Using Overture/Yahoo To Get Website Visitors Effectively

Using Overture/Yahoo To Get Website Visitors Effectively
Overture saw that the internet was fast becoming the
easiest and most convenient way to shop, and advertising
was going to hit at an all time high because of the many
businesses in the arena.

To get a person to go to a site than others, it needs to be
very visible. Providing ads that could direct potential
consumers and costumers to their site would allow them to
have an increase in traffic as well as sales. Yahoo
provides a service that can put a site or company's ad in
their sites that can be shown when certain keywords are
inputted.

Yahoo offers a chance for any company to increase their
traffic by using their services. With more people being
aware of your site, there would be more traffic and
visitors to your site given the chance to view your pages
as well as your products. With even a small percentage of
successful sales, with a high traffic volume this could
still be a substantial figure for your company.

Getting a consistent substantial flow of website visitors
is every company's goal. Many methods are devised and
utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost
the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a
product or service. Website visitors are potentially the
life blood of your internet based business.

Yahoo/Overture utilizes the same principle as Google's
Adwords. In fact, they are very similar to each other that
they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to
determine which ads to show per search. When a person types
in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for anything, the
search engines gives out the results in a page. Then at the
right side of the page, you will see selected ads that have
paid for their ads to be viewed with certain keywords and
keyword phrases searched.

For example, Lets say you run a car parts retail/wholesale
site. You choose keywords that can prompt or trigger your
ads to be shown in the page when a keyword is searched.
When a search engine user types in Honda Accord, your ad
may come up if you have designated that as one of your
keywords. You don't need to fully optimize your site with
Search Engine Optimization methods and techniques.

While some labor so hard to make their site one of the high
ranking sites per keyword search, you get the chance to be
on the top of the list or at least in the first page of a
search result increasing your chance to be clicked on. With
that, you drive traffic and website visitors to your site a
lot faster.

You will have to pony up some cash when using this service
though. There are different ways Yahoo/Overture will charge
you. It may be in the number of Keywords or Keyword phrases
your ad uses or in the many times your ad is clicked on.
Others offer many other services like having your ad show
up not only in the search engine pages but also with some
third party sites.

Third party sites support ads that have the same theme or
niche as them. With more areas your ad is shown, you
increase the chances of people knowing about your site or
product. With more website visitors you increase the sales
of your site which makes your investment with your ads a
wise one.

With so many competitions in the internet based businesses,
it is necessary to take a huge leap forward from the pack
by advertising. Yahoo/Overture will be a great place to
start. Many have utilized their services and have reaped
the rewards of this decision. It's a marketing strategy
that will increase your website visitors as well as
increase your sales resulting to profit.

It takes money to make money, while there are some methods
that are basically low cost or free, using a marketing
service such as what Yahoo/Overture offers will provide
results faster and on a larger scale. Many businesses have
learned this the hard way, don't be counted with them.

----------------------------------------------------
You may use this article and publish it if you include this
text too from Theo Flohil. More information about traffic
you can get at
http://affiliatecashsecrets.com/index/68485/10

What constitutes as "Travel Away From Home"?

What constitutes as "Travel Away From Home"?
When it comes to business travel, expenses, and deductions,
I am frequently asked "What constitutes travel away from
home and why is it important?"

In order for certain business travel expenses to be
deductible, you must be traveling "away from home." There
are actually two parts to this question. The first is,
"Where is my tax home?" The second is, "What constitutes
being 'away' from home?"

Your tax home is a facts and circumstances question. That
is, each person's tax home will be different, not just
depending on location of the person's residence, but
depending on the person's circumstances. For most of us,
our tax home is where we live full time. But there are many
circumstances where this is not clear. For example, where
is a full-time student's tax home? Is it his permanent
address with his parents or his temporary address while at
school nine months during the year?

Or, what happens if you don't really have a permanent
residence? This was the situation in a case several years
back where a traveling salesman traveled so much that the
IRS and the court concluded that he did not even have a tax
home.

Then, we have the question of how far do we have to travel
to be "away" from our tax home? Is an hour across town
sufficient? What about going 50 miles away to a neighboring
town? There are many court cases discussing this question.
One court suggested that a taxpayer had to go beyond the
metropolitan area in which he lived in order to be "away."
Another court said that the taxpayer had to go into another
county.

Finally, how long do you have to be away in order to
qualify as "away" for tax purposes? The courts and the IRS
generally have held that if you need to stay overnight to
rest because of the work and the distance, then you are
"away." But, if you can reasonably go to and from the
location in a single day without rest, you are not away
from home.

Why is this important? If you are away from home, your
meals and lodging are deductible so long as they are
ordinary and necessary to your business. Meals are always
deductible if you have a business purpose for the meal,
specifically if you are eating with a business associate or
client. But what if you are eating alone? Then, you have to
be traveling away from home for the meal to be deductible.
Even lodging is only deductible if you are away from home.

Since everyone's situation is different, if you have a
question about whether your trip is away from home, I
suggest you contact your tax coach to get help.

----------------------------------------------------
Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of
Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision
Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management
responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth,
business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent
seminars on such strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor in
the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University. For
more information, please visit
http://www.provisionwealth.com

Introduction to Coaching

Introduction to Coaching
Ask anyone to define the word coach and you will get a wide
variety of responses. Some will say a coach is a sort of
tutor or instructor, but others will say it's a large,
multi-wheeled railway carriage. Unfortunately, the second
definition is about as helpful as the first in deciding
what coaching at work is all about.

To be a 'Coach' and to participate in 'Coaching' are both
currently trendy terms but are both widely misunderstood.
Coaching is ultimately about raising the levels of human
performance and, as such, has connections with teaching,
training, counselling and mentoring. However, there are
subtle but important differences that we need to understand.

In essence, coaching has two main facets. Firstly it is
performance focused which means it is concerned with
helping individuals perform tasks to the best of their
ability. Secondly,it is person centred which means that it
is the individuals being coached who are seen as having the
important insights. Fundamentally then, coaching is about
drawing out, not putting in.

By using coaching we can tap into the huge reserves of
talent and potential which lay dormant in most people. As
managers, we can develop people without having to rely on
passing on our own skills and knowledge, which may already
be out of date. Without an ability to coach we are left to
trust the tired old methods of teaching and instruction
which are proving increasingly ineffective in the world of
constant change to which we are all having to adjust.

When most people think about coaching, they think about a
sports coach shouting and yelling at the players and trying
to help them succeed without being directly involved. In
sport,the role of coach is crucial in helping people
perform at their peak, and even the most accomplished
sportspeople such as Tiger Woods or Roger Federer still
gain huge benefit from a good relationship with their coach.

The role of the coach in organizations is broadly similar.
Whether the coaching is delivered by a manger as a general
part of their duties or by a specific coach, they will
still be trying to achieve results through others. In
thinking about coaching in this way we can see that there
is great benefit to be had from having someone in the
organization who has the skills and abilities to draw the
best out of others. If it were possible to have everyone in
an organization improve their performance by as little as
one or two per cent then the results would be staggering.

Many organizations are now taking the power of coaching
very seriously and appointing people to the specific role
of coach. Whilst managers may have the skills and abilities
to coach well they are often preoccupied with more task
oriented matters and can struggle to find the time to coach
effectively.

Increasingly we are able to tap into coaching outside our
organizations. There are many small consultancies offering
Executive Coaching, where top-level managers in
organizations can have regular weekly or monthly sessions
with a trained coach to help them work through their
current issues. It can often be of great benefit to have a
coach who does not work in the organization and who is,
therefore, not involved in the same issues. Similarly, some
people are now seeking the services of Life Coaches to help
them work through personal problems, achieve goals and
strike an effective work/life balance.

Whatever the context, we can see that coaching is intended
to be a means by which one individual seeks to help another
move forward and develop in some way.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

Entrepreneurial Woman: Getting Your Act Together

Entrepreneurial Woman: Getting Your Act Together
There you are, in a boardroom meeting with a few of your
business colleagues, and in walks a woman. As you observe
her, you think to yourself, " Now she's really got it
together. This woman has got it all figured out. She's got
this one nailed to the floor." What do you see?

As you know first impressions are worth millions. Without
even actually knowing someone, you can gather a great deal
of information about them: whether they're confident or
not, if they take themselves seriously, if they know what
they want, if they are responsible, or whether they're
happy. Of course, appearance says a lot, but it's not just
about what's on the surface of an individual that matters.
It's about what lies beneath, and body language says
plenty. Now if you have your superficial act together, then
your body language should match. For instance, would you
take someone seriously that has all the confidence in the
world, but looks like a bum? Not on your life.

In the business world, body language is tantamount to your
success. What you say must be congruent with what you are
portraying, or showing. Many of us forget, potential
clients and business partners are looking for this. So
therefore you must be congruent, that is you must know what
you want, be confident in yourself and what you do, as well
as take yourself seriously. This includes looking your
best, and staying fit as it exhibits that you care about
your well being. This translates into caring about the
welfare of others. A client thinks, "If they take care of
themselves, then they probably care about their business."
This means clients and customers. It is important to
realize that your clients and business partners are always
making connections about you. They are trying to draw
rational conclusions about whether they should trust your
business.

The brain is our internal switchboard; it's also our
central control. It sorts and applies information about
incoming stimuli to decision-making. In many instances,
people don't have any memory to recall upon when making
decisions about others. By and largely, the
client/professional relationship is very much this way,
especially in the beginning. So the brain is frantically
at work summing up situations and people from very little
information. Although this prospect seems daunting from an
entrepreneurial aspect, it's actually just the opposite.
This is your time to shine for the spotlight is upon you.

Three Important Pointers:

1. Eye Contact is Essential: Look at whomever you are
addressing square in the eye. This is how you are
connecting from a visual standpoint. Most importantly, it
says that you are firm in your position and have nothing to
hide. "I'm an open book." It also is an indicator that you
are paying attention to what someone is saying to you.

2. Smile. Be Energetic and Upbeat. This says that you are
happy with what you do. It also says, "If you find out
more about me, you will be happy too." Yes, people are firm
believers that happiness is catching.

3. Don't Slouch. How many times have you heard this
growing up? This says you are confident and proficient.
Slouching and poor posture is often associated with
laziness and irresponsibility.

Being your own boss, and the queen of your empire requires
you to think as your clients and business partners do. In
other words, instead of looking at yourself face on as in a
mirror, view yourself from another perspective---from over
there.

----------------------------------------------------
Increase Your Entrepreneural Success. Visit:
http://www.myunlimitedsuccess.com

Aunice Reed is a
Professional Success Coach and NLP Master for Women. Visit
Her Blog: http://www.womensspecialtygroup.typepad.com

5 Secrets to Attracting More Business Whenever You Open Your Mouth

5 Secrets to Attracting More Business Whenever You Open Your Mouth
"So, what do you do?"

Does this question make you cringe because you have to
speak your 30-second introduction? Perhaps you're
uncomfortable with it because it's just "not quite
right"---and it doesn't capture the magic of what you
really do to help others. Or, maybe you're wondering if it
sounds canned, corny, and over-rehearsed. That's a real
turn-off, for you and the other person, isn't it?

One thing I know for sure is we've all been through the
exercise of writing our 30-second introductions multiple
times. Typically, you get a piece of paper on it with lines
that you have to fill in, and voila, you have your
30-second introduction! Maybe it's time to revisit the old
"30-second", update it, and breathe new life into it so you
can attract more business!

Would you like some tips about how you can energize and
emotionalize your 30-second introduction, or "30-second
sound byte". Great! Here's how...

The Formula

As human beings, we respond to people, topics, and things
that stimulate our emotions, so it is crucial, if you want
to be "heard", that your 30-second sound byte stimulates
emotions. If you fail to stimulate an emotional interest or
response, people simply won't listen to you. Here is the
5-part, sure-fire formula to get the emotional response you
want from others to generate interest in YOU!

1. Don't label yourself (I am a mortgage broker...I am a
Web designer...).

2. Identify "What" you are really selling (benefits and
value).

3. Use strong verbs, such as create, design, and teach.
(NEVER use adjectives.)

4. Use numbers to "dollarize" and quantify what you do.

5. Relate these numbers to Money, Love, or Health. Let's
get into some more detail about each of the 5 components of
the formula...

1. Don't label yourself.

As of this moment, stop labeling by saying, "I am a
graphics artist", or "I am a marketing consultant". As soon
as you say something like that, people try to place you
somewhere in their minds, because the brain is a HUGE
filing cabinet! For example, if you say, "I'm a mortgage
broker", usually the first thing the other person will
think is, "I've already got one, and I don't need one". Oh,
and you're selling promotional products? "Got some, don't
need any more." If you label yourself, you instantly close
the other person's receptiveness to you, because they think
they don't need you. Give yourself a greater chance of
being heard by keeping the other person's mental filing
cabinet open.

2. Identify "What" you are really selling (benefits and
value).

You're not just a mortgage broker, marketing consultant, or
a massage therapist. The key in this step is to identify
what it is that you are truly selling. For example, if
you're a mortgage broker, perhaps you're selling financial
independence through investment in real estate. If you are
a marketing consultant, you may be selling how to increase
a person's income, and a massage therapist is selling
stress relief.

Identify the ultimate benefit and value someone will
receive by working with you.

3. Use strong verbs, such as create, design, and teach.
(NEVER use adjectives.)

Verbs are the most powerful words in the English language,
so, you certainly want to put them to work for you.

All of us also tend to define each other by the verbs we
use in our speech. For example, if you say you help, you
are the "helper". If you say I assist, you are the
"assistant". Think about this...if you say you help or
assist, the client still has a lot of work to do in their
minds to solve their problem, don't they? Their problem
still isn't solved, and they're not interested in your
solution, because they want pain relief and results now!

Use strong verbs in your 30-second sound byte, such as, "I
teach", "I create", or "I develop," because they make you
appear stronger, dynamic, and more helpful in solving
problems.

It's also a good idea not to use use adjectives in your
30-second sound byte. Repeated studies in the advertising
field show they simply don't work. Saying, "I have the most
fabulous skin cream that works wonders!" seems like a sales
pitch, and is not very credible. This leads us into our 4th
part of the formula...

4. Use numbers to "dollarize" and quantify what you do.

Numbers are the MOST powerful "words" you can use in your
30-second sound byte. People remember numbers because:

- Numbers make the abstract real.

- Numbers are shown to make us anxious and curious.

For example, if you say, "I teach people the 5 secrets
about how to create financial freedom," or "I've developed
2 techniques how to increase your online traffic by 30%
within 2 months," it captures attention, and creates
curiosity, doesn't it?

"Dollarizing" your value is the most powerful thing you can
do to create both interest and a response in the listener
to your 30-second sound byte. Think of your best success
story, and use this as a guideline to dollarize and
quantify your sound byte.

The last piece of the formula is to...

5. Relate these numbers to Money, Love or Health.

Things having to do with money, love or health creates the
strongest emotional triggers in people. That's because we
all have very strong needs regarding all three of these
topics---they are key primary needs we all need to have
satisfied. Tying what you do with these three trigger words
almost guarantees you will get a stronger emotional
response another person.

To give you an idea how to put all five pieces of this
formula together, here's an example of my 30-second sound
byte:

"I teach solo entrepreneurs the 7 steps to increase their
income by 50%."

The most common response I receive when I tell people this
is, "Really? Tell me how you do it." I then continue with
additional sound bytes to keep their interest (rather than
jumping into a long, drawn out story about myself).

If you use these 5 steps to create your 30-second
introduction, you will create an emotionally charged
message that will capture peoples' attention, and generate
interest in what you have to say.

----------------------------------------------------
Bonita L. Richter, MBA, founder of Profit Strategies,
teaches entrepreneurs and business owners how to start and
grow businesses, attract more clients, and market their
businesses to increase sales, business success, and
generate wealth. Find out more about how to market your
business and boost sales with her popular FREE eBooks at
===> http://www.Profit-Strategies.biz

Business Plan Should Show Action Beyond The Plan

Business Plan Should Show Action Beyond The Plan
Putting together a business plan can be a time-consuming
effort in futility if you forget the main ingredient of the
plan. Before any plan can be effective, it has to have the
means of providing the execution to make the plan work.
With prescribed actions to execute the steps in the
business plan, all it will be is a list of hopes and dreams.

For example, a business plan may stipulate the company will
sell a thousand widgets every day in order to bring in
enough money to meet payroll and other expenses. It may
even go so far as to project who will sell them but if the
plan does not stipulate how they will be sold and, more
importantly to whom, the plan is nothing more than a dream.
Execution is the principal means behind any valued plan,
detailing who will do what, when and how to allow the plan
to be scripted completely.

On the other hand, any business can be planned to death.
Meaning entirely too much time is spent on putting a plan
on paper and never putting it into action. Even a great
business plan is useless unless a timeline is attached to
every step of the plan to put it into motion and follow
through on making it work.

Another example is in assigning tasks to a group under the
supervision of one person. By sitting down with that person
and discussing the project, it can be agreed as to what
tools will be needed to get the job done, how many people
will be required to complete it in a specified time frame
and at what cost. By enlisted the help of the individual in
charge in putting the plan together, that person has a
vested interest in making sure it is done on time and
within budget.

Once the plan is on paper and put into action, there has to
be a certain amount of follow-up to insure the project is
going as planned and if any adjustments are needed they can
be made before it is too late. After the first few days,
the supervisor can be asked about the project and if
everything looks good and they claim everything is going
according to plan and is on schedule, it probably is. If
they hedge about being ale to get done on time and admit
there have been underestimates made about how long it will
take, they can have input on what else is needed to remain
on schedule.

If the supervisor continues to express optimism of being
able to get done on time and the owner sees that it is
becoming more obvious it is not going to happen, they may
need to reassess their choice of the person in charge and
hold them accountable for not being on schedule. With their
buy-in from the beginning as part of the planning stage and
their help in determining what is needed, they cannot pass
fault back to the business owner for not giving them what
they need to get the job done. It would be their failure to
execute the plan to make it work and should be held
responsible.

----------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-21471

Paying For Your Traffic Can Be A Smart Move

Paying For Your Traffic Can Be A Smart Move
There are so many success stories you will hear about
businesses making it good in the internet. The troubling
thing is, there are maybe a tenfold or even a hundredfold
of stories contradictory to theirs. Many have
unsuccessfully launched a business enterprise that is
internet based but only a handful shall succeed.

Is this through luck? That is even more remote. It takes
good business sense and a lot of help and team effort. Most
importantly, it is the eagerness to succeed and the
determination to learn and the willingness to invest in a
lot of hard work and some money.

The Very Basic

Like Neo, traffic is "The One". Without traffic, all your
effort would just go to waste. Every business needs
customers, without them you wouldn't have anyone to sell
your products to. In the internet world traffic is the walk
in customer. The more traffic you have the more people
would be able to sell your products to.

But like any business that's in every corner building or in
the mall, not everyone that goes in will buy, but the
greater of number that do come in to browse your
merchandise, the greater number of people that will buy
your products. It is a simple and known fact.

But, how do you get traffic, traffic large enough that
could make a small percentage of eventual buyers enough to
make a good profit. Many big companies generate traffic of
tens of thousands a day and a measly ten to fifteen percent
actually buys, but that small percentage is enough to
provide them with good business.

Many of these success stories get their traffic from paying
others. Yes that's right; you have to spend money to make
money. Advertising is the key. The more people that knows
that your site exists; the more people would of course go
to your site, that's common sense.

While there are many ways that can get you advertising for
free, this do not generate the same high volume as those
methods that are getting paid. These paid advertisements
include advertising schemes by Google and Yahoo.

The Value of Searches

The search and will be the easiest and fastest medium in
finding what a person needs in the internet. Search engines
have been very popular because they provide a vital service
to many people. They are free and easy to use. With this
popularity, they get many visitors and clicks that they are
the most common sites that people go to. It is easy to
understand why so many companies would pay to advertise
with these search engines.

Search engines provide information to the millions of users
that they have each day. They provide links to many sites
that a user may be looking for. If your sites link pop up
in the high ranks of the search results page, you get a
great chance that they will go to your site. While search
engine optimization is a cheaper and low cost way to get
your site a high rank, paying for advertisements will
ensure that you will be on the top ranks.

When you pay for your advertisements, it is like paying for
your traffic. This may sound like not such a good idea, but
the payoffs would tell a different story. When you pay for
your traffic, you are guaranteed of a consistent traffic
flow to your site. You will never go with an empty sales
day.

Paying for your Traffic

Usually, you will be charged with the number of hits a link
gets when your ads is clicked, this is called pay per
click. For some search engines, you will be charged with
the number of times your ad shows up when a certain keyword
or keyword phrase is searched. It is imperative that you
have good keyword content in your ad. There are many tools
that aid you in using the right keyword for the right
moment.

All the money you spend in paying for your traffic will not
be for naught. You will get an impressive boost in traffic
which will also result to a great boost in your sales
figures. Paying for your traffic would be a really good
idea and you will get all the benefits it has to offer.

----------------------------------------------------
You may use this article and publish it if you include this
text too from Theo Flohil. More information about traffic
you can get at
http://affiliatecashsecrets.com/index/68485/10

Effectively Creating a Strategic Marketing Plan

Effectively Creating a Strategic Marketing Plan
Strategic marketing is an excellent means of propelling
your business to the next level of revenues. Indeed, the
adage, "no man is an island" is particularly applicable in
strategic marketing; the more islands you align yourself
with, the greater your network, and the more powerful your
revenue earning potential.

Yes indeed, we all know that strategic marketing is
powerful. But how can you create an effective strategic
marketing plan? Strategic marketing is a term that is
thrown around casually and frequently, but how many people
actually know how to execute a successful strategic
marketing plan? In this article, I shall happily walk you
through the steps of incorporating strategic marketing into
your business arsenal.

Step 1: Understand your target customer base

The fundamental goal of strategic marketing is to utilize
each other's strengths to reach a larger audience base '
perhaps one that would not be available to the individual
companies without the strategic marketing endeavour.
Evaluate your current base of customers, and envision your
ideal future mix of clients. Based upon this analysis, you
should then consider which companies already possess the
client base that you desire. Or, what company would be
able to work with you in order to help you both obtain a
client base that was individually out of reach.

Step 2: Evaluate what your customers need

When you think of your business from the customer's
perspective, it is often quite different than yours.
Instead of evaluating what products would be easy for you
to sell to them ' consider what products your customers
need. This will help you find a strategic marketing
partnership that can fulfil what customers' needs. In
addition, look at the bigger scope. If you are trying to
reach a larger audience base, what type of packaged
advertising would be most compelling to their needs? For
example, if you are an accounting firm, then would your
clients possibly also need legal service? A successful
strategic marketing plan is based upon clients' needs.

Step 3: Analyze the marketing tools to use

Marketing avenues abound, meaning that you can carefully
pick and choose which marketing tools you use. Will you
use offline, online, and/or word-of-mouth advertising?
Decide if you want to create email marketing, PPC, or blog
campaigns. Will you collaborate together on publishing
articles, or perhaps split a booth at your industry trade
show? Would you sponsor an industry event together, or
perhaps publish a white paper jointly? The options for
traditional and creative marketing are endless. It is
important to create a strategic marketing campaign that
will highlight the strengths of both companies ' and most
effectively reach the target audience.

Step 4: Implementation!

Once you have laid the groundwork for the strategic
marketing plan, it is time to implement the excitement!
Working together with a partner can open up significant
more doors, in both revenues and market share exposure.
Make sure that your plan is well thought out, and that you
both are on the same page, and you will be ready to push
the "go" button on an endeavour that can take your business
earnings to the next level.

----------------------------------------------------
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A strategic
Collaboration Marketing consulting firm. He empowers
business owners to discover and implement Integration,
Alliance, and Joint Ventures marketing tactics to solve
specific business challenges. He demonstrates how to create
your own Collaboration Marketing Strategy to increase your
sales, conversation rates, and repeat business.
Contact: christian@christianfea.com
http://www.christianfea.com

Network Scanning - Powerful Document Distribution at Your Fingertips

Network Scanning - Powerful Document Distribution at Your Fingertips
Network scanning is one of the most powerful features of
today's multifunctional devices Scanning is often described
as an under-used feature of office multifunctional devices
(MFPs), but evidence suggests that scanning on an MFP has
become so straightforward that it is gradually becoming the
normal way to distribute documents within company offices
and departments.

As with most situations where the purpose of new technology
is not fully understood without first-hand practice, there
is always the fear of the new. However once people have
worked out how to scan they can go to any machine, scan a
document and send it over the office network. This appears
to be happening organically in many company offices these
days.

Using the scan-to-email function to distribute documents
both internally and externally has many benefits over and
above lower fax and courier costs,

In a situation, for example, when a department receives say
1,000 orders every week, many of which will be paper-based,
by scanning incoming orders on multifunctional device and
routing them as email attachments directly to a PC, huge
differences over paper copying can be achieved.. By having
the multifunctional device LDAP compatible, it will connect
to the company email server, enabling staff to select the
right email address from the MFP control panel. This
process doesn't just save time, it also automatically
creates an electronic copy of every order.

Of course it is then also possible to distribute documents
externally. Instead of faxing paperwork to customers, it
becomes easier to scan and email them as part of an
efficient workflow. Two additional bonuses accrue: 1) the
image quality of scanned documents is much better than a
fax and 2) because the scans are sent over the internet,
fax costs are zero.

A basic scan-to-folder or scan-to-email capability is all
that many businesses will need. However, these applications
barely begin to cover all that can be achieved with a
scan-enabled MFP.

Additional benefits come when businesses use MFPs: to
capture knowledge contained in an organisation but not
often used simply because it is not easily or readily
accessible. In the network scanning environment, a document
management system makes such issues less problematic. Also
there is the benefit of reduced paperwork cluttering up
in-trays and getting mislaid or ignored.

In addition, today's MFPs have facilities to enable allow
developers to create bespoke scanning applications and thus
integrate the MFD scanning function into other software
packages. This enables companies to make full use of their
investment in network-enabled multifunctional systems.

----------------------------------------------------
Jimi St. Pierre writes for several Office Equipment
suppliers in the UK, including Principal Corporation, where
you can find out more about document management software on
their comprehensive office equipment website at: =>
http://www.principalcorp.co.uk

Making Marketing Work

Making Marketing Work
Promoting with postcards by direct mail is one of the most
effective ways to reach your customers. Long experience has
shown this and a recent survey commissioned by an
independent firm out of Baltimore has demonstrated it again
recently.

The study found that 76% of people read direct mail that is
sent to them. Further, it found that the piece you send and
what is put on it are more important than ever. Up one
third from last year, 63% of people feel that the
appearance and message of the piece makes a difference in
their decision to respond. This is another reason postcards
perform well. The instant appeal and attraction of a
well-designed, full-color card certainly makes it stand out
amongst envelope-wrapped letters.

Statistics like those should help those who may feel
uncertain about investing in direct mail marketing
programs. In such cases, I have found they have usually
broken two key rules in their past attempts at direct mail
that caused a lack of success. These rules will help make
your direct marketing work and will give you a stable and
increased source of sales leads:

1. You must do something.

I am constantly surprised at the number of small business
owners who tell me that "we just get referrals" or that
direct mail marketing "doesn't work for us". Yet my next
question usually stops them cold. What marketing are you
doing? The vast majority of these businesses are not doing
any marketing at all! Yet they feel marketing doesn't work
for them. Of course it doesn't work if you don't use it.

So the first rule of direct mail marketing is that you must
do something--anything. Just about anything being sent out
gives one a basic level of outreach and will give you some
degree of response. And that promotion can then be
adjusted, focused, narrowed and targeted more exactly to
improve the response and build it higher and higher. But if
you don't do anything in the first place, you're not even
yet at Square One.

2. You must be regular and repetitive.

One-shot mailing leaves a lot of leads on the table. Your
mail piece is just one of the hundreds of messages glanced
at daily by the average customer. Even with a well-designed
piece that succeeds in gaining attention, a substantial
percentage of recipients will notice but not respond. Don't
just leave them there. More mailings will develop them into
customers.

Further, 69% percent of those surveyed above said that
their current needs and the timing of the offer mattered to
their response. Even if they aren't ready for you now,
continuing your mailings will increase their interest and
keep you in front of them. Then when they are ready, you're
right there.

Finally and most importantly, a regular mailing campaign
gives you stability in your business and its sales. It can
be easily measured that peaks of marketing outreach are
followed soon after by peaking sales. By maintaining a
regular and stable level of direct mail outflow, you will
find your leads and sales stabilizing as well.

----------------------------------------------------
Ken Daniells helps business owners and organizations to
increase income and profits using practical, but often
overlooked marketing basics. He is the founder of BOOM!
Ink, a marketing company dedicated to helping small
business owners market effectively and grow. For more free
articles, tips and advice, visit http://www.boomink.com .