There are many reasons to give a business gift to a colleague or client. The types of gifts vary for each occasion. It is paramount to understand who and what type of business, general relationship, policies on gift amount limits, culture and region when you decide giving a business gift is appropriate. So try to avoid the embarrassing pitfalls of giving too much or too little by using this guide to help steer you towards success. Here are a few reasons to consider gifting:

Holidays

Birthday

Special Occasions

Motivation

Recognition

New Clients

Client Retention Campaigns

Branding

Trade Show & Events

Awards

Speakers

Valued Supplier

Advertising Incentives

Special Programs

“No Reason at all”

Individual Taste: Adopt the policy that a gift is for someone else and try to gear your selection towards their tastes and preferences. The catch is that you need to know a few things about their tastes and preferences. Finding out can be an adventure. A few examples are: foods, favorite sports teams, music, events, authors, travel destinations, color preferences and hobbies.

Probe: You may never know unless you ask. Without being “captain obvious” about your intension, a pointed conversation covering general topics should get you the basic background information you need for appropriate planning. Birthdays, special occasions and promotions are just some areas to consider. Where and when is up to you.

Alternative Probing: Sometimes a conversation with your recipient is not an option. Fear not, because making a tactical “back door” call to their colleague or secretary should provide you with at least one target event. Be upfront by explaining your intension: let them know that your gift is a surprise and always remember to thank them for the information. If you are motivated, you could even drop your contact a quick note or a card expressing your gratitude. Remember, “All hail the mighty secretary!” A gatekeeper is seldom impressed. This is your chance to do so when they feel involved in what you are doing.

Your Calendar: Keep your database flourishing with important dates. For example, a personal call on someone’s birthday may just make all the difference in your relationship, even if you leave a voicemail. Having a current calendar assists by helping you avoid last minute shopping. You can plan your ordering and delivery of your gift(s) in a targeted manner.

Creativity: Sometimes creating your own occasion offers a twist to the norm. For a few of your colleagues and clients, certain holidays or occasions offer a mountain of gifts. They have no idea, or in some cases do not care where they came from. Sending a small token may be appropriate, but stand out from the crowd by giving off-season gifts in a scheduled manner. Be consistent. You will have the opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Your Budget and Legal Allowances: This becomes a juggling act for business people in any number of industries and government to make the gift fit with legal allowances. Some entities allow $25, while others up to $75 or more. We suggest you get the facts for yourself before you continue through our suggestions below. However, if there is no legal cap on your ability to invest in your gift(s), then you need to decide what the breakout of your budget will be. A gift should never look like a bribe! Some companies issue a blanket maximum, while others base budgets on performance levels or even a flat budget. It is up to you to decide how you break that out. Most importantly, try never to embarrass a superior by out spending him or her.

What to give: Now you know what your colleague or client would consider a great gift, your budget is set, but how do you decide what to purchase? That directly correlates with the value of that person as an asset to your organization and your professional relationship with them. Remember, never too personal, but something which will be appreciated. This is a cold statement, but a complete reality. Would you purchase a $2500 watch for a salesperson that loses you money consistently or for the one that just made you a $250K profit this quarter? Sometimes multiple gifts following a theme will be greater then giving just one item as well. For example, if you give a nice bottle of wine, accompany that with tasteful stemware or a jazzy corkscrew. With that in mind, here are a few suggestions broken out by organizational level:

A. CEO/Board Members/VP and Director: At the highest levels, we suggest you try to stay with a more traditional route of standard corporate gifting. This may include quality pens, personalized notepads, desk clock, fine wine, trips or even art. If you are a CEO reading this, then all bets are off and you will garnish presents as you please. For everyone else, depending upon your level and the size of your company, sometimes less is more. K.I.S.S. absolutely applies to you.

B. Middle Management/Supervisor/Supplier: For folks in the middle of the management structure, we suggest a mix of both traditional and non-traditional gifting. These people are the rising stars in most organizations and why not let them feel like it! We still suggest quality pens and desk clocks, but also add tickets, Mp3 players, PDA, dinners, flowers, as well as a weekend “get-away”. The possibilities are enormous!

C. Colleagues/Counterpart/Employees/Speaker: These folks are in the trenches with their sleeves rolled up! Treat them well, for motivation and productivity may just rise! Most at this level really don’t expect much. The “WOW” factor might not have to either when it comes to gifting for them. We suggest personalized desktop or travel items, flowers, tickets, gift baskets, gift cards, wines and even surprise them by letting them off for the afternoon on a Friday.

D. Your Boss: Since this person directly decides if you collect your paycheck and pass go, be extremely tactical when looking for an appropriate gift. Only you know your boss’ personality. Depending upon the size of your company, you may get to know them rather well. If the organization is immense, you may need to ask a close colleague. To repeat from above: Do not out spend your superiors!

E. Your Client: Who keeps the lights on? Your clients do! Since in most cases, your competition is waiting for a slip up, never give them that opportunity. Your database should have multitudes of information about them and their like/dislikes. Trust your instincts, your budget and stay within those parameters. Think about your best client for a moment. What is their birthday? Favorite activity? Goals? Expectations of you? That should already have your brain fired up about what you need for them. We probably do not even need to suggest anything, but, in case you do not have the answers, may we suggest considering all the above? What are they truly worth to you? As a reminder, this is a generalized guide and not written exclusively for multi-million dollar corporations or sole proprietorships, so we must leave it at that. Only you know what your client is worth.

F. Trade Shows and Events: Who just walked up to you? Good thing you probably got their business card. After a few hundred of them, those cards are all you have to remember them by. We suggest bulk purchase items with your company logo. Believe it or not, plastic bags are very appropriate when people are collecting information from many companies over a short period. The standardized gifts of pens, calculators, hand sanitizer, note pads and stress balls all fit the bill.

Surprise: Hand delivering a gift may require an appointment (for something else of course) and offers The Personal Touch. However, some gifts need to be delivered by a courier.

Thank You: Professional gifts are a great way to say thank you. This not only can help you to brand yourself, but your company as well. Gifts show respect for the recipient when they are thoughtful by acknowledging your relationship. Plus it is a great way to keep your business card in their hand and your company on their mind.

Gift Wrapping: One of the most overlooked ways to “un-impress” someone is to give them a gift that looks like you wrapped it in twenty seconds or less. The quality of the gift can be diminished by the first impression. There are many brands and styles of gift wrapping out there. Make sure yours is appropriate. BusinessGifts.me always suggests The Personal Touch when choosing how to impress. Beautiful rice paper vs. newspaper is just one example of how to make even that $50 box of chocolates look like they are so much more. Not all gifts need you to wrap them, because the status and prestige of the store it came from can offer a much higher impact to the recipient. High end brand names are stand alone. Think about receiving a “gold bag” of chocolates accompanied by a “blue box” of jewelry with satin ribbon. We rest our case.

Correspondence: Even the most lavish gifts can be compromised if you give a generic or unprofessional card. If at all possible, handwrite a sincere and professional note.

Delivery: Face to face delivery is the best way to give your recipient their gift. Practically, this is hardly ever an option. If that is the case, always send your gifts first class or a similar option with your preferred business carrier. The third class delivery option may save you a few bucks, but could insult the person receiving it.

Gift Etiquette: If you delivered the gift yourself and they opened it right in front of you, it is very appropriate to see how they have or are enjoying it. Tickets, dinner reservations or other date-sensitive gifts fall into this category. But, not always, so use your best judgment when venturing into the topic. They will usually bring it up first. Asking: “Did you get my gift?” is probably the absolute worst thing to do with your recipient if you have not received a thank you yet. What if they did not receive it? You could stand a good chance of ruining the surprise. Plus, it is quite frankly poor etiquette. Surprising someone is a personal excitement which they may need to enjoy during the right moment in their day. A wrapped gift offers anticipation and excitement when sitting on the edge or a desk.

We hope this guide has been helpful to you in understanding what business gifts represent and can help steer you in the right direction in your decision. It is always recommended that you check any questions you may have with the appropriate parties. Remember The Personal Touch can make all the difference. Please visit our store!

Source by Matthew Koeppen

Are you looking to buy Ambien online? Then, there are a few things that you need to know. Ambien is the most commonly prescribed medicine to help with sleeping disorders and issues related to insomnia. If you experience sleeping difficulties, stress or any other problems indicated by using Ambien, your doctor may recommend you this drug.

Ambien is a hypnotic, short-acting drug that works by affecting the anterior lobes of your brain. As your body breaks down active ingredient, changes take place in these portions of your brain, helping you to not only fall sleep but also to stay sleep. The drug is appropriate for people suffering from brain damage, as well as those who have semi-conscious coma. Ambien contains Zolpidem, which has a tendency to break down and get absorbed in your blood stream. You can feel the effects of this drug within 20 minutes after its use.

A lot of information can be found regarding Ambien. This medicine has an outstanding safety profile. Selling Ambien online is permitted in many countries, while it is forbidden in others. Thus, it is important to check out your local rules and regulations if you're purchasing Ambien online. You can find a large number of websites offering Ambien. It is important to investigate the credibility of these websites before purchasing the drug from them.

The largest benefit of purchasing Ambien online is that it may cost you significantly less than purchasing the drug from local pharmacy. The reason for this is that online retailers have lower costs to pay and often take advantage of bulk buying discounts. Purchasing Ambien in big quantities can further lower the price.

Although there are many large, legitimate websites offering genuine Ambien, there are some small sites that sell fake Ambien online. You should avoid such websites at all costs. There are many ways to do so. First, you need to make sure that the website where you are entering credit card information is secure (eg https: //). Secondly, it is important to make sure that the website / company provides its contact details that include a phone number and physical address. Lastly, you should try to find reviews about that site. If there are a large number of negative reviews about a site, it's better to purchase from somewhere else.

Often, you will require a prescription to buy Ambien, even if you are buying on the internet. However, there are some sites that allow buyers to purchase Ambien online without providing the prescription beforehand. Given the fact that the majority of these websites are registered to overseas and international companies, it is important that you check regulations as well as the shipping expenses before ordering.

Source by Gary O'donnell

When every other handset manufacturer has released ultra cool handsets, Samsung can not afford to stay behind. For that, Samsung finds a perfect answer in the form of its highly acclaimed ultra sleek family, which is endowed with very good looking handsets. The very first member of this ultra family is the Samsung D900, which clearly catches the attention of users worldwide with its sleek profile and extravagant features. And now, Samsung has released its another remarkable gadget – the Samsung U600 , which is endowed with various advanced multimedia and productivity applications. However, the competition has reached the pinnacle stage in the mobile world and Samsung has taken every necessary step to retain its dedicated following.

Designing does play a critical role in the overall success of a handset. And, you just can not ask for a better designing, when it comes to Samsung U600 . Besides all the necessary tantrums, the Samsung U600 comes with touch buttons. So, all you have to do is to press any of the button and you can easily explore unlimited possibilities to bring that desired comfort in your mobile life. On the other hand, there is a navigation button, which is specifically fitted to make navigation easier than ever. Relish a larger than life viewing experience on its intuitive and bright color screen that supports up to 262k colors. And, its user-friendly menu brings all the required functionalities at your fingertips.

Now take a look at its noteworthy features, which are really amazing. The Samsung U600 comes with a hoard of various productivity and entertainment applications to suit the pressing needs of your modern lifestyle. You can express yourself, the way you want with its advanced messaging services including SMS, MMS and email clients. Furthermore, it also supports the document viewer feature comprising of MS Office, PDF and HTML files. So, view and manage all your stuff – the way you want.

Indulge yourself in the enthralling world of entertainment, offered by the Samsung U600. You can use its 3.2 mega pixel camera to grab any special moment. On the other hand, you can also play all your favorite music on its inbuilt music player. So, here is a commendable device in the form of Samsung U600 and it can really give you that desired edge over others.

Source by Alice Erin

Right now the Christmas lights are down (hopefully) and we have officially entered cold and flu season. As the store aisles replace trees and stockings with tissues and cough drops, it’s important for everyone to be the smartest consumer possible. Don’t be fooled by fancy products that offer miracles. The fact is, everyone will end up with a cold or flu at some point in their life. When this happens, be prepared to fight the bacteria in the most economical way possible.

First and foremost, sleep and hydration is the best defense against the common cold. No one will argue that. However, everyone wants a quick fix, a way to decrease the symptoms and continue on with your life while your immune system suffers. A runny nose can be helped with tissue. Once upon a time there were only a few brands of tissue on the market, all offering the same basic thing. Nowadays, you will see that there are countless options. Tissue with menthol, tissue promising ‘anti-viral’ effects, tissue for sensitive noses. What is the best tissue to fight your cold or flu? What exactly does ‘anti-viral’ tissue mean?

Anti-viral tissue refers to tissue that has citric acid in the material. Bulk citric acid, as noted in a previous article, can be used to great affect to fight off harmful bacteria. This tissue that promises anti-viral, makes this promise because of the citric acid used. While it isn’t necessarily going to kill the bacteria inside the person infected, the tissue will help kill much of the harmful residue leftover after the tissue has been used. This makes the product perfect for parents who have sick kids at home and want to reduce the chances of themselves getting ill. The citric acid will kill the germs within about 15 minutes of contact, so when the parent goes to pickup the tissues while the child is sleeping, they can do so without a gas mask and tongs.

Citric acid can be sensitive on the skin, so be careful when using on children with sensitive skin. Also, keep in mind that it doesn’t protect against all germs, but does have a strong effect on Rhinovirus Type 1A and 2 (common cold), Influenza A and B, as well as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

While it is still important to wash your hands, the cost of anti-viral tissues is not much more than the regular brand, so it can be a great option for people wanting the extra protection. It also helps reinforce the nature of citric acid. Many people don’t realize how great the product can be for so many different uses. It can be used on furniture, door handles and other surfaces that may have gotten infected during cold and flu season. It’s anti-viral properties can help disinfect a house in an economical way. Bulk Citric Acid can be purchased wholesale, and on-line, in it’s purest form, and it much less expensive than the leading cleaning products that you see during the winter-time. So during this time of year, research the products you buy and always remember that if you can by an ingredient in it’s pure form and have the same results, do that. Avoid extra harmful chemicals that can cause other issues. Most importantly, be smart and be safe!

Source by Daniel Pellegrino

How do you make a decision on the best phone for you? With such a huge variety of cell phones to choose from it is really hard to make a decision. The Google phones have recently become incredibly popular, thanks to Google's Android operating system. Several cell phone producers are incorporating the Android operating system into their cell phones. Here are some of the top Android phones on the market today.These days, most people have a cell phone. Even people who swore that they would never ever find a cell phone useful have acquiesced to the convenience of mobile phones and technology. What other way would you explain the trend of the pay as you go cell phone? One of the most popular cell phones models available on the market is Google's Android phone.

By having smart phone technology, its competition has a lot to contend with. With such a huge selection of Android Phones, how do you know which phones are the leading Android Phones? Here are some of the phones that got the best reviews.What are your wants from your cell phone? When it comes time to upgrade their cell phone this is something every purchaser should ask him or herself. Making phone calls was the original purpose of a cell phone. As the cell phone revised, people began wanting to take pictures, send text messages, listen to their music and access the Internet. You can do all that and some by choosing a smart phone. Playing games, checking the weather report and making phone calls are only a few of the countless things you will be able to do on this phone. Before choosing one of the top Android phones, you should consider what you want the phone to be able to do for you. Here are some of the top Android phones available right now.

Among the top Android phones is the Acer BeTouch E110. This is only one of the Acer BeTouch phones out on the market. The E110 is a smart phone running with the Android 1.5 software set. It is not the latest edition from Acer's technology, but the BeTouch E110 is capable of almost everything the other smart phones are. Acer has their own interface that assists users in operating their phones. This phone has a little touch screen that is powered by a 416 MHz processor. The touch screen is less than three inches in size! The touch screen is not even three inches large! The Motorola Quench is one of the top Android phones. The Quench, a later model of Motorola has been enhanced with the Android operating system. This phone is one of eight Motorola models that uses the Android system. The phone has a screen that is only slightly larger than three inches, however the screen has high definition (320 x 480). This phone uses Motoblur technology, which will allow social networking users a better experience. It uses the Android 1.5 operating system and offers Wi-Fi capability, GPS, a camera that is five megapixels and several apps the user will absolutely adore.The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini is one of the most highly respected Android phones on the market. This phone is built on a slightly different model with no name change. The mini is basically the more compact version of the phone that it is modeled after. This phone works with Google's Android 1.6 operating system and is paired with the UX interface by Ericsson.

The touch screen is only two and a half inches large and the phone does not even weigh 100 grams. Even though it is small, it packs quite a punch. The phones comes with a camera that is five megapixels, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack that makes it possible to listen to music already on your phone.The HTC Legend is very popular. Its rating on the website Know Your Mobile dot com was number one. The HTC Legend is not the first Android phone but is rather high in demand. This may have to do with the connection between the HTC user interface and the Android 2.1 operating system. The screen is a touch screen and is a hair larger than three inches in size. One of its most popular features is the control it offers. It is likened to a track pad or joystick style of control. Also, it has Wi-Fi capability and GPS.

On the market today, the LG InTouch Max GW620 is among the top rated Android phones. Many consumers who purchase this phone tell everyone they know. They insist that the phone is almost perfect. It features a great five megapixel digital camera and purchasers rave about how simple the interface is to use. You can talk for eight hours before you need to start thinking about the battery. This is the phone for someone who enjoys making phone calls and is appreciative of being able to access things only only available on smart phones. Our only complaint is the cost. It is fairly expensive. One Motorola phone that functions with the Android operating system is the Motorola Cliq. This phone is for sale thought T-Mobile. It has a keyboard that slides out. One of the things that makes this phone so popular is that it allows the user to keep long logs of e-mails, text messages and social networking updates. You can utilize this phone for keeping your Twitter and Facebook pages up-to-date. You are able to remotely access the data on the phone.

An Android phone that is very popular is the T-Mobile Pulse Mini. This phone is designed for the money conscious consumer who wants all the bells and whistles of an Android phone but does not want to pay an astronomical price. The size of the touch screen on this phone is less than three inches. It comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera that has an LED flash that helps the photographer snap even better photos. The phone runs Android 2.1 software. The difference between this is and the regular Pulse phone is it had a jack for a headphone.

Another popular phone is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. It is one of the cell phones on the Xperia X10 line. This phone adds on to the X10 Mini phone by adding a keyboard, which slides out from the screen.

This phone uses the Android 1.6 operating system and has a display that is less than three inches in size. Even so the phone is still easy to use and does everything that its larger counterparts can do.

One highly favored Android phone is the HTC Desire. The Nexus One handset, produced by Google, is available with this Android phone. In fact, the HTC Desire is pretty much an enhancement of its original model. It has a display screen that is nearly four inches big and uses an Amoled WVGA display. It utilizes a snapdragon processor that functions on the Android 2.1 operating system. Also, this phone manipulates the use of Adobe Flash (v. 10.1). The screen is a touch screen and utilizes joystick and track pad technology to aid the user in operating the system.Being one of the top Android phones available, the HTC Hero has gotten a lot of hype. Using the user interface is simple. It has a smooth exterior and is able to do just about everything the other smart phones can do With an ability to access the Internet, make phone calls, and snap photos, this phone is the bomb. A major problem with this phone is the size, as it is quite difficult to put the phone in your pocket without a major bulge showing in your pants pocket. Also, it does not run the latest version of the android Operation system. Still, it is a good phone and well worth the asking price.

T-Mobiles G2 Touch is the next phone after the G1, which was the first Android phone with Google. This model is better than the former model, which featured a slide out keyboard and was rather cumbersome to carry. There is no longer a keyboard, as the favored touch screen is now an opponent to the iPhone. The camera possesses five megapixel capabilities and you can chat for eight hours before it comes time to recharge a dead battery. It is a good idea to take note of the model being based just as much on the HTC Hero as it is on the G1, so if T-Mobile is not your cell phone provider of choice, you can find an equivalent cell phone with a different service provider.

A popular choice among cell phones that runs the Android software is the Acer BeTouch E400. This phone utilizes the 2.1 Android software platforms. If you want to get technical, it is essentially a smart phone. Users benefit from a touch screen that is more than three inches (3.2 to be precise). The width is no less than twelve millimeters. In addition to GPS, a 600MHz processor and Wi-Fi capabilities, the Acer Company has also installed their own user interface to parlay the Android system. This phone is still fairly new so not many users have contributed their reviews.With the countless cell phones to choose from, the Acer Liquid e cell phone is often times overlooked. Little is known about Acer phones, compared to the computers and monitors they offer. The Android 2.1 operating system powers this phone.

It has a Snapdragon processor. The screen is three and a half inches big and uses touch screen technology. This phone is multi-faceted with Wi-Fi capability, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera, standard 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to music, as well as plugging in an earpiece and microphone to give you the freedom of making hand free cell phone calls.An Android phone receiving rave reviews is the Samsung Beam i8520. The phone uses Android technology for its operating system and it features a pico projector. This means that the phone user can use his phone to project pretty much anything in his phone onto a wall. It makes bringing a portable projector a simple convenience. Furthermore, it has smart phone technology inside – the previously mentioned Android operating system and the Touch Wiz skin, which was designed by Samsung.

This phone comes with an 8-megapixel camera, which makes it even better than other handheld digital cameras! An Android phone specifically designed for the budget conscious consumer is the Samsung Galaxy portal. The camera is a minimal three megapixel digital camera, but other than that it is a great phone – especially for the price. The capabilities of this phone include video, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The phone has about seven hours worth of talk time. It has a rather bulky build, but if you want a smart phone at an excellent price, this one is for you. When upgrading time rolls around, some cell phone companies offer the phone for free to their customers. Google came up with the Android system and it is making it possible for cell phone manufactures to compete the iPhone from Apple. Noticeably, the Android is a big time competitor with Apple and has now allowed other cell phone companies an opportunity to provide comparable smart phones to people who want to upgrade from their current phone to something more wise and cultivated. In actuality, cell phones are no longer used solely for making calls. Now they allow you to snap photos, play your tunes and connect to the Internet. If you desire an upgrade for you're cell phone but are uncertain if the iPhone is qualified for you, the Android powered phone is a viable alternative.

When it comes time to make a decision about one of the top Android phones, it is smart to consider what you'll be using your cell phone for. If your main goal is being able to make phone calls, you probably do not need a phone with so many bells and whistles. If, however, your goal is to utilize your phone for mobile entertainment and contacts, you'll need smart phone technology to stay in the know with your family, friends and hobbies. Think about your choice!

Cell phones have certainly evolved from the days when they were built like giant breaks and could barely fit in briefcases.

Now they are able to help you check your e-mail, do video conferencing and even play complicated games all while you are away from home (or are too lazy to move off of your couch). If you have made the decision to go with a smart phone, the top rated Android phones are all worth taking a look at.

Making a decision about which cell phone to purchase can be a trying effort. There are tons of options out there! When cell phones first became mainstream, most people took advantage of the free upgrade offers from their cell phone providers. Although, that was back when cell phones were only meant for making phone calls. Nowadays cell phones are tiny computers that allow users to access the Internet, make phone calls, snaps photos, take videos and tons of other stuff. The top Android phones are some of the best phones on the market.Finding the right cell phone can take many long hours of research. You need to ask yourself what you want your phone to be capable of. When figuring out which top android phone is worth your money, it is beneficial for you do already know what you want from your phone.

Source by Tom Darden

Many businesses miss out on the true benefits of affiliate marketing. As an advertiser (the business looking to obtain affiliates) you really need to understand the extremely delicious balance that needs to be achieved in order to hit that sweet spot of unbelievable business success.

So, What is This Sweet Spot Exactly?

First, this depends on the goal of your affiliate marketing campaign. For most companies there are 2 main targets that are zeroed in on:

1 . Building Your Brand

2. Making a Ton of Profits

However, many businesses forget about old # 3, Making a Ton of Profits for your Affiliates.

Hitting the sweet spot involves all three of these targets. I've seen a lot of companies start an affiliate program and generate a bunch of leads, and just dump their affiliates without even a care. If you do this you will miss out on a ton of money that could have been made.

You have to understand what affiliate marketing is really all about, and having been on both sides of the table (meaning I have ran affiliate programs for my business, and have also been a publisher selling affiliate products) I know exactly what needs to be achieved for both to have success.

You see, affiliate marketing is about much more than just you (the advertiser) making a great business decision to pay for only advertising that results in sales and there profits, it's also building your company brand while building strategic partners with individuals who can make your business explode.

It's fine and dandy to use affiliate programs to have individuals throw up a few banner ads to make some extra money and generate leads for your business, but that's what most companies do, so why stop there? You do not want to be like everyone else, you want to be better than them. You do want to be better than them do not you? I sure hope your answer is yes, because if not you can stop reading now. You do not have to know these strategies if you do not want to, but for those who do, pay extremely close attention to the rest of this article.

Your goal with your affiliate program from this point on should be to aim for the 3 goals I mentioned earlier: Building your brand, Making a ton of profits for yourself, and Making a ton of profits for your affiliates. Helping your affiliates will help you, I can guarantee that, and this will come down to how you structure your affiliate program.

So How Do You Structure an Affiliate Program?

First, it's all about the commission. You have to give people a great incentive to advertise for you. Your goal is not just about making that quick sale (quick sales are good, but there is a lot more to this), it's about the lifetime value of the customer and building that strong brand image with them. If you do not know what the average lifetime value of your customer is, you're going to have to go through your records, do some research, and probably do a little math. You at the very least want to know how much they spend, and for how long they remain an active customer.

Typically a good commission to start with for physical products is 6-8%, and once an affiliate shows good sales volume you can increase the commission amount to 12% or even 15% if it is feasible. Keep in mind at this point, whatever commission you decide on, make sure you're still making a profit. I know that sounds like common sense to you, but later on after you've tested your campaign for a while you make actually find it more affordable to take a loss up front on the first sale. Do not worry, I'm going to cover this in a little bit, so just keep reading, but first I want to cover informational / digital product affiliate agreements.

For informational / digital download affiliate programs, you want to at least offer a 50% commission. Statistics show that programs that do not offer 50% or higher do pretty miserably. There have been a few exceptions with products I worked with that did well, but that was only because they had extremely high conversion rates. So use this as your baseline, test it, and see if you can afford to go higher. With downloadable products it's usually not the first sale that will make your business, but it's the backend products and the upsells that come later on. So just like with physical products, you want to know what the average lifetime value of a customer is, and from there, you can assess how much of a commission you can afford to give out.

Second , is cookie duration. This is very important to your affiliates because most sales do not occur on the first visit. Studies show customers on average come back between 4-7 times before a sale is actually made dependent on the product that is being sold. I advise companies to use at least a 60 day cookie. Why 60? because everyone else uses 30, 30 days is the standard. Even though most sales do occur within that time period, you'll attract a ton of more affiliates with a 60 day (or greater) cookie duration.

Third, besides the cookie duration, something for you to consider is the attribution of the sale. Attribution basically means deciding on who to credit the sale to. If you have a customer who goes to one affiliate, and then does not buy, but a day or 2 later manages to land on a different site and then buys, who do you want to credit the sale to? Most companies prefer a last click attribute, meaning the last site to get the click that results in the sale gets the credit. This is the most common method, but there are other companies that prefer the opposite which is a first click attribute, which means even if someone bought from the second site in the above example, the site that got that first click will get the sale. Choose which ratione works for you, for me I tend to favor the last click attribute as well.

Fourth, pay your bills on time. If you do not pay your affiliates on time they will venture somewhere else, even if it's for a lower%. Your affiliates are working hard for you and many times are paying to send traffic to their sites for the possibility of making decisions for advertising your products, and most of the time those advertising bills come in way before they get paid, and I know because I 've been there. Nothing would get me more ticked off than the affiliate company not paying on time, and even worse than that, some will even wait till the next paying cycle. You need to feel your associates pain and know what they go through. There's nothing more agitating then spending a few hundred or thousand dollars on advertising and having to wait 2 months to get paid on it.

More Advanced Affiliate Marketing Tips For The Advertiser

So what's the point of making sure all this happens? Why is it important to make sure your affiliates are happy? Well here's some stuff that will really put you above the competition. I'm all about giving great content in my articles, so here's some juicy stuff for you.

Making Outstanding Affiliate Offers

Anyone can recruit a bunch of affiliate marketers, slap up a good offer following the basics that i listed above and you'll make your business explode overnight? Probably not. It's where you take it from here that will depend on how much success your affiliate program will be. After you (or your affiliate manager) has started generating affiliates, contact them. Send a message to your associates and ask them if any of them would want to take advantage of a special offer, and how you'd love to work with them personally. You see many companies will give their affiliates coupon codes for shopping discounts like 5, 10, 15% off, or offer free shipping for people that buy through affiliate links. Now these work pretty decent from time to time, they do help people to buy through affiliates, but there is always a way to take things one step above the competition, and that's what I'm going to teach you here.

Typical Multi-Product Website Affiliate Offers

You want to work closely with a few select individuals that responded to that email that you sent to them about working with them personally. Depending on your business structure, there are a few directions you can go from here. First I want to talk about your standard multi-product website. Let's say you sell furniture online and really want to get your business to explode. Instead of just giving coupons to your affiliates you want to try to get your affiliates to promote different categories or even a specific product in ways that are not possible through your site.

Let me explain, a typical product website can only do so much. You have a product picture, a description, maybe a bit of ad copy, and a price. The only factors that you can really change to increase sales are Price, Free or Reduced Shipping, tweak the Copy, and Brand Image. This is pretty standard stuff, and there's nothing wrong with it, but there is a whole other level that you can hit with your affiliates, but will not be able to fly on your site. Since we're talking about furniture, let's say you have a product that you want to work with an affiliate to sell. The product is called the Super Deluxe Bed. With your chosen affiliate there are a lot more things you can work on to get this product sold. An affiliate (with your supervision) can create copy for the product that will be able to incorporate so many other sales triggers to get it sold.

Example: Your affiliate is promoting the Super Deluxe Bed. For his customers you allow him to have an exclusive offer (or allow him to say it's exclusive) for this bed, and that the only way they'll get this exclusive offer is if their customers buy through him. However, that's just the beginning. Allow your affiliate to inject some scarcity into his customers veins. Make it an "Extremely Limited" offer that's only available for a limited time, or that you're only allowing a certain # of these beds to be sold at this price. You can also allow your affiliate to offer a bonus to the customers that buy the Super Deluxe Bed. The bonus can either be a physical product like a "limited edition lamp", or a Free "How to Get an Amazing Nights Sleep" Special Report. Salesmanship like this will get a ton of more products sold for you.

Exploding Your Business With Affiliate Marketing

These are things that will get your business to literally explode but something you can not do alone. If you did this on your site for every product or category you would come off as too salesy, or too pushy. I mean think about it, if every product bought the same special bonus it would not be special any more or if everything is listed as "limited quantities available" you'd seem more like a business that can not manage it's stock rather than one that's giving people an "exclusive limited offer".

Really take a few minutes to picture the 2 different sales processes I just described, and put yourself in the customers shoes to feel the experience they would have in each situation. Which do you think would be more likely to make the sale: Your site listing the product with free shipping, or an affiliate site listing the product with an "exclusive limited time free shipping offer", with a bonus (only for the next 10 orders ) Free "How to Get an Amazing Nights Sleep" Special Report (a $ 37 value), along with some longer compelling copy?

See you can not do that with every product on your own site, but with the power of affiliate marketing you can drive highly targeted traffic to amazing offers like this without tarnishing your brand. It's really just unbelievable with how doing this with multiple affiliates with several different products or categories can blow away the competition and make you and your affiliates a lot of money, and I'm just talking about visitors coming to your site via advertising, don ' t even let me get started with what this process can do for you in a product or business launch or relaunch sequence. Ever want to know what it's like to make a years worth of sales in a few days? You just try this in a launch or relaunch and the results will surely make your eyes plunge out of their sockets.

Information Product Website Affiliate Offers

For an Information / Digital Download type of site, you can use the same techniques as above. Work with your affiliates to allow them to offer something unique specifically for their customers. Either you can create it for them or let them do it with your supervision of course. The point is to make it so that your affiliate is giving them something exclusive for ordering through them. Also, just like with the physical products above, if you do a well coordinated product launch with your affiliates you can expect to make a lot of cash quickly.

Why You Need to Keep Your Affiliates For the Long Term

So why do you want your affiliates to succeed so badly? What do you need them for after the sale is made? I mean you got your money your leads, what else can they possibly be good for? Because your associates, if you work with them and help train them with the example techniques I mentioned in this report, they will always continue to bring you high quality leads. You always want to allow them to make available to their customers "highly exclusive" offers on a continuous basis. Do not forget, affiliates one way or another through using their time or cold hard cash, that they are covering your advertising expenses.

Making a Profit Selling at a Loss

Remember way way up at the top of this article when I mentioned sometimes you can have an affiliate program where you can actually take a loss up front on the first sale? Well I want to get into that here a bit like I promised. You see, making that first sale is what is crucial to your affiliate marketers, it's what gets their motor going. If you can afford to take a loss up front then do it and you'll see more affiliates then you can handle sign up for your program, but only if you have an awesome backend to sell those customers, and this is something that requires testing . If you're not making a profit, do not do it. Your backend, wherever digital download or physical product, has to make you a nice profit. I'm not talking nickles and dimes, I mean a hefty profit. I know the bulk of this article talks about being good to your affiliates, but you're in this make money and they understand that. They may be taking on the bulk of your advertising expenses, but you're here to make a profit too. If you're going to go for a loss on the front end, you do not give your associates backend responsibilities unless you're making huge profits yourself, but if you structure it so that you can make some good money on the front end , there's no problem with thanking your associates with a nice commission on that as well.

Building Your Brand With Affiliate Marketing

Through this whole affiliate program process remember your goals. You now know how to make a ton of money for yourself and your affiliates, but do not you dare forget about that brand! You must build your companies brand in with the affiliate marketing process. Even though the link of the product will be redirecting to your site, your sites name needs to be on that page. Those customers need to know that those Super Deluxe Bed "exclusive offers" are going to Squiggly Doo's Furniture Store before the link sends them there. It really helps the credibility of the switch from one site to the next. Take note however, that you are not endorsing any bonuses (anything separate from your sites offers) that may be offered through your affiliates, you're just privately approving them. It's just a matter of protecting your brand, and guarding yourself legally. If you find yourself getting complaints about the bonuses being offered, look into the matter immediately and notify the affiliate to stop offering it because your brand is your # 1 long term asset.

Your brand is what will keep those customers coming back to you for repeat business and continuously buying your products. Another reason why you want to keep your affiliates for the long term is because if they know the right techniques (which you'll enlighten them with) they will build deep relationships with the people that just bought through their link. So you want to encourage your affiliates to build a list and stay in close contact with your shared customers so they can continually promote for you, and both make a lot of money. So for your benefit, reach out to your affiliates and make sure they can capture leads effectively. It's much easier to have individual affiliates build those relationships with you're customers as opposed to having it all on you. With you and your affiliate marketers working as a team you will all make lots of cash, and build a solid brand.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that's about all I have for you now. There's just a ton of information out there that I could write hundreds and even thousands of pages about it, but for now I'm going to have to stop here. I would like to thank you for allowing me to help you in you new affiliate marketing venture. I hope you found these tips helpful, and I'll be looking to post some more articles soon.

Source by Eric Cherepany

In the past decades, wires were used for transmitting the message but nowdays, modems are also used. Wireless communication is the latest trend, freeing the products from connecting wires. The information communicated may be in any form like voice, text, image, or video. Some telecom product like fax, telephone, or modem is used to send and receive the message. You can use all these products simultaneously with switch control mechanism.

Since the invention of telephones in 1876, new telecom products were invented, making communication easy. Telegraph was the first method used to pass information from one place to another using some codes. Later, telephones enabled voice communication where the sender and the receiver will have telephones. Anyone who has a telephone connection can make and receive calls at any time. The voice is converted into electrical signals which are then transmitted through the wires. The receiving end interprets the electrical signals and reconverts to voice again. Every telephone uses control devices to enable conversion between the voice and electrical signals.

Revolution in the telecom industry started with the changes in telephones. Olden day bulkier phones are replaced by modern day lightweight phones. Many accessories like answering machines can be attached to the telephone line using which you can track the missed calls. The cellular phone is an important telecom product which changed the way communication was transported out in the past. The wires were discarded and the mobile phone can communicate with the base station through radiations invisible for the naked eye. Radio waves are used for establishing communication without any wires. Calls can be established between wired and wireless devices, providing perfect integration between the old and the new technology.

All in one phones and multi line phones can now be found in every office. With more and more new telecom products, communication was made simple. The price of these products is also reduced, making these products feasible to acquire. Fax machines have made written communication very simple. You no more need to post a business letter and wait for many days to get a reply. The written paper can be fed to the fax machine which instantly sends the message to the recipient. You can send and receive text messages within a few minutes. Walkie-talkie phones can also be considered as telecom products. These phones are like radios, but they operate in both the ways. These radios operate in specific frequency bands which are used to send and receive voice data. Dedicated frequencies are used for secure communication.

If you have an office, you need to have many telecom products like phones, fax, answering machine, modems, security monitors, credit card terminals, climate control, and poll cash registers. To use all these machines simultaneously, you have to use the voice / data sharing device. This is the central telecom product which sends appropriate message to the appropriate device. Using a single telephone communication line, you can use all these products. The sharing device incorporates port-switching mechanism to distribute voice and data.

Source by Feras Shoukeir

Expert SEO services are important for every website to get targeted traffic. People spend lots of money on traditional marketing but it’s not a good idea because a website needs good internet marketing strategies. These are cost effective marketing techniques you should use for your business websites.

SEO means search engine optimization is not an easy task as the searching rules keep on changing day by day. You must keep update with these techniques and changes. Achieving top ranking in search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing is reality but takes effort. With the help of professional SEO experts you can get higher ranking in search engine results page. This team of experts are well versed with all the parameters and knowledge of search engine crawlers. When you hire these internet marketing experts, they will tell you the weak feature of your site and give you the best solution for it.

Expert SEO Services means on page and off page optimization of website. Experts discover best keywords for your website and optimize site for that particular keyword. Apart this other services include link building, directory submission, article submission, PPC, blog creation etc.

There are some tips you should keep in mind while searching for a good SEO company:

1. Ask for previous case study done by company, it will help you to know what results they have given in past.

2. Have a look of company’s search engine optimization strategies and planning.

3. Take complete knowledge about company before handling them your website.

To get top ranking it requires deep website analysis with latest web promotion techniques. SEO services help you to gain good back links with top ranking and free traffic. Always hire an SEO company when you are ready to launch your website. Let them understand and analyze your web portal and they will provide you best results.

Source by Anju Saini

Any business firm which deals in frequent transactions wherever national or international trading requires keeping records of their transactions on a regular basis. Blank invoices have a basic structure with some basic attributes. All invoices contain some basic information about the company like company name, address, registration number, telephone number etc. The basic difference is only with adjustment in the format of invoices or some extra information required by the company.

The structure of blank invoices changes from company to company. Some companies may require their invoices to be simple or some require classy invoices. However the basic need remains the same. The invoices are maintained for keeping and tracking records of products sent and received along with the payment details, how much payment has been done and how much is due. Blank invoices provide proper management of orders and help the company management to trace orders which have already been placed or which are in the pipeline. By taking this step, employees of the company who do supervision of material purchase remain cautious and do their work honestly because if they do any alterations in the purchase of products without taking permission from company management, they will be able easily.

Many companies keep different versions of its invoices and periodically with time they change the format. This change is necessary for companies because as business grows, needs of business also grow. The company may have to do some changes in invoices. The changes may be subtractions or additions. There are many tools available which help a company to make changes in invoices. These tools also help the company to customize invoices according to their customers. For example: If there are some clients who do not require invoice after the delivery of products but want it before the delivery of products, the seller has to make changes accordingly.

Source by John M Van

One of the main requirements of the daily life in an office is that of printed items. These are not only crucial for the convenience of correspondence and communication but also help to make the right impressions.

There is a wide range of variations that are available in the print industry of the modern days. Printing companies provide fast services coupled with other facilities like high quality standards and improved services. There are additional advantages that involve designing layout and color schemes for different kinds of items based on their nature of usage.

Different Items

There is a wide range of printed items that are required on a daily basis by commercial establishments. Print concerns are also making a huge name for themselves among other consumers of the domestic type due to the good quality of printed items. Large number of students and home users of stationery items prefer to opt for personalized printed items as these are of unique quality and lasting impressions.

Official requirements are however always on a bulk requirement. These include the official letterheads and envelopes, forms of different kinds and uses, brochures and catalogs among other things.

Commercial establishments depend heavily on printing houses for their promotional and publicity campaigns as well. There is a production of banners on rubberized fabrics with different color combinations and schemes, posters, leaflets, pamphlets and flyers.

These are attractive designs, and high quality fabrics or paper that makes for a good impression of a company.

Fast Printing Services

The companies that are engaged in the print business offer a new level of performance in printing assignments – both in terms of excellent execution and timely delivery. These concerns are equipped with high performance printers and equipments that help in large- scale production of prints at a same time.

These companies couple their performance with high quality papers and rubberized fabrics as well. They also prepare layout planning and design for their clients as well. These are vital for banners and posters of different kinds.

Next Day Printing Companies

There are companies that can provide different levels of performance in printing technology. And this involves a very high proficiency in delivery timings as well.

There are companies that provide next day printing services. These companies ensure that upon the order placements that they will undertake to complete the entire assignment within the stipulated hour of the next day. This will also include the time taken to plan and design even multicolored banners and posters to the best qualities of business cards and stationery items.

Importance of Next Day Services

Several commercial establishments are often compelled to take last minute decision about participation in events and exhibitions. In addition, even the launch or a promotional campaign that you may plan on a short notice well depends on the reliability of your company.

The reason is the promise to supply bulk orders of print items on a timely basis. This is possible as the new age print companies promise a next day delivery of all your print requirements. Moreover, this carves out your ultimate successes as well.

Source by Danny Morison