The Money Lab

Attending a trade show can be a very effective method of promoting your company and its products. And one of the most effective ways to optimize your trade show display and increase traffic to your booth is through the use of banner stands.  A banner stand for your trade show display draws attention to your booth and helps you deliver your message to prospective clients, current customers and business contacts at what is usually a highly competitive event. Your trade show display should stand out from the crowd, and a banner stand is a great way to make sure it does. Banners themselves are typically constructed with either fabric or vinyl. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of material, so you should consider how you will use your banner stand before deciding between fabric and vinyl. Fabric banners are durable and long-lasting. Fabric doesn’t reflect light like vinyl, which can decrease your banner’s readability.  Fabric banners also don’t bend or crease so t...

How much is your time and expertise worth? Its the age old challenge for consultants: how much do I bill my clients? Sadly, there is no set in stone answer, however, here are some tips that will help you establish your rates. First, lets look at your client's needs. Why are they hiring an outside consultant, when they have employees? There are several reasons why your client is interested in hiring you as a consultant: a) third party opinion - employees know where their bread is buttered, so they are less inclined to go against the current direction of the company. As an outsider, there is no concern with offering a different opinion. Your independent opinion can provide a much needed, focused perspective your client's company needs. b) you are cheaper - this is what is normally the hardest for new consultants to understand. How can you command $75/hr when your client has reps working for $20/hr. It normally ends up with the consultant charging a lower rates. No more! The emplo...

You are contemplating setting up a small online business you should realize it is simply to down to a numbers game. The difference between businesses that succeeded and ones that do not is down to their conversion ratios, meaning the ratio of visitors who actually become paying customers. If one in 50 of your visitors become a paying customer, then you will have a conversion ration of 2%. All businesses should aim to increase this ratio, simple things like using enticing tactics such as a sale can help. The trouble is nowadays people seem desperate for visitors, they panic and pay for batches of visitors. Unfortunately these systems rarely increase your conversation ratio at all; in fact all they do is give you a false perception of your business.  A lot of online small business owners make 3 mistakes: 1. They put Google Adsense/affiliates everywhere, in my opinion these are good systems but they do detract from your core business. 2. They make their websites too complicated, w...

Successful businesses have many things in common, today we’ll look at the big ‘R‘of recognition and how a digital advertising network may help. Recognition can be illustrated by two individuals entering a crowded room at a party.  Both walk to the far side of the room, one of them slips through the crowd easily and unnoticed as they reach the far side.   The second person takes much longer to reach the far side because they are engaged in conversations along the way as they continue to meet acquaintances and friends during their path.  Which type of person would you like to model your business after?   Your business is in a continual battle for your customers’ recognition whether you know it or not.  If you happen to be fortunate enough to be in a marketplace with very few competitors, that will not last for long.  You need your business to be at the forefront of your client’s minds so that when they require your products or services, you are the ...

In today' s modern, sophisticated and fast world, online classifieds have become a medium of communication among the internet users. On one end it is informative and on the other end it is convenient and cost effective. In this scenario, the online classified websites have occupied one among the top ranking sites on the internet due to its vast popularity among the users. Today there are n number of classifieds sites on the internet and some of them are not only useful but are also impressive giving its users a chance to place ads in different categories such as jobs, real estate, for sale etc.  Where as newspapers has limited approach to people compared to on line classifieds where it can reach the millions of people at single click. This can be said as one of the major reasons for the recognition of the classifieds sites. The responses one receives through placing their ads in classifieds sites is far more than compared to news paper ads or print media ads.  Due to these eff...

With the internet still in its infancy stage, there is always the next big thing when it comes to advertising.  The first one was e-mail marketing, the people that started e-mail marketing in the very beginning have made and will continue to make loads of money.  If done properly with no spam and with a highly targeted list, as long as you have a solid product, e mail advertising will make you loads of money.   Then came the “pop up” and in my opinion that was not good for anyone.  Pop-ups are annoying even if you do click on them every now and then, they are still annoying.  It's sort of like when you move from your home you have to handle everything in your house, whether you are moving it to take with you, or if you are going to be throwing out, it has to be handled.  Pop up ads have to be handled. Fast forward past all of the obvious ways to advertise online.  Now we come to the pixel craze, and that is the next big thing.  Some of the be...

The purpose of a safety program is to involve employees in achieving and maintaining a safe, healthful workplace. This program will have a safety committee that will discuss and find solutions to problems that can cause accidents, injuries, and illnesses. Fewer accidents, injuries, and illnesses will lower your workers’ compensation costs and insurance premium rates and can increase your profit. There are steps that must be taken for a safety committee and program to be an effective one. These steps will include: In holding weekly safety meetings and if your business has 10 or fewer employees, it would be beneficial to have employees attend safety committee meetings. Low-hazard workplaces such as office settings may substitute monthly meetings for weekly meetings.  Discuss what everyone can do to achieve or maintain a safe, healthful workplace. Focus on just one important topic, such as controlling an existing hazard or identifying an unsafe work practice. If you have a constructio...

What do you do when an employee disagrees with something you’ve written on their performance review? How can you prepare for this and deal with it effectively? Start by listening to figure out the source of the disagreement. Is it an issue of fact (you wrote that the employee received a customer satisfaction score of 79 but the employee says that his score was actually 83), or is a matter of judgment (you wrote that the employee’s customer service skills were unsatisfactory; she feels that her skills are terrific)?  If the disagreement involves an issue of fact, get the facts and make any corrections necessary. If it’s a matter of judgment, ask the employee for additional evidence. Then determine whether that evidence is weighty enough to cause you to change your mind, revise your judgment, and amend the rating that you assigned on the employee’s performance review. Most of the time, you have a reasonably good understanding of the areas where disagreements are likely to pop up in t...

You need a website, but how can you tell the professional business web site developers from the college kid in his basement? The answer is fairly simple if you know what kinds of questions to ask.  Professional web site developers are just that - professionals.  They have college degrees and/or experience related to web site development. They understand small and medium size businesses for it is likely they are one too. Most importantly, they speak to you in your language, not theirs. Purchasing a web site is a form of advertisement for your business. Would you pay for the development of a radio or television commercial if you were not sure you would get a return on your investment?  Why risk your professional reputation by trying to get the cheapest site possible just so you can put the www.yourbusinessname.com on your business card? If you have seen the work of a web site developer and the pages look great, do they contain keywords, titles, and descriptions to help sear...

Of late, the topic of succession planning has sparked much concern. However, it seems few organizations have heeded the warning. According to a Human Resource Planning Society and Hewitt Associates study, fewer than 60% of companies have a succession plan in place. Below are some of the most common myths about succession planning.  Myth #1: If there are no imminent retirements, succession planning needn’t be a top priority. According to a survey conducted by Capital H, nearly 22 percent of respondents expect to lose between 10 percent and 25 percent of their top performers to retirement within the next five years. These top performers play a significant role in a company’s success, often serving in high-level, supervisory roles.  For successions to progress smoothly, the people chosen to fill these roles need to be prepared and adequately trained. That process takes time.   Myth #2: Succession planning is only an issue for big companies. 85 to 95 percent of all the c...

Affiliate marketing is all about the promotion of products of an online company. The affiliate sign-ups with the advertiser or marketing arm of the online company and the affiliate becomes an active searcher of potential clients. Such set-up of affiliate marketing can become easily successful if the affiliate is aware of the importance of advertising. Advertising is the means to make a great portion of the consuming public become aware of a certain product or service. Thus, advertising should be attractive and should be appealing to the consumers. If the advertising is not appealing enough, it will not be effective. If the advertising has pulled the attention of the consumers, then such advertising is powerful. To make one’s advertising effective and powerful, an affiliate must use the smart methods of advertising. One such method of advertising is the re-use of one key concept of affiliate marketing. This key concept is the harnessing of human resources. That is, an affiliate may tap ...