this place:

- Proactiv toner & repairing lotion + bonus set $5.50

- Proactiv 3 piece kit $19.90

- Proactiv 6 piece set $35.52

- 6 months supply of Acuzine &125.00

- Murad complex acne kit (60 days) $36.00

You can also save money by buying in bulk. If you have a favourite acne products that works for you and that you are going to use long time you might want to consider buying it in bulk. You end up getting the products cheaper but you also save in shipping. Plus you don’t run out of your favourite acne products just before an important date or an event.

Yet there is are even more ways that this incredible place can save you money. You can find many generic versions of branded acne products there. Did you know that marketing expenses are a huge part of products price? Why pay for those annoying infomercials when you already know what you want?

Are you ready to save $240 or more on acne products?

Click here to save money on acne products plus tons of tips and tricks on how to find the best deals on acne products.

Seppo Puusa used to suffer from acne for more than 10 years. After countless failed attempts to cure his acne with Accutane and other acne products he discovered simple methods that anybody can follow and cure their acne within a week.

At his web site he shares the knowledge that has finally set him free and ended the shame and frustration. To find out what you can do today to cure your acne visit http://www.natural-acne-solution.com

Posted by admin as Economy at 6:40 PM CDT

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Moving to Portugal

much has been written about this subject already. So why do I spend my time and write another one? Well, one of the reasons I have in doing so, is that I do know Portugal well and feel that I can write with some authority on this very subject.

One other reason I have, is that by reading what has been said and written about moving to Portugal does not reflect the whole spectrum.

There are two different and principle issues concerning this topic. A. moving to Portugal for retirement, and B. moving to Portugal whilst still in need of employment and the need to make a living.

Too much emphasis in the articles I have read is put on the sun, the beaches and the wonderful life in a country where the pace of life is slower, the environment healthier and life in general is wonderful and easy. Well you may not like what I have to say, but I believe that such views are slightly removed from reality.

Let me tell you, that I am an extremely optimistic person and to look at life in a pessimistic way is not part of my make up but I very much dislike that people who are seriously thinking about moving to Portugal are getting sold only half the story.

I have a sneaky suspicion, that some of the authors have had a very personal and vested interest in painting a very colourful and glowing picture.

Let my get more specific about it all and cover the retirement angle first.

To retire in a country with better climate and hopefully with a lower cost of living is a positive step which more and more people take. After a lifetime of work and with a pension to secure this new chapter in their life’s there are very little risks in moving away from your home country. After all Portugal is less than 3 hours away. Faro International airport has excellent connections to the UK in particular, with many operators offering low cost fairs.

The vast majority of retired couples will keep their home in their respective country and spend a few months at a time in the sun, returning to their home country whenever they feel like. Others do live abroad all year round. Both these groups have one thing in common. A regular income.

With a secure and steady form of income from whatever source, you truly can enjoy the country, its people, the sun, and the beaches, the food, in short a great way of life. That’s wonderful. You deserve it.

Now let me turn to the second group of people who are looking to move to Portugal but are in need of a job and income.

I have met and spoken over the past 20 years with many clients and given my views and advice on moving to a different country. I have also met and spoken to many people after they have moved and heard their stories and learned of their problems.

In almost every case where problems developed, it was due to the fact that they relied on information they were given and not taken the precaution to double check, if what they have been told was indeed correct.

Coming to Portugal today, believing that it will not be a problem finding well paid employment can not be further from the truth. It will be tough and that is the reality. I have seen many foreigners come and go, not being able to make ends meet. Not speaking the language does not help and will always be a major obstacle which is not easy to overcome.

If one would like to have a serious desire to succeed in working in Portugal, or even starting a business here the language is priority.

Not speaking the language will narrow your opportunities, and you will be restricted to working within your own ex pat community. Another reason I have identified over the years being responsible for failure and early return to the country they left with so much hope and expectations was the inability to adapt to a very different way of life. If children are involved in a move abroad, and depending on their ages, the education issues can add additional pressure. Not everyone has the money to pay for the education in private schools of their own nationality. Many parents have to send their kids to Portuguese schools which can prove difficult for the children. But that really depends on their ages. The younger they are the better it is, and the less problems parents will encounter.

So when we are talking about younger people coming to live in Portugal, the key issue is without any doubt whatsoever financial stability and the capacity to earn money in a new country. An amazing amount of people underestimating the differences in the way things work in Portugal. Even people with good skills in their respective professions need to learn how to apply their skills within a new, and at the beginning strange environment.

Starting a business in the sun is the dream of many, but unfortunately quite often not enough time is spend on research, evaluating potential markets and opportunities. I don’t like to say it, but the dream of buying a bar or restaurant is mostly short lived. Very few foreigners, having bought a bar or restaurant earn enough money to keep a family. I deliberately said foreigners. The Portuguese bars and restaurants are different and a foreigner will in most cases not be able to compete. When I decided to write this article, I promised myself to be honest and to portray things as they really are.

Please don’t misunderstand I am not saying that you can’t earn money in Portugal. What I say is this: Don’t repeat the mistakes countless others have made before you. Take advice from qualified sources and act upon that advice. Portugal in my belief has a lot of opportunities to offer if you can see them and know how to exploit them and make them work for you.

If you come with the attitude to do your “thing” in the same way you have always done it you have a great chance of “not making it”. Don’t let that happen.

Our site will give you an overview what” sell and buy direct” is all about. Don’t let our name fool you. We are much more than a property advertising and marketing company. visit our site: www.sellandbuydirect.com

Posted by admin as Economy at 2:26 PM CDT

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The sexy toy market has been ever changing since it all exploded in the noughties. The sex aids available get better each and every year and the toys for this year are super. If you have not got into sex toys yet then this year is a perfect time to try. There are countless benefits of using sensual aids, the marital aids may help to spice up a marriage, help to give males an improved time in the bedroom and help girls to release stress. Grab a bargain with Vibrators from retailer Sex Bomb.

There are quite a hefty range of sexual toys available on the market and the largest sellers have always been vibrators. Luckily if guys become embarrased about buying sexual toys girls might now see reputable sexual toy retailers online. And the sexual toys are dispatched next day usually. When males are using toys it can help to use fruity lubricants to help ease sex aids in. Guys can obtain sexual lubricants in all amazing flavours. My fav is apple. You must regularly make sure that after playing with a sexy toy that you clean it. By cleaning your marital aid you make sure you keep odour levels low. The wonderful thing about sex toys is females can use them by themselves and with their boyfriend.

Posted by admin as Shopping Infos at 10:39 AM CDT

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Online shopping is convenient, but many companies whose web sites do brisk sales often leave consumers wanting. That’s according to ForeSee Results, a research company that studied customer satisfaction among Internet shoppers. One way to improve the experience is gift cards, according to Merchant Commerce (http://merchantcommerce.net), an e-commerce services provider. Gift cards can be used to reward loyal customers and to attract new clients. “People love to tell their friends about new shops or products they have found,” said Rebecca Campbell, Manager of Merchant Commerce. “Gift cards get shoppers in the door, whether it’s a Web store or a physical outlet.”

Even though online sales number in the tens of billions of dollars each year, they still total less than 10% of the overall retail market. At the same time, electronic sales are increasing at a much faster rate than traditional retail, and consumer confidence and comfort with e-commerce are not really issues anymore. Customer satisfaction, however, is a concern. Price is usually a secondary factor online, and a dual study by shop.org and Forrester Research confirms that. That report listed health and beauty supplies, and sporting goods - typically not low-cost merchandise - as the categories with the biggest jumps in sales. “Consumers put a premium on service, even more so than on convenience,” says Clarence Briggs, Chief Executive Officer of AIT, the parent company for Merchant Commerce. “The Web puts so many choices in front of the buying public; online merchants need a means of hooking shoppers in.”

Consumers who don’t find what they want on one web site will jump to another; that is much easier than actually driving between stores. Here is where technology-as-customer-satisfaction can be measured. It can be a tool that browsers use to build shopping lists before committing to a purchase, making check-out easier. Or, a clothing site that lets shoppers see how different items look in combination. Or, a site that provides third-party assessments of a product line, with links to news stories, for instance. “It’s about creating a scenario that makes it easy for consumers to buy,” said Campbell. “Gift cards are another means of doing that.”

Merchants already know that consumers are turning to the Internet, if not to make purchases, then to do research prior to purchasing decisions. They know it because money spent on search-engine marketing keeps going up, yet many business owners put a higher premium on a high Google ranking than on what happens once a browser clicks onto a web site. Like any other marketing medium, a good search engine message can only bring customers to the door; it can’t make them buy anything.

Alex Lekas is the VP / Corporate Communications for AIT, a hosting services provider to nearly 200,000 business domains in 107 countries.

Posted by admin as Economy at 4:50 PM CDT

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Because this is my area of expertise, I shall concentrate on defence electronics projects, but the principles can be applied to projects of any kind.

Managing a project is more than just the Project Manager, it’s a team effort, particularly where large and complex projects are concerned. The first thing to do, therefore, is to choose your team but how do you decide who you need in your team.

First of all, there is of course, the Project Manager. This person will quickly scan the requirements of the project in order to decide who should be on the team.

In terms of defence electronics, there are a number of people who the Project Manager will always need on the team and these are:

Technical Lead or System Design Authority (SDA) Commercial Manager Finance Manager Quality Assurance (QA) Manager

The SDA is the person who will be responsible for understanding and implementing the technical requirements of the project and for deciding what support he needs in terms of technical disciplines.

These could be any or all of the following:

Software engineers Hardware engineers Installation engineers Test and Acceptance Engineers Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) engineers

The Commercial Manager will be responsible for negotiation of the contract with the customer and for ensuring that all contractual terms and conditions are adhered to.

The Finance Manager will do much as the name suggests and look after the financial aspects, from pricing and devising stage payment plans, through to invoicing and all the myriad reporting requirements in between.

The QA Manager will ensure that all quality assurance standards are met and will be involved in witnessing testing and acceptance.

In terms of a very large project, the Project Manager will also need a Planning Manager and a Risk Manager, although for smaller projects, he will probably undertake these duties himself.

A project which involves bought in items of any kind will need a Procurement Manager on the team to deal with all aspects of supplier selection and management, together with price and sub-contract negotiation.

In the initial, bidding phase, of a project, both a Bid Manager and a Marketing or Business Winning Manager will be needed. The Bid Manager will plan the activities required in the time available and will be responsible for co-ordinating the actual writing, reviewing and submission of the bid document while the Marketing Manager will liaise with the customer. He will also concentrate on gathering marketing intelligence in respect of competing companies and consider the tactical aspects of the bid.

In our next article, we’ll look at what happens, now that we have a team in place.

Posted by admin as Economy at 11:21 PM CDT

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Posted by admin as Great Gambling Stuff, Lucky Bets, Sports Info at 11:03 PM CDT

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